LORD MACAULAY AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 45, 7 March 1874, Page 10

LORD MACAULAY AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

A W>Rl> TO ?COTCII PHILOSOPHEE3 IN DcNEDIN " There is not ai.d never hus boon in this earth," says Lord Macaulay, " any work of human poluy so wtll deserving examination as the Roman Catholic Church ' Pe.mit me to call the attention of you? Evening Star, the stucWs in the Otago University, and other men of letteis m Dunedin geuomlly, to the above quotation from Macauhy and earnestly recommend them to " examine " the sublet indicated • and to do so without prejudice-calmly, dispassionately, and com! plote y Let them address themselves to so important a task, not merely by reading what the * riters hostile to the Papacy hare written but also what Us suoporteis have advanced ; and above all W film bog the true Fountain of light and only Author of all knoi Lie £ aid them m the examination by illuminating (heir mind aXSvii \l from it all darkness ot sm and ignorance. It is in this spirit and af r tins manner Hat men must enter upon and conduct their ex»minai">a ot that "work to which, in the words of the brilliant Maca, I n there :s not and never has been anything equal on this earth. U, c \'ls the Roman Cathoho Church a work of '-human policy" B> t this U begging the main question, and a gratuitous assumption, i. ! 0 ~, 1 ' m its history tends to show that the Koman Catholic Church vLt be aot a wo.k of human policy but a divine creation, suslamed by Alnn^htypoMcr and ducted by that wisdom which « from abov? Lord Macaulay himself has m the couree of the celebrated e«say from which my quotation is taken, desciibed the Roman Catholic Church a Mich a manner as to prove that it must be not a. human but a divine « work." What reasonable man can persuade himself that the insti tu-

tion of the Papacy, or which is the iamo thing, the Roman Catholic Church, could hare survived all the riolent shocks and terrific atoms through which it has passed for eighteen hundred yearg, and yet be a mere work of human policy." The thing is incredible. Look at the number, the power, and the zeal, or rather fury of the Pope's enomies in every age, more especially during the past eighty or a hundred 1 years-, and say how it comes that he should not only survive, but actually shew signs of growing strength and influence at the present moment, in an age distinguished above all that have gone before it for intelligence, and the wide diffusion of knowledge of all kinds, amon» the people. Erplahr this ye Scotch philosophers of Dunertin, on the supposition that the Papacy is a work of mere " human policy," and not divine institution founded on the Rock of Agej. Remember that the Papaoy and the Catholic Church are convertible terms, They mean one and the same thing. You c»nnot separate the twos If the' Papacy be a human work, so is the Catholic Church : if the one be dmne so is the other. Examine the character of the Papacy well by the light of history, sacred and secular, ancient and modern. The fortunes of the Pope are inseparably associated with the fate of the Catholic Church, spread through all nations— even New Zealand When the Pope is insulted or robbed, the Catholics in every land will suffer more or less in a similar way. We have just seen the Pope deprived of his lawful possesn >ns by mastorful enemies, who apply his own means to ruin the interests of. the Catholic Church. We see the Catholics of New Zealand, with similar injustice, forced to supply money to support public schools calculated if not intended co mm Catholic interests, and sap the foundation of the Catholic, and indeed 1 of the Christian faith. This is done by the pon-or of a tyrant popular majority, urged on by a so called liberal pross, and with' the connivuuee, if not the actual co-operation of various Christian sects opposed 1 to the Catholic Church. But let the^e Christian sects pause ore it be too late. The Catholics beiug the weakest are the first to suffer, but they will not be the last. Cseaar and Caesar's numerous and powerful: friends will not spare others long, if it be seen that Catholics may be persecuted with impunity, Has the history of the great French Revolution and the events immediately preceding it been written in vain, and not for our learning ? It would s- em the civil powers cftid religiousdenominations opposed to the Catholic Church, think little of such warning lessons. When the Jesuits and other religious orders, and the Roman Catholic Clergy were once, as it was thought fairly crushed and ruined at the close of last century, the path was open for the most profligate, cruel, and remorseless tyrants, acting iv the sacred name of liberty. It would seem the same thing is about to be repeated soon. It will not avail you to say that there have been bad Popes ambitious, treacherous, bloody, op lioentious men, and therefore the 1 Papacy cannot be the work' of God. To reason thus would be to put aims in the hands of the enemies of Christianity, and even of Judaism as systems of revealed religion. lindeed inGdels have not been Blowto avail themselves of the arms with wliioh you thus furnish them io undermine the credibility of revealed religion as given te the Jews and to us. David, " the man after God's own heart," the anointed King of God's people, was an adulterer and a murderer- cf the worst type. Beter, the first Pope, to whom God gave " the key« of' the kingdom of heaven,"' was a base perjurer, who diiowned on oath the master whom he professed that he waa- ready to serva at the cost of hi* life. Among the Popes who have filled the Papal Chair since St. Peter's day, some two hundred and fifty in number, there have been a few wicked men, doubtless ;. perhaps thirty in all. But for the rest some have been eminent for their heroic Christian virtues, extensive learning and splen« did talents ; and the great bulk of them were remarkable for their piety meekness and self-denial, and attention to thoir duties as chief ruler of the Church. Even the bad ones may have shed many bitter penitential tears ; and like the royal penitent David, ofteu "their spirit might have been in anguish within them," at the thought of their crimes or viee3. Will the Dunedin Scotch philosophers undertake to shew us among Presbyterians or other Protestant ministers co many, or rather any instances of heroic virtue, self-denial, public spirit, lofty purposes, and commanding beneficial influtn^es, such as could be shewn to have existed among the Ropes at various times. Even the enemies of the Catholic Church and nvowad infidelß themselves, extol the lofty virtues and noble acts of many of the Pop s, in terms which , must scandalize the narrow and bigoted miuda of some of your Dunaeciin Scotch friends. The learned researches of modern Protestant historians, English and Continental, are doiiitf much to place the Popes and Catholic Church in their true light before the people. The Popo is a reforming, but not a revolutionary and destroying power, and all good Catholics are the same. We sta id by the coastituted' civil power, and only seek reforms by fair and temperate measures. But when oppressed and insulted beyond endurance it is hard to say what men will do or ought to do in self defeuce. The Catholics of« Canterbury seem at then- wits end to know what to do in their present despair. Their position is that of all the othec Catholics ia the Colony. It is not a novel position. The Disseu er3 aud Catholics in the United Kingdom long occupied a similar position «hen called on to pay church rates, tithes, &c, in support of Churches and a religion offensive to them. Their conduct is a precedent for us under°the present oppressive aud unjust education tax. In principle our education tax is the same as a church rate— us well tux us to build and support " ansectarian " churches, as secular or unsectarian schools. We mu3t combine and shew a united opposition. Our weapons must be the legitimate aud constitutional weapons in common use on such occasions— public meetings, petitions to Parliament, memorials to the Governor in Council, giving a. block vote at the poll at the proper moment, and urging religious and conscientious men of other creeds to join us in the work of justice. These menus liavo succeeded in gaining justice for us and others from hostile governments at home. They will sucoeed here too. As to " pa.-sive resistance," ifc may answer when Catholics are very numerous, for no Government would briug a large and united body of men into Court to enforce an obnoxious tax ; but we aro too few here to resort to any such plan. The Catholic people of the Province of Auckland nre, I believo locking forward with hope to the introduction of a fair Education Bill when.

the Provincial Council meets in April. The present Superintendent is a wise and just man, and looks at the education question both from a religious and secular point of view. He commands the confidence of all parties, and most probably his educational policy will be a uiodel, from which other provinces will copy. He knows the Catholics to a. man are hia friends ; 'but he 'knows also that 'he has other and 'many influential friends who are not Catholics, and he may do justice to them all. In the meantime let all the Catholics in the Colony immediately combine politically, not for the purpose of attacking others, but cf defending themselves. 'Let us concert measures of common defence ; have li3ts of every man qualified to vote and see that they are all on 'the register, a- id know how to act in concert with their co-religionists. We ought to have one general or " Colonial Register," that we may know our strength .thoroughly, and where it ties. Let U3 in fact have a " Defence Association," and God will provide a leader in due time, Protestant or Catholic. Without a good and honest leader we shall, however numerous or zealous, be helpless or worse— run in each others way and mar success. A. Protestant 'leader might be more efficient than a Catholic one, for we should want him to do nothing politically that an honest man of any creed could not consistently do. The Canterbury Catholics deserve well of their co-religionists throughout the colony for the spirited way in which they are acting in self-defence. It is to be hoped they will find imitators in other provinces, now that they have led the way. Our opponents would then discover that we are not so tame and spiritless as they fancy we are -from our long apathy. lam persuaded that the strength of the papacy— its legitimate power and influence — lies more in the British dominions at the present time than in any other part of ■Christendom, even in France. The Catholic spirit has never ceased to animate the Irish people. If that spirit during the past three centuries has been in a state >of suspended animation in England and Scotland, it has not been dead, and the hour of its resurrection there is visibly drawing near. The Catholic subjects of the British Crown have now a great and ■momi -ntous part to play, and we in New Zealand constitute an integral pmt, and no unimportant part of Her Majesty's Catholic subjects throughout, the British empire. England is still the mistress of the ocean, and, saving Bismarck's presence, is still first among the mighty powers of the world. She owes this proud supremacy in part, and in no srrall part, to the loyalty and courage of the -Catholic people of Ireland, and who assist to man her fleets and armies. If the Pope now recover his rights indirectly through the power of England, it would not be the first time he has done so in the last century. Wellington and Nelson, names which for all time will beassociated •with the supremacy of Ergland by land and sea, were the friends of the papacy— for political lensons— however hostile they were to the Catholic religion. The venerable chief of a Protestant party in France, M. Guizot, has also shown his sympathy with the Papal cause by writing in the Pope's defence. He regards it as quite of as much importance to Prote-tants us to Catholics, and states that the Pope should be protected from his enemies and maintained in the possession of what he of right held and received from his predecessors. Destroy or even weaken, or paralyse the Pope's authority, and you undermine, M. Guizot maintains, all constituted authority in every country, •Catholic or Protestant, and pave the way for the reign of a general anarchy and brute force. He wrote this 15 yere ago, aud reeent,events have confirmed and are still confirming his words. Beside? this, is it not clear that where the influence of the Pope or the Catholic Cbaich is .weak or destroyed, many are given up to a sphit of the most selfish greed ; their conscience is seared, and .they stick at no means to fill their own purse— no matter who may suffer. Is not this the cause of those "stiikos" among our workmen, in which both master and men strive to over-reach or get the better of each other, both parties bein* guided solely by what has been called the peculiarity of our age, " a well regulated selfishness?" We have seen the beginning, not the end, of these strikes. Woi king men know their power now, and are convinced that in unity is strength— in unity and organization. Pity vCatholics don't kuow tho same. Laic,