PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



641 



asacrobantur, jam non pro diviuis habori, imo mythi- 

 Hinuntu aooenseri cajperunt. 



Tain nata cst ct Into minis per orhom vagata ilia 

 .ilistiii sou naturalismi uoctrina, quoe religion! 

 rhristiamu utpoto supernatural! institute per omnia 

 ailvi-rsans, HUUIHIO studio molitur, ut Christo, qui 

 solus Dominus ot Sulvator nosier cst, a mcntibus 

 IniiiKinia, a vita ct inoribua populoruia excluao, im-ni- 

 quod vacant rationia vel natural rcgnum atabiliatur. 

 Rolicta autom projectaque Christiana religione, negato 

 vero Doo et Christo ejus, prolapsa tandein est imilto- 

 ruiu metis in pantheism!, nuiU-rialisini, uthoiami 

 barathrum, ut jam ipsam rationulcm naturam om- 

 neinquo justi roctique nonnam negautes, him humano) 

 socieUtis fuudamenta diruero counituutur. 



Ilroo porro impietato circumquaque grassante, in- 

 fi-liciter, contigit, ut plurea etiam ot catnolicaj Eecle- 

 siao liliis et via veriB pietatia aborrarent, in iisquo 

 diminutis palatim veritatibua sensua catholicua at- 

 tenuaretur. Variis enira ao peregrinua doctrinis 

 abducti, naturam et grutiaru, acientiam humanam et 

 lulriu divinam perperam commiscentes, genuinum 

 sensum dogmatum, quern tenet ac docet S. M. Ecclo- 

 Bia depravare, integritatemque et einccritatem fldei 

 in periculuin adducere comperiuntur. 



Quibus omnibus perapectis, fieri qui potest ut non 

 coinmoveantur intima Eccleaiae viscera? Quemad- 

 modum enira Deua vult omnea homines salvoa fieri, 

 ct ad agnitionom veritatia venire ; qucmadmodum 

 Christus venit, ut salvura faceret, quod perierat, et 

 filios Dei, qui erant dispersi, congregaret in unum ; 

 ita Eccleaia, a Deo populoram mater et magistra 

 constituta, omnibua debitricem ae novit, ac lapaoa 

 erigere, labantcs sustinere, reverentea amplecti, con- 

 firmare bonos et ad meliora provehere parata semper 

 et intenta est. Quapropter uullo tempore a Dei veri- 

 tate, qusa aanat omnia, testanda et praedicanda quies- 

 cere poteat, sibi dictum esae non ignorana : Spiritus 

 meua qui est in te, et verba mea, qute posui in ore 

 tuo, non recedent do ore tuo amodo et uaque in sem- 

 piternum.* 



Nos itaque, inhaerentes Prasdeccssorum Noatrorum 

 veatigiia, pro supremo Nostro Apoatolico muncro 

 veritatem catholicam docere ac tueri, perversasque 

 doctrinas reprobare numquam intermisannua. Nuno 

 autem aedentibna Nobiacum et judicantibua universi 

 orbis Epiacopiaj in hanc oecumenicam Synodum auc- 

 toritate Noatra m Spiritu Sanctu congregatis, innixi 

 Dei verbo acripto et tradito, prout ab ecclesia catho- 

 lica sancte custoditum et genuine expositum accepi- 

 mus, ex hao Petri Cathedra in conspectu omnium 

 aalutarem Chriati doctrinam proflten et declarare 

 oonatituimua, advcrsia, erroribua poteatate nobis a 

 Deo tradita proscriptis atque damnatis. 



CAPUT I. 



DE DBO BEBUM OM.YIUM CBEATOKE. 



Sancta Catholica Apostolica Eomana Ecclosia cre- 

 dit et confitotur, unum esae Dcum verum ct vivum, 

 Creatorem ac Dominum coeli et terrse. omnipotcntem, 

 teternum, immenaum, incomprehenaiDilem, intcllcctu 

 ac voluntate omnique porfectione infinitum ; qui cum 

 ait una singularia, aimplex omnino et incommutabilia 

 substantia spiritualis, praodicandus, eat re et essentia 

 a mundo distinctua, in ae et ex so beatiasimus, et su- 



the minds of not a few. And BO, the ftacred Script- 

 ures themselves, which they had at firt held up aa 

 the only source and judge of Christian doctrine, were 

 no longer held as divine, but, on the contrary, began 

 to be counted among myths and t'ul>l.-. 



Then arose and spread too widely through the 

 world that doctrine of rationalUm or naturalism, 

 which, attacking Chrihtianity at every point aa being 

 a supernatural institution, labors with ull its might 

 to exclude Christ, who la our only Lord and Saviour, 

 from the minda of men and from the life and the 

 morala of nations ; and so to establish, instead, the 

 reign of mere reason, aa they call it, or of Nature. 

 And thuSj having forsaken and cost away the Chria- 

 tian religion, having denied the true God and His 

 Christ, the minda ot many have at last fullen into the 

 al>yss of pantheism, materialism^ and atheism ; so 

 that now, repudiating the reasoning nature of man, 

 and every rule of right and wrong, they are laboring 

 to overthrow the very foundations of human society. 



Moreover, as thia impious doctrine ia apreading 

 everywhere, it has unfortunately comu to pass that 

 not a few even of the children of the Catholic Church 

 have wandered from the way of true piety : and, as 

 the truth gradually decayed m their minds, the Cath- 

 olic sentiment grew fainter in them. For, being led 

 away by various and strange doctrines, and wrongly 

 conlounding nature and grace, human science and 

 divine faith, they have perverted the true senae of 

 the doctrinea which our holy mother the Church holds 

 and teaches, and have endangered the integrity and 

 the purity of faith. 



Now, looking at all these tilings, how can the 

 Church fail to be moved in her innermost heart? For 

 inasmuch as God wills all men to be saved and to 

 come to the knowledge of the truth, inasmuch as 

 Christ came to save that which was lost, and to 

 gather together in one the children of God that were 

 dispersed ; so the Church, established by God as tho 

 mother and mistress of nations, feela that she is 

 a debtor unto all, and is ever ready and earnest to 

 raise up the fallen, to strengthen the weak, to take to 

 her bosom thoae that return, and to confirm the good, 

 and carry them on to better things. Wherefore, at 

 no time can she abstain from bearing witness to and 

 preaching the all-healing truth of Godj knowing 

 that it has been said to her: " My spirit that is in 

 thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, 

 shall not depart out of thy mouth, from henceforth 

 and forever." * . 



Wherefore, following in the footsteps of our pred- 

 ecessors, and in fulfilment of our supreme apos- 

 tolic dutv, we have never omitted to teach and to 

 protect tne Catholic truth, and to reprove perverse 

 teachings. And now. the bishops of the whole world 

 being gathered together in this oaoumenical council 

 by our authority : and in the Holy Ghost, and sittina 

 therein and judging with ua, we, guided by the ward 

 of God, botn written and handed down by tradition, 

 as we have received it, sacredly preserved and truly 

 set forth by the Catholic Church, have determined 

 to profess and declare from this chair of P'efcer, and 

 in the sight of all, the saving doctrine of Christ and 

 in the power given to us from God to proscribe and 

 condemn the opposing errors. 



CHAPTER L 



OF GOD THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS. 



The holy, Catholic. Apostolic, Roman Church be- 

 lieves and confesses that there is one true and living 

 God, Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, almighty, 

 eternal, immense, incomprehensible, infinite in un- 

 derstanding and -arill, and in all perfection ; who, 

 being a spiritual substance, one, single, absolutely 

 simple and unchangeable, must be held to be, in 

 reality and in essence, distinct from the world, in 



* Isa. Hx. 31. 



VOL. x. 11 



* Isa. llx. 21. 



