362 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ion (as it is called), or by other means, 

 constitutes a supremo law, independent 

 of all divine and human rights." It de- 

 nounces "the impudence" of those who 

 presume to subordinate the authority of 

 the Apostolic See " conferred upon it by 

 Christ our Lord, to the judgment of the 

 civil authority." In 1868, Pius IX. is- 

 sued a bull convoking an (Ecumenical 

 Council to meet at Rome, December 8, 



1869, and its sessions lasted till July, 



1870. The decrees of the Vatican 

 Council, carried by 451 out of 601 

 votes, asserted the infallibility of the 

 Eoman pontiff", and defined the rela- 

 tions of religion to science. Many opin- 

 ions were solemnly condemned, and 

 their holders anathematized. Among 

 others : 



" Let him be anathema 



" Who shall say that human sciences 

 ought to be pursued in such a spirit of 

 freedom that one may be allowed to hold 

 as true their assertions, even when op- 

 posed to revealed doctrine. 



" Who shall say that it may at any 

 time come to pass, in the progress of sci- 

 ence, that the doctrines set forth by the 

 Church must be taken in another sense 

 than that in which the Church has ever 

 received and yet receives them." 



The gauntlet was thus thrown down 

 by this august and powerful religious 

 body to science, independent inquiry, 

 and the whole spirit of modern civili- 

 zation. The old conflict was revived 

 with no narrowing of the issues. The 

 Archbishop of Westminster, Dr. Man- 

 ning, in his late inaugural address to 

 the Roman Catholic Academia, referred 

 to "the modern skepticism, free thought, 

 and so-called scientific teachings of the 

 day in relation to Catholic teaching; 

 and, for an illustration of the style of 

 thought, he would refer them to Prof. 

 Tyndall's address the other day at the 

 Belfast meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation." lie furthermore said : " With- 

 in the last twenty-four hours it had 

 been intimated to him that the Cath- 

 olic world was threatened with a con- 

 troversy on the whole of the decrees 



of the Vatican Council. From this 

 and other matters which had come to 

 his knowledge, he could see that they 

 were on the very eve of one of the 

 mightiest controversies the religious 

 world had ever seen. Certainly noth- 

 ing like the controversy on. which they 

 were about to enter had occurred dur- 

 ing the last three hundred years, and 

 they must be prepared. If they would 

 only prepare themselves, he did not 

 fear for the decrees of the Vatican 

 Council, or for the Vatican itself. But 

 they must have no half-hearted meas- 

 ures." The expected stroke came in 

 the shape of an able pamphlet from 

 Mr. Gladstone, in which he asked of 

 English Catholics what they are going 

 to do about the demands of the Vatican 

 Council in regard to their allegiance to 

 the pope in matters of civil authority. 

 The document of the English states- 

 man has been extensively diffused, has 

 made a profound sensation, and pre- 

 cipitated vehement discussion in all 

 quarters. 



But Mr. Gladstone has only touched 

 the surface of the subject. He takes a 

 politician's view of the influence and 

 tactics of the Church ; yet this is by 

 no means its most important aspect. 

 With the decline of the temporal pow- 

 er of Rome, spiritual control is sub- 

 stituted for secular control, and the 

 pressure taken off of the state is put 

 upon the individual. While Mr. Glad- 

 stone's imputation that Catholics are 

 lacking in loyal allegiance to govern- 

 ment is resented by the representa- 

 tives of the Church with indignation, 

 no question is raised as to the invin- 

 cible purpose of the Roman power to 

 resist the advance of free thought and 

 the progress of liberal opinions. And 

 this is immeasurably the most impor- 

 tant aspect of the subject. The right 

 of the pope to sit in judgment upon 

 the civil power may be still asserted 

 for consistency's sake ; but, his right to 

 coerce the individual conscience, to re- 

 press free investigation, to decide what 



