66 PERILS. — KOMANISM. 



that politics is not possibly or incidentally hut ''insep- 

 arably,'' bound up with moraUty and rehgion. That is, 

 the connection between the two spheres is necessary, and 

 the Pope has "' full and supreme power " over politics as 

 one of the " things which belong to faith and morals;" 

 and he who denies this must rest under the " anathema 

 sit'' of the Vatican Council. ^ 



Said Vicar-General Preston, in a sermon preached 

 in New York, January 1, 1888, "Every word that Leo 

 speaks from his high chair is the voice of the Holy 

 Ghost and must be obeyed. To every Catholic heart 

 comes no thought but obedience. It is said that politics 

 is not within the province of the church, and that the 

 chiu-ch has only jurisdiction in matters of faith. You 

 say, 'I will receive my faith from the Pontiff, but 

 I will not receive my politics from him.' This 

 assertion is disloyal and untruthful. . . . You must 

 not think as j'ou choose; you must think as Catholics. 

 The man who says, ' I will take my faith from Peter, but 

 I will not take mj politics from Peter,' is not a true 

 Catholic. The Church teaches that the supreme Pon- 

 tiff must be obeyed, because he is the vicar of the 

 Lord. Christ speaks through him." The claims of 

 the Ultramontanes are quite logical. Christ is King of 

 kings and Lord of lords. His right to rule is absolute 

 and his authority unlimited. If, now, Christ has a vice- 

 gerent on earth, if there is a vicar of God among men, 

 his sovereignty is absolute, his authority unlimited. 

 The Roman Catholic must, as Leo XIII. says,"^ render 

 as ' ' perfect submission and obedience of will to the 

 Church and the Sovereign Pontiff, as to God himself. " 

 He who would divide the authority of the Pope, accept a 

 part and reject a part, is as poor a Romanist as he is 

 logician. If, then, as Vicar-General Preston says, such 

 a man "is not a true Catholic, " how can a "true Catho- 



1 See the First Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ, Chapter- 

 Ill. 



2 Jlie Pilot, Boston, February 15, 1890. 



