or it what may be called its _pomoeria_;
or, to take another illustration, without acting as we act, as a
nation, in claiming as our own, not only the land on which we live,
but what are called British waters. The Catholic Church claims, not
only to judge infallibly on religious questions, but to animadvert on
opinions in secular matters which bear upon religion, on matters of
philosophy, of science, of literature, of history, and it demands our
submission to her claim. It claims to censure books, to silence
authors, and to forbid discussions. In all this it does not so much
speak doctrinally, as enforce measures of discipline. It must of
course be obeyed without a word, and perhaps in process of time it
will tacitly recede from its own injunctions. In such cases the
question of faith does not come in; for what is matter of faith is
true for all times, and never can be unsaid. Nor does it at all
follow, because there is a gift of infallibility in the Catholic
Church, that therefore the power in possession of it is in all its
proceedings infallible. "O, it is excellent," says the poet, "to have
a giant's strength, but tyrannous, to use it like a giant." I think
history supplies us with instances in the Church, where legitimate
power has been harshly used. To make such admission is no more than
saying that the divine treasure, in the words of the apostle, is "in
earthen vessels;" nor does it follow that the substance of the acts
of the ruling power is not right and expedient, because its manner
may have been faulty. Such high authorities act by means of
instruments; we know how such instruments claim for themselves the
name of their principals, who thus get the credit of faults which
really are not theirs. But granting all this to an extent greater
than can with any show of reason be imputed to the ruling power in
the Church, what is there in this want of prudence or moderation more
than can be urged, with far greater justice, against Protestant
communities and institutions? What is there in it to make us
hypocrites, if it has not that effect upon Protestants? We are called
upon, not to profess anything, but to submit and be silent. Such
injunctions as I have supposed are laid merely upon our actions, not
upon our thoughts. How, for instance, does it tend to make a man a
hypocrite, to be forbidden to publish a libel? his thoughts are as
free as before: authoritative prohibitions may tease and irritate,
but they have no be