Page:Civil Liberty in Lower Canada.djvu/15

13 this end penetrate the sacred oracles, which fell from the mouth of the Divine Master, "He who hears you hears me; he who does not hear the Church, let him be a heathen or a publican." Now, here is how we must put this rule into practice. Each one of you can and aught to say in the interior of his soul, "I hear my Cure; my Cure hears the Bishop; the Bishop hears the Pope, and the Pope hears our Lord Jesus Christ, who aids with his Holy Spirit to render them infallible on the teaching and Government of his Church. With this rule so sure, I cannot be led astray, and I am certain of marching in the way of justice and of truth.

2nd.—Bear a religious respect to all your pastors, fearing that in despising them you incur that terrible anathema, pronounced by our Lord, "He who despises you despises me;" Oh! and what words: To despise Jesus Christ in despising His priests. They are worthy of attention and deserve to be seriously considered. As it has just been observed he who hears the priest hears the Bishop, and he who hears the Bishop hears the Pope, hears Jesus Christ. He hears then all the clergy whose chief is Jesus Christ. In the same way, he who despises the priest despises the Bishop, he who despises the Bishop despises the Pope, and he who despises the Pope despises Jesus Christ. He despises then all the clergy whose chief is Jesus Christ. After all which has been reproduced above of the instructions given by the Pope and the Bishops against Catholic Liberalism, it is evident that the priests in their instructions regarding this detestible error, scrupulously attach themselves to the principles which are dictated to them by their pastors. It is then all the clergy who thus speak through the mouth of their members. Thus to despise this organ of the clergy, is to despise Jesus who made them His ambassadors. It is to despise the Eternal Father, who sent Jesus Christ, His only son, into the world, to teach and to save it. But how must we consider him, who, upon the hustings, be it at the polls, upon the platform, or in papers, dares to prefer insults to the person and to the character of the priest to despise, or make his words and his conduct to be despised, in order to take away from him, if it be possible, all the estimation and the consideration which he enjoys