Page:Rome and the Revolution - Manning.djvu/17

Rh solved with it. Therefore, all the storm is pointed at the Vicar of Christ. He holds the key of the position; or rather, his own sacred person is its strength. And these two Churches have their two Gospels. The one is contained in the Encyclical and Syllabus of Pius IX. in 1864. In it are condemned the chief errors which are now menacing the Christian society of the world. The other was preached the other day at Geneva. In the former are promulgated the great truths and laws on which the Church, the State, and the family repose. It declares the obligations and authority of reason and revelation, of the Christian and civil law, of the Church and of the State. It confirms the lawful authority of rulers, and the duty of obedience in subjects. It is the Gospel of order, peace, and purity to all mankind. The other was proclaimed by the 'goodness which passeth all understanding;' incomprehensible, indeed, but happily not divine. Its chief dogmas are 'that the Papacy must be destroyed,' and 'that the religion of God must be propagated throughout the world.' At the sound of a religion to be propagated, the indevout and indocile disciples cried 'No, no.' But the religion of God was soon so explained as to allay their fears. It is the religion of science, of reason, and of genius, the apostles of which I will not name. I had thought that the religion of reason had hardly survived its last great festival, when that deity was worshipped on the high altar in Notre Dame, impersonated in a form I will not describe. The religion of science is at this day somewhat capricious. It traces mankind to a progenitor among the least