PAPAL AIMS AND PAPAL CLAIMS.
Papal Aims and Papal Claims : with Remarks on Apostolic Succession. By E. Garnet Man, Barrister-at-Law. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co. Ss.)—Mr. Man has collected in this volume (with, se far as we can judge, careful reference to autho- rities) the clainnrthatare asserted by and on behalf of the Pope. The book is written by one who is frankly horrified by the extent and character of Papal claims, and who is clearly no friend of the modern aims of the great society of ecclesiastics who are pledged to carry into effect the policy that is framed by the politicians of the Vatican. Mr. Man tells us that the Roman Church claims " to be divinely exempted from errors and dissensions " (p. 23) ; that the Pope claims to be " adored as a God " (p. 25) ; that he is "Jesus Christ Himself hidden under the veil of the flesh " (p. 27) ; that he can, " with infallible certainty, proscribe and condemn doctrines, logical, scientific, physical, meta- physical, or political of any kind " (p. 30) ; that he speaks "with the voice of God, independent of Holy Scrip- ture, traditions, Fathers,' or Councils " (p. 31) ; that he has "the right of 'deposing Kings" (p. 31). We wonder if these claims are actually put forward by the Church of Rome; and if so, whether they are admitted as rightful claims by the great body of the Roman Church. Mr. Man examines with care the authority on which these claims are made. "If history, or docu- ments, or tradition," he says, " give such power, then let us bow to the yoke. But if after careful inquiry (not as to doctrine, but merely as to jurisdiction and authority) we find that neither the one nor the other is based upon Scripture, or even upon uncor- rupted tradition, but merely upon bare assertion alone, we should be justified in rejecting such a statement, —and the claims of the Pope to be the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ' fall to the ground." Mr. Man convinces us that neither history, documents, nor tradition give the Pope the powers set forth above, and we believe we are echoing the opinion of many earnest men when we say that such claims made in the daylight of modern thought are discrediting the Papacy in the eyes of the world.
Previous page
