Napoleon III and the Papacy [pp. 686-702]

88Napoleon IiI. and the Papacy.
that the soul does over the body; that it is the right and duty
of the spiritual authority to curb the secular whenever the
latter becomes prejudicial to religion." (See Bellarmine de
Rom. Pontifice V. VI.) It was never the received doctrine of
the church that the Pope had the power of regular civil legislation over princes; though Ranke asserts that Sextus V.
cherished that opinion, and was displeased when any abandoned
it. But it was the evident and justifiable aim of the church
writers of the middle ages, to present the best speculative
vindication possible at the time, of her right and her duty to
secure herself in the free administration of her spiritual affairs.
But granting the entire propriety of the medieval endeavours of the church for temporal power, so far as to protect her
own rights, we can still justify her only by her temporary
exigency; and now that the exigency is past, the provision
should be relinquished. Now, the only necessity for that sort
of defence, is created by the Catholic church herself; by her
pertinacious and perverse alliance with corruption, and her
opposition to the true progress of the human race. When
nations and governments have knowledge of Christianity, and
respect for its claims, they will protect the church in her
spiritual rights and duties. She safely trusts her defence to
them. All the enlightened nations who have any experience
of freedom, understand the relation of the church to the state;
and in this country, as in others, it has been demonstrated
that the church need not bear the sword to secure the effectual
use of the keys. The fall of the temporal power is thus inevitable, and the facts we have mentioned are the historical conditions of its termination.
This event does not come from local and temporary causes
merely. It follows a long and general preparation in the social
progress of the world under the impulse of the Christian truth
and life. Of this, the prominent human agency employed by
Providence in the movement, is a remarkable illustration.
The part of Napoleon III. in these proceedings is prominent
and significant. It is incidental to the influence he seems destined to exert in European affairs. We do not know enough
of his religious history to pronounce upon his religious faith;
but we think it very doubtful whether he entertains any con
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