On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    nant in actual force , for one of the two must prevail , and the church is in the state , and subject , therefore , to its laws ; but the state is not in the church . Ecclesiastical censures can reach the sovereign only as a private man , and not as head of the state , since in that capacity he is not a member of any church . . >

    The state is not held to have any direct right over what are strictly religious matters . In matters concerning conscience and reli gion , it is asserted that the citizens have neither the inclination nor the power to re- ? nounce their natural liberty . But the state asserts a right of superior inspection over all the societies within its jurisdiction . It claims a right of exami-r nation and prevention in the affairs of ecclesiastical societies as well as of other communities within its limits ; and to be entitled to have an accounj of their proceedings and decrees , and to prohibit what it sees to be detri-. mental to its ends .

    The state ' s right or mode of interference in religious matters is held to include principally the following subjects : —L The right or duty of pro-, viding that its subjects be instructed in true principles of religion ; but it does not claim the power of deciding on religious doctrines , though it obliges the ministers of religion to discharge their duties , and does not suffer principles to be inculcated contrary to the purity of the Christian doctrine as admitted by the universal church or to the rights of the state . 2 . It incuk .

    cates the due observance of the canons of the church , and prevents abuses , and regulates the accidental rites of religion , as holidays , &c . 3 . As to marriage , all legal determinations respecting the contract of marriage depend solely on civil authority ; the religious sacrament is only accessary , the civil contract being the essential . 4 . The state may repress or moderate religious controversies on disputed dogmas , as rarely attended with advantage , and

    often injurious to public order . The Austrian government , for instance ^ has forbidden all public disputations on the bull Unigenitus , and on the opinions of the Molinists and Jansenists . 5 . The sovereign has the right of toleration , and of allowing to all his subjects of different persuasions the free exercise of their opinions , whatever inclination to the contrary a parti-r cular church might be inclined to shew . The regulation of the mode and extent of this civil toleration lies with the state . " Religion , " it is laid down ,

    " abstractedly considered , formed no part of the social compact , nor could the citizens renounce the natural liberty of exercising what form of worship they pleased , provided no detriment could then arise to the civil community . It may be admitted , moreover , that religion is a matter that cannot be forced * because as soon as restraint begins to operate , religion becomes an external hypocritical cloak to faith and piety . " 6 . The state has the power of regu- * Iating and restricting the number of ecclesiastical of settling their Otl HJl HIV » IJUlll »¦* + i

    persons , 414 , 1 * 14 J £ ^ UJLIvl 1 V ^ IV tl ^/ VI KSM X * V * - » WU « M «* ' » ' *^**» ^ -f * * .-v m .- * sy w » « v *^ - *» w « ¦*> ^ « , j » a ~ w «* qualifications , and of excluding from ecclesiastical offices persons of whom it entertains just apprehensions . It considers church property as similar in its nature " to ' all other kinds of property which are commonly described as in a state of wardship , and regulates the due application of the proper portion for public purposes , charity , &c . " Aurum Ecclesia habet , non uj servet , sed ut eroget et subveniat in necessitatibus . "—St . Ambrose .

    A chapter is devoted to the reciprocal relations between the different religious persuasions in a state . It allows to the Catholic church no other mode of propagating its faith but instruction , and that instruction conveyed at a proper time and in a proper place . It forbids such attempts even at proselytism , which it judges to be injurious to public tranquillity , and it

    Untitled Article

    Review . —Catholicism in Austria , 67 $

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1827, page 679, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1800/page/47/