54 6
ESSAYS ON LIBERTY
that it would give governments apparent reason to doubt the fidelity of Catholics, and \vould give new authority to the theory of persecution and of the deposing power. They testified that it was unknown in many parts of the Church, and was denied by the Fathers, so that neither perpetuity nor universality could be pleaded in its favour; and they declared it an absurd contradiction, founded on ignoble deceit, and incapable of being made an article of faith by Pope or Council. I One bishop protested that he \vould die rather than prociaiin it. Another thought it would be an act of suicide for the Church. What was said, during the two months' debate, by men perpetually liable to be interrupted by a majority acting less from conviction than by command,2 could be of no
1 Certissimum ipsi esse fore ut infallibilitate ista dogmatic
definita, in dioecesi
sua, in qua ne vestigium quidem traditionis de infallibilitate S, P. hucusque inveniatur, et in aliis regionibus multi, et quidem non solum minoris, sed eiiam optimae notae, a fide deficiant, - Si edatur, omnis progressus conversionum in Provinciis Foederatis Americae funditus extinguetur, Episcopi et sacerdotes in disputationibus cum Protestantibus quid respondere possent non haberent. - Per eiusmodi definitionem acatholicis. inter quos haud pauci iique optimi hisce praesertim temporibus firmum fidei fundamentum desiderant, ad Ecc1esiam reditus redditur difficilis, imo impossibilis.-Qui Concilii decretis obsequi vellent, invenient se maximis in difficultatibus versari. Gubernia civilia eos tanquam sub- ditos minus fidos, haud sine verisimilitudinis specie, habebunt. Hostes Ecc1esiae eos lacessere non verebuntur, nunc eis objicientes errores quos Pontifices aut docuisse, aut sua agendi ratione probasse, dicuntur et risu excipient responsa quae sola afferri possint,-Eo ipso definitur in globe quidquid per diplomata apos- tolica huc usque definÏtum est. . . . Poterit, admissa tali definitione, statuere de dominio temporali, de eius mensura, de potestate deponendi reges, de usu coercendi haereticos, - Doctrina de Infallibilitate Romani Pontificis nec in Scriptura Sacra, nec in traditione ecc1esiastica fundata mihi videtur. Immo contrariam, ni faIlor, Christiana antiquitas tenuit doctrinam, -Modus dicendi Schematis supponit existere in Ecc1esia duplicem infallibilitatem, ipsius Ecclesiae et Romani Pontificis, quod est absurdum et inauditum,-Subt fugiis qui bus theologi non pauci in Honorii causa usi sunt, derisui me exponerèm, Sophis. mata adhibere et munere episcopali et natura rei, quae in timore .Domini pertrac- tanda est, indignum mihi videtur, - PIeri que text us quibus earn comprobant etiam melioris notae theologi, quos Ultramontanos vocant, mutilati sunt, falsifi. cati, interpolati, circumtruncati, spurii, in sensum alienum detorti, -Asserere audeo earn sententiam, ut in schemate jacet, non esse fidei doctrinam, nec talem devenire posse per quamcumque definitionem etiam conciliarem. 2 This, at least, was the discouraging impression of Archbishop Kenrick: Semper contigit ut Patres surgendo assensum sententiae deputationis praebuerint. Primo quidem die suffragiorum, cum quaestio esset de tertia parte primae emendationis, nondum adhibita indicatione a subsecretario, deinde semper facta, plures surrexerunt adeo ut necesse foret numerum surgentium capere, ut constaret de suffragiis, Magna deinde confusio exorta est, et ista emendatio, quamvis majore forsan numero sic acceptata, in crastinum diem dilata est, Postero die RIDS Relator ex ambone Patres monuit, deputation em emendationem istam aùmittere nolle, Omnes fere earn rejiciendam surgendo statim dixerunt.
