er those formidable ideas, whether old or new,
which in our times are so strongly forcing themselves on thoughtful men.
The doctrine of the conservation and correlation of Force yields as its
logical issue the time-worn Oriental emanation theory; the doctrines of
Evolution and Development strike at that of successive creative acts.
The former rests on the fundamental principle that the quantity of
force in the universe is invariable. Though that quantity can neither be
increased nor diminished, the forms under which Force expresses itself
may be transmuted into each other. As yet this doctrine has not received
complete scientific demonstration, but so numerous and so cogent are the
arguments adduced in its behalf, that it stands in an imposing, almost
in an authoritative attitude. Now, the Asiatic theory of emanation and
absorption is seen to be in harmony with this grand idea. It does not
hold that, at the conception of a human being, a soul is created by
God out of nothing and given to it, but that a portion of the already
existing, the divine, the universal intelligence, is imparted, and, when
life is over, this returns to and is absorbed in the general source from
which it originally came. The authors of the Constitution forbid these
ideas to be held, under pain of eternal punishment.

In like manner they dispose of the doctrines of Evolution and
Development, bluntly insisting that the Church believes in distinct
creative acts. The doctrine that every living form is derived from some
preceding form is scientifically in a much more advanced position than
that concerning Force, and probably may be considered as established,
whatever may become of the additions with which it has recently been
overlaid.

In her condemnation of the Reformation, the Church carries into effect
her ideas of the subordination of reason to faith. In her eyes the
Reformation is an impious heresy, leading to the abyss of pantheism,
materialism, and atheism, and tending to overthrow the very foundations
of human society. She therefore would restrain those "restless spirits"
who, following Luther, have upheld the "right of every man to interpret
the Scriptures for himself." She asserts that it is a wicked error to
admit Protestants to equal political privileges with Catholics, and that
to coerce them and suppress them is a sacred duty; that it is abominable
to permit them to establish educational institutions. Gregory XVI.
denounced freedom of c