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Show ! TO SUPPRESS HERESY, 10 DETHRONE ERROR, j 7 fie Church Rejects Violence, And Pronounces j Sinful the Act of Embracing Truth j Against Conscience. (Writion for Intormountain Catholic.) Viewing society down through the apes, either f ". .in a religions or civil standpoint, the verdict of (i-tory is that the reign of peace -which Christ in-MiiMiratcil in-MiiMiratcil and strove to estahlish still remains an i.ii-nlved problem, and that might, not right, still M- sway. "Peace conferences,"' founded on hri.-iian principles, are unable to prevent war?, or ...n-c the disarmament of nations. The police. j sh-riffs, militia and army arc as essential for civil "vcrninent 1oday as iliey were in any period of pa-t liisiory. To preserve and perpeluate the reign !' Cesar and safeguard society by 1 lie enforcement (' the lav. there must he officers and detectives. Not to ihc civil, hut to the religious aspect of the case, does i he writer wish to direct attention. Religions liberty is opposed to intolerance or vhat is misnamed religious persecution. The idea !' religion excludes persecution. Keligion, though true, could not he enforced on persons who honestly and sincerely doubt or disbelieve its tenets. Xay, ven to embrace it would be sinful. Abstracting from tlx fact ihat persecutions have, through' mis- giud"d zeal or provocation, taken place, the broad hri-tian principle of freedom of conscience or vhat is for the individual a certain conscience, must din -I t his religions actions, and interference with his liberty in following what conscience dictates, would be a violation of man's inherent right. This v,i' the order established by Christ, for when his .-.-nestles proposed to him to call down from Heaven ine to consume his persecutors, did he not say to ih in that they "know not what manner of spirit ihev were." Faith mus1 he freely accepted. This free acceptation ac-ceptation excludes all force or violence. To "con-hiei "con-hiei our again-tjiis will is to leave him with the same opinion still.' Rapt ism.' though necessary for salvan'on. mut he voluntarily accepted before conferred. con-ferred. An adult, without religious conviction or any belief in Christianity, could not be baptized, according ac-cording to the rules of the Calholic Church. iiarh inange violated Catholic usage and Christen Christ-en principles when he offered to the conquered S.:..;is liberty if they consented to be baptized or : shivery if they chose otherwise. The church undoubtedly un-doubtedly claims the right to decide authoritatively vhat i of faith, and that (1) on the ground that 'ea-oii demands it, the claim being analagous to 'hat of ihe secular power, which requires a su-mi su-mi nie court lo interpret the law, and (2) because hat was ihe order established by Christ, who said: that will not hear the church let him be to thee a h ai hen and a publican." ; lint the church could not and never has invoked the Menhir arm of the. government to enforce obedience to her teaching through physical pain, v er ..ther penalties. "Her kingdom is not of this F v.. rid." and to adopt the ways of the world in c.n-"'"'ing c.n-"'"'ing obedience to her teaching would mean the n it of anti-Christ. What individuals, who were liohtenced by the opinions of their age, may have 'i 'lie in ihe past, does not or cannot affect Catholic Cath-olic teaching on this point. Founded on our Lord, ' church's origin is divine, her life is divine. She ha- a human life, too. These two elements divine :ind human which constitute her real life or cx-:-"'!ioe, must be taken into consideration by the ': h- of -,;,.i history. 'I he divine life of ihe church is confined to her' p iMallihl" teaching in faith and morals. In vhat t a-iies ;is dogma she is responsible. All her ' a hiro from thefirst article of -the creed "1 ii' ve in ;.." to the last, "aud life everlasting," '- public property and may be judged n its merits. 'ho human element, made up of her members, :;r" ' i human frailties, the sentiments of the ' 1 t"r,,it ayes with which her history is interwoven '! i'ic vicissitudes of the times, must be judged ' rd iiicdy. .lust as we judge the present ntti-' ntti-' of our government, not by the sentiments h prevailed for the first .hundred years of its ' nee, but with those which have prevailed for ' hi-l quarter of a century. ' ' - "Ihe times are changed and we are changed v a them." wrote Horace. The changes in the :oan side ot the church are a matter of civiliza-prepress civiliza-prepress and development, and in no way af-:' af-:' ' the divine element. She changes her disei-' disei-' to suit the exigencies of the time, but all know ' 'ii-cipline does not constitute a part of the in-.. in-.. .!; leaching. Ihii this by way of explanation. To preserve 1 unity of faith, and save the church from error. - ' iwd only spiritual weapons by appealing to : ' iradition and the Bible. If she found that r appeals did not touch the heart or affett con--C " -nee, then her spiritual labors eeasMt. Her ' hn is nnd always has been, EYFKYTH J X(i af-'' af-'' i' kind. What individual in collusion with the jocular inwer may have done by sanctioning phy- - punishment, they did in violation of Catholic '"'liing and tradition, for the church, under the A cihhni'-e of the Holy Ghost, or considered under 'he divine element of her two-fold life, h-is never, a single instance, sanctioned physical pain. Xor yould she do so, for like her divine Founder, she has only at her command spiritual weapons that' 'M'peal to reason and conscience, and will, if successful, suc-cessful, produce moral conviction. Hence the church, when properly understood find confined to her divine element, is a sure guarantee for the individual and society of religious reli-gious liberly. In her long history ihere will not be found any doctrinal teaching or Catholic principle which made it incumbent on the secular power to eome to her aid to suppress heresy or schism, or use violence in dethroning error and establishing truth., We are' well aware of the instances 'which are . brought forward, and to these we shall direct attention at-tention in the future. F J3. ;, i; f yi , - - ;. ; - r i v f , - . J; I III V, I ' i; !' 1,1 - ' - ! ' l 'i'' ' : a - J" : K jrY . l.IBS. STOESSEL. ' I; Through all the long months of the siege of Tort Arthur, lime. Stoessel, wife of the Russian commander, com-mander, has been the mainstay of her husband, and has instilled new courage into the heart of every soldier. Her unfaltering devotion to the cause of her country has been constantly in evidence from the begintmnrof lhtrinTe lras-shegiven' a-thoUt' to abandoning the fortress, wishing to be the companion of her husband in all his perils. Almost since the first shot was fired Mine. Stoessel has been in charge of the ambulance service. On August 3 she was wounded in the shoulder by a shell, the disaster creating universal sorrow among the soldiers, but five days later she quitted the hospital and made a round of the forts to reassure the men. It is said that her reappearance re-appearance caused the greatest emotion among the soldiers, some of whom knelt in the dust and kissed the hem of her gown, as if she were a saint. |