New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1876. ARROW.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 187, 27 October 1876, Page 10

New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1876. AR ROW .

The attention of the Dunedin public has been a good deal engaged lately, in reference to the blackballing of a VVesleyan minister by the Christian Young Men's Association. As to the propriety or otherwise of this action of the Association, it; id not our intention to pronounce an opinion. It is no affair of ours ; and were it not that the name of Catholics and Popes had been unjustifiably dragged into the discussion, we should have taken no notice whatever of this not very edifying row. Of course, we have our opinions as to the affair, but we shall say no more now than that the members of this Association do not appear to us to he very good Christians, and that, probfibly, the Rev. Mr. Fitchett is. at least, as good and sound a Christian in the main as the best of them, though they do not appear to think so. One of the speakers at the meeting of this Association, which was cilled to review the blackballing action of its governing body, ventured to say that, according to its fundamental rules, what he termed an enlightened Roman Catholic would be eligible for membership. This announcement was followed by uproar and hisses. We are puzzled to know which was hissed —the speaker, the idea of considering Roman Catholics Christians, or Roman Catholics as a body. In any interpretation, the hissing was not complimentary to us. Nor was it intended to b«. We are rather inclined to think it wis intended as an expression of hatred and contempt for the oldest, most numerous, and most meritorious body of Christians. We cannot, we regret, congratulate the reverend and seinireverend members of this Association on this evidence of taste, good feeling, Christian forbearance, and knowledge of the subject with which it assumes to be specially conversant. If a little learning be a dangerous thing, we suppose we may conclude that a very little is still more dangerous, and that, consequently, the existence of this Association is an enormously dangerous thing; a fact which the Rev. Mr. Fitchett is by this time able to estimate pretty accurately. In a leader in its issue of Wednesday last, the ' Otago Daily Times,' an eminently Christian journal, in the modern sense of the word Christian, is, in the intensity of its Christian justice and charity, unable to discuss the blackballing of Mr. Fitchett and the proceedings of the meeting of the Christian Young M en's Association, without either stating or insinuating, according to its enlighteued custom, a falsehood or two iv referen c to Popes and Romish disapproval of scientific truth. " Whe i," says the ♦ Otago Daily Times,' '• a Hildebrand or a Pro Noso fulminates a decree de Jterelico coniburendo, he is at O! c with Mr. Conxell." We wonder if the writer of this extr iorJinary sentence knows how to translate the words de . herelico comburendo. We really hope he does*not, for other-

wise, we must accuse Mm of deliberately stating, or at least J insinuating, a monstrous falsehood. Neither Hildebrand nor Pio Nono, nor any other Pope, ever fulminated a decree commanding heretics to be burned. Perhaps the writer had the burning of Servetus by Calvin in his mind, and by a slip of the pen wrote " Hildebrand or Pio Nono," instead of Calvin. This is possible, and we give the editor of the ' Qtago Daily Times' the benefit of the doubt, which is quite j^within the range of possibilities. Further on in its leader, ' the * Daily Times' says — " But when in the close atmosphere of the committee room of the Dunedin Young Men's Christian Association, the spurious imitation of this Romish disapproval of scientific truth is mimicked, <fee." This is the old calumny which has been refuted a thousand times. The fact is, the Catholic Church, instead of disapproving of scientific truth, has always encouraged, patronised, and assisted scientific investigation, and promoted and rewarded scientific men. It is true the Catholic Church has resisted falsehood in science as in (religion, and labored to prevent sucking scientists from making themselves ridiculous — a favor which these have ever been unable to appreciate, and for which they have always been ungrateful ; and in thus saving generations from b^ing misled by pretentious ignorance, she has rendered services of the highest importance to mankind. Many of the greatest names amongst scientific men in former times, as in the present day, are those of Catholics, of whom not a few are priests — even Jesuits. The * Daily Times,' in a previous number, ridiculed the idea of a true Christian being held responsible for his mere opinions, and, if we remember rightly, some of the speakers of this meeting declared that a man was only responsible for his conduct, and not for his opinions. These gentlemen seemed to think Christianity bestowed on man the liberty of thinking as he pleased, and freedom from all responsibility to the church or society for his mere opinions. Our reading of Christianity is diametrically opposed to this view. "We remember the doctrine laid down again and again in the New Testament — viz., that a man who believes not what Christ and the Apostles taught shall be condemned ; that he who will not hear the Church shall be considered as a heathen ; and that Christians are bound to shun an erring leader. Reason, as well as revelation, teaches that man is responsible, both to God and the Church, for his faith and opinions as well as for hi 3 conduct. Men are not at liberty to think as they please. They are bound to think truly, correctly in all things, and, above all, in religion, and to submit themselves to the teaching authority appointed by God.