2. I come now to the second circumstance by which the Roman Church, if not directly weakened, is exposed to the enmity, the sarcastic irony, the free enquiry, and the witty ridicule of the surrounding world. Calvin and John Knox, in their indignant invectives, Swift and Voltaire, in their witty parodies, have exposed the hollow pretensions of a power which assumes infallibility, and displays the most deplorable weakness. It is singular to find that, in this nineteenth century, Pope Pius IX. proclaimed at Rome (on December 8th, 1864) the most astounding claims to the most humble obedience, coupled with a defiance of all that the science of three centuries had discovered and affirmed, and proclaimed the most absolute right of interference by force in the affairs of the world. The Powers of Europe have one after another been abjuring the allegiance so haughtily required. The Syllabus has been rejected by every Roman Catholic nation of Europe as utterly incompatible with civil government, subversive of the rights of every people, and breaking the bonds of that civil allegiance which every Government requires at the hands of its subjects. Yet it may be instructive to extract some out of the eighty propositions stated in the title of the Syllabus to embrace the principal errors of our times which have been censured in Consistorial Allocutions, Encyclicals, and other Apostolic Letters of our Most Holy Father, Pope Pius IX. At this very time, the Government of England is hesitating whether it may not be better to give up the education of the people of Ireland to the orders of

Cardinal Cullen and the decrees of Pope Pius IX., subjecting all who disobey these orders and decrees to deprivation of their rights as freemen. I will begin with Articles XII. and XIII. :—

XII. The decrees of the Apostolic See and of the Roman congregations interfere with the free progress of science.

XIII. The method and principles whereby the ancient scholastic doctors cultivated theology are not suited to the necessities of our time, and to the progress of the sciences. It would appear that, by Article XII. of the Syllabus, the interference of the Apostolic See with the progress of Galileo, and even his punishment, are not to be accounted an interference with the free progress of science, and that the assertion of Galileo, that the earth moves, is to be considered as an heretical refusal to comply with astronomical truths which the Holy See has solemnly proclaimed. Article XVIII. of the Syllabus is to the following effect:- Protestantism is nothing else than a different form of the same Christian religion, in which it is permitted to please God equally as in the true Catholic Church.' Unless the Ritualists of England are prepared to abjure altogether the Church of England, they must fall under the weight of this censure.

I will proceed to copy some more of the Articles, or rather the doctrines, which are pointed out for condemnation as fallacies.

XXIV. The Church has no power of employing force, nor has she any temporal power, direct or indirect.

XXXVII. National Churches, separated and totally disjoined from the Roman Pontiff's authority, may be instituted.

XLV. The whole government of public schools, wherein the youth of any Christian state is educated, episcopal seminaries only being in some degree excepted, may and should be given to the civil power; and in such sense be given, that no right be recognised in any other authority of mixing itself up in the management of the schools, the direction of studies, the conferring of degrees, the choice or approbation of teachers.

LXII. The principle of non-intervention (as it is called) should be proclaimed and observed.

LXIII. It is lawful to refuse obedience to legitimate princes, and even rebel against them.

LXXIII. By virtue of a purely civil contract, there may exist among Christians marriage, truly so called and it is false that either the contract of marriage among Christians is always a Sacrament, or that there is no contract if the Sacrament be excluded.

It is well known that on the questions of education and marriage, the Roman Church claims a plenary and despotic authority. I propose here to refer to the dispute which has taken place in Ireland, with respect to the management and direction of three or four parochial schools. The parish priest of three or four parishes, Mr. O'Keeffe, gave notice of an action for slander against a Roman Catholic coadjutor bishop. As soon as his intention was known, the coadjutor bishop applied to the superior spiritual authorities with

regard to the offence of appealing to the jurisdiction of the civil courts. Cardinal Cullen decided that the parish priest must be dismissed for appealing to a civil court with regard to a Roman Catholic priest. The parish priest was dismissed, and his successor asked the Education Board to recognise him as the manager of the parish schools. The Education Board has been in the habit, when a priest has been dismissed under the rules of the Roman Catholic Church, to recognise his successor as manager of the parish schools; but this was a peculiar case. The priest had not been dismissed for any moral or ecclesiastical offence. His offence was that he did not acknowledge the immunity of the Roman clergy from the civil courts. It was obvious that this immunity could not be acknowledged by the Education Board of Ireland without placing the whole education of Ireland under Cardinal Cullen. His language-that is to say, the language of Cardinal Cullen, in reference to the Bulla Cœnæ, and the bull of October 12, 1869-asserts for the clergy immunity from the jurisdiction of the civil courts, and places the money raised from the taxes, paid by the English and Scotch people, at the disposal of Cardinal Cullen and his sovereign the Pope. In the Gospel of St. Mark, it is written of Christ's enemies :

:

And they sought to lay hold on Him, but feared the people for they knew that He had spoken the parable against them and they left Him and went their way. And they sent unto Him certain of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch Him in His words. And when they were come, they say unto Him, Master,

we know that thou art true, and carest for no man, for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar or not? But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye Me? Bring Me a penny, that I may see it: and they brought it. And He saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto Him, Cæsar's. And Jesus answering said unto them, RENDER TO CESAR THE THINGS THAT ARE CÆSAR'S, AND TO GOD THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD'S.' If the schoolmaster of Callan, when he saw the coined sovereigns contributed by the State to assist the school, had asked, Whose image and superscription is this?' he would have been told' Queen Victoria's.' It is to be hoped that, as the Board of Education seem to have been misled by the precedents which they had before them, some means will be taken in a future session to remedy the wrongs inflicted upon the people of Great Britain.

But who is to define the things that are Cæsar's, and the things that are God's? Is it to be the sacerdotal power? In answer to this question,

Cardinal Cullen maintains that education belongs to the spiritual power. He must argue, that if a Roman Catholic boy learn the multiplication table with a Protestant companion, his faith and morals are endangered; that if a Roman Catholic professor be not allowed to teach the Syllabus approved by the Pope, the faith and morals of Ireland-of Roman Catholic Ireland, at least-are endangered. Against all this I

1 St. Mark, chap. xii.