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Show Is "Tnfallibilit f Opposed I to Liberty of thought? (By Kcv. Bertrand L. Conway, Pauiist.) Is not your doctrine of Infallibility opposed to liberty of thought? Is not a Catholic hampered in hist sear(-b.i after truth by his blind, degrading obedience to fhc.laims ; of an infallible Church? ; . The doctrine of infallibility is opposed to the false liberty of thinking error, but not to the true liberty of thinking the truth. This objection is based on the false notion that unrestricted liberty of thought is a good thing, and that every man ha.-, a right to do what is evil. Christ plainly tells us that error and sin imply not the liberty but the slavery of the intellect and will. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John viii, 32); "Whosoever committcth sin is the servant of sin" . (ibid. 34). - 1 . . ' Universal liberty of thought is impossible, for every principle and fact of reason or revelation that we acquire must necessarily restrict hur liberty of thinking the opposite. Once we clearly grasp any truth, we are bound by the law of our reason to accept it. No intelligent man today would consider con-sider himself free to deny the fact; of wireless ! telegraphy, tel-egraphy, the existence of bacteria, p.r.X'-rays,;' the phenomena of hypnotism, or the' earth? nmVement around the' sun. :No man of sense,' even' if he had never traveled beyond his own little village, would ) question the testimony of others regarding the existence of London, Pekin or Calcutta. Speculation Specula-tion is useless, and opinions? are absurd, when we are face to face with undoubted facts. A man full of prejudice, ignorance and error may think himself him-self free to believe many calumnies against the Catholic Church. He may believe that Catholics adore the saints and worship their images; sell indulgences, in-dulgences, pay money for confession, ami the like, lie may believe that they teach thai the end jnsti-n'es jnsti-n'es the. means, that it is lawful to lie to heretic, that the Pope can do no wrong. But surely be is not to be congratulated for thi freedom of believing believ-ing what is not so. Such liberty of thought is not a blessing, but a curse, to be done away with as soon as possible by a knowledge of the ruth. We can readily see bow non-Catholics, whose, religion disclaims infallibility and rests on the shifting sands of private judgment, should quarrel with any certain teaching in religion. They cannot agree among themselve- aboiir the most fundamental funda-mental doctrines of Christianity, and their belief, resting on mere opinion. logically is uncertain, hesitating and questioning. The result with those who carry matters' to their logical conclusion is scepticism, indifference ami unbeliet. The Catholic, however, believing in a Church authority which, like Chri-f. is divine and infallible, infal-lible, speaking in Hi- name and with Hi- authority, gladly welcome the revelaton of God she voice, with a certain, unhesitating assent. The Church' to him is Chrit speaking: "lie that heareth you heareth me" (Luke x. Pi), and, therefore, be know she cannot deceive nor be deceived. A Catholic, therefore, would no more one-lion the doctrine o! auricular confession. traTisubstantiation. the Trinity, Trin-ity, denial ptinidunenf. than a mathematician would the fact that two sides of a triangle are greater than the third. The submission of the Catholic to the Church is not "a blind, degrading obedience" to a mere human authority, but the assent of faith to a divine authority, which he can prove proclaims to tho world all the teachings of the Savior. He knows by reason that God hath spoken: be believe by faith all that God has said, because lie is the Infinite In-finite Truth. "If we receive the testimonyof men, the testimony of God is greater" (I. John v. JD. The Catholic is not hampered in his search for truth any more than the scientist is hampered Inane In-ane ascertained principle or fact of science. Indeed, In-deed, the certainty of revealed truth. gives him a greater confidence and freedom in the pursuit of new truths. Many things are left open to speculation, specula-tion, outside the domain of defined dogma. ..With an infallible guide, he calmly views the progress. of science, carefully distinguishing opinion from principle, prin-ciple, hypothesis from fact, and does not change his doctrines to meet the shifting views of 'lin-proven 'lin-proven scientific theories. Infallibility, therefore, is the corrective of ignorance ig-norance and error, and the foe to uncertainty about the dogmas revealed by God. As Cardinal Newman wrote: "It is a supply for a need, and it does not go beyond the need. Its object is, and its effect also, not to enfeeble Ibe freedom or vigor of human thought, but 1o resist and control its extravagance" ('"Apologia." p. 25o, Longmans, Green Co.. bs07). And the Protestant writer Mallock: ''It (the doctrine of infallibility) is not a fetter only; it is a support also; and'lbose who cling to it can venture ven-ture fearlessly, as explorers, into currents of speculation specu-lation that would sweep away, altogether men who did but trust to their own powers of swimming" ("Is Life Worth Living?"' cli. xii. p. . Is not your Church a spiritual despotism in which men must surrender thpir private judgment in religion re-ligion to men like themselves? i If the Church were a mere human authority that undertook tu-givo its .own views of Christ's teaching, like Luther, Calvin. Wesley. Fox, Soci-nu's, Soci-nu's, 'Mrs. Eddy, Dowie, a rational thinker might indeed call it a spiritual despotism when it attempted at-tempted in the slightest degree to command iii matters of faith or morals. But the Catholic Church is a divine teacher, commissioned by. the Almighty Son of God to teacn all nations till the end of time in His name and with His authority, and guaranteed as "the pillar and ground of the truth" by. His abiding presence ami the Holy Spirit's (Matt, xxviii, 18-20; Mark xvi., 15-10; John xiv., 16; xvi., l-'J; Luke x.. 10; L Tim. iii., 15, etc.) There can, therefore, be no question of any intellectual or moral slavery for a man to submit to her authority, which is God's. "IIo that heareth you heareth me" (Luke x., 16). 'Tt is not the Church that established spiritual despotism; it is she who saves us from it. Spiritual despotism is that which subjects us. in spiritual matters, to a human authority, whether our own or that of others for our own is as human as another'sand an-other'sand the. only redemption from it is having in spiritual matters a divine authority. Protestants themselves acknowledge this when they call out for the pure word of God. The Church teaches by divine authority; in submitting to her we submit to 'God, and are freed from all human authority.. She reaches infallibly; therefore, in believing what she teaches, we believe the truth, which frees us from' falsehood and error, to which all men without with-out an infallible jjuide are subject, and submission to which is the elemental principle of all. spiritual despotism. Her authority admitted excludes all other authority, and therefore frees us from heresiarehs and sects, the very embodiment of spiritual spir-itual despotism in its most odious form" (O. A. Brownson's Works, vol. x., p. 12S). Indeed, what i the -fundamental reason today of the downward trend of Protestantism toward 'infidelity? Is it not the fact that intelligent men are beginning more and more to realize the slavery of being subject to a sect's human and fallible version ver-sion of Christianity j How many Protestants today, to-day, for example, hold to the original doctrine of Luther or of Calvin '. Very many deny the essen-lial essen-lial dogmas Christ taught, viz.: the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, eternal punishment, and the like. A pretty conclusive argument this that. either there is in the world today a teacher divine, infallible, in-fallible, and authoritative even as Christ, namely, the Catholic Church. r no man living can be certain cer-tain that he. possesses the complete gospel the Savior taught. |