LECTURE I. "Let every soul be subject to higher powers: for there is no power but from God; and those that are, are ordained of God. Therefore, he that resisteth the power, resisted the ordinance of God. And they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation."-ROMANS Xiii. 1, 2. THESE words of the Apostle lay down a broad principle, which covers the constituted order of the whole world. There is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God. I shall not, however, offer proof of this principle; for it is enough that we read it in Holy Writ. The Apostle applies this principle to a heathen empire, to a heathen prince, and to a Christian people; he commands the Christians of Rome to be subject to a heathen empire. I intend to speak on the subject of the temporal power of the Holy Father, the Vicar of Jesus Christ. And in so doing, I shall take my point of departure from this great principle, which the Holy Ghost by the Apostle has declared to the world, and has applied, as you have seen, to the case of a Christian people, and a heathen emperor. I do not intend to enter into any subtleties of theology, nor into the remote and complex legislation of the Church, nor into any large details of history. These three sources would, indeed, B give me abundance of matter; but they would give more than I need; for I mean to treat this subject as simply and as practically as I can, to present it as far as is necessary to the intelligence, but chiefly to the conscience. I shall, therefore, confine myself strictly to three propositions, and to three consequences which follow from them. The first proposition is this: that the temporal power of the Pope is ordained of God. The second: that the temporal power of the Pope has been the root, and the productive and sustaining principle of Christian Europe. And, thirdly: that the dissolution of the temporal power of the Pope would bring with it the dissolution of Christian Europe. And from these three propositions I shall draw three plain conclusions. The first is this: that he who resists the temporal power of the Pope, resists the ordinance of God. Secondly that he who lends a hand or a tongue to the dissolution of that power, helps, so far as his hand or his tongue can, to the dissolution of Christian Europe. And thirdly: that he that does so will purchase judgment to himself. Which propositions, I think, fall within the limit of the words of St. Paul, speaking by the inspiration of God. Now, these are days in which two things are eminently wanted among us. The first is an accurate and large knowledge of history. For any thing more insular, partial, and incorrect than the histories of the Catholic Church which are in the hands of Englishmen is hardly to be found. It is remarkable that some of the most fair, impartial, and truthful histories of the Catholic Church, written of late years, have been written by persons who rejected the doctrines of Christianity, or at least were not members of the Church. For instance, in Germany, such writers as Ranke and Hurter; in France, Michelet, who renounced his faith, and Guizot; and in this country, such writers as Macaulay, Hallam, and the like. And yet these are not the books which are preferred by the people of this country. With a great avidity they read every anti-catholic history they can find, like Robertson, Gibbon, and works that derive their statements from them, in which are to be found nothing but a tradition of incorrect statements and misquoted authorities, handed from one to the other without so much as a verification of the text. But there is something far more wanted among us still, and that is, first principles. For a man that reads history without first principles, is like a man that launches upon the sea without a compass. The lack of first principles is the main cause of the confusion which is around us. In these three lectures, then, I purpose to dwell chiefly on first principles; and I will assume, first, that you believe in the Incarnation; and next, that you believe in a visible Church, which is the prolongation of the visible manifestation |