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Show I THE fkfki SYLL5 1 : : With a Refutation of the Errors Which It Condemns : .4 Translated from the Italian of L'Falconi. Errors Regarding the Church and Her Rights. The Church is not a true and perfect society, nor does she possess pos-sess any proper or permanent rights of her own, conferred upon her by her Divine Founder; but it appertains to the civil power to define the rights of the Church and the limits within which they may be exercised. Refutation. Immediately before the ascension of Our Lord into heaven, He addressed these words to His Apostles: "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth; going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. He that believ-eth believ-eth and is baptized shall be saved; bat he that believeth not shall be condemned." con-demned." He bade His Apostles to be of good cheer and fear nothing, as He would be always with them: "Behold, I am with you all days even unto the consummation of the world." Christ Himself established the form of His Church, constituting Peter her chief pastor, and entrusting to him her guiu-' ance and government. "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church. I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatsoever what-soever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever whatso-ever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven. Feed my lambs, ieeci my sheep, confirm thy brethren. It is evident from what precedes that Christ founded a perfect, that is, a self-sufficing society, composed of ministers, min-isters, who are charged with the duty of putting its divinely constituted authority au-thority into execution, and of subjects, who are united to its Supreme Ruler by means of the inferior grades of the hierarchy. Its laws and institutions, determined and sanctioned by its Divine Di-vine Founder, are; directed to the attainment at-tainment of the end for which it was instituted, that is, the eternal salvation salva-tion of men. In establishing this su-ciety, su-ciety, Christ did not represent Himself as having been authorized either by the synagogue or by the emperor; on the contrary. He declared explicitly to His Apostles that He had received His commission from His Father, who had given Him all power in heaven and on earth; and He ordained that this new society should be independent of all authority save His own. Henc : He made ample provision for its protection pro-tection and preservation and furnished it with the means necessary to the attainment of its end. The Church is, therefore, a true and perfect society, entirely free and independent, in-dependent, and invested by her Divine Founder with clear and well defined rights rights which she will not cease I to assert and maintain until the end of time. In the very first moments of her existence exist-ence the Church began to exercise her authority in complete independence and in utter disregard of the then existing ex-isting powers; in the Council of Jerusalem Jeru-salem she made disciplinary enactments enact-ments regarding the manner of per- i forming certain ceremonies, and promulgated pro-mulgated laws, which were obeyed by all the faithful. St. Paul hurled anathemas anath-emas against those who sought to disturb dis-turb the peace of the Church, and he instructed Timothy and Titus in the duties of a Bishop, prescribing the exact ex-act manner in which they should govern gov-ern the Hocks entrusted to their charge. The civil authorities should not, therefore, unoor any circumstances meddle in ecclesiastical affairs; much less should they assume to determine and define the extension or the restriction restric-tion of the Church's rights. Christ did not invest the powers of this world with any supervisory jurisdiction over His Church. Woe to them who intrude within her sanctuary! Twentieth Error. "The ecclesiastical power must not exercise its authority without the permission and assent of the civil government." Refutation. The reasoning employed in the refutation of the foregoing proposition prop-osition applies with equal force against the error which affirms that the Church should not exercise her authority in opposition to the will of the civil power. "Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth," said Christ to the chief of the Apostles, "shall be bound also in heaven." He did not make the exercise of the authority thus imparted conditional condi-tional upon the pleasure of earthly governments. And when Peter was summoned before the Sanhedrim and asked why he did not observe the Jewish Jew-ish law, he boldly answered: "If it be just in the sight of God, to hear you rather than God, judge ye." From non-Catholic governments the j Church may suffer persecution, and j thus verify the words of the Savior: I "You shall be brought before gov-! gov-! ernors, and before kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the j Church;" but the Church, undaunted j by persecution, will continue to fulfill her mission and prefer to serve God rather than man. Catholic monarchs, far from presuming pre-suming to instruct the Church in her duties, should reverently submit to her guidance; if they interfere in the administration ad-ministration of her affairs and trample tinon her rights, thev are guilty of re bellion and will inevitably bring God's wrath down upon themselves and upon their subjects. If the governments against which the Church has to contend are con-rtolled con-rtolled by men who are infidels at heart, but who assume the mask of Catholicity in order the better to succeed suc-ceed in their Satanic design of overthrowing over-throwing the Kingdom of Christ upon earth, we know that they are but dash-, ing themselves to pieces against the rock, which they are endeavoring to batter to the ground. The history of the Church is a record of continuous victory; she has met and conquered foes far more formidable than those by whom she is now assailed, and after eighteen centuries of! unceasing strife, she can say with her Divine Founder: Ego vici mundum. (To Be Continued.) |