THE PRIESTS AND THE CIVIL POWER.
By C. P. B.
THE Catholics of this country, as well as those of Italy and indeed of the whole world, are highly incensed at the passage by the Italian Chamber of Deputies of the "Pious Works" bill, which removes from clerical to secular hands the management of a fund the income of which amounts to $27,000,000 annually. The reason for this action was that an inquiry instituted by the government proved that the priests who have hitherto had the handling of this vast fund did not use the whole of the income for the proper purpose, but put the most of it where it would do the most for the church, and aid them in keeping the people under their power. The Catholic Review denounces the bill most bitterly, and says that it has but one aim, namely, "to render intolerable the life of the Catholic priest in Italy, and, if possible, separate him entirely from the people." It will be very hard for the average American who is not a Romanist to see how this can be, unless, indeed, the priests in Italy must be able to make it an object financially for people to be religious. If they were administering impartially and honestly a fund devoted to charity, it is not easy to understand how relieving them of the responsibility could even tend to make life unendurable to them. The reason for the action of the government must, we think, be sought for, not in any hostility of the Italian Government to religion, or even to the Catholic Church as a spiritual power, but in the fact that the priests are untiring in their opposition to the government. Formerly Italy was ruled by "the church," that is, by Rome, which has never become resigned to the present state of affairs in that country. The priests are constantly intriguing for political power, and in self-defense the State has passed several laws the purpose of which is to prevent the clergy from using the influence of the church to overthrow the government, and drive king and cabinet from the city of Rome. It is undoubtedly true that were the priests to content themselves with spiritual things and engage in politics, if at all, only as citizens, and not as priests, they would be accorded the same rights extended to other citizens; but this they will not do, hence the "Pious Works" bill and other laws restricting their power and limiting their influence. The first and highest political allegiance of a Romish priest is not due, in his opinion, to the government under which he lives, but to the pope, and this is especially true of Italian priests. As a whole, they are the enemies of the Italian Government, and that government has no option in the matter; it must treat them as enemies and restrict their power. Much the same condition of affairs exists in Mexico. There Church and State are supposed to be entirely separate, but it was only recently that the government was compelled to suppress certain so-called religious orders because they were in fact hot-beds of treason and revolution. It is not many years since Germany expelled the Jesuits for the same reason, and from time to time other powers have found it necessary to adopt measures of self-defense against the political power of the hierarchy which claims to be the only true church of Christ. These facts are not stated because they are new, or because they are not familiar to the readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, but because they have an important bearing upon the attitude of the Protestant clergy of our own land, to our own system of government. The writer believes that neither Romish priests nor Protestant pastors should take any part in politics other than as citizens, and their influence should be simply that of citizens. If they are content to do this, well and good; if not, it is not unreasonable for the State to say, as Italy and Mexico have said to the priests, that they shall have neither part nor lot in the matter. A committee of the United States Senate once said that in their opinion "religious combinations to effect political objects are dangerous," and it is for this reason that governments have found it necessary to curtail, from time to time, the political power of the priests of Rome. Protestant ministers have never taken advantage of the influence of their sacred office to the same extent that the priests of Rome have, hence governments have not found it necessary to adopt the same measures of protection against them; but whether this is always to be so or not remains to be seen. Hitherto Protestant clergymen have been too much divided among themselves to be at all formidable in politics, but at the present time indications are not lacking that they are uniting to change, if not the form, at least the fundamental principle, of our government, namely, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. This principle the National Reformers deny, and demand that the law of God shall be declared to be the supreme law of the land; this would of course be unobjectionable if it could be so in fact, and if God were to administer the government in reality; but to declare it to be so would only be to put men in the place of God, and empower them to administer, not the law of God, but their interpretation of that law, and enforce it upon all men by civil penalties. This is a papal principle, and by adopting it and trying to make it practical Protestant preachers are adopting the very same tactics which have made the priests of Rome the enemies of purely civil governments everywhere, and which have deprived them of civil rights in Italy, and exiled some of them from Germany. That it will ever thus react on the heads of Protestants in this country is not likely, but that it will be destructive of religious liberty we firmly believe. Would that we could believe otherwise. C. P. B.