ptuously repudiates the principle
that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as it is
called) or by other means, shall constitute law; that refuses to every
man any title to opinion in matters of religion, but holds that it is
simply his duty to believe what he is told by the Church, and to obey
her commands; that will not permit any temporal government to define
the rights and prescribe limits to the authority of the Church;
that declares it not only may but will resort to force to discipline
disobedient individuals; that invades the sanctify of private life, by
making, at the confessional, the wife and daughters and servants of one
suspected, spies and informers against him; that tries him without an
accuser, and by torture makes him bear witness against himself; that
denies the right of parents to educate their children outside of its own
Church, and insists that to it alone belongs the supervision of domestic
life and the control of marriages and divorces; that denounces "the
impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of the
Church to the civil authority, or who advocate the separation of the
Church from the state; that absolutely repudiates all toleration, and
affirms that the Catholic religion is entitled to be held as the only
religion in every country, to the exclusion of all other modes of
worship; that requires all laws standing in the way of its interests
to be repealed, and, if that be refused, orders all its followers to
disobey them?

ISSUE OF THE CONFLICT. This power, conscious that it can work no miracle
to serve itself, does not hesitate to disturb society by its intrigues
against governments, and seeks to accomplish its ends by alliances with
despotism.

Claims such as these mean a revolt against modern civilization, an
intention of destroying it, no matter at what social cost. To submit to
them without resistance, men must be slaves indeed!

As to the issue of the coming conflict, can any one doubt? Whatever
is resting on fiction and fraud will be overthrown. Institutions that
organize impostures and spread delusions must show what right they have
to exist. Faith must render an account of herself to Reason. Mysteries
must give place to facts. Religion must relinquish that imperious, that
domineering position which she has so long maintained against Science.
There must be absolute freedom for thought. The ecclesiastic must learn
to keep himself within the domain he