XXIII.]

ITS PRACTICAL RESULTS.

473

liberty, education, marriage: nay, it clearly would not travel out of its province if it pronounced on the lawfulness of any foreign war, nor if it directed subjects to vindicate their rights by rebellion. It is argued, then, that if Christ did not see fit to complete His scheme by giving His vicar upon earth temporal power as well as spiritual, that vicar would be left exposed to suffer from temporal governments such measures of expulsion or repression as the rulers of any country deal to those who will not submit to the law of the land.

But the popes have had the opportunity of working out their theory of a necessity of temporal power, and have brought it to miserable failure. Not only did they destroy the temporal prosperity of the states they governed, but they impaired their own spiritual influence through the hatred inspired by the character of their rule. The pope might drive through any part of heretic London, and be sure of a courteous reception: but the last two popes have thought it necessary to shut themselves up in their own palace, through alleged fear, if they stirred out of it, of meeting insults from their countrymen who ought to know them best. Now, men who have themselves made such a poor hand at governing are clearly not fit to teach others how to govern; and therefore we may safely reject the pope's claim to interfere with secular princes in their government of their states. And this claim is, as we have seen, inseparably connected with the pope's general claim to infallibility, so that we arrive once more at the result that we have no right to think that Christ has provided us with any infallible security for right thinking or right doing, or taught us any other way for attaining these ends than the prayerful use of the means He has given us for the education of our own reason and conscience.

APPENDIX.

DECREES OF THE VATICAN COUNCIL.

I. CONSTITUTIO DOGMATICA DE FIDE CATHOLICA.

II. CANONES.

III. CONSTITUTIO DOGMATICA PRIMA DE ECCLESIA

CHRISTI.

IV. SUSPENSIO CONCILII.

APPENDIX.

DECREES OF THE VATICAN COUNCIL.

THE Decrees of the Vatican Council being not so easily accessible to students as older authoritative documents of the Roman Church, I subjoin here the chapters of the Constitutio dogmatica de Fide Catholica,' passed at the Third Session, April 24th, 1870, and the 'Constitutio dogmatica prima de Ecclesia Christi,' passed at the Fourth Session, July 18th, 1870. The reason why there was not a 'Constitutio secunda' appears from the subjoined extract from the Apostolic Letter suspending the Council. Only formal business was done at the first two Sessions of the Council.

CONSTITUTIO DOGMATICA DE FIDE CATHOLICA.

CAPUT I.

DE DEO RERUM OMNIUM CREATORE.

Sancta Catholica Apostolica Romana Ecclesia credit et confitetur, unum esse Deum verum et vivum, Creatorem ac Dominum coeli et terrae, omnipotentem, aeternum, immensum, incomprehensibilem, intellectu ac voluntate omnique perfectione infinitum; qui cum sit una singularis, simplex omnino et incommutabilis substantia spiritualis, praedicandus est re et essentia a mundo distinctus, in se et ex se beatissimus, et super omnia, quae praeter ipsum sunt et concipi possunt, ineffabiliter excelsus.

Hic solus verus Deus bonitate sua et omnipotenti virtute, non ad augendam suam beatitudinem, nec ad acquirendam, sed ad manifestandam perfectionem suam per bona quae creaturis impertitur, liberrimo consilio simul ab initio temporis utramque de nihilo condidit creaturam, spiritualem