#>. jivV ..-I VI •"'Art I r* , . V I ^ ,' *i <'.\u^iM. '•• M'-A .V,' , ^v-:.^*' /^»\ "V ^X* •'^ \ ^^^ ^(^M^- -^^^^ <>^ s • * , iO* »•••'. ^^ /o $r s- Political Romanism; OR, THE SECULAR POLICY OF THE PAPAL CHURCH. Rev. G. W. HUGHEY, A. M. CINCINNAri: ^-r HITCHCOCK AND WA L D E N . NEW YORK: CARLTON AND LANAHAN. 1872. Eiiiered, according to act of Congress, in llie year 1872, by HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. /z~'5¥y PREFACE. 'T^HE object of the writer of this little volume has not been to present argu- ments, but to set forth facts. He has been satisfied that t^ie high claims of the Roman Catholic Church to the supreme political power of her head, the Pope, over all the kings, rulers, and governments of the earth, is not fully understood by the American people, as it should be in order that the dangers which threaten our free institutions from this quar- ter may be averted. He is also fully satisfied that no logic is so convincing and unanswer- able as the logic of facts ; and hence he has presented, in a small compass, the facts of 4 PREFACE, history on this question for the past eleven hundred years, so that every one may see for himself what the Pope claims, and what the Romish Church claims for him, on this mo- mentous question. The facts set forth in the following pages are the undeniable facts of history, and the deductions drawn from them are the legitimate and necessary consequences of them, and which no man of intelligence will for a moment ques- tion. The authorities quoted, whether Prot- estant or Romanist, are all standard authori- ties, and therefore every quotation may be fully relied on as authentic. The writer has endeavored to present to the reader such a complete compend of Roman Catholic teaching on this question, as to furnish every thing necessary for a full and perfect understanding of the doctrine of Rome on the political supremacy of the Pope, so that the object and aims of the hierarchy in this coun- try may be fully understood by every one. PREFACE. 5 Hence he has been especially particular to quote freely from the Allocutions, Encyclicals, and Syllabus of Pius IX, so that the reader may see that the civilization of the nineteenth century has had no effect whatever in liberal- izing the Pope, or causing him to relinquish one jot or tittle of his high claim to political supremacy over the nations of the earth. He has also quoted largely from the protests, speeches, and resolutions of American Roman Catholics, clerical and lay, to show that the great mass of the Roman Catholic Church in this free country are just as strong advocates of the political supremacy of the Pope as the Papists of the Middle Ages were. In the hope that the facts set forth in this little volume may contribute to the awaken- ing of the public mind on this important ques- tion, the vmter submits it to a candid public, praying that his beloved native land may never be cursed with the withering shadow of Papal despotism, but that the tree of liberty, planted 6 PREFACE. by the hand of Divine Providence in this fair heritage of freedom, and watered with the tears and blood of our fathers, may continue to grow and extend its branches, until all the oppressed and downtrodden children of earth shall find a secure retreat and safe protection beneath its shade. G. W. HUGHEY. Lebanon, Illinois, September, 1871. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. The Question Stated and Explained, . 9 II. Bishop Purcell on the Temporal Power — O. A. Brownson on Gallicanism, . . 28 III. Dr, Brownson on the Right of the Popes TO Depose Kings, 43 IV, Position of Cardinal Bellarmine, . 55 V. Teachings of the Leading Divines, . .71 VI. Teachings of Popes and Councils, . , 79 VII. Teachings of Popes and Councils, . . loi VIII. Teachings of Modern Popes, . . . 118 IX. Allocution of Pius IX, . . . .145 X. Modern Romanist Divines and Journals, 160 XL First Constitution Concerning the Church, 176 XII. General Summary, 193 XIII. Occupation of Rome by the King of Italy, 220 XIV. Dangers of Catholicism, .... 264 POLITICAL ROMANISM. CHAPTER I. THE QUESTION STATED AND EXPLAINED. THE POPE OF ROME claims not only the right to govern, as a civil prince or ruler, what is, or has been, styled "The Patri- mony of St. Peter," and which has just now been wrested from him by the King of Italy, and which we fondly hope he may never re- gain ; but he also claims, by virtue of his of- fice as Vicar of Jesus Christ, at least an indi- rect supreme authority in temporals over all the kingdoms of the earth. In order that we may have the question fully before us in the begin- ning of our investigation of this important question, we will present a statement of the 9 lO POLITICAL ROMANISM, different views taken of this question even by Roman Catholics themselves, so that we may not appear to do them injustice in our remarks in the following pages. Bellarmine, than whom a higher authority among the standard writers of the Church of Rome can not be fourd, states the different theories of the temporal power of the Pope as follows : * "The first is, that the chief Pontiff, by Di- vine rights hath the fullest power over the whole world, as well in ecclesiastical as in political affairs. " The other opinion, placed on the other ex- treme, teaches that the Pontiff, as Pontijf, and by Divine right, hath no temporal power, nor can he, in any manner, govern secular princes, nor deprive them of their kingdom and author- ity, although they otherwise deserve to be de- prived — all the heretics of our times teach so. " The third is the middle, and is the common opinion of Catholic theologians, that the Pontiff, as Pontiff, has not directly and immediately any temporal power, but only spiritual power ; yet, on account of the spiritual power, he hath, * M'Clintock on the Temporal Power of the Pope, pp. Ill, 112. THE Q UESTION ST A TED. 1 1 especially indirectly y a certain power, and that stcpreme^ in temporal matters/' The second view set forth by Bellarmine as that " held by all the heretics of his time," is the view also held by that party in the Romish Church known as Galilean, who always denied the supremacy of the Pope as held by the Ul- tramontane party, both in spiritual and tempo- ral things. But the Galilean party has always been largely in the minority, while the Ultra- montane party has always been the dominant, the controlling party; and it never was more so than at the present time. Gallicanism has been completely and entirely eradicated from the Church of Rome by the proclamation of Papal infallibility, and the Ultramontane doc- trine is the doctrine of the entire Roman Cath- olic Church. The teachings of the Galilean divines and universities, however, afford a cover behind which the defenders of the Romish Church in England and the United States retreat when pressed with the true teachings of their Church in regard to the temporal power of the Pope. Hence, nothing is more common than to hear them roundly deny his temporal stipremacy, and 12 POLITICAL ROMANISM, declare that the Church holds no such senti- ment. Cardinal Wiseman, in his lecture on the '' Supremacy of the Pope," denies any temporal power as belonging to the Pope at all, by virtue of his office as Pope, and contends for only a spiritual supremacy. He says: ''What then do Catholics mean by the supremacy of the Pope, which for so many years we were required to abjure, if we would be partakers of the bene- fits of our country's laws } Why, it signifies nothing more than that the Pope, or Bishop of Rome, as the successor of St. Peter, pos- sesses authority and jurisdiction, in things spiritual, over the entii^e Church, so as to con- stitute its visible head, and the vicegerent of Christ upon earth." (Lectures on the Doctrines of the Church, p. 226.) Again he says: "The supremacy which I have described is of a character /?/r^/j/ spiritual, and has no connection with the possession of any temporal jurisdiction. . . . Nor has this spiritual supremacy any relation to the wider sway once held by the Pontiffs over the destinies of Europe. That the headship of the Church won naturally the highest weight and THE QUESTION STATED, 1 3 authority in a social and political state grounded on Catholic principles, we can not wonder. That power arose and disappeared with the in- stitutions which produced or supported it, and forms no part of the doctrine held by the Church regarding the Papal supremacy." {Ibid, pp. 227, 228.) Here Cardinal Wiseman teaches the senti- ments of the heretics, as stated hy Bellarmine. But how far his statements are correct concern- ing " the doctrine held by the Church regard- ing the Papal supremacy," we shall see as we proceed with our inquiry. Dr. Milner gives us the same view of the temporal power of the Pope as that presented by Cardinal Wiseman. He says : ^^ " It is not, then, the faith of this Church that the Pope has any civil or temporal supremacy by virtue of which he can depose princes, or give or take away the property of other per- sons out of his own domain ; for even the incarnate Son of God, from whom he derives the supremacy which he possesses, did not claim, here upon earth, any right of the above- mefitioned kind. On the contrary, he pos- * End of Controversy, pp. 282, 283. 14 POLITICAL ROMANISM, itively declared that his kingdom is not of this zvorld ! Hence, the Catholics of both our islands have, without impeachment even from Rome, denied, upon oath, that 'the Pope has any civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this realm.' But, as it is undeniable that dif- ferent Popes, in former ages, have pronounced sentence of deposition against certain contem- porary princes, and, as great numbers of theo- logians have held (though not as a matter of faith) that they had a right to do sOy it seems proper, by w^ay of mitigating the odium which Dr. Porteous and other Protestants raise against them on this head, to state the grounds on which the Pontiffs acted and the divines rea- soned in this business. Heretofore, the king- doms, principalities, and states composing the Latin Church, when they were all of the same religion, formed, as it were, one Christian re- public, of which the Pope was the accredited head. Now, as mankind have been sensible at all times that the duty of civil allegiance and submission can not extend beyond a certain point, and that they ought not to surrender their property, lives, and morality to be sported THE Q UESTION STA TED. 1 5 with by a Nero or a Heliogabalus, instead of deciding the nice point for themselves, when resistance became lawful, they thought it right to be guided by their chief pastor. The kings and princes themselves acknowledged this right in the Pope, and frequently applied to him to make use of his indirect temporal power, as ap- pears in numberless instances." The British ''Roman Catholic bishops, the vicars apostolic, and their coadjutors," in set- ting forth their views on the rights of the king and the power of the Pope, give the same view as that set forth by Cardinal Wiseman and Dr. Milner, as may be seen in Elliott on Roman- ism, vol. ii, pp. 167 and 8. Bishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, in his debate with Alexander Campbell, gives the same exposition of the temporal power of the Pope as that given by Wiseman and Milner, and quotes, with full approbation, from Bishop England's speech before the Congress of the United States, the following : * "We are now arrived at the place where we may easily find the origin and the extent of the Papal power of deposing sovereigns, and of * Campbell and Purcell's Debate, p. 344. 1 6 POLITICAL ROMANISM. absolving subjects from their oaths of allegi- ance. To judge properly of facts we must know their special circumstances, not their mere outline. The circumstances of Christen- dom were then widely different from those in which w^e now are placed. Europe was then under the feudal system. I have seldom found a writer, not a Catholic, who in treating of that age and that system, has been accurate, and who has not done us very serious injustice. But a friend of mine, who is a respectable member of your honorable body, has led me to read Hallam's account of it, and I must say that I have seldom met with so much candor, and w^hat I call so much truth. From reading his statement of that system it will be plainly seen that there existed among Christian potentates a sort of federation, in which they bound them- selves by certain regulations, and to the ob- servance of those they w^ere held not merely by their oaths but by various penalties ; sometimes they consented the penalty should be the loss of their station. It was, of course, necessary to ascertain that the fact existed before its con- sequences should be declared to follow ; it was also necessary to establish some tribunal to THE QUESTION STATED. 1/ examine and to decide as to the existence of the fact itself, and to proclaim that existence, x^mong independent sovereigns there was no superior, and it was natural to fear that mutual jealousy would create great difficulty in select- ing a chief, and that what originated in conces- sion might afterward be claimed as a right. They were, however, all members of one Church, of which the Pope was the head, and, in this respect, their common father; a7td by ttnivei'sal consent it was 7'egnlated that he should examine^ ascertain the fact, proclaim it, a^nd de- clare its consequences. Thus he did, in 7'eality, possess the power of deposing monarchs and of absolving their subjects front oaths of fealty, but only those monarchs who zvere members of that fedemtion, and in cases legally p7^ovided for, and by their concession, not by divine right, and dicr- ing the tenn of that federation and tlie existence of his commission. He governed the Church by divine right, he deposed kings and absolved subjects fror/i their allegiance by hitman conces- sion. I preach the doctrines of my Church by divine right, but I preach from this spot not by that right but by the permission of others. 2 1 8 POLITICAL ROMANISM, "It is not then a doctrine of our Church that the Pope has been divinely commissioned either to depose kings, or to interfere with re- publics, or to absolve the subjects of the former from their allegiance, or interfere with the civil concerns of the latter." "The following,'' says Dr. Elliott,* "are the opinions of the universities of Sorbonne, Lou- vain, Douay, Alcala, and Salamanca, on the temporal power of the Pope, and furnished to the English Roman Catholics at their re- quest : " I. That the Pope or cardinals, or any body of men, or any individual of the Church of Rome, has not, nor have any civil authority, power, jurisdiction, or pre-eminence whatsoever within the realm of England. " 2. That the Pope or cardinals, or any body of men, or any individual of the Church of Rome, can not absolve or dispense his maj- esty's subjects from their oath of allegiance, upon any pretext whatever. "3. That there is no principle in the tenets of the Catholic faith by which Catholics are justified in not keeping faith with heretics, or * Elliott on Romanism, vol. ii, p. 168. THE Q UESTION STA TED, 1 9 other persons differing from them in religious opinions, in any transactions either of a public or a private nature." I have been thus particular in giving so fully the views of the Galilean faction of the Romish Church on the temporal power of the Pope, which has been adopted from political considerations by the Roman Catholic divines of England and the United States, that every occasion may be taken away for accusing me of unfairness in presenting the views of Roman Catholics on this important question. I have given those who charge Protestants with mis- representing the doctrines and teachings of their Church the privilege of speaking out fully on this question, and explaining what they are pleased to call the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church in regard to the temporal power of the Pope. Before proceeding to pre- sent the real Catholic doctrine of the sitpreme temporal power of the Pope, as held and taught by the Popes themselves, their general councils, and their admitted standards of theology, I wish to make a few observations on the fore- going extracts. I. It is remarkable, that neither Cardinal 20 POLITICAL ROMANISM. Wiseman, Dr. Milner, Bishop England, nor the five universities referred to, give us a sin- gle authority from Pope, council, or canon law, to sustain their views, or rather their explana- tions of the temporal power of the Pope! Why is this ? They could not have been ignorant of the fact that their explanations of the doctrine of their Church, unless supported by a7tthoritative documents, were only their opinions, and of no binding force whatever. If it had been possible for them to have fortified their positions by authoritative documents, such as the acts and decrees of general councils, Papal bulls, decretals, etc., the circumstances under which they were placed make it certain that they would have produced them ; for their opponents, of whom they complained as mis- representing and slandering the Church of Rome, were continually presenting, in support of the charges they brought against her, the acts of her general councils, the bulls and de- cretals of her Popes, and the declarations of her canon law. Against these oAUhoritative documents, those learned Roman Catholic divines place their explanations of the temporal power of the Pope, unsupported by a single THE Q UESTION STA TED. 2 1 autJiojniy, and ask us to accept their unauthor- ized and unsupported explanations as the doc- trine of their Church on this important ques- tion ! 2. Every one of the above parties, when tiiey gave the opinions and explanations above, gave them with the distinct knowl- edge and understanding, that they were given not as authoritative statements of the views and teachings of the Church of Rome, but merely as opinions v^hich must be held '^sub- ject to the judgment of the Church." This Cardinal Wiseman states on page eight of the preface to the work from v/hich I quote. He says : *' I need not say, that in this publication, as in every other that proceeds from my pen, / completely subject myself to the jitdgnient of the ChiL7xh, and mean to presei^ve tJie strictest adher- ence to every thing that she teaches!' If the Church should condemn these opinions, every one of those v/ho have expressed them, if liv- ing, would renounce them also, for this is the very principle of Roman Catholicism. Conse- quently such documents and opinions are of no force whatever in controversy on this ques- 22 POLITICAL ROMANISM. tion, and none are more fully aware of this than are Roman Catholics themselves ; and the very fact that they rely on such documents, and bring up such testimony as this, in defend- ing their Church from the grave charges which are brought against her under this head, is proof positive of a conscious weakness of their cause. 3. The circumstances that called forth some of these declarations are strongly against those who hold the views they set forth on the tem- poral power of the Pope. The circumstances which called forth the declarations of the Uni- versities were of the most momentous char- acter to the Roman Catholics of Great Britain. They were struggling to obtain th^ir political rights ; but this very question of the temporal power of the Pope was in the way. The Brit- ish Government, after its sad experience for ten centuries with the See of Rome, was fear- ful of a return of former troubles, and it was guarding against the possibility of their recur- rence. The Roman Catholics, having learned priidence, at least, by their privations of polit- ical privileges, were anxious to have their disa- bilities removed ; but the claims of the Pope THE QUESTION STATED. 2^ and the teachings of the Church were in their way. So, instead of going to the authoritative acts and decrees of the Councils of the Church to learn what her real doctrines and the claims of her Pontiffs were, the British Catholics ap- pealed to the Universities, which they knew had no more power nor authority to declare what the claims of the Pope or the teach- ings of the Church were than they themselves had. The most effective way to quiet the fears of the Government would have been for them to show,/h?;^ the history of the past^ that those fears were groundless, and that the Pope made no claim to temporal supremacy. If my character is assailed in a certain point, the most effective method for me to adopt to vin- dicate myself is to go to the record I have made and show the charge is false. But this the British Catholics did not do, because they knew that the facts were all against them, and their only chance to make out a case in self- defense was to resort to yesuitical cunnings and get the testimony of the Universities, which would satisfy the unsuspecting, and, at the same time, it would be of no binding force, 24 POLITICAL ROMANISM. either on Pope, Council, or the Catholic subjects of the British Government. The same is also true, in a certain sense, concerning the speech of Bishop England be- fore the Congress of the United States. It is true Roman Catholics have never been de- prived of their political rights and privileges in this country; but the v/ell-known claims and character of their Church can not but cause uneasiness in the public mind for the safety of our free institutions, when we see the increase of Roman Catholicism in this country ; and it was to remove this uneasiness from the public mind that the Bishop made the address before Congress. But why did he not show, from the history of the past, that no such fe?trs need be entertained t This would have at once re- moved the whole difficulty, and set the public mind at rest on this question. But this is pre- cisely what that learned prelate would not at- tempt, because he knew too v/ell that the whole history of his Church was against the explana- tion he was attempting to give of the temporal power of the Roman Pontiff. 4. But it is here admitted by these learned Roman Catholic divines that ''it is undeniable'' THE QUESTION STATED, 25 that the Pope of Rome did dethrone kings and sovereign princes during the middle ages. The fact itself is fully admitted. But they tell us this was not done by " Divine 7nghtl' but by ''human concessionr Bishop England tells us that during the confusion that prevailed in me- diaeval times, in order to prevent difficulties that might arise among the princes of Christendom, they entered into ''a sort of federation," of which the Pope, .as the head of the Church, was the head, and therefore possessed the right to enforce, even by excommunication and depo- sition, the terms and agreements of their arti- cles of federation. He says : *'Thus he did, in reality, possess the power of deposing monarchs, and of absolving their subjects from oaths of fealty; but only those monarchs zvlio were members of that federation, and in the cases legally provided for, and by their concession, not by Divine right, and dur- ing the term of that federation and the exist- ence of his commission. He governed the Church by Divine rigJit, he deposed kings and absolved subjects from their allegiance by hu- man concession!' Unfortunately for Bishop England, and those 26 POLITICAL ROMANISM. who take this view, or rather give this explana- tioii of the temporal power of the Pope, all the facts of history are against them. The Pope never claimed the right to depose sovereigns, and release their subjects from their obligation of allegiance to them ^^ by htimmi concession^' but always by '' Divine right!' This I shall prove by the most undeniable facts of history. Now, just here is the point in controversy. Did the Popes of the middle ages claim the right to depose kings and absolve their subjects from their obligations of allegiance by "hu- man concession," as claimed by their modern apologists, or did they claim to exercise this prerogative over the kings of the earth by " Di- vine right," as the successor of St. Peter and the vicars of Jesus Christ.'^ If they claimed that right by "human concession," as here contended by Bishop England, Dr. Milner, Cardinal Wiseman, and others, then, as they contend, when the circumstances passed away which called that power into being, that power or right itself passed away also. But if, on the other hand, they claimed and exercised that power by " Divine right," as the successors of St. Peter and vicars of Jesus Christ, the THE QUESTION STATED, 2/ right inheres in the office of Pontiff, and can not pass away; for it is a right and power that inheres in Papacy itself A change of circumstances may come over the Papacy, and it may lose the power to enforce this right; but this does not impair the right in the least, and Pius IX has the same Divine and inalieji- able right to depose heretical sovereigns to-day as Gregory VII or Innocent III had. It is true, the circumstances of society during me- diaeval times were such as enabled the Popes practically to carry out their claim to temporal supremacy; but the claim itself did not origin- ate in that condition of society, nor in the con- sent of the princes of Christendom ; and should circumstances ever become such again (which may God in his mercy forbid), the same claim would be practically carried out by the Pope, as we shall conclusively prove in the following pages. 28 POLITICAL ROMANISM, CHAPTER II. BISHOP PURCELL ON THE TEMPORAL POWER— O. A-. BROWNSON ON GALIJCANISM. BEFORE giving the views of the Ultra- montane majority in the Church of Rome, which includes all her acknowledged standards, her Popes, her Councils, and her canon law, we will hear Bishop Pur cell once more. He says : " Christian charity and common sense, truth and justice, require imperatively that no one should be condemned without a hearing, or be charged with holding sentiments which he dis- avows. Here is the fullest, the clearest, the most unequivocal disavowal of the doctrine of the Pope's deposing power. We would be among the first to oppose him in its exercise ; and we would be neither heretics nor bad Catholics ; and we each of us bishops swear by the very words of the oath, ' Persequar et tnt- * Campbell and Purcell's Debate, p. 353. THE TEMPORAL POWER, 29 pugnaboy salvo meo ordine^ in the sense speci- fied, which is the only true sense, the assump- tion of any such power by the Pope, or the Pope for the assumption of any such power. '' For ten centuries this power was never CLAIMED BY ANY PoPE. It CAN, THEREFORE, BE NO PART OF CaTHOLIC DOCTRINE. It HAS NOT GAINED ONE FOOT OF LAND FOR THE PoPE. It IS NOT ANYWHERE BELIEVED OR ACTED UPON IN THE Catholic Church. Nor can IT BE, AT THIS LATE DAY, ESTABLISHED, IF ANY MAN COULD BE FOUND MAD ENOUGH TO MAKE THE ATTEMPT. Let thcse go before the Amer- ican people as the real principles of Catholics concerning the power of the Pope. And, if we must pronounce a judgment on the past, let it be remembered that when the Pope did use this power it was when appealed to as a com- mon father, and in favor of the oppressed." The capitals and italics in the above are his own. It is true. Christian charity forbids that a man should be charged with holding senti- ments which he disavows, tmless it is apparenty cr can be shozvny that he is endeavoring to con- ceal his I'cal sentiments ; then justice demands that his hypocrisy shall be made manifest by 30 POLITICAL ROMANISM, showing what his real sentiments are. Noth- ing is more common than for men who enter- tain sentiments subversive of the best interest of society to deny those sentiments, or attempt to explain them away, when they are pressed in debate. Now, I will not charge Bishop Purcell with holding sentiments which he here disavows ; but I will charge him with not pre- senting the real doctrine of the Roman Cath- olic Church on the temporal power of the Pope. Whatever may be his sentiments, or the sen- timents of his fellow-bishops in this country, the above extract does not present the senti- ments of the Roman Catholic Church, as we shall very soon demonstrate. Nor can Bishop Purcell, nor any other bishop, nor all the bish- ops in the United States in council assembled, give us authoritatively the views of the Church on this or any other question. This can only be done by the head of the Church, the Pope, or a General Council, over which he or his legates preside. To this testimony we intend to appeal from this attempt to cover up the real sentiments of the Romish Church, and show that her authoritative teaching is diamet- rically opposed to the declarations of Bishop GALLICANISM, 3 1 Purcell, and the Galilean teachings in general. I do not want the reader to forget the last sentence quoted from Bishop Purcell : " And if we must pronounce a judgment on the past, let it be remembered that when the Pope did use this power it was when appealed to as a common father, and in favor of the oppressed ! '* We shall see, as we proceed, how fully this declaration of the Bishop is sustained by the facts of history. Indeed, I am surprised that any man at all conversant with the facts of history should make such a reckless state- ment — a statement contradicted by the whole history of the Papal despotism. We will now hear what one of the ablest de- fenders of Catholicism in the United States has to say on this Gallican doctrine of the tem- poral power of the Pope — Dr. O. A. Brownson, in his Review, one of the ablest Catholic jour- nals ever published in America, outspoken and ultramontane in the extreme, and indorsed by twenty-five Catholic bishops in this country, among whom is John Baptist, Bishop of Cin- cinnati. In his review of a work written by M. Gosselin, a Gallican writer, on ''The Power of the Popes during the Middle Ages," in 32 POLITICAL ROMANISM, which the writer takes precisely the position taken by Cardinal Wiseman, Dr. Milner, Bishop England, and Bishop Purcell, Dr. Brownson says : * " This excellent author, no doubt, believes that he has hit upon a theory which enables him to vindicate the conduct of the Popes and councils of the middle ages, in their relations to temporal sovereigns, without incurring the odium attached to the higher ground of Divine right, and this, he will pardon us for believing, is his chief motive for elaborating and defending it. He can not be unaware that the doctrine he rejects is the most logical, the miost con- sonant to Catholic instincts, the most honor- able to the dignity and majesty of the Papacy, or that it has undeniably the weight of au- .thority on its side. The principal Catholic authorities are certainly in favor of the Divine right, and the principal authorities v/hich he is able to oppose to them are of parliaments, sovereigns, jurisconsults, courtiers, and pre- lates and doctors, who sustained the temporal powers in their wars against the Popes. The *Brownson's Review for 1854, as quoted by M'Clintock, pp. 94, seq. GALLICANISM. 33 Gallican doctrine was, from the first, the doc- trine of the courts in opposition to that of the Vicars of Jesus Christ, and should therefore be regarded by every Catholic with suspicion. M. Gosselin can not be ignorant of this, and therefore we must believe that he is attached to his theory principally from prudential con- siderations." Dr. Brownson here states the truth in regard to Gallicanism fully. It is, and always has been "the doctrine of the courts," and time- serving "prelates and doctors," and was never the doctrine of Rome, but has always been condemned by the Popes and Councils. Dr. Brownson states an "undeniable" fact that the reader must not forget, and that is, " the weight of authority" is on the side of the Divine right of the temporal power of the Pope. But this learned reviewer continues : "We do not like M. Gosselin's theory; we do not believe it, and could not believe it, without violence to our whole understanding of the Catholic system of truth. The author, in prin- ciple, is a. thorough-going Gallican, and, if he defends the illustrious Pontiffs who have been so maligned by non-Catholics and courtiers, he 3 34 POLITICAL ROMANISM, does it on principles which seem to us to humiliate them and degrade them to the rank of mere secular princes. His theory, at first view, may have a plausible appearance, but it is illusory, like all other theories invented to recommend the Church to her enemies, or to escape the odium always attached to truth by the world. In saying this, we are not ignorant that many whom we love and respect embrace that theory in part, and explain and defend by it the temporal power exercised by Popes and Councils over sovereigns in the middle ages. They do not, indeed, agree with M. Gosselin in his denial that the Popes held that power by Divine right, but they think it suffices to ex- plain and defend it on the ground of human right. They agree with us as to the suprem- acy of the spiritual order, and the temporal jurisdiction of the Popes, but they think that all the objections of non-Catholics can be ade- quately and honestly answered without taking such high ground, and the ground of human right being sufficient and less offensive, it should, in prudence, be adopted, and the other doctrine be passed under the disciplina arcani. They therefore disapprove of the course we GALLICANISM. 35 take, and wish we would content ourselves with more moderate views, not because we are uncatholic, but because we are imprudent, and subject Catholics to unnecessary odium." In this paragraph Dr. Brownson suffers his temerity to get the better of his judgment, and he lets out a fact that it is exceedingly im- portant that the people of the United States should know ; that is, that many of those Ro- man Catholic divines, who explain the tem- poral supremacy of the Pope during the mid- dle ages, as M. Gosselin, Bishop England, Bishop Purcell, and the Gallicans in general do when talking to non-Catholics, that is, when speaking before the public, agree with him "as to the supremacy of the spiritual order, and the temporal jurisdiction of the Popes!" They simply think him "imprudent." He speaks out too plainly, and, therefore, they would adopt the "less offensive" ground of "human right" in their public teachings before non-Catholics, while the doctrine of "Divine right" they would "pass under the disciplina arcaiii, " This disciplina a7xani, under which these Romish teachers would have their 7'eal doctrine on the question of the Pope's tem- 36 POLITICAL ROMANISM. poral supremacy pass, is the secret discipline^ or doctrine which is only revealed and taught to the initiated. This disciplina arcani has for centuries past been the refuge of Roman Catholic divines when pressed for authority for the corrupt practices and doctrines of their Church. Here Dr. Brownson tells the whole story on his brethren and friends, and lets out their secret. They agree with him, but they do not think it prudent in this country of free institutions, at least for the present, to speak out as he does. They will adopt the Galilean explanation before the public to allay the sus- picions and fears of non-Catholics, but they will hold their ultramontane views as a part of the disciplina arcani, the secret discipline and doc- trine of the Church which only the initiated are instructed in, and which non-Catholics have no business with until they get strong enough to enforce it, and then they will not hesitate to let us know their real sentiments. But the most remarkable thing in this whole paragraph is, "they think that all the objec- tions of non-Catholics can be adequately and honestly answered" by taking the ground of '' human right ! " Now how can any man think GALLICANISM. 3/ he is honestly answering "the objections of non-Catholics'' when he is stating what he knows to be false, arguing against his own convictions, and publicly and solemnly declar- ing that the Church holds the doctrine of the temporal supremacy of the Popes in the middle ages as originating in "human concessions'* and not in " Divine right," while he holds, and the Church holds with him, as a part of the secret doctrine, that the temporal supremacy of the Pope is of "Divine right," and not by "hu- man concessions " at all ! It will take a Jesuit to answer this question. No man can recon- cile such a course with honesty who does not hold that detestable and immoral doctrine of the Jesuits: "The end justifies the means." Roman Cathohc prelates may deny that such is the maxim of the Jesuits, but while men will act thus, and claim they are acting hon- estly, they can vindicate their conduct on no other principle. The end here sought is the subjugation of this country under the tem- poral jurisdiction and supremacy of the Pope; the means, is the denial, before the public — to non-Catholics, that the Pope claims, or the Church teaches any such supremacy ; this doc- 38 POLITICAL ROMANISM. trine is to be passed under the disciplina arcani^ and to be carefully taught to the initiated — those who will bear it, until the Church gets power sufficient to enforce her claims, and then, when it is too late to remedy the evil, we will be made fully to understand the claims of the Church, and the supremacy of the Pope ! This is the programme laid out for the emissaries of the Pope to carry out in this country, and this is the role they are now playing. Dr. Brownson, however, was a little too sanguine, being rather a young convert, and he lacked pmde^tce and let the secret out, and for this he deserves the thanks of all Protestants, and all true lovers of their coun- try. This is a charge brought against the Roman Catholic divines and teachers of the United States, not by their enemies, if so, the statement might be doubted ; but it is the testimony of one of the ablest defenders of the Roman Catholic Church in America, and who is thoroughly acquainted with the ques- tion, and who fully understands the plans and operations of that Church in this country. This one paragraph speaks volumes on the question before us, and the facts which Dr. ' GALLICANISM, 39 Brownson here reveals in self-justification, ought never to be forgotten by the lovers of civil and religious liberty. They reveal a deep- laid conspiracy against our liberties, to be car- ried on in the dark until such time as it will be safe to strike, and then its full extent and real objects will be fully manifested. Dr. Brownson, in vindicating his course fur- ther, in speaking out so plainly on the tem- poral supremacy of the Pope, against those prudent brethren, who do not disagree with his views, but who do not like to have him speak out so fully on this question because it "sub- jects Catholics to unnecessary odium," says : " We found a very general disposition among the Catholic laity to separate religion from politics, to emancipate politics from the Chris- tian law, to vote God out of the State, and to set up the people against the Almighty. Was this, in these revolutionary times, to be passed over in silence and no effort made to arrest the tide of political atheism.^ We saw our holy father driven into exile, we saw large numbers of nominal Catholics rejoicing at the impious usurpations of Mazzini & Co., sympathizing with the infamous assassins and parricides who, 40 POLITICAL ROMANISM. in the name of liberty and democracy, were seeking to overthrow the Papacy, and destroy the world's last hope. What was then our plain duty ? Was it not to assert the supremacy of God, the jurisdiction of the spiritual power, to expose the fatal error of Gallicanism, and, as far as we could, exhibit the real position of the Papacy in the Catholic system? So we have felt, and so we have done. We have always be- lieved it the duty of every publicist to defend the outraged truth, the truth that for the time being is the least popular, the most offensive to public opinion, therefore the most needed, and the most endangered. The popular truth, the truth which nobody questions, stands in no need of any special defense. It is the un- popular truth, as the unpopular cause, attacked by all the armies of error, and deserted by all its timid and time-serving friends, that calls for defenders, and that the Christian hero, or the really brave man, will make it his first duty to defend. ... If we had not found Catholics bringing out an erroneous doctrine on relig- ious liberty, and endeavoring to prove that Catholicity approves of religious liberty in the sense it is asserted by non-Catholics, we should GALLICANISM, 4I not have taken up the subject. ... As the denial of spiritual authority soon leads to a denial of the temporal, so a denial of the temporal soon leads to a denial of the spiritual. When we found democracy, even by nominal Catholics, embraced in that sense in which it denies all law, and asserts the right of the people, or rather of the mob, to do whatever they please, and making it criminal in us to dispute their infallibility, we felt that we must bring out the truth against them, and if scan- dal resulted, we were not its cause. The re- sponsibility rests on those whose obsequious- ness to the multitude made our opposition necessary. ... In proportion, as we wish to save religion and society, we must raise our voice against Gallicanism, turn to the holy father, and, instead of weakening his . hands and saddening his heart by our denial i of his plenary authority, re-assert his temporal* as well as spiritual prerogatives. We have no hope but in God, and God helps us only through Peter, and Peter helps us only through his suc- cessors, in whom he still lives and exercises his apostolate. Blame not us, then, if there are scandals, but them rather whose errors or 42 POLITICAL ROMANISM. whose timidity, whose indolence or worldly- mindedness have caused them, and made our course a painful duty." Dr. Brownson had evidently not learned the lessons of the Jesuits well when he penned the above article, or he never would have spoken out so much honest truth in regard to the claims of the Roman Catholic Church on the temporal supremacy of the Pope. It can not be denied that Dr. Brownson has as good op- portunities of knowing wJiat ^^ the real position of the Papacy in the Catholic system " is, as any man in America, and here we have his unequivocal testimony sustaining our position. He denounces those persons who hold and teach such sentiments as Bishop England, Bishop Purcell, Dr. Milner, etc., as timid, time- servers, obsequious, and their doctrine as " the fatal error of Gallicanism ! " We commend this article in Brownson's Review to the care- ful consideration of John B. Purcell, Arch- bishop of Cincinnati, and we hope it will teach him to be a little more orthodox on the ques- tion of the temporal power of the Pope. THE POPES' RIGHT OVER KINGS. 43 CHAPTER III. DR. BROWNSON ON THE RIGHT OF THE POPES TO DEPOSE KINGS. WE will now hear what Dr. Brownson says in regard to the right by which the Popes of the middle ages deposed kings and sovereign princes, and we shall see that he takes the true Roman Catholic view of this question also. He says : * ''We have said that we believe Catholic dogma requires us to maintain at least the indirect temporal authority of the Popes or to forswear our logic, by which we evidently mean, not that it is Catholic dogma, but a strict logical deduction from it." Catholic writers sometimes try to dodge the force of the arguments of their opponents on *Brownson's Review, April, 1854, p. 191; quoted by M'Clintock on *'the Temporal Power of the Pope," pp. 73 to 76. 44 POLITICAL ROMANISM. this question, by stating that the "temporal power of the Pope is not an article of faith in the Roman Catholic Church." But every one knows, who understands the requirements of that Church, that her authority does not ex- tend only to matters of faith, but it embraces also morals and discipline as fully as it does matters of faith. This is a matter or question of discipline, and therefore as binding as mat- ters of faith. But more of this hereafter. Dr. Brownson here, however, gives the true view of the question. It is "a strict logical deduction " from the dogma, or faith of the Church, as any one capable of drawing a log- ical conclusion from the plainest premises can see at once. But he continues : " Now, although we do not say that the Church commissions the State, or imposes the condi- tions on which it holds its right to govern, yet as it holds under the law of Christ, and on conditions imposed by that law, we do say that she, as the guardian and judge of that law, must have the power to take cognizance of the State, and to judge whether it does or does not conform to the conditions of its trust, and to pronounce sentence accordingly ; which sen- THE POPES' RIGHT OVER KINGS, 45 tence ought to have immediate practical execu- tion in the temporal order, and the temporal power that resists it is not only faithless to its trust but guilty of direct rebellion against God, the only real Sovereign, the Fountain of all law, and Source of all rights in the temporal order as in the spiritual." The reasoning here from the premises laid down by the Roman Catholic Church is wholly conclusive. Now, either the premises are false or the conclusion is inevitable. It is a matter of faith, an article of Roman Catholic dogma, that the Church is the "guardian and judge of the law of Christ;" that she has the right "to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures." This being the case, it necessarily follows that all who are subject to the law of Christ are subject to the Church as "the Divinely appointed guardian and judge of that law." The law of Christ regulates the duties of rulers and subjects, therefore the du- ties of rulers and subjects must legitimately come before the bar of the Church, and she, as the Divinely appointed judge of the law, must apply the law and affix the penalty. Dr. B.'s reasoning can not be answered, if we admit 46 POLITICAL ROMANISM. his premises, and his premises all Roman Catholics admit as an article of faith ! But he still goes on : " She mtcst have the right to take cognizance of the fidelity of subjects, since they are bound to obey the legitimate prince for conscience' sake, and therefore of the manner in which princes discharge their duties to their subjects, and to judge and declare whether they have or have not forfeited their trusts, and lost their right to reign or to command the obedience of their subjects. The deposing power, then, is inherent in her as the spiritual authority, as the guardian and judge of the law under which kings and emperors hold their crowns and have the right co reign ; for in deposing a sovereign, absolving his subjects from their allegiance, and authorizing them to proceed to the choice of a new sovereign, she does but apply the law of Christ to a particular case, and judicially declare what is already true by that law. She only declares that the forfeiture has occurred, and that subjects are released from their oath of fidelity who are already released by the law of God. " This power which we claim for the Church THE POPES' RIGHT OVER KINGS. 47 over temporals is not \\.^^i precisely a temporal pozver. We are, indeed, not at liberty to assert that the Church has no temporal authority, for that she has no temporal authority, di- rect or indirect, is a condemned proposition — condemned, if we are not mistaken, by our present holy father, in his condemnation of the work on canon law by Professor Nuytz, of Tu- rin — and we have seen that she has even di- rect temporal authority by Divine right ; but the power we are now asserting, though a power over temporals, is itself, strictly speak- ing, a spiritual power, held by a spiritual per- son, and exerted for a spiritual end. The tem- poral order by its own nature, or by the fact that it exists in the present decree of God only for an end not in its own order, is subjected to the spiritual, and consequently every question that does or can arise in the temporal order is indirectly a spiritual question, and within the jurisdiction of the Church as the spiritual authority, and therefore of the Pope, who, as the supreme chief of the Church, possesses that authority in all its plenitude. The Pope, then, even by virtue of his spiritual authority, has the power to judge all temporal questions, if 48 POLITICAL ROMANISM, not precisely as temporal, yet as spiritual — for all temporal questions are to be decided by their relation to the spiritual — and therefore has the right to pronounce sentence of deposi- tion against any sovereign, when required by the good of the spiritual order ^^If the Church is the spiritual power, with the right to declare the law of Christ for all men and nations, can any act of the State, in contravention of her canons, be regarded as law ? The most vulgar common sense answers that it can not. Tell us, then, even supposing the Church to have only spiritual power, what question can come up between man and man, between sovereign and sovereign, between sub- ject and sovereign, or sovereign and subject, that does not come within the legitimate juris- diction of the Church, and on which she has not by Divine right the power to pronounce a judicial sentence ? None. Then the power he exercised over sovereigns in the middle ages w^as not a usurpation, was not derived from the concession of princes, or the consent of the people, but was, and is, his by Divine right, and whoso resists it rebels against the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the THE POPES' RIGHT OVER KINGS, 49 ground upon which we defend the power exer- cised over sovereigns by Popes and Councils in the middle ages." Again, Dr. Brownson, in the April number of his Review for 1854, in reviewing the work of M. Gosselin, before referred to, says : * "All history fails to 3how an instance in which the Pope, in deposing a temporal sover- eign, professes to do it by the authority vested in him by the pious belief of the faithful, gen- erally received maxims, the opinion of the age, the concession of sovereigns, or civil constitu- tion and public laws of Catholic States. On the contrary, he always claims to do it by authority committed to him as the successor of the Prince of the apostles, by the authority of his apostolic ministry, by the authority committed to him of binding and loosing, by the authority of Almighty God, of Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, whose min- ister, though unworthy, he asserts that he is — or some such formula, which solemnly and ex- pressly sets forth that his authority is held by Divine right, by virtue of his ministry, and ex- * M'Clintock on the Temporal Power of the Pope, pp. 97, 98, and 99. 4 50 POLITICAL ROMANISM. ercised solely in his character of vicar of Jesus Christ on earth. To this we believe • there is not a single exception. Wherever the Popes cite their titles, they never, so far as we can find, cite a human title, but always a Divine title. Whence is this } Did the Popes cite a false title } Were they ignorant of their own title?" Here the true doctrine of Rome is set forth, that ^//questions of every class must be viewed as spiritual^ and, as such, the Church has su- preme jurisdiction over them as the Divinely constituted guardian and judge of the law of Christ; and this supreme authority of the Church is vested in the Pope as the head of the Church and vicar of Jesus Christ in all its plenitude ! Here again it is asserted that no law of the State, contravening the canons of the Church, can '^be regarded as law." This is the doctrine of the Church of Rome to-day, and has been attempted to be carried into practical effect by the reigning Pontiff, Pius IX. This doctrine of the Church of Rome stands diametrically opposed to every principle of our Government ; and, should it prevail in this country, it would overthrow our free insti- THE POPES' RIGHT OVER KINGS. 5 I tutions, and establish an absolute spiritual and political despotism under the supreme autoc- racy of the Pope. This is the aim of the Romish hierarchy in this country, as we shall show conclusively, and it therefore becomes every lover of his country, every friend of free government, to watch closely the movements of this, great enemy of human liberty and progress in our midst, and not permit it to lay its polluted hands upon the fair fabric of our glorious and free institutions. But Dr. Brown- son continues : *^ There are documents enough in which the Pope not only excommunicates, but solemnly deposes a prince, and in these very documents we find the title set forth, and the only title set forth is that derived from his apostolic ministry. Never does the Pope profess to de- pose, any more than to excommunicate, by vir- tue of any other than a Divine title. What- ever he does in the case, he always professes to do it by his supreme jurisdiction as the vicar of Jesus Christ, and the successor of Peter, the prince of the apostles. That the Popes will- fully erred, M. Gosselin can not pretend. . . . " One of two things, it seems to us, must be 52 POLITICAL ROMANISM. admitted, if we have regard to the undeniable facts in the case, namely, either the Popes usurped the authority they exercised over the sovereigns in the middle ages, or they pos- sessed it by virtue of their title as vicars of Jesus Christ on earth. We do not, therefore, regard M. Gosselin's theory as tenable ; and we count his attempted defense of the Pope on the ground of human right a failure." We would commend the above passage to the careful consideration of Archbishop Pur- cell, and those Roman Catholic prelates who agree with him, and quote with approbation the explanation which Bishop England gives of the temporal power of the Pope, and his deposition of kings and princes during the middle ages. The facts and arguments, as well as the *' weight of authority," are all on the side of Dr. Brownson, and against the Galileans. But Dr. B. continues : "There is, in our judgment, but one valid defense of the Popes in their exercise of tem- poral authority in the middle ages over sover- eigns, and that is that they possess it by Divine right, or that the Pope holds that authority by virtue of his commission from Jesus Christ as THE POPES' RIGHT OVER KINGS. 53 the successor of St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, and visible head of the Church. Any defense of them on lower ground must, in our judgment, fail to meet the real points in the case, and is rather an evasion than a fair, hon- est, direct, and satisfactory reply. To defend their power as an extraordinary power, or as an accident in Church history, growing out of the peculiar circumstances, civil constitutions, and laws of the times, now passed away, perhaps forever, may be regarded as less likely to dis- please non-Catholics, and to offend the sensi- bilities of power than to defend it on the ground of Divine right, and as inherent in the Divine constitution of the Church; but, even on the low ground of policy, we do not think it the wisest in the long run. Say what we will, we can gain little credit with those we would concihate. Always, to their minds, will the temporal power of the Pope by Divine right loom up in the distance, and always will they believe, however individual Catholics here and there may deny it, or nominal Catholic governments oppose it, that it is the real Ro- man Catholic doctrine, to be re-asserted and acted the moment that circumstances render 54 POLITICAL ROMANISM, it prudent or expedient. We gain nothing with them but doubts of our sincerity, and we only weaken among ourselves that warm and generous devotion to the holy father which is due from every one of the faithful, and which is so essential to the prosperity of the Church in her unceasing struggles with the godless powers of this world." We can but admire the honesty of Dr. Brownson in speaking out so candidly and fully the real sentiments and doctrines of the Romish Church on the temporal power of the Pope, and we shall see, by the authentic docu- ments of the Church, that he does here pre- sent her real doctrine on this point, in opposi- tion to the Galileans and the time-serving and Jesuitical ultramontanes, who agree with him, but who would have their real sentiments "passed under the disciplina arcani^'' and on the ground of policy adopt the ground of hu- man right when speaking to non-Catholics. CARDINAL BELLARMINE. 55 CHAPTER IV. POSITION OF CARDINAL BELLARMINE. CARDINAL BELLARMINE thus states and argues the question of the temporal power : "That the Pope, as Pope, although he has not any merely temporal power, hath never- theless, in order to a spiritual good, the su- preme power of disposing of the temporal con- cerns of all Christians. " That the Pope can not, as Pope, ordinarily depose temporal princes, even for just cause, in the same manner in which he deposes bish- ops — that is, as ordinary judge. Yet he can change the kingdoms, and take away from one, and confer on another, as supreme spiritual prince, if that is necessary for the salvation of souls. " This doctrine may be proved in a twofold way, namely, by reasons and examples. 56 POLITICAL ROMANISM. " The First Reason. The civil power is sub- ject to the spiritual power, when each is a part of the same Christian republic ; for the spirit- ual prince can govern temporal princes, and dispose of temporal affairs, for the purpose of a spiritual good, because every superior can gov- ern his own inferiors. "For the political power, as such, not only as it is Christian, but also as political, is subject to the ecclesiastical power. This is demon- strated: I. From the ends of each; for a tem- poral, or civil end, is subordinate to a spiritual end. This is plain, because a temporal felicity is not absolutely an ultimate end, so that it can be referred to eternal felicity. 2. Kings and Pontiffs, clergymen and laymen, do not make two republics, but one, that is, one Church ; for we are all one body : Romans xii ; I Corinthians xii. But in every body the members are connected, and depend the one upon another. But it can not be properly said that spiritual things depend on temporal ; therefore, temporal things depend on spiritual things, and are subjected to them. 3. If a tem- poral administration impedes a spiritual good, in the judgment of all, the temporal prince is CARDINAL BELLARMINE. 57 bound to change that mode of administration, although it may be with the loss of a temporal good. Therefore, the standard is, that the temporal, or civil power, is to be subject to the spiritual. '* The Second Reason. The ecclesiastical state ought to be perfect and sufficient in itself, in order to obtain its own end. Such are all well-constituted states ; therefore, it ought to have every power necessary to accomplish its own end. But the power of using and dispos- ing of temporal, or civil things, is necessary to the spiritual end, because, otherwise, bad princes could, with impunity, cherish heretics, and overthrow religion. Therefore the spirit- ual power hath this authority. *' Furthermore, any state, because it ought to be perfect and sufficient of itself, ought to govern another state not subject to it, and force it to change its administration, nay, even to depose its prince, and institute another when it can not otherwise defend itself from the in- juries of the other. Therefore, much more can the spiritual kingdom govern the temporal state subject to it, and force it to change its administration, and deoose princes, and insti- 58 POLITICAL ROMANISM. tute others, when it can not otherwise accom- plish its own spiritual good ; and in this sense are to be understood the words of Bernard, lib. iv, de Consideratione ; and of Boniface VIII, in the Extravagant, Unam Sancta77t, on superi- ority and obedience, where he says that each sword is under the power of the Pope. {Cor- pus yur. Can, Extrav. Coin,, lib. i, tit. 3, cap. i.) Their meaning is, that the Pontiff possesses himself, and properly, the spiritual sword, and because the temporal sword is subject to the spiritual, the Pope can govern the king, or in- terdict the use of the temporal sword when the necessity of the Church requires it. " And such is the meaning of St. Bernard's words, which Boniface imitates. ^Why do you,' says he, addressing the Pope, ^endeavor at length to take up the sword which you once commanded to be put in the scabbard.^ He w^ho denies this sword to be thine, does not sufficiently attend to the Word of the Lord, who says thus: "Put thy sword into the sheath." Therefore, thy sword, and his, perhaps, by thy nod, is to be drawn out, not by thy hand ; otherwise, if in no manner it pertains to thee, we can not account for the saying of the apos- CARDINAL BELLARMINE. 59 tie : " Behold, here are two swords." The Lord does not say it is too much, but it is enough. Each, therefore, belongs to the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material sword. But the latter is to be exercised for the Church, and the former by the Church. The one is to be used by the hand of the priest, the other by the hand of the soldier, but at the nod of the priest and the command of the emperor.' '' Here, also, it is to be observed, that when heretics reprehend the Extravagant of Boniface as erroneous, arrogant, tyrannical — for so they speak concerning it in general — they are to be admonished that they should consider that these are the words of Bernard in his books on Consideration. And without praising him, Calvin would seem to say, that Bernard spoke, in these books, as truth itself would seem to speak. " The Thifd Reason, It is not lawful for Christians to tolerate an infidel king or a heretic, if he should endeavor to draw away his subjects to his heresy, or to infidelity; but to judge whether the king does or does not draw them away to heresy belongs to the Pope, to 6o POLITICAL ROMANISM, whom is committed the care of religion ; there- fore, it belongs to the Pope to judge whether the king is to be deposed or not to be de- posed. '' The proposition on this argument is proved from Deuteronomy xvii, where the people are prohibited to choose a king who is not of their brethren, that is, not a Jew, lest he would draw away the Jews to idolatry. Therefore, Chris- tians are also prohibited to choose a king who is not a Christian, for this is a moral precept and supported by moral equity. Again, it is a matter of danger and loss to choose one not a Christian, and not to depose one not a Chris- tian ; therefore Christians are bound not to suffer over them a king not a Christian, if he should endeavor to draw away people from the faith. But I add this condition for the sake of infidel princes who had dominion over their people, before the people were converted to the faith ; for if such princes do not endeavor to take away the faithful from the path, I do not think they should be deprived of their dominion, although St. Thomas thinks the contrary on 2. 2. quest. 10, art. 10; but if these same princes should endeavor to turn people CARDINAL BELLARMINE, 6 1 from the faith, by the consent of all, they could and ought to be deprived of their dominion. ''Moreover, to tolerate a heretical king, or an infidel, endeavoring to draw away men to his sect, is to expose religion to the most evi- dent peril ; for such as the ruler of the city is, such also are the inhabitants in it: Ecclesi- astes x; and also this proverb: The whole world copies the example of the king. And experience teaches the same; for because Jeroboam, the king, was an idolater, the greater part of the kingdom began to wor- ship idols : I Kings x ; and after the coming of Christ, in the reign of Constantine, Chris- tianity flourished ; in the reign of Constantius, Arianism flourished ; in the reign of Julian, Heathenism again flourished ; in England, in our own times, in the reign of Henry, and afterward, under Edward, the whole nation apostatized from the faith ; in the reign of Mary, the whole nation again returned to the Church ; in the reign of Elizabeth, Calvinism again began to reign, and the true religion went into exile. *' But Christians are not required, nay, they ought not, to tolerate an infidel king at the 62 POLITICAL ROMANISM. evident danger of religion ; for when Divine right and human right are opposed, Divine . right ought to be preserved at the expense of human right ; for it is a matter of Divine right to preserve the true faith and religion, which is one only, and not many. It is a matter of human right that we should have this or that king. " Finally, why can not a believing people be freed from the yoke of an infidel king who is leading them to infidelity, if a believing husband is free from the obligation of remaining with an unbelieving wife, when he is unwilHng to remain with a Christian wife, without injury to the faith, as is manifest from Paul: i Cor- inthians vii. Innocent III on the Canon Law. (Decret. Greg. IX, lib. iv, tit. 19, cap. 8, Gaudeamus) For the power of a husband over a wife is not less than that of a king over his subjects, and sometimes is greater. " The Fourth Reason, When kings and princes came to the Church that they might become Christians, they are received with this express condition, either expressed or understood, that their scepters should be subject to Christ, and they promise that they shall preserve and de- CARDINAL BELLARMINE. 63 fend the faith of Christ, even under the pain of losing their kingdoms. When, therefore, they become heretics, or oppose religion, they can be judged by the Church, and even deposed from their dominion; nor is there any injury done them should they be deposed. For he is not fit for the sacrament of baptism who is not ready to serve Christ, and for his sake lose whatsoever he now possesses. Luke xiv : ' If any one cometh to me, and hateth not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, nay, even his own life, he can not be my disciple.' Moreover, the Church would err very much if she should tol- erate any king who would, with impunity, cherish any sect, and defend heretics, and over- turn religion. " The Fifth Reason, When it is said to Peter, ^Feed my sheep,' John xxi, every power is given to him which is necessary to tend the flock.. But a threefold power is necessary for the pastor, namely, one respecting the wolves, that he might drive them av/ay in any manner he can ; another respecting the rams, that if any of them should hurt the flock with his horns, he could shut them in and prevent them, that they should not thereafter lead astray the 64 POLITICAL ROMANISM, flock ; the third is about the other sheep, that he would furnish to each of them suitable food. Therefore this triple power hath the supreme Pontiff." " Bellarmine de Rom. Pontiff, lib. v, cap. 7, tom. i, pages 1071 to 1075/' (M'Clin- tock on the Temporal Power of the Pope, pages 112 to 116.) On the foregoing extract from Cardinal Bel- larmine we remark: 1. He was born in 1542, and during his youth, and while he was prosecuting his studies in theology, the Council of Trent was in session, and he thus had abundant oppor- tunity to understand the real doctrines and sentiments of that inspired (?) body; and was in that period of life when the mind is sus- ceptible of receiving the most profound and indelible impressions, during the most im- portant part of that celebrated Council. 2. He was the most learned controversial Roman Catholic writer of his time, and his position as "lecturer in Controversial Divin- ity," in the new college {Collegmm Romaniini) which had just been founded in Rome, and as "librarian of the Vatican," gave him the best opportunity of understanding fully the real CARDINAL BELLARMINE. 65 • doctrine of the Church in regard to the tem- poral power. 3. He Hved in an age when this, with every other claim of the Papacy, was assailed by the Protestant theologians and princes, and when every claim of the Church of Rome was un- dergoing the most rigid investigation ; and he stood forth in the very van of the hosts of the Papacy, and his theological battles were fought under the very eye of the Popes who filled the Papal Chair during his public life ; and his able defense of the Papacy and of the Church won for him the highest honors in the gift of his master. 4. His writings have been recognized for more than two centuries and a half as of the highest authority among the standard works of controversial theology in the Church of Rome. Under these circumstances we must regard him as setting forth the real doctrine of the Church on the question of the temporal power. 5. We have here the most unequivocal declaration of the Divine right of the Pope to exercise supreme power over " the temporal concerns of all Christians," and that " he can S 66 POLITICAL ROMANISM, change the kingdoms, and take away from one and confer on another, as supreme spiritual prince, if that is necessary for the salvation of souls." 6. We have also the doctrine expressly set forth that "the civil power is subject to the spiritual power, when each is a part of the same Christian republic, for the spiritual prince can govern temporal princes, and dispose of temporal affairs, for the purpose of a spiritual good, because every superior can govern his own inferiors/' Here the doctrine of the Pa- pacy is set forth in regard to the superiority of the ecclesiastical over the civil government, and the consequent right of the Pope to gov- ern temporal princes, because they are inferior to him. 7. Here we have, also, the express declara- tion that "the political power, as such, not only as it is Christian, but also as political, is subject to the ecclesiastical power.'' This is the doctrine of Rome, and has been for a thousand years, and is held to-day by all true Roman Catholics, as fully as it was by Bellar- mine in the sixteenth century. Here we are also explicitly taught that both the spiritual and CARDINAL DELLARMINE, 6/ the material swords belong to the Church : *'But the latter is to be exercised for the Church, and the former by the Church. The one is to be used by the hand of the priest, the other by the hand of the soldier, but at the nod of the priest and the command of the em- peror.'* The history of the Church of Rome during the middle ages is a fearful illustration of the doctrine here set forth by Bellarmine, and had she the power to-day, there are not wanting evidences to show clearly that she would prove true to her doctrine, and to her ancient practice. 8. But here we are told further, that "it is not lawful for Christians to tolerate an infidel king, or a heretic, if he should endeavor to draw away his subjects to his heresy, or to in- fidelity." Again, '' Moreover, to tolerate a he- retical king, or an infidel, endeavoring to draw away men to his sect, is to expose religion to the most imminent peril." And again, "But Christians are not required, nay, they ought not to tolerate an infidel king at the evident danger of religion." And finally, we are here told, " Moreover, the Church would err very much if she should tolerate any king who 68 POLITICAL ROMANISM, would, with impunity, cherish any sect, and defend heretics, and overturn religion." Here we have the doctrine of Rome laid down, that *'it is not lawful" for the Church to tolerate any king or government that cherishes or tol- erates any sect or heresy, nor was the Church ever known to "err" in this respect, by tol- erating such king or government, when she had the power to enforce her claim to supreme temporal authority. 9. But to complete this claim to absolute temporal supremacy over the kings and gov- ernments of the earth, we are here told, "to judge whether the king does or does not draw them away to heresy belongs to the Pope, to whom is committed the care of re- ligion ; therefore, it belongs to the Pope to judge whether the king is to be deposed or not to be deposed.^' How different are the teachings of this emi- nent Italian Cardinal, who wrote in the de- fense of the Papacy right under the eye of his master, and the declarations of the special pleaders for the Pope in England and the United States, where the pressure in favor of political and religious freedom, and against CARDINAL BELLARMINE, 69 these absurd and tyrannical claims of the Church of Rome is so great that an open and honest avowal of the real doctrine of the Church on this question would not only sub- ject the teachers of such monstrous claims to just odium, but would also effectually block up the way of success in their scheme of proselyting the nation to the Roman Catholic faith ! But when we compare the teachings of Bellarmine with the declarations of Dr. Milner, Cardinal Wiseman, Bishop England, and Archbishop Purcell, the contrast is per- fect. We here meet with not even a hint of the " temporal supremacy resting upon the consent of the princes of Christendom," or " originating in human concessions," etc. But, on the other hand, it is expressly claimed to inhere in the Papacy itself, and to be essential to the preservation of the Church. This is the true doctrine of Rome, and the Pope, in the life-time of Cardinal Bellarmine, did, in the year 1570, in the plenitude of his power, as the vicar of Christ, and successor of St. Peter, thunder forth his bull of excommunication and deprivation against Elizabeth, Queen of En- gland, and absolved her subjects from their 70 POLITICAL ROMANISM. oath of allegiance to her, and forbade them to obey her mandates or laws under pain of anathema. This is testimony in regard to the claims of the Pope to temporal supremacy that amounts to something ; while the disclaimer of such special pleaders as Bishop England and Archbishop Purcell, put forth before the Amer- ican people for political effect, and unsupported by a single authority, and right in the face of both the teachings and history of the Church of Rome, are of no authority on the question, and were never intended or designed so to be ; but were only designed to lull the public mind to rest, which had become partially aroused and alarmed at the progress the Church of Rome was making in this land, consecrated by the blood of our fathers to civil and religious lib- erty. I TEACHINGS OF LEADING DIVINES. 7 1 CHAPTER V. TEACHINGS OF THE LEADING DIVINES. IT is the doctrine of the canonists and di- vines of the Church of Rome, that the Pope has supreme temporal and spiritual juris- diction, over the whole world — some maintain- ing the direct, and others, like Bellarmine, the indirect temporal supremacy ; but all admit- ting — except the Galilean school, as we have seen — that it is a doctrine of Rome that the Pope is the supreme temporal and spiritual ruler of the world. Bellarmine tells us : " The first opinion is, that the Pope, by divine right, hath supreme power over the whole world, both in ecclesias- tical and civil aJBfairs. This is the opinion of Augustinus Triumphus, Alvarus Pelagius, Panormitanus, Hostiensis, Sylvester, and many others." (Elliott on Romanism, vol. ii, p. 156.) Thomas Aquinas, the leading theologian of *]2 POLITICAL ROMANISM, the Catholic Church, says : "In the Pope is the summit of each power." "When any- one is denounced excommunicate by his de- cision on account of apostasy, his subjects are immediately freed from his dominion and their oath of allegiance to him." (Ibid.) Bellar- mine tells us that in his book on the " Rule of Princes," St. Thomas affirms "that the Pope, by Divine right, hath spiritual and tem- poral power, as supreme king of the world ; that he can impose taxes on all Christians and destroy towns and castles for the preservation of Christianity." (Ibid.) Farrasis, in his " Ecclesiastical Dictionary," which is used as a standard for Roman Cath- olic divinity, and whose authorities are deduced from the acknowledged standards of the Church of Rome, gives the following outlines of Papal power under the word Papa, Article II : " The Pope is of such dignity and highness that he is not simply man, but, as it were, God, and the vicar of God. Hence, the Pope is of such supreme and sovereign dignity that, properly speaking, he is not merely constituted in dig- nity, but is rather placed on the very sum- mit of dignities. Hence, also, the Pope is TEACHINGS OF LEADING DIVINES. 73 father of fathers, and he alone can use this name, because he only can be called the father of fathers, since he possesses the primacy over all, is truly greater than all, and the greatest of all. He is called most holy, because he is presum^ed to be such. On account of the ex- cellency of his supreme dignity he is called bishop of bishops, ordinary of ordinaries, uni- versal bishop of the Church, bishop or dio- cesan of the whole world, divine monarch, supreme emperor, and king of kings. Hence, the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven, of earth, and {iiiferionnn) of hell. Nay, the Pope's excellence and power is not only about heavenly, terrestrial, and in- fernal things, but he is also above angels, and is their superior, so that if it were possible that angels could err from the faith or enter- tain sentiments contrary thereto, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope. He is of such great dignity and power that he occupies one and the same tribunal with Christ, so that whatsoever the Pope does seems to proceed from the mouth of God, as is proved from many doctors. The Pope is, as it were, God on earth, the only prince of 74 POLITICAL ROMANISM. the faithful of Christ, the greatest king of all kings, possessing the plenitude of power, to whom the government of the earthly and the heavenly kingdom is intrusted. Hence the common doctrine teacheth that the Pope hath the power of the two swords, namely, the spirit- ual and temporal, which jurisdiction and power Christ himself committed to Peter and his successors. Matt, xvi : * To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' etc., where doctors note that he did not say key, but keys, and by this comprehending the temporal and spiritual power, which opinion is abundantly confirmed by the authority of the holy fa- thers, the decision of the canon and civil law, and by the apostolic constitutions ; so that those who hold to the contrary seem to ad- here to the opinion of the heretics, reprobated by Boniface VIII, in his Extravagant, enti- tled " Unam Sancamr Hence, infidel princes and kings, by the decision of the Pope, may be deprived, in certain cases, of that dominion which they have over the faithful, as if they have occupied the country of the Christians by violence, or endeavor to draw away their faithful — Catholic — subjects from the faith, or TEACHINGS OF LEADING DIVINES, 75 any such thing, as Bellarmine, Suarez, Bar- bara, Gonzalez, Cardinal Petra, etc., very fully demonstrate. And hence the Pope may cede those provinces, which formerly belonged to Christians, that were subsequently occupied by infidels, to any Christian princes to be redeemed. And if a king becomes heretic he can be removed from his kingdom by the Pope, to whom the right of appointing his successor belongs, if his sons and nearest rela- tives are heretics. Nay, in cases in which, on account of the heresy of the king, the re- ligion of his kingdom and the faith of others seem to be in danger, if he can in no other way prevent this loss, the Pope may not only de- prive him of his kingdom, but he may also concede it to a Christian prince and his suc- cessors, if this prince will fight for it and con- quer it. Hence it is not wonderful if to the Roman Pontiff, as vicar of Him whose is the earth and its fullness, the world and all they who dwell therein, to whom supreme authority and power are given, not only holds the spirit- ual, but also the material unsheathed sword, for just cause, of transferring empires, breaking scepters, and taking away crowns ; which *j6 POLITICAL ROMAKISIL plenitude of power not only once, but often, the Popes used, whenever it was necessary, by binding, most courageously, the sword on their thighs, as is sufficiently manifest, not only from the most ample testimonies of theo- logians, the asserters of Pontifical and regal right, but also of innumerable historians of undoubted credibility, as well profane as sa- cred, as well Greek as Latin/' (Ibid., pp. 156, 157, 158.) Baronius, the great Roman annalist, teaches the same doctrine. He says : " There can be no doubt that the civil principality is sub- ject to the sacerdotal." And again : " God hath made the political government subject to the dominion of the spiritual Church." (Ibid., pp. 158, 159.) Elliott remarks : " Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, who is counted a sound Roman Catholic divine, inculcates, as strongly as Fer- raris and the Popes themselves, the sovereign authority of the Bishop of Rome in all mat- ters, both spiritual and temporal. After ap- plying the eighth Psalm to the Pope, ' Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,' and saying that all power in heaven and earth TEACHINGS OF LKADING DIVINES. yj was given to the Pope he proceeds : * For the Pope is greater than man, as saith Hostiensus, but less than an angel, because he is mortal, but greater in authority and power. For an angel can not consecrate the body and blood of Christ, nor absolve or bind, the jurisdiction of which exists in a plenary manner in the Pope ; nor can an angel ordain, grant indulgences, or any such thing. He is crowned with glory and honor — the glory of commendation, be- cause he is not only called blessed but most blessed, as saith the canon law. Who can doubt that he is holy, whom the summit of such great dignity hath exalted.'^ He is crovmed with the honor of veneration, that the faithful may kiss his feet ; for greater honor can not exist than that mentioned by the psalmist: "Adore his footstool." (Ps. xcviii.) He is crowned, also, with th'e greatness of authority, because he judges all persons, and is judged of none, unless he is found an apostate from the faith. Hence, also, he is crowned with a triple crown ; and is constituted over all the works of his hands to regulate concerning all inferiors ; he opens heaven, sends the guilty to 78 POLITICAL ROMANISM. hell, confirms empire, orders the clerical or- ders/' (Ibid., p. 159.) Volumes might be filled with such quota- tions as these fi*om the standard writers of the Romish Church, setting forth the absolute su- preme authority of the Pope in all things, tem- poral as well as spiritual, showing that this is the doctrine of the Church, and that those who deny it are either heretics, or bordering strongly on heresy, and are, therefore, not to be recognized as among the legitimate and authorized exponents of the sentiment and doctrine of the Church on this question. But these are sufficient ; and they show us conclu- sively that the Galilean teachings of Bishop England, Archbishop Purcell, Bishop Milner, and Cardinal Wiseman, instead of giving us the true doctrine of the Church of Rome on the temporal power, are condemned by the author- ized standards of the Church as bordering strongly on heresy, and repudiated by the Church. POPES AND COUNCILS, jg CHAPTER VI. TEACHINGS OF POPES AND COUNCILS. THE Popes of Rome have claimed supreme power over the kings of the earth for a thousand years past ; and since the time Greg- ory n succeeded in overturning the power of the Emperor Leo in Italy, in the year 730, they have put forth this claim, and, in many in- stances, have practically carried it out, as may be seen in Millman's Latin Christianity, Hal- lam's Middle Ages, De Cormenin's Lives of the Popes, or any authentic history of this period. This claim they did not ground upon human concession, but upon Divine right, as the successors of St. Peter and vicars of Christ. Gregory II writes to the Emperor Leo: "With the power given me by St. Peter, I could inflict punishment upon thee, but since thou hast heaped a curse upon thyself, I leave thee to endure it." (Milman's Latin Chris- 80 POLITICAL ROMANISM, tianity, vol. ii, p. 314.) Here is a distinct as- sertion of the right of the Pope to depose the Emperor by virtue of his office as the successor of St. Peter; and though he did not at that time exercise that right, yet he did this after- ward, and successfully overturned the power of the Emperor in Italy. Gregory III, successor to Gregory II, suc- ceeded in overturning the kingdom of the Lom- bards, through the power of Charles Martel, and thus secured the full establishment of the temporal power of the Pope as a civil ruler over the States of the Church. Leo III, by the restoration of the Western Empire, conferring the empire and the imperial crown upon Charlemagne, and proclaiming him *' Caesar Augustus," and the Emperor, by receiving the crown and empire at his hands, laid the foundation of that colossal power which three centuries later was fully developed under Gregory VII and Innocent III. By this trans- action, as Milman remarks, "The Pope (for Charlemagne swore at the same time to main- tain all the power and privileges of the Roman Pontiff) obtained the recognition of a spiritual dominion commensurate with the secular em- POPES AAW COUNCILS, 8 1 pire of Charlemagne. The Emperor and the Pope were bound in indissoluble alliance ; and, notwithstanding the occasional outbursts of independence, or even superiority, asserted by Charlemagne himself, he still professed, and usually showed, the most profound veneration for the Roman spiritual supremacy, and left to his successors and to their subjects an awful sense of subjugation, from which they were not emancipated for ages/' (Milman's Latin Christianity, vol. ii, pp. 461, 462.) From this time to the reign of Gregory VII, the contest between the civil and ecclesiastical powers for supremacy continued, until the imperious will of Gregory brought every thing to submit to his authority. In the contest between Gregory VII and the Emperor Henry IV, the supreme temporal power of the Pope was not only explicitly set forth, but also practically carried out. After Gregory had received the formal citation from the Emperor to abdicate the chair of St. Peter, sitting in the midst of his third Lateran Coun- cil, of February, 1076, he addressed the assembled bishops thus : " Now, therefore, brethren, it behooves us to draw the sword of 6 82 POLITICAL ROMANISM, vengeance ; now must we smite the foe of God and of his Church ; now shall his bruised head, which lifts itself in its haughtiness against the foundation of the faith and of all the Churches, fall to the earth, there, according to the sen- tence pronounced against his pride, to go upon his belly and eat the dust. Fear not, little flock, saith the Lord, for it is the will of your Father to grant you the kingdom. Long enough have ye borne with him ; often enough have ye admonished him — ^let his seared con- science be made at length to feel.'' The whole synod replied with one voice : *' Let thy wis- dom, most holy father, whom the Divine mercy has raised up to ncle the world in our days, utter such a sentence against this blasphemer, this usurper, this tyrant, this apostate, as may crush him to the earth, and make him a warn- ing to future ages Draw the sword, pass the judgment, that the righteous may rejoice when he seeth the vengeance, and wash his hands in the blood of the ungodly.'' On the next day, Gregory took his seat again in the Council, and proceeded to read his bull of excommunication and deprivation against the Emperor, which was thus : " In full confi- POPES AND COUNCILS. 83 dence in the authority over all Christian people, granted by God to the delegate of St. Peter," " for the honor and defense of the Church, in the name of the Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and by the power and authority of St. Peter, I interdict King Henry, son of Henry the Emperor, who, in his unexam- pled pride, has risen against the Church, from the government of the whole realm of Ger- many and Italy. I absolve all Christians from the oath which they have sworn, or may swear, to him, and forbid all obedience to him as king. For it is just that he who impugns the honor of the Church should himself forfeit all honor which he seems to have ; and because he has scorned the obedience of a Christian, nor returned to the Lord, from whom he had revolted by holding communion with the ex- communicate, by committing many iniquities, and despising the admonitions, which, as thou knowest, I have given him for his salvation, and has separated himself from the Church by creating schism : I bind him, therefore, in thy name, in the bonds of thy anathema, that all the nations may know and may acknowledge that thou art Peter ; that upon thy rock the Son 84 POLITICAL ROMANISM. of the living God has built his Church, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it/' (Milman's Latin Christianity, vol. iii, pp. 436-438.) Here we have the bull of Gregory VII, de- throning Henry IV, and it expressly claims to perform this act by the authority of St. Peter, and in the name of the Almighty God. Not a hint do we here have of this right having been conferred by the consent of the princes of Christendom — no intimation that it was done by human right or power, but by Divine right alone. This bull of deprivation was pro- nounced by the Pope from his throne in the Council of Bishops and Abbots, one hundred and ten in number, and is therefore an ex cathed^'a decision, and consequently infallible, if the infallibility of the Pope is to be be- lieved ! But this is not all. In vindication of his decree of deprivation, Gregory says : " If the Pope may judge spiritual persons, how much more must secular persons give an ac- count of their evil deeds before his tribunal ! Think they that the royal excels the episco- pal dignity 1 — the former the invention of hu- man pride, the latter of Divine holiness ; the POPES AND COUNCILS. 85 former ever coveting vainglory, the latter as- piring after heavenly life. " The glory of a king," St. Ambrose says, " to that of a bishop, is as lead to gold." (Ibid., p. 445.) This bull of deprivation was no idle threat, as the Emperor learned by sad experience. To save himself from its consequences he was compelled to cross the Alps in midwinter, and submit to the most disgraceful humiliation to the Pope, in order to get the sentence of ex- communication and deprivation removed. The closing scene of this humiliation is thus described by Milman : " On a dreary Winter morning, with the ground deep in snow, the King, the heir of a long line of emperors, was permitted to enter within the two of the three walls which girded the castle of Canosa. He had laid aside every mark of royalty or of dis- tinguished station ; he was clad only in the thin white linen dress of the penitent, and there, fasting, he awaited in humble patience the pleasure of the Pope. But the gates did not unclose.' A second day he stood, cold, hungry, and mocked by vain hope ; and yet a third day dragged on, morning to evening, over the unsheltered head of the discrowned 86 POLITICAL ROMANISM King. Every heart was moved except that of the representative of Jesus Christ. Even in the presence of Gregory there were low, deep murmurs against his unapostohc pride and in- humanity. The patience of Henry could en- dure no more ; he took refuge in an adjacent chapel of St. Nicholas, to implore, and with tears, once again, the intercession of the aged Abbot of Clugny. Matilda was present ; her womanly heart was melted ; she joined with Henry in his supplication to the Abbot, ' Thou alone canst accomplish this,* said the Abbot to the Countess. Henry fell on his knees, and in a passion of grief entreated her merciful in- terference. To female entreaties and influence Gregory at length yielded an ungracious per- mission for the King to approach his presence. With bare feet, still in the garb of penitence, stood the King, a man of singularly tall and noble person, with a countenance accustomed to flash command and terror upon his adver- saries, before the Pope, a gray-haired man, bowed with years, of small, unimposing stat- ure. The terms exacted from Henry, who was far too deeply humiliated to dispute any thing, had no redeeming touch of gentleness POPES AND CO UN OILS, 8 / or compassion. He was to appear in the place and at the time which the Pope should name, to answer the charges of his subjects before the Pope himself, if it should please him to preside in person at the trial. If he should repel these charg^^s, he was to receive his kingdom back from tlie hands of the Pope. If found guilty, he was peaceably to resign his kingdom, and pledge, himself never to at- tempt to seek revenge fcr his deposition. Till that time he was to assume none of the en- signs of royalty, perform no public act, appro- priate no part of the royal revenue which was not necessary for the maintenance of himself and his attendants. All his subjects were to be held released from their oath of allegiance. He was to banish forever from his court Ru- pert, Bishop of Bamberg, Ulric, Count of Cos- heim, with his other evil advisers. If he should recover his kingdom he must rule henceforward according to the counsel of the Pope, and cor- rect whatever was contrary to the ecclesias- tical laws. On these conditions the Pope con- descended to grant absolution, with the further provision that, in case of any prevarication on the part of the King on any of these articles, 88 POLITICAL ROMANISM. the absolution was null and void, and in that case the princes of the empire were released from all their oaths, and might immediately pro- ceed to the election of another king." (Ibid., pp. 456, 457.) Here we see the Pope assuming and enforc- ing the most absolute political supremacy, and that too as the successor of St. Peter, and by Divine right. This supremacy he proclaims from his throne in the midst of the assembled Council of Bishops, in the most imposing man- ner, as an ex cathedra decision, and it must therefore be accepted as the doctrine of infalli- bility on the temporal power of the Pope ! The reconciliation between the Emperor Henry and the Pope was of short duration, and Gregory proceeded again, in March, 1080, in the midst of his Council of Bishops, in the same ex cat]ied7'a manner, to issue a sec- ond bull of excommunication and deprivation against Henry. After his introduction and the recital of his former decree of excom- munication and deprivation, he proceeds : '' Wherefore, trusting in the justice and mercy of God, and of his blessed mother, the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, on your authority POPES AND COUNCILS, 89 [that of St. Peter and St. Paul], the above- named Henry and all his adherents, I ex- communicate and bind in the fetters of anath- ema ; on the part of God almighty, and on yours, I interdict him from the government of all Germany and of Italy. I deprive him of all royal power and dignity. I pro- hibit every Christian from rendering him obe- dience as king. I absolve all who have sworn or shall swear allegiance to his sovereignty fromx their oaths. In every battle may Henry and his partisans be without strength and gain no victory during his life ! And that Rudolph, whom the Germans have elected for their king, may he rule and defend that realm in fidelity to you! On your part, I give and grant to those who shall faithfully adhere to the said Rudolph full absolution of all their sins, and, in entire confidence, blessing in this life and in the life to come. As for Henry, for his pride, disobedience, and falsehood, he is justly deposed from his royal dignity, so that royal power and dignity is granted to Rudolph for his humility, obedience, and truth." This awful sentence, in conclusion, says : " Come, then, ye fathers and most holy prelates, let all 90 POLITICAL ROMANISM. the world understand and know, that since ye have power to bind and loose in heaven, ye have power to take away and to grant empires, kingdoms, principalities, duchies, marquisates, counties, and the possessions of all men, ac- cording to their deserts. Ye have often de- prived wicked and unworthy men of patriarch- ates, primacies, archbishoprics, bishoprics, and bestowed them on religious men. If ye then judge in spiritual affairs, how great must be your power in secular, and if ye are to judge angels, who rule over proud princes, what may ye not do to these their servants } Let kings, then, and princes of the world learn what ye are, and how great is your power, and fear to treat with disrespect the mandates of the Church ; and do ye, on the aforesaid Henry, fulfill your judgment so speedily that he may know that it is through your power, not by chance, that he hath fallen — that he be brought to repentance by his ruin, that his soul may be saved in the day of the Lord." (Ibid., pp. 479, 480, 481.) What becomes of Archbishop Purcell's theory of the temporal supremacy of the Popes of the middle ages, in the face of this FOPES AND COUNCILS. 9 1 ex cathedra and infallible decree of deprivation against the Emperor Henry IV? Now, one of two things is certain : either the Popes' au- thority to depose kings rests upon Divine authority, and is inherent in their office as successors of St. Peter, or else Gregory VII, in this solemn ex cathedra and infallible de- cree, states a gross and deliberate falsehood, for he claims this deposing power as a Divine right which inheres in the office of Pope, as successor of St. Peter. We wish the reader to note particularly the line of reasoning by which Gregory establishes this right. It is : ** The power of the Church is superior to the power of the State, bishops are superior to kings, etc. The Pope has the right to depose bishops who are superior, and, of course, he has the right to depose kings who are inferior." This has ever been the Papal argument to justify its interference with the poUtics and civil government of nations, and it is the argu- ment which the advocates of Papal suprem.acy bring forward to-day. ''The ecclesiastical is superior to the civil power," is a fundamental maxim with the Church of Rome, and any interference with the politics or civil govern- 92 POLITICAL ROMANISM. ments of the nations is justified, by which the interest of the Church may be subserved, or her jurisdiction and power extended. The Papal power reached its greatest height under the reign of Innocent III, the most talented, imperious, and daring of the Popes of the middle ages. In his bull, setting aside the claims of the Emperor Frederick II, and award- ing the imperial crown to Otho, he says : " It be- longs to the Apostolic See to pass judgment on the election of the emperor, both in the first and last resort : in the first, because by her aid, and on her account, the empire was transplanted from Constantinople ; by her, as the sole au- thority for this transplanting, on her behalf, and for her better protection: in the last resort, because the emperor receives the final confir- mation of his dignity from the Pope, is conse- crated, crowned, invested in the imperial dig- nity by him. That which must be sought is the lawful, the right, the expedient." (Mil- man's Latin Christianity, vol. iv, p. 510.) The learned and accurate Hallam, in speak- ing of the pontificate of Innocent III, says : ''The maxims of Gregory VII were now ma- tured by more than a hundred years, and the POPES AND COUNCILS. 93 right of trampling on the necks of kings had been received, at least among Chmxhmen, as an inherent attribute of the Papacy. As the sun and the moon are placed in the firmament (such is the language of Innocent), the greater as the light of the day, and the lesser of the night, thus are these two powers in the Church ; the pontifical, which, as having the charge of souls, is the greater, and the royal, which is the less, and to which the bodies of men only are intrusted." (Middle Ages, p. 2?>t) Every nation in Christendom felt the effects of the political interference of Innocent, and his thunders of interdict, excommunication, or deprivation, broke forth on every side against the contumacious kings and princes who dared to question his authority, or disobey his com- mands. By excommunication, interdict, and by absolving his subjects from their allegiance, he humbled the mightiest monarch of Europe, Philip Augustus, of France. But his absolute political supremacy over the kings of the earth was most fully developed in his contest with, and triumph over, the base and pusillanimous John, king of England. He laid his kingdom under interdict, he excommunicated him from 94 POLITICAL ROMANISM. the communion of the faithful, he pubhcly and solemnly deposed him from his kingdom, and declared his dominions ''the lawful spoil of whoever could wrest them from his unhallowed hands." (See Milman's Latin Christianity, vol. V, p. 32.) John was so completely humbled that, in order to reconciliation with the Pope, he delivered up his crown and kingdoms into his hands, and received them back from the Pope "as a fief of the holy see." Here is the article by which this base act was accomplished, as fur- nished by Milman : "Be it known to all men, that having in many points offended God and our holy mother the Church, as satisfaction for our sins, and duly to humble ourselves, after the example of Him, who, for our sake, hum- bled himself to death, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, with our free will, and the com- mon consent of our barons, we bestow and yield up to God, to his holy apostles, Peter and Paul, to our lord the Pope Innocent, and his successors, all our kingdom of England, and all our kingdom of Ireland, to be held as a fief of the holy see, with the payment of 1,000 marks, and the customary Peter's pence. We reserve to ourselves, and to our heirs, the POPES AND COUNCILS, 95 royal rights in the administration of justice. And we declare this deed irrevocable ; and if any of our successors shall attempt to annul our act, we declare him thereby to have for- feited his crown." (Ibid., pp. 37, 38.) The next day after this instrument was executed, John took the oath of fealty as the Pope's vassal, as follows: "I, John, by the grace of God King of England, and Lord of Ireland, from this day forth, and forever, will be faithful to God and to the ever-blessed Peter, and to the Church of Rome, and to my Lord, the Pope Innocent, and to his Catholic suc- cessors. I will not be accessory, in act or word, by consent or counsel, to their loss of life, of limb, or of freedom. I will save them harmless from any wrong of which I may know; I will avert all in my power; I will warn them by myself or by trusty messen- gers, of any evil intended against them. I will keep profoundly secret all communications with which they may intrust me by letter or by message. I will aid in the maintenance and defense of the patrimony of St. Peter, specially of this kingdom of England and Ire- land, to the utmost of my power, against all 96 POLITICAL ROMANISM, enemies. So help me God, and his holy Gos- pels." (Ibid., pp. 38, 39.) This disgraceful and traitorous act of the King against the liberties of the realm so en- raged the barons that they rose in their might, and by force extorted from the King " Magna Charta," that grand charter of rights which became the foundation of the English Consti- tution and of English liberty. When the Pope heard of this act of the barons he knit his brow with indignation and exclaimed: "What, have the barons of England presumed to dethrone a King who has taken the cross, and placed himself under the protection of the apostolic see.'* Do they transfer to others the patri- mony of the Church of Rome } By St. Peter, we can not leave such a crime unpunished." (Ibid., p. 50.) In his bull declaring the char- ter null and void, he attributes the conduct of the barons in this noble act of patriotism to the enemy of mankind. He says: "Vassals, they have conspired against their lord — knights, against their kings : they have assailed his lands, seized his capital city, which has been surrendered to them by treason. Un- der their violence, and under fears which might POPES AND COUNCILS. 9/ shake the firmest man, he has entered into a treaty with the barons — a treaty not only base and ignominious, but unlawful and un- just; in flagrant violation and diminution of his rights and honor. Wherefore, as the Lord hath said by the mouth of his prophet, ' I have set thee above the nations, and above the king- doms, to pluck up and to destroy, to build up and to plant ;" and by the mouth of another prophet, 'Break the leagues of ungodliness, and loose the heavy burdens/ We can no longer pass over in silence such audacious wickedness, committed in contempt of the apostolic see, in infringement of the rights of the King, to the disgrace of the kingdom of England, to the great peril of the Crusade. We, therefore, with the advice of our breth- ren, altogether reprove and condemn this char- ter, prohibiting the King under pain of anath- ema from observing it, the barons from exacting its observation ; we declare the said charter, with all its obligations and guarantees, abso- lutely null and void." (Ibid., p. 51.) He commanded a crusade against Count Raymond, of Toulouse, and conferred his ter- ritories on the cruel conqueror, Simon do 7 98 POLITICAL ROMANISM. Montfort, as a reward for having purged the territory of ''heretical pravity," and this de- cree of Innocent was ratified by the Fourth Lateran Council. (See Milman, vol. v, p. 217.) But this is not all. '' The Fourth Lateran Council, one of the most numerous ever held in Christendom, was called upon to decide the course to be taken against heretics, and espe- cially the fate of Languedoc. It assumed the full power of deposing a sovereign prince and awarding his dominions to a stranger. Count Raymond, of Toulouse, was forever excluded from the sovereignty of the land, condemned to pass the rest of his life in exile, in some place appointed for him to do fit penance.'* (Ibid., pp. 211, 212.) This was one of the largest Ecumenical Councils ever held in the Church. " There were the patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem, of Antioch and Alexandria — by deputy — seventy-one archbishops, four hun- dred and twelve bishops, eight hundred and sixty abbots or priors." (Ibid., p. 211.) This great Council decreed : "That if a temporal lord, being required and admonished by the Church, should neg- POPES AND COUNCILS. 99 lect to purge his territory from heretical filth, he should, by the metropolitan and the other comprovincial bishops, be bound in the bonds of excommunication ; and if he should neg- lect to make satisfaction within a year it should be signified to the Pope that he might from that time pronounce the subjects to be absolved from their allegiance to him, and ex- pose the territory to be seized on by Catho- lics," etc. (Elliott on Romanism, vol. ii, pp. 163, 164.) Here we see the deposing power of the Pope put forth by the highest authority in the Church, and that, too, which is admitted by all Roman Catholics to be infallible, when speaking on questions of faith and morals — a general council presided over by the Pope or his legate. This is a question of both faith and morals, for it concerns heresy and the treatment of heretics. Hence all good Roman Catholics are bound to receive this decree of the Fourth Lateran Council, by which the Church claims the right, through the Pope, of deposing kings and sovereign princes, as the teaching of Divine Inspiration. Innocent claimed this power by Divine right and not by lOO POLITICAL ROMANISM. human concession. With him the temporal power was as far inferior to the spiritual as the moon is inferior to the sun, and that too by the Divine arrangement. Hence he felt that he had a right to reduce the kings of the earth to submission to his authority, and in this we see he was sustained by the inspired and in- fallible Council! What are we to think of Archbishop PurceH's Gallicanism, which he borrows from Bishop England, in view of these claims of Innocent III, and the Fourth Lateran Council ? Nothing was further from the mind of Innocent than the idea that he exercised his temporal supremacy over the kings of the earth by human concession. Such a thought never entered his mind ; but, on the contrary, he claimed to be set over the kingdoms by Divine appointment, "to pluck up and destroy, to build and to plant ;'* and hence he claimed that the Pope, as the vicar of Christ, has power to dethrone infidel, heretical, or apostate kings and princes, and appoint others in their stead. POPES AND COUNCILS, lOI CHAPTER VII. TEACHINGS OF POrES AND COUNCILS. GREGORY IX addressed the Emperor Frederick II, declaring that "kings and princes were humbly to repose themselves on the lap of priests ; Christian emperors were bound to submit themselves not only to the supreme Pontiff, but even to other bishops. The apostolic see was the judge of the whole world. God had reserved to himself the sole judgment of the manifest and hidden acts of the Pope. Let the Emperor dread the fate of Uzzah, who laid his profane hands on the ark of God." (Milman's Latin Christianity, vol. V, pp. 412, 413.) Gregory proceeded to excommunicate Fred- erick, and absolve his subjects from their alle- giance. During the memorable contest be- tween Frederick and the Papacy, Gregory died, but his successor. Innocent IV, kept up the 102 POLITICAL ROMANISM. contest, and, in the General Council of Lyons, solemnly deposed Frederick from the throne of the empire. Sitting in his pontifical seat in the Council, Innocent proceeded to recount the crimes which he charged against Frederick, and then pronounced the sentence : " The sen- tence of God must precede our sentence. We declare Frederick excommunicated of God, and deposed from all the dignity of empire, and from the kingdom of Naples. We add our sentence to that of God : We excommunicate Frederick, and depose him from all the dig- nity of the empire, and from the kingdom of Naples." After having pronounced this sen- tence. Innocent "began the hymn, * We glorify thee, O God!' His partisans lifted up their voices with him. The hymn ended ; there was profound silence. Innocent and the prelates turned down their blazing torches to the ground till they smoldered and went out, ex- claiming : ' So be the glory and the fortune of the Emperor extinguished upon earth.' " (Ibid., pp. 479, 480.) The Emperor resisted the tyranny of the Pope, and denied his right to any such author- ity as that of deposing kings. To this Inno- POPES AND COUNCILS. 103 cent replied: "When the sick man, who has scorned milder remedies, is subject to the knife and the cautery, he complains of the cruelty of the physician ; when the evil-doer, who has despised all warnings, is at length punished, he arraigns his judge. But the physician only looks to the welfare of the sick man ; the judge regards the crime, not the person of the crim- inal. The Emperor doubts and denies that all things and all men are subject to the see of Rome. As if we, who are to judge angels, are not to give sentence on all earthly things ! In the Old Testament, priests dethroned unworthy kings ; how much more is the vicar of Christ justified in proceeding against him who, ex- pelled from the Church as a heretic, is already the portion of hell ! Ignorant persons aver that Constantine first gave temporal power to the see of Rome ; it was already bestowed by Christ himself, the true king and priest, as in- alienable from its nature and absolutely uncon- ditional. Christ founded not only a pontifical but a royal sovereignty, and committed to Peter the rule both of an earthly and a heav- enly kingdom, as is indicated and visibly proved by the plurality of the keys. The power of 104 POLITICAL ROMANISM, the sword is in the Church, and derived from the Church ; she gives it to the Emperor at his coronation, that he may use it lawfully, and in her defense; she has the right to say, ' Put up thy sword into its sheath.' " (Ibid., p. 483.) Comment is unnecessary on the language of Innocent, as we here have the most explicit declaration of the absolute and unconditional supremacy of the Pope over all things and all men ; and that, too, by Divine appointment. Innocent prosecuted, with the utmost vigor, his war against Frederick, and, after his death, against his children ; nor did the Papacy cease from the contest until the house of Hohen- staufen was driven from the imperial throne. Take these authoritative and ex cathedra de- cisions and declarations of the infallible Pope Innocent IV, and the action of the infallible Ecumenical Council of Lyons, sanctioning and ratifying the decree of deposition issued by the Pope against the Emperor, and compare them with the teaching of Archbishop Purcell, Bishop England, etc., and see how truthfully these men have represented the doctrine of their Church on the temporal power of the Pope ! POPES AND COUNCILS, 105 Boniface VIII equaled Innocent III in the arrogance of his claims to temporal supremacy. His two celebrated bulls, '' Clericis LaiciSy' and " Unam Sanctamy' set forth the arrogant claims of the Papacy in their fullest extent. In the first, he declares the absolute immunity of the clergy from civil jurisdiction, and in the sec- ond, he declares the absolute necessity of the subjection of every human creature to the Pope, in order to salvation. In this bull Boniface says : " There are two swords, the spiritual and the temporal : our Lord said not of these two swords, 'it is too much,' but 'it is enough.' Both are in the power of the Church — the one, the spiritual, to be used by the Church ; the other, the material, /^r the Church ; the former, that of priests ; the latter, that of kings and soldiers, to be wielded at the command and by the sufferance of the priest. One sword must be under the other, the temporal under the spir- itual. . . . The spiritual instituted the tem- poral power, and judges whether that power is well exercised. ... If the temporal power errs, it is judged by the spiritual. To deny this, is to assert, with the heretical Manicheans, two equal principles. We therefore assert, define, I06 POLITICAL ROMANISM. and pronounce that it is necessary to salvation to believe that every human being is subject to the Pontiff of Rome." (Milman's Latin Christianity, vol. vi, pp. 326, 327.] Here we have a formal ex cathedra and infal- lible decision of the Pope denouncing as heresy the denial of his absolute supremacy over the kings of the earth, in temporals as well as in spirituals. But this is not all ; this same in- fallible authority declares that "it is neces- sary to salvation to believe that every human being is subject to the Pontiff of Rome." Boniface evidently intended by this decree to make the supreme temporal power of the Pope an article of faith, and, according to the mod- ern doctrine of Papal infallibility, he succeeded in his attempt; and, if the doctrine of the modern infallibilists is true, the temporal su- premacy of the Pope is as much an article of faith as any dogma held by the Church of Rome. This extravagant of Boniface VIII was approved by the Lateran Council under Leo X, which is now reckoned as the "Fifth Lateran Council," and generally regarded as an Ecumenical Council. Baronius says of this bull : " All do assent to it, so that none dis- POPES AND COUNCILS. lO/ senteth who doth not fall from the Church." (Elliott on Romanism, vol. ii, p. 165.) Here, again, we have an infallible Council, with an infallible Pope at its head, confirming the most extravagant of all the extravagants of the Popes, so that no one can deny the temporal suprem- acy of the Pope, without denying the infalli- bility of both Popes and general councils ; for both have decreed this doctrine in the most solemn manner. If the doctrine of the tem- poral supremacy is not true, then a General Council, presided over by the Pope, may err in regard to matters of faith ; for the Fifth Lateran Council, with Pope Leo X presiding, decreed that " it is necessary to salvation to believe that every human being is subject to the Pontiff of Rome." Now, if it is not necessary to salva- tion so to believe, then the Council did err in defining what it is necessary to believe in order to salvation ; and, if a General Council, with a Pope at its head, may err in defining what is necessary to believe in order to salvation, it can not be infallible. So this doctrine must be be- lieved by every Roman Catholic in the world, or the doctrine of infallibility must be entirely abandoned. I08 POLITICAL ROMANISM, "Pope Paul III, in 1535 and 1538, excom- municated, cursed, deposed, and damned Henry VIII, of England, and all who adhere to, favor, or obey him ; absolves his subjects from all oaths of allegiance ; commands them all, un- der pain of excommunication, not to obey him, or ' any magistrate or officer under him ; nor to acknowledge the king, or any of his judges or officers, to be their superiors.' The same bull further declares King Henry, his accom- plices, and favorers, with their children and descendants, to be infamous, incapable to be witnesses, make wills, or be heirs to any ; in- capable to do any legal act; and that, *in any cause of debt, or any other cause, civil or crim- inal, none should be bound to answer them, and yet they bound to answer every body/ Omitting other things in this famous bull, he commands the ecclesiastics, secular and regu- lar, 'to quit the kingdom, and not return till the persons excommunicated, deprived, cursed, and damned be absolved from theircensures.'" (Elliott on Romanism, vol. ii, p. 165.) The Council of Trent, while it remained si- lent in regard to the temporal supremacy of the Pope, from prudential considerations, was POPES AND COUNCILS. IO9 very careful to do all it could for the confirma- tion of that power; and it therefore decreed, First. That none of its decrees should conflict with the authority of the apostolic see, as in Session vii, page 58, "Canons and Decrees of the Sacred and Ecumenical Council of Trent," translated by Rev. J. Waterworth, Roman Catholic : " The same sacred and holy synod, the same legates also presiding, purposing to prosecute, unto the praise of God, and the increase of the Christian religion, the work which it hath begun touching residence and reformation, has thought good to ordain as follows — saving al- ways, in all things, the authority of the apostolic seer Again: in Session XXV, chap, xxi, page 277: " In all, the authority of the apostolic see shall remain untouched/' "Lastly: the holy synod declares that all and singular the things which, under whatso- ever clauses and words, have been obtained in this sacred Council, in the matter of reforma- tion of morals and ecclesiastical discipline, as well under the sovereign Pontiffs Paul III and no POLITICAL ROMANISM. Julius III, of happy memory, as under the most blessed Pius IV, have been so decreed as that the authority of the apostolic see both is, and is understood to be, untouched thereby." Second. In Session XXV, chap, xx, pages 275, 276, ''The immunities, liberty, and other rights of the Church are recommended to sec- ular princes," the Council ordains and enjoins all things which the former Councils, the can- ons, and apostolic ordinances had enjoined or ordained. Here is the chapter: *' The holy synod being desirous that eccle- siastical discipline may not only be restored among the Christian people, but that it also may be forever preserved sound and safe from all manner of adverse attempts ; besides these things which it has ordained touching ecclesi- astical persons, has thought fit that secular princes also be admonished of their duty, trusting that they, as Catholics whom God hath willed to be the protectors of the holy faith and Church, will not only grant that to the Church her own right be restored, but will also recall all their own subjects to due rever- ence toward the clergy, parish priests, and the superior orders ; nor permit that their officers, POPES AND COUNCILS. 1 1 1 or inferior magistrates, through any spirit of covetousness, or any heedlessness, violate that immunity of the Church, and of ecclesiastical persons, which, by the ordinance of God, and by the appointments of the canons, has been established ; but (see) that they render, con- jointly with the. princes themselves, due ob- servance to the sacred constitutions of sover- eign Pontiffs and Councils. "It ordains, therefore, and enjoins, that the sacred canons, and all the General Councils, as also all other apostolic ordinances, published in favor of ecclesiastical persons, of the liberty of the Church, and against the violators there- of-^all which it also renews by this present decree — be exactly observed by all men. And for this cause, it admonishes the emperor, kings, republics, princes, and all and each of whatsoever state and dignity they be, that the more bountifully they are adorned with tem- poral goods, and with power over others, the more religiously should they respect whatso- ever is of ecclesiastical right, as belonging to God, and as being under the cover of his pro- tection; and that they suffer not such to be injured by any barons, nobles, governors, or 112 POLITICAL ROMANISM. other temporal lords, and above all by their own immediate officers ; but punish those se- verely who obstruct her liberty, immunity, and jurisdiction ; being themselves an example to them in regard of piety, religion, and the pro- tection of the Churches, in imitation of those most excellent and religious princes their pred- ecessors, who not only defended from all in- jury from others, but, by their authority and munificence, in a special manner, advanced the interests of their own Church. Wherefore, let each one herein discharge his duty carefully, that so the Divine worship may be devoutly celebrated, and prelates and other clerics re- main, quietly and without hinderances, in their own residences, and in the discharge of their du- ties, to the profit and edification of the people/' Here the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council, and that of Lyons, and the Fifth Lat- eran on the temporal supremacy of the Pope, are re-affirmed and enjoined, together with all other canons, and Papal constitutions, ordi- nances, etc., so that the Council of Trent, without touching the question of the temporal supremacy directly at all, did, nevertheless, in the most emphatic manner, teach and enjoin POPES AND COUNCILS. 1 1 3 this doctrine, when it "ordained and enjoined" all the decrees of the former General Councils and Papal constitutions and ordinances. Here we find four General Councils, from the thir- teenth to the sixteenth centuries, expressly, and in the most positive manner, declaring and teaching the supreme temporal power of the Pope — one of them, the Fifth Lateran, ex- pressly declaring "that it is necessary to sal- vation to believe that every human being is subject to the Pontiff of Rome ;" and another one, that of Trent, re-afifirming, ordaining, and enjoining this decree! What must be thought of the declarations of Dr. Milner, Cardinal Wiseman, Bishop England, and Archbishop Purcell, in view of the teachings of these four infallible Councils 1 "Pope Pius V, in the year 1570, in his bull against Elizabeth, entitled * The Damnation and Excommunication of Elizabeth, Queen of England, and her Adherents, with an Addition of Other Punishments,' declares as follows : ' He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all power in heaven and in earth, committed one holy. Catholic, and apostolic Church (out of which there is no salvation) to one alone upon 114 POLITICAL ROMANISM, earth, namely, to Peter, the prince of the apos- tles, and to Peter s successor, the Bishop of Rome, to be governed in fullness of power. Him alone he made prince over all people and all kingdoms, to pluck up, destroy, scatter, consme, plant, and build.' ''The bull furthermore declares: 'We do, out of the fullness of our apostolic power, de- clare the aforesaid Elizabeth, being a heretic and a favorer of heretics, and her adherents in the matters aforesaid, to have incurred the sentence of anathema, and to be cut off from the unity of the body of Christ. "'And, moreover, we do declare her to be deprived of her pretended title to the kingdom aforesaid, and of all dominion, dignity, and privileges whatsoever. '"And also the nobility, subjects, and people of said kingdom, and all others which have in any sort sworn to her, to be forever absolved from any such oath, and all manner of duty, dominion, allegiance, and obedience ; as we also do, by the authority of these presents, absolve them, and deprive the same Elizabeth of her pretended title to the kingdom and all other things above said. And we do command and POPES AND COUNCILS. II5 interdict all and every the noblemen, subjects, people and others, aforesaid, that they presume not to obey her, or her monitions, mandates, and laws. And those which shall do the con- trary we involve in the same sentence of anathema.' " Here Pius V expressly declares that he does this ''out of the fullness of our apostolic power;" not by human concession, but by that power conferred upon Peter and his suc- cessors by the Lord Jesus Christ, "oyer all people and all kingdoms, to pluck up, destroy, scatter, consume, plant, and build.'' ''Pope Gregory XIII, who immediately suc- ceeded Pius V, renewed and confirmed the bull for deposing Elizabeth, and absolving her sub- jects from their allegiance. Sixtus V, who immediately succeeds, confirms the damnatory sentences of his two predecessors, and in addi- tion published a crusade against England, as against the Turks, and gave a plenary indul- gence to all who would assist in the war. "In the year 1585, the bull of Sixtus V, against the two sons of wrath, Henry, King of Navarre, and the Prince of Conde, declares : 'The authority given to St. Peter and his sue- Il6 POLITICAL ROMANISM. cessors, by the immense power of the Eternal King, excels all the powers of earthly kings and princes. It passeth uncontrollable sen- tence upon them all. And if it find any of them resisting God's ordinance, it takes more severe vengeance on them, casting them down from their thrones, however powerful they may be, and tumbling them down to the lowest parts of the earth, as the ministers of aspiring Lucifer.' " He then proceeds to thunder against them : *We deprive them and their posterity forever of their dominions and kingdoms.' "He next formally absolves their subjects from their allegiance : * By the authority of these presents, we do absolve and set free all persons, as well jointly as severally, from any such oath, and from all duty whatsoever in re- gard of dominion, fealty, and obedience; and do charge and forbid all and every of them, that they do not dare obey them, or any of their admonitions, laws, and commands.'" (Elliott on Romanism, vol. ii, pp. 165, 166, 167.) Stronger language could not be used to ex- press the most absolute temporal supremacy POPES AND COUNCILS. 1 1 / over the kings of the earth than is here used by Sixtus V, and this supremacy he claims by virtue of his office as the successor of St. Peter, not by human concession. Thus we see, that from the beginning of the eighth to the close of the sixteenth century, embracing a period of nearly nine hundred years, the Popes of Rome claimed the right, by the appointment of Jesus Christ, and as the successors of St. Peter, to exercise supreme temporal jurisdic- tion over all the kings and governments of earth. We also find this claim put forth for them by the leading theologians of the Roman Catholic Church from the days of Thomas Aquinas, in the thirteenth century, and sus- tained by the decisions of four of their infalli- ble General Councils, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Now, we ask again, what is to be thought of the declarations of Bishop England and Archbishop Purcell on the temporal power of the Pope, in view of these undeniable facts of history.? 1 1 8 POLITICAL ROMANISM CHAPTER VIII. TEACHINGS OF MODERN POPES. BUT perhaps it may be thought that modern Popes have abandoned the claim of the mediaeval Popes to supreme temporal pov/er over the kings and governments of the earth. Those who entertain such an idea are en- tirely deceived in regard to the idea that Pius IX and his predecessors entertain, and have entertained since the close of the sixteenth century, of the temporal power of the suc- cessors of St. Peter over the kings and gov- ernments of earth. The faith of modern Catholics in the personal infallibility of the Pope compels them to accept the ex cathedra decisions of the mediaeval Popes on the tem- poral supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, as the infallible declarations of inspiration, and the decree of the Fifth Lateran Council, and the confirmatory bull of Leo X, confirming the TEACHINGS OF MODERN POPES. I 1 9 Extravagant of Boniface VIII, " Unain Saiic- tainl' makes it an article of faith, necessary to salvation, to believe that every human being is subject to the ''Pontiff of Rome," and the Popes of modern times, down to Pius IX, have held the temporal supremacy of the Pope as fully as Boniface VIII, or Paul IV, or Sixtus V, and they have attempted to exercise that su- premacy just as far as they thought they dare do it. In the year 1682, Louis XIV summoned the French bishops to an assembly at Paris, which passed the celebrated four Galilean articles, which caused the protracted contest between the See of Rome and the Galilean Church, which continued more than a century. These four articles contained the following proposi- tions : " I. That the Popes have no power from God to interpose, directly or indirectly, in the temporal concerns of princes or of sovereign states. " 2. That the authority of General Councils is superior to that of the Pope. ''3. That the usages of the French Church are inviolable. 120 POLITICAL ROMANISM. "4. That the Pope is not mfalUble, in points of faith, unless his decisions are attended with the consent of the Church." (M'CUntock on the Temporal Power of the Pope, pp. 100, lOI.) On these propositions, Monseigneur Gous- set, Archbishop of Rheims, who stands higher at Rome, perhaps, than any other living French prelate, makes the following remarks : *'0n the passage of the Declaration it was presented to Louis XIV, who, in fact, had in- stigated it. The king, to incorporate it with the State law, issued a decree, declaring that all who desired to attain degrees in theology should maintain as the law of the land the opinions enunciated in the four articles. Pope Innocent XI did not hesitate to manifest his disapprobation ; he annulled and con- demned the acts of the Assembly of 1682, in his brief of April nth, in the same year. 'By these presents, in virtue of the authority given to us by the Omnipotent God, we condemn, rescind, and annul the acts of your Assembly in the business of the regale y with all that fol- lowed them.''' " Nor was Alexander VIII behind Innocent TEA CHINGS OF MODERN POPES. 1 2 1 XI. On the 4th of August, 1690, he pub- lished the Constitution, ' Inter Multiplicesl in which he condemned, made void, and annulled all that had been done in the Assembly of the clergy of France in the year 1682, as well with regard to the regale as also to the Declaration and the four articles contained in it. * All and singular of the acts [of the Assembly], as well with regard to the extension of the jus regale as to the declaration concerning the power of the Church, and the four articles contained therein, we do condemn, destroy, annul, and make void.* *'Not less important to our understanding of the spirit and doctrine of the holy see is the fact that the Popes refused, for more than ten years, to grant bulls to such of the pre- lates — nominated to bishoprics — as had at- tended the Assembly and had signed the Dec- laration. It was not till the time of Innocent XII, in 1693, that the difference was accom- modated by means of two letters written to the Pope, one by the nominated bishops, and the other by Louis XIV. In the letter of the prelates, mark the following expression : ' We profess and declare that we grieve vehemently, 122 POLITICAL ROMANISM. and beyond the power of Vv^ords to express, over the acts of said Assembly, which have so greatly displeased your holiness and your predecessors ; and we declare, moreover, that whatever was decreed in that Assembly concerning the ec- clesiastical and pontifical authority, we hold to be not decreed, and declare that it is so to be held; "In 1794 Pope Pius VI, in his bull, Aiic- torem Fidei, which has been received without protest by all the Churches, renewed these dec- larations of his predecessors. Innocent XI and Alexander VIII. Moreover, he condemned as rash, scandalous, and supremely injurious to the holy see, the act of the synod of Pistoja (in its decree de la foi), adopting the Declara- tion/ The terms of this * Constitution ' are as follows: ^Wherefore, as the acts of the Galli- can Assembly were condemned and annulled, soon after their appearance, by our predeces- sor. Innocent XI, in his brief of April 1 1, 1682, and afterward, more pointedly, by Alexander VIII, in his Constitution, 'Inter Midtiplices', August 4, 1690, much more strongly does our pastoral solicitude require of us to reprove and condemn the recent adoption of those acts TEACHINGS OF MODERN POPES, 1 23 by the synod [of Pistoja] as rash, scandalous, and especially [mark well these words] injuri- ous in the highest degree to this apostolic see, after the decrees published by our predeces- sors ; and by this present Constitution we do reprove and condemn them, and decree that they are to be held as reproved and con- demned." (Ibid., pp. 103-105.) Remember that the first of the Galilean propositions, " condemned, destroyed, and an- nulled," by these modern Popes, coming down as late as the close of the eighteenth century, was, " That the Popes have no power from God to interpose, directly or indirectly, in the tem.poral concerns of princes or of sovereign States." Here we find the Popes, down to the close of the eighteenth century, solemnly declaring "that they have power from God to interpose, directly or indirectly, in the temporal concerns of princes or of sovereign States ;" and Innocent XI, Alexander VIII, and Inno- cent XII did "annul, destroy, and make void" the laws of the mightiest monarch of Europe, and the most zealous supporter of the Catho- lic Church during the latter part of the seven- teenth and the first part of the eighteenth 124 POLITICAL ROMANISM, centuries ; and a century later Pius VI re- newed and confirmed their decrees, thus an- nulling the Galilean articles, as " rash, scanda- lous, and supremely injurious to the holy see." Thus we find the doctrine of Gregory VII, Innocent III, and Boniface VIII the doctrine of the Popes at the close of the last century. Pope Pius VII, at the beginning of the pres- ent century, claims the same right to depose kings which the mediaeval Popes claimed, and he laments that the Church had fallen on such calamitous times that she could not enforce her rights in this regard. In 1805 Pius VII com- plained to his Nuncio, residing at Vienna, on the occasion of " certain portions of real estate which had belonged to ecclesiastics, had passed into the hands of Protestant princes," '' and re- minded him that, according to the laws of the Church, not only could not heretics possess ecclesiastical property, but also that they could not possess any property whatever, since the crime of heresy ought to be punished by the confiscation of goods. He added that the sub- jects of a prince, who is a heretic, should be released from every duty to him, freed from all obligation and all homage. * In truth,' TEA CHIjXGS of MODERN POPES, 1 2 5 said he, ' we have fallen on times so calamitous and so humiliating to the spouse of Jesus Christ, that it is not possible for her to prac- tice nor expedient to recall so holy maxims ; and she is forced to interrupt the course of her just severities against the enemies of the faith. But if she can not exercise her right to depose the partisans of heresy from their principalities, and declare that they have for- feited all their goods, can she ever permit that, to enrich themselves, they should despoil her of her own proper dominions ? What a sub- ject of derision would she not present to these very heretics and unbelievers who, while they insulted her grief, would say that they had discovered the method of rendering her tolerant ?' " (Campbell and Purcell's Debate, p. 351.) Here the right to depose princes is expressly claimed by the Pope, and he deeply regrets and mourns that the times are so calamitous to the Church that she dare not attempt to enforce these rights of deposing princes and confis- cating their property. Gregory XVI, in the year 1832, in his de- nunciations of "liberty of conscience, liberty 126 POLITICAL ROMANISM. of speech, and of the press," shows the spirit, and proves that he was actuated by the same views of the civil supremacy of the Pope as Pius VII. But none of the Popes of the present century have spoken out more fully on the question of the temporal supremacy of the see of Rome, than Pius IX, the reigning Pontiff. In his Encyclical letter of December 8, 1864, and list of eighty condemned propositions accom- panying it, he speaks out in the clearest and fullest manner possible, setting forth the su- periority of the ecclesiastical over the civil power. Like Pius VII, he laments the ca- lamitous times on which the Church has fallen, and then he launches forth his denunciations against civil liberty and human progress in general. A full translation of the Encyclical and Syllabus was published in the New York Tribune^ of January 21, 1865, from which the following quotations are taken. In his "En- cyclical " he says : " But although we have not hitherto omitted to proscribe and reprove the principal errors of this kind, yet the cause of the Catholic Church, the safety of the souls which have TEACHINGS OF MODERN POPES. 12/ been confided to us, and the well-being of human society itself, absolutely demand that we should again exercise our pastoral solici- tude to destroy new opinions, which spring out of the same errors as from so many sources. These false and perverse opinions are the more detestable as they specially tend to shackle and turn aside the salutary force that the Catholic Church, by the example of her Divine Author and his order, ought freely to exercise until, the end of time, not only with regard to each individual man, but with regard to nations, peoples, and their rulers, and to destroy that agreement and concord between the priest- hood and the Government which have always existed for the happiness and security of relig- ious and civil society. For, as you are well aware, venerable brethren, there are a great number of men in the present day who, apply- ing to civil society the impious and absurd prin- ciple? of naturalism, as it is called, dare to teach that the perfect right of public society and civil progress absolutely require a condition of hu- man society constituted and governed without regard to all considerations of religion, as if it had no existence, or at least without making 128 POLITICAL ROMANISM, any distinction between true religion and her- esy. And, contrary to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, of the Church, and of the fathers, they do not hesitate to affirm *that the best condition of society is that in which the power of the laity is not compelled to inflict the penalties of law upon violators of the Catholic religion unless required by the con- siderations of public safety/ Actuated by an idea of social government so absolutely false, they do not hesitate further to propa- gate the erroneous opinion, very hurtful to the safety of the Catholic Church and of souls, and termed delirium by our predecessor, Greg- ory XVI, of excellent memory, namely, lib- erty of conscience and of worship is the right of every man ' — a right which ought to be pro- claimed and established by law in every well- constituted State, and that citizens are enti- tled to make known and declare, with a liberty which neither the ecclesiastical nor the civil authority can limit, their convictions, of what- ever kind, either by word of mouth or through the press, or by other means. But in making these rash assertions, they do not reflect, they do not consider that they preach the liberty TEA CHINGS OF MODERN POPES. 1 29 of perdition, (St. Augustine, Epistle 105, al. 166,) and that, 'if it is always free to hu- man conviction to discuss, men will never be wanting who dare to struggle against the truth and to rely upon the loquacity of human wis- dom, when we know by the example of our Lord Jesus Christ how faith and Christian sa- gacity ought to avoid this very culpable van- ity." (St. Leon, Epistle 164, al. 133, sec. ii, Boll, ed.) Here the highest claims of the mediaeval Popes to authority over the princes and gov- ernments of the nations are put forth by Pius IX, for he claims that the Church ought to exercise the same "salutary force" over '* na- tions, peoples, and their rulers," that she does over "individuals." No dominion on earth is so absolute and extensive as that which the Roman Catholic Church claims to exercise over her members — a dominion which extends over the body, the mind, the conscience, the life, and the property, absolute and uncondi- tional. This same absolute and uncontrolla- ble authority Pius IX claims for the Church as her right over "nations, peoples, and their rulers ;" thus subjecting all political authority 130 POLITICAL ROMANISM. on earth to the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome. This is no mere speculative theory with the reigning Pontiff, as we shall see, but a right which he has solemnly attempted to en- force, in more than one instance, in the middle of the nineteenth century. This extract also, together with the whole letter and Syllabus, denounces in the most emphatic manner those great principles of civil and religious liberty which lie at the very foundation of our civil in- titutions, and for which our fathers poured out their blood like water. The Pope here declares that "the Holy Scriptures, the Church, and the fathers teach that the best condition of society is that in which the laity is compelled to inflict the penalties of law upon the violators of the Catholic religion ;" or, in other words, "that the civil government ought to be com- pelled by the ecclesiastical power to punish heretics.'* Here the doctrine is unblushingly put forth that " the best condition of society is that in which the civil government is com- pelled by the ecclesiastical power to carry out her persecuting and bloody edicts ;" thus set- ting the Church up as a mistress over the na- tions, compelling them to carry out her man- TEA CHI AGS OF MODERN POPES. 1 3 1 dates. This was the doctrine of Gregory VII, Innocent III, and Boniface VIII, and it is also the doctrine of Pius IX, and it answers exactly to the apocalyptic symbol of " the woman sit- ting upon the scarlet-colored beast," represent- ing " the city which reigneth over the kings of the earth." But he says again: "It is likewise affirmed 'that the excommunications launched by the Council of Trent, and the Roman Pontiffs, against those who invade the possessions of the Church, and usurp its rights, seek, in con- founding the spiritual and temporal orders, to attain solely a terrestrial object ; that the Church can decide nothing which may bind the consciences of the faithful in a temporal order of things ; that the law of the Church does not demand that violations of sacred laws should be punished by temporal penalties ; and that it is in accordance with sacred theology and the principles of public law, to claim for the civil government the property possessed by the Churches, the religious orders, and other pious establishments." The decree of the Council of Trent, to which reference is here made, was passed in the 132 POLITICAL ROMAMSM, twenty-second session of the Council of Trent, and is found in the eleventh chapter of the acts of that session, and is as follows : " If any cleric, or layman, by whatsoever dig- nity pre-eminent, be he even emperor or king, should be so possessed by covetousness, that root of all evils, as to presume to convert to his own use, and to usurp — by himself, or by others, by force or fear, or even by means of any supposititious persons, whether lay or cler- ical, or by any artifice, or under any colorable pretext whatsoever — the jurisdiction, property, rents, and rights, even those held in fee or un- der lease, the fruits, emoluments, or any sources of revenue whatsoever, belonging to any Church, or to any benefice, whether secular or regular, monts de piete^ or to any other pious places, which ought to be employed for the necessities of the ministers (thereof), and of the poor; or (shall presume) to hinder them (in any of the ways aforesaid) from being received by those unto whom they of right belong, he shall lie under an anathema until he shall have wholly restored to the Church, and to the adminis- trator or beneficiary thereof, the jurisdictions, property, efi!ects, rights, fruits and revenues. TEA CHINGS OF MODERN POPES, 1 3 3 which he has seized upon, or in whatsoever way they have come to him, even by way of gift from a supposititious person ; and until he shall, furthermore, have obtained absolution from the Raman Pontiff." The Council of Trent also decreed, in chap, iii. Session XXV: "And every excommuni- cated person who, after lawful monitions, does not repent, shall not only not be received to the sacraments, and to communion and inter- course with the faithful, but if, being bound with censures, he shall, with obdurate heart, remain for a year in the defilement thereof, he may even be proceeded against as suspected of heresy." Now, what is the law of the Ro- man Catholic Church with regard to emperors, kings, and princes, who are stcspected of Jieresy ? Any one who favors heretics is liable to be, and really is, suspected of heresy by the Church of Rome. The law concerning princes sus- pected of heresy, or favoring heretics, was en- acted by the Fourth Lateran Council, under Innocent III, and is thus: "That if a tem- poral lord, being required and admonished by the Church, should neglect to purge his terri- tory from heretical filth, he should, by the met- 134 POLITICAL ROMANISM ropolitan and the other comprovincial bishops, be bound in the bonds of excommunication ; and if he should neglect to make satisfaction within a year, it should be signified to the Pope, that he might from that time pronounce the subjects to be absolved from their allegiance to him, and expose the territory to be seized on by Catholics." (Elliott on Romanism, vol. ii, pp. 163, 164.) The Council of Trent con- firmed this law, together with all other acts of the General Councils, as we have seen in Session XXV, chap. XX ; so that Pius IX, in the above paragraph, indorses all these acts of the Coun- cil of Trent, and stands forth as the defender and upholder of those laws of the Church which depose those princes, kings, and empe- rors who appropriate the property of the Church to secular uses, or who even exercise jurisdiction over such property. Again he says : " And do not omit to teach 'that the royal power has been established, not only to exercise the government of the world, but, above all, for the protection of the Church,' (St. Lent., Epist. 156, al. 125,) and that there is nothing more profitable and more glorious for the sovereigns of States and kings TEA CHINGS OF MODERN POPES. 1 3 5 than to leave the Catholic Church to exercise its laws, and not permit any to attack its lib- erty ; as our most wise and courageous prede- cessor, St. Felix, wrote to the Emperor Zenon : * It is certain that it is advantageous for sover- eigns, when the cause of God is in question, to submit their royal will, according to the estab- lished rules, to the priests of Jesus Christ, and not to impose their will upon them/* (Pius VII's Epist, Encycl. Din., satis, 15th of May, 1800.) Again, the sovereign Pontiff says : "Amid so great a perversity of depraved opinions, we, remembering our apostolic duty, and solicitous before all things for our most holy religion, for sound doctrine, for the salvation of the souls confided to us, and for the welfare of human society itself, have considered the moment op- portune to raise anew our apostolic voice, and therefore do we condemn and proscribe, gen- erally and particularly, all the evil opinions and doctrines specially mentioned in this letter, and we wish that they may be held as rebuked, proscribed, and condemned by all the children of the Catholic Church." Indeed, this Encyclical, and the accompany- 136 POLITICAL ROMANISM. ing Syllabus, may be regarded in no other light than as a bull against civil liberty, human progress, and Christian civilization. Pius IX here vainly seizes the car of human progress, and endeavors to roll it back into the barba- rism of the Middle Ages, and thus re-establish the political supremacy of the Pope over the kings and governments of the earth. But his zeal for the re-establishment and extension of the power of the Papacy will only the more speedily hasten its downfall, by more fully con- vincing the world that it is essentially opposed to human freedom, human progress, and modern civilization. The twenty-third proposition condemned in the Syllabus, as furnished in the Latin edition published in the New York Freeman s yoiirnal, Nov. 27, 1869, and the twenty-fourth, as found in the translation of the Tribune, reads as fol- lows : " Romani Poittifices et Concilia oecmnenica a limitibics suae potestatis recesserimt^jura priii- cipicm usnrpanmty atqtte etiain in rebics fidei et moriL'tn definiendis errarunV' — which the Trib- tme translates thus : " The Roman Pontiffs and Ecumenical Councils have exceeded the limits of their power, have usurped the rights of A TEA CHINGS OF MODERN POPES. 1 3 / princes, and have even committed errors in defining matters relating to dogma and mor- als." This dogma is condemned and anathe- matized by Pius IX, who here declares that the Fourth Lateran Council, in its law depos- ing those princes who would '' not purge their territories from heretical filth," and the Sec- ond Council of Lyons, which deposed the Emperor Frederick II, and the various Popes who deposed emperors, kings, and sovereign princes, did not " exceed the limits of their pow- ers, nor usurp the rights of princes ;" but that they were exercising the legitimate rights and powers of their office. Thus we see the reigning Pontiff justifies the most arrogant pretensions of the mediaeval Popes, and anathematizes all who dare to call in question their right to de- throne kings, and absolve their subjects from their obligations of allegiance. The twenty-fourth proposition of the Sylla- bus, according to the yoiaiial, and the twenty- third, according to the Tribitne, which meets the denunciation of Pius IX, reads thus : ^^ Ecclesia vis inferendce potestatis non kabety neqtte potestatein ullain teinporalem directam vel indirectani' — which the Tfibune trans- 138 POLITICAL ROMANISM. lates thus : " The Church has not the power of availing herself of force, or any direct or in- direct temporal power." Here the reigning Pontiff, by anathematizing this proposition, declares " that the Church does have power to avail herself of force directly, and also indi- rectly, through the princes and civil rulers throughout the world, compelling them to carry out her mandates by force and civil pen- alties. The twenty-fifth proposition of the Syllabus, condemned by the Pope, reads thus : ^^ PrcEter potestatcin episcopatui iiihcerentemy alia est attributa temporalis potestas a civili im- perio vel expresse vel tacite concessa^ revocanda^ propterea, cum libtcerit, a civili imperioT Translation — '' In addition to the authority inherent in the episcopate, further temporal power is granted to it by the civil power, either expressly or tacitly; but, on that account, also, revocable by the civil power whenever it pleases." Here is an express denunciation of the Gal- ilean theory of the temporal power of the Pope resting upon human concession, and a plain and unequivocal declaration that this temporal TEA CHINGS OF MODERN POPES. 1 3 9 power is ijihei^ent in the episcopate of Rome, and not conferred by the civil powers. The thirtieth proposition of the Syllabus, condemned by Pius IX, reads : '' Ecclesice et pej^sojiamm ecclesiasticarum iin- inunitas a jure civili ortuin habuUr Translation — "The immunity of the Church and of ecclesiastical persons derives its origin from civil law." Here Pius IX boldly proclaims that the im- munity of ecclesiastical persons from the juris- diction of the civil law, which is the law of the Church of Rome, did not originate in civil en- actments, but that this immunity is secured by the law of God. It does not matter what crime an ecclesiastic may commit, the law of the Church of Rome does not allow him to be held to account to the civil law; but he must be judged by the law of the Church, and deprived of his ecclesiastical character, before the civil law can take hold of him ! This immunity of ecclesiastical persons is here not only justified by the Pope, but it is declared not to derive its origin from the civil power, but is inherent in the ecclesiastical character. This law of the Church, whenever it can be enforced, 140 POLITICAL ROMANISM, withdraws the allegiance of Romish ecclesi- astics from the civil power, and transfers it wholly to the Pope ; and, where it can not be enforced, it necessarily brings about a con- stant conflict between the civil and ecclesias- tical powers. The forty-second proposition of the Sylla- bus, condemned by Pius IX, reads : '^ In conflictu legitm uUnusqiie potestatis^ jus civile prcevaletr Translation — '^ In a legal conflict between the two powers, civil law ought to prevail." Here the supremacy of the ecclesiastical over the civil law is most expressly declared. In a conflict between the two powers, the civil ruler, as the inferior, must submit to the Pope as the superior! This is the doctrine of his Infallibility — Pius IX. What more arrogant claim did ever Innocent III put forth than this } Thus we see the spirit and doctrine of the Papacy is the same in the middle of the nineteenth century that it was in the begin- ning of the thirteenth ; the only difference^ be- tween it now and then is, it has for the present at least, happily for mankind, lost its power to enforce its claim of universal temporal suprem- TEACHINGS OF MODERN POPES, 14I acy. After denouncing the Common-School system of education in the most emphatic manner, his hifallibility y in the fifty-fifth prop- osition, condemned in the Syllabus, says : ^^ Ecclesia a Statzi, Stahisque ab Ecclesia jtingendus est!' Translation — "The Church must be sep- arated from the State, and the State from the Church." Here we have an emphatic denunciation of the American idea of the separation of Church and State, and the doctrine is proclaimed by his Infallibility that Church and State must be united — the Church, as the superior, to com- mand, and the State, as the inferior, to obey. The seventy-third proposition, condemned by the Syllabus, reads : " Vi contractus mere civilis potest ijtter Chiis- tianos constare veri nominis matrinioniuin ; fal- stimque esty aut co7ttractitm matrimonii inter Christianos semper esse sac7'amentumy aut nullum^ esse contractunty si sacramentum. excludatury Translation — "A civil contract may very well, among Christians, take the place of true marriage, and it is false either that the mar- riage contract between Christians must always 142 POLITICAL ROMANISM be a sacrament, or that the contract is null if the sacrament does not exist." Here his Infallibility declares that all civil marriages are null, and consequently the rela- tions thus formed are adulterous, and the off- spring from such unions illegitimate. This is the doctrine of the Church of Rome, and she thus, through her General Councils and sover- eign Pontiffs, declares the laws of all countries recognizing civil marriage to be, in this respect, null and void; thus claiming and attempting to exercise supreme temporal jurisdiction in all Christian lands. The seventy-seventh and seventy-eighth propositions condemned in the Syllabus, read : " J J, Aetate hac nostra non mnplitis expedite religionem- CatJiolicam habeii tainqtcam unicani Status religionenij cete^'is qtcibiLscimtqiie ctdtibics exclusisr " J'i. Hinc laudabiliter in qnibtcsdam Cathol- ici 7iomi7iis regionibns lege cantuin esty tct homin- ibiLS nine immigraittibus lieeat publicum proprii cujusque cultus exereitiinn haberey Translation — " JJ, In the present day it is no longer necessary that the Catholic re- ligion shall be held as the only religion of the TEACHINGS OF MODERN POPES. - 1 43 State, to the exclusion of all other modes of worship." '' 78. Whence it has been wisely provided by the law in some countries called Catholic, that immigrants shall enjoy the free exercise of their own worship." By the denunciation of these two proposi- tions, Pius IX not only justifies and approves of the persecuting edicts of former Pontiffs, and Catholic kings and princes, at the instiga- tion, and under the influence of the see of Rome ; but he shows us unmistakably that had the Church of Rome the influence and power she formerly had, she would compel the civil rulers of Christendom to again become her exe- cutioners to carry out her bloody edicts against all who would not submit to her authority. The eightieth proposition of the Syllabus, condemned by Pius IX, reads : ^^ Romanics Pontifex potest ac debet cttin pro- gressu, cum liberalismo^ et cicm recenti civili- tate, sese reconciliare et componei^e!' Translation — '' The Roman Pontifl* can and ought to reconcile himself to and agree with progress, liberalism, and modern civilization.'* Here Pius IX puts himself squarely against 144 POLITICAL ROMANISM, " progress, liberalism, and modern civilization,*' and declares that the Roman Pontiff neither can nor ought to reconcile himself with either "progress, liberalism, or modern civilization!" '^Progress, liberalism, and modern civilization" are all against the Church of Rome, and as the one advances the other recedes ; and hence the Roman Pontiff lifts his apostolic voice in notes of grief and warning to the faithful, de- claring that "progress" is all wrong and im- pious, that "liberalism" is detestable and not to be countenanced by the faithful, and that " modern civilization " is so unchristian and detestable that his Infallibility neither can nor ought to reconcile himself to it, as in its prac- tical operations and results it is by the diffu- sion of knowledge among the people, surely and rapidly disintegrating that gigantic system of civil and ecclesiastical despotism which the Bishop of Rome has exercised over the nations of Christendom for so many centuries. ALLOCUTION OF PIUS IX, I45 CHAPTER IX. ALLOCUTION OF PIUS IX. THE declarations of Pius IX, in his Encyc- lical Letter and his Syllabus, are not sim- ply idle talk ; they are the serious declarations of a man who believes himself to be possessed of supreme power over all the kings and gov- ernments of the earth, and the principles therein set forth, he has attempted to prac- tically carry out by annulling and setting aside the laws of sovereign States. When, in the year 1853, the Government of Piedmont determined to correct the ecclesias- tical abuses which had become unendurable, and suppress the convents, except such as were used for schools and hospitals, and to pass a law making a more equitable distribu- tion of the revenues of the Church among the clergy. Pope Pius IX, on the 22d of January, 1854, issued the following Allocution, which 10 146 POLITICAL ROMANISM. was translated and published in the New York Freeman s yotmial, the leading Catholic paper published in the United States, and copied from that by Dr. M'Clintock, in his "Temporal Power of the Pope," pp. 122, 123, 124, which reads as follows : "Venerable Brethren, — You well re- member, venerable brethren, with how great affliction of soul we have often lamented to you from this place the very great mischiefs with which the Catholic Church, in the sub- Alpine kingdom, has for many years been un- scrupulously harassed and afflicted. Assur- edly, w^e have left undone nothing that anxiety, affection, and long-suffering could suggest, in order that, in virtue of our apostolic office, we might succeed in rem.edying evils so great, ear- nestly hoping that we might at length have it in our power to lay before you some intelligence alike calculated to allay your grief and soften our affliction. But all our efforts have been fruitless ; neither our reiterated expostulations, through our Cardinal Secretary of State, nor the anxious endeavors we have made through another Cardinal, our Plenipotentiary, nor even our familiar epistles to our most dear son in ALLOCUTION OF PIUS IX. I47 Christ, the illustrious King of Sardinia, have availed any thing. It is a matter of universal notoriety how that government, by several of its acts and decrees, to the heart-felt sorrow and indignation of all good persons, and in open contravention of the most solemn cove- nants entered into v/ith this apostolic see, has dared to persecute every day, more and more, the consecrated ministers of religion, the holy bishops, and religious communities ; violating the immunities of the Church, despoiling her of her liberty and her venerable rights, forcibly usurping her possession, and inflicting the most unheard-of injuries upon the Church, and upon our supreme authority and that of the holy see, and at the same time contemning and despis- ing it. Lastly, as you well know, a law has been proposed which is contrary to all natural, Divine, and social rights ; entirely opposed to the welfare of society, as it favors the perni- cious and fatal errors of socialism and com- munism. By this law it is proposed, among other things, to destroy entirely almost all the religious communities of both sexes, collegiate churches, and simple benefices, even those which possess right of patronage, and deliver 148 POLITICAL ROMANISM. their goods and revenues to the arbitrary ad- ministration of the civil power. The same measure gives authority to the lay power to prescribe its own conditions to the religious communities which may escape from the gen- eral destruction. ''Words can not express the sorrow which fills our heart at witnessing the incredible and criminal acts which have been and are daily committed against the Church and her ancient rights, and the supreme and inviolable author- ity of the holy see, in that very kingdom in which are to be found so many fervent Cath- olics, and whose sovereigns have ever given an example of piety, religion, and the greatest re- spect for the Chair of the blessed Peter and his successors. But matters having now come to such a pass, it is not enough to deplore the wrongs done to the Church, but it is our duty to use every effort to remedy this evil accord- ing to the duty of our charge, and, therefore, we again raise our voice, with apostolic free- dom, in this solemn assembly, and we reject and condemn not only all and each of the de- crees of that government hurtful to the rights and authority of religion, of the Church, and ALLOCUTION OF PIUS IX. 1 49 of the holy see, but likewise the law lately pro- posed. We declare all these acts to be abso- lutely null and void. "Moreover, we seriously warn all those in whose name, by whose order or exertions these decrees have been published, as well as all who may sanction, approve, or favor, in any way whatsoever, the law lately proposed, to consider in their hearts the penalties and cen- sures contained in the apostolic constitutions, the canons of holy councils, and especially in the canons of the holy Council of Trent, against spoliators and profaners of holy things, against the violators of the liberty of the Church and the holy see, and the usurpers of their rights. Would to God that the authors of these evils, moved and touched by our words and warnings, would determine at last to desist from their daring attack against ecclesiastical liberties and immunities, and would hasten to repair the wrongs done to the Church, that thus our paternal heart might be spared the painful necessity of turning against them the weapons committed by God to our sacred ministry. In order that the Catholic world may know what we have done I 5 O POLITICAL R OMANISM, to protect the cause of the Church in the kingdom of Sardinia, and that the conduct of that Government may be well known, we have published a special statement of the affair, and we have ordered that a copy be presented to each of you. '' Before concluding we can not refrain, ven- erable brethren, from bestowing our well-mer- ited praises on the archbishops and bishops of the sub- Alpine kingdom, who, mindful of their exalted dignity and charge, have fulfilled all our desires, and have never ceased to oppose themselves as a strong wall for the house of Israel, defending it, by their words and writ- ings, with great courage and admirable con- stancy, and energetically upholding the cause of God and of his holy Church, and from our very heart we congratulate all these distin- guished laymen of that kingdom, who have displayed their truly Catholic sentiments and firm attachment to the holy see, by openly and publicly defending, in word and writing, the sacred rights of the Church. " And you, venerable brethren, who are called to share in our solicitude, we invite you to join with us in addressing arduous and fervent pray- ALLOCUTION OF PIUS IX, 1 5 I ers to God, that, under the all-powerful pro- tection of the immaculate Virgin Mary, we may obtain his heavenly aid in our cares and efforts, and that by his almighty power he may protect the cause of his holy Church, and recall the erring to the path of truth and justice." Here Pius IX solemnly declares the acts of an independent foreign power " null and void !'* Now we ask, what right had he to do this ? The only answer that can be given is, that as Pope, he has an indirect temporal supremacy over the nations of the earth, and that he has the right to exercise that supremacy when the good of the Church demands it! This is the only answer any Catholic can give in justifica- tion of this arrogant assumption on the part of the Roman Pontiff, in interfering in the in- ternal affairs of a foreign kingdom. This act of pontifical arrogance on the part of the reign- ing Pontiff shows clearly that he claims the right, as supreme ruler over Christendom, to '*set aside and make void" any law of any government which in his judgment may in- fringe the rights, liberties, and immunities of the Church. 152 POLITICAL ROMANISM, But this is not all. Pius IX, in this Allo- cution, endeavors to stir up a spirit of insub- ordination, if not rebellion, among the subjects of the King of Sardinia. He says : "Moreover, we seriously warn all those in whose name, by whose order or exertions these decrees have been published, as well as all who may sanction, approve, or favor in any way whatsoever the law lately proposed, to con- sider in their hearts the penalties and censures contained in the apostolic constitutions, the canons of holy councils, and especially in the canons of the holy Council of Trent, against spoliators and profaners of holy things, against the violators of the liberty of the Church and the holy see, and the usurpers of their rights." Now what is this but an attempt, by the ter- rors of excommunication, to stir up the subjects of the King to rebellion against his authority, by refusing to carry into effect the laws of his Government } But the Pope goes further still, and gives the King full warning that there are other ''pains and penalties" awaiting him, if the "paternal admonitions" of "the Holy Father" fail to pro- duce the desired effect. He says : ALLOCUTION OF PIUS IX. 1 53 '* Would to God that the authors of these great evils, moved and touched by our words and warnings, would determine at last to de- sist from their daring attacks against ecclesi- astical liberties and immunities, and would hasten to repair the wrongs done to the Church, that thus our paternal heart might be spared the painful necessity of turning against them the weapons committed by God to our sacred ministry." Here is a plain threat of excommunication, and we have seen by the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council, that if an excommunicated sovereign remains impenitent for one year, the Pope must proceed to depose him, and name a successor, or expose his territories to con- quest by Christian princes. The only reason Pius IX did not proceed to these extreme measures was a conscious inability to carry them out, as we shall see in the sequel. But this shows that the animus of the Papacy is unchanged, and that if it had the power it would dethrone kings to-day, just as it did in the Middle Ages. Two years ago, June 22, 1868, Pius IX is- 154 POLITICAL ROMANISM, sued an Allocution, condemning the Constitu- tion of Austria. In it he says : "By our apostolic authority we reject and condemn the above-mentioned [new Aus- trian] laws in general, and in particular all that has been ordered, done, or enacted in these and in other things against the rights of the Church by the Austrian Government or its subordinates ; by the same authority we declare these laws and their consequences to have been, and to be for the future, null and void — mUliiisqtie roboris ftcisse ac foi^e. We exhort and adjure their authors, especially those who call themselves Catholics, and all who have dared to propose, to accept, to ap- prove, and to execute them, to remember the censures and spiritual penalties incurred, ipso facto, according to the apostolical constitutions and decrees of Ecumenical Councils, by those who violate the rights of the Church." (See Janus, pp. 23, 24.) Here Pius IX claims the right to set aside and declare " null and void " the laws of an in- dependent kingdom, " by our apostolic author- ity !" This right, he claims, is conferred by his apostolic office, and hence he as Pope, in vir- ALLOCUTION OF PIUS IX, 1 5 5 tue of his supreme authority over the princes and governments of the earth, has power to make " null and void " all laws contravening the rights, liberties, or immunities of the Church. This is as complete an assertion of supreme temporal power as was ever put forth by Gregory VII or Innocent III. On this passage from this Allocution Janus re- marks : *' By this sentence the whole legislature and executive of Austria is placed under ban, with the Emperor Francis Joseph at its head, and the Austrians may be thankful that the whole territories of the empire are not placed under interdict, according to the earlier precedents put in practice the last time against Venice, (1606.) "Pius IX condemns the Austrian Constitu- tion for making Catholics bury the bodies of heretics in their cemeteries where they have none of their own, and he considers it ' abom- inable' {abominabilis)y because it allows Prot- estants and Jews to erect educational institu- tions. He seems to have quite forgotten that similar laws long prevailed elsewhere without opposition from Rome. 156 POLITICAL ROMANISM. " If the will of the Civilta [the organ of the Pope] is accomplished, the bishops will sol- emnly condemn, by implication, next Decem- ber, the constitutions of the countries they live in, and the laws which they, or many of them, have sworn to observe, and will bind themselves to use all their efforts for the abolition of those laws and the overthrow of the constitutions. This will not, of course, be so openly stated ; the Civilta and its allies will say, what has often been said since 1864, that the Church must observe for a time a prudent economy, and must so far take account of circumstances and accomplished facts, as, without any modi- fication of her real principles, to pay a cer- tain external deference to them. The bishops do well to endure the lesser evil as long as open resistance would lead to worse conse- quences, and prejudice the interests of the Church. But this submission, or rather silence and endurance, is only provisional, and simply means that the lesser evil must be chosen in preference to a contest wdth no present pros- pect of success. "As soon as the situation changes, and there is hope of contending successfully against free k ALLOCUTION OF PIUS IX, 1 5 7 laws, the attitude of the bishops and clergy changes too. Then, as the Court of Rome and the Jesuits teach, every oath taken to a constitution in general, or to particular laws, loses its force. The oft-quoted saying of the apostle, that we must obey God rather than man, means, in the Jesuit gloss, that we must obey the Pope as God's representative on earth, and the infallible interpreter of his will, rather than any civil authority or laws. Therefore, Innocent X, in his bull of 20th November, 1648, ^ Zelus domiis Deil which condemns the peace of Westphalia ' as null and void, and of no effect or authority for past, present, or future,' expressly adds, that no one, though he had sworn to observe the peace, is bound to keep his oath. It was chiefly those conditions of the Westphalian Peace which secured to Prot- estants the free exercise of their religion, and admission to civil offices that filled the Pope, as he said, with profound grief {cmn ijitimo doloris sensu). And this sentence was adhered to, for in 1789 Pius VI declared that the Church had never admitted the Westphalian Peace. ^ Pacem Westphalicam Ecclesia mm- qicam probavit! Thus again, in 1805, Pius 158 POLITICAL ROMANISM, VII, in writing to his nuncio at Venice, up- holds the punishments imposed by Innocent III for heresy, namely, confiscation of property for private persons, and the relaxation of all obligations of tribute and subjection to heret- ical princes ; and he only regrets that we are fallen on such evil days, and the bride of Christ is so humbled, that it is neither possible to carry out, nor of any avail to recall, these holy max- ims, and she can not exercise a righteous sever- ity against the enemies of the feith. '' These * holy maxims ' then, are allowed for awhile to lie dormant, though, according to the Jesuit plan of the campaign, they are to be raised at the approaching Council to the dig- nity of irreversible dogmas through the asser- tion of the Papal infallibility. Better times must be waited for, when the Church [that is, the Court of Rome] shall be raised once more from the dust, and seated on the throne of her universal, w^orld-wide, spiritual sovereignty." (Janus, pp. 24 to 27.) Thus speaks the author of "Janus," one of the most learned and acute Roman Catholic writers and scholars of Eu- rope. He belongs to the liberal wing of the Roman Catholic Church, and understands ALLOCUTION OF PIUS IX. 1 59 fully the programme laid out by the dominant party in that Church to regain that supremacy over the nations of the earth which the Popes once exercised, and which they still claim as inherent in their office as the vicars of Jesus Christ. l60 POLITICAL ROMANISM, CHAPTER X. MODERN ROMANIST DIVINES AND JOURNALS. THE doctrines and spirit of Pius IX on the rights and powers of the Church are faithfully reflected in nearly all the Roman Catholic periodicals, and nearly all the great prelates of the Church. This is so generally the case, that for a Roman Catholic journal or prelate to express sentiments different, is to at once create grave suspicion, in the minds of all true Catholics, of the soundness of his CathoUcity. Gallicanism was never so detested and denounced in the Roman Catholic Church as it is to-day. We have seen, in Chapters H and HI, the extreme ultramontane views of Dr. O. A. Brownson, advocated in his Review, in which he not only most bitterly denounces Gallicanism, but also boldly advocates the su- preme temporal power of the Pope, and shows that this is a logical deduction from the faith DIVINES AND JO URNALS, 1 6 1 of the Church. Hence he boldly advocates the right of the Pope to depose temporal sov- ereigns. The position taken by Dr. Brownson is the doctrine held by every advocate of the infallibility of the Pope. To show that I am not misrepresenting the Romish Church on this question, I will quote from a letter written by two eminent American prelates, Archbishop Kenrick of St. Louis, and Purcell of Cincin- nati, published in the Gazette de France, and translated and published in the New York Freeman s journal and Catholic Register of May 21, 1870. As this is all Roman Catholic authority, of course there can be no objection raised to it by Romanists. These learned prelates say: "The American prelates have a reason altogether special for hesitating in regard to this question of Papal infallibility. For, on one hand, neither Catholics nor Protestants, in our country, will admit that Popes have the right of deposing sovereigns, of releasing sub- jects from their oath of fidelity, and of trans- ferring, at their will, a kingdom from one prince to another. Our Irish, who are the mass, as the support of the Catholic Church in the II 1 62 POLITICAL ROMANISM. United States, will have difficulty in agreeing that Pope Adrian IV, who was an Englishman, was infallible in giving Ireland to Henry II, King of England. On the other hand, bulls of Popes on this subject are so clear, and so positive, that defenders of Papal infallibility, in general, think themselves obliged to admit the temporal sovereignty of the Pope over the universe. Adrian IV says, in particular : Ad cujus {Romance Ecclesice) jus earn insulaniy alias- que oiwieSy qicce docttinenta fidei cepissent, perti- nere nernine dubium esset. It is remarkable that the modern authors, who talk so loudly of the privilege of Pontifical infallibility, keep at present so profound a silence in regard to that other privilege, that their predecessors esteemed as important, and as well proved as the former. Till now, it has been permitted us to say that the Church Catholic has nothing to do with these bargains, and is not responsi- ble for what the Popes have done or may do. But if these decisions were to become articles of faith, the Archbishop of Baltimore would find himself much embarrassed, as well as all the rest of us, as has happened, even recently, in regard to freedom of worship." DIVINES AND JOURNALS. 163 Here we have the direct testimony of two of the most eminent American prelates of the Church of Rome, that the Papal infallibility carries along with it necessarily the temporal supremacy of the Pope, and that this is the doctrine of the advocates of infallibility them- selves, though they for the present maintain a prudent silence on the temporal rights and prerogatives of the Pope. But still their true doctrine may be discovered from their bitter denunciations of Gallicanism and their exalta- tion of the rights of the sovereign Pontiff. These prelates here expressly declare that, by the proclamation of the dogma of Papal in- fallibility, "these decisions" of the Popes have " become articles of faith !" Thus we see that what was only a " logical deduction from the faith of the Church " before, has now become a part of the faith, and every one of the arrogant Papal bulls, dethroning emperors, kings, and princes, which we have quoted, must now be received by the whole Roman Catholic Church as articles of faith — Archbishops Kenrick and Purcell being judges. This places the ques- tion of Papal infallibility in a new light before the American people. It must not be forgot- 1 64 POLITICAL ROMANISM ten that these two eminent American Roman- ist prelates have unconditionally and unreserv- edly accepted the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope, and, according to their own state- ment, they hold the political supremacy of the Pope as an '^article of faith!" Let this be, proclaimed from every housetop in the land, until the American people are thoroughly aroused to the importance of this question. The Civil ta Cattolica^ published in Rome, under the immediate eye of the Pope, and must therefore be regarded as his organ, as quoted by Dr. M'Clintock, on "The Temporal Power of the Pope," pp. 129, 130, says: ** What, then, are the limits of the Church's means 1 There are none except the limits of human power and of the Divine assistance by which the Church is comforted. As the Church commands the spiritual part of man directly, she therefore commands the whole man, and all that depends on man ; for it is the property of man to live according to the spirit, according to reason." On this passage Dr. M'Clintock justly remarks in a foot-note: "This proposition sums up the entire claim of the Church, both as to temporal and DIVINES AND JOURNAIS, 1 65 spiritual supremacy. The absolute direction of the soul logically and necessarily carries with it, as the greater the less, the direction also of the body." This is the uniform reasoning of Roman Catholics on this question. The eccle- siastical power with them is the greater, and must therefore necessarily control the civil power, which is the less. The Civilta con- tinues : " The truth is that the only power dreaded by the demagogues and the ungodly is that very Church which they unite in at- tacking, calling it ^clerical party,' ^Jesuitism/ * theologism,' or what not. And they are right in that fear. To-day, as in all times, the Church commands the spiritual part of man — lit., the spirits — and in ruling over the spirit she rules the body, rules over riches, over sciences, over affections, over interests, over associations — rules, in fine, over mon- archs, and their ministers. . . . Petty poli- ticians may conclude that the Church has lost her power, because she does not enlist artil- lery, cavalry, and infantry ; but the truth is, that the artillery, cavalry, and infantry of the CathoUcs are in the hands of the Church, inas- much as in her hands are the mind, the reason, 1 66 POLITICAL ROMANISM, and the power of every true Catholic/' (Ibid., pp. 131, 132.) The claim here set up, of complete authority over the whole man, by means of bringing the mind and conscience under the dominion of the Church, we know is too true by the practical workings of Roman Catholicism in this coun- try. The whole force of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is now arrayed, through the power the priests exercise over their people, against our Common-School sys- tem, and they have the same power to turn the whole political force of their Church against any other civil institution of our country, whenever they feel disposed so to do. This complete control of the Church over the entire man, by means of his spiritual part"J is the great danger to free institutions from Ro- man Catholicism, the fountain and support of all despotism, civil and ecclesiastical. The Civilta claims for the Church the unlimited right to use force or coercion to secure obedi- ence to her mandates. It says : " Our second question was. To what ex- tent may the Church make use of severity ? Here, also, we answer, that the aim, of itself, DIVINES AND JOURNALS. 1 67 does not impose any limits. For as the spir- itual good is the greatest of all goods, there- fore every thing allowed for other smaller goods must be allowed for the greatest. And as it is a universal law of punishment that the in- fliction be not greater than necessary, nor less than sufficient, the spiritual authority must be entitled, a fortiori, to every thing conceded to the temporal power. "The conclusion is, therefore, that there are no limits to the exercise of the coercive power of the Church, either in view of her means or of her aim.'* Here all the iniquities of the Inquisition, in the employment of force and torture, to sup- press heresy, and extend the power of the Pope, are unblushingly justified. Remember the organ of Pope Pius IX teaches that the only limit of the coercive power of the Church is the limit of her ability to employ force. The reason she does not employ force now as for- merly, for the suppression of heresy, is, she can not make the civil power the executioner of her bloody mandates as she could in her palmy days. She does not lack the spirit and disposition to persecute, but she lacks the 1 68 POLITICAL ROMANISM. ability ; and she is looking and longing for the return of the time when she may " recall those holy maxims " of force and blood ! Gallicanism is denounced by all the leading writers and journals of the Roman Catholic Church as a " Royal Theology," " Court Re- ligion," etc. Now, remember the first of the four Galilean articles, which just now meet such a universal and bitter denunciation by all the leading Papal writers and journals, de- clares : " That the Popes have no power front God to interposey directly or indirectly ^ i7i the temporal concerns of princes or of sovereign States!' Archbishop Manning, in a Pastoral Letter to the clergy of Westminster, issued on the eve of the present Council, and with special reference to the question of Papal infallibility, and also published in the New York Freeman s your- nal and Catholic Register, from which I quote, January 8, 1870 — says: "In the Pastoral of 1867 I was recalling to your minds the history of Gallicanism, and my words were these : * The boldness or the unconsciousness with which Gallicanism is sometimes put forward as an opinion, which DIVINES AND JOURNALS. 1^9 Catholics are free to hold without blame, and as a basis on which Churches are to unite un- der the shelter of Bossuet, and as a standard of Catholic moderation, in rebuke of ultramon- tane excesses, makes it seasonable to tell its his- tory. Gallicanism is no more than a transient and modern opinion which arose in France, without warrant or antecedents, in the ancient theological schools of the French Church; a royal theology, as suddenly developed and as paren- thetical as the Thirty-nine Articles, affirmed only by a small number of the numerous episcopate of France, indignantly rejected by many of them ; condemned in succession by three Pontiffs; de-^ dared by the universities of Louvain and Douai to be erroneous; retracted by the bishops of France; condemned by Spain, Hungary, and other countries, and condemned over again in the bull 'Auctorem Fidei! Whether I am justified in using these words the next chap- ter will show. " Now, in the following chapter I will give the outline of the history of the doctrine of the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff; and, in doing so, sufficient evidence will, I hope, 170 POLITICAL ROMANISM. appear by the way to justify the assertions of the above quotation. " What will appear may be thus stated : " I. That Gallicanism has no warrant in the doctrinal practice or tradition of the Church, either in France or at large, in the thousand years preceding the Council of Constance. ^^2. That the first traces of Gallicanism are to be found about the time of that Council. " 3. That after the Council of Constance they were rapidly and almost altogether effaced from the theology of the Church in France until their revival in 1682. "4. That the articles of 1682 were conceived by Jansenists, and carried through by political and oppressive means, contrary to the sense of the Church of France. " 5. That the theological faculties of the Sor- bonne and of France generally, nobly resisted and refused to teach them." In chapter iii, of the same Pastoral Let- ter of Archbishop Manning, in the Freeman s yotirnaly of January 2 2d, when summing up the reasons in favor of the proclamation of the dogma of Papal infallibility, he gives the fif- teenth and last reason thus : DIVINES AND JOURNALS. I /I " Because the full and final declaration of the Divine authority of the head of the Church is needed to exclude from the minds of pastors and faithful the political i7ifluences which have generated Gallicanism, hnperialism, Regalism, and Nationalism, the perennial sources of error, contention, and schism/' The italics in these quotations are my own. In this last quotation from Archbishop Man- ning, the temporal supremacy of the Pope, as a result of his personal^ infallibility, stands out fully confessed. The dogma of the personal infallibility of the Pope is necessary " to ex- clude from the minds of pastors and faithftd the political influences which have generated Gallicanism;' etc. Now what are "the polit- ical influences which have generated Gallican- ism," etc..^ Every one knows that Gallicanism has its foundation in a rejection of the tem- poral supremacy of the Pope, and that polit- ical GalUcanism is embraced in the first of the four articles, which denies both the direct and indirect temporal supremacy of the Pope. Now, we are told by the advocates of Papal infallibility that this decision of the fullness '* of the Divine authority of the head of the 172 POLITICAL ROMANISM, Church is needed to exclude from the minds of pastors and faithful " this political Gallican- ism. Thus the Pope, by the proclamation of the dogma of infallibility, is set up over the kings, emperors, princes, and rulers of the civil governments of the earth, and the faithful of every order are to bow down once more and humbly kiss the feet of ^^ His Holiness I' and kings and emperors must receive their crowns from his hands, and presidents must have their elections confirmed by his authority. Gallican- ism. Imperialism, Regalism, and Nationalism are all to be condemned and abolished ; and, to prevent any more errors, contentions, or schisms, mankind are to be brought under one universal, absolute, infallible sovereign, the Pope, and all, both great and small, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, are to receive the law from his infallible mouth, and tremble at his nod. Then shall millennial glory burst forth in its brightest efiulgence, and all the earth for a thousand years bow to the scepter of the Pope ! Such is the vision of glory which is traced in outline before the minds of the worshipers of "the Man of Sin,'' and if these results are not reached it will not DIVINES AND JOURNALS. 173 be for want of zeal, energy, and effort upon their part, but simply because mankind, in their blindness, will prefer the misery of the light of science, human progress, and civil and religious liberty, to the happiness of the barbarism of the Middle Ages, and the civil and ecclesiastical despotism of the Roman Pontiff, which, like the ponderous wheels of Juggernaut, crushes every thing that comes under its power. In closing up his Pastoral, Archbishop Man- ning, speaking of the future of the civil gov- ernments of Christendom, sees no hope for them, but in submission to the Pope, which he, of course, presents in the least objection- able manner possible, so as not to give offense to the civil power; but still "union with the Church," which, with all '' tnie Catholics" means submission of the civil power to the Pope, is the only remedy which he can pos- sibly' see for the benighted nations of Prot- estant Christendom ! The only hope for En- gland "for some clearing in the dark sky, which for the last three hundred years has lowered upon it," is " union with the Church," I 174 POLITICAL ROMANISM, that is, submission to the Pope, such as King John made to Pope Innocent III. In answering the objections to the procla- mation of the dogma of infallibility, arising from the political effects it would have upon the nations of Christendom, the Archbishop re- marks : " / ca7i hardly persuade myself to believe that the University of Munich does not know that the relations between tJie Pope^ even supposed to be infallible^ and the civil powers^ have been long since precisely defined in the same acts which defined the relations between the Churchy known to be infallible^ and the civil authority. Twelve Synods or Cotmcils, two of them Ecumenical^ have long ago laid down these relations of the spiritual and civil powers. If the Pope were declared infallible to-7norrow, it would in no way ajfect these relations!' (See Freemans yourjialy January 29, 1870.) The General Council here referred to, as hav- ing fixed "the relations between the spiritual and civil powers," was the Fourth Lateran, un- der Innocent III, for the decree of which, fixing the ''relations between the spiritual and civil powers," see Chapter VI ; and the First Coun- DIVINES AND JOURNALS, 1 75 cil of Lyons, under Innocent IV, for the ac- tion of which, see Chapter VII. Here we see the modern infaUiblists fully and unreservedly indorse the deposing power of the Pope as taught by these two Ecumenical Councils, and accept their action as final in regard to the relation that exists between the Roman Pontiff and the civil governments of Chris- tendom. 176 POLITICAL ROMANISM. CHAPTER XL FIRST CONSTITUTION CONCERNING THE CHURCH. THE supreme temporal power of the Pope is fully set forth in the *' Constitution concerning the Church/' passed by the Coun- cil of the Vatican, July 18, 1870. In Chap- ter HI, of that Constitution, ''On the Power and nature of the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff," it is declared : " Wherefore, supported by the clear testimonies of the Sacred Script- ures, and adhering to the formal and perspicuous decrees, both of our predecessors, the Roman Pontiffs, and the General Councils, we renew the definition of the Ecumenical Council of Florence, by which all the faithful in Christ are bound to believe that the Holy Apostolic See, and the Roman Pontiff, possesses the primacy over the entire world, and that the Roman Pon- tiff himself is the successor of blessed Peter, the CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 1 77 Prince of the Apostles, and that he is the true Vicar of Christ, the Head of the whole Church, and the father and teacher of all Christians ; and that to him, in blessed Peter, has been delivered by our Lord Jesus Christ, the full power to feed, to rule, and to govern the Uni- versal Church, as is also contained in the acts of the Ecumenical Councils, and the Sacred Canons." Here the constitutions and decrees of all former Popes and Councils, concerning the power and authority of the Roman Pontiff to "rule and to govern the Universal Church," is fully and formally renewed. This is a full and formal renewal of the Extravagant of Boniface VHI, and all other Papal bulls concerning the temporal power of the Pope, and also a renewal of the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council, which lays down the law by which the Pope is to proceed in dethroning heretical and infidel sovereigns, and appointing their successors. But this Constitution continues : ''We, therefore, teach and declare that the Roman Church, by the institution of the Lord, possesses the pre-eminence of ordinary power over all other Churches ; and that this power 12 178 POLITICAL ROMANISM. of the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, which is truly Episcopal, is immediate ; that to this (power of jurisdiction) the pastors and faith- ful, both individually, as well as collectively, of whatever rite and dignity they may be, are bound by the duty of hierarchical subordina- tion, and true obedience, not only in matters which belong to faith and morals, but also in those things which appertain to the discipline and the government of the Church, diffused over the entire world ; so that, the unity of communion, and profession of the same faith with the Roman Pontiff being preserved, the Church of Christ is one flock under one su- preme pastor. " This is the doctrine of Catholic truth, from which no one can deviate without loss of faith and salvation "And since the Roman Pontiff, by Divine right of the Apostolic Primacy, presides over the Universal Church, we also teach and de- clare that he is the supreme judge of the faith- ful, and that recourse may be had to his judg- ment in all cases that refer to an ecclesias- tical examination; but that the judgment of the Apostolic See, than which there is no CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 1 79 greater authority, must not be treated again, by any one, and that it is not lawful for any one to judge its judgment. Therefore, they wander from the straight path of truth who affirm that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman Pontiffs to an Ecumenical Council, as if to an authority superior to the Roman Pontiff. "If, therefore, any^ one shall say, that the Roman Pontiff has only the office of inspec- tion or direction, but that he has not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the universal Church, not only in matters w^hich belong to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to the discipline and gov- ernment of the Church, diffused throughout the entire world ; or that he only has the prin- cipal parts, but not the whole plenitude of this supreme power ; or that this power of his is not ordinary and immediate, whether over all the Churches, or each of them, whether over all the pastors and faithful, and each of them ; let him be anathema.'' Heretofore we have been told the Pope is only infallible when speaking ex cathedra to the whole Church, and when speaking of faith l80 POLITICAL ROMANISM. and morals. But this "Constitution of the Church" places questions of "discipline and government" on an equality with those of "doctrine and morals," and the judgments of the Roman Pontiffs are just as irreformable, and consequently just as infallible on ques- tions of "discipline and government," as on questions of "faith and morals." Under the head of questions of "discipline and govern- ment," comes up every question that can arise between the Roman Pontiff and any civil ruler ; for there is no question which can pos- sibly arise between Popes and civil rulers, affecting the rights, privileges, and jurisdiction of the Church, but is classified as an " ecclesi- astical" question, and may be referred to the Pope, as a question requiring " an ecclesiastical examination." When such an examination is had, and the decision of the Pope is once reached, it matters not what that decision is, whether it excommunicates or dethrones a sovereign, or overturns a State, none can pass upon his judgment, "without loss of faith and salvation," and incurring the "greater anathema." Such is the doctrine of the Church of Rome, solemnly put forth in the Constitu- CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH, l8l tion of the Church which proclaims the per- sonal infallibility of the Pope. Should any question arise in this country between the Church of Rome and the civil power, it would be an "ecclesiastical question," and one which the Pope would feel called upon to decide, and when his decision was proclaimed, every Ro- man Catholic in the United States would be bound to take sides with the Pope against the Government, under pain of "loss of faith and salvation." This is no exaggeration, but a plain statement of the facts of the case. Thus we see that, by this Constitution, sanctioned by the Council, and subscribed to by every Romish Bishop in the United States, the Pope has the power, whenever he feels like exercis- ing it, of raising insurrection and rebellion against the Government. And should the time ever come, when the Church of Rome fancies herself prepared for the struggle, trouble will as certainly arise from this quarter, as that causes produce their necessary effects. That I have not misrepresented the facts in regard to the powers this Constitution confers upon the Pope, is fully proven by the Encyc- lical Letter of Pope Pius IX, issued Novem- 1 82 POLITICAL ROMANISM, ber I, 1870, on the occupation of Rome by the King of Italy. After giving a lengthy review of the contest between the Pope and the King of Italy, for the last twenty years, he says : "We declare anew before you, venerable brethren, with all possible solemnity, that it is our intention, resolution, and will, to retain in their integrity, intact and inviolable, all the dominions and rights of this Holy See, and so to transmit them to our successors ; that all usurpation of these rights, whether of a recent or of an earlier date, is unjust, violent, null and void ; and that all the acts of the rebels and invaders, already accomplished, or still to be accomplished, with the view of con- firming, in whatever manner, this usurpation, are by us from this moment condemned, an- nulled, quashed, and abrogated *' For, as our predecessor, Pius VII, said : * To do violence to this sovereign empire of the apostolic see, to separate the temporal from the spiritual, to disjoin, to tear asunder, and to cut up by the roots the offices of pastor and of prince, is nothing else but to desire to ruin and destroy the work of God ; nothing else but to labor for the greatest injury to CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH, 1 83 religion ; is nothing else but to deprive it of a most efficacious bulwark, so that the supreme ruler, pastor, and vicar of God may not have it in his power to give to Catholics who, scat- tered all over the world, ask of him aid and succor, that help which they claim from his spiritual power, and which no one may hinder ! " But since our admonitions, expostulations, and protests have been without effect, by the authority of Almighty God, of the holy apos- tles Peter and Paul, arid by our own we de- clare to you, venerable brethren, and by you to the whole Church, that all those who have perpetrated the invasion, usurpation, and oc- cupation of any of the provinces of our do- minion, and of this our beloved city, or have done any of these things, of whatever dignity they may be, and even though they should be worthy of most special mention ; and in like manner all their agents, abettors, assistants, counselors, adherents, and all others, either obtaining the execution of those things, under whatever pretext or in whatever manner, or executing them themselves ; have incurred, ac- cording to the form and tenor of our letters apostolic, recited the 26th of March, i860, the 1 84 POLITICAL ROMANISM, greater excommunication, and the other cen- sures and ecclesiastical penalties published by the holy canons, apostolical constitutions, and the decrees of general councils, and particularly of the Council of Trent." (New York Free- imans yoiirnal, December 17, 1870.) That the reader may know what the " greater excommunication" means, we will give the "Anathema," which is pronounced against such as incur this excommunication. Here it is : "By the authority of God Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and the un- defiled Virgin Mary, mother and patroness of our Savior, and of all celestial virtues, an- gels, archangels, thrones, dominions, powers, cherubims and seraphims, and of all the holy patriarchs, prophets, and of all the apostles and evangelists of the holy innocents, who, in the sight of the Holy Lamb, are found worthy to sing the new song of the holy martyrs and holy confessors, and of all holy virgins, and of all saints, together with the holy elect of God, may he, , be damned ! "We excommunicate and anathematize him, and, from the threshold of the holy Church of God Almig' ty, we sequester him, that he CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH, 1 85 may be tormented, despised, and be delivered over with Atham and Abiram, and with those who say unto the Lord, ^Depart from us, for we desire none of thy ways ;' as a fire is quenched with water, so let the light of him be put out for evermore, unless it shall repent him, and make satisfaction. Amen. May the Father who created him, curse him ! May the Son who suffered for us, curse him ! May the Holy Ghost who suffered for us in baptism, curse him ! May the holy cross which Christ, for our salvation, triumphing over his enemies, ascended, curse him ! May the holy and eter- nal Virgin Mary, mother of God, curse him ! May St. Michael, the advocate of the holy souls, curse him ! May all the angels, princi- palities, and powers, and all heavenly armies, curse him ! May the praiseworthy multitude of patriarchs and prophets curse him ! May St. John the precursor, and St. John the Bap- tist, and St. Peter, and St. Paul, and St. An- drew, and all other of Christ's apostles, to- gether, curse him ! And may the rest of our disciples and evangelists who by their preach- ing converted the universe, and the holy and wonderful company of martyrs and confessors, 1 86 POLITICAL ROMANISM, who by their holy works are found pleasing to God Almighty ! May the holy choir of the holy virgins, who for the honor of Christ have despised the things of the world, damn him ! May all the saints, from the beginning of the world to everlasting ages, who are found to be beloved of God, damn him ! May he be damned wherever he be, whether in the house or in the stable, the garden or the field, or the highways ; or in the woods or in the waters, or. in the Church ! May he be cursed in liv- ing and in dying ! May he be cursed in eat- ing and in drinking, in being hungry, in being thirsty, in fasting, in sleeping, in slumbering, and in sitting ; in living, in working, in resting^ and blood-letting ! May he be cursed in all the faculties of his body! May he be cursed inwardly and outwardly ! May he be cursed in his brains and in his vertex; in his tem- ples, in his eyebrows ; in his cheeks, in his jaw-bones ; in his nostrils, in his teeth and grinders ; in his lips, in his throat, in his shoulders, in his arms, in his fingers ! May he be damned in his mouth, in his breasts, in his heart and purtenances down to the very stomach ! May he be cursed in his reins and CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 1 8/ in his groins, in his thighs, in his genitals, and in his hips, and his knees, his legs, and feet, and toe-nails! May he be cursed in all his joints and articulation of the members ! From the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, may- there be no soundness ! May the Son of the living God, with all the glory of his majesty, curse him ! And may Heaven, with all the powers that move therein, rise up against him, and curse and damn him, unless he repent and make satisfaction! Amen. So be it. Be it so. Amen." This is a verbathn copy of the anathema, as pronounced against William Hogan, an apos- tate Roman Catholic priest of the city of Philadelphia, a few years ago, and published in one of the city papers. This anathema, blasphemous and outrageous as it is, has now been pronounced against the King of Italy, and all his subjects who have aided or abetted him in the patriotic work of regenerating Italy and establishing a liberal government, instead of the ejfete despotism of the Pope. Here we see that the Pope, though shut up , a prisoner in his palace, according to his own statement, is still mightier than the kings of 1 88 POLITICAL ROMANISM. the earth, for he can, ''by the authority of Almighty God, of the holy apostles, Peter and Paul," and ''by his own," "condemn, annul, quash, and abrogate" the statutes and laws of a great king ! But here it may be objected, "that the King of Italy has usurped the political rights of the Pope as a temporal prince, and therefore the Pope has the right to declare that his acts are not lawful, and consequently void." To this I reply, that the Pope does not make simply a solemn protest, as an earthly prince, against the King of Italy as a usurper of his rights as a civil ruler ; but, he as Pope, and " by the au- thority of God Almighty," as his vicar, declares all the acts of the King, touching the territory and government of the patrimony of St. Peter "null and void." This shows that he does not, as the rightful, civil ruler, whose rights have been invaded, make his protest ; but as the supreme ruler over the nations of the earth, in whom are centered all the rights and priv- ileges of universal empire, interpose to set aside the regulations of an inferior. Again, the rights and authority of the Pope, as a political prince and ruler over the States CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH, 1 89 of the Church, are no more explicitly taught than are the rights of the Pope as supreme ruler over all the nations and kingdoms of the earth, by virtue of his office as the vicar of God on earth, as we have already sufficiently demonstrated. And upon the same ground that he could declare the acts of the King of Italy "null and void," because they interfered with his rights as political prince and civil ruler, he can declare the acts of any government on earth "null and void," when they interfere with his rights as the supreme ruler over the nations ; just as Pius IX did in declaring the recent liberal Constitution of Austria "null and void." Take whatever view we may of the Encyclical of November i, 1870, it contains all the mon- strous and extravagant claims of political su- premacy over the kingdoms and the govern- ments of the earth, that were put forth by Innocent III, in the Fourth Lateran Council, or Boniface VIII, in his Extravagant " U^iam Sanctantr But "His Holiness," Pius IX, is not satis- fied with simply excommunicating and anathe- matizing the King of Italy; he denounces against him "the other censures and ecclesi- 190 POLITICAL ROMANISM. astical penalties published by the holy canons, apostolical constitutions, and the decrees of General Councils, and particularly of the Coun- cil of Trent. (Sess. XXII, c. ii, de Reform.) What, we ask, are " the other censures and ecclesiastical penalties," which are here de- nounced against the King of Italy ? In Chapter VI, you will find some of these penalties set forth in the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council, which declares that when a temporal lord is bound in the bonds of anathema, and fails to make satisfaction in the space of one year, the Pope is then to absolve his subjects from their allegiance, and expose his territories to be seized by good Catholics ! The Council of Trent also declares, Sess. XXV, chap, iii : " And every excommunicated person, who, after the lawful monitions, does not repent, shall not only not be received to the sacraments, and to communion and intercourse with the faithful ; but if, being bound with censures, he shall, with obdurate heart, remain for a year in the defilement thereof, he may even be proceeded against as suspected of heresy." Should the King of Italy refuse to make sat- isfaction to the Pope in a year, he may pro- CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH, 19I ceed, under the law of the Fourth Lateran Council, to deprive him of his kingdom, and expose his territories to be seized by good Catholics, or he may proceed to appoint a suc- cessor to the throne of Sardinia. That this is just v/hat is meant by this last clause is man- ifest from the tone of the Roman Catholic press and the speeches of their clergy, urging a '' grand crusade of the nineteenth century, to rescue our holy father." This *' grand crusade" to rescue the Pope, means a war of the Roman Catholic Church against the King of Italy to overturn his throne, and re-establish the tem- poral authority of the Pope over the States of the Church. Just at this time, the Roman Catholic press of the United States is pressing this matter upon the attention of the Roman Catholic youth of our country with all its force. Foremost in this work of stirring up strife and mischief to involve our Government in trouble with the Kingdom of Italy, as it is in every evil work, is the New York Freeman! s Jottrnal and Catholic Register, the leading Roman Cath- olic paper of this country, and whose columns are filled with the most inflammatory appeals to the Roman Catholic youth, urging them on 192 POLITICAL ROMANISM. to engage in the mad scheme of a crusade against the King of Italy, to rescue and restore the civil government of the Pope, and to pun- ish the Italian King. And we may yet see this mad scheme, at least, attempted to be en- forced ! GENERAL SUMMARY, I93 CHAPTER XII. GENERAL SUMMARY. IN the preceding chapters we have seen that the supreme temporal power of the Pope over all the nations of the earth, by virtue of his supreme spiritual authority, as the successor of St. Peter and vicar of Christ, is the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. This doc- trine, we have seen, is held and proclaimed by the leading theologians and canonists of the Church — by the Popes uniformly for a thousand years past, in the most explicit and positive manner — by two of the General Councils of the Church, the Fourth Lateran and the First of Lyons, the one laying down the law by which the Pope should proceed in dethroning kings and appointing their successors, and the other ratifying the deposition of the Emperor Frederick II. We have seen a third of their General Councils, the Fifth Lateran, confirm- 13 194 POLITICAL ROMANISM. ing the Extravagant of Boniface III, known as the bull " Unam Sanctaml' which says : " We therefore assert, define, and pronounce that it is necessary to salvation to believe that every human being is subject to the Pontiff of Rome." All these acts and decrees, we have seen, were confirmed by the Council of Trent, thus establishing the temporal suprem- acy of the Pope as the doctrine of the Church by the decrees oi four of their infallible Coun- cils. We have seen, also, that the modern in- falliblists are as fully committed to the tem- poral supremacy as they are to the personal infallibility of the Pope. Finally: we have seen that this claim to temporal supremacy is set forth in the " Constitution of the Church," proclaimed by Pius IX, and ratified by the Council of the Vatican, July i8, 1870, and that the reigning Pontiff has attempted to carry out this high claim in his Encyclical Letter of November i, 1870. The only opposition to this universal teaching of the Church of Rome, from within the Church itself, we have seen to be found in the teachings of the Galileans, and Gallicanism, we have seen, is expressly con- demned by the general teachings of the Church, GENERAL SUMMARY, 1 95 and by five of the Roman Pontiffs, including Pius IX. Thus we see, the Church is irrevo- cably committed to the doctrine of the tempo- ral supremacy of the Pope over all the govern- ments of the earth ; and, though a prudent silence may be maintained by Papists on this question now, the claim is not abandoned, and can not be ; they are only holding it in abey- ance until such time as they think it may be put forth with the hope of again re-establish- ing that temporal supremacy which was once exercised by the Pope over the nations of Christendom. This doctrine of the Church of Rome, which it is impossible for Roman Catholics to repu- ate, must cause every lover of free government to look with suspicion and an ill-foreboding at the increase of Roman Catholicism in this country. This feeling must be increased, when it is known that every Roman Catholic bishop in the world has taken a most solemn oath of allegiance to the Pope as lord and sovereign. I know that Roman Catholics deny that this oath requires any thing but spiritual allegiance ; but there is no such provision in the oath at all, and this denial can be made in good faith 196 POLITICAL ROMANISM, only by those who deny the temporal suprem- acy of the Pope, and this we have seen is a proscribed and condemned opinion, and is not held anywhere by ''good Catholics." The fol- lowing is the bishop's oath, both in the orig- inal Latin and in English, both of which I take from Elliott on Romanism, vol. i, pp. 30 to 32: " Ego N. electus ecclesise N. ab hac hora in antea fidelis et obediens ero B. Petro Apostolo, sanctaeque Romanae Ecclesias, et Domino nos- tro, Domino N. Papse N. suisque successoribus canonice intrantibus. Non ero in consilio, aut consensu, vel facto, ut vitam perdant, aut mem- brum ; seu capiantur mala captione ; aut in eos manus quomodolibet ingerantur; vel injuriae aliquae inferantur, quovis quaesito colore. Con- silium vero quod mihi credituri sunt, per se, aut nuncios suos, seu literas, ad eorum dam- num, me sciente, nemini pandam. Papatum Romanum et regalia Sancti Petri adjutor eis ero ad defendendum et retinendum, salvo meo ordine, contra omnem hominem. Legatum apostolicae sedis in eundo et redeundo honori- fice tractabo, et in suis necessitatibus adjuvabo. Jura, honores, privilegia, et auctoritatem sanctae GENERAL SUMMARY, 1 9/ Romanae Ecclesiae, domini nostri Papae et suc- cessorum praedictorum, conservare, defendere, augere, et promovere curabo. Neque ero in consilio, vel facto, seu tractatu in quibus contra ipsum dominum nostrum, vel eandem Romanam Ecclesiam aliqua sinistra vel prasjudicialia per- sonarum, juris, honoris, status et potestatis eo- rum machinentur. Et si talia a quibuscunque tractari vel procurari novero, impediam hoc pro posse, et quanto citius potero significabo eidem domino nostro, vel alteri per quem possit ad ipsius notitiam pervenire. Regulas sanctorum Patrum, decreta, ordinationes, seu dispositiones, reservationes, provisiones et mandata apostolica totis viribus observabo, et faciam ab aliis ob- servari. Haereticos, schismaticos, et rebelles eidem domino nostro vel successoribus praedic- tis pro posse persequar et impugnabo. Voca- tus ad synodum veniam, nisi praepeditus fuero canonica praepeditione. Apostolorum limina singulis trienniis personaliter per me ipsum visitabo, et domino nostro ac successoribus praefatis rationem reddam de toto meo pastor- ali officio ac de rebus omnibus ad meas Ec- clesiae statum, ad cleri, et populi disciplinam, animarum denique quae meae fidei traditae sunt, 198 POLITICAL ROMANISM, salutem quovis modo pertinentibus, et vicissim mandata apostolica humiliter recipiam et quam diligentissime exequar. Quod si legitimo im- pedimento detentus fuero prsefata omnia adim- plebo per certum nuncium ad hoc speciale man- datum habentem de gremio mei capituli, aut alium in dignitate ecclesiastica constitutum, seu alias personatum habentem ; aut, his mihi defici- entibus per dioecesanum sacerdotem ; et clero deficiente omnino per aliquem ahum presbyte- rum secularem vel regularem spectatae probitatis et religionis de supradictis omnibus plene in- . structum. De hujusmodi autem impedimento docebo per legitimas probationes ad sanctae Ro- manae Ecclesiae cardinalem proponentem in congregatione sacri concilii per supradictum nuncium transmittendas. Possessiones vero ad mensam meam pertinentes non vendam, nee donabo neque impignorabo, nee de novo infeu- dabo vel aliquo modo alienabo, etiam cum con- sensu capituli Ecclesiae meae, inconsulto Ro- mano Pontifice. Et si ad aliquam alienationem devenero, poenas in quadam super hoc edita constitutione contentas eo ipso incurrere volo. Sic me Deus adjuvet et haec sanctae Dei evan- gelia." (Deere. Greg. IX, lib. ii, tit. 24.) GENERAL SUMMARY, 1 99 Translation — "I, N., elect of the Church of N., from henceforward will be faithful and obedient to St. Peter the apostle, and to the holy Roman Church, and to our lord, the Lord N., Pope N., and to his successors canonicaily entering. I will neither advise, consent, or do any thing that they may lose life or member, or that their persons may be seized, or hands in any w^ise laid upon them, or any injuries offered to them under any pretense whatever. The counsel with which they will intrust me by themselves, their messengers or letters, I will not knowingly reveal to any to their preju- dice, I will help them to keep and defend the Roman Papacy, and the regalities of St. Peter, saving my order, against all men. The legate of the apostolic see, going and coming, I will honorably treat and help in his necessi- ties. The rights, honors, privileges, and au- thority of the holy Roman Church, of our lord the Pope, and his aforesaid successors, I will endeavor to preserve, defend, increase, and ad- vance. I will not be in any counsel, action, 01 treaty, in which shall be plotted against our said lord, and the said Roman Church, any thing to the hurt or prejudice of their persons, 200 POLITICAL ROMANISM, right, honor, state, or power; and if I shall know any such thing to be treated or agitated by any whatsoever, I will hinder it to my ut- most, and, as soon as I can, will signify it to our said lord, or to some other by whom it may come to his knowledge. The rules of the holy fathers, the apostolical decrees, ordinances or disposals, reservations, provisions, and man- dates, I will observe with all my might, and cause to be observed by others. Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord, or his aforesaid successors, I will, to my utmost, per- secute and oppose. I wdll come to a council when I am called, unless I be hindered by a canonical impediment. I will by myself in person visit the threshold of the apostles every three years ; and give an account to our lord, and his aforesaid successors, of all my pastoral office, and of all things any wise belonging to the state of my Church, to the discipline of my clergy and people ; and, lastly, to the salvation of souls committed to my trust ; and I will, in like manner, humbly receive and diligently ex- ecute the apostolic commands. And if I be detained by a lawful impediment, I will perform all the things aforesaid by a certain messenger GENERAL SUMMARY, 201 hereto especially empowered, a member of my chapter, or some other in ecclesiastical dignity, or else having a parsonage, or, in default of these by a priest of the diocese, or in default of one of the clergy [of the diocese] by some other secular or regular priest of approved in- tegrity and religion, fully instructed in all things above-mentioned. And such impedi- ments I will make out by lawful proofs, to be transmitted by the aforesaid messengers to the Cardinal proponent of the holy Roman Church in the congregation of the sacred Council. The possessions belonging to my table I will neither sell, nor give away, nor mortgage, nor grant anew in fee, nor any wise alienate ; no, not even with the consent of the chapter of my Church, without consulting the Roman Pontiff; and if I shall make any alienation, I will thereby incur the penalties contained in a certain constitution put forth about this mat- ter. So help me God, and these holy gospels of God." Every Roman Catholic archbishop and bishop in the United States has taken this oath of allegiance to the Pope, without quali- fication or mental reservation. A stronger or 20^ POLITICAL ROMANISM, more comprehensive oath could not be devised to bring one mider the complete and absolute control of another than is this oath of allegiance to the Pope. There are some points of par- ticular interest in this remarkable document to which we wish to call special attention. 1. The bishop swears: "I will help them to keep and defend the Roman Papacy, and the regalities of St. Petei% saving my order, against all men." Here is an oath without condition, stipulation, or reservation, saving " my order," to "help keep and defend the Roman Papacy, and the regalities of St. Peter, agaijist all 'inenr We have seen, from the evidences produced in the preceding pages, that the " Roman Pa- pacy" claims to be the concentration and em- bodiment of all power, civil as well as ecclesi- astical, and that the regalities, or royalties, of St. Peter are, in the estimation of all **true Catholics," far above the royalties of any tem- poral sovereign ! These high claims the bishop here swears, imreservedly^ he will help " to keep and defend !" 2. The bishop here swears : " The rights, honors, privileges, and authority of the holy Roman Church, of our lord, the Pope, and his GENERAL SUMMARY, 203 aforesaid successors, I will endeavor to pre- serve, defend, increase, and advance!" We have seen that " the rights, honors, privileges, and authority" of the Church of Rome, and of the Pope, embrace, according to the authorized standards of authority in that Church, supreme authority over all nations both in temporals and in spirituals ; and this supreme authority in temporal things, claimed by the Pope, every bishop in America has sworn to "' defend, preserve, increase, and ad- vance." This oath does not simply bind the bishops and higher clergy to defend the rights and authority of the Pope, but it binds them to "increase and advance" that authority ! As this country does not acknov/ledge the tem- poral supremacy of the Pope, every bishop and archbishop in our country has solemnly sworn that he will, to the utmost of his ability, labor to secure the establishment of this su- premacy ! This oath can embrace nothing less than this, and the course pursued by the clergy of the Church of Rome in this coun- try proves clearly that this is perfectly under- stood by them as their sacred duty to the Pope. I know that this will be denounced 204 POLITICAL ROMANISM. by the Romish clergy and their political allies as persecution and slander, but their denun- ciations can not change the fact, which I have fully established by the known and ad- mitted standards of authority in regard to the claims of the Papacy to temporal supremacy, and this fact established, as I have estab- lished it, and the consequences here charged necessarily and inevitably follow. But this is not all. Dr. Brownson tells us, as we have seen, that even those Roman Catholics who condemn his imprudence, in so boldly advo- cating the temporal supremacy of the Pope, agree with him ''as to the supremacy of the spiritual order and the temporal jurisdiction of the Popes, but they think that all the ob- jections of non-Catholics can be adequately and honestly answered without - taking such high ground, and the ground of human right being sufficient and less offensive, it should, in prudence, be adopted, and the other doc- trine be passed under the disciplina arcaniT Here Dr. Brownson tells the whole truth on his more prudent brethren, and gives us un- mistakably to understand that the oath-bound hierarchy, whatever may be their public ex- GENERAL SUMMARY, 20$ planations of the temporal supremacy, adopt these only for the sake of prudence, while their real doctrine is passed under the ^^ disciplina arcaiiil' or " secret doctrine," held by the faith- ful. This reveals to us at once the deep-laid conspiracy of the Roman hierarchy against the liberties of this country ; and that, true to their oath of vassalage to the Pope, they are laboring with all their power to overthrow our free institutions and to subject this coun- try to the political dominion of the Pope. 3. The bishop here swears: ''And I will in like manner humbly receive and diligently ex- ecute the apostolic commands." It matters not what command may come from Rome, the bishop is bound by the sacred obligation of the most solemn oath, '' humbly to receive and diligently execute" it. Now, when we take into consideration the dispensing power of the Pope, by which he can relieve the consciences of the faithful from every obligation, this pro- vision of the bishop's oath becomes one of fearful portent. The power of the Pope is held and regarded as supreme in all things, and, as the bishop's oath is absolute and with- out reservation, we can not conceive of a con- 206 POLITICAL ROMANISM, dition or circumstance where refusal to exe- cute a Papal command could be justified by- one of those oath-bound prelates. In case of foreign or domestic war the Pope, as supreme ruler in temporal things, might take sides with the enemies of the nation, and issue his man- dates to his bishops to refuse aid and comfort to their struggling country — -a thing which the Popes have often done— and there would be no alternative left to the bishops but per- jury and rebellion if they refused to obey, or treason to their country if they should obey. This is not an imaginary case. History furnishes us with scores of such cases. Nor can we be doubtful of the course the hier- archy would take under such circumstances, for all history shows that while there might be here and there a patriotic prelate who would dare to deny the right of the Pope to exercise such authority, the great majority would obey him, and in this they would be justified by their own principles. Suppose a quarrel should arise between the Government of the United States and the Pa- pal Government, this oath would bind every bishop and archbishop in the country to take GENERAL SUMMARY. 20/ sides with the Pope under pain of perjury, for the bishop swears: ''I will help them [the Pope and his successors] to keep and defend the Roman Papacy, and the regalities of St. Peter, saving my order, against all men !" This includes emperors, kings, princes, presi- dents, governors, etc., against all of whom the bishop swears he will help the Pope to de- fend the rights and privileges of the apostolic see, thus renouncing his allegiance to any civil government, and taking upon himself the obli- gation of supreme allegiance to the Pope. 4. This oath binds every one who takes it to become a sworn persecutor of all who re- fuse to submit to the usurped authority of the Pope : " Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord, or his aforesaid successors, I will, to my utmost, persecute and oppose." But perhaps some advocate or apologist of Roman Catholicism will tell us, as Archbishop Purcell did in his debate with Mr. Campbell, that ^^ persequar'' does not mean "to persecute," but that "it means to follow, nothing more." But every one who is able to look into a Latin dictionary will see that it means "to follow after, to pursue, to proceed against, to revenge, 208 POLITICAL ROMANISM, avenge, or take vengeance upon or for ; or seek to avenge, punish," etc. (See Leverett's Latin Dictionary.) But the history of God's faithful and chosen worshipers for a thousand years, written in the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, which was shed like water by the Roman Catholic Church, can explain to us fully what perseqiLar means in the bishop's oath. The bloody massacre of St. Bartholomew, planned by St. Pope Pius V, and celebrated by Pope Gregory XIII, by the striking of medals and the singing of Te Detims, will help us to under- stand the meaning of '^ persequar'^ in this con- nection. The blood of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, murdered by the infallible Ecumen- ical Council of Constance, in open violation of the plighted faith of the Emperor Sigismund, will help us to understand its import. The rivers of blood which have been shed by the infernal office of the Inquisition, and the burn- ings of Smithfield, will help us also to under- stand in what sense persequar is used in the bishop's oath. The universal joy occasioned among Roman Catholics by the repeal of the edict of Nantes, will also help us to understand the import of GENERAL SUMMARY. 209 this term. When Louis XIV consummated his wicked persecutions of the French Prot- estants, by the repeal of this, the charter of their rights, and in its stead enacted those bloody, persecuting edicts which in a few short years caused six hundred thousand of the best citizens of France to expatriate them- selves, the joy of the Roman Catholics was immense, and is forcibly pictured by St. John, in Rev. xi, 9, 10. The accomplished and liberal Bossuet said : "Affected by so many miracles, let us give vent to our feelings on the piety of Louis. Let us lift up our cries of joy to heaven and say to this new Constantine, this new Theo- dosius, this new Marcian, this new Charle- magne, what the six hundred and thirty fathers said, formerly, in the Council of Chal- cedon: *You have established the faith, 3^ou have exterminated the heretics ; a work wor- thy of your reign, and a proper characteristic of it. Through your exertions heresy exists no longer. God alone could perform this miracle. King of heaven, preserve the king of earth, is the prayer of the Churches — is the prayer of the bishops.' " 14 210 POLITICAL ROMANISM. "Massillon eulogized, in his turn, the great victory of Louis XIV over heresy." He said : " Unto what point did he not carry his zeal for the Church, that virtue of sovereigns, who have only received the sword and the power that they may be the supporters of altars and the defenders of doctrine. O specious reasons of state policy ! In vain you opposed to Louis the timid views of human wisdom, the body of the monarchy, enfeebled by the evasion of so many citizens ; the course of commerce slackened, either by privation of their indus- try or the furtive deportation of their wealth ; perils fortified his zeal. The work of God fears not the opposition of man. He believed even that he strengthened his own throne by the overthrow of the throne of error. The pro- fane temples are destroyed, the pulpits of se- duction thrown down, the prophets of false- hood torn from their flocks. Heresy fell at the first blow Louis aimed at it, disappeared, and is reduced, either to conceal itself in the darkness from which it emerged, or to cross the sea and to carry with it its false gods, its wrath, and its bitterness into foreign lands." *' Flechier testified the same enthusiasm for GENERAL SUMMA RY. 211 the zeal and piety of Louis XIV. In a discourse pronounced before the French Academy the Abbe Tallemand exclaimed, in speaking of the temple of Charenton [the Protestant Church near Paris], which had just been de- stroyed, * Happy ruins ! which are the finest trophy France has ever seen ! The triumphal arches and the statues erected to the glory of the King will raise him no higher than the overthrow by his pious efforts of this temple of heresy. That heresy, which supposed itself invincible, is entirely subverted. There ap- peared so much might in the conqueror of heresy that the idea alone of that victory cast into the souls of his enemies a paralyzing ter- ror, and there is nothing but the fable of the vanquished hydra which can aid us to express in some degree our feelings of admiration at this astonishing victory ''At Rome the joy was immense. A Te Deiim was sung in thanksgiving for the con- version of the Protestants, and Pope Innocent XI sent a brief to Louis XIV, in which he promised him the unanimous praises of the Church. The fine arts in their turn cele- brated this deplorable victory. Paintings may 2 1 2 POLITICAL R OMANISM. be seen still in one of the brilliant saloons of Versailles, of hideous figures, which appear to fly at the sight of the chalice. That chef- doeuvre of Lesueur represents the sects con- quered by the Roman Catholic Church. The provost and echeviiis of Paris erected at the Hotel de Ville a brazen statue consecrated to the King, the destroyer of heresy. The bass- reliefs represented a frightful bat, enveloping in its huge wings the works of John Huss and Calvin. On the statue was this inscrip- tion: ^ Ludovico magna y vict07'i perpetno ecclesice ac regum dignitatis assertori! Medals were struck to immortalize the remembrance of that fatal event. One represented Religion, planting a cross among ruins, to mark the tri- umph of truth over error, with this legend, * Religio victrixy on the field ; and on the re- verse, * Temp lis Calviniafzorum eversisy 1685.' Another represented Religion placing a crown on the head of the King, who leaned upon a rudder-head, and trampling Heresy under foot, with this legend, which contains both an error and a falsehood : ^Ob vices centena millia Calvin- ianoriim ad ecclesiam revocata MDCLXXXV.'" GENERAL SUMMARY, 213 (Weiss* History of the French Protestant Ref- ugees, vol. i, pp. 123-126.) These quotations show us exactly in what sense the bishop's oath uses ^' perseqiiary Re- member every Roman Catholic bishop and archbishop in the United States has taken a most solemn oath that he will, to his '^utmost, persecute and oppose" ''heretics, schismatics, and rebels against the Pope." A heretic is one who rejects the doctrines of the Church, and holds and teaches dogmas different therefrom. A schismatic is one who agrees in doctrine with the Church, but who will not hold communion with her on the grounds of discipline ; and a rebel against the Pope is one who denies his authority, as held and taught by the Church. These three classes embrace all non-Catholics, and this oath binds every one who takes it to become a persecutor to the utmost of his power, of every one who differs in doctrine or disci- pline from the Church of Rome, or who de- nies the supreme authority of the Pope. It is true, in this country the Roman hierarchy know that they can not carry out their bloody, persecuting principles publicly, and hence the 214 POLITICAL ROMANISM, only attempts of the kind they have yet made in this country has been either to get up mobs against those who dare publicly to expose their wickedness, and by this means to in- timidate their opponents, and suppress inves- tigation, and prevent an exposure of their cor- ruptions and their treason to the principles of human liberty ; or, to wreak their venge- ance on the helpless victims whom they have succeeded in immuring in their convents, and over whom they have, with shame, let it be said, to the laws and free institutions of our country, unlim.ited control, not subject to the inspection and supervision of the civil author- ities ! But in the countries under the con- trol of Roman Catholicism, they exhibit the same persecuting spirit which has ever char- acterized the Church of Rome, just as far as they have the power ; and in this, too, they are but following out the intolerant and per- secuting principles publicly proclaimed and set forth by the present infallible . head of the Church, Pius IX, in his Encyclicals and the Syllabus, which he sent forth to the world when he assembled the present Council of the Vatican. GENERAL SUMMARY. 21 5 But here Roman Catholics, and their polit- ical apologists, may reply, " Protestants have persecuted Roman Catholics, and one another also, when they have had the power." It is true, there can be found isolated cases v/here Protestants, just emerging from the darkness and superstition of Roman Catholicism, have brought with them from Rome a small por- tion of her persecuting spirit. But these are isolated cases, and against both the spirit and principles of Protestantism, and this persecut- ing spirit has soon died out under the enlighten- ing and elevating influence of the principles of Protestantism. But both the spirit and prin- ciples of the Church of Rome are persecuting, and if we find now and then a bright and shining example of toleration among Roman Catholics, it exists in spite of the principles of their Church, and generally, if not uniformly, owes its very existence to outward circum- stances over which she has no control, as the toleration of the Roman Catholic colony of Maryland, which Roman Catholics in this country boast so much about, ignoring the fact that that colony held its charter from a Prot- estant king, and that it was compelled to be 2l6 POLITICAL ROMANISM, tolerant toward Protestants because it held its existence under a Protestant grant! Under these circumstances, surely, Roman Catholics can not take m.uch credit to themselves for their toleration. But where has the Roman Catholic Church been tolerant when she has had the power to be intolerant? Every char- ter of human liberty which has been obtained by the oppressed children of the Romish Church, from the grand old Magna Charta of England, down to the recent Constitution of Austria, has met with the condemnation and the curses of the Popes, and whatever of human rights the Church of Rome has granted to those under her power, have been extorted from her by force and against her will. -And to-day, a feeble old man in his dotage, fit representative of the Church of Rome, and claiming personal infallibility, is thundering out in the ears of Christendom his impotent anathemas against toleration and human free- dom. In vain may Roman Catholics, or their apologists, claim for the Romish Church the principles of toleration and freedom, until she, of her own accord, relaxes her tyran- nical grasp from the throats of her oppressed GENERAL SUMMARY. 217 children, and restores to them their God-given rights. Just in proportion as the Church of Rome increases in this country does she increase in the arrogance of her claims. A few years ago Bishop England, the greatest Roman Catholic divine in America at that time, ap- peared before the American Congress, and in a labored speech attempted to show that the Pope claimed and exercised no temporal power now outside of his own territories, and that he never claimed or exercised any temporal power over the nations of Christendom only when cases were referred to him as the common father of Christians by the contending parties themselves. This was the ground taken by Bishop Purcell in his debate with Mr. Campbell in Cincinnati. But we find now as the Romish Church is be- coming stronger and less cautious, some of their leading journals boldly advocate the tem- poral supremacy of the Pope on the ground of Divine right, while the whole hierarchy hold the same view, but out of mere prudence many of them hold their peace on a question of such unpopularity for the present, as it would do harm to the cause, and they are therefore in 2l8 POLITICAL ROMANISM. favor of waiting until they become strong enough to enforce this high claim before they publicly put it forth. We should never forget for a single moment that the Romish hierarchy in this country are the sworn enemies of our free institutions, un- der the most binding oath of allegiance to a foreign despot, the principles of whose govern- ment are diametrically at war with every prin- ciple of our Government, and who claims, as the Vicar of Jesus Christ, supreme temporal as well as spiritual power over al] the nations of the earth, \and that every member of the hie- rarchy is sworn to "preserve, defend, increase, and advance the rights, honors, privileges, and authority of the holy Roman Church, of our lord the Pope, and his aforesaid successors." Now every man knows that this authority of the Pope can not be established in this country without the complete overthrow of our civil institutions, and yet every Roman Catholic bishop and archbishop in the land is sacredly bound by the most solemn oath to use his utmost endeavors to "increase and advance" the "authority" of the Pope in this country, and to "persecute to the utmost" all those GENERAL SUMMARY, 219 who reject the authority of this foreign despot who is seeking to bring this fair heritage of freedom under his despotic control ! Let free- men take the alarm, and stand upon their watch-towers, knowing that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." 220 POLITICAL ROMANISM. CHAPTER XIIL OCCUPATION OF ROME BY THE KING OF ITALY. IT is a well-known fact, that the temporal sovereignty of the Pope, over the so-called States of the Church, has been maintained by French bayonets for the last twenty years ; and that the people of those States, without the assistance of the army of Victor Emmanuel, would have themselves thrown off the Papal yoke, and joined with United Italy immediately on the withdrawal of the French troops. This is so well known by both Roman Catholics and Protestants, that all knew that the moment the French army should be withdrawn, the civil government of the Pope would cease to exist. It is also well known that the great majority of the subjects of the Pope ardently desired to unite with the Kingdom of Italy, and so soon as they had an opportunity to express that OCCUPA TION OF ROME. 22 1 desire by the ballot, they almost unanimously declared in favor of the union. These are facts which every intelligent man, who is honest with himself, is bound in his heart to admit, whatever he may say to the contrary. But the moment this long-cherished desire and hope of the oppressed subjects of the Roman Pontiff was accomplished through the action of the Italian King, one universal wail of indignation and denunciation went up from the Roman Catholics of every land against the King of Italy as *'a robber, a thief, a par- ricide, a deicide," and every thing that is vile and mean. Foremost in this tirade of abuse heaped upon the head of the patriotic king, who is working so heroically for the unifica- tion and liberation of his country, are the Roman Catholic clergy and laity of the United States. Thus we have the spectacle pre- sented before the world of men, who, to gain the right of self-government, have expatriated themselves from their own native lands — men professing to be the firmest friends of repub- lican government, men professing to be demo- crats in the fullest sense of the term, indig- nantly denouncing the people of Italy for 222 POLITICAL ROMANISM, exercising this inalienable right, and in the most emphatic manner denying that their op- pressed and down-trodden brethren in Italy possess the right of self-government at all ! It is needless to say that no man can be a friend of republican government at heart, and deny the right of any people in any country, of self- government. The thing is an absurdity, and the Roman Catholic Church in these United States, by denying the right of self-govern- ment to the down-trodden subjects of the Pope, has convicted herself before the Ameri- can people of being an enemy of free govern- ment, and allied to the worst form of despotism the sun ever shone upon. But perhaps some will say: "This is a slan- der on the Roman Catholic clergy and laity of this country — that they do not deny the right of the Roman people to govern themselves, but they denounce the act of the King of Italy as a usurpation, and that too against the wishes of the Roman people themselves." I do not propose to bring an accusation against Roman Catholics which I can not prove, and I will, therefore, let them speak for themselves. I will first quote from the protest of the Arch- OCCUPA TION OF ROME, 223 bishop, bishops, and people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, published in the Missouri Repiib- lica7iy December 2, 1870: ^' The Clergy and the Catholic people of the Ecclesias- tical Province of Cinciniiati^ against the nnjust and sacrilegious usurpation and spoliation of the City of Ro7ne, the Patriinony of St. Peter ^ and the tei?iporal possession of our holy and beloved father^ Pius IX^ by the wicked Pied77io7itese Govern7ne7it : "The seventh commandment of the Deca- logue, 'Thou shalt not steal,' and the tenth, ' Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods,' are the imperishable foundation of this solemn pro- test. Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet what is not thine. But these violations of the laws of God do not constitute all the guilt of the Sardinian robbers. The crime they have com- mitted is like that of the Jews, a Deicide. It is directed against Christ himself in the person of his Vicar on earth. It is a desecration of God's sanctuary, 'the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy Place.' It is an outrage to the sacred memories of the dead who gave to the Holy See the independent territory in which its venerable occupant should enjoy per- fect immunity from secular interference and 224 POLITICAL ROMANISM, hostile control, a sacred principality, from which, as from a watch-tower, he could survey the Christian world, sending missionaries to the heathen, confirming his brethren, saving the flock of Christ, committed to his fatherly care, from the prowling wolf, the poisonous pasture, the snare laid in the dark, and the noonday devil. It is an outrage to the living in every nation under heaven, who bow with religious veneration, with the conviction of the intellect and all the heart's affections to the spiritual supremacy of the Roman Pontiff, suc- cessor of the Chief of the Apostles. It is a fatal wound inflicted on the very existence of society, on law, and justice, and order. *' Whose life, whose property is secure, what vested rights are inviolate, what covenants sacred, what solemn obligations of nations or individuals respected, when possessions con- secrated by the justest of all titles, and guar- anteed by a tenure of fifteen hundred years under the peaceful rule of a line of princes with which none that the world has seen can com- pare, can be invaded with impunity "i , , . ^'In the injustice done to the Pope, unpar- alleled since the crucifixion, an effort is made — OCCUPA TION OF ROME. 225 God grant that it may be unsuccessful — to destroy the very ideal of honesty, to efface from the conscience and the heart the last vestige of the impressions of morality and respect for the rights of others ordained by the great Creator. Let such wrongs remain unredressed, and we might well break, like the Jewish legislator, the tables of the law, and not blaspheme Jehovah by a prayer for their restoration." This document, from which I have quoted, is signed by Archbishop J. B. Purcell, and the eight bishops of his archdiocese ; and, in con- clusion, these prelates say: "We recommend that books be provided in every Church, in which the members of the congregation may have the honor and the privilege of recording their names and the number of their families, as a perpetual memorial of their detestation of injustice and their sympathy with the august personage who holds on earth the place ot Christ, in the government of the Church." So we see the faithful of the archdiocese of Cin- cinnati are to join with their chief pastors in this solemn protest against the occupation of Rome by the Italian Government ! 15 226 POLITICAL ROMANISM. There are some points in this remarkable protest that we wish particularly to notice. 1. The political government of the Pope over the patrimony of St. Peter is styled " a sacred principality." This means more than that it should be sacred from invasion from without. It means, in the language of these republican prelates, that it is a principality by Divine ap- pointment, and thus we have the whole Roman Catholic hierarchy and people in the archdio- cese of Cincinnati proclaiming in republican America that '' princes rule by the grace of God," that is, by Divine appointment! No repub- lican can make any such claim for any earthly prince, be he Pope or Emperor, and by this very proclamation these Roman Catholic prel- ates and people have declared that they are anti-republican, and believe in the Divine right of kings. 2. This protest declares that the "posses- sions" of the Pope have been ''consecrated by the justest of all titles, and guaranteed by a tenure of fifteen hundred years !" I wonder if Archbishop Purcell and his bishops think that they can palm off on the American peo- ple the story of the gift of the Western Em- OCCUPA TION OF R OME. 227 pire to the Pope by Constantine the Great ! The date they fix for the beginning of the po- litical government of the Pope would indicate that they entertained such thoughts. All the world knows that the Pope possessed no polit- ical government until the middle of the eighth century. What object, then, could these prel- ates have in stating that the Pope's political power has been '^guaranteed by the tenure of fifteen hundred years," unless it had been meant to sanction the forgery of Isodore } But this protest declares that the Pope held his po- litical power over the States of the Church ''by the justest of all titles!" Now, we ask, what do these prelates consider "the justest of all titles " to political power ? We know that the political power of the Popes originated in the gift of Pepin, King of France, which was confirmed by Charlemagne. This gift was made by Pepin, A. D. 754. What right does this gift of the French King confer upon Pius IX to exercise political power over the inhabi- tants of the territory which was conquered from the Lombards, and bestowed upon the Pope a thousand years ago 1 Had Pepin any more right to take that territory from the Lorn- 228 POLITICAL ROMANISM. bards, and give it to the Pope, than Victor Emmanuel has to take it from the Pope and annex it to his own kingdom ? Thus we see, after all the denunciations of Roman Catholics against the King of Italy as ''a robber, a thief," etc., the political power of the Pope over the States of the Church originated in robbery and theft, instigated by the Pope! Is this what these men call "consecrated by the justest of all titles ?" Among republicans, no title to political power is considered just which does not origi- nate in, and is not sanctioned by, the popular will. But the political power of the Pope over the States of the Church did not originate in, nor was it sanctioned by, the popular will ; therefore, it had no just title to existence at all. These republican Roman Catholics, or democratic Roman Catholics, as probably they would prefer to be called, do not recognize the right of the people in the States of the Church to have any will or voice in their government at all! They ignore the fact, with which all the world is familiar, that it was the universal desire of the oppressed subjects of the Pope to be annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, and that OCCUPA TION OF ROME. 229 they, by a unanimity unparalleled, expressed that desire at the ballot-box. But, in the esti- mation of American Roman Catholics, this unanimous vote of the people could confer no right upon the King of Italy to extend his authority over these people ; for, according to them the rights of the Pope as a political prince are " ordained by the great Creator !" Now, I ask, do not the Roman Catholics, who signed this protest, stand self-convicted before the world of being anti-republican, anti-American, and opposed to the fundamental principle of our Constitution and government, which bases the right to political power in the consent of the governed ? Bishop Persico, of Savannah, Ga., in a pas- toral letter to the clergy and laity of his dio- cese, dated Dec. 8, 1870, and published in the New York Freeman s yournaloi Dec. 17, 1870, comes out still plainer than Archbishop Purcell and his bishops in their protest. He says: "We need not announce to you, beloved brethren, for you already know, that our holy father, Pius IX, has not only been robbed of that territory which was sacred by every title, but even of his personal liberty, being virtually 230 POLITICAL ROMANISM a prisoner in the hands of his enemies. You well know that the throne upon which the Pope sits was inherited by him in virtue of a title the most ancient, the most legitimate, and the most sacred." Again he says : "But to return to the present case. We deny altogether that the subjects of the sov- ereign Pontiff have had any grievances to be redressed, or any need of the interference of any power, or of any guarantee for their civil and social rights. The paternal sovereignty of the Pope is dcfar better gitarantee for thevt than sitjfiage or elective legislators caii be for any other people. It is, moreover, jnst as incom- patible with the v.ecessaiy i7idependence of the vicar of Chr ist that he should be controlled by a legislative assembly as that he should be subject to a king. We do not admit the validity of any plebiscitum against his sovereign rights, even if f7'eely and fairly taken, much less as taken len- der existing circnmstancesr Here w^e have a distinct and emphatic denial of the right of the people of the Papal terri- tories to have any voice w^hatever, under any circumstances, in their political government — their civil and political rights. We are plainly OCCUPA TION OF ROME, 23 I told that " the paternal sovereignty of the Pope is a far better guarantee for them than suffrage or elective legislators can be for any other peo- ple!" Now, if the paternal sovereignty of the Pope is better for the people of Italy " than suf- frage or elective legislators," would it not be also for all other people? The reasoning that would sustain the claims of the Pope's Govern- ment as the best ''guarantee" of the social and political rights of the people in the Papal territories would sustain the same claim in re- gard to any other people ; and the man who would argue thus in regard to that people, would argue in the same way in regard to any other people, if the circumstances of the case would permit. This is precisely the views of the Romish hierarchy. They believe the "pa- ternal sovereignty of the Pope" is the best ''guarantee" for the nations, and hence they are seeking to bring the nations again under the authority of the Pope, as they were in the Middle Ages. But Bishop Persico goes further still. He denies the right "of any plebiscitum, even if freely and fairly taken'' to set aside the polit- ical government of the Pope ! 2^2 POLITICAL ROMANISM, This pastoral letter of Bishop Persico's is fully indorsed by the editor of the Freeman s yoicmal, and expresses the real sentiments of all "true" Roman Catholics. Bishop Persico here declares " that the throne upon which the Pope sits was inherited by him in virtue of a title the most ancient, the most legitimate, and the most sacred." We have already seen that the title by which the Pope has held his seat upon his political throne was founded in theft and rob- bery, Pepin, King of France, who, under the sanction of Pope Zachary, by an act of treason against his sovereign, Childeric, usurped the throne of France, and, as an atonement for his sins, and at the earnest solicitation of the Pope, made war on the King of the Lombards, robbed him of his territories, and then conferred them on the Pope. This is a fact of history which no intelligent Roman Catholic will for a single moment deny; and this is the title which Bishop Persico styles "the most legitimate, and the most sacred!" This is the Roman Catholic idea of justice ! That terrible despotism which the Popes exercised for a thousand years over the unfor- OCCUPA TION OF ROME. 233 tunate inhabitants of the territory robbed from the Lombard kings by Pepin, and conferred upon them, has now, happily, been overturned by the popular will, and a constitutional gov- ernment established in its stead ; and this is denounced by the minions of the Pope in this country as a usurpation, a theft, a robbery, a deicide! We are, moreover, told by these Ro- man Catholic champions of the Pope, that his temporal despotism, which was founded in rob- bery and cemented by treason, is of Divine appointment, and that no power on earth has a right to abolish it — not even the people them- selves. But Bishop Persico continues : " The miserable and groundless assertions of the press about the oppression of the Roman people are not worthy a moment's serious at- tention. It is not possible to imagine a more paternal government, and a more equitable ad- ministration than that of the Pope's Govern- ment. In addition to this, when it is consid- ered that the patrimony of St. Peter is a most sacred legacy left for the welfare of religion and benefit of the Christian people of the world, and, therefore, that the Papal States, the residence of the common father of the faithful, 234 POLITICAL ROMANISM, is the property of the Catholics throughout the world, we can not remain passive under the present oppression, and, by our silence, sanc- tion the greatest possible injustice done to the Church. Consequently, we can not, compati- bly with our duty, refrain from making our solemn protest against this most unjust and wicked violation of all public la.w and right, this intolerable outrage upon the Catholic people of the v/hole world. It is the duty of every good and true Catholic, and of the Catholic people collectively, in every country, to make this protest in the most distinct and efficacious manner possible^ and to make use of all lawful means to restore the sovereign Pon- tiff to the possession and peaceful exercise of that royalty which belongs to him by the most legitimate titles, and which is necessary to the free and unrestricted jurisdiction of his spirit- ual supremacy over the Catholic Church, as well as ro the political tranquillity of Chris- tendom." The political government of the Pope was the most absolute despotism upon the face of the earth. The will of the Pope was the su- preme law of the land. No such thing as O ecu PA TION OF ROME. 235 liberty of conscience was thought of being permitted under his government. '' Liberty of conscience and of worship," as we have seen, in the Encyclical of December 8, 1864, is styled " delirium !" This despotism, which deprives men of their dearest God-given rights and subjects them in all things to the caprices of the will of an absolute despot, amenable to no law, and often the most depraved and des- picable of tyrants, is held up before the American people as the most perfect civil government conceivable ! We are gravely told by this Romish bishop that ^ it is not possible to imagine a more paternal govern- ment and a more equitable administration than that of the Pope's Government!" This can only be regarded as an insult to every lover of free government, and as moral treason to the Government of the United States ; and it shows fully that the Romish hierarchy in this as in every other country, are the enemies of free government, and in league with the worst form of pohtical despotism, and that they are seeking to establish that despotism in this country on the ruins of constitutional liberty. In order f hat the reader may be able to form 236 POLITICAL ROMANISM. some idea of the political government of the Pope, we will hear the testimony of W. J. Stillman, who was United States Consul in Rome for four years, and who knows whereof he speaks. Here is his letter, as published in the New York Tribune, in reply to a communi- cation published in that paper, eulogizing the Papal Government at Rome, and copied into the Daily St. Louis Democrat of January 17, 1871: "I resided in Rome from 1861 to 1865, and saw, in official and private capacity, as much as any artisan could see of the Government. '^ It was simply the most atrocious in exist- ence, except that of Louis Napoleon Bona- parte. Its traditions were as old as its au- thority, and the system of repression and espionage quite worthy of St. Petersburg. Not to speak of vague and general com- plaints, I know that spies were placed at the doors of the places of Protestant worship, to see if any Romans went in, and that one friend of mine, a surgeon in the French hospital, was arrested for having waited on his wife — an English woman — and carried at night to the Prison of the Holy Office — the euphonic for occur A TION OF R OME, 23/ the Inquisition — where he was menaced with severe punishment if he not only did not ab- stain from courtesies to Protestants, but compel his wife to leave the Anglican Communion and enter the Roman, and he finally escaped from them by an appeal to French protection as an employe. *' The brother of one of my most intimate friends was arrested in his bed at night, carried off by officers of the Holy Office, and never heard of again until years after, when a re- leased prisoner came to tell the survivor that his brother had died in the prison with him, and was buried in the earth of the dungeon. "Another of my friends, Castellani, the jew- eler, was under so severe police surveillance that for years he had not dared to walk in the street with any of his friends, and when his father died, the body was taken possession of by the police at the door of the house, the coffin surrounded by officials, carried to the church, and the next day buried, all tokens of respect to the deceased being forbidden, and all participation in the service by his friends. He and his sisters were Liberals in opinion. " The system of terrorism was such that lib- 238 POLITICAL ROMANISM, eral Romans dared to meet only in public, and never permitted a stranger to approach them in conversation. I never dared enter the house of a Roman friend for fear of bringing on him a domiciliary visit. ** Masons know very well the history of two brethren hanged and buried in the highway for no other offense than being Masons. When the Lodge, which meets in Rome, in spite of ail, wished to send an address of condolence to the Grand Lodge at Washington, on the occa- sion of Lincoln's death, they were obliged to transmit the document through four messen- gers, the last not affiliated, so great was their danger if discovered to be Masons. " I can conceive of no system of torture w^orse than this terrible espionage, under which every patriotic Roman lay fearful of his ov/n breath — one scarcely daring to speak to another, except in tropes and innuendoes. They suffered the penalty of crime for the wish merely to be free. Had it not been for the system of counter-espionage kept up by the Roman Committee on the Government, no Liberal could have lived in Rome. When suspected they generally had warning by their own spies. OCCUPA TIOX OF ROME. 239 ** Worse than this — worse than any thing we can conceive — was the system of debauchery kept up by the priesthood. It was a proverb among the Romans that 'if one would go to a house of ill-fame he must go by day, at night the priests had all the places/ and another, that all married w^omen w^ere seduced by the priests. The amours and profligacy of An- tonelli were as well known as those of the late Emperor of France, and no one who has lived in Rome long can be unaware that the immorality of that city — except among the obstinate Liberals who rejected all preroga- tives of the Church, as such — was greater than any city in Europe, except Vienna and Naples, and worse in its type than that of the latter city. "The Roman Government of my time was the embodiment of the spirit of the Papacy of the Middle Ages. It had its rod over its sub- jects, as it always, has done. If the world made progress outside its walls, it v/as strong enough to repress mercilessly all evidence of it within. Conservatism of granitic rigidity was its role. In the course of my residence I made an attempt to introduce American ice 240 POLITICAL ROMANISM, in place of the dirty snow of the Alboni Hills, and formed a company which offered ice from American lakes, delivered for the same price as that then paid for the snow at the pits w^here it was packed. The offer was urged strongly in the interest of the hospitals and public health, but was refused, as the Government held the monopolist to the condition of main- taining the people of certain villages in the ^vested interest' of 'gathering the snow/ "The only pins to be had in Rome were the old-fashioned wire-headed. An American lady, feeling the privation, proposed to import a quantity of English solid-headed pins, but was not permitted, because the trade in pins was a monopoly, and the contracts were those of a former generation. "Pius IX is, I believe, an honest and con- scientious man, of pure and exemplary life since his devotion to the Church; but the large majority of his subordinates were bigots, without honesty or sincerity, or worse. The whole power of the civil government — if a regime of priests can be so called — was spent in the maintenance of the privileges and in- terests of the ecclesiastical system ; the peo- OCCUPA TION OF ROME, 24I pie were indeed the sheep, and regarded much as the quadrupeds are by their shep- herds. Nothing but French bayonets kept it in existence, and the world may well be re- joiced at the end of an anomaly in modern civilization. If the Pope will dwell in a loyal city, I can recommend New York to him ; for it appears to take as kindly to ecclesiastical control of the Roman type as Rome does re- luctantly; and if he wants courtiers he may, it is safe to suppose, count on the politicians, who dare not speak a word of sympathy and congratulation for the Romans on their escape from slavery, for fear of offending the hie- rarchy. *' I remember a word which Kossuth said to me when he was in America — it seems to me prophetic and every day more ominous: *Mr. Stillman, if you do not get rid of these pol- iticians, your country will be ruined in less than fifty years.' This recurred to me on seeing that in the call for a meeting of sym- pathy with the Italians, not one professed pol- itician occurs — unless those of W. C. Bryant and G. W. Curtis are counted as such. ** Not being a politician, and having no oc- 16 242 POLITICAL ROMANISM. casion for the suffrages of those whose love of freedom is purely egotistic, or whose sympathy with it is merely an election mask, I am not ashamed, like the friend of a dark cause, to give you my name, only wishing for the sake of Italy that it were heavier and better known, and remain, in the strongest sympathy with your devotion to human freedom every-where, in New York as well as in Rome or in Dublin. "Yours sincerely, W. J. Stillman, " Late Ujiited States Co7is7il in Rome. *' Plainfield, N. J., January 6th.'" Here we have a brief picture of the justice and equity of the Pope's Government. This horrible condition of society in Rome was not under the reign of such monsters of vice and cruelty as Benedict IX, John XXIII, or Alex- ander VI ; but under the conscientious and up- right Pius IX, who is admitted by all to rank among the best Popes who' have occupied the Papal throne for a thousand years. If such was the administration of the Papal Govern- ment, and the condition of society under the reign of Pius IX, what must it have been un- der such monsters in human "shape as a ma- jority of the Popes have been. One can OCCUPA TION OF ROME, 243 scarcely conceive of the wretchedness of the Romans under such a ruler as Benedict IX or Alexander VI, when under such a Pope as Pius IX their condition was such as here por- trayed by Mr. Stillman. Yet this most despi- cable of all despotisms, where the Inquisition with all its terrors and infernal appliances was in full operation to punish and overawe the people, is held up by the minions of the Pope in this country as the most ^'paternal, the most just, the most equitable government con- ceivable !" And when the just indignation of an oppressed and downtrodden people by their unanimous vote hurl this vile system of op- pression, cruelty, and crime against God and man from power, and choose in its stead a well- regulated constitutional government, where the rights of man are recognized, the oath-bound hierarchy of free America are foremost in their denunciations of the liberators of this long-op- pressed and suffering people, and their expres- sions of sympathy, and comfort, and offers of assistance to their relentless oppressors ! How long will it be before the American people will wake up to a realization of the dangers which threaten their liberties from the power and 244 POLITICAL ROMANISM. influence of these sworn friends and upholders of this most abominable and inhuman of all despotisms ! But we would like to know how the gift of Pepin to the Pope, of the territories which he had robbed from the King of the Lombards, gave "the Catholics of the whole world" a right to the Papal States ? This claim is put forth now every-where by the partisans of the Pope, as though the Roman Catholics of other countries have the right to determine the nat- ure and form of the civil government of the people who inhabit the so-called patrimony of St. Peter ! It would require more than the casuistry of the Jesuits to show how the theft and robbery of Pepin conferred the right of pos- session upon the whole Roman Catholic Church to the territories thus stolen ! The claim is simply ridiculous, and none are better aware of its futility than those who put it forth. But we are here told that the temporal sov- ereignty of the Pope over the Papal States ''is necessary to the free and unrestricted jurisdiction of his spiritual supremacy over the Catholic Church, as well as the political tranquillity of Christendom." Here it is OCCUPA TION OF ROME^ 245 claimed that, in order that the Bishop of Rome may perpetuate his usurped and anti- Christian power over his fellow-bishops and over the whole Roman Catholic Church, it is necessary that his temporal despotism, which was founded in theft, robbery, and usurpation, and perpetuated by armed force against the aspirations and rights of the people, must also be perpetuated ! Thus one great crime against the Church of God makes it necessary to com- mit another great crime against men. And when, in the just providence of God, the Pope is unable longer to maintain this unjust usur- pation of the rights of the people, the Roman Catholics of the whole world are called upon to come to the rescue, and once more fasten the iron yoke of Papal despotism upon the unwilling necks of the unfortunate people of Rome ! The sentiments of Bishop Persico are the sentiments of the whole Roman Catholic Church throughout the world ; and, in the vari- ous public demonstrations gotten up by the Romish hierarchy in this country, in behalf of the Pope, these and similar sentiments are pub- licly proclaimed from one end of this republic to the other, and a grand crusade against the King 246 POLITICAL ROMANISM of Italy and for the restoration of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope is being preached by the Roman Catholic press and clergy through- out the world. A public demonstration was held in favor of the Pope in Buffalo, New York, on the 8th of December, 1870, which is thus indorsed by the editor of the New York Freeman s yotcrnal, December 17, 1870: *'In Buffalo there was a most exceptional demonstration on the 8th — the Festival of Our Lady. It was so grand, so just, in such exquisite taste, and backed up by so solid an indorsement, that we counted, certainly, on giving it a place in our columns this week. But we must postpone it with re- gret; for it was a model demonstration. It was dismally wet and unpleasant weather there, but, all the more, it was a grand exhibition of Catholic faith and fervor." In the Freeman s Journal^ of December 24th, we have a full re- port of this *' model demonstration." At this demonstration, Mr. D. D. Harnett, Esq., de- livered an address from which we quote the following: "Against this [the action of the King of Italy in taking possession of Rome] the sue- OCCUPA TION OF ROME, 24/ cessor of Saint Peter has raised iiis voice both as Pope and Prince — as Pope, resting securely on the Divine foundation of the Church, and as Prince, fulfilKng the high mission given him to perform toward the Christian world, by de- fining the duties and the rights both of the governing and the governed." Here is a lay- man in the Roman Catholic Church, a citizen of the United States, publicly proclaiming in the ears of the American people, that "the Pope, as Prince," has the right of " defining the duties and rights both of the governing and governed." This is placing the Pope, as a Prince, over the kings and governments of the earth, compelling both rulers and people to submit to his authority. Thus the doctrine of the Popes and Councils on the temporal supremacy of the Pope over the kings and rulers of the earth is unblushingly proclaimed and indorsed as the doctrine of the Roman Catholics of America! But again, Mr. Harnett, says : " In Christ's Kingdom upon earth, the Pope holds the place of his Divine Master. As Christ is king and ruler, the Pope is king and ruler." Gregory VH, Innocent III, or Boniface VIII, never 248 POLITICAL ROMANISM. put forth a stronger claim to absolute authority over the kings and rulers of the earth than is here put forth for the Pope by this American citizen. And yet this is but honestly stating the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church on this question, as we have demonstrably shown. Jesus Christ is ** King of kings, and Lord of lords." So the Pope, holding his place on earth, is "King of kings, and Lord of lords." Jesus Christ as Universal King " puts down one and sets up another." So the Pope, holding his place on earth, is Universal King ; he "puts down one and sets up another." This is the true doctrine of the Roman Cath- olic Church, and American ears must yet be- come familiar with such pretentious claims of the Pope over the civil rulers of this land be- fore the public mind becomes fully aroused to the danger which threatens our free institu- tions from the hierarchal despotism of Rome. Again, Mr. Harnett says : "It is deeply to be regretted that in the present struggle between the Papacy and its enemies, many who love and venerate the sov- ereign Pontiff are ranged on the side of his persecutors. They argue that the question of OCCUPA TION OF ROME, 249 the temporal power is one of accidental con- nection with the Church, that it matters really very little whether the Pope retain or lose his temporal sovereignty. They think his in- dependence can be secured without it, and in regard to the whole matter different men have different theories of their own. Some wish him to retain his dominions, but insist that he must adopt a new constitution. At all events he must bring his principles into conformity with modern ideas and civilization. Adopt a new constitution! Every body knows how difficult it is to frame and force a new consti- tution upon a population to work well. Con- stitutions must grow up naturally from, and be developed out of, the ideas, manners, and prej- udices of a people ; and as regards the States of the Church, it must be borne in mind that the Pontifical Government must exist under different circumstances, as it exists for a differ- ent end from any other." Here the idea of a *^ constitution'' to secure the civil and political rights of the unfortu- nate inhabitants of the so-called States of the Church, is scouted, as an idea that is not to be entertained for a moment ; and we are given 250 POLITICAL ROMANISM, to understand that the very nature and end of the Papal Government must forever preclude the possibility of a constitution or of "con- formity with modern ideas of civilization." This is the strongest reason that could possibly be assigned for the destruction of the Papal Government; for a government which must trample under foot the dearest God-given rights of humanity, in order to have an exist- ence, ought to meet the condemnation of uni- versal humanity, and be overthrown by an everlasting destruction. No government can exist by Divine appointment, which tramples under foot the God-given rights of humanity ; and when the friends of the Papal Government proclaim to the world, that the nature and end of that government preclude the possibility of a liberal constitution, and conformity to " the modern ideas of civilization," they sound its death-knell in the ears of an enlightened and liberalized humanity. But this "model demonstration" was not content simply with such speeches as that delivered by Mr. Harnett, and others, in the same strain. They adopted a solemn protest in the shape of "an address and resolutions OCCUPA TION OF ROME. 2$ 1 to Pope Pius IX," the last resolution of which reads as follows : '' Resolvedy That we promise continued faith- fulness, obedience, and homage to the See of Peter, and that we still recognize, and shall continue to recognize you as the lawful King of Rome, and that we pledge our hearty co- operation to any movement of the Catholic world that has for its object the maintenance and integrity of your sovereignty." This resolution pledges these American Ro- man Catholics, who are citizens of the United States, to enter into any measure that ''may be agreed upon by the Catholics of the world," for the restoration of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope. They are thus pledged, if such a plan is agreed upon by the Roman Catholic world, to make war upon the King of Italy, and thus involve our Government in trouble with a friendly powder, and one with which the whole non-Catholic population of the country are in the most hearty sympathy. The whole Roman Catholic population of the country are adopting similar resolutions, pledging their sympathy and support to the Pope, and their press, and the press of the 252 POLITICAL ROMANISM. country has been teeming for months past with such pastorals, protests, speeches, and resolutions as we have quoted from, and we might easily fill a volume with these extra- ordinary documents, but what we have pre- sented are sufficient to show the views and feelings of American Roman Catholics. These Roman Catholic demonstrations are not designed simply to give expressions of sympathy for the Pope. They are designed to fan the fires of fanaticism of Roman Catholics into a flame, and to excite such a fervor of zeal for the Pope as to result in a grand crusade for the overthrow of Victor Emmanuel and the re- establishment of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope. Already the plans are being laid for this campaign by the Romish hierarchy in Italy. The secret of their plans is let out by the Ro- man correspondent, S. P. Q. R., of the New York Freemaiis yoinmal^ Jan. 7, 1871. This correspondent says : " I would like to call the attention of Catho- lics to an organization in Italy which would do much good in the States. The young men throughout all Italy have formed clubs or societies, under the direction of their Parish OCCUPA TION OF ROME. 253 priests, and with episcopal sanction. Any young man traveling is furnished with a cer- tificate of membership which enables him to attend the meetings wherever he goes, and is, in fact, a recommendation or passport for him. The present scope of this organization is di- rected to prayer, religious duties, and the like ; but, by uniting all Catholics, it can hereafter be a mighty power for good,*' Here is a secret organization, under the di- rection of the Romash clergy of Italy, and, doubtless, blessed and sanctioned by the Pope, and which is designed to extend throughout the Roman Catholic Church, the special object of which, as can be seen from the above, is to unite all Roman Catholics in a league for the restoration of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope, the head-quarters of this organization being in Italy, under the immediate eye and direction of " His Infallibility !" This is the first part of the programme. The second part is, a " Grand Crusade" for the restoration of the political power of the Pope is to be gotten up under the direction, and through the instru- mentality of this organization, having its head- quarters in Rome, and receiving its chief direc- 254 POLITICAL ROMANISM, tion from the Vatican. Hence, we find the Roman Catholic press teeming with the most violent and incendiary appeals in favor of this *' Grand Crusade of the Nineteenth Century !" As a specimen of these mad appeals, we will give a few quotations from the leading Roman Catholic weekly of the United States, the New York Freeman s yournal. From a couple of editorials on this subject, in the issue of Dec. 17, 1870, we take the following choice selections: " How shall we resist } The first impulse of the right-minded is that of Peter when the bands, led by Judas Iscariot, laid hands on our Redeemer : ' Lord, shall we strike with the sword ?' There is a time to strike with the sword. Simon Peter, named Prince of the Apostles, while following our Lord as a simple disciple, had a sword. Not only so ; he was commanded by the Lord to sell of his raiment, if need were, to buy one, if he had it not. This was not said to Peter for himself, as he never used it, except on one occasion, when he was told not to throw away his sword, but to put it in its scabbard. There is a time to strike, and there is a time to suffer without striking. The present hour, clearly, is one in OCCUPA TION OF ROME, 255 which Catholics, except those invested with poHtical rule, are to keep the sword in its scab- bard. The time is not far distant when that sword can and should be drawn, not to injure, but to protect. But that time is not now^ Here we are plainly given to understand that if those Roman CathoHc rulers, who ought now to strike with the sword in defense of the Pope do not do it, the time will come soon when the people will themselves be ready, without their rulers, to draw the sword, and strike with it for the Pope — that is, so soon as the clergy get the programme for their crusade ready ! Again : The same paper says : '^ There are to be meetings upon meetings. There are to be demonstrations upon demon- strations. There are to be movements till sen- timent creates ptcrpose, and purpose brings forth action ! God wills it. ''We are not to rest till, as at the Council of Clermont, the bishops assembled found the region round, for ten miles on every side, cov- ered by knights and men-at-arms, saying : ' We will no longer fight each other at the order of ambitious princes ; we will strike hands with each other to rescue the Holy City.' " 256 POLITICAL ROMAXISM. Here we are plainly told that the object of all these demonstrations in favor of the Pope is to rouse the fervor of Roman Catholic devo- tion to the fighting point, and get up a general war for the restoration of the Pope's temporal sovereignty. But he continues : '^ A Crusade of the Nineteenth Century is needed to rescue the wealthy Catholic youth. They are the ones who are spending their for- tunes, and their lives, and their souls in the fast and foolish pleasures of the senses. They are driving their fast horses, lavishing money on 'pleasures,' so called, that give them no satisfaction, and ruining themselves in guilty ways that bring them only despair and shame. We want, from the hundreds of thousands of Catholics in this city, one generous cry to arise that will show those not already lost that they have something better to do. "This is the role that we must call our Catholic youth to fill ! Not to go as vagabond, illegal bands to war ; but, by a grand rally, with a noble purpose in view, to quit base and un- satisfactory diversions for the prospect of some- thing nobler. The first preparation is to be O ecu PA TION OF R OME. 2 $ 7 the performance of Catholic duties. But, in complying with these, there is to be free scope given, for those who can, to prepare for a glo- rious crusade, to rescue our holy father, the Pope, from subjection to any crowned king. They can do this as citizens of a republic ; and as spurning the idea that otir Pope shall be less free than we are, or that the Pope is less the Pope of republics than of kingdoms." But the editor of the Freeman s yotcriial is not satisfied with preaching up this crusade against Victor Emmanuel and in favor of the Pope. His wrath has waxed exceedingly hot at those Catholic kings who have remained silent spectators of the "spoliation" of the States of the Church, and he appeals to all Roman Catholic people to rise in their might against their rulers, and reconstruct human society on the Roman Catholic basis — that is, the submission of kings and rulers to the tem- poral supremacy of the Pope, as in the Middle Ages. In his issue of Dec. 3, 1870, he says: "The miserable occupants of thrones in countries lately counted as Catholic, in Europe, have apostatized from the role of Catholic civ- ilization ! The appeal of the holy father is 17 258 POLITICAL ROMANISM. now to the Catholic peoples. The peoples make and unmake kings and other rulers. At least, they can do it, if they have the energy and the courage. Nothing is more respected, in our age, than that rare quality — moral courage.'' What was the role kings and other rulers were called to play under the " Catholic civili- zation" from which, happily for mankind, they have apostatized.^ Every one knows that it was to take up the sword at *'the nod of the priest " and use it in defense of the Pope. Now, as the kings and rulers of "countries lately counted as Catholic" have "apostatized" from this "role," the people are appealed to by the Roman Catholic press, which now seems to be completely under the control of the Jesuits, to rise in their might, and hurl them from their thrones, and from their places of power, and put others in their places, who will conform their administrations to the ideas of "Catholic civilization !" This glorious revolution is to be accomplished, as we shall see directly, under the leadership of the "Catholic clergy!" In the same issue he says : " For seven hundred years past, in Christen- OCCUPA TION OF ROME, 259 dom, the praises have been sung of the ' com- mon law,' long after that law had ceased to ex- ist according to its original character. It had its origin in the south of France, at a time when, in the political order as run by kings, chaos afflicted the Catholic people. Toward the close of the tenth century, lawless wars had so desolated France, that the people, una- ble to attend to honest industry, were starving. Human flesh was detected as exposed in the market places for food. The people^ having detected the monsters who did this, caught them, and, very properly, burned them at the stake. Government, in the hands of lawless rulers, had come to the desperate pass that it seems ^ in our day^ to be approaching agai^t ! '' It was in such a crisis of society that the people, helped and fostered by the Catholic clergy, organized in their neighborhoods for their own protection. They organized in their several parishes what they called ' Communes/ or ' Commons, of the Peace.' " They met in their churches, on great festi- vals, and, taking the sacrament, swore to one another to protect each and every one in his rights of person and of property. They swore 260 POLITICAL ROMANISM, to each other that they would not permit kings, or dukes, or counts, to force any of them into armies, to fight battles that were of no general benefit. They swore that their property should not be taken by these rulers to support idle wars of dynasties. They carried out, practi- cally, and, for them, effectively, what, in later days, has been recalled in ballad form as a dim reminiscence of a past that had been : *' ' Now, if I were but king of France, Or, better, Pope of Rome, I 'd have no fighting men abroad, Nor weeping maids at home. All the world should be at peace, And if I had the might, I 'd see that those Vvho made a quarrel Should be the only ones to fight.' '' Quaint and simple as these ballad lines are they tell the story of how order was brought out of chaos in the eleventh century, and so- ciety saved from ambitious rulers by the ' Com- mons of the Peace,' with St. Ives, of Chartres, as what we may call its grandest ' Chief Jus- tice.' "Well, there is, plainly, a great work to do now, if the world is not to come to an end. It must begin with the people. The rulers of a occur A rioN of rome, 26 1 people can not, if they would, conduct a gov- ernment better than the people governed are. The reform must begin with the people. With what people 1 Why, with the Catholic people, or with those that accept and act on Catholic principles. There is no other code of public morals capable of saving public society. ''Let us, then, be up and doing. Those amiable and quiet gentlemen, who sit still and comment shrewdly on events, have no more in- fluence in directing them than the flies who fasten on the spokes of a moving carriage. It is energy, it is self-assertion that wins the day. These qualities are not congenial to sentimental gentlemen. But sentimental gentlemen ought to keep in private life. For twenty years and more we have been an observer of how ' public opinion ' is formed. We have noticed that usu- ally they are the shallowest charlatans who form it. They are men who, having nothing to lose, are cheaply audacious. Nevertheless, they do much to form 'public opinion.' That it is not permanent, is because it is fictitiously created on bases that have no intrinsic worth. " Why not we Catholics use the daring with- out the sha^n of these men who govern public 262 POLITICAL ROMANISM. opinion ? We, in the Freeman s yournal^ have done some Httle in this way, and we propose doing a good deal more, if God spares our life to near the average age of our ancestors." Here we have the grand programme laid out how this glorious revolution in favor of *' Catholic civilization " is to be brought about. The Roman Catholic press and clergy are to create a public opinion in its favor, among Ro- man Catholics, of such strength that it shall culminate in such a revolution as shall once more set the Pope above the kings of the earth and compel them to submit their necks under his yoke. Such is the vision which flits before the imagination of the leaders in the Roman Catholic Church, both clerical and lay, and such is the object they are aiming at ; conse- quently, their papers are full of the most fear- ful lamentations over the present condition of human society, which is every-where, under the impulse of an enlightened civilization, emanci- pating itself from the dominion, the tyranni- cal authority and power of the Pope, just as though the bonds of all social order and polit- ical government were being dissolved, and hu- man society sinking hopelessly into chaos, and OCCUPA TION OF ROME. 263 nothing but the re-establishment of '' Catholic civilization," which simply means the universal temporal supremacy of the Pope, can prevent this dreadful catastrophe. 264 POLITICAL ROMANISM. CHAPTER XIV. DANGERS OF CATHOLICISM. ROMAN Catholicism is, traditionally, the- oretically, and practically, the most thor- oughly concentrated ecclesiastical and civil depotism that the human mind can conceive of. In ecclesiastical or spiritual matters the authority of the Pope is as absolute over the whole membership of the Church of Rome as the authority of Jesus Christ, whose place on earth, according to the universal Roman Cath- olic teaching, he occupies. He is infallible in doctrine and in morals, or, in other words, he is the only intellect and conscience in the entire Roman Catholic Church which dares to reason or pass judgment upon questions of faith or morals ; so that in the Church of Rome there is but one mind and conscience, and that resides in the Pope. In discipline and government the authority DAA'GERS OF CATHOLICISM. 26$ of the Pope is supreme over the entire body of the ''faithful," both clerical and lay, and "none can judge his judgments;" so that there is but one authority in the Roman Catholic Church, and that is the authority of the Pope, and to this every one of the '' faith- ful, of whatever dignity," is bound to submit. This absolute spiritual dominion over the mind and conscience necessarily carries with it com- plete dominion over the entire man in all things, both temporal and spiritual. This is the reasoning of Roman Catholics themselves. As the Pope is the sole fountain of authority in the Roman Catholic Church, no one can exercise authority therein, only those to whom he delegates such authority ; hence the gov- ernment of that Church is a ''graduated hie- rarchy," centering in and receiving all its au- thority from the Pope. Thus, the first lesson that is impressed upon the minds of the "faith- ful," and which is continually impressed through life, is unconditional submission of the mind, will, conscience, and life to the most absolute authority, which, coming down through this " graduated hierarchy," reaches from the high- 266 POLITICAL ROMANISM. est cardinal down to the lowest beggar, num- bered among the " faithful." Such unlimited authority on the one hand and submission on the other must, in the nat- ure of things, operate against free institutions. Hence, we have seen that the Church of Rome is and always has been the consistent enemy of free government and free institutions. Ev- ery movement of humanity toward political freedom has met with the anathemas of the Pope, from the grand old " Magna Charta " of England down to the emancipation of down- trodden and oppressed Italy in 1870. The doctrine of the Church of Rome on the rights of conscience stands diametrically op- posed to the fundamental principles of our Constitution, which guarantees '' liberty of con- science and worship" as the right of every man. But this provision of our Constitution is now a condemned proposition, both in the Pope's Encyclicals and Syllabus, and no Ro- man Catholic can maintain a "condemned proposition" since the proclamation of the Ecclesiastical Constitution of July 18, 1870, proclaiming the infallibility of the Pope in matters of faith and morals, and his supremacy DANGERS OF CATHOLICISM, 267 in matters of discipline and government, with- out unchurching himself and falling under the greater anathema. This brings the question down to this point. The constitution and doctrine of the Church of Rome, in regard to the freedom of con- science and worship, is diametrically opposed to the Constitution and Government of our country and the doctrine of religious and political freedom they contain, and which is firmly held by all the friends of fiee govern- ment ; and, consequently, should the Church of Rome gain the ascendency in this coun- try she would overthrow our Constitution and destroy our free institutions." Thus the '* Ro- man question " is a very practical question be- fore the American people just now. I. Such a concentrated ecclesiastical despot- ism as the Church of Rome is, is always un- favorable to free political institutions, and its influence must necessarily be deleterious to the development or maintenance of free civil gov- ernment. The mind, habituated to such ab- solute submission to authority in ecclesiastical matters as the Church of Rome requires, is not prepared to enjoy or exercise that political 268 POLITICAL ROMANISM. freedom necessary for the maintenance of free government, especially when that despotic ec- clesiastical power is forever interfering with political questions or the civil laws of the land, and trammeling the political freedom of the citizen on the ground that these political ques- tions or civil laws interfere with ecclesiastical matters, or invade the "rights of the Church," as the Church of Rome is continually doing ; annulling civil laws, excommunicating kings, rulers, and people for their political action, as we have seen the Pope constantly doing for the- last thousand years. The history of the Christian world for more than a thousand years past abundantly proves that freedom of civil government can not exist under the influence and control of Roman Catholicism. I know that Roman Catholics point us to the Italian republics of the Middle Ages, and the little republic of San Marino, in refutation of this charge. But we ask, " Were those republics free governments of the peo- ple, where liberty of conscience and worship was guaranteed by the constitution and laws V Every intelligent person knows that these es- sential 'elements of free government never I DANGERS OF CATHOLICISM. 269 entered into the constitution of one of those republics, and that while they were republics in name they lacked these essential elements of a true republican or free government. The republics of Europe in the last and pres- ent centuries, ^' which sprang up in a night, and perished in a night," and the republic of Mex- ico, and the republics of Central and South America all prove demonstrably that no stable republican or free government can exist and prosper where the influence of the Church of Rome is predominant over the people. An ecclesiastical despotism can not give birth to political freedom, nor can a country where an ecclesiastical despotism predominates enjoy a stable, free political government. The two things are so utterly antagonistic that they can not co-exist. 2. The political government of the Pope over the so-called patrimony of St. Peter — which, as we have seen, was the most perfect political despotism conceivable, and the '^ nature and end" of which, we are gravely told, do not admit of either a constitution or an elective legislature, but which must, in the very nat- ure and end of the government itself, forever 2/0 POLITICAL ROMANISM. remain an absolute despotism, where the will of one man is the supreme law of the land — is just now being held up before American Ro- man Catholics as the most perfect government on earth, and as the very best government possible for the inhabitants of that unfortunate territory ; and we are told that " the Paternal Government of the Pope " is a better guaran- tee to them of their political and social rights "than suffrage or an elective legislature can be for any other people." No one can believe such a monstrous proposition, or accept such a des- potism as the most perfect form of political government, and be a friend of free govern- ment and of republican principles. Such dec- larations and teachings are designed to sap the foundations of our Government and to prepare the way for the establishment of a political despotism in this country, under the influence and control of the Pope, by familiarizing the public mind to the idea that this is the best form of political government, and the best se- curity for the rights of the people ! 3. Our Common-School system, under the direction and control of Evangelical Protestant Christianity, is the great bulwark of our free DANGERS OF CA THOLICISM. 2/1 government. No free government can long exist that is not based upon intelligence and virtue. We must not only have education, but that education must be brought under the in- fluence of Bible Christianity, if our free insti- tutions are maintained. This great truth must be sounded in the ears of the American peo- ple until they are made to realize its full force. The whole people must be educated, and their education must be grounded upon Bible mo- rality. Morals must be taught in our Common Schools, and consequently there must be a text-book and standard of morals. The only standard of morals recognized in this country is the Bible, and it is the only text-book of morals we have to put into the hands of our children ; hence it must not be excluded from our schools. But the Church of Rome directs her whole force against our entire Common-School sys- tem. She does not simply wish to exclude the Bible from the Common Schools, but she wishes to destroy the Common-School system entirely, and substitute in its place her own schools, and thus bring the children of the country under her direct influence. 272 POLITICAL ROMANISM, The whole Roman Catholic Church in this country is pledged to the overthrow of our Common-School system, and the hierarchy are working most sedulously for the accomplish- ment of this object. The Pope has uttered his condemnation of the Common-School sys- tem from his infallible chair, and every prelate in the hierarchy, and the whole press of the Roman Catholic Church, have caught up the echo, and the whole Church has fallen into line, and to-day, under the sanction and com- mand of a foreign despot, the whole Romish priesthood have entered into a conspiracy to overthrow the strongest bulwark of American freedom. The whole Roman Catholic Church ■ to-day is in open rebellion against our Gov- ernment on this question, and that, too, at the command of the Pope ; and hundreds of truck- ling politicians and political newspapers are truckling to them, and siding with them to get their votes, thus shamelessly selling their country's highest interests for the sake of their own temporary political aggrandizement, or that of their political party. Is there not just ground of fear here for the safety of our free institutions } DANGERS OF CATHOLICISM. 2/3 The Romish hierarchy know full well that our system of Common-School education is the most potent enemy they have to contend against. Let the Roman Catholic youth of our land grow up under our system of educa- tion, and as the light of free education and the facts of history unvarnished dawn upon their minds, they are as certainly lost to Rome as the Hindoo is lost to Buddhism when the light of natural science dawns upon his mind. To prevent this loss to the Church, and to secure the youth of our country under her influence, they have resolved to overthrow our system of education, and substitute their own in its place. 4. The present system of Roman Catholic education in this country is accomplishing much toward bringing the country under the influence of the Romish hierarchy. But few persons are acquainted with the extent and magnitude of the Roman Catholic system of education in this country, or the tremendous influence the hierarchy are exerting upon the public mind, and especially upon the rising generation, by this means. There are at least, according to The Catholic Almanac for 1871, 18 2/4 POLITICAL ROMANISM. three hundred and fifty Roman Catholic edu- cational institutions, male and female, in the United States. One hundred and sixty of these furnished a statistical report to the pub- lisher of the Almanac, and these statistics are published. On the seventy-first page we have a summing up of these statistics as follows : ''COLLEGES, ETC. ''Of the forty-nine colleges [reporting], the statistics of which we have before us, there are 555 professors, 248 priests, 7,167 pupils, and 205,000 volumes of books in their libraries. The oldest college in the United States is that at Georgetown, D. C, founded in 1792, and there have been two new colleges established in 1870. The largest number of books in any library is in that of Georgetown College, be- ing 33,000 volumes, and the smallest number is 200 volumes. The largest number of pupils in any college is 500 and the smallest num- ber 21." "ACADEMIES FOR YOUNG LADIES. " We have received returns from 1 1 1 of these institutions, from which we deduce the follow- ing statistics: Number of teachers, 1,211; number of sisters, 2,497 ; number of pupils, DANGERS OF CATHOLICISM. 2/5 12,027, and number of volumes in their libraries 64,587. The largest number of pupils in any institution is 435, and the smallest, 17. The largest library in any one institution contains 15,000 volumes — that of the Sacred Heart Academy, St. Charles, Missouri — and the smallest contains only ico volumes. Many of the institutions, being lately established, have not had time to get libraries. The oldest institution is St. Joseph's Academy, Emmetts- burg, Maryland, established in 1809, and we find two or three new ones established in 1870. " From these returns, imperfect as they are, it will be seen there are engaged in teaching the higher branches of education in 160 estab- lishments, 1,746 professors and instructors, 2,760 priests and sisters, with about 2C,oco pupils. In all these institutions we find over 270,000 volumes of books. Had we received complete returns, we should have been able to show that we are educating over 30,000 young men and women in the higher branches every year, with a proportionate increase of profes- sors and teachers." Just think of this tremendous educational 2/6 POLITICAL ROMANISM. influence and power, exerted upon the rising generation through these three hundred and fifty colleges and academies ; at least thirty thousand young men and young women being educated annually in the higher branches of education in these Romish institutions, and these institutions increasing at the rate of four or five per year. The first of them was founded seventy-nine years ago, and now the number has increased to three hundred and fifty, and still the increase goes on at the rate of four or five a year. This gives us some idea of the activity of the hierarchy in their work of bring- ing this country under their influence and control. The Church of Rome knows perfectly well that, in this country of education and intelli- gence, she can get control only by taking the lead in the work of education. In Roman Catholic countries she makes no special effort to educate the masses. She is more than will- ing that they should remain in ignorance, as she can control the ignorant and superstitious much better than she can the intelligent and educated. But where the people will be edu- cated anyhow, and she can not prevent it, DANGERS OF CA THOLICISM. 277 there she knows her only chance is to educate them, and by this means bring them under her influence. Hence, she leaves her wretched children in Italy, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, and the South American States in their ignorance and wretchedness, and bends all her energies to the work of educating the rising generation in Protestant lands, and especially in these United States, which are just now the great mission-field of the Church of Rome. The poor, ignorant, and oppressed subjects of the Pope, in the Roman Catholic countries of Eu- rope, are made to furnish the men, the women, and the money to carry on this grand mission- ary scheme of Catholicizing this country. It is a fact, that perhaps not many Protestants are aware of, that the mission force of the Romish Church in this country is made up mostly of Irish Roman Catholics. Nearly all their acad- emies for young women are managed by Irish sisters, and thus Ireland is doing a gigantic work to bring the moral, religious, and educa- tional condition of this country to the same wretched condition to which that unhappy land has been brought by the influence and power of Romanism. 278 POLITICAL ROMANISM, But the main object of Rome, in her educa- tional work in this country, is to educate the mothers of America. She knows that if she can secure the mothers, she secures the chil- dren through the mothers' influence. If she can educate the mothers of the next generation, the next generation is hers. Hence, her main educational work is in her female academies, into which she is gathering the daughters of unsuspecting Protestants and non-Catholics, and making Roman Catholics of them by the thousand. These schools are, in fact, great proselyting institutions, where the most perfect 3ystem of proselyting is carried on that can be devised. They are managed by persons who are trained for that work ; and, under the prom- ise of not interfering with the religion of the children committed to their care, they pursue their work — often silently for a season, but surely, and, in the great majority of cases, suc- cessfully. But few young ladies ever enter these Roman Catholic schools, who do not come out of them, if they come out at all, either confirmed and zealous Roman Cath- olics, or strongly biased in favor of Roman Catholicism. DANGERS OF CATHOLICISM. 279 The Church of Rome got control of the world, during the darkness of the Middle Ages, by reconstructing the history of the earlier ages of Christianity — that is, by the forgeries of Isidore, and the other noted forgers of history in those times, and palming off those forgeries upon the ignorant princes of Europe as the genuine facts of history. The Jesuits, in the light of the nineteenth cen- tury, are attempting, practically, the same thing. They are actually attempting to recon- struct the history of the Middle Ages, and the times of the Reformation ; and the forgeries of Isidore are not more baseless and glaring than are the falsifications of the facts of mediaeval his- tory by these Jesuitical historians. They de- nounce such candid historians as Willson, who give a faithful account of the tyranny, persecu- tions, and wickedness of the Popes and clergy during the Middle Ages, nor will they permit such books to be used in their schools. Some months ago, there appeared an article in the Free:ya7is Journal^ written by a priest, de- nouncing "Willson's Outlines of History" in the most emphatic terms, and urging it as a strong objection against the Common Schools 280 POLITICAL ROMANISM, of the country that it was used as the text- book of history. Take up any text-book of history used in these Romish institutions, and you will find all the facts of history reversed. The Church of Rome appears always as the champion of the right, or as the persecuted spouse of Jesus Christ, suffering at the hands of cruel princes, who are seeking to despoil her of her rights. The Reformers are a set of vicious men, under the impulse of Satanic influence, or brutal lust, making war against the Church of Christ, and vainly attempting to overturn it, or to de- stroy its foundation ; their characters are as- persed, their doctrines caricatured — and these glaring falsehoods are taught the children and youth, who are so unfortunate as to be placed in those institutions, as the sober facts of history. Their school readers are filled up with the marvelous legends of their saints, or expositions and defenses of the dogmas of Romanism. This is the kind of literature that is taught in the Romish schools of our land, while the gor- geous ceremonies of the Romish worship are kept before the eyes of the students, and they DANGERS OF CA THOLICISM. 2 8 1 are required, if for nothing else, for ^'form's sake," to take part in this idolatrous worship. While thus the mind is perverted by falsehood, and the senses captivated by the show of Ro- mish ceremonies, and the religion which is thus taught permits those who accept it to en- gage in the pleasures and amusements of the world, and all this recommended by the show of ostentatious outward piety by the sisters, to whom this work of proselyting is intrusted, is it any wonder that thousands of unsuspecting and simple-hearted girls should be captivated and yield to the influences thus brought to bear upon them ? The influence these Romish schools are exerting in this country is incalcu- lable, and the evil they are accomplishing can not be over-estimated. The number of universities, colleges, semi- naries, normal schools, etc., reported in the Methodist Almanac^ for 1870, is 103. The number of instructors is put down at 652 ; the number of male students at 6,184, and the number of females at 6,747; total, 12,931. These statistics are not exactly full, but it is safe to say that our educational institutions do not give instruction annually to more than 282 POLITICAL ROMANISM. 15,000 students, or more than one-half as many as are being instructed in the Romish schools of our country. It is seen by these figures that the largest and most influential Protest- ant denomination in the United States is not doing more than one-half as much to educate the rising generation as the Church of Rome is doing; and we doubt very much if all the Protestant denominations put together are do- ing as much, outside of our public schools, to educate the rising generation of this country as the Roman Catholic Church is doing. This is an alarming and a humiliating fact, and it ought to rouse every Protestant, and every lover of his country, to action ; and let us see to it that this state of things shall not remain as a reproach upon Protestant Christianity. 5. But the danger most apparent to this country from Romanism is its political power. The Romish hierarchy, through the confes- sional, and by means of their spiritual power over the consciences of the faithful, are able always to cast the Roman Catholic vote solid. This puts into the hands of the' hierarchy an immense political power. In fact, it often puts the balance of power in their hands, and they DANGERS OF CA THOLICISM, 283 never fail to use it to their own advantage. The great curse of our land and of all repub- lics is corrupt, unscrupulous politicians, men who would sell themselves, their friends, and their country to accomplish their own political ends. These men will play into the hands of the hierarchy, and do any thing for them they may demand, in order to get the Roman Cath- olic vote ; hence, wherever the Romanists have the majority, or hold the balance of power in our cities, the municipal government is run in the interest of the Church of Rome, as we see in the city of Nev/ York, where millions of the public treasure have been voted to the Church of Rome ! It is this political corruption that gives the hierarchy their great political power, and that secures the Church of Rome that immunity which she enjoys in this country, in practically carrying out the infernal work of the Inquisition, through her convents and religious houses. The system of government adopted by the Church of Rome for her convents, her schools, and her reformatory institutions would not be tolerated in this free land a single day were it not for her political influence and her money 284 POLITICAL ROMANISM, power. When once an unfortunate woman is immured in a convent, all hope of escape is cut off, and the strong arm of the lav/, which would be stretched forth in defense of any other person subject to religious tyranny, is powerless to reach her case or render her as- sistance. An unfortunate child once under her power is completely helpless in her hands. Her convents, her schools, her reformatory houses are inclosed with walls and gates so secure that the outside world must remain in profound ignorance of what is going on within. If an unfortunate one escapes to tell her story of grief and wrongs, or attempts to break the fetters which have bound her soul, she is spir- ited away and so securely immured, that all search for her is vain. These outrages have been committed again and again in the light of the sun in this free and happy country, and yet, after the momentary excitement has died away, no voice has been raised against the atrocious system that permits such outrages against the rights of humanity. Helpless and innocent females are imprisoned in their houses of correction by brutal fathers, husbands, or guardians, and the law provides no way of DANGERS OF CATHOLICISM, 285 redress. Only a few weeks ago I went down to the city of St. Louis to get a girl to assist my wife in doing the house-work. I found a smart, intelligent Roman Catholic girl at the *' House of Refuge," who had been so badly treated by the Roman Catholic family with whom she had lived that she could not endure it, and she had gone to the ''House of Ref- uge" for protection. The authorities turned her over to me, and I made a contract with her and brought her home with me. She said she was seventeen years old, and an orphan. We found her to be all we could desire in regard to work, disposition, etc. Just a week after she came to my house the son and daugh- ter of the woman with whom she had lived came to my house in my absence, claimed that their mother was her guardian, which she de- clared was false ; but they took her forcibly, and against her will, back to St. Louis, and had her incarcerated in the "House of the Good Shepherd" as a criminal, who needed reforming ! On my return home I went down to St. Louis, and complained to the Chief of Police. He ferreted the matter out, and found her as above stated, but he said he could do 2S6 POLITICAL ROMANISM. no more. I went and examined the records of the county and found that there was no such guardianship in existence. But my only chance to get the girl out of the power of her tormentors was to go into a lawsuit, without much probability of success under the circum- stances ; and, as I had no money to spend in that way, I was compelled to leave her in their hands. Similar cases are of constant occurrence, and yet nothing is done to correct these outrages. Politicians and statesmen are afraid to attempt a legal remedy, by placing a system of supervision over all these institu- tions, to prevent these abuses, for they know if such an attempt should be made it would array the whole power of the hierarchy against them. Yet this Inquisitorial system of the Church of Rome must be abolished. The rights of conscience must be recognized by the Roman Catholics of this country, and their ecclesiastical and educational systems must come under the inspection and regulation of the civil law, so far as to secure the civil rights, and the rights of conscience also, to every un- fortunate one who may need the protection of law ; and if politicians and statesmen will not DANGERS OF CA THOLICISM, 28/ meet the responsibility of this question, the people must set them aside and elect men to make laws for us who are not afraid of the power, and who can not be influenced by the money of the hierarchy. Thus we have tried to point out some of the principal dangers of this country from the power and influence of the Church of Rome ; and if we can only succeed in waking up the public mind to the importance of this mo- mentous question we shall be satisfied, know- ing that all that is necessary is to get the pub- lic mind once turned to the question, to see its vast importance and the necessity of taking hold of it at once, and settling it in such a manner as shall prevent the evils that now threaten us from this quarter. THE END. 1^ gD-6« Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Jan. 2006 o PreservationTechnologies ^ A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION ^ 1 1 1 Thomson Park Onve Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111 \C : S.J' :'£m;- %.<•■' .-SJte- V k^ ^ f • < -> .-to*. -^0 "oV" ^*i°^ *r^^^.» ^-^4^. '."^R^* .^*^°'*' •(f^ ' ' . * « DOBBS BROS. •,^^OsXts^* -V ^ LIBRARY BINOINQ ^^VS^llv^ w ''P. 4 -^ NOV 81 " ""^ ST. 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