Page:History of Freedom.djvu/585

 THE VATICAN COUNCIL

54 1

the 22nd of l\1arch Strossmayer raised both questions. He said that it was neither just nor charitable to impute the progress of religious error to the Protestants. The germ of modern unbelief existed among the Catholics before the Reformation, and afterwards bore its \vorst fruits in Catholic countries. Many of the ablest defenders of Christian truth \vere Protestants, and the day of recon- ciliation ,,'ould have come already but for the violence and uncharitableness of the Catholics. These words were greeted with execrations, and the remainder of the speech was delivered in the midst of a furious tumult. At length, when Strossmayer declared that the Council had forfeited its authority by the rule which abolished the necessity of unanimity, the Presidents and the multitude refused to let him go on. 1 On the following day he drew up

1 Pace eruditissimorum virorum dictum esto: mihi haecce nec veritati congrua esse videntur, nec caritati, Non veritati; verum quidem est Protestantes gravis- simam commisisse culpam, dum spreta et insuperhabita divina Ecclesiae auctoritate, aeternas et immutabiles fidei veritates subjectivae rationis judicio et arbitrio subjedssent. Hoc superbiae humanae fomentum gravissimis certe malis, rationalismo, critidsmo, etc, occasionem dedit. Ast hoc quoque respectu did debet, protestantismi ejus qui cum eodem in nexu existit rationalismi germen saeculo xvi. praeextitisse in sic dicto humanismo et c1assicismo, quem in sanctuario ipso quidam summae auctoritatis viri incauto consilio fovebant et nutriebant; et nisi hoc germ en praeextitisset concipi non posset quomodo tam parva scintilla tantum in medio Europae excitare potuisset incendium, ut ilIud ad hodiernum usque diem restingui non potuerit. Accedit et illud: fidei et religionis, Ecc1esiae et omnis auctoritatis contemptum absque ulla cum Protes- tantismo cognatione et parentela in medio Catholicae gentis saeculo xviii. temporibus V oltarii et encyc10paedistarum enatum fuisse,. ., Quidquid interim sit de rationalismo, puto venerabilem deputationem omnino falIi dum texendo genealogiam naturalismi, materialismi, pantheismi, atheismi, etc" orones omnino hos errores foetus Protestantismi esse asserit., , . Errores superius enumerati non tan turn nobis verum et ipsis Protestantibus horrori sunt et abominationi, ut adeo Ecc1esiae et nobis Catholicis in iis oppugnandis et refellendis auxilio sint et adjumento, Ita Leibnitius erat certe vir eruditus et omni sub respectu praestans; vir in dijudicandis Ecclesiae Catholicae institutis aequus; vir in debellandis sui temporis erroribus strem;.us; vir in revehenda inter Christianas communitates concordia optime animatus et meritus, [Loud cries of .. Oh ! Oh ! " The President de Angelis rang the bell and said, .. Non est hicce locus laudandi Protestantes. "], , . Hos viros quorum magna copia existit in Germania, in Anglia, item et in America septentrionali, magna hominum turba inter Protestantes sequitur, quibus omnibus applicari potest illud magni Augustini: .. Errant, sed bona fide errant; haeretici sunt, sed illi nos haereticos tenent, Ipsi errorem non invenerunt, sed a pen'ersis et in errorem inductis parentihus haereditaverunt, parati errorem deponere quamprimum convicti fuerint." [Here there was a long interruption and ringing of the bell, with cries of .. Shame I shame!" .. DO\'ln with the heretic! "] Hi omnes etiamsi non spectent ad Ecc1esiae corpus, spectant tamcn ad ejus animarn, et de muneribus Redemptionis aliquatenus participant, Hi omnes in amore quo erga Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum feruntur, atque in illis positivis veritatibus quas ex fidei naufragio salvarunt, totidem gratiae divinae