this truth, our Catholic forefathers in this country suffered persecution for 300 years; and the Nonconformists equally preferred the penalty of civil disabilities rather than acquiesce in the dependence of the Spiritual upon the Civil Authority.

2. The question now arises, In what does the Spiritual Power consist? In whom or in what is it embodied and made sensible to us? This is the question at the bottom of Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet; yet with the wonted dexterity of a practised debater he eludes, and even entirely conceals it from the public view.

The Spiritual Power in the world, to which all are called upon to submit, is undoubtedly that which is the appointed supreme Guardian and Interpreter of the moral and the Divine law of God. To this proposition all assent.

But who, or what, is that supreme Guardian and Interpreter? This, as we have said, is the real point at issue. Logically and theologically Mr. Gladstone was first of all bound to settle this. He has nominally addressed his pamphlet to Catholics, and has ignored this which is the first principle and basis of their life and conduct. He has assumed a premise which is neither proved nor granted, trusting to the sympathy of public prejudice. But all conclusions fall to pieces as worthless which are not drawn out of true and living premises.

There are four different theories which profess to answer this primary and fundamental question, "Who is the Supreme Guardian and Interpreter of the moral and Divine Law? Where is the Spiritual Power?"

(1). The first is the old pagan or modern Erastian,

which invests its guardianship and interpretation in the Civil Authority.

(2). The second is the theory put forward by the rationalist and semi-rationalist school, and it would seem to be also that of Mr. Gladstone; viz.: the private conscience and reason of each individual.

(3). The third is the old Protestant theory of the Divine Authority of the Bible without note or com

ment.

(4). The fourth is that of a Divine Teacher speaking with an audible and living voice, easily accessible to men, able to expound its meaning, and capable of dealing with the difficult spiritual problems which are bred of the multiform combinations of our perpetually shifting times and circumstances.

It is unnecessary for the moment to do more than mention the first of these theories as the pagan and German system, which having a prophet in London, is making a slow but steady growth in England.

Upon the second, Fetishism and the most monstrous idolatries are defensible; it may be pleaded as a justification of rebellion, communism, and of every theory that, springing from the fevered brain of man, has carried off conscience and reason to obey its behests. It is the plea put forward by every political assassin, and is the defence set up for every crime committed (in the name of religion) with cold and deliberate forethought.

As to the third, it may suffice to say that in principle it is indeed an appeal to an external authority and to a Divine Teacher, though in practice it is the doctrine of private judgment. Quot homines tot sententiæ.

The fourth theory is that which was held by Chris

tendom undividedly for fifteen centuries; which was professed in England for a thousand years, and is maintained to this day by 200,000,000, or one-fifth of the human race. It is a theory, therefore, entitled to respectful consideration. It cannot be elbowed out of court, as it lately has been, as though it had no right to be heard or even to be present. This theory is

easily stated, and may be put as follows.

III. A DIVINE TEACHER CLAIMS THE REASONABLE OF OUR MENTAL AND MORAL

SUBMISSION
NATURE.

I. This is our Catholic belief. Human reason and conscience, since the fall, have stood in constant need of a Spiritual Power which shall be a Divine Teacher. Human teachers have not sufficed: they are blind leaders of the blind. We refuse unconditional submission to any of them. The Catholic holds it a degradation and a crime to give over his reason or his conscience into the hands of any man. These, like the priceless treasure of a man's own consciousness, are sacred, inviolate, and inalienable. But if, on the one hand, he may not part with his conscience or reason, on the other, the experience of six thousand years, including the periods of civilization of the four great Empires of antiquity, has proved to demonstration the weakness, the blindness, and the folly of human reason and conscience in all that concerns the law of God, when cut adrift from the light and guidance of an Eternal and Divine Teacher. The hopeless wreck at this moment of at least three-fourths of the human family

beyond the pale of Christendom, sunk in every kind of abominable vice and error, and the chaotic confusion of a hundred sects within its pale, are evidence to every thoughtful and dispassionate mind of the absolute necessity of a Divine Teacher.

As a matter of fact, God never did from the beginning of the world abandon the human race to the guidance and care of reason without the external aid of a Divine Authority. The Divine Teacher was in the world from Adam through the Patriarchs to Moses, and from Moses through Priests and Prophets to the time of Christ.

It is a doctrine of our Faith that reason and conscience, aided by grace, will lead a man, if faithful to both, to see the necessity of a Divine Teacher. Having arrived at this, they will lead him further: they will convince him that the Divine Teacher can be no other than the Catholic Church.

If Mr. Gladstone's study and reading, if Mr. Gladstone's reason and conscience have not led him to this conclusion; if no inkling of this truth has ever dawned upon his soul, and if he has not fatally dallied with the calls of grace, then must he, and all who are like him, be reputed free from the blame of error and from the formal sin of misbelief. We, as Catholics, are far from condemning all men who differ from ourselves, though we may know them to be misguided; we shall all be judged before a just tribunal; we leave the judgment to Almighty God.

But what we deny with all the energy of our soul is this, that either Mr. Gladstone or any man, who respects the sanctity of conscience and the light of rea

son, can consistently charge with the "forfeiture of mental and moral freedom" those who, having found a Divine Teacher, have become His faithful and devoted children.

When the fisherman of Galilee in the joy of his heart cried out, "We have found the Messias " (Fo. i. 41), he called to his brethren, "Come and see." He began to form his reason and conscience upon the life and teaching of his new Master. Who will reproach him with having abandoned his mental and moral freedom, or with having jeopardised his civil allegiance? It matters little, brethren, whether it be a Jew or a Gentile, a fisherman or a politician; when once he has found the Divine Teacher he must become His faithful disciple. The light of truth is the freedom of reason and conscience and the office of the Divine Teacher is to teach us truth of the moral and supernatural order. Whoever asserts that to follow such a One is to “forfeit mental and moral freedom" is a blasphemer, and the truth is not in him. But it will be urged, in reply, that the writer of the pamphlet nowhere affirms that to submit to a Divine Teacher is to forfeit mental and moral freedom: his charge is, that submission to the Catholic Church involves that forfeiture. In other words, as we have said, he has assumed (1) that the Catholic Church is not a Divine Teacher, and (2) that there exists no living Divine Teacher of the law of God in the world.

IV. OUR DIVINE LORD'S PRINCIPLE AND PLAN
OF TEACHING.

1. Note well the plan of our Lord's teaching; see