the State they are hampered, in spite of the assurances of government, by its usurpation of ecclesiastical power. Neither can it consist in a kindly acknowledgment of the power of the Church by the secular ruler and government in purely spiritual matters alone, which in fact can be no more controlled than thought, thus leaving her at best the invisible world as her field for action. But in truth liberty of conscience, which Protestants may understand to mean simply the legal interpretation of the phrase, consists for a Catholic in the enjoyment by the Church, and by himself within her, of that liberty of development which is her due from her divine foundation and from the canonical decrees, that is to say, that freedom which we (Bavarians) have one and all sworn to maintain to her." The old contest is not yet come to an end, but is ever reappearing under new conditions. The Church will content herself with what is indispensably and absolutely necessary; but her freedom is to her above all earthly goods; for it she will ever strive and do battle, and in this cause she will see gather round her Catholic nations in whom the spirit of freedom is still living and strong, who are not deceived by hollow phrases, who strive after the thing and not the name. 'The Church of God,' wrote St. Bernard on one occasion to the German King Conrad III., 'has from the beginning been often oppressed and often set free. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, nor become powerless to save her. He will, without doubt, once again set free His Bride, whom He has redeemed with His blood, endowed with His Spirit, adorned with heavenly gifts, and moreover enriched with earthly gifts. He will set her free, I repeat He will set her free; but if it is done by means of another hand, let the princes of the empire consider that this will be neither to the honour of the king nor to the benefit of the empire.' By § 1 of the last appendix but one of the constitution.' Concordat und Constitutionseid der Katholiken in Bayern, p. viii. seq. 2 Bern. Ep. 244, c. ii. p. 441 seq. § 23. The Catholic Church may perish, not indeed throughout the whole earth but in individual lands, as happened in North Africa and in the East; the Kingdom of God may be taken from certain nations and bestowed upon others more worthy of it; but the Catholics of Germany have not as yet proved themselves an unworthy people; they are not yet enervated as were those nations; they may still hope for a better future. They feel and acknowledge that they are living in times of trial, that a gigantic war has been kindled against them, in which individuals may perish, suffer loss of earthly goods, and endure many sorts of martyrdom, but in which the Church, built upon the divine promise, can never be overcome. They do not conceal from themselves that, humanly speaking, they might almost envy the Roumanian Jews, upon whom so much tender care is bestowed by the great of this world and by diplomatists; but they know also that their firm trust is in a Divine Providence which will turn to good the very attempts of their enemies. What is now going on will not fail to have an influence and produce an impression upon our contemporaries, in whom faith is weak, and upon the noble-minded among non-Catholics. Many will admire the concord, the joyful self-devotion, and the constancy of their Catholic brethren, and when times are hardest they will see them uniting fidelity to God with fidelity to the king in the old Christian sense, maintaining openly and courageously the eternal and unchanging principles of justice and the holiest interests of mankind, but never bending the knee before the great Bel or Baal of the heathen. Such conduct will do more for the future union of Christendom than all the efforts for union based on Febronian and Jansenistic principles. $ 24. In that land in which the Catholic Church ceases to exist, the Christian State in these days ceases to exist also. If the Church is uprooted, all Christianity falls with her; for in her alone Christianity remains firm and undivided, a divine institution standing forth real and visible before the world. But let not those who destroy the Christian State think that with it they will destroy the Catholic Church. She will outlive their VOL. II. EE efforts, their sophistries, and their falsehoods; and as once, when the civilisation of the ancient world was swept away by the barbarians, she gave a new life to Europe, so again, when Liberalism and Socialism, the unwelcome and disowned but most true son and heir of Liberalism, have done their evil work, she will awaken once more to life the Christian State, and bring back society from the Paganism to which it has sunk to the religion of the Cross. Then no longer will it be thought the highest wisdom to look on the State as a mere work of man resting on physical force alone, and to shut out religion as an hostile influence, till it be needed in some political extremity. Then at last the Catholic Church, so long despised, gainsaid, calumniated, while she has no cause to blush for the past, will be triumphantly justified in the present, and in the future a glorious field will be thrown open to her, when in her and through her the world is once more subdued by her Head and Defender as King of kings and Lord of lords. The Christian State, like other States, has only an earthly existence, and has no divine promise and pledge of endurance. But the Catholic Church, the work of God Incarnate, has a supernatural life, the fulness of the promises, and the most secure pledge of endurance even till the end of the world, when the state of struggle and pilgrimage shall be changed into the state of glory and triumph. And all that she knows and believes and hopes she can sum up in the words of her Spouse, who has said: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.' INDEX. ABBOTS at Councils, i. 151. Jam dudum cernimus, March 18, Maxima quidem, June 9, 1862, i. Multis gravibusque, Dec. 17, 1860, Nunquam fore, Dec. 15, 1856, i. 203, 229; ii. 348. Alphonsus the Wise of Castile and Alphonsus V. of Portugal, ii. 154. American Indians and the Holy See, Anagni, outrage at, upon Boniface Anathema, use of the word, i. 305; íi. Antonelli, Cardinal, his letter with 14; on the potestas indirecta, ii. Appeal from a Pope to a General Apulia and Calabria, fiefs of the Holy Aquaviva, Cardinal, ii. 76. Aristotle on government, ii. 248, Artemonites, i. 130. Aurelian, Emperor, and heretics, i. Avignon, how acquired by the Holy BARONIUS, Cardinal, on the misdeeds Bartholomew, St., massacre of, ii. 377- Basil, St., on episcopal authority, i. Bavaria, cession by the Pope of the right of direct nomination to bishop- Benedict VIII., i. 267-378, 379, Benedict XI., ii. 134. Benedict XII. on the distinction be- Benedict XIII., antipope (Peter de Bernard, St., on Papal Infallibility, i. Boniface VIII. on clerical immunities, i. 38; with regard to Philip the Bossuet on the infallibility of the Ad Apostolicae, Aug. 22, 1851, i. Eximiam tuam, June 15, 1857, i. Multiplices inter, June 10, 1851, i. Pastorale officium, May 23, 1537, ii. Veritas ipsa, June 2, 1537, ii. Brief of Pius IX., June 19, 1871, i. Buckle on the Inquisition in Spain, ii. Bulgaria protected by the Holy See, Ab immensa aeterni Regis, Sixtus Apostolicae Sedis moderationi, Pius Apostolicum pascendi munus, Cle- Ausculta fili carissime, Boniface Clericis laicos, published by Boni- |