QUOTATIONS FROM JOSIAH STRONG.--IN HIS FIRST EDITION OF OUR COUNTRY, JOSIAH STRONG, WITHOUT ACCESS TO PRIMARY SOURCES, INCORRECTLY REFERENCED THE STATEMENTS ATTRIBUTED TO POPE PIUS IX.
THE CORRECT REFERENCE FOR THE FIRST CITATION IS POPE GREGORY XVI'S ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF AUGUST 15, 1832. THE RELEVANT PARAGRAPH IS HERE QUOTED IN FULL:

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE
"THIS SHAMEFUL FONT OF INDIFFERENTISM GIVES RISE TO THAT ABSURD AND ERRONEOUS PROPOSITION WHICH CLAIMS THAT LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE MUST BE MAINTAINED FOR EVERYONE. IT SPREADS RUIN IN SACRED AND CIVIL AFFAIRS, THOUGH SOME REPEAT OVER AND OVER AGAIN WITH THE GREATEST IMPUDENCE THAT SOME ADVANTAGE ACCRUES TO RELIGION FROM IT. ‘BUT THE DEATH OF THE SOUL IS WORSE THAN FREEDOM OF ERROR,' AS AUGUSTINE WAS WONT TO SAY. WHEN ALL RESTRAINTS ARE REMOVED BY WHICH MEN ARE KEPT ON THE NARROW PATH OF TRUTH, THEIR NATURE, WHICH IS ALREADY INCLINED TO EVIL, PROPELS THEM TO RUIN. THEN TRULY ‘THE BOTTOMLESS PIT' IS OPENED FROM WHICH JOHN SAW SMOKE ASCENDING WHICH OBSCURED THE SUN, AND OUT OF WHICH LOCUSTS FLEW FORTH TO DEVASTATE THE EARTH. THENCE COMES TRANSFORMATION OF MINDS, CORRUPTION OF YOUTHS, CONTEMPT OF SACRED THINGS AND HOLY LAWS--IN OTHER WORDS, A PESTILENCE MORE DEADLY TO THE STATE THAN ANY OTHER. EXPERIENCE SHOWS, EVEN FROM EARLIEST TIMES, THAT CITIES RENOWNED FOR WEALTH, DOMINION, AND GLORY PERISHED AS A RESULT OF THIS SINGLE EVIL, NAMELY IMMODERATE FREEDOM OF OPINION, LICENSE OF FREE SPEECH, AND DESIRE FOR NOVELTY."--AS PRINTED IN CLAUDIA CARLEN, IHM, THE PAPAL ENCYCLICALS, 1740-1878 (ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN: THE PIERIAN PRESS, 1990), VOL. 1, P. 238.

THE SECOND CITATION SHOULD BE CREDITED TO POPE PIUS IX'S SYLLABUS OF ERRORS, WHICH ACCOMPANIED HIS ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF DECEMBER 8, 1864. INCLUDED AMONG THE 80 ERRORS ANATHEMATIZED ARE:

"24. THE CHURCH HAS NOT THE POWER OF USING FORCE, NOR HAS SHE ANY TEMPORAL POWER, DIRECT OR INDIRECT.--APOSTOLIC LETTER ‘AD APOSTOLICAE,' AUG. 22, 1851."
"78. HENCE IT HAS BEEN WISELY DECIDED BY LAW, IN SOME CATHOLIC COUNTRIES, THAT PERSONS COMING TO RESIDE THEREIN SHALL ENJOY THE PUBLIC EXERCISE OF THEIR OWN PECULIAR WORSHIP.--ALLOCUTION ‘ACERBISSIMUM,' SEPT. 27, 1852.
"79. MOREOVER, IT IS FALSE THAT THE CIVIL LIBERTY OF EVERY FORM OF WORSHIP, AND THE FULL POWER, GIVEN TO ALL, OF OVERTLY AND PUBLICLY MANIFESTING ANY OPINIONS WHATSOEVER AND THOUGHTS, CONDUCE MORE EASILY TO CORRUPT THE MORALS AND MINDS OF THE PEOPLE, AND TO PROPAGATE THE PEST OF INDIFFERENTISM.--ALLOCUTION ‘NUNQUAM FORE,' DEC. 15, 1856."--AS PRINTED IN ANNE FREMANTLE, ED., THE PAPAL ENCYCLICALS IN THEIR HISTORICAL CONTEXT (NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 1956), PP. 146, 152.

IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE POPE, QUOTED IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH OF THE CITATION FROM STRONG, WAS THE BISHOP'S OATH, NOT ONE TAKEN BY CARDINALS.

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