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Show : ' THE FML,SYLL3 -i H 4 X With a Refutation of the Errors Which It Condemns J : Translated from the Italian of L'Falcord. Thirty-first error. "The ecclesiastical Forum desired for the trial of the temporal tem-poral causes, whether civil or criminal, of clerics, should be abolished, even without consulting the Holy Sec- and ; against its protests." Thirty-second Error. "The personal immunity, by which clerics are exempt ; from military conscription and from ! j the obligation of service in ths army, ' 1 may be abolished without violation either of natural right or of equity. Civil progress demands such abolition, : more especially in a society, the gov- I ernment of which is organized on a ba- ! sis of liberal principles." Refutation. The falsity of the thirtieth thir-tieth carries; with it the falsity of the thirty-first proposition. This is not disputed even by these who regard ' clerical immunities as of only human,' right, because they hold that the clergy 1 must be exempt from the jumliction of j secular judges in order to be perfec tly ! free and unencumbered in the per- I frvrm'anoe of the duties of their holy I ministry. Covarruvia maintains that ! these immunities derive their origin from the ir.Li tut ions of the old teia-ment, teia-ment, the traditions of the fathers, and ! the concessions of certain emperors', and shows that they have always been regarded in the light of a public benefit bene-fit by Christian peoples. (Pract. Que:t. cap. 31.) These arguments possess- much force in his eye.-, that he does not hesitate to declare that the Boman Pontiffs could have justly exempted the clergy from secular jurffiiiction net alone in spiritual, but in. ail temporal tem-poral matters whatsoever. Duval himself, him-self, though he regards all clerical immunities im-munities as the pure product of civil legislation, affirms that n secular prince can without sin either abolish or 'o limit them as to bring discredit upon the clergy, because they have, as he says, beera universally recognized and respected, and because they have been incorporated into law of nations, which no one is at liberty to abolish or disregard. As regards the conscription of ecclesiastics, eccle-siastics, w ho does not see that thif would be at utter variance with the nature and requirements of their ai-cred ai-cred calling? Reason itself protests so loudly against subjecting them to this burden, that even heretical governments govern-ments have never ventured to assert a claim to their military services, and mark well, that this exemption is not a mere privilege, it is a right in the moat rigorous sense cf the term, recognized re-cognized as such by society, whcoe interest;! in-terest;! demand that eccdeyiasftics be in no wise debarred from acquiring that education which is so necessary to the worthy discharge of their du-tieo du-tieo as the TnirJisters- of religion, and to enable them to properly instruc t the people in the laws cf God: labia enim oacerdotig cusodiumt scientiam et legem le-gem requirement ds ore ejus. The great end of man's existence in society so-ciety is to know, love and enjoy God, which end cannot be attained without the aid of religion; man had religious obligations, before the constitution of society. That religion is the necessary foundation of social institutions is a truth, which was recognized even by j the pagans, one of w hom declared that 1 it was easier to build a city in the air than to constitute a society without rciign. It is, therefore, thp manift-vt duty o governments to see to it that the clersy continue exempt from all public burdens, bur-dens, as Cavor.r himi-olf nbsvrved in the Subalpine parliament of is..:;. 5-r-compagr.e, who was in that time minister min-ister of mercy and justice, chara-t."--ized the subjection of young ecci-sia-tics to military conscription as iKil.fr.il and oppressive: and La Marmra, t'-v? then minister of war, declared t'n.it such action would coinpromist th' very existence of the clergy. If young m n an? forced to spend in the tanks of thu soldit-ry the r.nt beautiful portion of their lives, th"! H yvars best adapt d r the acquirement ' of knowledge, it is not probable th.it they will afterwards- be able to readiiy throw a?ide th? evil habife con-tract- t am1 Id' their military associations. ; that they will evui manifest a dc.siro to enter upon a mode of life so essentially essen-tially d ff-r. r r. from that which fh--have hitherto led; at all events th-y will net. by reason of their advance' age. be in a position, to acquirer that : large fun 1 cf ;i-i.nce which, if not ! itJ'utely re-'-f .--ary, iev eminently useful i to him who aspires to be an ansel ..ff j the Lord of h' Sts. to use the expression, i of the Prophet Malanhy clothed witii j tht duty r.-f engaging in continual com-1 com-1 bat with the powers of d irkness. j Cut our adversaries-! understand. :n-5 well as ourrvl ves, the cogency of th lss I reasoning, they employed it repeatedly, i both in and out of parliament, but oniv-J oniv-J be:-au.-e they knew that the time had j not arrived for pushing their prm i-i i-i pies to any extreme limit. They know ! that the general equality of citizenship docs net require all classes to be treat-j treat-j ed alike in all respects whatsvever: j that -senators, deputies and government j officials, for instance, are not placed upon the tame footing as the great j mass of the people. They know that j religion constitutes the supreme inte'r-j inte'r-j est of the state; thAt. therefore, even granting the exemption of the clergy from liability to military conscription to be a mere privilege, they have a higher right to its possession and en- j joyrr.er.t than those to whom it i3 ac- I corded, merely because their families 5 are dependent upon them for support. r They know that it an injustice to j deprive the clergy cf art immunity which is required by the very nature of their sacred calling. Yes: All thisi they know, but they refus? to act irs accordance with their convictions, because be-cause their aim. is to weaken, and i possible, destroy Catholicity. Let them remember, however, that the God who visited Antiochus and jj ! Herod Agrippa with the penalty of His j wrath, stifl watches His church. Happy . ! will it be for our modern reformers, i? the Almighty extends to them the mercy "which He accorded to Heliodo-i Heliodo-i rus, who was suourged by the tutelary ! angels cf the temple, but whose life ' wag spared at the intercession cf the i High Priest, that he might "declare I unto all men the great works and tho ! power of God." tu vero a Deo flagel- ; I latus nur.tia omnibus magna.ria Dei et potestatem. (II Machab Cap. Ill V CI.) (To bei continued.) i |