The things we do!

His authority, in other respects, does not extend beyond
this for it is the civil tribunal which decides between contending
parties. Thus is the catholic hierarchy broken up; the
ecclesiastical superior has his hands tied; if he still delegates
sacerdotal functions it is only as a matter of form. Between the
cur? and the bishop subordination ceases to exist just as it has
ceased to exist between the bishop and the Pope, and the Church of
France becomes Presbyterian. -- The people now, in effect, choose
their own ministers, as they do in the Presbyterian church; the
bishop is appointed by the electors of the department, the cure by
the district electors, and, what is an extraordinary aggravation,
these need not be of his communion. It is of no consequence whether
the electoral Assembly contains, as at N?mes, Montauban, Strasbourg,
and Metz, a notable proportion of Calvinists, Lutherans, and Jews,
or whether its majority, furnished by the club, is notoriously
hostile to Catholicism, and even to Christianity itself.


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