a clearance for them was necessary, that they might have air and sun. Had not Church and State been united, these dogmas would have grown in their places and served to enhance the perfection of that flower carpet of belief with which the Church mantles the earth. There is no schism in the meadow; the golden-cup, the daisy, the red-robbin, and the blue-bell flower side by side, and make a subtle splendour of colour. Why should daisy rage against golden-cup, and blue-bell insist on the eradication of red-robbin? The Inquisition on one side and the Protestant reformers on the other thought otherwise. The Papacy declared, We will tolerate beliefs only at a certain level, some shall be pushed out of sight, and others shall be flaunted in the glare of day, anathema to those who do not accept our decision and keep justification by faith in the background and give prominence to salvation by works. The Reformers declared, We will tolerate no more dogmas than three or four, said one; five or six, said another; anathema maranatha to those who hold other doctrines than those we authorize. So Alva butchers in cold blood all heretics who say three or four instead of ten or twelve, and William of Orange posts his soldiers beyond the cathedral doors of Haarlem to massacre the Catholics who have had the hardihood to keep the feast of Corpus Christi which is an abomination to Calvinists.

There would have been no Reformation.

For the constitutional character of the Church would have saved the Church from falling into these abuses which demanded reformation. When the free circulation of the blood is impeded, congestion and mortification result; so the disturbance of the relations of the members of the Church, and of the current vivifying all in one Life,

having been checked, corruptions were the necessary consequence.

A more striking lesson from the history of Christianity can hardly be drawn than that indicated by the lapse of missionary enterprise from the hands of a state-fettered hierarchy into those of monasticism. The spirit of independence which had energized the Church in her days of self-government was diverted at the dawn of the Middle Ages into another channel. Hitherto the hierarchy had been the power converting the world, but when it seated itself in golden fetters on the steps of the throne, it ceased to be a missionary agency, and Europe was converted by hermits and monks, men escaping from the slavery imposed on the priesthood and laity by a degenerate prelacy, that they might live together after the pattern of the primitive Church, obeying rules of their own adoption, and electing superiors to whom they might tender a free and cheerful obedience.

To gather up in few words the substance of this chapter. I have shewn that if Christ be the Ideal, He must be the ideal Society as well as the ideal Man.

That ideal Society is the Church. It must have all the characteristics of Christ, for it is one with Him.

Every member of the Society must participate more or less in the characteristics of Christ.

His characteristics are unity, sanctity, universality, apostolicity, and infallibility.

These are therefore characteristics of the Church, and more or less of each of its members, that is to say, they form the ideal each man is bound to endeavour to realize.

The Church is the communion of saints, or in other

words it is the union of all who exercise their functions in all times and places, bound into one by union with Christ.

The Church being a society must be organized.

Organization has for its object the assurance to every man of the recognition of his rights and liberties.

Therefore every man must participate in the appointment of the superiors of this organization.

Constitutional government is therefore of the essence of Church organization.

The state has interfered by violence with this liberty, and the result has been a demoralization of the Church, ending in rupture or indifference.

And I conclude, that till the union of Church and State is utterly annihilated, till, that is, moral authority and effective authority have been distinguished and dissevered, the Church can never meet the requirements of mankind nor fulfil her mission in the world.

As Christ individually suffered martyrdom by the princes of the world, so He, in His social capacity, has undergone His passion through the tyranny of the Crown exercised on His body, the Church; may be, that Passion will shortly be over, and even as there took place, according to the Gospel, a resurrection of the Personal Christ, so we shall witness a resurrection of Christ in His social character.

Far be it from me to assert that there is necessary opposition between the Church and the State. As long as the State confines the exercise of its authority to matters strictly within its sphere, and as long as the Church forbears from interference in political matters, there will be no clashing of interests. The office of the Church is to insist on the dogmatic basis of the rights of men,

Q

and on the consequent equality of those rights. The office of the State is to maintain those rights inviolate. Among the primordial rights of man is that of spiritual independence. If the State invade this right, antagonism springs up. If the Church persuades the State to use compulsion, that is, to violate a spiritual right-confusion is the consequence.

CHAPTER XIV

THE INCARNATION AND AUTHORITY

"Chose étrange, que nous avons donné la liberté à tout le monde, excepté à Dieu !”— M. DE LAMARTINE.

Moral and effective authority mutually destructive-A theocracy destructive of the dogma of free-will-The Papacy and its results-Subordination of temporal to spiritual authority-The separation of spiritual and temporal authorities-Temporal authority is justifiable when exercised in its own domain-but immoral when it invades religion— Spiritual authority can only devolve from God-Man cannot delegate it-because man cannot make another represent God to him-No moral obedience due to the temporal power when it invades spiritual rights— The representation of authority in the Church necessary-The priesthood necessary-Confusion of functions between priest, magistrate, and soldier ruinous to authority-Authority lodged in the whole Churchbut devolves from Christ-it is absolute and it is limited-Ecclesiastical authority must be confined to the declaration of religious truths—Infallibility resides in the whole body—Fallibility in negation-Are members of branch churches bound by negations ?-The duties of Catholics.

IF

F the reader will recur to chapter iv., he will see that a distinction has been laid down between moral and effective authority.

By moral authority is meant that authority which is persuasive, and to which obedience is morally due; whilst by effective authority is meant that authority which is of force, and to which obedience is only due out of compulsion.