LOYALTY OF CATHOLICS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 24, 11 October 1873, Page 9

LOYALTY OF CATHOLICS.

Abohbishop Manning- as an Englishman. Ihe following Address, delivered a short time ago to the Catholic Union m Sheffield, England, by ArchbighopMaaoing, is of unusual interest to Catholics. On coming amongst you I have no difficult in finding what topics to speak upon; rather the difficulty is amongst topics so numerous to know what to select, but sometimes events determine oar choice j and an hour ago I received, through the kindness "of one of my friends, a copy of a Sheffield newspaper, which, with great felicity has determined the choice of the subject on which I will speak. We are told in this newspaper that it is impossible for Catholics to be good Jiinghshmen— that unpatriotic Ultramontanism is inconsistent with progress, and that the Catholics of this day are standiri* aloof m a manner from the political life of the country. The Church of iingland has its associations, almost every Nonconformist communion has its associations, and I do not see why we Catholics should not have our associations too. What has passed in three hundred years over the Christian society of the world ? Three hundred years ago the civil powers of Northern G-ermany a^d the civil powers of this country formally separated themselves from the unity of the faith «id the unity of the Church, and they broke up and destroyed the unity of worship. They rejected and cast off the greater part of that Christian legislation which had held the Catholic world together, and in the last century even the old Catholic countries of Europe, following in the same path, have perfected and accomplished that which Luther began, and have separated the civil society and civil government from the unity of the faith and of the Church, until at last they have enunciated and carried into effect that greatest of -impostures— a freeChurch in a free State. Well, now, . WHAT I HAVE TO ASK IS THIS; Hoy can Catholics, who believe that the faith is one, mingle themselves up m a system which declares that all forms of doctrine are equal? It w impossible. How can Catholics, who believe that one faith oarries with it by necessity unity of worship, regard with sympathy a state of things in which all forms of worship are put upon the same level ? novr can Catholics, who believe that marriage is a sacrament ordained ot »od, and consecrated by Jesus Christ, believe that a society can be on a sound foundation which reduces marriage to a civil contract, and rejects its sacramental character ? (Cheers.) How can Catholics, who believe that there can be no education which is not based on the revelation of Gbd, be in sympathy with a state of things in which secular instruction is to bo- separated from religion, and the whole nsing generation of a people are to be brought up in the knowledge of secular things, bub religion is to be excluded from the schools ? I therefore, entirely accept the accusation. We Catholics are compelled to isolate ourselves j we are naturally compelled to draw within ouc own limits in the unity of faith, in the unity of worship, in the Chrw--.tmn character of education, in the sacredneas of those great laws upon which society is founded. In all these things we are bound to isolata ourselves, but I ask whose is the fault ? WHO MADE THE CHANQ-E? ihe whole world was united three hundred years back. Who caused this innovation ? We are not innovators. We have been thrust into the position, and, therefore, there is nothing unpatriotic' in our continuing faithful to those principles which have created the Christian world. They are answerable for our separation who have departed irom these principles. Well, now, I have no doubt if I were to stop where I hava ceased to speak, I should lay myself open— l should expose jou— to more terrible accusations, and, therefore, I will sum up what I have said in this : That within the limit and circle of our faith we can compromise nothing— that within that which I will call the gold of the target, we can admit of nothing but the most pure and unalloyed fidelity to the faith of the Church. Outside of chat circle, m all things which relate either to the social welfare or toth» political well-being, to the peace ana stability of the country and of the empire, there are no men on the face of England who are more loyal, there are no men who are more patriotic than Catholics. In our allegiance tothe fuith we admit of no compromise, but there are no men in En»laud who are more patriotic in all things which are outside the quea- * tion cf faith than the Catholics of the British Empire. NAT, I WIIL GO fUBTHBIt, and will say there are no men who are more ready to labor for tile well-being of the country, for its political peace and progress,' rt3 social order, its industry, its commerce, and for its education, than are the Catholics of this country. Now, I can conceive no- subjeot ih which Catholics are unpatriotic. I can conceive no subject in which Catholics can be m collision with the laws of the British Empire solong as the laws of the British Empire are not in collision with the laws of God. Thiß brings mo to another seatence in the article to which I reforred. My friend, Lord Denbigh, some year or two ago. gave utterance to an exp mion which has passed into a proverb Mid

an axiom. He has had the dignity ,of inscribing something upon the memory and upon the tongues of Englishmen, by eajing, " I am a Catholic first, and an Englishman afterwards." This is supposed to have a very unpatriotic sound. Well, now, what would it load to ? Let me ask any Englishman to say these words after me : " I am an Englishman first, and a Christian aftorwards." If an Englishman will not say that, will he say, "lama Christian first, and an Englishman afterwards ? " And if lie says he is a Christian first, I say that. l am a Catholic first, because to me Catholicism and Christianity are the same thing, and therefore we are uniting ou precisely the same principle. I should hare thought the words, •' He that loveth father. or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me," ought to have subjected all national and patriotic feelings to the law. of Our Saviour. Then after all we are agreed in the matter, and there is no reason in saying, "I am a Catholic first, and an Englishman afterwards.'* It means — show mo the law of Christianity which requires the obedience of my conscience, and, though all the lawa in the statute-book are to the contrary, I will lay down my life rather than break the law of my faith. Well, I see nothing unpatriotic in this. We are told in this article that Ultramontanism is inconsistent with progress. WHO CHEATED THE CHRISTIAN WOBCD ? Who was it taught and applied Christianity to the action of men and of society? The Church. But who was it ruled and governed the Church in applying the Christian law to the creation of the Christian world ? The Popes. Then had the Christian world made no progress down to the sixteenth century ? Every particle of progress it had made down to the sixteenth century must be carried to the account of the Popes, even though their adversaries were judges. Since the creation of the Christian world, down to the time of the great disruption and breaking up of the Christian unity by Luther and his followers, all progress that was made in the Christian world was made by Christianity— that is, by the Church and the Popes, for they were the supreme leaders over the whole of the Christian world. It is a lact that Ultramontanism means Popery, and Popery means Catholicism and pardon me if I add Popery means Christianity. Now I have gone farther than I intended into what may have had somewhat of a theological aspect, and, therefore, let me hope that Catholics will be found to have two characters. The first in their aspect towards God and their faith -perfectly immutable, as it has been always; imd I secondly, in their aspect to their Sovereign and to their fellow-country-men—the truest and the most faithful Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen to be found in the United Kingdom. Some believe religion and politics can be separated. Now we do not. We believe that ? ol j™ Ba * ea P arfcof morals— that politics are the morals of society, and the Ten Commandments are the law of morals for an individual. Every individual Christian is governed by the law of God, aud so is society, for it is only made up of individuals, and the political aclio-i of socioty is *o be governed by the law of God just af much as the private action 3 of man. Therefore the attempt to separate between politics and religion is the exclusion of morals as a part of religion. I am going at once to somethine very political. I hope one *ct of the Catholic Association will be this-to register. I hope that every Catholic who is in Sheffield who is qualified to vote will take prompt care that his same should be entered upon the register, so that, when the next election comes on he may BE ABIB TO RECORD HIS VOTE. I believe a great many hare never voted— first, because they did not know they had got a vote , secondly, if they knew they had a vote they did not kaow how to go about it j and thirdly, because they did not t»ko the precaution of paying their rates. If the Catholics of this country were really represented in the Legislature, I think we should near less of Catholicism being opposed to progress, and of the unpatriotic character of Catholics. A thing has happened lately which I confess has given me a great deal of pain. A book has been lately published describing the history of the English in Ireland, and I can hardly conceive a fire-brand thrown into the midst of our intestine contentions more ardent or more dangerous than that book. The sum of it is this, that England made one great mistake— it had not Anglicized and Protestantized Ireland by brute force. I can conceive no political tfospel — if I muy so speak — more opposed to progress than this. I know nothing that ever came from the most benighted Papist so contrary to the moral laws which govern the universe 5 so great a violation of the law of conscience — which is the law of God— and of that liberty which every man ought to enjoy. Well, now, in the article with which I have begun, and with which I will end, it is said, "We Catholics cannot he in hearty -accordance with those liberties which have created the glory of England." Now, if that liberty means the popular liberty from which Parliament sprung, it was our Catholic forefathers who founded these Parliaments. IE 1 IT BE THE ÜBERTI OT CONSCIENCE, I clnini that it was our Catholic fathera^who taught it j and I say that St Thomas of CsmterbiiTy was the martyr who died for the liberty of conscience. What was the cause for which lie suffered ? It was precisely this — thnt he refused to allow the dictation of the civil power in matters of 1 eligion, nnrl that principle of the liberty of conscience is thn principle of the whole of Great Britain and Ireland at this hour. The Seottii-h Presbyterians refuse*! to accept the dictation of the civil powcis in matltrs of religion, and wisely. The Nonconformists of England are more than half the population % of the remaining half, who are nominally members of the Church of England, I will be fcound to say not one in ten can endure the very name of the JudieiU Committee of the Privj Council, or the various laws which determine matter." of doctrine. The Protestant believes that he ha 9ia his hands the infallible Bible, afcd he rejects every authority, civil and human, that comes between him and the Word of God. We Catholics believe that the revelntion of God is incorporated and intrusted to the infallible Church of God, and we refuse likewise all authority, human end civil, that comes between us and that infallible truth. Therefore Cn.tl.olic end Protestant Nonconformists are identical to prinoiple though thty differ in the form in which that principle ia applied, and Catholics and Nonconfoi mists suffered side by side in prison and on the scaffold 300 years ago. Well, to me ife seems that there is no