LIBRAEY OF THE Theological Seminary PRINCETON, N. J. Case H J129 P9 pt.l i r P T l Se l: E ' B - 1800-1882. - The Church of England Book AN EIRENICON, tfn a %etttr TO THE ATJTEOK OF "THE CHEISTIAN YEAR. LONDON : GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. John's square. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND A PORTION OF CHRIST'S ONE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH, AND A MEANS OF RESTORING VISIBLE UNITY. AN EIRENICON, {n a better TO THE ATJTHOE OF "THE CHRISTIAN YEAft." E. B. PUSEY, D.D. EEGIT7S PBOFESSOE OF HEBEEW, AND CANON OF CHEIST CHUECH, OXFOED. SEVENTH THOUSAND. SOLD BY JOHN HENRY AND JAMES PARKER, OXFORD, AND 377, STEAND, LONDON; AND RIVINGTONS, LONDON, OXFOED, AND CAMBBIDGE. 1865. [All rights reserved."] Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/churchofenglandpOOpuse CONTENTS. Personal explanations, pp. 3—8. " The Church is a bulwark against unbelief," pp. 8 — 10. Dissenters probably owe much to the Church, p. 11. Notoriety of Dr. Colenso, and of Essays and Reviews, illustrates the faith of the Church, pp. 12—14. Dr. Manning's paradox, that " the Church of England is the cause of the unbelief in England," pp. 14 — 16. 1. His charge, that "the Church of England rejects much Christian truth," p. 16. Large-hearted statements of Du Pin and Dr. Doyle, p. 17. Amount of doctrine held alike by the Roman and English Churches, pp. 18, 19. Common rejection of heresies, p. 19. 2. Specific charges. Sacraments. Special dignity of the two great Sacraments, p. 20. Church of England acknowledges sacraments less than these, p. 21. Abuse as to Extreme Unction alone objected to, p. 22, see pp. 219 — 227. 3. Real Objective Presence of Christ's Blessed Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist taught clearly, p. 23. Change in the meaning of the word Transubstantiation since the Schoolmen. Belief of the Gjreek Church the same as ours, p. 25. Reform as to Masses in the Council of Trent. It also desired that the people too should communicate, not be present only, p. 26. Our Lord ever pleads His Sacrifice in Heaven, p. 27. That same Sacrifice the Church pleads on earth, p. 28. English and Roman Churches alike deny that any fresh " merit " can be gained beyond what was gained on Mount Calvary, p. 28. Alike own, that the merits of that One Sacrifice are applied, p. 29. Abuses of Masses in 14th century owned, p. 30. Real principles of Tract 90 never condemned, nor the real teaching of any one on the Holy Eucharist, pp. 30, 31. 4. English and Galilean belief as to General Councils, p. 32. vi Contents. Art. 19 does not relate to formal decrees of the Church, nor state any thing as to present errors, p. 33. Papal infallibility no part of the formal Roman faith, p. 34. Bossuet's instances in disproof of it, pp. 35, 36. 5. English Church teaches the Divine authority of the whole Church, p. 37. And that there is a body of necessary faith, p. 38. Archbishop Ussher on the agreement of Scripture and Tradition, p. 39. Church of England lays down limits t)f the authority of the Church ; docs not admit of private mis-judgments of individuals within - those limits, pp. 40, 41. General Councils admitted paramount authority of Holy Scripture, coinciding with Divine tradition, pp. 42, 43. S. Leo, p. 44. 6 a. English Church holds that there is One Catholic Apostolic Church, pp. 44, 45. Unity, a) objective or organic ; b) subjective, through agreement of human wills, p. 45. Organic unity of the Church is through its union with Christ its Head, by the Sacraments, and the indwelling of God the Holy Ghost, as taught by S. Cyril of Alexandria and S. Hilary, pp. 46 —57. Inter-communion a duty; but its suspension does not alone destroy unity. Instances ; Rome and Churches of Asia Minor, as to keeping of Easter, p. 59. Roman and African Churches about invalidity of heretical baptism, p. 59. S. Meletius, p. 60. S. Chrysostom ; 5th General Council ; S. Aidan and British Church ; East and West, p. 61. Division of East and West perpetuated by the claim of the Pope to Universal Monarchy, pp. 62, 63. Russian Church converted by the Greeks since the division, p. 64. Antipopes, p. 64. Our Lord's Prayer as to unity fulfilled, like other prophecy, on God's part, man falls short of its complete fulfilment by his own fault, p. 65. 6 b. English Church has not rejected a visible Head ; not more inde- pendent of Rome than Africa was at the time of S. Augustine, pp. 66, 67. Bishops of Rome and Africa alike ignorant of any inherent right of Rome to receive appeals, pp. 68, 69. S. Augustine and African Bishops declined allowing appeals to Rome, unless directed by Nicene Canon, pp. 70, 71. Canon of Sardica implies that it made a new rule, p. 72. Contents. vii It granted, not appeal but revision, p. 73. In early times bad people betook themselves to Rome, where their demerits were unknown ; instances, pp. 73, 74. S. Cyprian and African Synod on the appeal of Basilides, pp. 74, 75. African Church excommunicated any who should appeal to Eome, p. 76. Evils of appeals to Eome as stated in the Council of Basle, p. 77. Excessive extension of the power of Eome complained of and owned in the 14th Century, pp. 78, 79. English Church justified in reforming by itself, p. 80. Eeformation needed, but delayed, p. 81. Three Councils held, but no Eeform, p. 82. 6 c. Charge of denying the perpetual Divine voice of the Church, p. 82. The whole truth, which the Church now has, was fully taught to and by the Apostles, pp. 84, 85. Eevelation complete at the first, p. 86. Fresent office of God the Holy Ghost in the Church, p. 87. Heresies may be condemned by the whole Church without a General Council ; instances, pp. 88, 89. No fixed rule as to settling disputes on faith, p. 90. Church of Eome, by leaving the Immaculate Conception an open question, and then declaring it matter of faith, shows that it does not hold that they need be decided at once, p. 91. Our Lord promised that the whole Church should not " fall into error," not that it should always act wisely, pp. 92, 93. Truth may be settled simultaneously in the whole Church, p. 94. Clouds hanging over the Eoman Church too, p. 95. We, equally with the Eoman Church, have infallible truth, as resting on infallible authority, p. 96. The Eastern being a portion of the Church, what is received by Eoman Church only has not infallible authority, as not being universally received, p. 97. Thoughts about re-union of the Churches, p. 98. The main objections of the English generally is to things not declared by the Eoman Church to be "de Fide," p. 99. 7 a. Art. XXII. Formal doctrine as to Invocation of Saints, p. 100. Quasi-authoritative Eoman doctrine as to the Blessed Virgin, pp. 101—106. Advances in that system, pp. 106, 107. Bishop Andrewes on the sort of Invocations rejected by Article XXII., pp. 108, 109. The practical Eoman system authoritative, yet not held to be " de Fide." Its reception no necessary term of re-union, yet the great obstaclo viii Contents. to it, as interfering with the simple and exclusive reliance on Jesus, p. 111. Difference between ancient addresses to Saints and modern Roman practice, pp. 112 — 114. Official statements of the Roman Catholic hierarchy as to the prevailing cultus of the Blessed Virgin, pp. 115 — 120. Faber on its future extension, pp. 116, 117. Place of that cultus in Faber, p. 118. Contrast with Holy Scripture, p. 119. New principles in defining the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, p. 121. 1) Doctrine defined to obtain grace from Blessed Virgin in return, p. 122. 2) Personal infallibility of the Pope owned and submitted to by the Bishops, p. 124. Difference between a General Council, and giving opinions to one infallible, p. 126. Minority, who dissented, were ignored, ib. Insulated doubts as to declaring the Immaculate Conception de fide, pp. 127, 128. Grave objections from France, p. 130. Felt almost universally in Austria, p. 132. Insulated doubts from the rest of Germany, p. 133. From Switzerland, Savoy, p. 135. Melchite Patriarch, Vicar Apostolic of Constantinople, India, p. 136. Silence in the United States, p. 137. Strong hopes of gifts from the Blessed Virgin in return for the glory done to her, p. 138. Mary spoken of as the giver of good or grace, when we should speak of God or Jesus, p. 142. Precedent set for any thing else currently taught of the Blessed Virgin being made matter of faith by the Pope alone, p. 146. The doctrine defined went beyond what some Bishops wished for; active and passive conception, ib. All taught currently in the Church, or expressed by the Pope, held to be Divine truth, p. 148. Doctrine as to the Blessed Virgin formed on the doctrine as to Jesus, p. 150. Mary, "our Co-Redemptress," p. 151. Held to have aided Jesus in our redemption, p. 153. To have obtained " of congruity " for us all which Jesus gained " of condignity," p. 154. To have given Jesus, as being something of her own, to die for us p. 156. To have helped Him to undergo death for us, p. 157. Contents. ix Jesus, in dying- for us, said to have obeyed His Mother's will, p. 158. Dogmatic precision of this language, p. 160. Minute parallel of the prerogatives and offices of Mary with those of Jesus, p. 161. Souls " bora of God and Mary." Mary, indwelling the soul, is said to prepare the soul for Jesus and the Holy Ghost, p. 164. " The centre of creation," p. 166. " The complement of the Trinity," p. 167. Results of wrong reading, " she shall bruise thy head," pp. 167, 168. The Blessed Virgin held to be co-present with our Lord In the Holy Eucharist, p. 169. " Feeds all with her own flesh," p. 170. Graces consequent on this, p. 171. Present in the Host, p. 172. Difficulties as to alleged " revelations " as a ground of faith, p. 172. Probability of further development of the system as to the Blessed Virgin, p. 174. Greatness of development anticipated, p. 175. Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin contradicted by earlier and later writers, pp. 176, 177. Fresh impulse to devotion to the Blessed Virgin, p. 180. Would consistently issue in fresh articles of faith in regard to her, p. 181. Forgiveness and grace spoken of as gained more easily from the Blessed Virgin than from Jesus, pp. 182, 183. Adoration to the Blessed Virgin the same as to God, only inferior and relative, pp. 184, 185. Advance in the devotion to the Blessed Virgin, p. 186. Checks in the last century withdrawn, p. 187. In what it may end, p. 188. Archbishop of Gorizia on the state of the Roman Church, p. 189. 7 b. What English divines reject as to Purgatory, p. 190. Suffering inevitable in seeing all one's past sin in sight of Jesus, p. 191. Roman and English Church are agreed who are saved, p. 192. Possible blending of intense pain and joy, p. 193. Greek Church too holds that departed souls are at rest, p. 194. Common Roman opinion that they have none, p. 195. Purgatory held to be a special kingdom of the Blessed Virgin, p. 196. Suffering at the Day of Judgment a Purgatory, p. 197. Prayers for souls in Purgatory held to be more acceptable than prayers for the living, p. 197. 7 c. Indulgences, for the first ten centuries, nothing else than abridg- ment of canonical penance, in consideration of the case, pp. 198, 199. New indulgences at the Crusades a remission of sin too, p. 200. Severe censure of new indulgences in Roman Church, p. 201. Few or no indulgences for the departed in the first 1400 years, p. 202. a X Contents. Held lo be prayers in the name of the Church, p. 203. Abuses of them forbidden in Council of Trent, p. 204 Greek Church agrees with us, p. 205. 7 d. Council of Trent condemns the same abuses of images as our Church, pp. 206, 207. 8. The differences between Rome and us exaggerated, p. 207. Grounds for not thinking Canons of Trent to be aimed at in Article XXII., p. 208. But practical system remained, p. 209. Proposals for union from Du Pin to Archbishop Wake under sanction of Cardinal de Noailles, pp. 210, 211. Du Pin's conviction that few of our Articles needed explanation, pp. 212, 213. Du Pin on Article VI., p. 213. On Articles X., XI., p. 214. On Articles XIII., XIV, p. 215. On Articles XIX, XX, XXI, p. 216. On Articles XXII, XXIV, XXV, p. 217. Two chief Sacraments owned by Bessarion, p. 218. Anointing of the sick in Greek Church agrees with S. James, p. 219. Anointing of sick for restoring health in old times in England and under Edward VI, pp. 220, 221. Not rejected by English Church, p. 222. Statement of Council of Trent as to effects of Extreme Unction requires explanation, p. 223. Doubts of Roman Divines as to its meaning, p. 221. Remission of sins already given in Absolution, p. 226. Greek statement has no difficulty, p. 227. Du Pin on Art. XXVIII, p. 228. Transubstantiation probably a question of words, p. 229. Du Pin on Art. XXX, XXXI, p. 230. On Ait. XXXII, XXXVI, p. 231. He owned English Orders, p. 231. His satisfaction at the English forms for confirming and consecrating Bishops, p. 232. Taken from those used for Archbishop Chichele, p. 233. Du Pin on Art. XXXVII. and Primacy of Roman Pontiff, p. 234. Wake's satisfaction at this, p. 235. Desire of Du Pin and others for union, p. 235. Hope of reconciliation of the Church, p. 236. Papal power increased by forged Decretals, according to Fleury, contrary to ancient dis- cipline, pp. 237, 238. 1. In that Councils were not to be held without the Pope, p. 239. 2. In removing to Rome judgments as to Bishops, p. 240. 3. In the translation of Bishops, p. 241. Contents. XI 4. In the erection of new Bishoprics, p. 212. 5. In the union or extinction of Bishoprics, p. 243. 6. The multiplying of Metropolitans, Patriarchs, Primates, p. 243. 7. Extension of appeals and consequent destruction of discipline, pp. 214, 245. Bad effects of this upon the Popes and Roman people, pp. 216, 2 47. 8. Immunity of Clerks from civil or criminal jurisdiction, pp. 248,249. Belations to the Greeks changed by them, p. 250. 9. Evils from the legates a latere, pp. 250, 251. 10. Destruction of Metropolitan authority and of Provincial Councils, pp. 252, 253. Lasting evils of forged decretals, p. 253. Destruction of discipline, p. 25 4. False decretals the most mischievous of all forgeries, p. 255. Forgery owned, the system remained, p. 256. Perils to the Roman Church from the vast unsupported system as to the Blessed Virgin, p. 258. Possible office for the English Church, p. 259. Mulder's acknowledgment that corruptions of past ages produced Protestantism, p. 260. De Maistre's hope of re-union of Christians through the English Church, p. 260. Describes English Church as " very precious," 261. Hope of re-union with the Greek Church, p. 263. Heresy commonly imputed by the Greek Church to the Filioque may be rejected, while the word is retained, p. 264. Addition unintentional on part of the Western Church, p. 265. Now, is an essential expression of our faith, p. 266. Hopes of authoritative explanations with Greek and Reman Church, ib. God's mercies to the English Church, p. 268. She has Orders, and Sacraments dependent upon Orders, p. 270. God gives to Dissenters what they ask Him ; to us, gifts in His Sacra- ments also, p. 230. Varied testimonies that we have the Body and Blood of Christ and true Absolutions, p. 274. Life in the Church of England variously tried, but more vigorous now, after three centuries, p. 276. Our Episcopate Divine, p. 278. Organic working of God the Holy Ghost throughout the Church, p. 278. Progress throughout the Church of England in this century j deeper now than before, p. 280. " Protestantism tends to unbelief," not English Church, p. 282. Sects attest faithfulness of the Church, p. 284. Essay and Review scepticism only a passing storm, tending to unite believers, p. 285. xii Contents. POSTSCEIPT. Ultramontanes receding further from the principles of the early Church p. 287. Belief, that consent of the whole Church is essential to infallibility, held to be extinct, p. 288. Infallibility held to extend beyond matters of faith or morals, p. 289. Claimed to be already conceded by Gallican Church, p. 289. Inaccurate statement of Gallican theory, p. 290. Bellarmine's limitations of Ultramontane doctrine, p. 291. Infallibility now claimed for the Pope as to matters of fact, or things unconnected with faith or morals, p. 292. Instances of matters of fact, pp. 294, 295. Toleration held to be in itself inexpedient, pp. 296, 297. " Denial of clerical immunities in criminal causes " and " non-inter- vention " condemned infallibly, pp. 298, 299. " Civil Princedom " of Roman Pontiff made matter of faith, pp. 300, 301. Incidental sayings of Pope claimed to be infallible, pp. 302, 303. The Pope's word, " the very "Word of God," p. 304. Then, all statements of all former Popes, " the very Word of God," p. 305. Difficulties involved, p. 305. True statements of former Popes irreconcileable with present theory or practice, p. 305. S. Gregory and Innocent III. on marriage of near of kin contradicted by Alexander VI., pp. 305, 306. Pope Celestine, on equal hereditary right of all Bishops, contradicts theory that all jurisdiction is from the Pope, p. 307. S. Leo, that reception by the Church confirms his formal statement, p. 308. S. Gregory I. See of S. Peter equally in Eome, Alexandria, Antioch, p. 308. That the title " Universal Bishop," as given to any Bishop, himself also, derogates from honour of all Bishops, risks the fall of the whole Church, and that whoso desires it, is a forerunner of Anti- Christ, pp. 309—314. S. Leo IX., that such claim is proud, as destroying equality of rank of Bishops, p. 314. Leo II., in accepting condemnation of Pope Honorius by Sixth General Council, and anathematizing him, p. 314. S. Leo I., and Pope Adrian, on the rank of Constantinople, p. 315. S. Leo I., and Gelasius, that Christ alone is without sin, p. 315. Innocent III., that " Mary was produced in fault (culpa)," and " was Contents. xiii purified from original sin in her mother's womb," contrary to Gregory XV. and the recent dogma, p. 316. Summary, p. 317. This doctrine of Papal infallibility not yet formally proposed for reception, p. 318. Yet English Government held the most Anti-Christian in the world on ground of it, p. 319. Doctrine of civil princedom of the Pope formed by Pius IX., p. 320. Fleury on the evils of the temporal power of the Pope and of Bishops, pp. 321—321. Its " necessity " is now to be matter of faith, p. 325. Claim that the Pope is the perpetual channel of revelation to the Church, pp. 326, 327. Doctrines as to the Blessed Virgin, which would thus become matters of faith, pp. 328—333. Will those who think like Bossuet aid towards re-union? pp. 334, 335. Note A. The faith, according to the Fathers, is contained in Holy Scripture. Extracts from S. Irenseus, Tertullian, S. Clement of Alexandria, S. Hippolytus, Origen, S. Dionysius Alex., S. Cyprian, S. Athanasius, S. Cyril Jerus., S.Hilary, S. Epiphanius, S. Optatus, S. Basil, S. Gregory of Nyssa, S. Ambrose, S. Jerome, Theophilus Alex., Rufinus, S. Augustine, S. Chrysostom, S. Isidore Pelus., S. Cyril Alex., Theodoret, S. Proclus, S. Leo, pp. 336—351. Note B. Doubts among the Roman Catholic Bishops as to making the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin matter of faith, pp. 351 — 406. Note C. The Greek Church believes the Blessed Virgin to have been conceived in original sin, pp. 407 — 409. A A LETTER, do-. My dearest Friend, You think that, Dr. Manning's last letter having been addressed to myself, it is desirable that I should in some way reply to it. It would cost me much, not to undertake any task which you might wish me to essay. You know how long it has been my wish to part with all controversy, and to consecrate the evening of my life to the unfolding of some of the deep truths of God's Holy Word, as God might enable me, by aid of those whom He has taught in times past. This em- ployment, and practical duties which God has brought to me, were my ideal of the employments of the closing years of a laborious life. The inroad made upon the Gospel by unbelievers, or half- believers, compelled me in part to modify this my hope. Still, since there is a common foe, pressing alike upon all who believe in Jesus, I the more a 2 4 Personal explanation ; I have hoped, at least, to be freed from any necessity of controversy with any who hold the Catholic faith. The recent personal appeal of Dr. Manning to myself seems, as you and other friends think, to call for an exception to this too ; yet, since " the night cometh when no man can work," I trust that I shall not be thought to shrink from duty, if, hereafter, I should maintain silence, in order to give myself to that which seems to me more especially my calling. Ordinarily, it would be of very little moment what is said of any individual. Yet since, in this juncture of the conflict with unbelief, I have felt it my duty to seek for hearty co-operation with those who have often felt it their duty to oppose me, and Dr. Manning calls this " a drifting back from old moorings '," it seems to me a duty both to them and to those with whom I have more com- monly acted, to explain that it is not. Ever since I knew them (which was not in my earliest years) I have loved those who are called " Evangelicals." I loved them, because they loved our Lord. I loved them, for their zeal for souls. I often thought them narrow; yet I was often drawn to individuals among them more than to others who held truths in common with myself, which the Evangelicals did not hold, at least expli- citly. I believed them to be " of the truth." I have 1 Dr. Manning's Letter, p. 36. not " drifted back from old moorings." 5 ever believed and believe, that their faith was and is, on some points of doctrine, much truer than their words. I believed and believe, that they are often withheld from the clear and full sight of the truth by an inveterate prejudice, that that truth, as held by us, is united with error, or with indistinct acknowledgment of other truths which they them- selves hold sacred. Whilst, then, I lived in society, I ever sought them out, both out of love for themselves, and because I believed that nothing (with God's help) so dispels untrue prejudice as personal intercourse, heart to heart, with those against whom that prejudice is entertained. I sought to point out to them our common basis of faith. I never met with any who held the Lutheran doctrine of justification, that "justifying faith is that whereby a person believes himself to be justified." To others, who were not Calvinists, I used to say, " I believe all which you believe ; we only part, where you deny." I formed some lasting friend- ships with some among them who have finished their course, and with others who still remain. When occasion came, as in some of our struggles at Oxford, we acted together. What, then, I ventured on one occasion to remark to Archdeacon Manning, was not, that he "used to join with those with whom I could not 2 ," but that he joined them in a way at which I was 3 Dr. Manning, p. 36. 6 Personal explanation ; I have surprised. In plain words, he remained a member of, I think, two religious societies, some of whose principles I thought that we both held to be fault)-. I have united with the Evangelicals now, as I did before, whenever they would join with me in defence of our common faith ; I have not united with them in any of those things which were not in accordance with my own principles. It was not then any thing new that, when, in high places, fundamental truths had been denied, I sought to unite with those, some of whom had often spoken against me, but against whom I had never spoken. It was the pent-up longing of years. I had long felt that common zeal for faith could alone bring to- gether those who were opposed; I hoped that, through that common zeal and love, inveterate prejudices which hindered the reception of truth would be dispelled. This, however, was a bright vista which lay beyond. The immediate object was to resist unitedly an inroad upon our common faith. This I had done before, upon occasions less urgent. But while, on the one hand, I profess plainly that love for the Evangelicals which I ever had, I may be, perhaps, the more bound to say. that, in no matter of faith, nor in my thankfulness to God for my faith, have I changed. This was under- stood on both sides. We united to oppose unbelief, holding, each, what each believed that God had taught him. And this, perhaps, may be an occa- not " drifted back from old moorings" 7 sion to mention what relates to a very sacred season of my life, when, sixteen years ago, amid increasing fever and decreasing strength and ap- parent inefficiency of remedies, death seemed, day by day, nearer. Then, had it so pleased God that I should then die, I should have worded the con- fession of my faith in words like these : " I believe explicitly all which I know God to have revealed to His Church; and implicitly (implicite) any thing, if He has revealed it, which I know not." In simple words, "I believe all which the Church believes." This is my habit of mind now. This I confess when I say to God, " I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church." It is somewhat hard that when I, who ought to know mvself best, have denied that I have " shifted my ground," the statement that I have should be reiterated. It is sowing mutual mistrust. This, however, is but personal. The real point of Dr. Manning's letter is to assert the contradictory of the statement, " that the Church of England is in God's hands the great bulwark against infidelity in this land." This saying was not mine, but that of one of the deepest thinkers and observers in the Roman Communion. I see that I did not say this distinctly. My words were : " While 3 I know that a very earnest body of Roman Catholics rejoice in all the workings of God the Holy Ghost in the 3 Legal force of the judgments of the Privy Council, pp. 3, 4. 8 TJie Church of England now the great Church of England (whatever they think of her), and are saddened by what weakens her who is, in God's hands, the great bulwark against infidelity in this land, others seemed to be in an ecstasy of triumph at this victory of Satan." In this last category, I would say at once, that I did not include Cardinal Wiseman or Dr. Manning. They " wrote gravely 4 ," as I said, although I certainly thought Dr. Manning's letter dry, hard, unsym- pathizing. He seemed to me so intent on proving his point against the Church of England, for the sake of those whom he wished to detach from it, that all sorrow for the triumph of Satan was dried up. I said nothing of this. But I imagined that he identified the glory of God with the gaining fresh converts to the Roman Church; and so he seemed to me to forget, that each blow which he thought ought to help to detach us from the English Communion, was destructive to souls and a dis- honour to God. The saying itself, that " the Church of England is, in God's hands, the great bulwark against infidelity in this land," relates plainly only to a present fact. It does not aver, that the Church of England is the best possible bulwark ; but only, as a matter of fact, that it is at this moment in God's Providence a 4 lb. p. 5. My statement about Cardinal "Wiseman and Dr. Manning, was, " they wrote gravely, yet both of them (it now appears) were mistaken (as I was myself also), as to the legal effects of that judgment." bulwark against infidelity in this land. 9 real and chief bulwark against it. Of course, any Roman Catholic must think that the Roman Com- munion, if it were of the same extent in this land as the English Church is now, would be a much stronger bulwark. But this is not the question. The battle has to be fought now. Dr. Manning speaks of the evils resulting from " seventeen or eighteen thousand men [the English Clergy] edu- cated with all the advantages of the English Schools and Universities, and distributed all over England, who maintain a perpetual protest, not only against the [Roman] Catholic Church, but against the belief that there is any divine voice immutably and infallibly guiding the Church at this hour in the declaration of the Christian revelation to mankind 5 ." On this last hereafter. But then, these 18,000 Clergy have, to say the least, the same advantages for that, which they are vowed to do, viz., to " banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word," which Dr. Manning attributes to us for that, which we have no thought of doing, and which he must suppose us to do by virtue of our position, not by any word of most of us, since we are thinking of nothing less. Faith is, of course, the gift of God; but, whatever advantages our intellectual training can give to any of us for what we have no intention of doing, that it must with God's blessing give to us, for that end to 6 Letter, p. 35. 10 How the Church is a bulwark against unbelief. which our lives are consecrated, the maintenance of God's truth, as far as in man lies, and the teaching 1 it to the salvation of souls for whom Christ died. But the teaching of the Clergy is only a small portion of the efficacy of the Church in repelling unbelief. Tliey act but as individuals, subordinate to the Church in which they are God's ministers; the Church is a whole. And since we are more acted upon by what we do, than by what we hear, the Church, by putting into the mouths of all her members the ancient Creeds and Prayers which em- body the faith, is, yet more, a continual unchanging teacher of the truth which Christ revealed and de- livered to her at the first. She, through our mothers whom God had taught by her, taught us our faith at our mother's knee ; she, through her Prayers and Creeds, has taught us all our life long; and our faith which we professed and uttered became, by God's gift of faith, part of ourselves. Our bodies could be severed from our souls, but our faith could not, without our will, be severed from our hearts. We, of course, believe, that God the Holy Ghost, the " One Spirit " who animates and informs the " One Body " of Christ, teaches truth in her in a way different from that in which He, the Author of all Faith and Grace, is present with all Truth, wherever it is taught, and accompanies it by His Grace. As individuals, we, too, thankfully acknowledge that whoever teaches any true faith in Jesus is, so Dissenters probably owe much to the Church. 11 far, one of God's instruments against unbelief. Nay, such is the power of Divine faith, that every child, who has it, is such. " Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise." When our Lord came in His great humility, the faith of children rebuked the unbelief of the Scribes and Pharisees. The simple faith of a child now has power against unbelief, because it is the gift of God. The faith of dissenters, although often a very naked and fragmentary faith, must in its degree be a power of God against unbelief. I rather implied that there were other bulwarks against unbelief, when I spoke of the Church of England as " the great bulwark." But I think that Dr. Manning has overlooked the fact, that the dissenters among us are indebted for very much of their faith to the Church from which they dissent. The dissenters, in the main, correspond to the Protestant bodies abroad. When then one compares the general condition of the English dissenters with that of the like bodies abroad, the unbelief in Holland, the rationalism in Germany, the Socinianism of Geneva, the Arianism or Semi-Arianism prevalent among the French Calvinists, or the Universalism which is desolating the United States, and (with the excep- tion of one body) the almost entire neglect of baptism there among those who are the descendants of the English dissenters, — one cannot but think that the degree of faith surviving among them here is very much owing, under the mercy of God, to the 12 Dr. Colenso and " Essays and Reviews " English Church, which enfolds them all around, even while they are hostile to it. Mv own duties have not brought me into contact with dissenters ; so nothing which I say can have a personal character. But I have understood that many of the more devout among the older denomi- nations have acknowledged, that now there is more " life " in the Church of England than among them. I fear that those bodies which have most admitted among them the character of political dissent, have lost, as bodies, much of the life which they originally carried with them from the Church, and which God the Holy Ghost has preserved in individuals among them. The body, which apparently has most life in it, is (according to the universal rule) that which last and very slowly parted from the Church, the Wesleyan. Individual portents, such as those which Dr. Manning points to, Dr. Colenso and the writers in the Essays and Reviews, prove nothing as to a large system. Rather the temporary notoriousness which they gained shows the more their anomalousness. The attraction about them was, a curiosity to see what men in the position of Dr. Colenso (then a Bishop, although under no jurisdiction in England) and of the clerical writers of the Essays and Re- views would venture to say. The curiosity was an evidence to the unnaturalness and strangeness of the facts. People are curious, not about the indi- genous productions of a country, but about exotics. illustrate the faith of the Church. 13 Any thing more superficial than Dr. Colenso's first volume I never saw : the authors of the Essays and Reviews paid the tribute to the faith of the Church and people, that they did not speak out, for the most part, the unbelief or misbelief which they suggested. They were mostly unsystematic, dis- jointed, unreasoning. Any one who should wish to see what grounds were alleged for their state- ments, would have to go to the rationalist works of Germany, or to the infidel or Socinian press in England. Not any intrinsic demerits on their parts above other writings of their class gained them this unenviable repute ; but the miserable fact, that persons who had pledged themselves to the defence of the faith had become its assailants. Dr. Davidson's work on the Old Testament, gathered mostly from the German rationalist works against it, which he largely translated, although more systematic and argumentative, excited no surprise, because he did not belong to the Church of England. The anomaly of such books as Dr. Colenso's and the Essayists did surprise people in England. Pious minds among the Protestants in Germany (and, I have heard, in France also), who correspond to pious English dissenters, were sur- prised, not at the attacks, which among them are every-day things to which they were inured, but at the strong feeling which those attacks called forth. The union of 11,000 or 12,000 Clergy, on occasion of the judgment of the Judicial Committee, to 14 Dr. Manning's charge, that the Church restate the doctrines which had been impugned (representing, as they did, other thousands of the same faith, who, on different grounds, did not join in that protest), showed how little that misbelief had penetrated among the Clergy of England. Mr. Wilson, on his trial, when he affirmed the everlastingness of future punishment, and denied that he had taught more than what is a modifica- tion of the Roman doctrine of purgatory 6 , bore witness to the faith of the Church, in that he shrank from denying before his judges the truth which, in the simple meaning of words, our formu- laries affirm and he had denied. But Dr. Manning goes further. He not only denies that the Church of England is " in God's hands the great bulwark against infidelity in this land," but he maintains the paradox, that it is " the cause and spring of the existence " of that unbelief ; and this, ( 1 ) by its denials of truths which, he says, it has rejected; (2) by "detaching the truths which it has received from the divine voice of the Church;" (3) by " denying the perpetual and ever- present assistance of the Holy Spirit, whereby the Church, in every age, is not only preserved from error, but enabled to declare the truth." Happy world, if infidelity were the product of one time or clime, or of one set of causes only ! It is one form only of man's rebellion against God. 8 See Legal force of Judgment, &c., pp. 9, 10. of England is the cause of unbelief. 15 Any one who knows but a little of this side of human nature, knows that tendencies to unbelief, as well as a capacity for faith, lie deep in man's heart; he knows too, what variety of causes, dis- positions, circumstances, what want of balance of intellectual or moral qualities or culture, what neglects of grace or spiritual defects predispose men to forfeit the gift of faith. It would then plainly be unphilosophical and untrue to charge upon any special cause alone, a spiritual disease, which is part of man's unsubmission to his God. Unbelief may be a strange epidemic at particular times or among particular nations. Now, among us, every thing comes to the surface. But the same causes were in operation when Julian aposta- tized, or he who became St. Augustine fell, before his conversion, among the Manichecs. The same spiritual defects hindered the conversion of philo- sophers, to whom the Cross of Christ or the resur- rection of the flesh appeared foolishness, which now destroy the faith of half-believers. A very thought- ful writer in the Roman Communion has said, " I prefer the open infidelity of the nineteenth century to the hidden infidelity of the middle ages ; for we know now what we have to meet." The English Reformation cannot have been the cause of the infidelity of the middle ages, or of that which our countrymen found on their first renewed intercourse with Italy. It was not the cause of the unbelief, which absorbed successively the young Italians who 16 Rejection of much Christian truth went up to the capital under the late regime in Naples. For the causes of that unbelief are well known. Nor did it originate the worship of the Goddess of Reason in the first French revolution, since Catholic bishops and priests apostatized. Since it did not occasion the apostasy of Kenan, why should it be charged with the heathenism of Colenso ? The middle classes in France, I have been told by well-informed French Catholics, are well nigh lost to the faith. I remember the time when processions in France and Catholic Germany were attended only by a few women and children. It is said that, when the churches were reopened in Paris after the first revolution, there were only fifty communicants at Easter. There has been, blessed be God, a great restoration of faith there, as among ourselves also. It is sad to point out a common misery, the destroyer of souls here and there. Yet so much is clear, that it is wrong to charge upon the English Church a terrible evil, under which every other part of the Catholic Church has suffered. It is more to our purpose to consider those grounds which Dr. Manning alleges for his assertion. (1) That it " 7 rejects much of Christian truth." What we believe, Dr. Manning states thus : " 7 The Church of England has also preserved other doc- trines " (besides those of the existence of a super- 1 Dr. Manning's Letter, p. 22. charged on the English Church by Dr. M. 1 7 natural world, the revelation of Christianity, the inspiration of Holy Scripture) " with more or less of exactness, such as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, Baptism, and the like. I will not," he adds, " enter into the question as to what other doctrines are retained by it, because a few more or a few less would make little difference in the final estimate a Catholic would make of it V Fourteen years must have strangely dulled the memory of that faith which Dr. Manning had before he entered the Roman Church, and it is strange to contrast his niggard concessions with the large-hearted statements of Roman Catholics of other days. " We are not in most things," says Du Pin to Archbishop Wake, " so far removed from one another that we may not be mutually reconciled. And would that all Christians were one fold 9 ! " " This union," said Dr. Doyle, " is not so difficult as it appears to many. It is not difficult; for, in the discussions which were held, and the correspondence which occurred on this subject, as well that in which Archbishop Wake was engaged, as the others which were carried on between Bossuet and Leibnitz, it appears that the points of agreement between the Churches were numerous, those on which the parties hesitated few, and apparently not the most important. The effort which was then made was not attended with 8 Letter, p. 20. • Letter in App. to Mosheim, t. vi. p. 770. B 18 Doctrine held alike ly success; but its failure was owing more to princes than priests ; more to state-policy than a difference of belief." We have been wont to dwell with pleasure on the amount of faith which we confess in common with the Roman Church. In the three Creeds we confess together the whole doctrine as to the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation of our Blessed Lord ; not, " with more or less of exact- ness," but in the self-same words, the only words in which the Church has ever embodied it. We teach alike the one end of man, the resurrection of the dead, and of the flesh specifically, the judg- ment to come according to our works, and the life everlasting, or the everlasting fire. We have the self-same doctrine of original sin 2 and its trans- mission ; the same prayer against " deadly sin ;" the same belief in the " full, perfect, and sufficient Sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction " made by our Dear Lord, " by His one oblation of Himself once 1 Catholic Miscellany, 1824, p. 234, sqq., quoted by Palmer on the Church, ii. 232. The learned Rev. J. Berington said to me in my early youth, " there is not much difference between us" (the Churches). 2 The Council of Trent says, " This concupiscence, which the Apostle sometimes calls ' sin,' the sacred synod declares that the Catholic Church never understood to be so called sin, as though it were in the regenerate truly and properly sin, but because it is from sin and inclines to sin." Cone. T. p. 29. The words of our Article, "that it hath the nature of sin," involve the statement that it is not " truly and properly sin," as the Eoman denial, that it is not properly sin, implies that it hath something of the nature of sin about it. the Roman and Englisli Churches. 19 offered for the sins of the whole world." We both alike acknowledge our own unworthiness, that His merits alone can stand between us and our sins ; both alike believe in the efficacy of " His most precious Blood," wherewith He cleanseth us; both, in His perpetual Intercession for us at the Right Hand of God. We use the self- same prayers in Baptism, and thank God, in the same words, that He has been pleased to regenerate our children therein. We both confess " one Baptism for the remission of sins." After confession, the Church directs the self-same words to be used in absolving from sin. I believe that we have the same doc- trine of grace and of justification 3 . There is not one statement in the elaborate chapters on Justi- fication in the Council of Trent which any of us could fail of receiving; nor is there one of their anathemas on the subject, which in the least rejects any statement of the Church of England. As to all the heresies which distracted the early Church, whether in regard to the Person of our Lord or His kingdom, or the Person and Office of God the Holy Ghost (those of Arius and his followers, Macedonius, Nestorius, Eutyches, Marcellus), or again, the practical heresies in the West (of Nova- 3 I endeavoured to point out many years ago, that if people, on different sides, dwelt on their real agreement instead of their differences in wording their belief as to justification, this would be the result. " Justification," Univ. Sermon. To show this, is the object of Le Blanc, Theses Theologicse. B 2 20 Special dignity of the two great Sacraments. tian, Pelagius, Donatus), we reject alike the same errors. Even on other points, in the spirit of that prayer in which we all unite, that God would "inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord," and that He would " grant that all they who confess " His " Holy Name may agree, in the truth of" His "holy word, and live in unity and godly love 4 ," we used ever to be glad to point out (as those whom we re- verenced had done before us) how much there was in common even where there was divergence. ii. Dr. Manning says, "If it" (the Church of England) " sustains a belief in two Sacraments, it formally propagates unbelief in the other five V We have pointed out again and again, how the Church of England, while teaching (as the fathers often do) that Baptism and the Holy Eucharist have a special dignity, symbolized by the Water and the Blood which flowed from our Redeemer's side 6 , is careful not to exclude other appointments of God from being in some way Sacraments, as channels of grace, or (in the old definition of Sacraments), "visible signs of an invisible grace." This is indeed inseparable from the idea of Confirmation, Orders, Absolution, Marriage. * Prayer for the Church Militant. 5 Letter, p. 33. * See Scriptural Doctrine of Holy Baptism ("Tracts for the Times," No. 67), pp. 294—298. English Church owns Sacraments less than these. 21 Marriage is, we know, directly called a " Sacra- ment " in the Homilies 7 . Of " Ordination " it is said, that neither 8 be it nor any other Sacrament else, such Sacraments as Baptism and the Communion are. " Absolution," it says, " has the promise of forgive- ness of sins." " Our Articles," I said long ago 9 , " do not introduce words at random. It has then some meaning when our Articles say, they ' are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel,' that they ' have not like nature of Sacraments ;' or the Ho- milies, ' that in the exact signification of a Sacra- ment there be but two,' or that ' Absolution is no such Sacrament as Baptism and the Lord's Sup- per are,' or that ' neither it nor any other Sacra- ment else be such Sacraments as Baptism and the Communion are,' or that ' the ancient writers in giving the name not only to these five, but also to divers other ceremonies, did not mean to repute them as Sacraments in the same signification as the two ;' or that ' S. Augustine, in the exact meaning of the word, makes mention expressly of two.' And with this coincides the definition of our Catechism, that there are ' two only, generally (i. e. universally) necessary to salvation,' the others so entitled not 7 Sermon on Swearing, p. 1. 8 On Common Prayer and Sacraments, p. 1. 0 Letter to Dr. Jelf, 1841, pp. 34, 35. The statement had been made in substance in the Letter to the Bishop of Oxford, 1839. It was repeated in my letter to the Bishop of London, 1851, pp. 5—22. 22 Abuse alone as to Extreme Unction objected to. being of universal obligation, but relating to certain conditions and circumstances of life only. Cer- tainly persons, who denied these rites to be in any way Sacraments, (according to those larger defini- tions of S. Augustine, ' a sacred sign 10 ' or ' a sign 1 applied to things of God,' or of the Schoolmen 2 ' a sign of a sacred thing,') would have said so at once, and not have so uniformly and guardedly said on each occasion, that they were not such, in the ''exact' or 'the same signification,' the 1 exact meaning,' ''such, 1 'of the like nature;' nor, of one which they regarded as in no sense a Sacrament, would they have said ' neither it, nor any other Sacrament else.' " Even as to Extreme Unction, it only objects to the later abuse before the Council of Trent, when it was customarily administered to those only, of whom there was a moral certainty that they could not recover; and, if they should recover, it was a question whether it should be again administered to them when thev should again be sick. This is manifestly the meaning of the words, " the corrupt following of the Apostles," Art. XXV., viz. that the unction of the sick, which the Apostle's words im- ply was to be given with the view or hope of their recovering, was given when, but for some special 10 De Civ. Dei, x. 33. 1 De Doctr. Christ, iii. 6, quoted by Bp. Jewel, Answer to Hard., p. 82. s P. Lombard, 1. iv. dist. 1, ib. Real Objective Presence taught clearly. 23 interposition of God, they could not recover. The Council of Trent, too, we used to point out, not only makes a distinction between the dignity of the Sacraments which it acknowledges, but pronounces an Anathema on those who deny it. iii. Dr. Manning proceeds. "If it" (the Church of England) "recognizes an undefined Presence of Christ in the Sacrament, it formally imposes on its people a disbelief in Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Altar." Those before us have pointed out, how the Church of England taught, not an " undefined," but " a Real Objective Presence of Christ's Blessed Body and Blood." Take, e. g. the statement framed word by word on our Formularies, in a work 3 which received the sanction of two of our then Archbishops, to whom it was, with permission, in- scribed, and which used to be recommended to Candidates for Holy Orders. "Taking as her immutable foundation the words of Jesus Christ — ' This is My Body — This is My Blood of the New Covenant, and, Whoso eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, hath Eternal Life,' she believes that the Body or Flesh, and the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Creator and Redeemer of the world, both God and Man, united indivisibly in one Person, are verily and indeed given to, taken, eaten, and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper, under the outward sign or form of Bread and ' Palmer on the Church, i. 526. 24 Meaning of Transubstantiation changed Wine, which is on this account the ' Partaking or Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ.' She believes, that the Eucharist is not the sign of an absent Body, and that those who partake of it re- ceive not merely the figure, or shadow, or sign of Christ's Body, but the reality itself. And as Christ's Divine and Human Natures are inseparably united, so she believes that we receive in the Eucha- rist, not only the Flesh and Blood of Christ, but Christ Himself, both God and Man." With regard to the term " Transubstantiation," there must be a real difference between the meaning which it had in the minds of the Schoolmen, and that which it must now have since the Catechism of the Council of Trent. For it is there taught with authority, that " the Eucharist has been called bread, because it has the appearance, and still retains the quality, natural to bread, of supporting and nourishing;" but the Schoolmen thought, that with the " change of substance " that power of nourishing ceased. Yet this being granted, I know not what can be included in our term " substance," which the English Church affirms to remain, which is not also included in the Roman term " accidents," which they also affirm to remain. Clearly the doc- trine which the Church of England rejects under the term " Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of bread and wine," is only one which '■overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament," in that the sign and the thing signified became the same. This since Schoolmen. Greek Church. 25 was so, according to the doctrine of the Schoolmen, in which " substance " was equivalent to " matter." The meaning of the word " substance " being chanced, the Roman doctrine must be so far changed too. Archbishop Plato, in the Greek Church, admits the term /aerovo-tojo-t? in a sense which, if proposed to it, the English Church must accept. " The Eastern and Greek-Russian Church admits the word ' Transubstantiation,' in Greek /jLtTovo-icocris, not that physical and carnal transub- stantiation, but the sacramental and mystical, and receives that word Transubstantiation in the same sense in which the oldest fathers of the Greek Church received the words /icraXXayr), /aera^ea-t?, /AeTacrTot^etajo-is V A sacramental or a hyper- physical change no English churchman, who be- lieves the Real Presence as his Church teaches, could hesitate to accept. The doctrine of the Eucharistic sacrifice depends upon the doctrine of the real objective Presence. Where there is the Apostolic succession and a con- secration in our Lord's words, there, it is held by Roman authorities too, is the Eucharistic sacrifice. The very strength of the expressions used of " the saei'ifices of masses," that " they were blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits," the use of the plural, and the clause " in the which it was commonly said," show that what the Article speaks of is not 4 In Dutens, (Euvres Melees, Part. ii. p. 171, in Palmer, i. 211, 2. 26 Reform as to Masses in Council of Trent. " the sacrifice of the Mass 5 ," but the habit (which, as one hears from time to time, still remains) of trusting to the purchase of Masses when dying, to the neglect of a holy life, or repentance, and the grace of God and His mercy in Christ Jesus, while in health. I have been obliged to speak negatively, in order to explain what it is which is denied. But the Church of England, acknowledging the belief of the fathers whose teaching we are required to follow 6 , and the doctrine of the Councils, which 6 The Council of Trent was obliged to enact that " the ordinary Bishops of each place should give diligent care and be bound to prohibit and remove all those things which have been brought in by avarice, idolatry (Eph. v. 5), or irreverence, which can scarcely be separated from impiety, or by super- stition, the false imitatress of true piety. And to comprise much in few words, let them prohibit altogether, in regard to avarice, all bargaining of all sorts or pay, or whatever is given for celebrating masses, and those importuning and illiberal exactions rather than requests for alms, and all else of this sort, which are not far removed from the stain of simony or certainly from filthy lucre." -Sess. xxii. de Sacrificio Missse. The Council of Trent also desired, as we do, that, whenever the Holy Eucharist should be celebrated, there sbould be those who should communicate, in which case private masses would have ceased. " The holy synod would wish, that at each mass the faithful present would communicate not only by spiritual affection, but also by sacramental reception of the Eucharist, that so they might have fuller benefit from this most holy sacrifice." Ib. c. 6 6 " They [preachers] shall in the first place be careful never to teach any thing from the pulpit to be religiously held and believed by the people, but what is agreeable to the doctrine of the Old and New Testament, and collected out of that very doctrine by the Catholic fathers and ancient Bishops." Con- Our Lord ever pleads His Sacrifice in Heaven. 27 it recognizes as "received by all men," receives what they taught. One thing alone she is jealous of, that nothing should seem to overshadow, or interfere with, or supplement the meritoriousness of the One Sacrifice of our dear Lord upon the Cross. This is what she every where guards: " The offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the world, original and actual, and there is none other satisfaction for sin but this alone. Wlierefore the sacrifices of Masses, &c." Plainly then, by the force of the word wherefore, she rejects no sacrifice which does not interfere with this. In celebrating the Holy Eucharist she pleads to " God, Who, of" His "tender mercy, did give" His "only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption, Who made there, by His one oblation of Himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world." But that sacrifice, once made, lives on in Heaven. There our Lord, who shall come down to judge, as He went into Heaven, still bears the marks of the wounds which for us and our salvation He received, effulgent with the glory of His Godhead, irradiant with His Divine love. There He pleads that all -Atoning Sacrifice; there, for these 1800 years, has He lived to make intercession for us, generation after vocation of a.d. 1571 (the same Convocation which enforced subscription to the Articles). 28 Eng. Sf Rom. Churches deny any fresh merit; generation, yea, for each one of our sinful race. But since His perpetual intercession for us (which is an article of faith contained in plainest words of Holy Scripture) does not interfere with that One Atone- ment made upon the Cross, neither does any plead- ing of that One Meritorious Sacrifice which was finished there, in that to the Merits of that One Oblation our dear Lord Himself adds nothing. It sufficed for the sins of the whole world. That One Sacrifice we plead in every " through Jesus Christ our Lord," with which we end each prayer. Our Lord, as we confess to God, " did institute, and in His Holy Gospel command us to continue, a per- petual memory of that His precious Death until His Coming again," that we might plead to the Father that same Sacrifice. In the Holy Eucharist we do in act what in our prayers we do in words. I am persuaded that, on this point, the two Churches might be reconciled by explanation of the terms used. The Council of Trent, in laying down the doctrine of the sacrifice of the Mass, claims nothing for the Holy Eucharist but an application of the One meri- torious sacrifice of the Cross. An application of that sacrifice the Church of England believes also. Many years have flowed away since we have taught this, and have noticed 7 how the words, " sacrifice," "proper," or "propitiatory sacrifice," have been alternately accepted or rejected, according as they 7 Tracts for the Times, No. 81, p. 52. own application of the One Sacrifice. 29 were supposed to mean that the Eucharistic sacrifice acquired something propitiatory in itself or only applied what was merited once and for ever by the One sacrifice of our Lord upon the Cross. " If you say," said even the Lutheran Pfaff 8 , " that the Eucharist applies to the faithful the propitiation made by the sacrifice on the Cross, no Protestant will dispute this. But if you believe that the devotion of the Eucharist acquires and obtains propitiation, you may be saying what is perhaps at variance from the opinion of the Roman Church. For the Council of Trent 9 says that, ' our Lord, in order that He might leave to His Church a visible sacrifice, whereby that bloody Sacrifice, which was to be once accom- plished on the Cross, might be represented, and its memory abide to the end of the world, and its salutary efficacy be applied to the remission of our daily sins, declaring Himself a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek, offered to God the Father His Body and Blood under the forms of bread and wine '.'" It is an Ultra-montanist Bishop, a Penitentiary of Pope John XXII., who, in the 14th century, in his work " On the moaning of the Church," said, " Our Church is full and over-full of altars, masses, 8 Diss, de Oblat. Euch. Irensei Fragm. Anecdot. subj., p. 211, quoted ibid. • Sess. 22, c. 4. 1 See Homilies, end of Book i., as vindicated in Pusey's " The Real Presence the Doctrine of the English Church." 30 Abuse of Masses in 1 4th cent, owned in Rom. Ch. and sacrifices, and therewith is, in the sacrifices, full of homicides, sacrileges, uncleannesses, and simonies and other wickednesses, excommunications and irregularities to the very utmost. — For at this day so many masses are said for gain or custom, or complaisance, or to cover wickednesses, or for their own justification, that both among priests and people the holy Body of the Lord is now held cheap. — Whence also S. Francis willed that the brothers every where should be content with one mass, fore- seeing that the brothers would wish to justify them- selves by masses, and reduce them to a matter of gain as we see done at this day. And now through custom or rather corruption it has indurated, that a mass, priced at three or four denars or one shilling, is bought and sold by a blind people and by wicked simoniacal priests V This is but the echo of a part of what was said over and over again twenty-six years ago; and our dear friend's tract 3 has done good and lasting service, by breaking off a mass of unauthorized traditional glosses, which had encrusted over the Thirty-nine Articles. The interpretation which he then put forth, and which in him was blamed, was at the time vindicated by others without blame 4 . The s Al varus Pelagius de Planctu Eccl. ii. 5, quoted by Gieseler, K. Gr. ii. 36. 8 Tracts for the Times, No. 90. 4 No blame was attached either to my own vindication of the principles of Tract 90, or to that of the Eev. W. B. T met 90 blamed, not its principles. 31 blame was occasioned by two circumstances, owing to which Tract 90 was thought to intend to admit much more than our friend meant. 1) There was, in regard to Art. XXII., a purposed vagueness in the first edition, occasioned by his own diffidence in that he did not wish to suggest how much of any practice, disused but not forbidden by the Church of England, might be resumed by individuals in her. 2) It was misinterpreted in an extreme Roman sense by Mr. Ward. But the principle of Tract 90, viz. that we are not to bring into the Articles, out of any popular system, any meanings which are not contained in their words, rightly and accurately understood, was not and could not be condemned. Sound teaching has been condemned, not when it was put forth distinctly, but while there was any indefiniteness about it. Dr. Manning alludes to the censure of our friend, Bishop Forbes, by the Scotch Bishops. But when he explained himself elaborately in his defence, he was censured no more. The doctrines which he taught have been vindicated in the Church of Scotland, with the whole breadth and depth of Patristic teaching \ and the paper, which censured his teaching before he was heard, is admitted to be only the private opinion of those who signed it. Heathcote. I vindicated it in my letter to Dr. Jelf, as the natural grammatical interpretation of the Articles ; Mr. Heath- cote, as their only admissible interpretation. ' Theological Defence for the Bp. of Brechin, &c, 18G0. 32 Eng. Gallican belief as to General Councils. iv. Dr. Manning says, " The Church of England, in the Articles, affirms, that all Churches have erred, that General Councils may err." In saying that " General Councils may err," she affirms less than Bellarmine, and indeed all Roman Divines, who affirm that General Councils have erred. For they speak of " General Councils which have been dis- approved," and of " General Councils which have been partly approved, partly disapproved." The Gallican Church held, as our Homilies also imply, that reception by the Church constitutes the true validity of a General Council. The language of the Homilies 6 , " those six Councils which were allowed and received of all men," agrees with that of Bossuet, " that is a lawful Council, with which, while acting as (Ecumenical, the whole Church communicates, and, the matter being dijudicated, holds it to be adhered to, so that the authority of the Council rests on the authority and consent of the Universal Church, nay, is the very authority of the Catholic Church V But then Dr. Manning gathers up Article XIX. into the formula "All Churches have erred." True, in one sense; there has been error every where. Satan has sown his seed every where. But not all la like way I preached in 1853, much more definitely and distinctly, the self-same doctrine of the Real Objective Presence, which was implied in my practical sermon of 1843 (which was condemned for reasons never published), and no one objected to it. 6 Homily against Peril of Idolatry, p. 2. ' Projet de Reunion, iv. 3. CEuvres, t. xxv. p. 455. Art. 19 does not relate to formal decrees. 33 at once, nor collectively, nor in any formal decision, so that the whole Church should agree in sanctioning what is untrue, which seems to be contrary to our Lord's promise, " The gates of hell shall not prevail against her." The Article says nothing about formal errors or decrees. This Article was a puzzle to me when young. Having received the then traditional interpretation, that the Article meant certain errors contained in decrees of the Church of Rome, I in- quired what were the erroneous decrees of " the Churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch," in the corresponding clause. I could obtain no in- formation, and thought it was my own ignorance. The two clauses, being put antithetically, must cor- respond. " Since" I argued, " they were decrees in the one case, they must have been decrees in the other." When upon fuller information I found that there were no canons of " Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch," which were intended, then it followed, on the same principle of the correspondence of the two clauses, that neither were canons of the Church of Rome spoken of. The Article, moreover, does not say that " the Church of Rome is in error " in the present, but " hath erred," in time past, just as it says of the other Patriarchates, that they " have erred," i. e. in time past. But whether its object is to state that corruptions had crept in in the Roman Church also, as a ground of the need of a Reformation, or whether it was meant as a protest against the infallibility of that Church by itself, in c 34 Papal infallibility no part of Roman faith. neither case does it militate against the inerrancy of the whole Church collectively. The fact that practical corruptions had crept in, was virtually owned by the Roman Church too, by the reforms which it instituted. But neither is "Papal Infallibility" an article of faith any where. The Eastern Church, in its whole length and breadth, agrees, of course, with us. But in the West, too, the Gallican Church, also, which holds the consent of the Universal Church to be es- sential to infallibility, could not hold the infalli- bility of the Pope, by himself, without such an (Ecu- menical Council. You remember, how Bossuet 8 not only adduces instances in which questions re- mained open after the Bishop of Rome had expressed his decided opinion, (as the question of rebaptizing heretics was settled by the Council of Aries 9 , or that of the keeping of Easter by the Council of Nice ',) or how questions were decided by the joint au- thority of a Bishop of Rome and another Patriarch, (as when the Origenists were condemned, first by Theophilus, and, through his influence, by Ana- stasius 2 ,) such judgment being accepted by the Universal Church ; or how the judgment of the 8 Defensio Declarat. Conv. Cleri Gall. 1682, L. 9. (Euvres, T. 33. 9 The Council of Aries is intended by S. Augustine under tbe term "plenary universal Council." See Pusey's " Councils of the Church," &c, p. 98. 1 lb. p. 108. 2 Bossuet, 1. c. c. 12. Bossuefs instances in disproof of it. 35 Bishop of Rome was confirmed by a subsequent Council ; or appeal from him was, in principle, allowed by S. Augustine 3 , — and not only this, but you will recollect how Bossuet even presses the case, in which Popes pronounced wrongly in matters of faith too. He urges the terrible and utter fall of Liberius (who not only subscribed a heretical creed and condemned S. Athanasius, but owned all the worst Arians, whence S. Hilary pronounced Anathema on him 4 ), or how Zosimus, himself ortho- dox, approved the Pelagian confession of Ccelestius 5 ; or Hormisdas, without enunciating wrong doctrine, yet, when appealed to in common with other Bishops, censured those who taught the right faith, as was afterwards owned by all 6 . He insisted also on the case of Honorius, who was anathematized by the sixth General Council, in that, when formally consulted by three Patriarchs, he approved of the heretical letter of Sergius, and con- demned the orthodox letter of Sophronius, and the true doctrine equally with the false 1 . Bossuet showed 3 " Suppose we think all those Bishops who judged at Eome were not good judges, there yet remained a plenary Council of the Universal Church, in which the cause might have been tried with the judges themselves, so that if they had judged amiss, their sentence might have been annulled." S. Aug. Ep. 43, ad Glor., &c, c. 7, n. 19, in Bossuet, c. 10. 4 Pusey's " Councils," &c, pp. 169—172. 6 Bossuet, c. 30. 8 lb. c. 1G— 18. 7 Bossuet, Gall. Orthod. Prav/. Diss. c. 54 — 57. (Euvres, T. 31, pp. 123—128. Def. Decl. Cler. Gall. L. 7, c. 21—23. T. 32, pp. 485-497. c 2 36 Bossuet, " Infallibility not in the Pope alone." too how Gregory II. and Stephen II., and Celestine TIL, formally gave wrong responses on questions touching marriage, and sanctioned what was in fact adultery 8 ; how Stephen II. and Nicolas I. gave wrong answers as to the Sacrament of Baptism — Stephen as to its form, Nicolas as to its words 9 . In the long Franciscan controversy about poverty, Bossuet shows 1 that Nicolas III. praised that, as conformable to the example of Our Lord, which John XXII. subsequently declared it to be erroneous and heretical to ascribe to Him ; and that he alleged that Our Lord did that, taking on Himself the " person of the weak," which was just and right. Lastly, John XXII. preached that publicly, and caused it (it is thought) to be preached at Paris, and defended it to the French king ; the contrary of which, he, when convinced by the French Theologians sent to him, confessed, " together with the Catholic Church," to be true 2 . Bossuet 3 himself held the distinction between " the see " and " him who sat thereon," maintaining that what Roman Bishops " taught, believed, de- clared, was not as yet (the teaching, belief, decla- ration) of the Roman Church and of the Apostolic See, until, being promulgated by the Roman Pontiff, and received by the whole Church, it obtained ; and that this was the Roman faith, the faith of 8 Boss. Def. Decl. L. 9, c. 37. 40. 9 lb. c. 37. 1 lb. c. 41—45. 2 lb. c. 46. ' lb. fin. Eng. Ch. holds Divine authority of whole Ch. 37 Peter, and of the Apostolic See, which could not fail." It is apparent that Bossuet and our Articles are, in this, speaking of different things, since Bossuet affirms that only to be de fide, which is received and sanctioned by the whole Church, our Article speaks of that which is not so received, since it compares the Roman Church with the Churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, as distinct from them. But the Church of England, equally with Bossuet, main- tains that which has been received by the whole Church to be certainly true. v. And this is, in fact, an answer to Dr. Manning's statement, that " the Church of England weakens the hold of the truths which it teaches, by detach- ing them from the Divine voice of the Church." The statement in the Articles, " The Church hath authority in controversies of faith," in itself implies a Divine authority ; for none but a Divine authority can have any power to decide in matters of faith. It also implies a necessary preservation of the Church, as a whole, from error, (according to our Lord's true promise, " The gates of hell shall not prevail against her," " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world,") because it would be sinful to say, that the Church has authority to declare what is untrue. The Athanasian Creed, of course, implies the same. " Whosoever will be saved, before all things, it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith." " We are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say." " This is the Catholic faith, which, except a man believe 38 Eng. Ch. holds a body of necessary faith. faithfully, he cannot be saved." For the " Catholic faith " can plainly mean nothing else than the faith held by the Catholic Church, which in our creeds we equally confess. It is a body of faith set before us on authority ; confessed by us now, as it was centuries ago ; immutable ; which we own that they who have received would incur the loss of their souls by wilfully casting it away, and, in it, rejecting God Who gave it. There is no room left for inquiry here. And so again, when, in the exhortation to godparents in the Baptismal Service, they are bidden to provide that " the child may learn the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health," the Church of England plainly teaches, that there is a body of faith, beyond the Apostles' Creed, which to " know and believe " is essential to the well-being of all Christians. When asserting also the suffi- ciency of the Holy Scriptures for salvation, it defines on the one side the power of the Church, but it recognizes the power which it defines. " Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to sal- vation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." The Church of England would not have said, that certain things are " not to be re- Usher on agreement of Scripture Tradition. 39 quired of any man that they should be believed," unless it held that other things, which are read in Holy Scripture, and which may be proved thereby, may be so required. So that the Article which sets forth the sufficiency of Holy Scripture, agrees with that which declares, that " the Church hath authority in matters of faith." It implies the authority of the Church, while it lays down certain limits to it. Nor is this limitation other than what the old Catholic fathers, to whom in the homilies she so often appeals, have from the first so often and emphatically said. There was no contrast between Tradition and Holy Scripture. " We willingly acknowledge," says Abp. Usher too, "that the word of God, which by some of the Apostles was set down in writing, was both by themselves and others of their fellow- labourers delivered by word of mouth ; and that the Church in succeeding ages was bound, not only to preserve those Sacred Writings committed to her trust, but also to deliver unto her children viva voce the form of wholesome words contained therein. Traditions, therefore, of this nature come not within the compass of our controversy, the question being de ipsa doctrina tradita, not de tradendi modo, ' touching the substance of the doctrine delivered, not of the manner of delivering it.' Again, it must be remembered, that here we speak of the doctrine delivered, as ' the Word of God,' that is, of points of religion revealed unto the Prophets and Apostles, 40 Limits of authority of the Church admit for the perpetual information of God's people; not of rites and ceremonies and other ordinances, which are left to the disposition of the Church, and con- sequently be not of Divine, but of positive and human right. Traditions, therefore, of this kind likewise are not properly brought within the circuit of this question V The authority of the Church was given to her by her Divine Lord within certain limits. " Teach them," He said, " whatever I command you." All must admit then, that she could not command any thing which should be really contrary to Holy Scripture. Nor must she contradict herself. The Fathers of the later General Councils began their office by expressing their assent to the earlier, and considered their own work as only expanding what was contained in the earlier, with a view to meet the new heresy which had emerged. So neither is it any undue limitation of the authority of the Church to lay down another limit, that the Church may not require " as necessary to salva- tion " what is not read in Holy Scripture, or may be proved by it. This only implies the historical fact, that the same body of saving truths which the Apostles first preached orally, they afterwards, under the inspiration of God the Holy Ghost, wrote in Holy Scripture, God ordering in His Providence that, in the unsystematic teaching of * Letter to a Jesuit, c. i. pp. 31, 32. not private misjudgments within those lifnits. 41 Holy Scripture, all should be embodied which is essential to establish the faith. This is said over and over again by the Fathers 5 . This limitation of the power of the Church does not set individuals free to criticize, on their private judgments, what the whole Church has decided. It is an axiom, " God cannot contradict Himself ;" yet this does not set Rationalists free to deny any truth in Holy Scripture, because, in their private misjudgments, they think it at variance with some other favourite truth. And yet nothing is more common. " How apt are we," says Bp. Hall fi , " if Thou dost never so little vary from our apprehensions, to misknow Thee, and to wrong ourselves by our misopinions ! " "God is love;" but we may not argue thence, that He did not create Hell. Rather, Hell itself is a portion of His love to those who will be brought to love Him. None will be shut out from the love of God, who do not formally reject God. But the Day of Judgment will alone reveal how many millions will love Him for ever, who would never have loved Him, unless the fear of Hell had first scared them to seek Him, and so to know Him and to love Him. Nay, since fear is here almost inseparable from love, it alone will declare how many exalted spirits there will have been quick- ened in their higher degrees of love by the awe lest they should endlessly lose Him. The truth 6 See Note A. at the end. 6 Cont., The Kesurrection. 42 General Councils admitted to be paramount does not justify its abuse, "nor does the abuse take away the use." As the truth, " God cannot con- tradict Himself," does not set men free to criticize any portion of His revelation, so neither does the truth, " His Church may not lay down as necessary to salvation what God has not revealed in His Word," set men free to criticize what He has taught His whole Church to declare and to receive as saving truth, any more than that other maxim (which also limits the power of the Church, but which all receive), " His Church may not con- tradict His Word." The statement that the three Creeds "ought thoroughly to be received and believed; for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture," is, in fact, only an application of that principle. The Athanasian Creed, indeed, was received tacitly, not formally, by the Church, embodying, as it does, the faith authoritatively set forth in the four first General Councils. But the General Councils themselves acknowledge the prin- ciple. The words, " according to the Scriptures," in the Nicene Creed, involve it. The Council of Ephesus says, " 7 The Holy Synod approved the letter written to him (Nestorius) by the most holy Bishop of Alexandria, Cyril, as written rightly and unexceptionably, and in no wise unharmonizing with the inspired Scriptures, or with the faith set 7 Cone. T. iii. p. 1190, ed. Col. authority coincidi?ig with Divine tradition. 43 forth at Nice." The Council of Chalcedon 8 " rati- fies the doctrine on the Substance of the Holy Spirit delivered by the 150 holy Fathers met at Constantinople; which they made known to all, not as if they added any thing which was deficient in that before them, but making clear by testimonies of Scripture their thought of the Holy Spirit against those who essayed to annul His dominion." S. Athanasius mentions this, as a principle of the Fathers at Nicaea, in answer to the Arians who tried to shake the Creed of Nicaea. " 9 Vainly do they (the Arians) run about with the pretext that they have demanded councils for the faith's sake. For Divine Scripture is sufficient above all things. But if a council be needed on the matter, there are the proceedings of the Fathers. For the Nicene Bishops did not neglect this matter, but stated the doctrine so exactly, that persons reading their words honestly, cannot but be reminded by them of the religion towards Christ announced in Di- vine Scripture." "If 1 the expressions are not in so many words in the Scriptures, yet, as we said before, they contain the sense of the Scriptures, and, expressing it, they convey it to those who have their hearing unimpaired for religious doc- trine." So that Constantine expressed a truth « lb. T. iv. p. 1458. 9 Cone. Ariui. et Seleuc. n. 6, in S. Ath. ag. Arians, T. i. p. 81, Oxf. Tr. 1 Nic. Def. § 21. Ib. pp. 36, 37. 44 S. Leo, Faith of Church taken from H. Scr. which he had been taught, when he exhorted the assembled Fathers to unity 2 , " having the written teaching of the All-Holy Spirit. For the books of the Gospels and Apostles, and the oracles of the ancient Prophets instruct us clearly what we ought to think of the Divinity." S. Leo expressed his surprise that "some calumniators spoke of his letter, which was approved by the whole world " (being received by the Council of Chalcedon), "as obscure, since its doctrine was so plain and solid as to admit of no novelty either in substance or lan- guage, because whatever he had written is shown to have been taken from the teaching of Apostles and Gospels \" S. Leo in the Epistle itself* ascribes the heresy of Eutyches to his ignorance of Holy Scripture ; his own wonderful statement of doctrine is full of it. vi. Lastly, Dr. Manning says, "If the Church of England teaches that there is a Church upon earth, it formally denies a) its indissoluble unity, b) its visible Head, and c) its perpetual Divine voice." vi. a. How the Church of England can be said "for- mally to deny the indissoluble unity of the Church," I know not, seeing that we cannot approach the Holy Communion without confessing, " I believe one 2 In Theod. H. E. i. 7. 3 Ep. 152, ad Julian. " "Which the consonant patterns of our forefathers attest to agree in all things with the doctrine of the Apostles." Ep. 131, ad Julian. 4 Ep. 28, ad Flavian, n. 1. Eng. Ch. holds One Catholic Apostolic Church. 45 Catholic and Apostolic Church." In our Litany, we pray for " the Holy Church Universal," and not for our Bishops only, but for " all Bishops," all, accordingly, throughout the whole world, east and west. In our Ember Weeks, we pray " Our Hea- venly Father, Who hast purchased to Thyself an Universal Church by the precious Blood of Thy Dear Son, mercifully look upon the same, and at this time so guide and govern the minds of Thy servants, the Bishops and Pastors of Thy flock." We pray accordingly for God's special guidance of the Bishops of the Universal Church. At Holy Communion we pray God to " inspire continually the Universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord," and for " all Bishops," not our own only. Certainly, since prayer is the voice of the soul to God, we express not our inmost belief only, but a loving belief, that the Church is one. How it is one, the Church nowhere defines; but the faith is kept alive by prayer more than by definitions. Yet, whatever duties may follow upon the Unity of the Church, it is plain that no harmony of men's wills can constitute a supernatural and Divine Unity. Unity, in part, is the direct gift of God ; in part, it is the fruit of that gift in the mutual love of the members of the Church. In part, it is a spiritual oneness wrought by God the Holy Ghost; in part, it is a grace, to be exercised by man, a conse- quence and fruit of that gift. In one way, it is 46 Organic unity of Church organic unity derived from Christ, and binding all to Christ, descending from the Head to the Body, and uniting the Body to the Head; in another, it consists in acts of love from the members one to another. Christ our Lord, God and Man, binds us to Him by the indwelling of His Spirit, by the gift of His Sacraments, administered by those to whom He gave the commission so to do, by the right faith in Himself. We are bound to one another, in that we are members of Him, and by the love which He sheds abroad in our hearts through the Spirit which He giveth us, and by common acts of worship and intercommunion. Of these, the highest and chief is that which binds us to Christ Himself. Our highest union with one another is an organic union with one another through union with Him. It is not chiefly an union of will, or of mind, or of love, although these ought to be the fruits of it in its most per- fect state, but an union through His indwelling , Spirit. It is an union, in a degree, corresponding with the union of the Father and the Son. " As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us." It was the perverseness of the Arians to say, that the oneness of the Father and the Son was no other than that of Their creatures with Them, that either we too are of the Father's own substance, or the Son is not so. The words do not express identity, nor equality 5 . Else it 5 S. Ath. c. Arian. iii. 22, p. 431 ; Oxf. Tr. through its union with Christ its Head. 47 might be said, that " to be perfect as the Father is perfect," implied that the creature would become such as the Creator; or, that to be " harmless as doves," implies that we should have the harmlessness of irrational animals, not that which is inwrought through the Holy Spirit of God. The words do express a certain relation and analogy, an actual, real oneness, not in ourselves, but with God. As we are called " sons by adoption and grace," as being members of the Son, and are even called " gods," says S. Athanasius, through the indwelling of God the Holy Ghost; so we become one in Them, in that the Father is in the Son, and the Son cometh to be in us. " Since Thou," our Lord saith (it is S. Athanasius's paraphrase of His words), " art in Me, because I am Thy Word, and I in them, because of the body, and for Thee the salvation of man is perfected in Me, according to its perfection, I ask that they too may become perfect, having oneness with It, and having become one in It, that all, carried as it were by Me, may become one body and one Spirit, and may grow up into a perfect man." This oneness, then, is an actual mystical oneness, inwrought by Christ our Head, uniting the whole Church together in one with Himself in His Body; an actual oneness produced by grace, cor- responding to the Oneness of the Father and the Son by nature. S. Cyril points out more dis- tinctly the way of this union : 1 st, with our nature, through the Incarnation, and then, with us, through 48 S. Cyril Alex. — Organic unity of Church His indwelling, by the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, and by His Spirit. S. Cyril speaks first of imitation, next of indwelling. " Above," he says fi , " we have said, that the union of believers through likeness of mind and soul ought to imitate the manner of the Divine Unity, and the essential identity of the Holy Trinity. But on these words we will essay to show that the oneness, according to which we are bound to one another and all to God, is, in a manner, one of nature, and, may be, not lacking in a bodily oneness with one another, although our bodies are different from one another, and each has his own personal being. There being confessedly a natural oneness of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (for One Godhead in the Holy Trinity is believed and glorified), let us consider in what way we too are found one, both bodily and spiritually, both towards each other and towards God. The Only-Begotten, having shone upon us from the very Essence of God the Father, and having in His own Nature all which the Father is, became Flesh according to the Scriptures, having, as it were, mingled Himself with our nature, through the ineffable concurrence and union with this body which is from the earth. Thus He, by nature God, was truly called and became a Heavenly Man (not ' bearing God,' as some say who do not accurately understand the depth of the • S. Cyril Al. on S. John xvii. 21. L. xi. c. 11, pp. 997— 1000. worked hy indwelling of Christ. 49 mystery, but) being, in one, God and Man, that naving, in a manner, co-united in Himself what by nature was far apart and alien from all sameness of nature, He might make man to communicate in and partake of the Divine Nature. For the com- munication and abiding of the Spirit passed through to us also, having taken its beginning through Christ and in Christ first, being, as Man, anointed and sanctified, although, as He was by Nature God (as He appeared from the Father), He Himself with His own Spirit hallowing His own temple and the whole creation made by Him, and whatsoever admits of being hallowed. The mystery of Christ, then, was made a sort of beginning and way whereby we too might partake of the Holy Spirit, and of oneness with God. For in Christ are we all hallowed in the way afore spoken. In order, then, that we ourselves too, although differing both in souls and bodies through that which is personal to each, might come together and be commingled into an unity with God and one another, the Only- Begotten contrived a way, devised through the wisdom befitting Him, and through the counsel of the Father. For by One Body, His own, blessing through the mystical communion those who believe in Him, He makes us incorporate with Himself and with one another. For who should separate and remove from a natural oneness with one another, those who through the One Holy Body are bound up into oneness with Christ ? For if we u 50 S. Cyril Sf S. Hilary. Organic Unify of Ch. all 'partake of the One Bread,' we are all made 'one Body.' For Christ cannot be divided. Where- fore the Church is called also ' the body of Christ,' and we too ' are members in particular,' according to the mind of Paul. For we all, being united by One Christ through the Holy Body, in that we have received in our own bodies Him the One and Indivisible, owe our members more to Him than to ourselves. — But that, by partaking of the Holy Flesh, we obtain that union with Christ which is in a manner bodily, Paul will testify, speaking of ' the mystery of godliness which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, but is now re- vealed unto His holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be co-heirs, and concorporate and co-partakers of His promise in Christ V But if we are all concorporate with one another in Christ, and not only with one another, but with Himself, in that He is in us through His own Flesh, how are we not all clearly one both with each other and with Christ ? For Christ is the Bond of oneness, being, in One, God and Man. " But as to the Oneness in Spirit, we all, having received One and the same Holy Spirit, are in a manner mingled with each other and with God. For although in us, being many, Christ giveth the Father's and His own Spirit to dwell in each of us, yet is He One and Indivisible, holding together in 7 Eph. iii. 3—5. thro 1 Sacraments S? the Holy Ghost indwelling. 51 oneness through Himself the spirits which, in their several existences, are severed from oneness, and making all to appear as one in Himself. For as the power of the Holy Flesh maketh those con- corporate, in whom It is, in like way, I deem, the One Indivisible Spirit of God, dwelling in all, bringeth all together to the spiritual unity. For since One Spirit dwelleth in us, God the One Father of all will be in us, through the Son, holding in oneness, both to one another and to Himself, whatsoever partaketh of the Spirit." S. Hilary is even at pains to show, against the Arians, that the unity spoken of is not an unity of will, but an unity of nature; and so he overthrows the more their sophism that the Unity of the Father and the Son was an unity of will only. "1 8 ask those who thrust upon us an unity of will between the Father and the Son, whether Christ is at this day in us by truth of nature, or by harmony of will ? For if the Word is truly made Flesh, and we truly receive the Word, being Flesh, in the Food of the Lord, how must He not be thought to abide by nature in us, Who, being born Man, took the nature of our flesh inseparably to Himself, and under the Sacrament of the Flesh to be com- municated to us, blended the nature of His Flesh with the Divine Nature ? " And as to the other Sacrament, S. Hilary 9 says, 8 Da Trin. viii. 13. D 2 0 lb. § 8. 52 S. Hilary. Unity of Church " The Apostle teacheth, from the nature of Sacra- ments, that this is the unity of the faithful. ' As many as have been baptized unto Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus'.' But that in so great variety of nations, conditions, sexes, they are one, is this from consent of the will or from the unity of the Sacrament, in that they both have one Baptism and all have put on one Christ ? What has concord of minds to do here, seeing they are thereby one, that by the nature of One Baptism, they are clothed with One Christ?" The first then and very chiefest character of Unity is not any thing which comes forth from us ; it is in- fused into us by God. But this it is man's part to receive, and he receives it by faith. " There is One Body and One Spirit ;" " One Body," as held to- gether by the " One " Holy « Spirit ;" " One Body," of all which are and have been and shall be, all too who before Christ's Coming believed in Him and pleased Him. "For to this end," says S. Chrysos- tom 2 , " was the Spirit given, that He might unite those who are separated by race and by different manners; for old and young, rich and poor, child, youth, and man, male and female, and every soul become, in a manner, one, and more entirely so than if there were one body." S. Paul also, following our Lord, places the 1 Gal. iii. 27, 28. 2 Ad loc. Horn. 9, p. 207, Oxf. Tr. not an Unity of Will, but an Unity of Nature. 53 origin of unity in God. God maketh us one body, by giving to us One Spirit, ingrafting us into One Christ through One Baptism, regenerating us to " one hope of our calling," freely giving to us, son- ship, heaven, infusing into us One Faith ; for " faith," he says, " is the gift of God." But from this also S. Hilary 3 argues, that our union is an union of nature, not of will. " They who were of one heart and of one soul, I ask, were they one through the Faith of God ? Yes ; through faith was the heart and soul of all one. And the faith was it one or more ? One certainly, since the Apostle himself sets forth ' One Faith ' as ' One Lord,' and ' One Baptism,' and ' One Hope,' and ' One God.' If then through faith, i. e. by the nature of one faith, all were one, why is there not an unity by nature in those who are one by the nature of One Faith ? " But it is of man to retain the faith which he has received. Tliey have not the same Lord, who do not believe the same truth as to Him. The heretics of old who did not believe that the Son was Con- substantial, Co-Eternal, and Co-Equal with the Father, or that, when Incarnate, He had a human soul, or true flesh truly taken of the Virgin Mary, or that the Blessed Virgin bare Him Who was God, or who held that God dwelt only in the Man Christ Jesus, or contrariwise, that the Manhood was ab- sorbed into God, or that our Lord had no human 3 1. c. § 7. 54 Unity of Ch urch thro 1 One Faith from Apostles will — these and whatsoever else there was of an- cient heresy on the Holy Trinity and the Incar- nation, believed not the same Lord ; as neither did the Pelagians believe in what He wrought for us, and the Donatists denied the existence of that mystical body, whereof He was the Head. The Faith, S. Paul says, is one, one unchange- able faith, admitting neither of enlargement, nor diminution, so that either what the Apostles be- lieved and taught the whole Church as faith, should cease to be faith, or that any thing should become faith which they, full of the Holy Ghost, knew not and taught not as the faith. But since the faith is one, one whole, then whosoever parteth with, or altereth any portion of the one faith, in fact changes the whole, so that it is not the same faith, whence the stress in the Athanasian Creed on " keeping the faith whole and undefiled." This unity, derived from Our Blessed Lord as Head of the Church, is imparted primarily through the Sacraments. S. Paul says, that "all, baptized into Christ, have put on Christ," and, having put Him on, are one in Christ. And of the Holy Eucharist, " We, being many, are one bread and one body : for we are all partakers of that one Bread V By Bap- tism we are ingrafted into the mystical Body of Christ ; by partaking of His Body, ; we continue to be members of His Body. But as Christ Himself 4 1 Cor. x. 17. and Sacraments ministered by their successors. 55 worketh all things in all, He baptizeth invisibly, He consecrateth, He strengtheneth those who stand, He restoreth those who fall ; yet to signify to us that He doeth it, He useth the outward ministry of men, appointed in succession, from the day when He breathed on the Apostles and said, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained V Such an organization? as essential to the transmission of grace from Christ our Head, seems to lie in the words of S. Paul, "holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together 6 ,'' "according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, increaseth with the increase of God 7 ." The "joints and bands " are, in the image of the body, naturally those ministers by which the whole body is held together in one, and through which spiritual nourishment is ministered to the growth of the whole. Certainly, the Apostolic ministry was to continue to the end of the world. "Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers," or those in their stead, He set in the Church, " for the edifying of the Body of Christ, till we all come, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." 5 S. John xx. 22, 23. 6 Col. ii. 19. 7 Eph. iv. 16. 56 Scriptural Statements of Thus, then, we have from Holy Scripture, as means and conditions of the unity of the Church, One All-Perfect Author, the "One God and Father of all;" one end to which all tends, the "one hope of our calling;" "One Head," the Head of the Church, our " One Lord ;" " One Spirit," giving life to every living member ; the same Sacraments, " One Baptism," and " One Bread," by which we are all ingrafted into or maintained in the One Body of our One Head; one Apostolic descent of the Bishops and Pastors of the flock, coming down from One; " One " common " Faith," that which was given once for all, with the anathema that we hold no doctrine at variance with it, although an Angel from Heaven were to preach it. Of these we are receivers only. These if any wilfully reject, they reject Christ. They sever themselves, not only from the Body of Christ, but directly from the Head, loosing the band which binds them unto Him. These while Christian bodies retain, they are, so long, like the river which " went out of Eden to water the garden ; and from thence it was parted and became into four heads." They come from the Fountain of blessedness; they flow down to the Ocean of the Eternal Love of God ; they water the parched land ; they cool and refresh the weary and the thirsty in the places which God has appointed for them with the one stream coming down from Him. They are one in their One Original, from which they con- the Unity of the Church. 57 tinually and unchangeably derive their being. They adore God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, with the same new song of the Gospel ; they confess Him in the same words of Apostolic Faith; they offer to Him the same incense of praise, and the same Holy Offering whereof Malachi foretold, " from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same," pleading on earth to the Eternal Father that One Sacrifice, as presented in Heaven; they receive the same "Bread which came down from Heaven to give life to the world." Unknown in face, in place separate, different in language, opposed, alas ! in some things to one another, still before the Throne of God they are One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church ; each several portion praying for itself and for the rest, united in the prayers and oblation which it offers for all, by the One Bread and the One Spirit which dwelleth in all. "In which mystery" (the Holy Eucharist), says S. Cyprian, "our people are shown to be united, so that, as many grains collected and ground and mingled together make one bread, so in Christ, Who is the Heavenly Bread, we may know that there is one Body wherewith our whole number is conjoined and united V But is then the whole unity of the Church from God and to God alone, so that it involves duties to God only, and none from man to man ? Of the i 8 Ep. 63, ad Caecil. § 10, p. 191, Oxf. Tr. 58 Love of Early Church. Suspended Inter - early Christians, the Holy Ghost bears witness that they were at first " of one heart and of one soul." The intensest conception of human affection, which the range of heathen poetry could imagine as having been once realized, that they were " twain in body, one in soul," was brought into being by the Day of Pentecost, not in two, but in thousands. For there was, what no imagination could conceive, not one soul in all, but One Holy Spirit, dwelling indi- visibly in each, One and the Same filling each soul, the very Same in each, binding them together by the virtue of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity, melting all into a perfect oneness of will by the fire of love which God is. Well might the heathen say then, " God is among them of a truth." For the glory which Christ gave them was greater than that of miracles; it was the greatest of all miracles, when souls purified, by His indwelling, from passion and envy and all unlove, presented no longer let or hindrance to His all-pervading warmth, but through the love of Christ were one, He says, " as We are One," Whose Oneness is indivisible. The Divine gift of Unity requires, as a cor- responding duty, mutual love as the exercise of that "love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which is given to us." This has been called "subjective" unity, or " unison of wills," and of this, intercommunion is the natural expression. But is all unity forfeited, where the unity of intercommunion is communion alone does not destroy Unity. 59 suspended? No one, in the face of Church-his- tory, can or does maintain that all interruptions of intercommunion destroy unity. For Church-history records too many such interruptions, which (al- though never probably without fault, on the one side or on both) yet did not exclude either side from the body of Christ. Unlove began its work even in Apostles' times. At Corinth, already, our Lord's words, " By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another," were in a degree eclipsed. Divisions began within the single Church. In the next century, was that first wider rent in the Christian body, when the Bishop of Rome, against the remonstrance of many Bishops, renounced the communion of the Asiatic Churches, because they followed, as to the keeping of Easter, a tradition different from that of Rome and of the other Churches. " The East," says S. Epiphanius ', " differing from the West, they received not from each other tokens of peace." The strife ceased not until the Council of Nice. Again, in the next century, was the temporary severance between Rome and both Asiatic and African Churches, through the Bishop of Rome, of whom one, now counted a saint, said 2 , " While thinking that all may be excommunicated by him, he excommunicated himself alone from all." This 1 Haer. 70, n. 9, p. 821. 1 S. Firmil. in S. Cyprian, Ep. 75, § 25, p. 284, Oxf. Tr. 60 Suspension of Intercommunion was allayed seemingly by a subsequent peace-loving Bishop of Rome, but the question on which they disagreed was settled by the large Council of Aries, not by the Bishop of Rome. Lucifer, once an exile for the faith, and ready to suffer death for it, created a schism between Catholics. Paulinus, whom he hastily 3 consecrated against S. Meletius, was recognized at Alexandria and Rome ; S. Meletius remained in the communion of the Easterns. S. Basil toiled in vain to heal the schism 4 , and blamed the Westerns for their " pride, haughtiness, precipitancy V S. Meletius, out of communion with Rome, presided (as it were, marked out by God) at the Second General Coun- cil. On his death, the fathers of the Council, with the people of Antioch, filled up his place, main- taining the rights of the Eastern Church, and after •fifty-six years the schism was healed, a successor in the line of S. Meletius bringing back all into one flock. S. Meletius, when departed, was owned to be a saint by those who, in his lifetime, owned him not as a Bishop. Lucifer, who created the schism, himself closed a life of labour for the faith by forming a small schismatic body in Sardinia; yet, for his faith's sake, is called by S. Jerome, who wrote against his sect, " the blessed Lucifer 6 ." What, when in the troubles as to S. Chry- 3 Prseproperus, Euf. H. E. i. 27. 4 See Pusey's " Councils," pp. 243—252. s lb. p. 252. 0 Adv. Lucif. c. 20, Opp. ii. 193. within the Catholic Church. Gl sostom, saints were on opposite sides, and, in the cessation of intercourse between Rome and Alex- andria, the African Bishops had to exhort the Bishop of Rome, that " each 7 Church should keep towards the other the peace which the Lord com- manded?" The Fifth General Council, overruled by God to good, yet assembled by a heretical emperor, at the instigation of a heretic, was (in part through the vacillation, the alternate assent and dissent, of Vigilius) the occasion of a schism which rent the West, Africa, Upper Italy from east to west, and even Ireland, nor was the schism wholly healed for 150 years 8 . Our own heathen ancestors, in our S. Augustine's time, were in great measure converted by those who were not in communion with Rome, yet God blessed the zeal of both for His glory. More miserable was that great breach, prepared perhaps for centuries, and which has lasted until now, between the East and West. Miserable in its origin and its issue. A quarrel begun by two Christian Patriarchs about authority over a province newly recovered to the Christian Faith 9 , strengthened subsequently by offensive answers 7 Cone. Afr. c. 68. Cone. T. ii. p. 1334, Col. 8 See Hefele, Concilien-Geseh. ii. 899. • Bulgaria. The province had originally belonged to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. When Arian emperors ex- pelled the orthodox Bishops and put Arians into the see, it put itself under the Patriarchate of Borne. The inhabitants 62 Division of East and West perpetuated to an offensive writing, and anathema answered by anathema; involving a people which was acknow- ledged to be orthodox; embittered, in later times, by the mixture of this world's politics, the capture of Constantinople under the banner of the Cross, amid excesses from which even the Saracens abstained ; the establishment of Latin Emperors of Constantinople and multiplication of Latin Patriarchs and Bishops, sometimes scandalous in their lives, oppressive to the Greeks, whom they ejected, banished, or at times destroyed. " The Latins," says Fleuri 10 , " defeated the very end they had in view. The conquest of Constantinople drew after it the loss of the Holy Land, and made the schism of the Greeks irremediable." The con- ditions of reconciliation were, absolute submission to an authority which had grown up since the separation. They were to purchase help against heathen or Mohammedan invaders by the surrender of the Patriarchal system which they had from the times of General Councils which had the sanction of the Universal Church, and was bound up with all their memories of all the victories of the Faith over heresy. Or lands were offered to princes to were driven out by the heathen Bulgarians, who were converted from Constantinople. Kome claimed them, and pronounced anathemas to S. Ignatius as well as to Photius on this ground, as indeed the dispute was first with S. Ignatius. 10 Disc. 6, sur l'Hist. Eccl. T. 18, § 5. 1 Cone. Const, i. can. 2. Chalc. can. 28. by claim of the Pope to Universal Monarchy. 63 whom they did not belong, on the condition that they would renounce obedience where it was due, and transfer it where it was not due. If we may judge of the sentiments of the Greeks from one of their able and moderate writers, Elias Meniates, Bishop of Zerniza, towards the end of the ] 7th century, says, " I hold the dispute about the supreme power of the Pope to be the principal cause of our divi- sions. This is the wall of division between the two Churches. The chief controversy I hold to be about the sovereignty of the Pope. For this is at this time the great wall of separation which divides the two Churches. If all Christians were agreed on this chief point, viz. how the Church was to be governed, whether by aristocratical rule as we think, or monarchical as the Latins think, there would be very little trouble in agreeing about the rest V And can we think that the whole guilt of this miserable rent has fallen upon one side only, that, when both East and West confess the same Mysteries of the Faith, the East is no part of the Church of Christ, because it does not subject itself to the West under which God did not place it? Moses and Aaron pleaded with God, " Shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation 3 ?" And are we to assume, whatever were the original wrong tempers of two Greek Patriarchs, that their 2 Lapis Offensionis, L. 2, c. 1 init., quoted by M. Trevern, Discuss. Amicale, T. i. p. 231. 8 Numb. xvi. 22. 64 Russian Church. — Antlpopes. — Gerson. sin either then involved the innocent, or now lives on so fatally, after so many centuries, when terms are imposed, so different from those in the first quarrel ? And that, when the great Russian Em- pire, converted to the faith by the preaching of Monks and Missionary Bishops since the separation of the East and West 4 , is a witness to the Greek Church, that she is a true member of the One Church ! " Rome cannot show, since she has been divided from the East, a conversion on so large a scale, so complete, so permanent 5 ." And now too, the Russian Church has been and is, through Apostolic Bishops, winning tens of thousands be- yond the bounds of the Russian Empire to the faith of Christ. In the great schism of the Western Church, in which the Churches of the West were for forty years nearly equally divided, each party was by the other regarded as schismatic, yet we cannot doubt that each belonged to the true Church of Christ. "After domination in temporals and spirituals was multiplied in the Church," says Gerson, " men began intrusions and schisms in the Roman Church, for the sake of which dominations and powers, there were continually hatreds and rancours between the 4 See the Archimandrite Macarius' History of Christianity in Russia, p. 394, in Allies' Church of England cleared from charge of Schism, pp. 498, 499, supplied by Be v. "W. Palmer. 5 Allies, ib. p. 500. Partial fulfilment of other prophecy owned. G5 Supreme Pontiffs, the Roman Emperors, and tem- poral Lords 6 ." There is then no ground to assume that suspen- sions of inter-communion (sad and mournful as they are) in themselves hinder either body from being a portion of the Body of Christ. The Donatists were not merely separated from the Catholic Church throughout the world, but denied its existence, and claimed to be the whole Church. The body was formed on a heresy, rejected by the English Church 7 . Probably real schism is always united with heresy, whether as springing from it or de- generating into it. There may be schismatic acts, which have not the deadliness of the sin of schism, as there may be degrees of unlove in an individual, which do not cast the Spirit of God out of his soul. We believe the Church to be universal, although there are large tracts of the world which it has not reached, or from which it has been driven out; we believe the Church to be holy, notwithstanding that the evil is more on the surface than the good; we believe the prophecy to have been fulfilled, " neither shall men learn war any more," although peace has been in these last days the exception among Chris- tians; we believe our Lord's words that love is the test of His disciples, and that thereby shall they be known among men, although unlove and jealousy and self-interest and anger are far more visible. 6 Status Ecclesiffl in V. et N. T. Opp. T. ii. p. 155. 7 Art. XXVI. E 66 Eng. Ch. not more independent of Rome Well then may we believe that the several Churches, owning the same Lord, united to Him by the same Sacraments, confessing the same Faith, however their prayers may be hindered, are still one in His sight, Whom all desire to receive; Whom all con- fess; Whose Passion all plead before the Father; in Whom Alone all alike hope. And so as to ourselves, our divines maintained (under appeal to a free general Council of the whole East and West, while there was yet hope, and God's Arm is not shortened, that He should not yet turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers) that we have done nothing to forfeit the Communion of the rest of Christendom. vi. b. But Dr. Manning says, that we have denied the " visible head " of the Church, i.e. we do not, any more than the Eastern Church, own the monarchy of the Bishop of Rome. In the time of Henry VIII. the English Church submitted to the abolition of appeals to Rome; and what it then submitted to, it has since concurred in. But, if any thing is clear in Christian antiquity, it is, that such appeals are not of Divine right. Africa was converted from Italy. Yet England is not at this moment more independent of any authority of the Bishop of Rome, than Africa was in the time of S. Augustine. There are only three conceivable ways in which the Bishop of one Church could interfere in the internal regu- lations of another. Thev are, the Confirmation of its Bishops, or of its Canons or Ecclesiastical laws, than Africa at time of S. Augustine. 67 or the reviewing of the judicial sentences of its Bishops. These would control its legislative or its judicial functions in detail, or the selection of those in whom the legislative and judicial functions are vested. Of these three, it is confessed by Roman Catholic writers too, that the confirmation of Bishops lay with the Primate, as in other countries with the Metropolitan, and that the Pallium was never sent to Africa. The African Canons stood on their own authority, as did those of all other Churches; the Greek, the Spanish, the Gallican, the British. The case of Apiarius evinces on both sides an entire unconsciousness of any inherent right in the see of Rome to receive appeals. The Bishops of Rome rested their right, not upon any inherent claim, but upon a Canon of the Council of Sardica, which they, by mistake, thought to be a Canon of the Council of Nice. The African Bishops, and among them S. Augustine, declared their willingness to obey any Nicene Canon, but stated that they had no such Canon as that alleged by the Bishop of Rome, in their collection of Nicene Canons which they received through him. The words of S. Augustine are still preserved. " We profess that we will observe this rule too [as to the appeals of priests or deacons], saving a more dili- gent enquiry as to the Council of Nice 8 ." On this the question was put to the Synod, and the whole s Cod. Eccl. Afr. G-. in Brims, i. 159. E 2 68 Bps. of Rome Sf Africa alike ignorant of Council said, " All things which were enacted in the Council of Nice, we all approve." S. Augustine also signed the synodal letter to Boniface from the 217 Bishops present from all Africa, in which they deprecated any " haughtiness " [typhus] on the part of the Bishop of Rome and professed that they " will comply with what had been alleged on his part about the appeals of Bishops to the Bishop of the Roman Church, and about terminating the causes of clerks by the Bishops of their Provinces, until ascertaining, whether there was such a Canon of Nice, since they had none such in any Greek or Latin copy of the Canons 9 ." They sent accord- ingly to the East and received copies of the Canons from S. Cyril of Alexandria, and Atticus, Bishop of Constantinople. After these had been sent to Boniface, another Council from all Africa was held, in which Bishop Faustinus urged that the unhappy Apiarius, having been received to communion by Celestine, should be received by the Church of Africa also. A three-days' hearing of Apiarius was ended by his own confession of all the horrible scandals of which he had been accused. Where- upon the Bishops of the African Council wrote thus to Celestine 1 : " We earnestly beg that hence- forth you will not readily admit to your hearing those who come from hence, nor be willing to receive to communion those excommunicated by 9 Cod. Afr. c. 134, Bruns, i. 197. i See their letter in Brans, p. 190. any inherent right of appeal to Rome. 69 us, because you will readily see that this is ruled by the Council of Nice. For although it may seem as if provision were there made as to the inferior clergy or laymen, how much more would it have this observed as to Bishops, that, being suspended from communion in their own province, they should not seem to be restored to communion by your Holiness hastily or over-hurriedly or unduly. Let your Holiness repel also, as beseems you, the shameless applications of presbyters and clergy below them, because by no statute of the fathers has this been derogated from the African Church, and the Nicene Canons have most plainly com- mitted both the inferior Clergy and the Bishops themselves to their Metropolitans. For most pru- dently and justly have they provided, that all matters should be terminated in the places where they arose; nor will the grace of the Holy Spirit be wanting to each province, whereby the Bishops of Christ may both prudently see and constantly maintain equity; especially, since it is allowed to each, if he is dissatisfied with the judgment of those who took cognizance of his case, to appeal to the Council of his Province or of all Africa. Unless any one think that our God can inspire with justice a single individual, and refuse it to innumerable Bishops, assembled in Council. Or how should the judgment beyond seas itself stand, seeing that per- sons needed as witnesses cannot be brought there, for infirmity of sex or age or many other hindrances. 70 S. Aug. and African Bps. decline appeal For that any should be sent, as it were from the side of your Holiness, we find ordained by no synod of the fathers. For as to that which you sent by our fellow-Bishop Faustinus, as if from the Nicene Council, we could find nothing of the sort in more accurate copies, which we have received from the holy Cyril, our fellow-Bishop of the Alexandrian Church, and the venerable Atticus, Bishop of Constantinople, taken from the original, which we transmitted to Bishop Boniface of venerable memory. Moreover, whoever may ask you, do not send any of your Clergy to execute your orders ; allow it not ; lest we should seem to bring the fumes of secular pride into the Church of Christ, which holds out to those who desire to see God, the light of simplicity and the clear day of humility. For, now that the unhappy Apiarius has for his shocking wicked- nesses been removed from the Church of Christ, we are sure that through the probity and moderation of your Holiness, Africa, without violating brotherly charity, will not have further to endure our brother Faustinus." This long process, which was carried on so perseveringly by four successive Bishops of Rome, is most remarkable for the principles which appear in the course of it, and the persons who enunciated those principles. For S. Augustine, forbearing, as he did, to the utmost, so long as there was even a bare possibility that the Council of Nice should have given a contrary decision, clearly showed bv to Rome, unless directed by Nicene Canon. 71 his short speech, that he knew of no other au- thority to which the Church of Africa should defer. He is further responsible for the Synodal Epistle to Boniface, which he signed, next after Aurelius the Primate. The bishops, and he among them, or rather chief of them, say, " We took care to convey last year by our letters to the same Bishop Zosimus, of venerable memory, that we would allow those [canons] to be observed without any detriment to him, for a little while until the en- quiry into the canons of the Council of Nice. And now we ask of your Holiness, that you would cause those things which they brought in their instruc- tions, [viz. the two Sardican canons,] to be observed as they were done or constituted by the fathers at Nice, by us, and among yourselves in Italy. These canons are inserted in the Acts until the arrival of the most authentic copies of the Nicene Council ; which, if they are contained there (as they stood in the instructions which our brethren sent from the Apostolic See alleged to us), and if they are kept even among you in Italy, we shall not be constrained to endure what for the present we are unwilling to speak of; but we believe that, by the help of the mercy of our Lord God, while your Holiness presides over the Roman Church we shall not have to endure their arrogance, and that will be observed towards us which ought to be observed with brotherly charity, even without any suggestion of ours, which, according to the wisdom 72 Canon of Sardica implies a new rule, and justice which the Most High has given you, you yourself perceive ought to be observed, if perchance the canons of the Council of Nice prove otherwise." But indeed the Canons of Sardica (had they been even generally received) involve the same principle. S. Athanasius insists on the distinc- tion between matters of faith and positive enact- ment, as treated in the Council of Nice. " The faith they declared, ' Thus believes the Catholic Church,' in order to show that their own senti- ments were not novel, but Apostolical 2 ;" but in matter of positive enactments, " They wrote con- cerning the Easter, ' It seemed good as follows,' for it did then seem good that there should be a general compliance." Now this is exactly the form of the Sardican Canon, " If it seem good, let us honour the memory of the holy Apostle Peter." The Bishops were providing against the recurrence of injustice to the orthodox Bishops of the East, such as S. Atha- nasius had undergone from a packed council of Arian Bishops, and, as in many other canons, so in this, they legislated to meet an emergency. " This form is very strong to show," says Tillemont 3 , " that it was a right which the Pope had not had hitherto." " The words of the Canon," says de Marca *, " prove that the institution of this law is 2 Cone. Arim. et Seleuc. n. 5. Treatises ag. Arians, i. 80, Oxf. Tr. 8 S. Athanas. Art.. 50, T. 8, p. 110. 4 Cone. Sac. vii. 3. 8. grants not appeal but revision. 73 new. ' If it seems good to you,' says Hosius," &c. The mention of Julius, Bishop of Eome, by name, " if to Julius, Bishop of Rome, should seem good," seems again to imply a temporary purpose, such as was protection against the Arians. Nor was the power given an appeal to Borne strictly. It only empowered the Bishop of Rome to have the cause reheard, if he judged right, by the Bishops of the neighbouring province, together with a presbyter to represent himself 5 . What was granted was the revision of a cause, not strictly an appeal 6 . What was not of Divine right cannot become such. A state of things may be matter of order, or of human law ; it cannot become part of the Law Divine. That only is Divine Law which was given by God. Heretics, indeed, or bad men, excom- municated in their own country, betook themselves to Rome, where they were not known, as con- trariwise, Pelagius, condemned in the West, betook himself to the East, a) Marcion, excommunicated by his father, a Bishop in Pontus, for seduction, received the worthy answer from the Roman pres- byters in the vacancy of the see : " We cannot do this [receive him to communion] without the injunction of your honoured father. For there is one faith and one harmony of mind, and we cannot go against the excellent fellow-minister, thy father 7 ." b) The Montanists did not apparently 5 Couc. Sard. c. 7. 0 See de Marca 1. c, c. 6 and 7. 7 S. Epiph. Haer. 42, n. 2, p. 303. 74 Bad people appealed to Rome, appeal at all ; but having been rejected in the East, they settled at Rome. They had been dis- allowed by the predecessors of Victor 8 , whom they would have imposed upon, but for Praxeas. Tille- mont conjectures 9 , that they may have had the more hope from Victor on account of his quarrel with the Churches of Asia Minor, which had rejected them, c) Praxeas, at one time, signed a retractation of his heresy, which retractation was in the hands of the Catholics 10 . At that time there was neither appeal nor condemnation. When detected, he retracted. He acquiesced outwardly, without giving up his unbelief. Then it burst out again, d) Fortunatus was an anti-bishop conse- crated in opposition to S. Cyprian, who sought to get recognized at Rome, whither he sent letters, as Novatian 2 , consecrated against S. Cornelius, sought to be recognized in Africa. Neither was an appeal, a) The case of Basilides and Martialis is more interesting. Both, besides other sins, had denied 8 " This same [Praxeas] constrained the then Bishop of Rome, when on the point of acknowledging the prophecies of Montanus, Prisca, Maximilla, and by that recognition carrying peace to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia, to recall the letters of pe^ce which were already issued, and to give up his purpose of accepting their spiritual gifts, by asserting falsehoods as to the prophets and their churches, and maintaining the authorities of his [Victor's] predecessors." Tert. adv. Prax. c. i. 9 Les Montanistes, Art. 4, T. ii. p. 425, Note 4, p. 669. 10 Tert. c. Prax. c. i. 1 S. Cyprian, Ep. 59, ad n. 10. 22. Corn. Oxf. Tr. 2 Id. Ep. 44, ad Corn. O. T. where their demerits were unknown. 75 Christ in persecution. The Spanish bishops de- posed them, and consecrated Felix and Sabinus in their stead. " Basilides, canvassing to be unjustly restored to the Episcopate from which he had been justly deposed, went to Rome, and deceived Stephen our colleague," says S. Cyprian 3 , " residing at a distance, and ignorant of what had been done and of the real truth." The Clergy and people of Astorga, Merida, and Leon appealed to S. Cyprian, through their newly-consecrated bishops. S. Cy- prian, assembling thirty-seven other bishops, in a synodical letter, judged that the deposition of Basilides and Martialis was right, the election of Felix and Sabinus, of which an account had been sent, was canonical, and that the effect of " Basilides deceiving Stephen was not to efface but to swell the crimes of Basilides, in that to his former sins is added the guilt of deceit and circumvention." Conceive Spanish bishops now, having been con- secrated in place of deposed bishops who had appealed to Rome, deputed by Spanish clergy and people to the Archbishop of Paris, and that he, with a Provincial Synod, should reply that the former bishops had been rightly deposed, that these had been canonically elected, and that the appealing bishop had only aggravated his crimes by " deceiving Pio Nono, our colleague," but excusing Pio Nono, in that " 3 he is not so much to be blamed, s Ep. 69 (Synod.) ad Felic, &c. n. 5. 76 Appealers from Afr. to Rome excommunicated. who through negligence was imposed upon." If the appeals of bad men were a precedent, the rest of the history is equally a precedent, showing that the relations in the times nearest the Apostles were very different from those which the Church of England laid aside. The English Church in the fifteenth century acquiesced in, or consented to, the suppression of appeals to Rome; the African Church in the fifth century not only forbade them, but excommunicated throughout Africa any one who should so appeal s . It was not a mere abstract question. About the same time, a.d. 1438, the Council of Basle complained of " 1 the very many ' " If presbyters, deacons, or other inferior Clergy, shall, in any cause which they may have, complain of the judgments of their own Bishops, let the neighbouring Bishops hear them, and determine any matter between them, being called in by them with the consent of their own Bishops. But if they think that they should appeal from them loo, let them not appeal to Courts beyond seas, but either to the Primates of their pro- vinces, or to a general Council [of Africa], as has been often enacted about Bishops also. But if any one choose to appeal to the parts beyond seas, let him be received to communion by no one within Africa." Cod. Can. EccL Afr. 28. In Can. 125 it is, " let them only appeal to African Councils or to the Primates of their provinces," without the words "as has often been enacted about Bishops also." The clause excommunicating those who appeal is repeated. In the Council of Carthage, a.d. 525, a canon is rehearsed from the 11th Council, " Whoso com- municates not [i. e. is excommunicate] in Africa, if he should venture to communicate beyond seas, let him be condemned ;" as also Can. 125 from the lGth Council, and " Let no one dare to appeal to the parts beyond seas," from the 20th. Cone. iii. 780. Col. 4 Sess. 31, Deer. i. Cone. xvii. 371. Col. Evils of appeal to Rome stated in C. of Basle. 77 abuses of intolerable vexations " consequent on appeals, especially from " remote parts," the " ease with which pettifoggers oppressed the poor, eccle- siastical benefices were obtained through the cavils of litigations, for the most part unjustly," &c. The Council prohibited, as far as in it lay, appeals from more distant parts, with certain exceptions. Louis, Archbishop of Aries, Cardinal, and Pre- sident of the Council (of whom iEneas Sylvius, Pius II., speaks in high terms), asked in the Council, " What 5 at this day were bishops, but a sort of shadow ? What had they left, but a staff and mitre ? Could they be called shepherds, with- out sheep, when they could do nothing towards those under them ? For whereas in the Primitive Church the chief powers were with bishops, now they have come to this, that in dress only and revenue they surpass presbyters. But we have restored them to their former condition. We [the Council] have made those bishops who were no longer bishops." " A General Council, represent- ing the Universal Church," says Gerson c , " if it aim to see complete union, to repress and put an end to schisms, to exalt the Church, must before all things, after the manner of the holy fathers before us, limit and bound the coactive and 6 In Mne&s Sjlv. de Gest. Bas. Cone. L. I. in Brown, Fasc. rer. exp. i. p. 23. 6 De modis uniendi ac reform. Eccl. per Cone. Opp. ii. pp. 173, 174. 78 Excessive extension of power of Rome usurped power of the Pope 7 ." " Which coactive power many supreme Pontiffs, at successive times, obtained to themselves, contrary to God and jus- tice, depriving inferior bishops of the powers and authorities given them by God and the Church, who in the Primitive Church were of equal power with the Pope, when there was no sale of in- dulgences 8 ," &c. " At length in the course of time (the avarice of the clergy, and the simony, cupidity, and ambition of the Pope increasing), the power and authority of the bishops and inferior prelates seem as though dried up and utterly overthrown, so that they seem now in the Church to be but painted images, to no end. For now the Pope of Rome has reserved all ecclesiastical benefices ; now has he called all causes into his own court; now has he willed that a penitentiary should be held there; now he wills that the holy ordination of any person indiscriminately should take place in his own court; and they, who cannot obtain ordi- nation in their own country, easily obtain ordination ' Gerson adds here, " The aforesaid Lord Alexander V. was altogether inclined to this before he was Pope, when it was in agitation that the said Council should be held at Pisa. He not only said this, but with many arguments from theology, philosophy, and jurisprudence, laboured at the limitation which was to follow. When created Pope, he had no care to publish them." 8 The whole passage is, " when there were no Papal re- servations of benefices, no inhibitions of Episcopal cases, no sales of indulgences, no commendams of cardinals, and dis- tributions of benefices, of priories, and monasteries." complained of and owned in 14th Century. 79 in that court." Nicolas V. plainly owned, " 9 The Roman Pontiffs, it seems to me, extended their skirts too far, in that they left no jurisdiction to the other bishops. Those of Basle abridged too 0 In Baluz. Miscell. vii. 555, in Gieseler K. G. § 133. Nicolas of Cusa (a.d. 1448) still taught that " Peter did not receive any more power than the other Apostles ; that nothing was said to him which was not said to the others ; that all the Apostles were equal to Peter; that in the beginning of the Church there was only one general episcopate, without dis- tinction of dioceses, throughout the world ; that all bishops are of one power and dignity ; that those above others, Archi- episcopal, Patriarchal, Papal, are administrations. — All bishops have the Apostolic command to govern themselves and their flocks in which the Holy Ghost has placed them to rule the Church, and therefore is the synodal judgment entrusted to them, because they are chiefs and rulers of the Church. If thou sayest that the Pope looses and binds those under the bishops, I say the same as to others, when there is the consent of their own bishops. For an act, null in itself, becomes valid through the consent or permission of one's own bishop in this matter. — Since, then, this has been introduced by common custom, and the consent is elicited from the custom, it is plain that its efficacy is derived from custom. — It is not read then that the Eoman Bishops in old times intermeddled in these things, or granted such confessionals and the like ; and perhaps it would not have been allowed. Since then the Council of Africa, which S. Augustine subscribed, did not allow of an appeal from a Council to a Pope, because it was not found in the Canons that this was allowed, but it was defined in the Council of Nice that the cause ought to be determined by the Synod, where it arose : how could they have admitted these things, and the irregular things done at this day ? But because consent has now from long custom introduced this, those things are valid as to the salvation of souls, as long as they allow them, but they can be taken away by a Council, and reformation requires this." De Cone. Eccl. ii. 13, pp. 726—729, quoted Gies. K. G. § 136, pp. 215, 216. 80 Eng. Ch. justified in reforming by itself. much the power of the Apostolic See. But so it happens. Whoso doth things unworthy, must endure things unjust. Those who would set erect a tree inclined on one side, draw it on the other. Our mind is, not to despoil of their rights the bishops who are called to a part of our charge. For so we hope to preserve our own jurisdiction, if we do not usurp what belongs to others." But things went on as before. And if, after the Pope had not only excommuni- cated King Henry VIII., but had deposed him, deprived his future children, given away his domi- nions, laid the kingdom under an interdict, absolved his subjects from allegiance, and stirred up other princes against them if they rebelled not, given them to be slaves to their captors, and their pro- perty to be a spoil, the Church of England reformed by herself, it was always allowed to a Provincial Council to make decrees in matters of faith, subject to the ultimate authoritv of the Universal Church. Successive Councils, Pisa, Constance, Basle, had met and failed. Men's hearts despaired. Constance had been chosen to avoid Italian influence; at Basle it had been defeated, but the Council was therefore closed. " I can scarcely believe," said a Carthusian, a.d. 1449, "that the general Church can be re- formed unless the Roman court be reformed first, which yet how difficult it is, the course of the pre- sent times shows. For no nation of believers so resists the universal reformation of the Church, as Reformation needed, but delayed. 81 the Italian and others who praise them, bound by hope of promotion or gain or temporal benefit, or fear of losing dignities. They tremble at the very sound of a General Council, knowing by experience that General Councils speak, not smooth things, but correct and amend without respect of persons 7 ." " There will be no reformation," said a Bishop in 1519, "save in some general, free, and candid Council, where room shall be given, not to a malicious, but to the Holy Spirit to breathe. Alas ! I conjecture with alarm, that our age is not worthy of the gathering of a lawful Council, wherein, virtues being promoted and vices censured, the Church shall be reformed ; so deceived are we by the workings of error. The Councils we need are rarely and sluggishly held; they are conducted at Rome or elsewhere before the powerful, where there is no freedom of speech to the humble and the faithful, so that in them what concerns the worship of God, the Christian religion and reformation, is slowly corrected V And yet these three last Councils had borne witness to the need of re formation "in the head and the members;" and worse was feared if it was not hastened. "It is strongly to be anticipated with foresight and fear," says that same Bishop 9 , " that the ruin of the Latin 7 Jacob de Paradise- : de Virtutibus Eccl. in Browne ii. 106. ■ John Chemeneis, Onus Eccl. c. 19, § 16. 9 lb. § 14. F 82 Three Councils held, yet no Reform. Must Church as to Ecclesiastical dignity is near at hand, since weakness in the foundations brings a fall." " Unless," said a Cardinal, in the preface to a paper presented to the Council of Constance " the Church be reformed speedily, I venture to say, that, albeit great are the things which we see, we shall soon see incomparably greater, and, after thunder- ings so aweful, we shall very shortly hear others yet more aweful. Wherefore we must watch with the utmost diligence for the Reformation of the Church." And Cardinal Julian, appealing to the Pope against the dissolution of the Council of Basle, " What will the whole world say, when it shall hear this ? Will it not judge that the Clergy are incorrigible, and will for ever to remain in the defilements of their deformities ? So many Councils have been held in our days, from which no reformation followed. The people looked that some fruit should come of this. If it be dissolved, it will be said that we mock God and man V The Council was after a time removed to Italy, and reformation was no more spoken of. vi. c. The last charge which Dr. Manning brings against the Church of England is, that "it for- mally denies" the "perpetual Divine voice 3 " of the Church. In this statement the stress, I conceive, lies upon the word "perpetual." Dr. Manning understands " the Divine authority of the Church " * Peter de Alliaco, a. 1415, Browne i. 407. 2 Epist. Julian. Card, ad Eug. iv., in Browne i. 57. 3 Letter pp. 34, 5. the Church ever be ready to declare new truth ? 8?> to involve, not only what we confess, — that the whole Catholic Church has not collectively sanc- tioned error ; and so, that what it has collectively pronounced is certain truth, — but also an ever- present power to declare new truth. " The per- petual and ever-present assistance of the Holy Spirit, whereby the Church in every age is not only preserved from error, but enabled at all times to declare the truth ; that is, the infallibility of the Church at this hour — that it is, that the Anglican Church in terms denies. For three hundred years the Anglican Clergy have been trained, ordained, and bound to deny not only many Christian truths, but the Divine authority of the rj aei e'/c/cX^o-ia, the living Church of every age." Conscious that we had never done any thing of the kind, nay that, in the Articles, we subscribe the contrary 4 , I asked myself, What can this mean ? For we are here concerned with an abstract proposition, not with a matter of fact, such as is that of the extent of the visible Church, viz., whether it comprises the Oriental and Anglican Churches, or whether it consists only of the Churches in communion with Rome. Dr. Manning has, naturally, identified the two questions ; and assumes, in fact, that, in deny- ing the infallibility of the Roman Church by itself, we are " denying the infallibility of the living Church at this hour;" because, on his hypothesis, 1 See above, pp. 37—44. F 2 84 The whole truth, which the Church now has. the Roman Church is, alone, the living Church, to the exclusion of the Eastern Church and of our- selves. This, I understand, is a favourite formula with Dr. Manning, — " By whom does God the Holy Ghost speak? By the Roman Church? or by the Eastern ? or by the Anglican ? " I have been wont to say, " by all concurrently, in so far as they teach the same faith which was from the beginning 5 , which is the great body of all their teaching; and, if need required, they could at this day declare concurrently any truth, if it should appear that it had not, as yet, been sufficiently defined, against some fresh heresy which should emerge." But I see not, what this question as to the present ability of the Church to meet fresh errors which may emerge, has to do with the question as to the infallible certainty of the truths which the whole Church in common has received. The office of our Divine Lord, as a Teacher, was, to be the perfect Revealer of the whole truth as to God, which God willed to disclose to His creatures here. This same office God the Holy Ghost under- took after the Resurrection, teaching invisibly to the Apostles that same divine truth. Our Lord said to His Apostles, " He shall teach you the whole truth (iracrav rrjv dk-qOetav), and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you 6 ." The whole revelation then was completed 5 See above, ib. and pp. 53, 54. 6 S. John xiv. 26 ; xvi. 13. was fully taught to and by the Apostles. 85 at the first. He, "the Spirit of Truth," was to teach the Apostles the whole truth. It was a personal promise to the Apostles, and fulfilled in them. The Church of this day cannot know more than S. John, else the promise would not have been fulfilled to him, that God, the Holy Ghost, should teach him the whole truth. Whatever the Apostles received, that they were enjoined to teach 1 . And that whole truth the Apostles taught, orally and in writing, committing it as the de- posit (irapaKCLTa0T]K7]) to the Bishops whom they left in their place 8 , and, under inspiration of God the Holy Ghost, embodying it in Holy Scripture. At least we know from the testimony of those who followed, that they taught it orally in all its great outlines ; and S. Paul himself says, " I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God." It does not indeed absolutely follow, that they so taught in detail all which is contained in Holy Scripture. How much, e. g., is taught in the Epistles incidentally, in answer to doubts which had arisen, whether this were so or no, even as to Apostolic teaching, or in correction of nascent heresies ! But there is this difference between the teaching of the Apostles and that of the Church after them, that what the Apostles taught as the original and Fountain-head, that the Church only transmitted. 7 S. Matt, X. 27; xviii. 20. 2 Tim. ii. 2, &c. 86 Roman Church owns revelation complete at first. This I conceive to be the meaning of the Council of Trent too, that, when our Lord became Man, He completed His revelation to man. For the Council of Trent, at its outset, recognized as the sources of our knowledge, only Holy Scripture, and those " traditions, whether as to faith or morals, which had been dictated orally by Christ or by the Holy Ghost, and had been preserved by continual succes- sion in the Catholic Church V According to the Council of Trent, then, as well as ourselves, the revelation was finished in and through the Apostles. In Eavignan's words, " Acheve, sanctionne par Jesus Christ, il s'arrete, et Dieu ne revele plus, ne doit plus reveler apres la redemption operee; car elle est le terme des promesses, le sommet de l'edifice et des conseils divins. La pierre fonda- mentale est posee, l'edifice couronne, et nul n'en peut Mtir un autre, comme s'exprimait S. Paul." The office, then, which God the Holy Ghost vouchsafes to take for us, became different after the time of the Apostles. For they were the chosen instruments whom our Blessed Lord selected to be the primary authoritative teachers of His truth. And, in conformity with this choice, God the Holy Ghost dwelt fully in them, inspiring them and making them infallible teachers, and com- pleting His revelation through them. Thenceforth, then, it was the office of the Church, under the guidance of God the Holy Ghost, to 8 Sess. nr. Office of God the Holy Ghost in Church now. 87 transmit, guard, defend that truth, which our Divine Lord, and God the Holy Ghost, teaching the Apostles what, during our Lord's Bodily Pre- sence, they had not been able to receive, gave to the Church once for all. Again, within the post-Apostolic Church, God the Holy Ghost has been pleased to operate, in a twofold way, for the preservation of that truth, which He first gave, ordinary and extraor- dinary. Ordinarily He upholds and maintains that body of faith, once declared, which, without His continual presence and inspiration, would be lost. He operates also in sacraments; He ordains the succession of pastors, doctors, bishops, through whom He continually propagates the truth; He converts the Jews and heathen ; He reclaims heretics, and those too who have done despite to His grace; He extends the bounds of the Church; He operates towards, or in every soul of Chris- tians ; He teaches in all true teachers. " The Holy Church throughout all the world doth acknow- ledge Thee." Through His continued operation and inspiration the Church every where, in East and West, North and South, confesseth, main- taineth, teacheth, propagateth the one faith, — that " which was once for all delivered to the saints." Extraordinary operations of this same teaching of God the Holy Ghost have been on those occa- sions, when the Church has had to state, explicitly 88 Heresies may be condemned by the whole and formally, in correction of emerging heresies, the truth which God the Holy Ghost ever taught by her. I call these " extraordinary," because such occasions have been comparatively rare in the history of the Church. The form of " General Councils," to which our thoughts naturally are first directed, have been rarer still. When there was a good hope that the East and West might be again united, the Western Church was willing to ignore all the Councils which it had held subsequently to the separation, and to count the existing Council from the last which East and West had held together. They virtually acknowledged the inter- vening Councils to have been, not in their fullest sense General Councils, but to have been Western Councils only. Yet the same object of ascertaining the mind of the Church might be, and was, attained in another way. In the three first centuries a General Council was obviously impossible. It would only have marked out Christian Bishops for martyrdom, on the supposition that they were engaged in a con- spiracy against the State ; yet emergent heresies were condemned, and the mind of the whole Church was ascertained as clearly without them as with them. S. Augustine says of the Pelagian heresy, " What need was there of gathering a Synod, to condemn a manifest mischief ? As though no heresy had ever been condemned, except by the gathering of a Synod ! Whereas, contrariwise, Church without a General Council. Instances. 89 they were very few heresies, to condemn which there was any such need; and incomparably many more heresies have been rejected and condemned where they arose; and thence they could be made known through the rest of the world as things to be avoided V Yet during all that time the assent of the whole Church would be obtained without any meeting. It is said of the Pelagian heresy, " the whole world embraced the enactment of the 214 [African] Bishops against the enemies of the grace of God '." " The Synodal decrees of the Council of 214 Bishops at Carthage were transmitted to Pope Zosimus ; which, being approved, the Pelagian heresy was condemned through the whole world V The doctrines of grace were thus established as part of the faith, as fully as if they had been for- mally received by a General Council. Mr. Palmer counted "more than ninety heresies, which were suppressed before the Council of Nice by the argu- ments and authorities of the Bishops and Pro- vincial Synods 3 ." In like way S. Jerome relates, "how the Bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Milan, Aquileia, and the whole Synod of Catholics, both of East and West, with a like sentence, because their mind is alike, denounce Origen to the people as a heretic 4 ." We have no detailed account of the a Cont. 2 Epp. Pelag. end. 1 Prosper resp. ad Obj. Gall. 8. 2 Id. Chron. a. 418. ' 3 On the Church, ii 134. * Cont. Buff. ii. 22. 90 No fixed Rule as to settling disputes on Faith. Synods to which S. Jerome refers, except that Origen was condemned first at Alexandria, then at Rome, at the instigation of Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, and then by other Synods. But the result S. Augustine sums up: "him, not un- deservedly, the Church hath rejected*" on account of the heresy of Universalism, " and for some other things." He speaks of the doctrine as one which the Church had not been able to endure 6 . " The Catholic Church wholly rejects this, when it neither accuses him falsely, nor can be deceived by his defenders. For what Catholic Christian, learned or unlearned, would not be exceedingly horrified 7 " thereat ? Of these two ways of ascertaining the mind of the Church, neither have been adopted on any fixed rule. The Second General Council was ori- ginally only an Eastern Council, which became general through its reception by the West, which was not represented in it. The Church had to wait many years for the Council of Constantinople, which completed the Nicene Creed, until the ac- cession of the Orthodox Emperor Theodosius gave scope for it. She had again to wait the accession of the Emperor Marcian, before the robber-Coun- cil of Ephesus could be displaced by the Fourth General Council at Chalcedon. The fifth General Council was assembled by an heretical Emperor, 5 De Civ. D. xxi. 17. " lb. c. 23. 7 De Haer. c. 43. Rome holds they need not be ended at once. 91 instigated by heretics, yet was preserved by God's Providence and by His Spirit, under which it was not convened. Nor is there any promise that the Church shall be guided, when and how to hold Councils, al- though it is promised that the whole Church should not be led into error. Centuries elapsed before the attempt to solve the great schism of the East and West by a Council. Nor is it essential, according to the Church of Rome itself, that the Church should at once define even a matter of faith which is disputed. The con- troversies about the Immaculate Conception are older than the Reformation, but have only just been decided. It has now been ruled that that doctrine was always matter of faith; yet it has only been formally received in the Roman Church, when it had tacitly made its way, and its once powerful opponents had ceased. The object of the decision was understood to be, not to settle controversies which had long expired, but to ob- tain the favour of the Blessed Virgin towards the Church of Rome by doing honour to her. During the disputes between the Gallican and Ultramon- tane Divines about the supremacy of the Pope, each party held the opposite statements to be heretical; but the Church did not interpose. No doubt, wisely. Ultramontanism has been fostered by the tyranny of the State, driving people to take refuge in an authority external to the State. 92 Promise to the whole Church, that it should not Should Gallicanism be extinguished hereafter, it would be according to the analogy of the course as to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, that Ultramontanism, which is now the favoured opi- nion, should be declared to be matter of faith. But any how, it is clear from the old controversies as to the Immaculate Conception, that, according to the Roman Church too, what is subsequently ruled to be de fide may be allowed, for a long time, to remain matter of vehement dispute. Nor, although it is promised that the whole Church should not fall into error, is it promised that they should in all things act wisely. The Roman Church long refused to accept those Canons of the Second and the Fourth General Councils which settled the rank of the Patriarchate of Con- stantinople, although it ultimately acceded to them. The fifth General Council, although marvellously preserved from error, and a maintainer of truth, gave rise to a lamentable schism among the orthodox as to " The Three Chapters," very chiefly through the vacillations of Pope Vigilius. The Latin Church has tacitly acknowledged that the Council of Flo- rence acted unwisely in trying to force upon the Greeks the Latin formula as to the Procession of God the Holy Ghost, contrary to their uniform tradition, even while it granted that the formula of the Greek fathers, Sia rov Ttou, expressed the same truth as the Latin " Filioque." On this and other grounds the Council failed of its object, and fall into error; not that it should do the very best. 93 the opportunity was lost of effacing the inveterate prejudice of the Greeks, that the Latin formula had an heretical meaning, viz. that there are two * Apyax in the Divine nature. The Latin Church has tacitly allowed that it was a mistake to insist that the Greeks should adopt our Western expres- sion, by allowing the Greeks, who have submitted to its authority, to say the Creed, as the Council of Constantinople left it. It is, then, no essential part of the office of God the Holy Ghost in the Church to direct it, how, when, and for what to assemble General Councils. It is matter of faith that the whole Church shall never be led into any formal acceptance of error by virtue of our Lord's promise ; and on this ground the Church of England receives the Six General Councils. But it is not matter of faith that the Church will always be able to hold General Councils, as in fact, important as the issues were, God allowed a time to elapse before the Second and Fourth General Councils could be called. Meanwhile God the Holy Ghost exercises the office of Teacher, which He vouchsafed to take, both by teaching the children of God (as it is said, " they shall all be taught of God"), and by giving them the supernatural gift of faith, as of grace; and He maintains in the Church every where the tradition of the great body of the faith, infallibly fixed. And this is not impaired, although 94 Truth may be settled simultaneously in the there are other points not yet cleared up, both with the Greek Church and our own, e. g. as to the Papal claims, so different from the relation of the Patriarchates to one another in early times, or indulgences which the Greek Church never knew, or the denial of the cup, which the Greek Church ever gave, or the marriage-law of the Council of Trent, which allows what the whole Church from the first, until the miserable Alex- ander VI. (Borgia), held to be incest. Largely, moreover, as invocation of the Blessed Virgin is used in the Greek Church, it has nowhere adopted that vast formulized theory as to her place as the channel of all grace to the Church, and to each single soul, which is to us the especial "crux" in the Roman system. It has protested against the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception 8 of the Blessed Virgin, which Pius IX. defined, as " at- tested " by " the monuments of the Eastern Church," as well as " the Western." Dr. Manning has invented a new heresy, which he charges upon us. The Church of England no- where denies that General Councils can be held, nor that any doctrine could be vindicated simul- taneously throughout the whole Church. The time may come, when this will have to be done. True, that the first office of a General Council now would be to reunite Christendom. But until this be ' See note B at the end. whole Church; Clouds over Roman Church too. 95 (which may God in His mercy, bring to pass), truth, when occasion shall require, may be vindi- cated by the whole Church simultaneously, without any meeting, as was done in the early Church, after the Council of Nice as well as before. There are indications of clouds lowering on the horizon of the Roman Church, in regard to Holy Scripture, which have discharged their first burst upon our- selves. There have appeared already among Roman Catholics symptoms of a tendency to hold cheaply by Holy Scripture, as being comparatively unim- portant to them, who have the authority of an infallible Church, forgetting that the authority of the Church depends upon Holy Scripture. There are those among them who seem inclined to indem- nify themselves for their submission to the Church in things formally laid down by it, by a licence as to things, not so distinctly defined. Whereto this may grow, or whether He will nip it, God alone knows ! But the need may arise among them, as well as among ourselves, to lay down formally the truth of all Holy Scripture, as given by inspira- tion of God, which has been presupposed by all, every where, at all times, from the first. Such a simultaneous decree would, by general consent, have the authority of a General Council, as without any General Council Pelagianism was condemned by the whole Church. Why then, since we believe the teaching of God the Holy Ghost in the Church to be infallible, is it 96 The Body of Faith every where held as infallible. to be made a heresy to say that man does not use the gift as much as he might, as e. g., if God's con- straining grace were to move the whole Church every where to seek visible reconciliation ? The question does not relate to that which has once been settled by the whole Church. Nothing, of course, can add to the authority of what has ever been ruled by an infallible authority. We our- selves have, equally with those in the Roman Church, infallible truth, as resting on infallible authority. We do not need the present agency of an infallible Church to assure us of the truth of what has been ruled infallibly. Nor, in fact, have Roman Catholics any more infallible authority for what they hold than we, seeing that it was ruled by the Church in past ages, to whom, so far, the present Church submits. The later General Councils began by accepting what had been ruled before them. The second received, while it enlarged, the creed of the first; the third premised to its own acts the con- fession of the creeds of the two first; the fourth re- ceived the decree of Ephesus too, and accepted the wonderful clearness of the exposition of faith by S. Leo, as agreeing with those previous authorities. They accepted those creeds before them, not thereby adding to their authority, but as authenti- cating their own orthodoxy. The question, then, is not whether the doctrine laid down in General Councils, and received by the whole Church, is certain truth (on this both agree); nor whether the Fault imputed, our owning the Eastern Church. 97 whole doctrine of the Holy Trinity, of the Incarna- tion, of Grace, and whatsoever else has been received formally by the whole Church, is infallibly settled (on this too both are at one) ; nor whether an (Ecu- menical Council, if such were now held and received by the whole Church, would, by that reception, have the seal of infallibility (on this, too, according to the principles of the Gallican Church and our own, there is no question); nor whether, in fact, if the same doctrines were enunciated at once by the whole Church, the East, West, our own, separately, but concordantly (e. g. as to the character of the inspi- ration of Holy Scripture), the doctrine, so simul- taneously enunciated, would be infallibly certain (which it would be); — but whether what should be enacted, either by the Greek or Roman Church, would be infallible, unless received by the other. This (granted that the Eastern Church is a part of the Church), it would not be according to the principles of the Gallican divines too. because there would not be universal reception. This, then, which is to destroy the whole faith among us, resolves itself into the fact, that we acknowledge the Greek Church, as well as the Roman, to be part of the Church of Christ. If it is, the Western Councils alone, not having yet had universal reception, have not received the seal of infallibility; and the Roman Church itself owned that those intermediate Councils might be counted to be wanting in something, since it was willing, in G 98 Thoaglits about Re-union of the Churches. prospect of union with the East, to ignore them as General Councils. vii. But is there then no issue to the present division of Christendom ? Is disunion to be the normal state of the Church, for which we all pray that God would give her unity, peace, and concord ? God forbid ! I have never expected to see that external unity of intercommunion restored in my own day; but I have felt it to be an end to be wished for, and prayed for. I doubt not that the Roman Church and ourselves are kept apart much more by that vast practical system which lies be- yond the letter of the Council of Trent, things which are taught with a quasi-authority in the Roman Church, than by what is actually defined. Nothing could be more unpractical than for an individual to throw himself into the Roman Church, because he could accept the letter of the Council of Trent. Those who were born Roman Catholics have a liberty, which, in the nature of things, a person could not have, who left another system, to embrace that of Rome. I cannot imagine how any faith could stand the shock of leaving one system, criticizing it, and casting himself into another sys- tem, criticizing it. For myself I have always felt that had (which God of His mercy avert hereafter also) the English Church, by accepting heresy, driven me out of it, I could have gone in no other way than that of closing my eyes, and accepting whatever was put before me. But a liberty which Main objection of English is to things not De Fide. 99 individuals could not use, and explanations which, so long as they remain individual, must be unautho- ritative, might be formally made by the Church of Rome to the Church of England as the basis of reunion. I have already hinted at several such explanations which might, I should have thought, be made. The Council of Trent laid down, in many cases, what is very far below the practical system, encouraged, at present, every where in the Church of Rome, taught in her name and with her authority, but which, on being questioned, no Roman Catholic, I believe, would declare to be de fide. And yet, take not ourselves only, but the general body of Englishmen, whether instructed or not instructed, it will be of this as yet unde- fined body of practical belief that they will be thinking when they speak of our " reformed " Church, or against becoming Roman Catholics. If they speak against Papal authority, it is not in itself (which would be a matter of indifference), but as an authority, which, if they submitted to it, would enforce upon them that practical system. Probably, too, there is an hereditary dread of the renewal of the fires of Smithfield, the sinfulness of which has never been disowned. I would explain what I mean with reference to Art. XXII. vii. a. In regard to the Invocation of Saints, the Council of Trent lays down this only, " It 1 is good 1 Seas. xxv. Bishop Latimer is quoted as agreeing altogether G 2 100 Formal Doctrine as to Invocation of Saints. and useful suppliantly to invoke the saints, and to have recourse to their prayers, help, and assist- ance, to obtain favours from God, through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Who is alone our Redeemer and Saviour;" and direct prayer to the saints to " give us good things, and deliver us from evil things," seems to be directly prohibited by the Catechism of the Council 2 . And there is the popular explanation, that we are to ask for their prayers in no other sense than we ask for each other's prayers, and that " they 3 do nothing for us mortals in heaven, but what they did while they were here on earth, and what all good Christians are bound to do for each other, namely, they help us by their prayers. The only difference is, that as the saints in heaven are free from every stain of sin and im- perfection, and are confirmed in grace and glory, so their prayers are far more efficacious for obtain- ing what they ask for than are the prayers of us imperfect and sinful mortals." with the words of the Council of Trent. " Take saints for in- habitants of heaven, and worshipping them for praying to them, I never denied but that they might be worshipped, and be our mediators, though not by way of redemption (for so Christ alone is a whole mediator, both for them and us), yet by way of intercession." — Foxe, Acts and Monuments. 2 " God and the saints are not to be prayed to in the same manner, for we pray to God that He Himself would give us good things, and deliver us from evil things : but we beg of the saints that they would be our advocates, and obtain from God what we stand in need of." Cat. of C. of Trent, quoted by Milner, End of Contr. Lett, xxxiii. * Milner, ib. Quasi-authoritative Roman Doctrine upon it. 101 Now, were this all, the difficulty never could have arisen. The mere " ora pro nobis," so explained, could not have led any to stop short in the Saints, nor have called forth any protest, out of zeal for God's honour. But, along with this, was that vast system as to the Blessed Virgin, which to all of us has been the special "crux" of the Roman system. This we have often insisted upon 4 , as did those before us. It is impossible to condense the state- ments of a doctrine which presents itself in so many startling forms, co-extensive with the present Office of our Dear Lord for us. His Precious Blood, they of course say with us, is alone the me- ritorious cause of our salvation. But her interces- sion is held to be co-extensive with His, " Who ever liveth to make intercession for us," our Divine Lord, and to be the access to His Intercession. And this is taught, not as the glowing expression of Southern feeling, but as the deliberate mind of the present Roman Church. It was one who has since been beatified 5 , who formally rejected the "opinion of a certain modern author, who has written with great piety and learning on true and false devotion," that " the proposition, ' God gives no grace except through Mary,' is an hyperbole and exaggeration, which fell from some of the saints in a moment of fervour, and is to be understood 4 Dr. Pusey's letter to Dr. Jelf, pp. 187 — 216, and Sermon, Rule of Faith, pp. 55-61. 5 Liguori, Glories of Mary, v. 1, quoted Rule of Faith, p. 57. 102 Quasi-authoritative Roman Doctrine to mean that from Mary we have received Jesus Christ, through Whose merits we receive all graces." God, it is granted, " could grant His graces with- out the intercession of Mary 6 ;" but it is asserted that " He will not." It is one of their most learned writers 7 who says, " it is the universal sentiment of the [Roman] Church that the intercession of Mary is not only useful, but also in a certain man- ner necessary ;" " necessary, with a moral necessity, because the Church seems to think, with S. Ber- nard, that God has determined to give us no grace except through the hands of Mary \" So, then, it is taught in authorized books, that "it is morally impossible for those to be saved who neglect the devotion to the Blessed Virgin 2 ;" that "it is the will of God that all graces should pass through her hands ;" that " no creature obtained any grace from God, save according to the dispensation of His holy mother 3 ;" that Jesus has, in fact, said, " no one shall be partaker of My Blood, unless through the intercession of My mother 4 ;" that " we can only hope to obtain perseverance through her 5 ;" that "God granted all the pardons in the Old Testament absolutely for the reverence and love • lb. ' Suarez, T. ii. in 3 P. Disp. 23, § 3. 1 Liguori, ib. a See the Proofs in Eule of Faith, p. 55. 3 Bernardine Sen. Serm. 61, Tr. i., Art. 8, quoted by Lig. 4 Contensonius, Theol. Mentis et Cordis, T. ii. L. x. D. iv. c. 1, in Lig. 6 See in Eule of Faith, p. 58. as to the Blessed Virgin. 103 of this Blessed Virgin 6 ;" that "our salvation is in her hand 7 that " it is impossible for any to be saved, who turns away from her, or is disre- garded by her; or to be lost, who turns to her, or is regarded by her 8 ;" that "whom the justice of God saves not, the infinite mercy of Mary saves by her intercession 1 ;" that God is " subject to the command of Mary 2 ;" that " God has resigned into her hands (if one might say so) His omni- potence in the sphere of grace 3 ;" " that it is safer to seek salvation through her than directly from Jesus 4 ." 6 Bernardine Sen., Serm. 61, c. 8. 7 Eic. a S. Laurent, de Laud. Virg. L. 3, p. 1, and others in Lig. 8 Eadmer de Excell. Virg. cxi., quoted as S. Anseltn, in Lig. S. Antonin. ib. 1 Ascribed to S. Chrys. if not to S. Ignat., but spurious, in Lig. 2 "All tilings are subject to the command of the Virgin, even God Himself." Bern. Sen. Serm. 61, Art. i. c. 6. Ussher, p. 417. " The Blessed Virgin is superior to God, and God Himself is subject unto her, in respect of the Manhood which He assumed from her." Bern, de Bust. Marial. p. 9, Serm. 2, ib. "However she be subject unto God, inasmuch as she is a creature, yet she is said to be superior and preferred before Him, inasmuch as she is His mother." Ib. p. 2, s. 2, ib. " You have over God the authority of a mother, and hence you ob- tain pardon for the most obdurate sinners." Gl. of M. in Letter, p. 209. 3 Glories of M. p. 85, quoted Letter, p. 208. See also Treatise on the Scapular, c. 7, p. 43. Gl. of M. p. 130. On "participated omnipotency," ib. 207. 4 As "in the vision which Burn, de Bust, reciteth as shown to S. Erancis touching the two ladders, that reached from 104 Quasi-authoritative Roman Doctrine It seemed to me to bear very closely upon the mediatorial Office of our Lord, when M. Olier, founder of the seminary of S. Sulpice, said, " The intention of the Church is, that we seek Jesus Christ in His saints ; and we are much more sure of finding Him in His saints, for instance, in the Blessed Virgin, S. Joseph, S. John, S. Peter, than when we seek Him immediately and of ourselves. — We are very unworthy to draw near unto Jesus; and He has a right to repulse [rebuter] us, because of His justice, since, having entered into all the feelings of His Father from the time of His blessed Resurrection, He finds Himself in the same dis- position with the Father toward sinners, i. e., to reject them ; so that the difficulty is to induce Him to exchange the office of Judge for that of Advo- cate; and, of a Judge, to make Him a suppliant. Now this is what the saints effect, and especially the most Blessed Virgin." To me this seemed unintentional heresy, sanctioned by the two Galil- ean Bishops who recommended the book. I under- stand that an apology has been made for it, that M. Olier was a devotional, not a dogmatic writer, earth to heaven, the one red, upon which Christ leaned, from which many fell backward and could not ascend ; the other white, upon which the holy Virgin leaned ; the help whereof such as used, were by her received with a cheerful countenance, and so with facility ascended into heaven." Marial. p. 9, Serm. 2, Assim. 2 ; also (as shown to Fr. Lion) Spec. vit. Franc, et soc. p. 2, c. 45, Spec, exempl. dist. 7, exempl. 41, in Ussher, p. 429, repeated in Glor. of M. p. 180. as to the Blessed Virgin. 105 and so did not express himself with formal accu- racy. Of course, I never thought of imputing to a pious writer, like M. Olier, conscious heresy. The assertion itself, however, that " our Lord had changed since His Resurrection, and was now of one mind with the Father," in a way in which He had not been before, must, in any plain meaning of the words, be heretical. The statement, more- over, that the saints are more ready to intercede with Jesus, than Jesus is to intercede with the Father, is, in fact, a denial of His mediatorial office, and is by no means peculiar to M. Olier. It was said of old, too, " no sinner doth deserve that Christ should any more make intercession for him with the Father, without Whose intercession none can be delivered either from the eternal punish- ment or the temporal, nor from the fault which he has voluntarily committed, and therefore it was necessary that Christ should constitute His well-beloved mother a mediatrix betwixt us and Him, — that she would appease the wrath of her Son 5 ;" "that God retained justice unto Himself, and granted mercy to her 6 ;" that "she is the throne of grace, whereof the Apostle speaketh 7 ;" that " she appeaseth the just anger of her Son 8 ;" 6 Jac. de Valent. in Expos. Magnificat. TJssher. 8 Gabr. Biel in Can. Miss. Lect. 80. Bernardin. de Bust. Marial. p. 3, s. 3, de excell. 4, in TJssher. 7 Bern. de. B. ib. Exc. 5, and p. 5, Serm. 7, fin. TJssher. 8 " I shall no longer fear your Son justly irritated, since one word from you [Mary] will appease Him." Gl. of M. p. 74. 106 Advances in the Quasi-authoritative that " to sinners, who have lost Divine grace, there is no more sun" (the symbol of Jesus) "for him, but the moon is still on the horizon ; let him address himself to Mary 9 ;" that "she is the only refuge of those who have incurred the Divine in- dignation 1 ;" that " Jesus, being no less our Judge than our Saviour, He must avenge the wrongs we do Him by our sins ; while the holy Virgin, being solely our Advocate, is obliged to entertain only sentiments of pity for us V It is commonly said, that if any Roman Catholic acknowledges that " it is good and useful to pray to the saints," he is not bound, himself, to do so. Were the above teaching true, it would be cruelty to say so ; because, according to it, he would be forfeiting what is morally necessary to his salva- tion. So then it seems as if the Roman Church must either advance in her theoretical teaching, or recede in her practical teaching. At present this sort of teaching is in the advance. One should have thought that, at least, when our Lord gives Himself to us in the Holy Eucharist, this must be direct communion with Himself. But a new ritual Letter on Tract 90, p. 211. "If my Saviour drive me off be- cause of my sins, I will go and cast myself at the feet of His mother; thence I will not rise till she has obtained my pardon. For she does not know what it is to be insensible to the voice of misery, and her pity will mitigate the anger of her Son." Gl. of M. p. 89. Ib. 9 Innocent III. in Glories of Mary, p. 69 ; Letter, ib. 1 Blosius in Glories of Mary, p. 93, quoted ib. 1 Eadmer, de Exc. B. V., ib. p. 212. Roman System as to the Blessed Virgin. 107 has arisen, which seems to be intended to symbolize that we do not gain access even to Holy Com- munion, except through the Blessed Virgin. This is but the carrying out of the old principle, that " it is the will of God that all graces should come through her hands." Before, it had been taught, " Jesus 3 Christ is, in the Holy Sacrament, risen again and full of glory; and though He be in a sacrament of goodness and mercy, He nevertheless therein exercises His judgments very commonly by condemnations. We must then go to a sacrament solely of mercy, wherein Jesus Christ exercises no judgments. This sacrament is the most Blessed Virgin. It is through her that we have access to Jesus Christ in full confidence." But now, those colossal figures of the Blessed Virgin, which are carried in procession, and placed before or by the side of the Altar, seem intended to represent, that, through her mediation only, those who are in the grace of Christ become fitted to become partakers of His blessed Body and Blood. In Southern India and Ceylon, our Churches are called by the natives "Jesus-Churches;" the Roman Catholic Churches " Mary-Churches." It is, of course, an abuse of this teaching, when any confine their prayers to the Blessed Virgin. A certain proportion, it has been ascertained by those who have inquired, do stop short in her. I have myself been asked by Roman Catholics to 3 M. Olier, Catechisme Chretien, quoted Rule of Faith, p. 60. 108 Bishop Andrewes on the Sort of Invocation pray for my conversion : once only I was asked to pray our Lord. On the other occasions, I was exclusively asked to pray the Blessed Virgin for it 4 . In an edition of " the Glories of Mary," T have seen one objection so far attended to, that notes were added upon the direct prayers to the Blessed Virgin for spiritual graces, stating that it was meant only that she should obtain these graces by her intercession. Still, the teaching remains, that we are even surer to obtain them from her, than if we go directly to the One Mediator between God and man, our Divine Lord, " Who ever liveth to make intercession for us." The Homilies illustrate what it is, which our Articles condemn, viz., Invocations, which seem to interfere with the all-sufficiency of the Intercession of our Divine Redeemer, or any act of devotion which is " proper unto God V Bishop Andrewes also, in his summary, explains what those of his day believed to be condemned by the article, not requests for the prayers of saints departed, but 4 A friend of mine, in like way, was asked to pray to the Blessed Virgin in a form framed on the beginning of the Litany : " Mary, daughter of the Father, give me light ; Mary, Mother of the Son, — Mary, Spouse of the Holy Ghost," — the especial prayers I forget ; but they were exactly the same prayers which we should have addressed to the Holy Trinity. "These English are but half converts!" was the exclamation of an Italian priest by a devout deathbed, when the dying per- son commended herself to "Jesus," instead of to "Jesus and Mary." 6 On Prayer, p. 277. rejected by Article XXII. 109 direct addresses to them, as if they could themselves give what we ask. " They 6 say to the Blessed Virgin, ' Sancta Maria ! ' not only ' Ora pro nobis,' but ' Succurre miseris, juva pusillanimes, refove flebiles, accipe quod offerimus, dona quod rogamus, excusa quod timemus.' — All which and many more show plainly that the practice of the Church of Rome, in this point of invocation of saints, is far otherwise than Cardinal Perron would bear the world in hand ; and that prier pour prier is not all, but that, ' Tu dona ccelum, Tu laxa, Tu sana, Tu solve crimina, Tu due, conduc, indue, perdue, ad gloriam, Tu serva, Tu fer opem, Tu aufer, Tu confer vitam,' are said to them, totidem verbis; more than which cannot be said to God Himself. And again, ' Hie nos solvat a peccatis, hie nostros tergat reatus, hie arma conferat, hie hostem fuget, hie gubernet, hie aptet tuo con- spectui,' which, if they be not direct and absolute, it would be asked of them, What is absolute or direct ? " And this impression, that more is in- tended than the asking of their prayers, as we do those of members of Christ still in the flesh, is strengthened by the statement, not contained in the Council of Trent, that invocation is " an eminent kind of adoration 7 ;" that " we [Roman 6 Answer to Card. Perron's Keply, end, pp. 58. 62 [pp. 76. 80, ed. Ang. Cath. Lib.]. ' "Eximium adorationis genus." Bellarm. Praef. in Controv. Eccl. Triumph, quoted by Ussher, p. 402. 110. Hie practical Roman System authoritative, Catholics] do not honour the saints with that worship only, wherewith we do men which excel in virtue, &c, but also with Divine worship and honour, which is an act of religion," only that they " do not give Divine worship and honour unto the saints for themselves, but for God Who hath made them saints 8 ." The large system as to the B. V., of which I have given specimens, unknown as it was to the Ancient Church 9 , has a quasi-authority in the Roman Church, (at least, it is set forth in her name,) moulds, and necessarily must mould, a great part of the 8 Azor. Inst. Mor. T. i. L. ix. c. 10, quoted ib. 9 The one exception is a relation given by S. Gregory as to S. Justina, out of some spurious Acts belonging to the latter half of the fourth (his own) century. The Acts, from which he takes his account, agree in substance with those which S. Prudentius also had (Peristeph. 13), and which the Empress Eudoxia versified (Phot. Cod. 184, p. 215, Hoesch.). All alike, on the ground of those Acts, confound S. Cyprian with an Eastern martyr, whom the Acts make a magician before he was converted. Besides historical inaccuracies, the Acts have plainly fabulous stories about magic. (See Baluz. Prsef. ad S. Cypr. xxxiii.) As extant, however, they have not the his- tory related by S. Gregory, that, at the close of long prayers to God, Justina " besought the Virgin Mary to succour a virgin in peril from the assaults of Satan " (Orat. 24, § 11). S. Gregory relates the fact as he found it in his Acts, without comment, not remarking on the Acts of a martyr. The Acts are most full, in Latin, in Martene, Anecd. iii. pp. 1621, sqq. ; the Conf. S. Cypriani exists in Greek, App. to S. Cypr. p. ccxcv, Ben. In no instance, among the genuine Acts of Martyrs, edited by Buinart, is any martyr related to have asked for help amidst those super-human sufferings, or otherwise, except from God generally, or from our Lord. yet not held to be De Fide. Ill private devotions in the Roman Church. Yet Dr. Manning too, I suppose, would not allege it as the teaching of God the Holy Ghost, which a man could not reject without sin : for then it would be de Jide and infallible, which yet it is alleged not to be. Yet devotions to the Blessed Virgin have been and are assigned as penance in the Roman Church, and consequently as a condition of for- giveness of sin. It is notorious that this system is the great barrier and ground of alienation of pious minds in England. "It comes," said one who appreciated highly what is good and holy in the Roman Church, "as near to idolatry, as can be supposed in a Church, of which it is said, £ the idols He shall utterly abolish.'" I have often my- self had to try to remove the rooted conviction that Roman Catholics are actual "idolaters." Since then the lawfulness or usefulness of asking the saints to pray for us is alone laid down as "of faith," there is a large scope for providing that, in case of a reunion, our people should not be flooded with these devotions, which to us are most alien. Nothing which seems to interfere with ex- clusive trust and reliance on Jesus will, without some great revolution, gain hold of the hearts of the English people. And here, for the sake of others, it may perhaps be well to repeat a statement which I made above seventeen years ago, why, in a book of devotions 1 Paradise for the Christian Soul, Advertisement. 112 Difference between ancient addresses to saints which I transplanted into the English Church, I "omitted all mention of the Invocation of Saints." I said: — " However it may be explained by Soman Catholic contro- versialists, to be no more than asking the prayers of members of Christ yet in the flesh, still, in use, it is plainly more ; for no one would ask those in the flesh to ' protect us from the enemy,' ' receive us in the hour of death,' ' lead us to the joy of heaven,' ' may thy [the Blessed Virgin] abundant love cover the multitude of sins,' ' heal my wounds, and to the mind which asketh thee, give the gifts of grace V or use any of the direct prayers for graces which God Alone can bestow, which are common in Roman Catholic devotions to the Blessed Virgin. No one can look uncontroversially at such occasional addresses, as there are to martyrs in the fourth century (and those chiefly prayers at their tombs through their intercession for miraculous aid of God), and such books as ' the Glories of Mary,' ' the Month of Mary,' and say that the character of the modern reliance on and invocation of Saints was that of the ancient Church. No one could (it should be thought) observe how through volumes of S. Augustine or S. Chrysostom, there is no mention of any reliance except on Christ Alone ; and how in modern books, S. Mary is held out as ' the refuge of sinners,' as having ' the goats committed to her, as Christ the sheep,' as ' the throne of grace,' to whom a sinner may have easier access than to Christ 8 , and seriously say, that the ancient and 2 Or say, " If I walk through the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for she is with me. If war arise against me, in this will I be confident. If my father and mother forsake me, the Mother of my Lord shall take me up." 3 " Christ is not our Advocate only, but a Judge ; and since the Just is scarcely secure, how shall a sinner go to Him, as an Advocate ? Therefore God has provided us of an advoca- tress, who is gentle and sweet, in whom nothing that is sharp is to be found." — Antonin. quoted by Taylor, Dissuasive, 1. ii. 8. and modern Roman practice. IV.i modern teaching and practice are the same. We could preach whole volumes of the sermons of S. Augustine or S. Chrysostom to our people to their edification and without offence : were a Roinan Catholic preacher to confine himself to their preaching, he would (it has heen said among themselves) be regarded as ' indevout towards S. Mary,' as ' one whose religion was more of the head than of the heart.' The Editor, then, has not ven- tured even upon the outskirts of so vast a system, which, even according to Roman Catholic testimony which he has had, does practically occasion many uninstructed minds to stop short in the mediation of S. Mary. When Holy Scripture is not even alleged (as no text for the invocation of saints either is or can be quoted by Roman Catholic controversialists), and primitive antiquity is equally silent (now that passages as to S. Mary once attributed to S. Athanasius, S. Augustiue, S. Ephrem, S. Chrysostom, under the shadow of whose great names this system grew up, are acknowledged to be spurious), and the language of great fathers (as S. Cyril of Alexandria) has to be explained away ; there was no authority to which the Editor dared to yield his faith. Taught by the Church to receive that and that alone, as matter of faith, which was part of the ' good deposit,' ' once for all committed to the saints,' and which had been held ' always, every where, and by all,' he did not venture to receive what was confessedly of a more recent origin, and whose tendency seemed at variance with Holy Scripture itself. While acknowledging the ' authority of the Church in contro- versies of faith ' (Art. XX.), he could not understand on what ground that vast system, as to S. Mary, could be rested, except that of a new revelation. ' Developement ' must surely apply to the expression, not to the substance of belief. It must be the bringing out in words of what was already inwardly held ; the securing of the old, not the addition of any thing new. However the language of the Church on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity may have, in time, become more fixed and defi- nite, any one would think it an impiety to imagine that S. John and S. Peter had not received, and did not deliver, all which has ever since been believed. He, ' who lay on Jesus ' Breast,' and he on whose confession of faith the Church was built, could not be ignorant of any thing belonging to that II 114 Official statements of the R. C. Hierarchy faith 4 . Neither can it be believed that they withheld any thing belonging to tbat faith 5 . To imagine either, was of old accounted to be 'subjecting 8 Christ to reproach.' Tet it seems inconceivable that S. Peter, S. John, and S. Paul should have believed what is now earnestly taught and believed upon authority within the Eoman Church, as to the present office of the Blessed Virgin, or that believing it, they could have written as (e. g.) S. Paul wrote through the Holy Ghost, in the Epistle to the Hebrews ; or that, if Almighty God had willed it to be believed in the Church, it should have been so excluded from Holy Scripture, and the doctrine itself not have appeared for centuries. The Editor, then, in a former work, while exclud- ing invocations, admitted what is involved in the word Ocotokos, as sanctioned by an Oecumenical Council, to whose authority the English Church yields unquestioning submission. In the present, he has omitted the whole second section ' Of the Worship and Veneration of Saints,' and half of the seventh, ' On the Worship and Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.' And, generally, for members of the English Church, who desire the prayers of the departed, it has to him ever seemed safest to pray for them to Him, ' of Whom and through Whom and to Whom are all things,' our God and our All, Who, accord- ing to the current Koman explanation also, reveals to them the desire of those below to have their prayers." In the years which have passed since I wrote that Preface, the actual state of the Cultus of the * " ' Por after that our Lord arose from the dead, and they were endued with the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them from on high, they were fully filled as to all things, and had perfect knowledge.' ' It is unlawful to say that they preached before they had perfect knowledge.' S. Iren. hi. 1. 1. ' According to these ' [the heretics], ' Peter was imperfect ; imperfect also the other Apostles. And were they to live again, they must needs become the disciples of these, that they too may become perfect. But this were absurd.' " lb. 12. 7. See also in the same book, 11 ult. • Id. iii. 3. 5. 6 Tert. de Praescr. Haer. c. 22. as to the prevailing cultus of the B. V. 115 Blessed Virgin within the Roman Communion has been set forth in an authentic and official way in the answers sent by the Archbishops and Bishops to the inquiry of Pius IX. in regard to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. It appears from those answers, that the poorer classes are not, for the most part, even acquainted with the distinction between what is to be believed to be de fide, and what is popularly taught them as truth. They receive all which they are taught, alike as matter of faith, whether in the minds of their teachers it is a pious opinion or de fide. There was even a diffi- culty or a risk in acting upon the Pope's desire, that the Bishops would have public prayers in their Dioceses, that God would " pour on him the heavenly light of His Divine Spirit, that in a matter of so much moment he might take that counsel which should be to the greater glory of His Holy Name, to the praise of the most Blessed Virgin, and to the advantage of the Church militant V The difficulty (at least in some places or countries) was, lest it should shake the peo- ple's faith, if they were told plainly, that the doc- trine which they had always been taught to believe, had never been declared to be matter of faith, and that its being so made was yet uncertain. So, some of the Bishops reported to the Pope that they had veiled the object of the public prayers; some, I think, had not ventured to direct any 1 Ep. Encycl. Pii IX. a.d. 1849. H 2 116 F. Faber on the future extension public prayers at all. I fear that an opening has been made for the extension of that cultus, both in regard to the doctrines which shall, in fact, be part of the faith in the Roman Communion, and their relation to other fundamental doctrines of the faith, which is altogether incalculable. A very popular devotional writer, once among ourselves, spoke lately of " 8 the speedy coming of that great age of the Church which is to be the Age of Mary," with which he prayed that " the Holy Ghost, the Divine Zealot of Jesus and Mary, may be pleased quickly to console us and of one, " an Elias-like Missionary of the Holy Ghost and of Mary," who " proclaims that he brings an authentic message from God about the greater honour and wider knowledge and more prominent love of His Blessed Mother and her connexion, with the second advent of her Son." Here, in England, we are told, that Roman Catholics too know little or nothing of the true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, because it is kept in check by what F. Faber calls " the sneers of heresy," and what we believe to be sensitiveness to the honour and glory of Jesus. I remember that the late Cardinal Wiseman, many years past, blamed English Roman Catholics as having been ashamed of their distinctive doc- trines 9 . The doctrine of the Immaculate Con- 8 Faber, Preface to transl. of De Montfort on the true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, pp. xi. xii., vi. vii. * In his controversial Lectures. of the cultus of the B. V. 117 ception, if I understand the statement aright, has only been introduced of late years into their public services, and that, through an impulse given by an individual '. F. Faber, in his popular books, is always bringing in the devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He believes that the shortcomings of English Roman Catholics are owing to the inade- quacy of their devotion to her. After instancing people's failures in overcoming their faults, want of devotion, unsubmission to God's special Provi- dence for them, feeling domestic troubles almost imcompatible with salvation, and that " for all these 1 Bishop Nicholson, Coadjutor of Corfu, says, "I persuaded many Bishops of Italy, Germany, England, Ireland, to ask for the Word ' Immaculate ' to be added to the Mass of the Con- ception, and ' Queen conceived without original stain,' in the Litany of Loretto, and to supplicate the Vicar of Jesus Christ to declare the Immaculate Conception ex cathedra." Pareri dell' Episcopato Cattolico sulla definizione dogmatico dell' im- macolato concepimento della B. V. Maria, i. 403. The Roman Catholic Bishops of Cashel, Killaloe, Cork, Elphin imply that the people had not been taught the doctrine. The B. C. Archbishop of Cashel said, that " they had not explicit faith, but that they had implicit," since they so venerated the Blessed Virgin, that they would believe any thing to her honour (lb. i. 487) ; the B. C. Bishop of Killaloe, that the clergy had been silent about it, on account of various Bulls (lb. i. 500) ; of Cork, that the laity were not versed in theological questions (lb. ii. 85) ; of Elphin, that he did not ask people, as they did not understand the question (lb. ii. 204). The B. C. Bishop of Meath said, that both "priests and people believed it" (lb. iii. 211), and the Bishop of Clonfert, that they would reject the contrary, which, however, he as well as others put in the form, that she had been "a child of wrath" (lb. iii. 214). 118 The place of the cultus of the B. V. in Faber. things prayer appears to bring so little remedy," he asks, " 2 What is the remedy that is wanted ? what is the remedy indicated by God Himself ? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an im- mense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady, but remember, nothing short of an immense 3 one. Here, in England, Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy. It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary, that Protestants may feel at ease about her. Its ignorance of theology makes it un- substantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no faith in itself. Hence it is, that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls, which might be saints, wither and dwindle; that the sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Jesus is obscured, because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish, because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin, that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omis- sions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing 3 for a 3 Pref. to De Moiitf. p. ix. x. 3 Faber's Italics. Contrast with Holy Scripture. 119 greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother." It must often come to us to ask on reading such statements, — " If devotion to the Blessed Virgin were so essential to salvation, how could it be, that God, in His last and final revelation of Himself, is so wholly silent about it ? " Christians had " fiery trials 4 " then, and were to count them no " strange thing." The sufferings of the martyrs are almost past our powers of conception ; yet there were slight and easy and self-deceiving ways, by which to deny Christ. Converts had temptations, from which, if we will, we are exempt, the memory of heathen sins and evil habits, antecedent to grace. How can it be thought by any, that Jesus, — Who "ever liveth to make intercession for us 5 ," Who crowned His own and was crowned in them ; Whose words in His everlasting Gospel are, " 6 Come unto Me, all that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you;" " What- soever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son ; if ye shall ask any thing in My Name, I will do it 7 ," — is not willing to hear us, unless we seek a Mediatrix with Him, who is to dispose Him to hear us ? However, to judge from the official answers of the Bishops to Pius IX. in answer to his inquiry, * 1 Pet. iv. 12 ; i. 7. 6 Heb. vii. 25. • S. Matt. xi. 28. ' S. John xvi. 23 ; xiv. 13, 14. 120 Official statement of the cultus of the B. V. " with what devotion your Clergy and faithful people are animated towards the Conception of the Imma- culate Virgin," Faber was right as to the immensely greater devotion and trust in the Blessed Virgin, at least in countries where there is no check from the contact with Protestants. Certainly the prominent impression in my mind from reading those answers (they occupy more than three close volumes) was, " if the devotion to God were like that to the Blessed Virgin, it would be a world of saints." " In this Diocese," says the Bishop of Cochabamba 8 , " as in the whole of civilized America, it has at- tained to the highest degree, so that nothing more can be desired." " Our only hope in these coun- tries, tried by divers tribulations," says the Vicar Apostolic in Cochin China 9 , " is placed in our most holy Mother, from whom we expect salvation [sal us]." " The devotion to the Blessed Virgin is such as is to be defined by no bounds," says the Bishop of Scutari \ In Spain and Portugal devotion to the Blessed Virgin is in its natural home. They are familiarly called Marian kingdoms 2 . I fear that F. Faber is right in another point too, that this cultus of the Blessed Virgin is about to receive " an immense increase." 8 Pareri, iii. 149. 9 lb. iii. 344. 1 lb. i. 159. " TTt nullis terminis sit definita." 2 e.g. The Bishop of Lerida, " in hoc Mariano regno," Par. i. 1G3. In like way the Bishop of Guadalaxara speaks of Mexico as " Marian " (iii. 76), and so others. New principles in defining her Imm. Cone. 121 You will well remember, with what a deep pang we heard of the Encyclical Letter of Pius IX. from Gaeta, in which he expressed to the Bishops in the Roman Communion, his " vehement wish, that with the greatest possible speed you would signify to us, with what devotion your clergy and faithful people are animated towards the conception of the Imma- culate Virgin, and with what longing they burn, that the matter should be decreed by the Apostolic See; and most especially we desire to know, what you yourselves, in your excellent wisdom, think on that matter and what you desire." We felt that the decree, if passed, would be one more difficulty in the way of the reunion of Christendom, one more ground of severance between the Roman and the Greek Church; an insoluble difference between the modern Roman and the ancient Church. Even amid our own recent troubles, we heard of the decision in 1854 in silent sorrow. The object of the decree was (as some of the Roman Catholic Bishops pointed out in their an- swers) new in the history of the Church. It was not to allay any controversy. In the Roman Com- munion, controversy had long since been hushed by authority ; outside of it, there was the less ground for controversy, because the doctrine occu- pied, no apparent prominence. Several Bishops expressed their fears, lest the definition should awaken the controversy. The ground, put forward by Pius IX., was of this sort, that as we believe 122 Pius IX. — Object of the definition. that what is done purely for the Glory of God draws down fresh favours from God, so, " the Blessed Virgin being placed," as they hold, " be- tween Christ and the Church," what should be done for the glorv of the Blessed Virgin would draw down from her fresh favours for the Church. He wrote, " 3 On this hope we chiefly rely, that the most Blessed Virgin, — who raised the height of merits above all the choirs of Angels to the throne of the Deity, and by the foot of Virtue ' bruised the serpent's head,' and who, being constituted between Christ and His Church, and, being wholly sweet and full of graces, hath ever delivered the Christian people from calamities of all sorts and from the snares and assaults of all enemies and hath rescued them from destruction, and, commiserating our most sad and most sorrowful vicissitudes and our most severe straits, toils, necessities with that most large feeling of her motherlv mind — will, bv her most present and most powerful patronage with God, both turn away the scourges of Divine wrath wherewith we are afflicted for our sins, and will allay, dissipate the most turbulent storms of ills, wherewith, to the incredible sorrow of our mind, the Church every where is tossed, and will turn our sorrow into joy. For ye know very well, Ven. Brethren, that the whole of our confidence is placed * Ep. Encycl. a.d. 1849. to obtain favour from the B. V. 123 in the most Holy Virgin, since God has placed in Mary the fulness of all good, that accordingly we may know that if there is any hope in us, if any grace, if any salvation, it redounds to us from her, because such is His will Who hath willed that we should have every thing through Mary." Much the same language had been addressed to Gregory XVI. and to Pius IX. himself by Bishops 4 , (almost exclusively Italian and French,) who had asked them successively to proclaim the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception to be de fide. They hoped (as some expressed it), that "she who re- quited every the least office towards her '," and who, 4 88 Italian Bishops wrote, 54 French, 11 only from Spain and Portugal, including Spanish and Portuguese America ; 5 English, including Australia ; 1 Irish ; 9 European Missionary- Bishops in China, the East Indies, &c, 1 from Senegal, 1 of Corfu. 20 French Bishops, who wrote subsequently, did not write then ; 13 French, and 25 Italian (chiefly Neapolitan), who wrote then, sent no answer to the Encyclical. Gregory XVI. assigned the silence of Bishops from other nations as a ground for not proceeding then. The Bishop de la Eochelle gives an extract from his letter to himself. " He (Gregory XVI.) added, that except the Bishops of France, and some of Venetia, Lombardy, and Spain, the Bishops of other nations had hitherto kept silence ; Germany, England, and Ireland had been silent ; that there seemed to him ground to fear, lest the judgment asked for, if then solemnly promulged, would render the Apostolic See odious to certain nations ; that complaining and almost threatening sounds, emanating from different countries, had been heard at the Canonization of some whom Pius VII. had placed among the saints." Par. i. 13. 5 This seems to be almost a proverbial saying. It occurs in the Bishop of Bayeux, i. 289. Lipari, i. 347. Iaca, i. 480, &c. 124 Personal infallibility of the Pope they say, was and is to " bruise the serpent's head 6 ," and is " the destroyer of all heresies 7 ," would esta- blish the truth, restore peace, destroy heresy. The Encyclical of Pius IX. was, so far, a response to those Bishops who had applied to Gregory XVI. and to himself, to define, " by his infallible authority," the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, as a matter of faith. But it is not the less a great change, both in the constitution of the Church and the principles upon which it declares any matter to be de fide. " In the constitution of the Church," because the personal infallibility of the Pope, by himself, comes out in the strongest way, despite of the terrible denial of the faith by Liberius, and the formal error of Honorius, with the anathema of the Sixth General Council. The Bishops who applied to the two Popes asked each severally to set the seal of infallibility upon the opinion, by virtue of his own act. Those who answered the Encyclical 6 " She shall bruise His head," for, " He shall bruise." Ipsa, for ipse, an error which came into the Latin about the time of S. Augustine. See De Rossi Varr. Lect. T. ii. App. pp. 210, 211. The frequent allusions to this " protevangelium," in the letters of the Bishops and in controversy, as though it ascribed to the Blessed Virgin directly and personally, what God pro- mised as to the Person of our Lord, shows how deeply this mistake of the Vulgate has worked into the Marian system. 7 " The destroyer of heresies throughout the whole world " is a received title of the B. V. in the Roman Church, applying to her present personal power, what was originally said of the Incarnation, that It, rightly believed, is the destruction of all heresies. owned and submitted to by each Bishop. 1 25 letter, spoke of the act, as his, not theirs ; those who dissented from its expediency, declared them- selves ready to submit to his judgment; some Spanish and Portuguese Bishops, while they de- clared that "no injury could arise to" their own countrymen who could not imagine the doctrine not to be of faith, professed not to be able to judge as to its effects on the whole Church, and left the decision to the Pope. The Bishops did not meet in Council, either to address the Pope, or to con- sider his Encyclical letter, except in Ireland, where the Roman Catholic Bishops, to inaugurate their restored synods, chose an act which should do honour to the Blessed Virgin. The Pope asked the opinion of each Bishop individually ; the Bishops answered, as sons who had but a delegated authority, to an infallible head. What advice could any individual give to one, who, as all believed, was to give an inspired decision, to reject which, was, they held, to reject God ? The full weight of Papal authority was given beforehand to the conclusion, to which Pius IX. wished to bring the Bishops in the Roman Com- munion. Not his wishes only, but the great fer- vency of those wishes were expressed in the Ency- clical letter, addressed severally to each Bishop. Any Bishop, who should hesitate to accede to those wishes, must have felt that he was going counter to the whole mind of him whom he owned as the Vicegerent of God upon earth. Nothing but the 126 Difference between a General Council and strong imperative voice of conscience could induce any one, in any degree, to oppose him. It was not imperative to answer, and many took refuge in silence. But each was bound to submit himself to the decision, whatever it might be. In a Council, any considerable number of orthodox Bishops who dissented from a point not yet ruled, could not but have weight. The wording of at least one decree of the Council of Trent was modified in order not to condemn the opinion of a single Bishop 8 . We all know how a minority makes itself felt ; much more, when any thing affecting men's souls is at issue, and Bishops can plead, in fervid living words, that they fear the effect of a decision on the souls of their fellow-men com- mitted to their care. In the individual col- lecting of opinions by letter, minorities had no voice. They had no collective existence. Each Archbishop or Bishop was but an unit, which could scarcely put forth itself, and which certainly could not assert itself in presence of infallibility 9 . Pius IX., in his " Constitution," ignored the minority, as if it had never existed. " We were touched with no slight consolation when 8 Catharinus. 9 The Bishop of Massa di Carrara doubtless expressed the mind of many, when he said, " In a matter of such moment, to be denned by the supreme and infallible judgment of the Holy See, I dare not open the sentiment of my mind " (i. 319). The same feeling is apparent in many other responses. collecting opinions of single Bps. Misgivings. 127 the responses of those venerable brethren [the Bishops] came to us. For, writing back to us with an incredible happiness, joy, and eagerness, they not only asserted anew their own singular piety and mind, and that of the clergy and people of each, towards the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, but also asked of us, as it were, with a common vote, that the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin herself should be defined by our supreme judgment and authority." The wishes expressed by the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Bishops were nearly unanimous; and these formed near three-fifths of those who sent answers'. Yet even from Italy came a distinct, well-worded objection from the Bishop of Mondovi 2 , who " could not dare," even after the prayers of his Diocese, to decide that there was evidence enough to erect the " pious opinion " into a matter of faith, or that then was the best time to define it. Doubts were also expressed by the Cardinal Bishop of Viterbo and Toscanella 8 , the Cardinal Archbishop of Urbino 4 , " with some of the most pious and learned of his clergy," " fearing loss of souls." The Cardinal Bishop of Ancona and 1 There were answers from 178 Bishops of Italy, and the adjacent islands ; 101 from Spain and Portugal, with Spanish and Portuguese America. The whole number was about 490. 1 iii. 144. See B. n. 36. The Pareri, &c, being now a very scarce book, extracts from this and most of the following letters are given in Note B., at the end. ■ iii. 34. B. n. 37. 4 iii. 44—46. B. n. 38. 128 Partial but remarkable dissents from Umana ', the Bishops of Cervia 2 and Otranto 3 , and the Archbishop of Perugia 4 , wished the decree to be tempered, and made indirect; the Bishop of Majorca felt the difficulties and dissuaded 5 ; the Archbishop of Milan, and five Bishops in the North of Italy 6 , left the decision " in these most difficult times " to " the Holy See, to which is promised the special assistance of the Holy Spirit." In Spain, the Bishop of Lugo 7 wished the decree to be made indirect, if it should be given at all, his own mind being against it. The Bishop of Zamora wished that no note should be set on those who had maintained the contrary, before or after the Council of Trent 8 . Two very remarkable an- swers came from the Bishops of Iaca, in Portugal, and of Chiapo in Mexico. The Bishop of Iaca 9 much desired that the definition should be delayed until two learned works of divines of Salamanca, written in disproof of the testimonies of the Fathers alleged by Maracci, could be examined ; the Bishop of Chiapo 10 was constrained, though with much regret, to oppose the decision, as being unsup- ported by any clear testimony from Scripture, or 1 ii. 153. B. n. 39. 3 ii. 218. B. n. 40. 3 ii. 366. B. n. 41. 4 ii. 290. B. n. 42. 6 ii. 158. B. n. 43. 6 The Bishops of Bergamo, Como, Crema, Lodi, Mantua, with the Vicars General of the chapters of Cremona, Pavia, and Brescia, i. 222, 223. ' ii. 99. B. n. 44. 8 i. 415. B. n. 45. 9 i. 481. B. n. 46. 10 ix. App. 17. B. n. 47. the then decision of the doctrine. 129 from Tradition. Yet more striking, perhaps, is the answer of the Bishop of Ventimiglia from Italy itself, resting- his doubt on the probable intention of God the Holy Ghost, as evinced by His silence in Scripture. " 1 For that not without a purpose the origin of the most holy Mother is passed over by the Evangelist, her Nativity is not described, nor is it recorded how she was conceived (as the holy Bishop of Valence observes 2 ), and the whole praise of her is touched upon in the very few words, in which her Divine Maternity is declared, forces on me grave fear, lest the Holy Ghost, in the inscrutable counsel of His Wisdom, willed that her holy origin should remain hidden; so that the only cause of her singular honour revealed should be the glory of the Immaculate Concep- tion of Him, the Holy and Immaculate High Priest, Who was to bring cleansing to all be- sides." The Irish Roman Catholic Bishops agreed 3 (although the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dub- lin reports the remarkable dissent of " the Jesuit Fathers at Dublin, and almost all the Professors of Maynooth 4 "), so did the five Vicars Apostolic in Scotland (who reported that the cultus of the Blessed Virgin was the dearer to their people, because they alone in Scotland had it 5 ), and the 1 iii. 374. - Thorn. Valentin, cone. 2 de Nativ. B. M. V. 3 iii. 376—379. 4 ii. 143. B. n. 50. ' ii. 148. I 130 Earnest objections to the decision in France; one Vicar Apostolic of Norway and Sweden with his five priests '. Of the Archbishops and Bishops of France, no answer came from one-fourth ? ; the Archbishops of Paris 3 and Rouen 4 wrote earnestly to deprecate any decision, as did the Bishops of Coutances 5 , and Evreux 6 ; Chartres 7 was anxious ; Annecy s , Meaux 9 , Carcassonne 10 doubted. The Arch- bishop of Rheims ", with the Bishops of Sois- sons ,2 , Amiens 13 , Beauvais", Blois !5 , wished the decree to be softened so as to leave those who disbelieved it free from the note of heresy (which would, I suppose, have left things much as they were before). Of those who had asked Gregory XVI. to define the doctrine, after nine years the Archbishop of Bourges feared that " 16 more evil than good would come from it ;" the Bishop of Versailles hesitated, lest it should be an additional hindrance to the return of the Protestants, whom it was difficult to make believe what was already of faith in regard to her 17 ; the Bishop of Perigueux, 1 iii. 309. 2 Viz. 22. France has 14 Archbishops, 66 Bishops ; in all, 80 (Moroni, T. 27, p. 141). 3 ii. 26—46; iii. 310, 311. 338. B. n. 1. 4 i. 357—359. B. n. 2. 6 i. 362, 363. B. n. 3. 6 i. 100, 101. B. n. 4. 7 i. 175, 176. B. n. 5. 8 i. 445, 446. B. n. 6. 9 ii. 362, 363. B. n. 7. 10 iii. 333. B. n. 8. 11 i. 121. B. n. 9. 12 iii. 290. B. n. 10. 13 i. 135. B. n. 11. u i. 321. B. n. 12. 16 i. 211, 212. B. n. 13. " i. 498. B. n. 14. 17 ii. 103. B. n. 15. a bare majority only much wished it. 131 much as he wished it, yet " 1 in these most difficult times, in which we live," left the matter to the Pope, as did the Bishop of Angouleme \ The Bishop of Angers 3 expressed his doubts, stating that " the same thoughts and fears were shared by some at least of his colleagues in the Episcopate, and by priests, not less distinguished by learning than by piety towards the Blessed Virgin." The statement is the more remarkable, on account of his strong opposite bias. " We fully trust that she [the Blessed Virgin] will bestow on the holy Church of God and the whole world new and unheard-of benefits, when, a decree supervening from the Holy See, so many men and women, so loved by God and His Son Jesus Christ, shall with one mouth, firm faith, exulting minds, confess that Mary was immaculate in her Conception," &c. The Bishops, then, who requested the definition, were but a bare majority of the Bishops of France (41 out of 80). In a Gallican Council, it can hardly be doubted, that the earnest pleadings of the Archbishops of Paris and Rouen, and of the Bishop of Evreux, would have prevailed, and the question would have remained undecided. In Germany the Apostolic Nuncio at Vienna wrote to Cardinal Antonelli that he had tried to elicit a favourable opinion from the Archbishops, and had failed. He said 4 : — 1 i. 361. 3 i. 258, 259. B. n. 1G. I 2 * ii. 11. 4 ii. 464, 465. 132 Objections nearly universal in Austria; " I have written anew confidentially to the Archbishops of this monarchy to excite them to express their own opinion, and that of their Suf- fragans, on the important subject of the Imma- culate Conception of the Madonna. Their silence hitherto, as I have had the honour to point out to your Eminence, can only be an argument, that they are not inclined to a determination, directed to declare the pious belief of the Immaculate Conception as a dogma." The Archbishops and Bishops of the Austrian Empire are counted at 121 5 , exclusive of those in the Austrian pos- sessions in Italy, and of those in Carinthia, Carniola, Transylvania, whose numbers I do not know. Three \ out of nine 7 Dalmatian Bishops, wrote, expressing their assent; but these also are Italian. Of the 121 Archbishops and Bishops (any how, of the Bishops of the rest of the Aus- trian Empire out of Italy), only four (out of 21) Hungarian Bishops 8 expressed agreement. From Moravia, the Archbishop of Olmiitz and the Bishop of Briinn wrote earnestly, " 9 after mature deliberation, and fervidly imploring light from above," expressing their wish that the decree 5 This and the following numbers are taken from McCulloch's Geography, upon whose numbers (he being " a member of the Institute") I concluded that I might rely. 6 Sebenico, Zara, Spalatro. 7 Moroni, T. six. pp. 75, 76. 8 Colocsa and Bayia, Fiinfkirchen, Sabaria, Scepusio. 9 iii. 232, 233. B. n. 24, 25, doubts elsewhere in Germany. 103 should be delayed on account of the peril of souls among their people. The four Bohemian Bishops expressed the same desire on the same ground'. The Archbishop of Gorizia and Gradisca \ the Cardinal Archbishop of Salzburg \ and the Bishop of Trieste 4 (which three alone wrote from Austria proper), wrote, with different degrees of strength, requesting that things should remain as the Council of Trent had left them. From the Prussian territory the Archbishop of Breslau wrote against it with a respectful, but touching solemnity, " Dixi et salvavi animam meam 5 ." Doubts were expressed by the Bishop of Munster"; the Bishop of Paderborn expressed his wish that any decision should be delayed 7 ; the Bishop of Warmia mentioned the opinion of many (among others his chapter) in favour of delay, gave no opinion, but declared that whatever the Pope " might decree, would be received as a Divine oracle V The Bishop of Treves doubted for a time on account of the un-Catholics 9 , but decided that the decree would be advantageous, " since it was the Blessed Virgin alone who destroyed all heresies in the whole world." In Hanover, the Bishop of Hildesheim reported 1 ii. 401. B. n. 25 * i. 327. B. n. 22. 6 ii. 467. B. n. 26. 7 iii. 184. B. n. 29. 0 vii. clvii. B. n. 30. a i. 177—170. B. n. 21. 4 i. 436. B. n. 23. c vii. cxxxviii. exxxix. B. u. 2d. 8 i. 278—280. B. n. 27. 134 Doubts or objections in Germany, that the greater part of his Clergy thought that, at least in those parts, a dogmatic decree was neither necessary nor desirable. He himself left it to the Pope's " wiser judgment '." In Hesse, " Clergy, distinguished for knowledge, full of piety towards Mother Church," dissuaded it. The Bishop of Fulda, like the Bishop of Treves, held that, " the greater the number of adversaries, the more the Church, who had to strive against the powers of darkness, ought to pray for her help and aid, who bruised the serpent's head, the more extol and venerate by prayer her who, praying her Son, alone destroyed all heresies in the whole world '." In Nassau, the Apostolic Administrator of Lim- burg gave strong reasons against the decision, but acquiesced, because, the question having been raised, things could not remain as they were 3 . The Card. Archbishop of Malines stated, that " 4 in these parts, and especially in the neighbouring kingdoms of France and Holland, ecclesiastics, con- spicuous for piety, knowledge, and prudence, feared, lest heretics and unbelievers should take fresh occasion to calumniate the Catholic Church, as though she invented new dogmas, and paid undue worship to the most holy Mother of God, whence many, who were inclined to embrace the faith, might turn back." 1 iii. 346, 347. B. n. 31. 8 iii. 307, 308. B. n. 33. 2 ii. 439. B. n. 32. 4 ii. 447. B. n. 34. Switzerland, Savoy. 135 In Bavaria, the Archbishop of Munich " 5 could not decide about the expediency of defining, in the present circumstances of the Church, for fear of occasioning fresh dissensions where Catholics were mixed with heretics ;" the Bishop of Bamberg held that the evidence was not strong enough. " ,; To the body of the more erudite and learned in our Ger- many the matter does not seem so clear, that (whatever the very learned and illustrious Tra- montanes have recently written) they can think that this opinion, which has hitherto been cherished as pious, should be inserted among dogmas which no one may doubt." He begged that the decision might be left to a General Council at some future time. In Switzerland and Savoy, the Bishop of S. Gall 7 , with his counsellors, thought that the dog- matic definition would not increase the devotion towards the Immaculate Conception, and was superfluous at that time, and ill-advised. The Archbishop of Chambery held that the " 9 tradi- tion was not sufficiently clear to make it an article of faith and a true dogma, to be believed by all under pain of mortal sin ;" and so thought it best to " follow the prudent line of the Council of Trent by either abstaining from defining, or at least defining the question only indirectly and broadly, by asserting that the cultus of the Catholic Church 0 ii. 417. B. n. 19. 0 ii. 59. B. n. 20. 7 iii. 303. B. n. 18. c i. 411, 412. B. n. 17. 136 Vic. Ap. at Constantinople, in India. towards the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was pious and holy." Even the 9 Patriarch of the Melchites in the Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jeru- salem reported, " Some of my Bishops think best, on account of the very many heretics, abounding here in the Levant, not, without great neces- sity, to multiply the articles of faith, in order to give them no motive to speak, however unjustly, against the Apostolic See." The Vicar Apostolic of Constantinople dissuaded the definition on theo- logical grounds : " 10 Notwithstanding the weight of the recent theological dissertations on this point, the reserve of the Scriptures in regard to this privilege, the hesitation of the Holy Fathers to treat the said question, the delays of the Church itself to decide it, united to the dispositions of spirits in various countries, amid Catholics too, in this century, in which reason, priding itself, burns to wage war with faith, make me judge before God, that the question ought to remain undecided ; and even should the Church support the instruction that Mary was conceived immaculate, that it should not impose the obligation to believe this as a doctrine of faith." A remarkable response, objecting to the decree with much solidity and clearness, came from the Vicar Apostolic of Mysore", and another from 5 ii. 370. ,0 i 26G. " iii. 351. B. n. 48. Silence in the United States. 137 Coimbatoor '. The Vicar Apostolic of Patna (a German) sent his adhesion, with the remarkable addition, " 2 If the tradition be established by recent authors." The Coadjutor Bishop at Calcutta falls in with "the greater number of Bishops 3 ." The Vicar Apostolic of Central Tonkin said that he could neither affirm nor deny that the pious opinion should be placed among the articles of faith, having no means to examine the subject duly, and that, for himself, he trusted the infalli- bility of the Apostolic See 4 . A remarkable hiatus occurs in the United States. In 1849 there were twenty-eight Roman Catholic Bishops in those States 5 . One only answer came, from Oregon 6 , containing the assent of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Oregon-city, the Bishops of Vancouver, and Wallavalla. The European Missionary Bishops for the most part followed their nation, or, as the Vicar Aposto- lic of Ispahan 7 , refer the decision to the head of the Church. I have entered into all this detail, because it gives two remarkable aspects of things in the Roman Com- munion. On the one side were those, chiefly Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese (whether in Europe or Ame- rica), and the Irish who set their hope in the 1 iii. 354. B. n. 49. " ii. 385. s ii. 398. 4 iii. 172. 5 Moroni, T. 95, p. 7G. 6 iii. 23. 7 iii. 321. 138 Graces hoped for from the B. V. Blessed Virgin, as being " placed between Christ and the Church," and whose one thought is, that whatever shall exalt the Blessed Virgin will obtain fresh favours from her. Of those, who asked that the Immaculate Conception might be made an article of faith, I counted 130 who expressed this as the ground of their desire, more or less strongly, besides such as only echoed the language of Pius IX., " to the glory of God, the praise of the most Blessed Virgin, the benefit of the Church militant." Of these, 70 were Italians, 23 Spanish and Portu- guese, 25 the Irish Roman Catholic Bishops. The sentiment itself was often clothed in very strong words ; and benefits, which Holy Scripture ascribes directly to God, seem to be purposely ascribed to the Blessed Virgin (of course, as the instrument of God in dispensing them, but still as their dis- penser) : " Glorify the Mother of God," wrote the Bishop of Bova to the Pope 8 , " that the Mother of God may glorify thee; — she will render thee glori- ous who hast glorified so great a lady. For, I doubt not, in order that you may be confirmed in this hope, the Virgin herself makes thee certain of this promise, by a voice brought down from heaven, by those words, ' I have glorified thee, and will glorify thee again.' " " She," writes the Vicar Apostolic of Uraguai 9 , " will direct the goings of your Holiness into the way of peace. She will f ii. IS. 0 ii. 25. in return for the glory done to her. 139 command her angels, that they keep your Holi- ness in all your ways, that you may walk on asp and basilisk, and tread on lion and dragon ; and because your Holiness will hope in her, there- fore she will deliver and protect you, because you have known her name, i. e. the fitting time fore- ordained by the Father of lights for defining her Immaculate Conception. Your Holiness, crying aloud to her, will doubtless hear, ' she will be in the trouble,' which you now experience, out of which she will infallibly deliver you; she will glorify your Holiness, filling you with length of days, and at last showing you her salvation, i. e. her Son Jesus." "We," said the Bishop of Per- pignan ', " rely upon the hope, that the most Blessed Mother, the Queen of heaven and Mistress of the world, in return for the solemn declaration of her Immaculate Conception, will be pleased to dissipate all our sad and sorrowful vicissitudes, and sharpest anguish, labours, necessities, compassion- ating us with that most large affection of her motherly mind, as is her wont, by her most present and most powerful patronage with God, and will quell, dissipate those most turbulent storms of ills wherewith the Church is tossed every where, and turn our sorrow into joy." " In these most diffi- cult times," said the Bishop of the Canaries 2 , " in 1 i. 55, 56. s i. 293. In like way the Archbishop of Orviedo : " In this most turbulent tempest, wherewith the Church of Christ is 140 Graces hoped for from the B. V. which the ship of the Church is tossed in all direc- tions by furious waves, upraised not by those only who are without, but very chiefly by those who have been reborn of water and the Holy Spirit in the bosom of the Catholic Church, and who as yet do not disdain openly to call themselves Catho- lics, yet with wolfs heart under the sheep's skin, let a most firm anchor be sought for her, that the ship of Peter may abide secure, &c. But what is this anchor ? Mary." "The great one 3 herself," said the delegate Apostolic of Greece + , " will requite you, and by her most powerful patronage will disperse these horrible tempests, wherewith, in these most sad times, your Blessedness, with the whole Church, is tossed. Winds and storm will cease; and there will be a great calm." "I daily," said the Bishop of Cesena 5 , " most earnestly and un- intermittingly implore the most merciful and holy Virgin, the consoler of the sorrowful, that she, assenting to our prayers, would restore thee very speedily to thy kingdom and august see." " She tossed every where, the eyes of all are turned to Mary, who slew all heresies in all the world, as to a polar star ; and this is perhaps the counsel of Divine Providence, that she should then at length calm and disperse the storm, when she shall be adorned with this new honour by the oracle of the Church itself."— ii. 461. 3 Perhaps a mispriut, "magna" for "magnas." "She her- self will yield thee great thanks," &c. 4 i. 301. 5 lb. 323. in return for the glory done to her. 141 loves those who love her," said the Archbishop of Granada 6 , "and most abundantly builds up with graces, and disposes her servants to become the habitation and temple of her Blessed Son and the Holy Spirit. She was full of grace, that 'of her fulness ' all creatures may ' receive,' and have a large shower of heavenly gifts infused into them. She is the Mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope, and in her is all grace of the way and of truth, all hope of life and virtue. Since then the most Blessed Virgin has been en- riched with such endowments by God, it is to be hoped most exceedingly, that, propitiated and con- quered by such praises and deferences most grate- ful to her, she, turning her eyes of mercy to us, will powerfully rescue us from the ills with which in the present most horrible tempest we are oppressed." "For all heresies," said the Bishop of Firenza 7 , "in the whole world were slain by Her; She is terrible as an ordered host to protect the univer- sal Church of Her Only Begotten Son, and to put its enemies to flight; in Her is all hope of life and virtue." " The preparation of the heart," said the Bishop de la Rochelle 8 , " the Immacu- 0 iii. 202. ' i. 281, 282. "I hold for certain, that the Most Holy Mother of God, adorned at length with this honour on earth, will rescue the Church of her Son safe out of such calamities and perils."— Tivoli, i. 237. 8 i. 13. 142 Mary looked to as the immediate Give); late Mother of the Redeemer will hear." " If an opportune and fitting time were to be desired for decreeing this honour of the most Holy Vir- gin," said the Bishop of Leon 9 , "none could be found more opportune and fitting than this where- in we live. For in this most immense mass of errors, calamities, and troubles, wherewith we are oppressed and shaken on all sides, our whole hope is to be placed in that most powerful Virgin, which bruised the dragon, to whom it was given to destroy all heresies, and at whose free will all the treasures of heaven are dispensed." " We have little hope," said the Bishop of Lerida " that human remedies will profit us, unless the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, who is our true health, apply her healing hands, and she, most tender one, will, if," &c. These and the like expressions are the necessary consequences of the doctrine, that " God does not will to give any thing except through the Blessed Virgin;" "He has placed her between Christ and the Church." Our Lord has bidden us ask the Father in His Name ; and we should not expect to be heard except through our Divine Redeemer. In like way, if God had " placed the Blessed Virgin between Christ and His Church," then, so far from there being any thing amiss in the exclusiveness of 9 i. 115, 116. So the Bishop of Squillace, i. 113. 1 i. 169. when we speak of God or Jesus. 143 these prayers, it would rather seem, that to pray " to Mary," or " through Mary," would be the only legitimate form of prayer, as our prayers are to God " through Jesus," or " to Jesus," God and Man. It is the natural result of this belief, that, in almost every case, the hopes are expressed, that " Mary will do this or that." I remember few cases only, in which any Bishop said 2 , " God would do it " (there may of course have been more), and one or two, that "the prayers of Mary, solemnly declared by the Holy See Immaculate in her Conception, will draw her Son out of that deep sleep which He seems to take in that boat 3 ." "The Virgin Mother of God, helping our infirmities, will entreat her Son for us with groanings which cannot be uttered 4 ." Where our natural language would be, " God will do this or that," there it seems equally natural to Roman Catholics to say, " Mary will do it." At least, where we expect beforehand, in the unfinished sentence, to find " God," or " Jesus," we find " Mary." The ways in which the declaration of the Imma- culate Conception as matter of faith was to obtain these benefits to the Church were twofold, either as the direct fruit of the honour so shown to * As the Bishop of Casale, iii. 62 ; Eottenburg, i. 276 ; Warmia, i. 280; Durango, iii. 156; Jesus, Massa et Popul. i. 273. 8 Coadj. Bishop of Montreal, ii. 268. Nevers, iii. 245. 4 Archb. of Cuba, i. 142. 144 Great gifts expected from the B. V. the Blessed Virgin in propitiating her, or (more rarely) by increasing the devotion of the people to her. Thus the Bishop of Sion urged it as an argument for the direct definition of the doctrine, that the " 5 indirect definition of it would not in- crease devotion to the Blessed Virgin." The results hoped from the definition were most large. The most common, perhaps, was the de- struction of heresies throughout the world; a Mis- sionary Bishop in China expected " 6 the conversion of idolaters speedily;" the Patriarch of Venice looked for " 7 universal peace and love and duty ;" 6 ii. 486, 488. 6 Ad in. of Nankin, iii. 23. 7 iii. 37, 38, 39. The Archbishop of Cuba expected as the result that " all would be one fold and One Shepherd," i. 142. The Bishop of Isernia, " that there would be peace to the whole Church," i. 162. The Bishop of Valladolid, "extirpa- tion of heresies, peace of the Church, increase of true faith and piety," i. 195. The Bishop of Gubbio, "conversion of sinners and unbelievers," i. 147, 148. " Those many lost benefits will return to the human race, and to the Church tranquillity, peace, security, splendour," Coadj. of Corfu, i. 409. "Faith, charity, religion," S. Fe di Bogota, ii. 432. "She, with her virgin and immaculate foot, will bruise the head of the Infernal Serpent, will bring to nought the snares of the Prince of darkness, scattered wide, in these our times, by the most impious sects, and by her potent virtue will restore peace to the Church, and its own rights, power, liberty, glory to the Holy Apostolic See, and thee, the head of the whole Church and the foundation, she will preserve," Abb. Commendat. of S. Vincent and Anas- tasius, i. 173. " Innumerable riches of grace will be diffused to the whole Christian people, and our sorrow will be turned into joy," Ugento, i. 228. The Bishop of Aire advocated it because "never was the bruising of the serpent's head more needed," i. 272. Natural consequences of the precedent. 145 the Bishop of Pampeluna, " 8 that the wicked one would be slain by the breath of the mouth 9 of Mary ;" the Archbishop of Ferrara, " 10 that she would com- plete the conquest of the infernal Serpent '." The Irish Bishops expected, " The Mother of Mercy will arise, when she shall understand that her glory is at our hearts, and stretching forth the right hand of her might, amid the most dire storms and tempests wherewith we are tossed, she will lead us to the port of safety; she will arise and utterly destroy all heresies, which, to the detriment of our faith, carry their inroads boldly and with impunity V On this side, there seem to be no limits to the extent, either of the increase of the devotion to the Blessed Virgin or the subjects which may be made doctrines of faith. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is to be the great means of obtaining favours from God, Who "wills that all favour should come through her;" one chief means of showing that devotion is held to be, to declare what had been held as " pious opinions," or were taught with a quasi-authority in the Church, to be matters of saving faith. The existence of such teaching, spreading in the Church, is itself to be a proof that it is true. The natural issue of the precedent now set is, step by step to declare as matter of faith any and every thing which is taught about the Blessed Virgin, 8 i. 491. • Said of Jesus, Isa. xi. 4. 1 Thoss. ii. 8. 10 i. 298. 1 See above, p. 124. 2 iii. :370. K 146 Passive Immaculate Conception chiefly so soon as it has, through the constant and diligent teaching of the priesthood, taken root enough. And this decision, by a further precedent, now made, would depend not on a General Council, not on the consent of the whole Roman Communion, but on the will of the Pope of that time. And not only this, but the way also in which any decree on any given subject is to be framed, would, according to this precedent, rest with the Pope or his Consistory. That wonderful exposition of the doctrine of the Incarnation, the " tome " of Leo I., was accepted by the Council of Chalcedon, on the ground that it agreed with the faith, ex- pressed or accepted by the Councils before it \ The terms in which the decree as to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin was framed, were settled, not by any Council, nor by any consent of the Church, but by Pius IX. and his Theologians at Rome. Yet it was a very delicate point. According to the physical theories of those times, a distinction had been made between what was called the active and the passive conception of the Blessed Virgin; the active conception relating to the derivation of the body from her parents, the passive being the infusion of the soul from God. It used to be thought that there was an interval between the first 3 See Bossuet, Def. Cler. Gall. vii. 15 — 17, translated too by Allies, " Church of England cleared from Schism," pp. 282 — 287. believed; active also declared " de Fide." 147 formation of the body and the infusion of the soul ; so that the body might have been conceived in original sin, according to the law of the transmis- sion of this inherent sin, but have been cleansed from its stain before the soul was infused into it by God, so that it should not communicate itself to the soul. Probably the distinction was altogether wrong. Yet some of the Bishops expressed that they wished it to be declared that " the passive Con- ception " was immaculate, in other words, that the soul of the Blessed Virgin, being infused pure by God, was preserved pure from the stain of sin. The decree itself ignores all such distinctions, and defines that it is revealed by God, that " the most Blessed Virgin Mary was, in the first instant of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Christ Jesus, the Saviour of the human race, preserved free from all taint of original guilt." The words " in the first instant of her conception," are a known phrase among the Schoolmen. S. Thomas, e. g. inquires whether, contrary to the Aristotelian physics, " the body of Christ was animated in the first instant of His conception;" and answered 4 , of course, that the Word of God took, at one and the same instant, body and soul. In like way he shows, that " in the first instant of conception Christ had the fulness of grace sanctifying His Soul and Body ;" " 5 in the first instant of His conception Christ had * p. 3, q. 34, art. 1. 8 lb. art. 2. K 2 148 All taught in Church or stated by the Pope, the use of free-will;" 11 in the first instant of His conception He merited;" "in the first instant of His conception He beheld God in His essence clearer than all creatures." What then Pius IX. has, in fact, decreed, is that the Blessed Virgin Mary, although conceived after the way of nature, had " in view of the merits of Christ " precisely that same privilege which our Lord had, being "con- ceived of the Holy Ghost," in that, "in the first moment of her conception," she was not only sanc- tified, but kept absolutely free from all taint of original sin. This certainly was not what some of the Bishops meant, who concurred in asking for the definition, in that they spoke of the "passive conception " only, as immaculate. In fixing this doctrine, as matter of faith, the principle of the Council of Trent was maintained in words, that the faith must be contained in Scripture or continuous tradition from the Apostles, having been taught by our Lord or by God the Holy Ghost. But another principle came in, which made all evidence as to fact superfluous. It was this, that the Church being incapable of erring, any thing taught throughout the Church, although not defined by any authority, or representing any thing beyond the opinion of the actual clergy, was necessarily true. In the old words, the "quod ubique" was to be, ipso facto, a test of the "quod semper. 1 ' Any doctrine being taught " every where " at this present moment was to be a proof of a Divine held to be Divine truth. Vast system. 149 tradition that it had been " always " taught. The present reception of any " pious opinion," especially at Rome, — " the mother and mistress of all Churches, in which alone religion hath been guarded inviolably, and from which all other nations must needs borrow the transmission of faith," — is apparently, according to the principles of that decree, a guarantee, that that opinion has always (however or by whomsoever contradicted) been part of the Divine revelation. In like way, to those who believed the personal infallibility of the Pope, the fact that he pro- nounced any thing to be true was to be a proof that it had been always taught. Only, in that case the heresy contained in the formal letter of Honorius would be true c '. This argument was used again and again by the Bishops, — the doctrine of the Imma- culate Conception must be true, because the Church teaches it every where, and the Church cannot err. They urge continually, if the people were to think that this, which has been taught confidently as Divine truth, was doubtful, they might doubt every thing. We have been often told that it was enough for any one in the Roman Communion to believe the Canons of the Council of Trent. The Bishops of Spain and Portugal, especially, tell us of a vast practical system, which the Bishops and Priests teach, and the people believe, as matter of faith. e See Bossuet, Def. Cler. Gall. vii. 22, sqq. 150 Doctrine as to Mary formed on doctrine And this system being taught every where, then, on the principle upon which the Immaculate Con- ception was affirmed, it too might be, and must be assumed to be, of Divine tradition, and might be declared to be matter of saving faith. Some of the Bishops observed that the doctrine of the Assump- tion of the Blessed Virgin Mary, i. e., as it is now understood, of the taking of the body up into heaven without seeing corruption, rested on the self-same authority. The feast of the Assumption, as well as that of the Conception, has been changed from its original meaning, and, having originally denoted the removal of the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary to heaven, is now held in honour of the Ascension, soul and body. There is the same practical teaching of the Assumption as there was of the Immaculate Conception. Indeed, the doc- trine that her " flesh saw no corruption " is the legitimate consequence of the freedom from sin, original as well as actual. For death is the penalty of sin. The bold conception of some, that her death was but the dissolution of soul and body through ecstasy of love, and that her body, though buried, rose from the closed tomb before it could " see corruption," and was taken up to the Right Hand of her Son, as He to the Right Hand of God, is but the complement of the other doctrines about her. It is said that it is to the honour of the Son that His Virgin Mother, of whom He vouchsafed to be born, should not undergo corruption, the as to Jesus; our Co-Redemptress. 151 penalty of sin, as that she should not, in the first moment of her conception, have had original sin. To us, the most startling part of this system is its completeness. It shocked us to find that she was accounted to be " placed by God between Christ and the Church" (and so, of course, between Him and each individual) ; but the one half of the ground alleged for this, that we, as sinners, were of ourselves too unworthy to approach to Christ, found too much response in the hearts of us, miserable sinners. We know that we are unworthy to ap- proach Him, but that He said — not, Go to My Mother, but — " come unto Me," and " whoso cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." But now we find, over and above this, a studied identification of her, in all but what follows from the Hypostatic Union, with her Divine Son. And this, partly because, in the offices in honour of her, passages of Scripture which relate to Divine Uncreated Wisdom are recited ; in some degree also, because what has been said of her by the Fathers, as the chosen vessel of the Incarnation, was applied personally to her ; yet more on account of spurious passages attributed to Fathers of great name. We had heard before, repeatedly, that she was the Mediatrix with the Redeemer; some of us, who do not read Marian books, have heard now for the first time, that she was ever our " Co-Redemptress." The evidence lies, not in any insulated passage of a devotional writer (which was alleged in plea for the language of M. Olier), but in formal answers 152 Co-Redemptress, a recognized title. from Archbishops and Bishops to the Pope as to what they desired in regard to the declaration of the Immaculate Conception as an Article of Faith. Thus the Archbishop of Syracuse wrote, " Since 7 we know certainly that she, in the fulness of time, was Co-redemptress of the human race, together with her Son Jesus Christ our Lord." From North Italy the Bishop of Asti wrote of " the 8 dogma of the singular privilege granted by the Divine Redeemer to His pure mother, the Co- redemptress of the world." In South Italy the Bishop of Gallipoli wrote, " the 9 human race, whom the Son of God, from her, redeemed; whom, together with Him, she herself co-redeemed." The Bishop of Cariati prayed the Pope to " com- mand 10 all the sons of Holy Mother Church and thy own, that no one of them should dare at any time hereafter to suspect as to the Immaculate Conception of their Co-redeemer." From Sardinia, the Bishop of Alghero wrote, " It 1 is the common consent of all the faithful, and the common wish and desire of all, that our so beneficent Parent and Co-redeemer should be presented by the Apos- tolic See with the honour of this most illustrious mystery." In Spain, the Bishop of Almeria justi- fied the attribute by appeal to the service of the 7 ix. 201. 8 lb. i. 325. " She deserved the name and glory of Co- redeemer," Archbishop of Trani, ib. i. 10. * " Quem simul cum Eo Ipsa corredemit," ib. i. 218. 10 ix. 160. 1 ix. 7. " Mary helped Jesus in redeeming us." 153 Conception. " The 2 Church, adapting to the Mother of God in the Office of the Conception that text, ' Let Us make a help like unto Him,' assures us of it, and confirms those most ancient traditions, ' Companion of the Redeemer,' ' Co-Redemptress,' ; Authoress of everlasting salvation.' " The Bishops refer to these as ancient, well-known, traditionary titles, at least in their Churches in North and South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain. This doctrine, which is here alluded to, is drawn out by Roman Catholic Divines of every school. It occurs in a Lapide, a repertorium for sermons, as well as in the most Marian writers. Proceeding on that same ground of the Scriptures adapted to the Blessed Virgin, Salazar writes, — "It 3 was not fitting that Christ Alone should give Himself to the regeneration of man ; and so it was necessary that a woman, Mary, like unto Him, should be given Him, that, with her and by her, all the regeneration and adoption of the sons of God should take place." " She 4 merited by congruity the salvation of the whole world ; not only because she bare Christ, but because she gave to us Him Whom she had borne and Who was truly hers, and for us she offered Him to death. For each will of the Mother and the Son, throughout concordant and conspiring, sacrificed 2 lb. i. 186. * Pro Immac. B. V. Concept., c. 19, n. 7. 4 Id. ib. c. 21, n. 2. 154 What Christ obtained for us u of condignity" to God one and the same holocaust for the salvation of the world." " The 5 ways in which the Blessed Virgin co- operated with Christ to the salvation of the world may be classed as three : — "1. As far as she so sacrificed herself to God for the salvation of the world by the wish and longing for death and the cross, that, if it could be, she too, for the salvation of the universe, was will- ing to co-die (commori) with her Son, and to meet a like death with Him. " 2nd, and chiefly, whereby the Virgin gave her help to Christ for the common salvation, in that she, exhibiting a will altogether conformable and concordant with the will of Christ, gave her Son to death for the common salvation. And her zeal for the human race is not seen only therein, that it made her will conspire with the will of her Son, but also in that she excited and impelled Him to undergo death. " 3rdly, that she acted as mediatrix with the Mediator. The work of our salvation was so wrought. The Virgin expressed to her Son the wishes and desires which she had conceived for the salvation of the human race ; but the Son, deferring to the Mother, received these, and again presented to the Father the desires both of His Mother and His own ; but the Father granted what was wished, first to the Son, then to the Mother. 6 lb. n. 3—7. Mary obtained "of congruityT 155 " It is clear from this, that the salvation of the world was granted by the Eternal Father, not only to Christ, but also to the Virgin; yet so that the Son, as the first and principal cause, gave the price of condignity for our redemption; but the Virgin obtained the same redemption by a sort of con- gruity. So Mary was an aider and helper to Christ the Lord for our redemption; not that Christ needed that help or aid, since the value of His Blood surpassed by a boundless interval the com- pensation of our debts, but because the authority and dignity of the mother demanded this, that her merits, prayers, and desires should be united with the desires and merits of Christ, so that the salva- tion of men should be bestowed on both. " But if you ask how much of help and aid the Virgin gave to the common salvation, I have said boldly, that Christ the Lord obtained nothing by His merits, either for us or for the Virgin herself, which the Virgin Mother of God did not also gain out of congruity (excepting always the original and first grace wherewith the Virgin was gifted; for this the Virgin could not obtain by any way of congruence). Thence it follows that the Virgin Mother of God, from the aforesaid congruence, so obtained of God the common salvation of the human race, that even the extinction of original sin is also to be referred to her." Whereas the Fathers speak of the Blessed Virgin as the instrument of our salvation, in that she gave 156 "Mary gave her Soil to die for us," birth to the Redeemer, the modern Marian writers expressly reject this. " This," they say 6 , " was an act of nature only ; to have merited the Incarnation 1 ex congruoj and so to have accelerated it, was," they say, " common only with Patriarchs and the old Fathers ; to have prayed for the salvation of man- kind was also common with others. In order, then, to establish that she had something special to her- self, it must be laid down that 'Christ, God and Man,' was the true Son of Mary, and so was something of her own, placed under her parental authority, and, as it were, dominion. She, then, is to be said to have given of her own ; and of Mary it may be said, ' So' Mary ' loved the world, that she gave her only begotten Son.' The Virgin not only, concor- dant with the Father, gave her Son to the world, but also, in conformity with her Son, with priestly piety offered Him up as a Sacrifice for the world. We owe then to the Virgin Mother of God, not only that she bare Christ to the world, but also that she truly gave to the world, and volun- tarily offered Him for the salvation of the world, as something which was her own." " After the manner of a Priest, acting in a manner together with her Son the Priest, she offered to the Eternal Father the Sacrifice of redemption. Christ the Lord was offered once upon the cross; but in her heart a thousand times, i. e., so often as 6 De Salazar on Prov. viii. 19, pp. 621—629. " helped Him to undergo Death." 157 she voluntarily assigned Him to death. The life, the Passion of Jesus Christ, and His Death itself, were the price of our redemption, so far as they were voluntarily undertaken by Christ ; but the will of the Virgin, whereby she offered her Son, related to that same life and Passion. Wherefore it was meet, that, as that life and Passion, as being voluntary in the Son, merited the salvation of all, 'of condignity;' so the same life and Passion, as being voluntary in the Mother, should merit that same salvation, 'of congruity.' To speak more plainly, it is equitable, that, as the Son voluntarily enduring death satisfied for all, so the Virgin, voluntarily offering her Son to that same death, obtained the salvation of all. That act, whereby the Virgin both gave her Son to us and offered Him for us to the Father, was most surpassing and especially meritorious, and so, worthy to be com- puted together with the Passion of Christ. So that, as the Passion of Christ is said to have satisfied for the common salvation of all, so this so great action of Mary may be said in a special manner to have obtained it. On the ground of this action of such value and merit, the Virgin Mother of God was worthy that the common sal- vation and redemption of the whole human race should be ascribed in a manner to her. And since she had this in common with Christ, that she is said really and properly to have given and offered the price of our redemption, therefore she bears, 158 " Jesus obeyed Mary's will in dying for us." together with Him, all the titles and names which are wont to be ascribed to Christ, and is rightly called Redemptress, Restoress, Mediatress, Autho- ress, and Cause of our salvation. " In another way, she may be called co-operatresu and helper of Christ, viz., that as many other things made death not a little difficult and arduous to Christ, moved whereby He burst out into those words, ' Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me,' nothing could more load His mind and make death more difficult to Him, than that it should be displeasing to His most loving Mother. Who sees not this ? Wherefore, contrariwise, nothing so took a load off His mind, and so incited Him to suffer death, as that ready will of His Mother, altogether concordant with the will of His Father ; so that I should venture to affirm that, besides the will of His Father, than which nothing was dearer to the Son, and which He wished in the first instance to execute, nothing stood nearer than this will of His mother, to whom He deferred next to the Father. So, then, He Who addressed His Father, 'Not My will, but Thine be done,' and, owning the will of His Father, willingly offered Himself to death, did also gain great courage to endure death, in that He knew that His Mother willed the same ; yea, we may say that by dying He obeyed not only His Father, but also His Mother. I add, that it may be questioned whether, if, ' per impossible,' there had been no will of the " Mary helped Jesus to die for us." 159 Father, and His Mother alone wished and decreed that her Son should die for men, this would suffice that Christ, obeying His Mother, should willingly undergo death. I believe that Christ so deferred to His Mother, that it would have sufficed. Let others think as they will. I add that the Mother of God herself embraces the human race with so much love and affection that if, according to the aforesaid supposition, that will of the Eternal Father were wanting, she would yet, of her own will, choose that her Son should die for men. Therefore, since the Virgin Mary much strength- ened her Son to endure death, and lightened to Him death itself, exhibiting her will in that respect conformable to the Divine will, therefore she ought rightly to be called His helper. So that it might be said much more truly of the Second Adam, that ' a help like unto Him was given to Him ' — like, I say, not in dignity or merits, but in will and mind towards men, because she so ardently desired the salvation of the human race, that by her own will, perhaps by exhortation also, she confirmed in some measure her Son Who willed to die. 'A help meet,' I say, because that salvation of the whole human race which her Son merited ' de condigno, 1 she, ' de congruoj in a certain excellent way obtained and promoted." This is altogether deliberate dogmatic language, touching upon the character and attributes of our Lord and God, His office as our Redeemer and the 160 Dogmatic precision of language. very centre of the faith. It gives the same aspect of our redemption, as other language does of our Lord's perpetual Intercession for us sinners, — that the Blessed Virgin had authority over our Blessed Lord in regard to this His Divine work, and that it was accomplished, in part, in obedience to her maternal authority. It is the " Monstra te esse Matrem " applied to His office for us on earth ; and that, not as any hyperbole, but with dogmatic preciseness. " Since 7 the Blessed Virgin is the Mother of God, and God is her Son, and every son is naturally inferior to his mother and her subject, and the mother is set over and superior to her son, it follows that the Blessed Virgin herself is superior to God, and God Himself is her subject, in regard to the Humanity which He took from her." This doctrine, again, bears very closely upon the doctrine of our Redemption, in that our Blessed Lord's perfect Obedience paid the Price of our disobedi- ence, and " by 8 the Obedience of One many were made righteous." "He 9 became obedient unto death, the Death of the Cross." But now we are told of another obedience, not as the ensample which He gave us in His Holy Childhood by being subject to His parents, the real and the reputed alike but, in His office as our Redeemer, to her whom He redeemed. The Blessed Virgin stands 1 S. Bernardin. de Bust. Marial. P. IX. Serai, ii. in Ussher, 1. c, c. ix. 8 Eom. v. 19. 9 Phil. ii. 8. 1 S. Luke ii. 51. Minute parallel of Mary with Jesus. 161 out in this system, not only in her own special gifts, but as already, before the Price was paid for her redemption, subject to no law of humanity, except of suffering together with her Son, and interceding for our fallen race, as one who did not belong to it. It seems to be a part of this system, to parallel the Blessed Virgin throughout with her Divine Son, so that every prerogative which belonged to Him by nature or office should be in some measure imputed to her. As His Conception, not in the way of nature, but by the Holy Ghost, was Imma- culate, so, it is said, was hers by the Divine inter- ference, her birth of barren and aged parents being (it is said) scarcely by way of nature; as He was the Son of God by nature, so, they say, was she " by a more noble right than that of adoption only, a right which emulates in a manner natural filia- tion ;" as He was perfect s , so was she, in such sense, perfect, and " 4 such must needs be the vir- tues of the Virgin, that Christ, imitating them, ful- filled the office of Saviour; that as Christ, both as God and Man, bore the image of the Eternal Father, so it was meet that, God and Man, He should bear the character of His Mother. As God in Christ, by 'interchange of properties,' is called 2 Salazar in Prov. viii. 30, p. 696, and Ind. v. Maria. 3 lb. p. 619. 4 lb. p. 544. The terms are known terms, "patrizo" and " nmtrizo." L 162 Minute parallel of offices of Mary Son of Mary, so He is said to have the character of His Mother on that same principle. In order, then, that we might say, that not Man only but God also should have the character of His Mother, need was that the Virgin should by the bounty of God have many properties and conditions of God, whereby she might be as like as possible to Him." As Jesus, our High Priest, had no need to offer sacrifice for Himself; so she is spoken of, as desiring nothing but the salvation of mankind; as Jesus merited our salva- tion, of condignity, so she, of congruity; as He died for us in act, so she in will; as He offered " a full, perfect, and sufficient, sacrifice, oblation, and satis- faction for the sins of the whole world," viz. Him- self, so she, they say, sacrificed her Son for us all. As our Redemption gained its sufficiency and might from Jesus, so, they say, did it gain its beauty and loveliness from the aid of Mary 5 . As 5 " As I have often inculcated, Christ so wrought our re- demption, as to call in Mary, as an aid in this work. Where- fore as the birth, nature itself guiding, derives strength from the man, but, from the woman, form and beauty ; so also our redemption, (which was borne, as it were, by Mary and Christ,) derives from Christ sufficiency, strength, and consis- tency, but from Mary, beauty and loveliness. For as therefrom, that Christ the Lord worked our redemption, we infer rightly, that nothing of sufficiency or might should be wanting to it; so therefrom, that the Virgin co-operated to the same, we rightly deduce, that nothing of form or beauty could be missed in it. For in some way the grace and beauty of the redemp- tion would fade, if the aforesaid co-operation of the Virgin were lacking." Salaz. pro Immac. Virg. Cone, § 14, n. 171. with those of Jesus. 163 we are clothed with the merits of Christ, so also, they say, with the merits of Mary 6 . As Jesus rose again the third day without seeing corrup- tion, so they speak of her Resurrection " 7 so as to anticipate corruption, in some three days;" as He was the first-fruits of them that slept, so is she 8 ; as He was taken up into heaven in the body, so, they say, was she; as He sits at the Right Hand of God, so she at His Right Hand; as He is there our perpetual Intercessor with the Father, so she with Him; as "no man cometh to the Father," Jesus saith, " but by Me ;" so " no man cometh to Jesus," they say, " but by her;" as He is our High Priest, so she, they say, a Priestess 9 ; He, our High Priest, gave us the sacrament of His Body and Blood ; so, they say, did she, " her will con- spiring with the will of her Son to the making of the Eucharist, and assenting to her Son so giving and offering Himself for food and drink, since we confess that the sacrifice and gifts, given to us under the form of bread and wine, are truly hers and appertain unto her 10 ." As in the Eucharist He is present and we receive Him, so she, they say, is present and received in that same sacra- ment '. The priest is " minister of Christ," and 6 De Montf. p. 143. 7 Oswald, Mariologie, 171. De Montfort speaks of her resur- rection. True devotion, &c, p. 1. ' Oswald, p. 174. 9 lb. p. 198. 10 Salazar in Prov. is. 4, 5, p. 769. 1 Oswald, 174 — 186. Oswald speaks of her office to us in L 2 164 Souls, born of God and Mary; " minister of Mary V They seem to assign to her an office, like that of God the Holy Ghost, in dwelling in the soul. They speak of " souls 3 born not of blood, nor of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God " Of all the changes of discipline, I see none which has brought the Church into greater disrepute, than the rigour exercised against heretics and other excommunicated per- sons." He then contrasts the principles of the Ancient Church, as evinced in the case of the Priscillianists, in S. Augustine as to the Manichees and others, with the practice after the eighth century. His last head is, " The Changes in Penitences :" — " I finish these sad reflections by the change introduced into penitences. Public penitences were turned into torments and temporal penalties." ... 16. "It is true that the multitude of indulgences, and the facility of gaining them, were a great obstacle to the zeal of the most enlightened confessors. It was difficult to persuade a sinner to fast and discipline him- self, who could buy off this by a trifling alms, or the visit of a church. For the Bishops of the twelfth and thirteenth cen- turies granted these indulgences to all sorts of pious works, as the building of a church, the maintenance of an hospital, in fact every public work, a bridge, a causeway, the pavement of a high road. These indulgences were indeed but a part of the most mischievous of all forgeries. 255 penitence, but if several of them were joined, the whole might be bought off. These are the indulgences which the 4th Lateran Council calls 7 'indiscreet and superfluous,' which render the keys of the Church contemptible, and unnerve the satisfaction of penitence. To repress this abuse, the Lateran Council directs that at the dedication of a Church the indul- gence given should not exceed a year, even if several Bishops should be present ; for each claimed to give his own." Then, after some more observations on the re- laxation of the ancient discipline by indulgences, he concludes : — " Here I end by remarking to you what I think I have proved, that the changes which have taken place in the disci- pline of the Church since the last five or six hundred years, have not been introduced by the authority of Bishops and Councils, to correct the ancient practice : but by negligence, by ignorance, by error, founded on false documents, as the Decretals of Isidore, and on the bad reasonings of the scholastic Doctors. God grant that we may profit by the favour He has shown us of being born in a more enlightened age ; and that, if we cannot bring back the ancient discipline, we may at least know how to esteem it, revere, and regret it." Fleury says in another place, of the supposititious writings after the seventh century, " 8 Of all these false documents the most pernicious were the Decretals attributed to the Popes of the first four centuries, which have inflicted an incurable wound on the discipline of the Church, by the new maxims which they introduced concerning the judgments of the Bishops, and the authority of the Pope." The forgery of the Decretals after they had " passed for true during eight centuries 9 " was 7 Can. G2. 8 Troisieme Discours, § 2. 9 Fleury, L 41, § 22. 256 Forgery of Decretals owned, system remains ; owned by all, even in the Church of Rome. But the system built upon the forgery abides still. The Greek Church could not be admitted to Communion with the West, without merging its whole Patri- archal or Episcopal system, such as it inherited from the times of the undivided Church, so that her Bishops should be the mere delegates of the Roman Pontiff, liable to be deposed at his mere will, as the eighty French Bishops were by Pope Pius VII. in his Concordat with Napoleon I. 10 Our Communion was rejected, because our forefathers used the same freedom, which the Church of S. Augustine enjoyed. Yet what of human authority Eome clings to in her day of power, she may exchange for the strength of union in a day of weakness. Concordats have been one step in this direction since the Reformation. The times are in God's Hands. I used to think that our office in this dav was that of him who " arbores serit, quae alteri prosint sasculo." We seemed to me in the position of the Heaven- controlled Seer, " I see Him, but not nigh ; I behold Him, but not now." And meanwhile our office was within ourselves. We could not propose union, while we ourselves are so disunited. I hoped that the pressing storm of unbelief, which I 10 See e. g. in Allies, p. 439. I have seen this lately spoken of, as it seemed to me, authoritatively, as the annihilation of the ancient Gallican Church, and the creation of a new Trench Church, by a single stroke of the pen of the Pope. may be changed amid future troubles. 257 have seen in the distance these forty years, would drive together those who love Jesus. I hoped that, as we became united in the truth and in the charac- teristic principles of our Church, those other great portions of the Church, East and West, would see that " God is in us of a truth." While we said Bishop Andrewes's prayer for the Catholic Church, OlKovfievLKr), 'AvcltoXiky), Avtikt), 'H/xerepa, we hoped that the time was drawing on, when " Eastern, Western, our own," would melt, in visible com- munion too, into the one " (Ecumenical." What times may be coming on the earth, He Alone knoweth, Whose thev are. Troubles are threatening our Western Christendom every where. Whether or how they shall break, or whether they shall be averted, God Alone knoweth. We only know that, before our Lord shall come, there will be " such 1 tribulation as hath never been before," and " the 2 apostasy," an apostasy so great that former apostasies (even that aweful apostasy through Mohammed) shall not deserve the name; and such " deceivableness of Satan 3 ," that, " 4 if possible, they should deceive the very elect." From this trouble the Roman Church has no more ground of exemption than our own. Our Lord's words, " When 5 the Son of Man cometh, shall He find the faith on the earth ?" seem to 1 S. Matt. xxiv. 21. ' lb. 9, 10. ' S. Luke xviii. 8. * 2 Thess. ii. 3, rj aTroo-Tacria. 4 S. Matt. xxiv. 24-. B 258 Perils to Roman Church from her vast imply that, ere He comes, the objective faith, " the faith," — not only as the life of individuals, but as held by the Church, — " the Catholic faith," will be very much obscured, and may be found among few only. We have not seen such a triumph of Satan over the faith here, as that reign of his in the capital of France. Faber anticipated a new " Age of Mary," which was to be connected " with the Second Advent of her Son." Alas! who shall say what will be the cause of the falling away before that Second Advent ? De Montfort speaks of those as " the free-thinkers of these [his] times," who did not believe that the Holv Trinitv has made the Blessed Virgin the dispensatrix of all which They possess and will to bestow upon man. Several of the Roman Catholic Bishops wrote of the belief in the Immaculate Conception, before it was declared an Article of faith, as being so believed as " of faith," that for their people to doubt of it, would be to doubt of all. What then, as I said, if they should discover hereafter that so much, which they have been taught as certain truth in regard to the Blessed Virgin, has no Divine foundation ? There must be some terrible inward cause, why so large a portion of the Church shall lose faith, as, it seems probable, will lose it before our Lord comes. The victims of Antichrist must have lost Christ out of their hearts already. Shocking as it is to think of, the collapse of an ungrounded system as to the prerogatives of her, whom God, by His wondrous system as to B. V. ; possible office for Eng. Ch. 259 condescension, has brought into a nearer relation to Himself than any other mere created being, might shake the whole faith of those whose faith was worked into one with it. People are taught that to believe in Christ involves all this vast belief in the Blessed Virgin, coextensive with the belief in Him. What if this should fail ? Such an " Age of Mary," as Faber anticipates, might, not uncon- ceivably, by the collapse of the belief, bury in the ruins the faith in Jesus also. It is very observable how the presence of the English Church keeps this belief from taking the forms which it does where it is unchecked. This may be one of her offices in God's hands. She preserves the entire faith, such as our Lord left it with the Apostles, to evangelize the world. She believes all which the undivided Church believed, as of faith. Why should not the Church again be united in that faith which she held, before a miserable quarrel first caused her disunion ? Pious Roman Catholics too have felt that the Churches are mutually weakened, that faith and morals and life are alike injured in each by these mutual divisions. Apart from other evils, the strength is wasted against each other, which should be concentrated against the common foe of Jesus and of all who are His. The organic reunion of Christendom, and of the Protestant bodies too, has been held to be possible, even by the Ultramontanes in the Roman Church, Cardinal Wiseman quoted, nearly a quarter of a ii 2 260 De Maistre's hopes of reunion century ago, the expressions of " the profound and pious Mohler." " After observing," he says 6 , " that no Catholic can refuse to acknowledge with humi- liation the corruptions of past ages, that this proof lies in the very existence of Protestantism which could not have existed without them; he thus con- cludes 7 : — ' Apprenez done une fois, 6 Protestants, la grandeur des abus que vous nous reprochez sur la grandeur de vos propres egarements. Voila le terrain, sur lequel les deux eglises se rencontreront un jour, et se donneront la main. Dans le senti- ment de notre faute commune, nous devons nous eerier, et les uns et les autres, ' Nous avons tous manques, l'Eglise seule ne peut faillir ; nous avons tous peches, l'Eglise seule est pure de toute souillure.' " You will well remember the glowing words of our friend 8 , who is at once a statesman and a theologian, earnest for the cause of Christ, and zealous for His truth and His Church. " The name of the Count De Maistre has become one of European celebrity. He is one of the writers who have had the very largest share in shaping the modern tendencies of the devout and energetic por- tion of the Roman Catholics of Western Europe. He is, unhappily, of the ' most strictest sect ' of that Church; of that Ultramontane school which 6 Letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury on Catholic Unity, p. 33. T Symbolique, T. ii. § 37. 8 Gladstone, Remarks on the Royal Supremacy, p. 86 — end. of Christians through the English Church. 261 has been from its first origin alike needful and dangerous to the Roman system ; and he has defined its principles with even an augmented sharpness, and wound them up to a higher intensity than they had before attained. " Yet listen to the words in which he writes of the Church of England : — " ' Si jamais les Chretiens se rapprochent, comme tout les y invite, il semble que la motion doit partir de l'Eglise de l'Angleterre. Le presbyterianisme fut une ceuvre Francaise, et par consequent une ceuvre exageree. Nous sommes trop eloignes des sec- tateurs d'un culte trop peu substantiel; il n'y a pas moyen de nous entendre ; mais l'Eglise Anglicane, qui nous touche d'une main, touche de l'autre ceux que nous ne pouvons toucher; et quoique, sous un certain point de vue, elle soit en butte aux coups des deux partis, et qu'elle presente le spec- tacle un peu ridicule d'un revoke qui preche l'obeissance, cependant elle est tres precieuse sous d'autres aspects, et pcut etre consideree comme une de ces intermedes chimiques, capable d'ap- procher des elemens inassociables de leur na- ture V " It is now sixty years since thus a stranger and an alien, a stickler to the extremest point for the prerogatives of his Church, and nursed in every prepossession against ours, nevertheless, turning his 8 Considerations sur la France, c. ii. 2G2 De Maistre—" Eng. Church very precious." eve across the Channel, although he could then onlv see her in the lethargy of her organization and the dull twilight of her learning, could nevertheless discern that there was a very special work w T ritten of God for her in Heaven, and that she was very precious to the Christian world. Oh ! how serious a rebuke to those who, not strangers, but suckled at her breast not two generations back, but the witnesses now of her true and deep repentance and of her reviving faith and love, yet (under whatever provocation) have written concerning her even as men might write that were hired to make a case against her, and by an adverse instinct in the selection of evidence, and a severity of construction, such as no history of the deeds of man can bear, have often, too often in these last years, put her to an open shame. " But what a word of hope and encouragement to every one who, as convinced in his heart of the glory of her providential mission, should unshrink- ingly devote himself to defending within her borders the full and whole doctrine of the Cross, with that mvstic svmbol now as ever gleaming down on him from Heaven, now as ever showing forth its inscription — in hoc signo vinces." And now God seems again to be awakening the yearning to be visibly one, and He Who Alone, the Author of peace and the Lover of concord, must have put it into men's minds to pray for the Unity of Christendom, will, in His time, we trust, fulfil the Hopes as to the Greek Church also. 263 prayer which He Himself has taught. It is not our insular self-importance ; it is from beyond the seas that the voice has come, yea, it is, we trust, His Voice, " Who ruleth the seas and the noise of his waves, and the tumult of the people," Who has called to us to prepare ourselves to be such as He may employ for the reunion of Christendom. The authorities of the great Russian Church (we hear, as sounds floating on the breeze) look favourably on the wish for restored communion. Our position gives us an advantage towards her also; because, while we are wide-spread enough to be no object of contempt, there can be no dread on either side of any interference with the self-government of each, in the portion of God's heritage which, in His Providence, each occupies. We have no ground to fear in regard to her, lest she should force back upon us that vast practical system, still prevalent in the Western Church, which was one occasion, and is the justification, of our isolated condi- tion. We had nothing to do with the great schism of the East and West. Convinced that, (as the Council of Florence states,) the Greek and Latin Fathers, though using different language, meant the same as to the Procession of God the Holy Ghost, we should have nothing to ask of her,— except Communion. With regard to her too, we may have a Providential Office, that we too have received the Filioque, not by any act of our own, but as circulated insensibly throughout 2G4 Mode of reconciliation as to addition the Latin Church'; and while we could not part with what, through so many centuries, has been the expression of our common faith, we might still reject with Anathema the heresy 2 which, since Photius, has been imputed to it, and which the Greek Church now seems, by an inveterate pre- judice, to think to be involved in it. Yet it is plain that, long after the schism, her great writers and Bishops did not think so. Else they could not have proposed to the Latin Church, only to remove the word from the Creed, while continuing' to teach or sing it elsewhere as they pleased \ For 1 Hie clause does not appear to have beeu formally received in the West until the Council of Florence. The conjecture of Baronius seems to be most probable, that when, at the instance of Henry II. Emperor of Germany, the Xicene Creed came to be sung at all at Mass at Eome (a.d. 1014), it was sung, as it was in Spain and France and elsewhere, with the clause, " et Filio " (H. E. a.d. 447, n. 24). Baronius (a.d. 8S3, n. 3S) expresses himself uncertain what Pope received it. He expresses his regret that the Nicene Creed came to be chanted at all at Eome (a.d. 1014, n. 5). The statement of Andr. Ehod., at the Council of Florence, that it was received by a large "Western Council (Sess. 7, T. xviii. p. 124, Col.), seems a pure mistake. * That there are two 'Apx at m the Godhead. 3 Blackmore, Harm, of Eng. Doctr., &c, pp. 57 — 59, cites Tlieophylact, of the eleventh century, as quoted by John Beccus, " On other occasions, I will grant you (the Latins) the use of the expression, of the Holy Ghost ' proceeding from the Father and the Son,' as may suit your speech ; in common discourses, I mean, and in Sermons in the Church, if ye please ; but in the Creed, and in that alone, I will not grant it you." This was renewed by the Bishops in the time of the Emperor John Ducas, a.d. 1249, that "the interpolation should be put out of the Creed, but might be retained and used in any other form." to the Creed ; addition unintended. 265 had they thought the formula to contain heresy, this would have involved connivance in, and assent to, heresy. But if the objection lies only to the informality or mistake of altering the common Creed, this, it seems, was unintentional on the part of the Western Church 4 ; and we clearly had no- thing to do with it ; nor had we with what seems to have been a mistake 5 on the part of the Council of Florence who, laying down that the two formulae had been used in the same sense by the great fathers, the Bta tov Tlov by the Greek, the Filioque by the Latin, drew the strange inference that the Greeks should adopt the formula used by the Latin fathers. We had no share in this ; we only ask to Pachymeres, v. 12. This was drawn out by Michael Palaeol. (a.d. 1273), quoting from the Register of the Church. He appealed to the written declarations of the Primates of that time, " bidding them notice how those Fathers had entirely abstained from taxing the Italians with impiety or heresy on account of their attempt to interpolate the Creed ; leaving them free to retain and read the words as they pleased, any where else." The only complaint, then too, was as to " the scandal of innovation in changing the Creed." Tract. Zornicav. ii. 972. In the Council of Florence too, Mark, Abp. of Ephesus, con- fined himself to this one question, " Expunge this clause from the Creed, and then place it where ye will, and sing it in your churches on occasion, as is sung 6 /xovoy«vv)s Aoyos." Ib. 4 The "Filioque" was first adopted in the Creed in Spain, after the recovery from Arianism, the Council supposing, by mistake, that such was the original Creed of Constantinople. From Spain, it passed into France. 1 It may the rather be termed "a mistake," because the Church of Rome does not now require of the Greeks, united with her, what she then required of the whole Eastern Church. 206 Possibility of authoritative continue to use the formula, which, without any act of our own, has been the expression of our faith immemorially. The Greeks, who value so much an inherited faith, could not, we trust, be insensible to the claim. If, on such terms and on such explanations of our belief as she may require and we could give, communion should be restored between us, a great step would have been gained towards the reunion of all Chris- tendom. The largeness of the hopes and longings may, we trust, draw down the more favour from Him Who " maketh men to be of one mind in one house." A plan, which should embrace the Greek Church also, would facilitate what English Catholics most desire, authoritative explanations. Cardinal Wise- man, in his memorable letter to Lord Shrewsbury, laid down as a principle, " We 6 must explain to the utmost." The Church of England and the Council of Trent have long seemed to me at cross purposes. In some cases, at least, the Council of Trent pro- posed the minimum, of which it would accept, but left a maximum, far beyond the letter of the Council, to be thereafter, as it was before, the practical system of the Church. The Church of England, in her Articles, protested against that maximum, the practical system which she saw around her; but, in many cases, she laid down no doctrine at all on the 9 Lelter, p. 31. explanations with Greek and Roman Church. 267 subject upon which she protested. She made nega- tive statements to show against what she protested, but set down no positive statement to explain what, on the same subject, she accepted. Thus, in view of a Council, which was expected to be under Italian influence, and in which she did not expect to be fairly heard, she protested that " General Councils may and have erred " (which is so far true ; but since she was employed only on the defen- sive on one side, she left it to be gathered from elsewhere that there are Councils which were " 7 allowed and received of all men," which she also accepted. And so, as to other points also. It may be that, on any such negotiations, she might offer such explanations of the Thirty-nine Articles, as the Roman and Greek Churches would accept, such as are suggested by Bossuet 8 , or by the Commonitorium of Du Pin; or, according ' Homilies. See above, p. 32. 8 "A foreign Priest has pointed out to us a valuable docu- ment for our consideration, ' Bossuet's Reply to the Pope,' when consulted on the best method of reconciling the followers of the Augsburg Confession with the Holy See. The learned bishop observes, that Providence had allowed so much Catholic truth to be preserved in that Confession, that full advantage should be taken of the circumstance ; that no retractations should be demanded, but an explanation of the Confession in accordance with Catholic doctrines. Now, for such a method as this, the way is in part prepared by the demonstration that such interpretation may be given of the most difficult [of the XXXIX] Articles, as will strip them of all contradiction to the decrees of the Tridentine Synod." Card. Wiseman, Letter, p. 38. 268 GocTs mercies to the English Church. to the precedent of the Council of Florence, the Thirty-nine Articles and the Council of Trent (which was so largely directed against errors of Luther) might pass away and be merged in the Eighth General Council of the once-more united Christendom. It is not, we trust, without some great purpose of His love, that God has so marvellously preserved the English Church until now. Life is the token of God's Presence in the Church ; for out of Him there is no life. Dr. Manning grants, as to individuals in the English Church, that, in common with all the baptized, they, having been in Baptism made the children of God and members of Christ, are, if they have continued in that grace, members of Christ still. He admits, what he cannot deny without heresy, that they are real Christians. Even as to the number of these he casts doubts. He dwells 9 on the fact, that manv of the English people are unbaptized (these are, of course, not members of any Church); he leaves out of the question all who have fallen from Baptismal grace by mortal sin, only speaking of " the 1 great dif- ficulty and uncertainty of their restoration." And then he speaks of a small residuum whom he sup- poses to live on and grow in the grace which they 9 P. 10. 1 P. 18. He must mean, that, although God forgives, upon real contrition for past sins, it is, to any one, uncertain whether he be truly contrite. Dr. Manning's meagre concessions. 2G0 received at their Baptism. His mode of admitting the fact implies his opinion of the rareness of such cases. Catholic 2 missionaries have known it as a fact, and he himself, too, as to some whom they have received into the Church. " There 3 are to be found amongst the English people individuals who practise in a high degree the four cardinal virtues, and, in no small degree, though with the limits and blemishes inseparable from their state, the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, infused into them in their Baptism." And so he comes to the result, that in England too, as well as in every other country, separate from the commu- nion of Rome, there are indeed some few who grow up in Baptismal grace, some who have, in some imperfect degree, faith, hope, and charity, and these last chiefly among the dissenters, whose piety, he says, " is 4 more like the personal service of dis- ciples to a personal Master, than the Anglican piety, which has always been more dim and distant from this central light of souls." With the excep- tion of these few, the rest are, according to him, in a doubtful state, which he does not describe, yet which, since it is the result of a fall from grace given, and since a Christian's sins are against light, is a state worse than heathenism, except for the possibility of an uncertain and difficult re- covery. To the Church of England he accords • P. 11. 3 P. 13. 4 P. 19. 270 English Church has Orders, nothing which does not exist in any Protestant body, except something of the idea of a Church, (which, according to him, we have not,) and some probably inoperative truth, and some heathen vir- tues, since what piety we have, or have had, is and always has been, according to him, " more dim and distant from the central light of souls," Jesus. I say, " heathen virtues ;" for the cardinal virtues, fortitude, justice, prudence, temperance, although of course they cannot be practised without the grace of God, are yet, while unanimated by the special Christian graces of Faith, Hope, and Charity, only heathen virtues, such as heathen have prac- tised, with the grace of God. Specifically Dr. Man- ning denies " the validity of our Orders 5 and abso- lutions," and, with our Orders, whatever depends upon Orders. 6 On our English Ordinations, it is enough to refei* to the words of Mason, Courayer, Bramhall (with the important additions of the very careful editor, the Rev. A. W. Haddan, Angl. Cath. Lib.). I have examined in turn every objection made to them, and it has seemed to me that Roman Catholic controversialists took up easily any objection which might for the moment serve their turn. Cardinal Wiseman laid all aside, and took up the ground of jurisdiction. But this objection presupposes the truth of Ultramontanism. The metropolitical see in each country has inherent jurisdiction, according to the ancient canons. Parker was left in undisputed succession of the See of Canterbury, and his successors have the jurisdiction inherent in that See. Du Pin, when satisfied as to our Orders, felt, as a Gallican, no difficulty as to jurisdiction. Van Espen infers, from the very terms used in the Roman Pontifical and Ordinal, that "jurisdiction" is given in Consecration. He and Sacraments, consequent on Orders. 271 The Church of England, then, according to him, teaches her children falsely, that in the Holy Eucharist " the Body and Blood of Christ preserve their bodies and souls unto eternal life;" for, ac- cording to him, the Holy Eucharist among us is but " the empty sign of an absent thing." She ordains her priests, according to him, with lying words, " Receive the Holy Ghost, for the office and work of a Priest in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are for- given;" since he holds that the Holy Ghost is not given, and that sins remitted by them are not re- mitted. In like way he holds that she requires of argues from the words with which the Gospel is given by the ordainer, " Eeceive the Gospel, and go preach to the people committed to thee," and from those in the Preface, " Give to him, Lord, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that he may use, not boast of, the power which Thou givest to edification and not to destruction ; whatsoever he shall bind on earth, &c, grant to him, O Lord, the Episcopal chair, for the ruling of Thy Church and people committed to him," that "Bishops receive their jurisdiction from God Himself, not from the Eoman Pontiff." For that it would be " mocking God " so to speak and so to pray, without believing that the Bishop would have that which was prayed for. Opp. T. 5, p. 441. See further as to our orders, above, pp. 232, 233. Bossuet says, " This holy and Apostolic doctrine of the Epis- copal jurisdiction and power proceeding immediately from, and instituted by, Christ, the Gallic Church hath most zealously retained." " Therefore that very late monition, that Bishops receive their jurisdiction from the Pope, and are, as it were, Vicars of him, ought to be banished from Christian Schools, as unheard of for twelve centuries." Def. viii. 12, in Allies, p. 428. 272 God gives Dissenters what they ask Him; her Priests to pronounce a material lie in the Name of the God of Truth, since we are directed to say, " By His [our Lord Jesus Christ's] authority com- mitted unto me, I absolve thee from all thy sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," whereas he denies that we have any authority committed to us, or do at all absolve. And yet God blesseth through these Sacraments ; and God blesseth through truth. If a Weslevan minister preaches his naked Gospel, that " we are all sinners," that " Christ died to save sinners," that " He bids all sinners come to Him," and saith, " whoso cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out," this is, of course, fundamental Gospel-truth, and, when God blesses through it those who know no more, He blesseth them through faithful recep- tion of His truth. So again, as to the Presby- terians. They deny, in regard to the Holy Com- munion, what we believe ; and their account of their Communion is somewhat less than what we mean by a spiritual Communion. For they speak, rather, of " ascending in mind into heaven," and feeding upon Jesus there by faith, than of praying Him to come by His Spirit into the soul. I mean, that the Calvinist Confessions seem to me to speak rather of man's part than of His ; of what faith, enabled by Him, does, than of what it re- ceives. Still, be this as it may, they speak of a religious act; and although (as some of them say) there is no need, to this end, of any thing outward, to us, gifts in His Sacraments also. 273 and what they describe might be done in every prayer, still, doubtless, Pie Whom they seek, is found by them, for that which they seek. They seek a spiritual communion, and doubtless God admits them to that spiritual communion with Him which they desire. Nay, in Baptism He gives them more than they know of or believe. With the Church of England, it would, according to Dr. Manning's statement, be the very contrary of all this. We believe, when we confess our sins, that, coming in repentance and in faith, " 6 our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath left power to His Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in Him, of His great mercy forgives " us our "offences ;" and that it is " by His authority committed to " His servants, that we are " absolved from all our sins in the Name " of the All-Holy Trinity. We believe that in Holy Communion we, coming with the right dispositions, " 7 verily and indeed take and receive the Body and Blood of Christ ;" that " 8 we so eat the Flesh of Christ and drink His Blood, that our sinful bodies are made clean by His Body, and our souls are washed by His most precious Blood." " According to thy faith," our gracious Lord said, "be it unto thee." I do r.ot believe that God maintains the faith, where there is not the reality. The Lutherans set out with a belief of the Real 8 Service for the Visitation of the Sick. ' Catechism. 8 Communion Service. S 274 Varied testimonies that we have the Presence, clearly expressed, except that Luther de- graded the Sacrament, by making it a mere sign to faith. But since they had no Orders, the belief died out. No other body, which is not ad- mitted to have the true Sacrament, claims to have it. Aquinas says, in the name of the Western Church 9 , "A priest consecrates validly, in heresy or schism, although he sins in so doing."' Heretics, who are reallv cut off from the Bodv of Christ, re- ceive the Sacrament, though not the grace of the Sacrament. We have the witness that we have really the true Body and Blood of Christ and the grace of the Sacrament: 1) from the know- ledge of those who receive it. God would not allow His own to be deluded in such a matter as this. 2) In the supernatural lives of grace, led by persons, the life of whose souls is Christ in the Holy Eucharist. I do not mean any disparagement to any pious Presbyterians, but, believing the Holy Eucharist to be what we, in common with the whole Ancient Church, know It to be, we cannot but know that they who receive It worthily, have a much greater closeness of union with our Lord, 9 ir. dist. 13, q. 1, art. 1, q. 3, and S. P. iii. q. faocriL art. vii., on the ground of S. Augustine's statement, that orders, as well as baptism, remain in those separated from the Church, (c. Ep. Parm. Ep. 2, c. 13, n. 28.) Both, however, deny the grace of the Sacraments. The grace of the Sacraments belonging to the Church alone, the undoubted presence of the grace of the Sacraments is a proof to us, that we are in the body of Christ, in which alone He gives it. Body and Blood of Christ and true Absolutions. 27 '5 than they who do not. Presbyterians have what they believe ; we, what we believe. But they who have observed pious Presbyterians and pious Eng- lish Catholics, have discerned among our people a spiritual life, of a kind which was not among theirs ; in a word, a sacramental life. Dr. Manning denies the validity of our absolutions. God, the Author of truth, has set His seal upon them. This enlarged use of confession, which originated in men's stirred consciences, often grew, in conse- quence of its visible fruits on the lives of thoce who had already used it. People were wont to ask, "What has so changed you?" They sought the remedy, which God had made so effectual to others. We, the English Clergv, have seen the death-beds of those, whose first confessions we had heard, and we could no longer recognize, in the ripened, humble saint, the person whom we had first known, although, then too, earnestly seeking God. 3) You remember how our dear friend J. H. Newman was impressed by God's visible and very aweful judgment upon a sacrilegious Communion. It was no insulated instance. Our Lord bore wit- ness to His own Presence, by judging the sacrilegious communicant, and leaving him in the power of Satan, who drove him to self-murder in the pre- cincts of the Church, where he had profaned the Body and Blood of Christ. Prejudiced as juries are, the jury, awed by the case, pronounced "felo- de-se." On the other hand, the effects of devout s 2 276 Life in the Church of England variously triedj communion have passed over to the body too. I have known too the evil fruit of sacrilegious con- fessions, very different from those of an ordinary lie. 4) It is in accordance with the truth of the Sacrament, that the enlarged life among us, has especially taken the form of increased Sacraments. The Wesleyan bodies would increase their prayer- meetings, which some of them have spoken of to me as their " means of grace." Protestant bodies have their revivals; the Church of England multiplied the celebration of its Sacraments. But those who have pointed to " life " as a great note in the English Church, did not mean the life of grace in individuals. They have meant the organic operation of God the Holy Ghost upon the Church as a whole. It is the mark given by our Lord Himself. By a wonderful analogy between nature and grace, the branch, which had been severed from the True Vine, carried out with it for a time the life of the tree ; but, the life-giving sap being cut off, after a time it withered. Contrariwise, as our friend observed, the Church of England has had a tough, vigorous life. Its life has been tried in every way in which it could be tried. " It has been practised upon by theorists, browbeaten by sophists, intimidated by princes, betrayed by false sons, laid waste by tyranny, corrupted by wealth, torn by schism, and persecuted by fanaticism. Revolutions have come upon it sharply and suddenly to and fro, hot and cold, as if to try what it was but, after 300 years, its vigour stronger. 277 made of. It has been a sort of battle-field, on which opposite principles have been tried. No opinion, however extreme any way, but may be found, as the Romanists are not slow to reproach us, among its bishops and divines. Yet what has been its career upon the whole ? Which way has it been moving through three hundred years ? Where does it find itself at the end ? Lutherans have tended to Rationalism ; Calvinists have become Socinians ; but what has it become 1 ?" Now, after above three centuries, it alone has a more vigorous life than ever. It seems like a tree which has been shaken for a while, yet struck its roots deep and is filling the lands. Severed in the United States from the protection of the state — nay, rather trampled in the dust by those who hated it for the loyalty of its members, — it first struck root when it was deprived of all human aid. Indepen- dent witnesses have attested some time ago, how, before this fratricidal war, it was regarded by many as the one principle of stability in the United States. It wins from all the bodies who broke oft' from us, and itself seldom loses to any. Long ago it quadrupled, while the population doubled only. Its clergy are very frequently the sons of the ministers of bodies not in communion with it, whom it has won. It has been recently making an 1 Catholicity of the English Church, in British Critic, No. 53, p. 77. 278 Our Episcopate Divine. Organic working impression even upon the inveterate, boastful, intellectual Socinianisni. And all this with no human aid, with no power except the Presence of God the Holy Ghost, which has been specially promised to the Church. So also in our other colonies, and in that vast heathen realm of India. If our Episcopate had not been of Divine Institution, then it would have been all one, whether those reputed to be of the second or first order, Priests or Bishops, had been sent out ; for, in fact, they would have been alike laymen. On the other hand, our Episcopate being Divine, to send out Priests alone, or with a Bishop over a whole con- tinent, as it were, was, to plant the Gospel as God willed not that it should be planted. The fact has borne witness to the truth of our Episcopate. When the Gospel was preached, even by pious men, with- out the Episcopate, it languished after a time; when the Church was planted according to its Divine form, it flourished. In this restoration in which we live, very remark- able have been the organic workings of God the Holy Ghost in the Church as a whole. The last century was, by a strange harmony every where, especially " sseculum tepidum." In France, the children whom the Church had lost, aided by apos- tate Bishops and Priests, overthrew her. A mar- vellous inward decay must have prepared for the time, when the goddess of Reason could be enthroned in a Christian capital. Southern Germany became of God the Holy Ghost throughout the Church. 279 indevout; Hermesianism has, since, infested her. About thirty years ago I was, myself, asked to write against a German book, put forth in the name of Catholicism against the faith, on the ground that it had a wide, baleful influence among the German Catholics. In Italy, we have probably not yet seen the full fruits of evils long festering there. Much indifference is said to have existed during the last century in Roman Catholic Ireland. In the United States, it is commonly and confidently stated, that the Roman Church loses its hold over large pro- portions of the Irish immigrants 2 . And now, in this century, God has been reviving the Church every where, simultaneously. Nothing has so impressed itself upon me during all the years in which I have observed the workings of God the Holy Ghost upon the Church of England, as their organic character. Some have all along been in the habit of looking to certain modes of revival ; at the best, to the way in which God blessed the workings of one class of individuals. To these they appealed, as furnishing "tokens of life in the English Church." For myself, I always turned away, sick at heart, from this feverish watching for tokens of life. It is not s The Dublin Eeview confirms tliis. " "We fear that there can be little doubt that in the United States the Church loses more souls than it gains. In the second generation, the faith of the Catholic immigrant is constantly lost." July, 18G5, p. 22(5. 280 Progress throughout the Church of England in the flush of the cheek or the more brilliant eye alone, in which you would recognize the returning health of the body. These might be fever, not health-tokens. What is concentrated around indi- viduals, even though manifoldly multiplied, is indi- vidual still. To us, the workings seemed all along far beyond any efforts of human zeal or energy or faithfulness, even as blessed by God. The dawn lay beyond our memory. Perhaps, if one might fix a time, one should say, from the French revolution, when the Voice of God spoke in such terrible warning as to the fruits of neglectful ways, and sent a coal of fire into the hearts of men. Since then, the progress has been steadily onwards. Often, as in younger vears I used to hear the account of things in the generation before us, the words spoken to the Prophet and his answer shot through me, " Son of man, can these bones live ? And I an- swered and said, O Lord God, Thou knowest." But " the bones had come together, bone to his bone ; the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army V Increased zeal for spreading the faith of Christ abroad returned into the bosom of the Church at home; increased zeal for the religious education of the poor won the blessing of Jesus, Whose bequest 3 Ezek. xxxvii. 7—10. in this century; unhindered by checks. 281 the poor are; increased efforts to build Churches to the glory of His Name, and for the salvation of souls, were blessed by the increased Presence of Him in Whose honour they were raised. Not in one way, nor in one set of ways, but in all : not in one class of minds, but in some of every class; not in one theological section of the Church, but in all; not through one set of men, but through all; not through those only who had our full belief, but through all who loved Him ; not through prosperous circumstances only, but yet more through adverse; not in England only, but throughout the whole body, has God been forming the English Church, for what purpose in His hands, He knoweth ! Even those deepest losses of all, the loss of those who " laboured most abundantly," and the sus- picion which two or three sought to cast on those who remained, and most of all, the chaos into which some minds were thrown, suspecting Catholic truth, because their guides had become Roman, not English, Catholics, — these things have indeed checked, but they have not hindered the work of God among us. It seemed, indeed, before these secessions that, with the continuance of God's gracious operation, nothing but time was needed to Catholicize England. But the waters have risen, not the less decidedly, because noiselessly. Fallow ground was broken thirty years ago; fresh seed was sown; seed time and harvest have gone on together unbroken ; the 282 Progress deeper than in prosperity. seed which ripened fell again to the earth silently and yielded fresh fruit abundantly. They who wished to pluck it up, only, like the birds of the air, carried it further. Mr. Oakeley, who, when among us, seemed to watch intently the progress made within rather a narrow sphere, has lately repeated, that Tractarianism, as a movement, ended 4 with the loss of our dear friend, J. H. Newman. The tracts had been closed before : the first impulse had been given before. Had he followed his own bent, I believe that the tracts would have ended in some preceding year. The trumpet had sounded 5 steady, clear, certain; and a very great army had gathered at the call. We do not need the trumpet, when God's willing people are gathered 6 . What has had to be done since has been to build on. The building arises " without axe or hammer." Never, I am satisfied, was the work of God among us so wide and so deep as now. Far deeper and 4 Dublin Eeview. Since the above has been in type, I observe a kindly mention of Mr. Keble's and my own recent exertions, in Mr. Oakeley's reprint of those Articles. As to any supposed previous " quiescence," exertion has to take a different shape, when confidence in any one has been for the time rudely destroyed. 5 Motto of the Tracts, " If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for battle?" 0 I asked, contrariwise, Schleiermacher in 1826, " Why ' the Wolfenbuttel Fragments,' which had been thought so formidable an attack on Christianity at one time, were thought of no more ?" He answered, "Wozu der Mist, wann die Erndte da ist?" "To what end the manure, when the harvest is there?" " Protestantism tends to unbelief." 283 wider is it than in those glad, prosperous days, because the leaven, which was hidden in the meal, has worked secretly, and has now more centres, from which it is every where working. Dr. Manning says 7 , " The known and historical evidence of Christianity is enough to convince any prudent man that Christianity is a Divine revela- tion. It is quite true that by this process he can- not entertain an explicit faith in all the doctrines of revelation, and that in rejecting Catholicism he reduces himself to human and historical evidence as the maximum of extrinsic certainty for his reli- gion, and that this almost inevitably resolves itself in the long run into Rationalism. It is an inclined plane, on which, if individuals may stand, genera- tions cannot." There is confusion in the state- ment \ But I fully accept as true, the result intended, that rejection of Catholicism ends in the long run in Rationalism, and that it is an inclined plane on which generations cannot stand. We 7 Letter, pp. 26, 27. 8 a) Although, in the cold phraseology of the last century, it is part of prudence to inquire into the evidence what God has revealed Himself to His creatures, prudence has no part in producing conviction, b) It is a truism, that "one who rejects Catholicism" cannot "attain an explicit faith in all the articles of the doctrines of revelation," i.e. of the Catholic faith. But this does not affect us, except on the assumption that we have rejected Catholicism or the Catholic faith, or any thing which is Divine, c) "Extrinsic certainty" must mean, I suppose, what is antecedent to the gift of faith in one who comes to the faith. For the habit of faith which God gives to Christians is internal; and we all have it from God. 284 Sects attest faithfulness of the Church. have seen the truth of this in Lutheranism and Calvinism, in the length and breadth of the lands which they occupied, except where faith has been preserved by vicinity to the English Church. Why then has it not been so among us, after 300 years ? The answer is plain ; on those self-same principles, " because we have " not " rejected Catholicism." Dr. Manning refers to the downward course of the English people. The question between us is, not about the English people, but about the English Church. The Church of England is no more respon- sible for those of the English people who have re- volted from her, than the Churches of Italy, and France, and Germany, are for those who have re- volted from them. We are all responsible for any want of zeal, or faith, or self-sacrifice, or for any spirit of worldliness, which may have prevented others from seeing that " God is in us of a truth." But the existence of all the sects in England shows the uncompromisingness of the Church of England in maintaining Catholic truth. Had she been like the Lutheran body, she would have had no Dissenters. People do not split off from that which does not hold firmly together. But, as she is not responsible for Dissenters who have rejected her authority, her teaching, her com- munion, neither is she responsible for their course. Nor is she more responsible for such pheno- mena as Dr. Colenso's heathenism 9 , or Essay- 9 The fifty answers to Dr. Colenso's first Part are much Essay and Reviewism a passing storm 285 and-Review scepticism, than the Church of France was for Talleyrand and Sieyes. Nor are we the only portion of the Catholic Church which is suffering from the attacks of Eationalism. Already in this place, Essay and Reviewism has done its worst, and is hastening to its decay. Its observant adherents own the growth of the Faith. It is but a passing storm which, desolating as it has been to the souls of individuals, .yet disinfects the atmosphere. They have already done more to remove misconceptions and prejudices than twenty years of efforts of our own. They have given us a watchword, whereby the friends of Jesus may recognize one another. We have been all, in our several ways, fighting for Him and in His service, yet some of us, aloof from each other, and our fealty to our common Master suspected. Now those who love Jesus and His Word and His truth will be united, we trust, by the pre- sence of a common foe. Now, like the battle-cry of God's chosen warrior of old, " The sword of the Lord and of Gideon," that of the English Church will be " Jesus and victory ;" and the " gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim will be more than the vintage of Abiezer." For the wine-press is trodden in His Name, Who trod it alone in His bitter greater indications of the mind of the people of England, than his solitary attack. His legal position Lord Westbury has destroyed, and declared him in fact an unattached Bishop, his patent also being invalid. Dr. Colenso has neither ecclesias- tical position, being deposed, nor the hearts of the people of Natal. The Church in South Africa is free, and can right itself. 286 Victory in the Name of Jesus. Passion; and the juice of the grape is His precious Blood, Which alone has healing, and life and salva- tion and union with Him. May He spare you long to His Church and people, that, as in " the Christian Year " you sowed in our youth the first seeds of a rich harvest, you may help in the ingathering, of which there is such bright promise in "the year of His goodness" which God has blessed ! Your very affectionate friend, E. B. PUSEY. Christ Church, 1865. POSTSCRIPT. I had finished my letter, and it had been some time in type, before Dr. Manning was elevated to his present important position, or the reading of the Encyclical of last year, and the comments upon it, had shown me how advanced, above all which was known formerly, is the present theory of Papal Infallibility. The Ultramontanes in the Roman Communion seem to be drifting off further from the prin- ciples of the early and undivided Church. Under Jesuit influence " the shores of Italy " seem ever to be "receding." We could not imagine ourselves to have lived a day out of the communion of the Church of S. Augustine. With the knowledge which we have of it, we could not imagine any, the slightest difficulty, which should have hindered our flying to it, had we been born in any sect external to it. It has been the home of our faith, our affections, our understanding, now to grey hairs. Like God's word, so that undivided Church of God satisfies our whole selves. There are no clouds there. In its faith we have been ever at 288 "Infallibility is in the Pope alone.' 1 rest. Even in the Gallican Church, a century and a half ago, there seemed to be a dawn of re-union; there was, if not clear day, at least a break in the clouds, such as gave token that the breath of God might disperse them. Now things seem to be taking an opposite direction. It is the boast of the English Ultramontane party, that Gallicanism is extinct; and this not as relates to any ques- tion of the relation of the Pope to the civil sove- reign. Tliis the successive rulers from the Restora- tion of 1815 did what they could to extinguish, by becoming the oppressors of the Church. But in regard to the central question, where the infalli- bility of the Church lies, the Ultramontanes tell us that the Gallican belief, that nothing has the seal of infallibility which has not been received by the whole Church, is extinct in France '. If it is to be found any where, we are, I suppose, to look to Germany, or perhaps among some of the Gallican Bishops who have not spoken. The Dublin Review would have it, that even the tacit reception of the Encyclical of 1864 would, even upon Gallican prin- ciples, fix as matters of faith, not only the doctrines, virtually affirmed by the Encyclical, as being the contradictories of the propositions condemned, but the main principle which Pius IX. appears to have assumed, that he is infallible in all his formal utterances, on whatever subjects, connected, in his 1 Dublin Eeview, July, 1SG5, p. 130. Is this received in Roman communion ? 289 judgment, with the well-being of the Church, although with no visible bearing on faith or morals, and howsoever or to whomsoever those utterances may be made. It is for those of the Roman Com- munion to settle this. Of twenty-four Gallican Bishops who spoke (including Algiers, and Cham- bery, as now French), two only, the Bishop of Nimes and Frejus, include the old Gallican belief of recep- tion by the whole Episcopate in their grounds for adhesion to the late Encyclical 2 . But twenty-two are but about one-fourth of the Bishops of France. It seems also very possible that the Roman Catholic Episcopate might agree in condemning all the eighty propositions, condemned in the syllabus, and yet not intend thereby to express their belief that every enunciation of the Pope, on whatever subject, is ipso facto infallible. For although the writer in the Dublin Review 3 has shown that the Encyclical of 1864 does claim this, in the name of Pius IX., the doctrine does not so explicitly lie there, as to require any Bishop, who should not assent to it, to express any dissent. Least of all would it seem to be required that every one, who should dissent from it, should, in the present troubled state of the Church every where, add such an element of Dublin Review, April, 1805, p. 447. * lb. July, p. 127. The Card. Archbishop of Chambery also notices "the condemnations having been published without exciting any protest," i. e., I suppose, having been tacitly received. Ib. p. 129. T 290 Extent of Papal infallibility now discord to the present conflict. It would make the doctrine of " reception by the Church " a nullity, if every thing was to be held to be received, which should not be protested against, even although not formally proposed for assent. The claim, however, now raised, goes far beyond even the school of Bellarmine. If established, it would, in Pontificates so full of activity as that of Pius IX. who has issued thirty-two authorita- tive documents, be adding almost yearly to the faith of those in the Koman Communion. And union with the Roman See, on the part, e. g., of the great Russian Church, would involve this, — that every one should be ready to receive whatever all past Popes had authoritatively uttered, and whatever any future Pope, though unhappily a Borgia or a Julius II., might utter upon any subject whatsoever. To the great Gallican Divines, however respect- fully they spoke of the Pope, he was but one element in the infallibility of the whole Church. Since universal reception was the test of the in- fallibility of any decision of the Church, nothing could have this seal of infallibility, which was not received by him who was in dignity its first Bishop. It needed not, however, that what should become infallible, should always emanate from him; nor did it. The Anti-Pelagian statements of faith, e. g., which were received by the whole Church, came from S. Augustine and Africa ; the con- claimed: Bellarmine's doctrine. 291 , eluding parts of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed came from a Council in which the East only was represented, hut which became General through its reception by the West. To say, then, that the enunciations of the Pope became infalli- ble through their reception by the whole Epis- copate, would be a one-sided statement of Galli- canism; because such universal reception would equally render infallible any statement of faith which a Provincial Council should draw up against heresy : only in this case the Bishop of Rome would be an important member of those who should receive it. From this, the doctrine set forth in Bellarmine differed, in that it ascribed infallibility to the Pope personally, but this with a limitation of its subject-matter. His two canons in this respect are : — 1) " 4 The Pontiff, when he teaches the whole Church, can in no case err in those things which appertain to faith." 2) " 5 Not only in precepts of faith cannot he err, but neither can he in pre- cepts of morals, which are prescribed to the whole Church, and which relate to things necessary to salvation, or to such as are good or bad in them- selves" The doctrine, which places such an aweful power in the hands of an individual, is limited in two ways in Bellarmine's statement; 1) as to the formal way, in which the enunciation to be received as 4 De Kom. Pout. iv. 3. T 2 • lb. c. 5. 292 Infallibility in facts, and in tilings infallible is to be made. The " matters of faith " . are to be such as are " taught to the whole Church ;" the " precepts of morals " are to be " prescribed to the whole Church." 2) In regard to morals, mere benefit to the Church is excluded. They are to be simply things "good or bad in themselves or neces- sary to salvation." Matters of fact are omitted altogether. No- thing is said of them, either that they do, or do not, fall within the scope of Papal infallibility. It has been recently drawn out 6 ; 1. That Pius IX. claims infallibility in judgments which he puts forth, " which do not touch the dogmas of faith and morals," but " whose object is declared [by him] to regard the Church's right discipline and general good. His declarations on his civil princedom [i. e. on ' his temporal sove- reignty over his temporal subjects in Italy '] may be given as instances in point." These statements of infallible truth need not, then, obviously be con- nected with the substance of revelation, or be sup- ported by any thing in Holy Scripture or tradition, bearing on the subject. 2. That these statements, in order to their infal- libility, need not be addressed to the whole Episco- pate, or be in any way formal in their character, but may be contained in letters to this or that individual pastor 7 . • Dublin Eeview, April, 1865, p. 446. T lb., pp. 444. 448. not belonging to faith or morals. 293 3. That consequently all the statements put forth in the Syllabus of 1864 are infallible truth. 4. It follows that Papal infallibility is held to extend to matters of fact, and to things unconnected with former revelation. 5. Since the claim for infallibility in these state- ments has been put forth, although not ' totidem verbis,' in the Encyclical of 1864, then, it is to follow, that each successive Pope is infallible on any of those or the like subjects, in whatever way or to whomsoever he may speak. The errors condemned at the beginning of the Encyclical cannot, indeed, be said to have been condemned by any authority but that of our Lord. For Pius IX. condemned, so far, denials of God, of His Providence, and His revelations, which every peasant knows to be blasphemous. Others, again, of the propositions condemned are naked Erastianism. Some deny the first principles of morals. I would only, in illustration of what I mean, speak of those, in regard to which the claim of infallibility is an advance apparently upon what has been hitherto taught in the Roman Communion. 1. As to matters of fact, it is claimed to be in- fallible truth, — that "no Pope 8 ever exceeded the • Prop, xxiii., in a work of a Spanish Ecclesiastic, Lima, 1848, condemned June 10, 1851, in the Multiplices inter, Eecueil d. Alloc. Consistor., Encycliques, &c, citees dans l'Encycl. et Syll. 1861, p. 289, "Koinan Pontiffs and 294 Instances of statements for which limits of his power, or usurped the rights of princes, or erred in defining matters of faith or morals," in which case Bossuet would be found, in regard to the last, in opposition to infallible truth 9 . Again, it is to become infallible truth, that " 1 no too arbitrary acts of any Roman Fontiff contributed to the Church's division into east and west." Then, it is to be pronounced infallibly, that the Pope was right in the original unhappy dispute, with Photius and Ignatius alike, about Bulgaria, or in that which Fleury lamented, as finally fixing the schism, the setting up a Latin Emperor and Latin Patriarchs, or in insisting on the addition of the Filioque in the Nicene Creed to be recited by the Greeks, after having acknowledged that the Greek and Latin Fathers, while using different formulae, meant the same thing; and yet subsequent Popes have aban- doned this requisition in the case of the Greeks who have united themselves to the Latin Church. Again, it is to become infallible truth, that " 2 Boniface VIII. was not the first who asserted (Ecumenical Councils have quitted the limits of their power, usurped the rights of princes, and have erred even in defining matters of faith and morals." The Dublin Review (April, 1865, p. 482) argues rightly, that each of these statements is condemned as to the Popes or (Ecumenical Councils, not only as to both together. 8 See above, pp. 34—36. 1 Prop, xxxviii. of Nuytz, a Turin Professor, condemned in Ad Apostolicas, Aug. 22, 1851, that " ' nimia arbitria' of Koman pontiffs contributed," &c. Eecueil, p. 294. J Prop, lxxii., also quoted from Nuytz, condemned lb. Infallibility is now cCaimed. 295 that the vow of chastity, made at ordination, annuls marriage," — a point which would fall, one should have thought, under human learning, not, at this date, of Divine revelation. Again, it becomes in- fallible truth, that " 3 civil liberty of all worships, and full power granted to all publicly to manifest any opinions or thoughts whatsoever, conduces to the more ready corruption of the morals and minds of peoples, and to propagate the plague of in- differentism." A most thoughtful observer in the Roman Communion has said to this effect, " I had rather have to do with the open infidelity of the nineteenth century, than with the hidden infidelity of the middle ages." This is no contradiction of the statement of Pius IX., but might make an essential limitation of it, viz. that some ways of attempting to check a great evil, the open spread of unbelief, might produce a greater, — an unbe- lief spreading unchecked and unhealed, because hidden. In the note there occurs, as a proposition of his, "the Emperor Justinian first annulled the marriage of priests." Ib. p. 297. 3 Prop, lxxix. This is not opposed to any maxim formally maintained by any one. In the Nunquam fore, Dec. 15, 1856, Pius IX. stated, that this was the object of the Mexican government, "In order to corrupt more easily the minds of the people, and to propagate the detestable and most foul pest of ' indifFerentism,' and to attack our most holy religion, the free exercise of all worship is admitted, and full power is given of manifesting openly and publicly any opinions or thoughts whatever." 206 Instances of statements for which 2. In regard to matters which do not relate to the substance of the faith or of morals, we have now a formal pronouncement, that the toleration of religious worship, other than the Roman Catholic, is in itself inexpedient 4 ; that immigrants, at least in some Roman Catholic countries, ought to be prohibited the use of their public worship 5 ; that " 6 the Church has power to employ force against persons [vis inferendse], and has temporal power direct or indirect." Pius IX. placed the denial of this power of the Church in the front of the propositions, from which, he says, " 7 It is clear 4 Prop, lxxvii. The Proposition condemned is, " In this our age, it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held the only religion of the state, all other whatsoever being shut out." The question in the Nemo vestrum, to which reference is made, is not of any partial recognition or endow- ment of any such worship, but of its being. The convention which was broken in Spain was, "that that august religion, every other worship being shut out, continuing to be the only religion of the Spanish nation, was to be preserved as before," &c. 6 Prop, lxxviii. " Hence it has been laudably provided in some Catholic countries, that immigrants should be allowed the public exercise of their several worships." Pius IX. had condemned such permission in New Grenada " most ener- getically " (summopere), in the Acerbissimum, Sept. 27, 1852. Eecueil, p. 322. To admit immigrants at all, and yet forbid them their worship, would plainly be to give them over to entire godlessness. And, apart from the loss of their own souls, the presence of a godless population is more perilous than that of persons with an imperfect faith. • Nuytz's proposition, denying this, is condemned in the Ad Apostolicas, Recueil, p. 294, and Syll., Prop. xxiv. T Ad Apost., Eecueil, pp. 296, 7. In the Encyclical Quanta Infallibility is now claimed. 297 that the author [Nuytz], by such doctrine and such maxims, aims at perverting the constitution and the government of the Church, and the entire destruction of the Catholic faith, in that he de- prives the Church of external judgment and cor- rective power, to the intent that those in error may return into the way of righteousness." It is, then, to be infallibly certain, that this " corrective force " (such as was exercised by the Inquisition, or in the reign of Henry VIII., or Queen Mary) is essential to the maintenance of the Catholic faith; and that, as used not only against heresiarchs, but " in order that those in error may return to the way of justice." In fact, the only ground of not using it would be its visible inexpediency. Only such employment of force, as would exasperate, not extinguish, is unadvised. Further, Pius IX. condemns, as by infallible authority, the denial of the temporal authority of the Church, or of the single Bishop 8 ; of the im- curce, he condemns those who are "not ashamed to affirm, that the Church has not the right of correcting by temporal punishments the violators of her laws." (Recueil, p. 8.) 8 Prop, xxv., Nuytz's, condemned. " Besides the power, in- herent in the Episcopate, there is another temporal power attributed, granted either expressly or implicitly by the civil power, which may therefore be recalled by the civil power when it wills." It is involved then that the temporal power is inherent. Prop, xxvii., " The sacred ministers of the Church and the Eoman Pontiff are to be excluded from all right and dominion of temporal thiugs," is condemned in the Maxima 298 Insiarices of statements for which munity of Clerks from being sued or prosecuted in Civil or Criminal Courts, at least without consent of the Pope 9 ; "of the sinfulness of the political principle of ' non-intervention ',' " or the ascription quidem, June 9, 1862, "as a saying uttered with all fallacy and guile." Recueil, p. 456. 9 Prop, xxx., " Tbe immunity of the Church and of Eccle- siastical persons had its origin from the civil law," was formed from one of P. de Paula G. Vigil, Lima (condemned in the Multiplices inter, Recueil, p. 288), who asserted that " the immunity of the Church and of persons, constituted by ordi- nance of God and canonical sanctions, had its origin from the civil law." Prop. xxxi. was not formally maintained as a thesis, but was acted upon. In the Allocutions referred to, Pius IX. said, " By this new constitution proposed [in the Mexican Republic], besides other tilings, every privilege of the Ecclesiastical forum is taken away " {Nanquam fore, Recueil, p. 384), and, "a law was passed (in New Grenada) whereby the Ecclesiastical forum is altogether taken away, and it is declared that all causes appertaining to the same forum, even those of the Arch- bishop and Bishops, whether civil or criminal, are for the future to be judged before lay tribunals by the magistrates of that republic " (Acerbissimum, Recueil, p. 322). The propo- sition condemned is, " The ecclesiastical forum for the temporal causes of clerks, whether civil or criminal, is to be altogether taken away, even without consulting, or against the protest of, the Apostolic see." (Recueil, p. 22.) 1 Prop. lxii. " The principle which they term non-interven- tion is to be proclaimed and observed." The principle is con- demned in the Novos et ante broadly. " We cannot abstain from deploring, besides other things, the destructive and per- nicious principle, which they call non-intervention, not long ago proclaimed and acted upon by some governments, and tolerated by the rest, in the case of the unjust aggression of one government against another, so that a sort of licence and impunity of attacking and despoiling the rights, properties, and even territories of others against the laws of God and Infallibility is now claimed. 290 of " the right called ' Appel comme d'Abus ' to the civil power, even when exercised by an unbe- lieving ruler 2 ," the opinion that " 3 the abrogation of the civil princedom which the Apostolic See enjoys [i. e. 1 the authority which the Pope pos- sesses as king over his imperial subjects in Italy 4 '] would conduce in the highest degree to the Church's liberty and felicity." The two opinions on the civil princedom of the Papacy, condemned in the Syllabus, are very pro- nounced. The one states that its abolition would be a benefit ; the other, though less strong in words, is stronger in fact: for Nuytz stated, that " 5 sons of the Christian and Catholic Church dis- puted among themselves as to the compatibility of the temporal kingdom with the spiritual," — which man, seems to be sanctioned, as we see in this sad time." (Eecueil, p. 420.) 2 Prop, xli., Nuytz's. " That the civil power, even when exercised by an infidel ruler, has an indirect negative power over sacred things, and not merely the right, called exequatur, but also of ' appeal from abuse ' " (l'appel comme d'abus), condemned verbally in the Ad Apost., Rec. p. 294. 3 Prop, lxxvi., from the Quibus quantisque, 1849. " We cannot but admonish and reprove those especially, who approve that decree [of the Coustituens Romana, 1849], whereby the Roman Pontiff was despoiled of all honour and dignity of his temporal princedom, and assert that that decree conduces in the highest degree to the liberty and felicity of the Church herself." (Rec, p. 224.) 4 Dublin Rev., April, 1865, p. 441, note. 1 Prop. lxxv. condemned in the Ad Apost., Eecueil, p. 294. 300 Civil princedom of Roman Pontiff involves that some at least doubted whether the temporal power was not morally wrong. Neither condemnation lays down a positive doctrine obligatory upon Roman Catholics. The Syllabus however states, that " 6 many other errors are implicitly reprobated in the doctrine which all Catholics ought most firmly to hold on the civil princedom of the Roman Pontiff" and that " this doctrine is clearly taught in " five Allocutions and one Apostolic letter, which it names. The doc- trine is most fullv stated in the earliest of 1849, that, " when 7 the Roman Empire was divided into many kingdoms and various states, it was by a very singular counsel of Divine Providence that the Roman Pontiff, to whom the government and care of the whole Church was committed by the Lord Christ, should on this ground have a civil princedom, that he might, for the government of the Church itself and for the maintenance of its unity, enjoy that full liberty which is required for discharging the supreme Apostolic ministry. For all know that the faithful people, nations, king- doms, would never yield full confidence and ob- servance to the Roman Pontiff, if they saw him subject to the dominion of any prince or govern- ment, and not free. For the faithful people and kingdoms would never cease vehemently to suspect * Eecueil, p. 33. ' Quibus quantisyue, Bee, p. 224. made a matter of faith. 301 and fear, that the Pontiff would conform his acts to the will of the prince or government in whose dominions he lived, and therefore would not hesi- tate often, under that pretext, to contradict those acts. And let the enemies of the civil princedom of the Apostolic See, who now rule at Rome, them- selves say with what confidence or observance they themselves would receive the exhortations, ad- monitions, mandates, constitutions of the supreme Pontiff, if they knew him to be subject to the empire of any prince or government, especially if he were the subject of any prince, between whom and the Roman state there should be any lasting war." On this ground Pius IX. said, " The nature of our office requires that, in maintaining the civil princedom of the Apostolic See, we should defend with all our might the rights and possessions of the holy Roman Church, and the liberty of that See, which is conjoined with the liberty and advantage of the whole Church." The other Allocutions add nothing to this 8 , 8 Of the Alloc, cited in the Syll., the Si semper antea, Eec, p. 2G6, Cum Catlwlica, lb., p. 402, Novos, lb., p. 420, Maxima quidem, lb., p. 460, repeat, unargu- mentatively, the statement that the civil Princedom was given by the singular counsel of the Providence of God (the Cum Caih. says, " God willed that this see of S. Peter should be provided with it"), for the greater benefit of the Church, through the independent position of the Pontiff. The Jam- dudwm cernimus, Eec, p. 438, only speaks of the Civil Princedom as belonging to the K. Pontiff, 302 Incidental Papal sayings except, perhaps, that the Cum catholica ascribes the temporal government more directly to " the Will of God ;" and the Maxima quidem says, " that the civil princedom was necessary 9 ," which may be a little stronger than required. I have purposely selected such statements only as do not in themselves " touch upon faith or morals." I will only instance one more, as show- ing that every sentence in every pronouncement of the Pope is to be held as infallible. Prop. LXI., " The injustice of a fact, being prospered, brings no detriment to the sanctity of the right," is only an incidental statement of the jamdudum cernimus in contradiction of the claim that the Pope should yield up his right in those of the ecclesiastical states which had been rent from him. The claim, of course, was shameless on the part of those who wrested them unjustly from him. But now it is made an abstract proposition, to be condemned by all Catholics. Incidental statements then are, • The Dub. Eev., April, p. 487, in stating the doctrine, says, that " under present circumstances it is necessary for enabling the Pope freely to govern the Church without sub- jection to an earthly king." I do not find that limitation in any document, unless the writer means, " The circumstances ever since the division of the Roman Empire into various kingdoms," i. e., ever since the Pope has had temporalities. The ground alleged by the Pope would apply still more strongly to earlier times, since Persia was in continual antago- nism to the Eoman Empire ; but then there were neither the temporalities nor the rule. 1 Eecueil, p. 440. claimed to be Infallible 303 equally with the most formal propositions, matters of faith. Yet the proposition necessarily requires limitation. For, since S. Paul commands us to submit to " 2 the powers that be," this submission must often be paid to those who are kings " de facto," and not " de jure." On this principle the early Christians yielded obedience to each successive Emperor. This principle, which justified the obe- dience to William and Mary, justified obedience to the first and the third Napoleon, whom Popes re- cognized. The proposition is equivalent to the proverb, " Might makes right," and is, in fact, a denial of justice; yet S. Paul requires us to submit, as to a Divine ordinance, to authority, whose only " right" is its " might." In this case, however, the pronouncement did relate to a moral rule. I instance it only as evi- dencing the extent of the claim of infallibility. Not only the main proposition, but every argument used in all these Allocutions is held to be equally infal- lible truth. This illustrates the compass of the infallibility claimed. It is an infallibility equal in extent to that of the Divine Scriptures; so that each sentence, however incidental, becomes, like the Word of God, a sacred text. The doctrine of Papal infallibility, laid down by Bellarmine, is declared in the Encyclical of last year to be inadequate. Pius IX. distinctly rejects, as " 3 contrary to the Catholic dogma of the a Eom. xiii. 1. * Kecueil, p. 10. 304 The Pope's word " the very word of God." full power divinely given to the Roman Pontiff by the Lord Christ Himself, of feeding, ruling, and governing the Universal Church, the audacity of those who, ' not enduring sound doctrine,' con- tend that, without [deadly] sin, and without any loss of Catholic profession, assent and obedience may be withheld from those judgments and decrees of the Apostolic See, whose object is declared to regard the general good of the Church, its rights and discipline, provided that that object does not touch upon dogmas of faith and morals." And this " assent " to every utterance of the Pope is required to all his "judgments," which "Meter- mine concerning truth and falsehood," and that, under pain of mortal sin. " Cardinal Patrizi, writing," says the Dublin Review 5 , " to the Catho- lics of Pius IX.'s own diocese, by his express sanction, and under his very eye, claims for the Encyclical, and, consequently, for every like ex- pression of the Pope's mind, to be the very word of God, to be received on pain of forfeiting heaven." * Dublin Eev., April, p. 445. • lb., p. 449. Cardinal Patrizi's words tbere translated are, " The faithful, who show themselves such in word and act, recognize in the voice of the Church's visible head the very word of God [Italics of the Dub. Eev.]. That head has authority to address the whole Church; and he who listens not to him declares himself as no longer appertaining to the Church, as no longer making part of Christ's flock, and accordingly as no longer having a right to the kingdom of heaven." Extent of claims embarrasses defence. 305 But then obviously the same must apply to all past ages; and all genuine judgments and decrees of all the past Bishops of Rome, upon whatever subject, whether bearing directly upon faith or morals, or upon the general good of the Church, will be to be regarded as " the very word of God." Had this doctrine been held in times past, the very existence of General Councils appears to me per- fectly unintelligible. For, if the word of the Pope was " the word of God," there was no occasion for any declaration of the hereditary faith throughout the Church, such as the General Councils affirmed. Roman-Catholic writers will perhaps explain, where was the room for the appeal to Scripture and unbroken tradition as depositories of the faith, if the word of each successive Pope was itself " the word of God." This extension of Papal Infallibility would, I should think, embarrass the defence of the system. For those who have denied the personal infallibility of the Pope, like Bossuet, have confined them- selves to pointing out those cases in which any Pope seemed to have fallen into great and obvious error. Now, since every portion of the teaching of any Pope is to be infallible, it will apparently have to be shown how any statement of any Pope which has since been abandoned, is consistent with such in- fallibility. To take the one subject of prohibited mar- riages. S. Gregory the Great declares on the ground of Leviticus, c. 18, that marriage "with a sister-in- u 306 Statement of Popes, infallible, law is forbidden, because through her former union she became the brother's flesh." In a formal answer to an inquiry of S. Augustine of Canterbury, " at what degree of consanguinity may the faithful marry, and may marriage be contracted with step- mothers or sisters-in-law?" S. Gregory states, "it is necessary that, in order to marry lawfully, they should be in the third or fourth degree," i. e. second flr third cousins, and prohibits, on ground of Divine law, marriage with the sister-in-law, as well as with the mother-in-law 6 . This was directly contradicted by the unhappy Borgia, (Alexander VI.,) who gave a dispensation to marry a sister-in-law 7 and an aunt 8 . But Pope Innocent III. answered formally, that in the degrees, prohibited by the Divine law, a dispensation cannot be given, — " dispensari non possit." He spoke, in three Epistles 9 , of degrees prohibited " by Divine law," i. e. as explained, and according to the known use of the term, " the Levitical law." Cardinal de Turrecremata, acting by command of Pope Eugenius, pronounced that " the Pope could not dispense " when the Dauphin asked to be allowed to marry his deceased wife's sister. e Epist., lib. xi. Indict, iv. Ep. 64, Interr. 6, ed. Ben. 7 To Emmanuel, king of Portugal. 8 To Ferdinand, king of Sicily. See Dr. Pusey's Evidence before the commission appointed to inquire into the law of marriage, n. 464 (as reprinted with Pref, pp. 26, 27). 9 De Eestit. Spol. c. Literas; de Consang. et Aff., cap. de Infidel. ; de Divort., tit. Gaudemus, quoted ib. pp. 30, 31. if any are, since abandoned. 307 Then also Pope Celestine was equally infallible, when he declared that " 1 the charge of teaching has descended [from the Apostles] equally upon all Bishops. We are all engaged in it by an heredi- tary right; all we, who have come in their (the Apostles') stead, preach the name of our Lord to all the countries of the world, according to what was said to them, ' Go ye, and teach all nations.' You are to observe, my brethren, that the order we have received is a general order, and that He intended that we should all execute it, when He charged them with it, as a duty devolving equally upon all. We ought all to enter into the labours of those whom we have all succeeded in dignity." Not, as people now say, the Pope alone, but accord- ing to Pope Celestine, " 2 the assembly of priests is the visible display of the presence of the Holy Ghost. He Who cannot lie has said, ' Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them :' much more will He be present in so large a crowd of holy men, for the 1 Letter to the Council of Ephesus. I have adopted the translation in Allies' Church of England, from Fleury, xxv. 47, Oxf. Tr. Fleury observes, " Thus Pope Celestine acknow- ledged that it was Christ Himself Who established Bishops in the persons of the Apostles, as the teachers of His Church ; he places himself in their rank, and declares that they ought all to concur for the preservation of the sacred deposit of Apostolic doctrine." 2 lb. The passage just precedes the former, which is its sequel. u 2 308 Formal statements of Popes Council is holy in a peculiar sense, as the repre- sentative of that most holy synod of Apostles which we read of. Their Master, Whom they were com- manded to preach, never forsook them. It was He Who taught them ; it was He who instructed them what they should teach others ; and He has assured the world, that, in the persons of the Apostles, they hear Him." Then S. Leo was infallible, when he spoke of his own clear statement of doctrine having been con- firmed by the whole Church. " 3 What God has before decreed by our ministry, He confirmed by the irreversible assent of the whole brotherhood, to show that what was first put forth in form by the first See of all, and then received by the judgment of the whole Christian world, really proceeded from Himself." Then S. Gregory the Great was infallible, when he spoke of the See of S. Peter as existing equally in Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. " 4 And thus, though the Apostles be many, yet the See of the chief of the Apostles, which belongs to one, though it is in three places, alone prevailed in authority, by virtue of his chiefship. For it is he who exalted the See, in which he also condescended to take his rest, and finish the present life [Rome]. It is he 3 Ep. 120, ad Theod., quoted by Bossuet, Gall. Orfchod., n. GO, 61. 4 Ep. ad Eulog. Episc. Alex., lib. vii., quoted by Allies, Eng. Ch., &c, p. 317. denied by modern theory. 309 who adorned the See, to which he sent the Evan- gelist, his disciple [Alexandria], It is he who established the See in which he sat for seven years, though he was to leave it [Antioch]. Inasmuch then as the See, over which by Divine authority three Bishops now preside, is one man's and one, whatever good I hear of you, I lay to mine own account." He was infallible when he said, " 5 Himself [' the Mediator of God and man '] is the Rock from which Peter received his name, and upon which He said that He would build His Church." He was infallible when he said, " 6 It is now said to the uni- versal Church, 'Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth,' " &c. He was infallible when he said, " 7 No one of my predecessors ever consented to use so profane a term [as Universal Bishop], because plainly, if a single Patriarch is called universal, the name of Patriarch is taken from the rest. Wherefore let your Holiness in your letters never call any one universal, lest in offering undue honour to another, you should deprive yourself of that which is your due." " He endeavours to claim the whole to him- self, and aims by the pride of this pompous lan- guage to subjugate to himself all the members of Christ, which are joined together to the one sole 1 Opp. T. iii., p. 532 a, quoted by Allies, p. 348. • T. iii., 387 e, lb. p. 349. T Epp., lib. v., 43, ad Eulog., quoted lb. p. 354. 310 Formal statements of Popes Head, that is, Christ. If this is allowed to be said freely, the honour of all Patriarchs is denied. And when, perchance, he who is termed universal, perishes in error, presently no Bishop is found to have remained in a state of duty. Stand firm, stand fearless; presume not ever either to give, or to receive letters with this false title of Universal." " 8 I exhort and advise that no one of you ever give countenance to this name, ever agree to it, ever write it, ever receive a writing wherein it is con- tained, or add his subscription, but, as it behoves ministers of Almighty God, keep himself clear from such poisonous infection; since this is done to the injury and disruption of the whole Church, and, as we have said, in contempt of all of you. For if as he thinks, one is universal, it remains that you are not Bishops." " 9 To consent to this nefarious name, is nothing else but to lose our faith." Ui I confidently affirm, that whoever calls himself, or desires to be called universal Priest, in his pride goes before Antichrist, — whoever he is, who desires to be called sole Priest, he lifts himself up above all other priests." " 2 Far from Christian hearts be that blasphemous name, in which the honour of all the Priests [Bishops] is taken away, while it is madly arrogated by one to 8 Ad Episc. 111., lib. ix. 68. Allies, p. 355. 0 Ad Sabinian., lib. v. 19, lb. 1 Ad Imp. Maur., lib. vii. 33. Allies, p. 356. * Ad Imp. Maur., v. 20, lb. denied by modern theory. 311 himself. Certainly, to do honour to the blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles, this was offered to the Roman Pontiff per 1 the venerable Council of Chalcedon. But no one of them ever con- sented to use this singular appellation, that all Priests [Bishops] might not be deprived of their due honour by something peculiar being given to one. How is it, then, that we seek not the glory of this name, though offered us, yet another pre- sumes to claim it, though not offered ?" " 4 If one Bishop be called universal, the whole Church falls 'Allies translated "per" "during," observing that S. Gregory used per, or in, not a. It was in fact used, not by but in, the Council by two Alexandrian Deacons who accused Dioscorus, and probably, asVanEspen conjectured (T. v. 477, lb.), in opposition to the like title given to Dioscorus, Archbishop of Alexandria. Allies observes, however, " The title Ecumeni- cal has been constantly since, and is now borne by the Patri- arch of Constantinople ; no doubt a very innocent meaning may be given it. The remarkable thing is, that Gregory has pointed out in such plain unmistakeable language a certain power and claim, which he inferred, rightly or wrongly, would be set up on this title Ecumenical, and which he pronounces to be a corruption of the whole constitution of the Church " (lb., p. 360), and that he and his predecessors repudiated it. Thomassin would have it, that the Council, by its silence, authorized the title given in "those" requests (i. 1, 11, lb.). It is obviously unreasonable to argue any thing from the fact that the Council did not interrupt the proceedings to protest against a title occurring in a petition, and very capable of an innocent sense. 4 Ep. ad Anastas., lib. vii. 27. Ib. 358. This, as Allies remarked, is exactly the argument used for the infallibility of the Pope ; i. e. that is claimed for him, which S. Gregory the Great, being also on the same principle infallible, rejected. 312 Formal statements of Popes to pieces if that one, being universal, falls." " 5 Your Blessedness has also taken pains to tell me that you no longer write to certain persons those proud names which have sprung from the root of vanity, and you address me, saying, ' as you commanded] which word ' command' I beg you to remove from my ears, because I know who I am, and who you are. For in rank you are my brother, in character my father. I did not, therefore, command, but took pains to point out what I thought advan- tageous. I do not, however, find that your Blessed- ness was willing altogether to observe the very thing I pressed upon you. For I said that you should not write any such thing either to me, or to any one else ; and lo ! in the heading of your letter, directed to me, the very person who forbad it, you set that haughty appellation, calling me universal Pope, which I beg your Holiness to do no more, because whatever is given to another more than reason requires, is so much taken away from yourself. 1 do not consider that an honour, by which I acknowledge that my brethren lose their own. For my honour is the honour of the Uni- versal Church. My honour is the unimpaired honour of my brethren. Then am I truly honoured, when the due honour is not denied to each one in his degree. For if your Holiness calls me universal Pope, you deny that you yourself are • Ad Euseb. viii. 30. denied by modern theory. 313 what you admit me to be, universal.'''' " 6 By this rash presumption the peace of the whole Church is disturbed, and the grace, poured out upon all in common, contradicted. Surely the Apostle Paul, hearing some one say, 'I am of Paul, I of Apollos, I of Cephas,' exclaimed in exceeding horror at this rending of the Lord's body, by which His members attached themselves, as it were, to other heads, saying, ' Was Paul crucified for you, or were ye baptized in the name of Paul V If he then rejected the members of the Lord's body being subjected to certain heads, as it were, besides Christ, and that even to Apostles themselves, as leaders of parts, what will you say to Christ, Wlio is, as you know, the Head of the Universal Church, in the examination of the last judgment, — you, who endeavour to subject to yourself, under the name of Universal, all His members ? Who, I say, in this perverse name, is set forth for imita- tion, but he, who despised the legions of angels joined as companions to himself, and endeavoured to rise to a height unapproached by all, that he might seem to be subject to none, and be alone superior to all? (quoting Isa. xiv. 13, 14.) Surely Peter, the first of the Apostles, is a member of the holy Universal Church; Paul, Andrew, John, — what else are they but the heads of particular com- munities ? And yet all are members under One 6 Ep. ad Joann., Patr. Const, v. 18. Ib. p. 360. 314 Formal statements of Popes Head. And to comprehend all under one brief expression, the saints before the law, the saints under the law, the saints under grace, — all these, making up the body of the Lord, are dispersed among the members of the Church, and no one ever wished to be called universal. No one ever chose to be called by such a name ; no one claimed to himself this rash appellation; lest, should he claim to himself the glory of singularity in the rank of the High Priesthood, he might seem to have denied it to all his brethren. What, there- fore, dearest brother, will you say in that terrible examination of the judgment to come, — you, who covet to be called not merely father, but common father?" Then S. Leo IX. was infallible when he said, " 7 The humility of those venerable Pontiffs [the Bishops of Rome], worthy of all imitation, con- sidering that the chief of the Apostles is not found called universal Apostle, utterly rejected that proud name, by which their equality of rank seemed to be taken away from all Prelates throughout the world, in that a claim was made for one upon the whole." Then Leo II. was infallible, who, when the Acts of the sixth General Council were sent him, wrote back, " 8 We anathematize alike those inventors of " In Mansi, xis. 640. Allies, p. 363. 8 In Mansi, xi. 1057. Allies, p. 381. denied by modern theory. 315 new error, Theodore, Bp. of Pharan ; Cyrus, of Alexandria, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, Peter, plotters against, rather than Prelates of the Church of Constantinople ; and also Honorius, who did not illumine this Apostolical Church with the doctrine of Apostolic tradition, but, by a foul betrayal, attempted to subvert its spotless faith." Then S. Leo I. was infallible, when he rejected the 28th Canon of the Council of Chalcedon, which placed Constantinople in the second rank, next to Rome, as being " 9 opposed to the rules of the sacred Canons established at Nicsea," in that he says, " In all Ecclesiastical causes we obey those laws which the Holy Spirit, by means of the 318 Prelates, appointed for the peaceable observance of all Priests," &c. And Pope Adrian was infallible, when he said, " 1 He [the Patriarch of Constan- tinople] never could have ranked second, save for the authority of our holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as is plain to all " (which rank, however, Constantinople took and had on the authority of the Canon, from the time of the Council itself). Then, again, S. Leo was infallible, when he said, " 2 The Lord Jesus, then, was alone born innocent among the sons of men, because He alone • Ep. 105, ad Pulcher. c. 3. 1 In Mansi, xii. 1073. Ib., p. 399. 5 Serm. v. de Nativ. Dom. Opp. i. 160. Par. 1675. Comp. S. Gregory I. (Mor. in Job, 1. 18), " He alone was truly born holy, Who, that He might conquer corrupt nature, was not conceived in the ordinary way." 316 Formal statements of Popes was conceived without the pollution of carnal concupiscence ;" and Pope Gelasius 3 , when speak- ing of " saints, who have by God's abundant grace easily overcome the vices of mortality," yet " attest that they were not yet so free from them, so that it should be peculiar (proprium) to that Imma- culate Lamb to have had absolutely no sin, lest this should not seem to be a thing to be ascribed to Him alone, if any other saint whatsoever should be believed to have been free from offence." And Innocent III., when he said, " 4 That one (Eve) was produced without fault, but produced unto fault; but this one (Mary) was produced in fault, but produced without fault. That one was said to be Eva ; to this one was said Ave ;" and that " the Holy Ghost 5 purified her soul from original sin in her mother's womb" which is what Gregory XV. denied by implication, when he removed the word " sanctification " from the liturgies. * Epist. adv. Pelag. Haer. Cone. x. p. 181, ed. Keg. * In Solemn. Assump. Glor. semper Virg. M. Serm. 2. Opp. T.i. p. 151. Colon. 1575. ' The whole passage is (on S. Luke i. 35, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee), " But forthwith the Holy Ghost came upon her ; He had indeed before come into her, when, in her mother's womb, He cleansed her soul from original sin ; but now too He came upon her, to cleanse her flesh from the ' fomes ' of sin, that she might be altogether without spot or wrinkle. That tyrant, then, of the flesh, the sickness of nature, the 1 fomes ' of sin, as I think, He altogether extin- guished, that henceforth any motion from the law of sin should not be able to arise in her members." — In Solemn. Purif. Glor. V. M., Serm. TJnic, Opp. T. i. p. 107. denied by modern theory. 317 I have set down no difficulty which I do not myself think insurmountable. I see absolutely no way in which, upon the forbidden degrees, Alexander VI. can be reconciled with Gregory I., or how the acceptance of the sixth General Council, which anathematized Honorius as a heretic, by Leo II., and his own individual condemnation of him, are reconcileable with the doctrine of the infallibility of both, in all which they pronounce ; or how the rejection of the position of Constantinople, on the ground of the immutable decrees of Nice by Leo I., is consistent with the statement of Adrian, that that see owed its position to Rome; or how S. Gregory's denunciation, not only of the title " Universal Bishop," but of what the title con- tained, and that, in any sense in which it could be supposed to be taken by the Patriarch of Con- stantinople, not as taken by that Patriarch only, but as unbecoming himself also, is compatible with the Ultramontane theories about the Pope. It is a characteristic of the word of God, that it " abideth for ever." Pius IX. could not, I should think, adopt the language of Gregory I., as to the mar- riage of those near of kin, or in denying his own right to be called " Universal Bishop," or to what the Patriarch of Constantinople meant to assume by that name ; nor could he, I conceive, use the language of S. Leo or Gelasius, of Christ " alone being born innocent," or having alone had absolutely no sin; still less that of Innocent III., 318 This Papal infallibility not formally that " she was produced in fault," " producta in culpa," or that " she was sanctified from original sin in her mother's womb." These are but specimens of inextricable difficul- ties, in which, I fear, the Roman Church would involve itself by acceding to this doctrine of the Papal infallibility, not only as to matters of faith and doctrine, but as to matters not connected therewith, and even as to historical facts. This theory is not yet put forth for actual acceptance, although it is contained in the Encyclical of 1864. It is even remarkable that, out of nineteen proposi- tions of Nuytz 6 , all are condemned except two, which related personally to the Pope. Of these, the bearings of the one I do not understand, — " The personal law of the Pontiff cannot be the sole law." The other is in direct terms, " The Pope is not infallible." However the contrary is implied in the Encyclical, yet the marked omission of this, among the propositions condemned in the Syllabus, seems to imply that Pius IX. does not yet think the state of minds in the Roman Church ripe for a formal decision. It seems a state of things analogous to that, when the Greeks had avowed their disbelief in any material fire of Purgatory, and that belief was not affirmed 7 . Dr. (now Archbishop) Manning, however, two 6 Printed in the Recueil, &c, pp. 294-7, from la Croce di Savoia. 7 See above, p. 197. received ; urged to extremities. 319 years ago, had so made the belief in the personal Infallibility of the Pope on matters not directly relating to faith and morals part of his Creed, that he made the temporal princedom of the Pope also a part of that Creed, and maintained that " non-intervention in the question of the temporal power of the Pope is essentially a denial of the divine institution of the Church." He declares " that the English government 8 , as proclaiming the principle of non-intervention in the Roman question, thereby denies the Divine authority of the Church," as well as of " the Holy See, and its divine mission to the nations of the world." He forgets, apparently, the good deeds of Eng- land in restoring Pius VII., and, on the ground of a doctrine, ruled by Pius IX. fourteen years before, and not as yet formally proposed to be accepted by the Church, he declares that "the English government 8 , in proclaiming this prin- ciple of non-intervention, assumes an attitude towards Christianity and the Church, and to- wards the Christian society, which gives it at this moment the melancholy pre-eminence of being the most Anti-Catholic, and therefore, if not in its intentions, certainly in its influences and results, the most Anti-Christian power in the world." Happy condition of the world, when mere neutrality makes a civil power the most Anti-Christian in it! And yet, according to another Ultramontane 8 Introd. to Sermons on Eccl. Subj., 1863, p. 65. 320 Doctrine of the Pope's civil princedom writer, " 9 the Church's whole doctrine on his civil princedom, as regards its methodical expression, has been commenced, matured, and perfected by Pius IX." Before, it was an open question, whether or no the civil princedom did, or did not, contribute to strengthen the spiritual power of the Pope. Pius IX. has adopted the arguments, and nearly the words of an eminent French Bishop of the seven- teenth century in maintaining that it does, amid the mutual jealousies of the Roman Catholic powers '. There is much to be alleged for it. Contrariwise, it has been the occasion of very grievous ill. Witness the warlike and intriguing Popedom of Julius II. Fleury balances the evil and the good, 9 Dublin Eev., April, 1865, p. 441. 1 " Let us return to the Bishops, and conclude that it is only ignorance and grossness which made them think these seignories, united to their sees, were useful to maintain religion. I only see the Roman Church, where one can find a special reason for uniting the two powers. While the Roman Empire lasted, it contained in its vast extent nearly all Christianity ; but after Europe was divided among many princes independent of each other, if the Pope had been the subject of any one of them, there would be ground to fear that the others would have had difficulty in owning him as a common father, and that schisms would have been frequent. One may believe then, that it was by a singular effect of Providence that the Pope found himself independent and master of a state, powerful enough not to be easily oppressed by other sovereigns ; in order that he might be the more free in the exercise of his spiritual power, and be able to keep more easily the other Bishops within the bounds of their duty. This was the thought of a great Bishop of our time." — Fleury, Disc. 4, sur l'Hist. Eccl., n. 10. formed by Pius IX. : Fleury. — 321 and of himself evidently thought the evil to pre- ponderate. He says 2 : — " Leo IX. and the Popes who undertook to repair the ruins of the 11th century, and to restore the Roman Church to its lustre, wished also to re-establish its temporal powers, which they founded, first on ' the donation of Constantine,' then on those of Pepin, Charlemagne, Louis le Debonnaire, and Otho. All the world knows now what is the ' donation of Constantine ;' and its falsehood is more universally recognized than that of the decretals of Isidore ; but, at the time of these Popes, its truth was not questioned. S. Bernard presupposed it, when he said to Pope Eugenius that he was the successor not only of Peter, but of ConstaDtine : it was known and received as early as the 9th century, and minds hardly began to be disabused of it toward the middle of the 15th. Even the Greeks received it, as appears in Balsamon, who quotes it entire, and claims to found upon it the prerogatives of the see of Constantinople. " Geoffrey of Viterbo, speaking of ' the donation of Con- stantine,' in his abridgment of history dedicated to Pope Urban III., said that ' many thought that the Church had been more holy in the three first centuries, but that afterwards it was more happy.' Whoever advanced this beautiful sentence held sentiments very low, much beneath not the Gospel only, but human philosophy. Any one, ever so little above the common herd, sees readily that the pure happiness of this life is in virtue, not in riches ; but one who believes the Gospel may not doubt it. Jesus Christ showed it by His example and His words ; since, being the Lord of all riches and all human great- ness, He sovereignly despised them, and bequeathed to His dis- ciples poverty and suffering as their only inheritance. I still then return to this question ; did they in the 11th century discover a wisdom unknown before, and were Leo IX. and Gregory VII. more enlightened than S. Leo or S. Gregory ? "These great Popes had not yet explored their archives 1 Fleuri, Disc. 4, sur l'Hist. Eccl., n. 9. X 322 Fleury, on the disadvantage enough to find there 1 the donation of Constantine ;' they were neither sovereign Princes nor temporal Lords, and yet they did not complain that any thing was wanting to their power, and had no time to spare, after their spiritual occupations. They were persuaded of the distinction of the two powers so well expressed by Pope Gelasius 3 , when he said that Emperors themselves are subject to Bishops in the order of religion, and that in the political order Bishops, even he of the first see, obey the laws of Emperors." Then, after defending the lawfulness of Ecclesiastical pro- perty in itself, even that " Bishops became Counts, Dukes, and Princes, as they still are in Germany : even (which is furthest from the institution) monks, whom their humility had put below all men, found themselves with subjects and vassals, and their Abbots gained the rank of Seignors and Princes," he adds, " All these rights are legitimate ; it is not lawful to dis- pute them with the Church more than with laymen ; and, to return to the Boman Church, it would be very unjust to dispute with it the sovereignty of Borne and of great part of Italy, of which it has been in possession for so many centuries, since most sovereigns have no better title than long posses- sion. " Arnold of Brescia, then, was rightly condemned, who stirred up the Bomans against the Pope, maintaining broadly that the Clergy ought not to have seignories, lands, or real property, but ought to be supported solely by alms and volun- tary offerings. Yet I own I should have been glad to find in authors of Arnold's time the reasons whereby they refuted his errors. Eor the two letters of S. Bernard to the Bomans thereon are only pathetic declarations, in which he enters into no proof, and presupposes the rights of the Pope indis- putable 4 . Then, too, he did not, as we saw, question ' the donation of Constantine.' This document, if true, established the fact and the special right of the Pope ; and for the right of the Clergy in general, it was unquestionable, as I have just Bhown. " But that most wise maxim of the Apostle should have 8 Ep. 8, ad Anastas. 4 Ep. 243, 244. of temporal po wer of Bishops and Pope. 323 been remembered, that wbat is lawful is not always expedient 5 and it should have been borne in mind (as did those of old) that the human mind is too limited to be equal to exercise at once spiritual and temporal power. At least, men ought to have respected the practice of those of old, and should have thought that, had the donation of Constantine been true, S. Leo and S. Gregory would have known it, and would have had good reasons for not using it, as it is certain they did not. The experience of more than 600 years has shown the great wisdom of their conduct. Bishops who are simply Bishops give little hold to the temporal power 6 ; whereas it has con- tinually grounds of quarrel with Bishops who are Lords. The holy Bishops liked but too well to have temporal goods to manage. We see how S. Chrysostom complained of it', and S. Ambrose discharged the care even of his patrimony on his brother S.ityrus. " When the Church established the rule of admitting those only into the Church who had embraced a life of continence, it had not only regard to the purity befitting the frequent approach of the sacred mysteries ; she also wished that her chief ministers should be disengaged from the cares which marriage necessarily brings, and which made S. Paul say that the married man is divided between God and the world 8 . But what is the care of one family compared with the care of a whole state ? What is the well ordering of a wife with five or six children compared with the government of 100,000 sub- jects ? " We are naturally more struck with sensible objects than with spiritual. A Prince is occupied in repressing crimes, preventing seditions and conspiracies against his person and state. He labours to preserve and defend it against its enemies without, and to avail himself of occasions of aggran- dizing it. To this end he has to raise and maintain troops, fortify places, amass treasures, to provide for so many expenses. He must correspond with neighbouring princes, negotiate, make treaties of commerce and alliance. To a politician these 6 1 Cor. vi. 12. 7 Horn. 85, in S. Matt. • Synes., Ep. 57, and 121. 8 1 Cor. vii. 33. X 2 324 Fleury, evils of Pope's temporal power. things seem great and serious ; ecclesiastical functions seem to him little, and almost childish. To chant in a church, walk in procession, act in ceremonies, catechize, appear to him ordinary occupations, of which the first comer is capable. What in his eyes is important and solid is to maintain his power, and weaken his enemies. He regards prayer, reading, meditation on Holy Scripture as occupations more befitting a monk than a statesman, and he finds no time to give to them. Tou have seen what fears S. Bernard had for Pope Eugenius, lest overwhelming business should hinder him from reflecting daily on his duties and himself, and he should fall at last into a state of obduracy. " Perhaps you will believe that a Prince-Bishop will reserve to himself his spiritual functions, and will throw the burden of the government of the state on some layman. He will take care not to do this, for fear the layman should become the real Prince. Bather he will abandon the spiritual part to others ; for he fears nothing from a Priest, a Grand- Vicar, a Suffragan Bishop. He will willingly leave them the study of theology and the canons, preaching, cure of souls, of which he will at most have a general account rendered to him ; but he will have detailed accounts of his troops, his fortresses, his finances. He will give charge of them to other ecclesiastics, whom he will trust more than laymen, but who will be eccle- siastics in form, and in truth men of business. If you doubt it, see how the diocese and states of those so powerful princes of Germany and Poland are governed. You will see by this experience, that those of old were very wise, and that the alliance of temporal with the spiritual power was advantageous neither to religion, nor to the state. As to religion, it is evident that it was better upheld by Bishops who were purely Bishops, and exclusively occupied with spiritual things, as S. Ambrose and S. Augustine." I have given this long extract from Fleury, to show the freedom with which this subject of the civil princedom used to be discussed, as being entirely an open question. At the commencement of the present Pontificate it still was so, even Its " necessity " is now to be " of faith" 325 in Rome itself. Now a declaration of Pius IX., that " it came in the Providence of God," and that (which time alone could show) it is " necessary " to the due exercise of the Pope's spiritual autho- rity, has made, we are told, a new article of faith, so that to take no side about it is to " deny the Divine authority of the Church." For, unless the declaration of the Pope had made it a matter of faith, it is obviously a subject of speculation of human wisdom. Fleury says, that, before the existence of this civil princedom, the Popes did not feel any thing wanting to their spiritual power, — such power as they used before the false decretals. The event only could show that the loss of that civil princedom would impair what they have now. Unless Pius IX. be directly inspired by God, like one of the old Prophets, to foretell that its abandonment would involve its injury or forfeiture, it is a question of human wisdom still. Secular policy hangs over the relations of the Pope to Pepin 1 ; and what was originally a fief, 1 The celebrated answer, which transferred the kingdom of France to Pepin, would hardly be a precedent. " Burghard, Bishop of Wirzeburg, and Folrad, Chaplain, were sent to Zachary Pope, asking as to the kings of France, who at that time had not the royal power, if it were well or no. And Zachary Pope sent word to Pepin, that it was better that he should be called king, who had the power, than he who remained without royal power ; that order might not be disturbed, he commanded that Pepin should become king by Apostolic authority." — (Annal. Laurias., A. 749, Pertz, Mon. Germ. i. 136.) The 326 Claim that t/ie Fope is the perpetual channel held of a secular monarch, became, by what all acknowledge to have been a forgery, "the donation of Constantine," — an abdication of the temporal government in behalf of the Pope. Its loss, had human ambition had its way, would have been an event of God's Providence, Whose love is never more visible than when He chastens. The whole turns on the inspiration of that word " necessary." Unless the Pope is so inspired, that every word of his, even in matters not bearing on faith and morals, is " the very word of God," it does not follow that "non-intervention as to the ques- tion of the temporal power of the Pope is essentially a denial of the Divine institution of the Church." The present Ultramontanes have apparently changed the old Ultramontane doctrine of the inerrancy of the Pope, i. e. that of his preservation from error, into that of Divine perpetual inspira- tion. We have, according to them, a perpetual revelation from God, disclosing new truths, as infallibly as if S. Peter, or S. Paul, or S. John were yet on this earth. One recently returned next year, " Pepin, according to the custom of the Franks, was elected king and anointed by the hand of Archbishop Boniface of holy memory, and raised by the Franks to the throne at Soissons. But Hilderic, who was falsely called king, was shorn and sent into a monastery." — (lb. A. 750.) In return, Pepin made the Pope Patricius of the Exarchate, yet under fealty to Pepin, and for the time owning the Greek Emperor. (See authorities in Gieseler, Ser. 3, A. 1, c. 2, § 5.) This arrange- ment could not be said to be by the Providence of God, in any other way, than all acts of men are overruled by Him. of Revelation in the Church. 827 from Rome, had the impression that " some of the extreme" Ultramontanes, " if they do not say so in so many words, imply a quasi-hypostatic union of the Holy Ghost with each successive Pope V It is well that they should know the impression which they give to those most disposed towards them. Archbishop Manning has recently said : — " It is surely by a disposition of the Divine Head of the Church, that, in the heart of the 19th century, when both the intellects and wills of men have reached an excess of unbelief and of licence in matters of revelation, of morals, and of politics, the Vicar of our Lord, the Teacher of all Chris- tians (as the Council of Florence entitles him), should twice in these last years have spoken with the voice of infallible truth, thereby testifying not only to the singular prerogative, which, as the first-fruits of grace, was bestowed upon the Immaculate Mother of God, and to the great constructive principles of morality and jurisprudence, on which the Chris- tian world is founded, but also to the perpetual assistance of the Spirit of God, by whose light the Church and its Pontiffs, in all ages, now as in the beginning, discern and declare the limits of truth and falsehood. The dogmatic Bull of the Immaculate Conception, and the Encyclical of last year will, we believe, mark an epoch in the re-constitution of the Christian order of the world \" I know not why Archbishop Manning has selected two occasions only in which Pius IX. spoke with authority. For the Syllabus quotes thirty-two documents, Allocutions, or Epistles 4 , all as of equal and binding authority, besides the Encyclical s The accurate writer, who reported this to me, observed in answer, " This seems to me to be Llamaism." 3 Pastoral, as published in "The Weekly Register," June 17. 4 Eecueil des Alloc, consist, encycliques, &c. Paris, 18G5. 328 Doctrines as to the Blessed Virgin, which are, Letter and Constitution on the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. All being of equal autho- rity, it would follow that all are " the very Word of God 3 ;" and that the Pope would be the perpetual Prophet of the Church, infallible, like Isaiah or Jeremiah, or the rest of " the goodly fellowship of the Prophets," in every enunciation of his, on any matters of the Church, even if contained in a letter to a single Bishop. This would, indeed, mark an epoch in the history of the Church. It seemed to myself, as well as to Archbishop Manning, that the declaration of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin as revealed truth, is calculated to be full of con- sequences, as entailing the transmutation of other " pious opinions " about her into truths necessary to salvation. According to the principles which have been put forth in regard to the recent Ency- clical, that not only the main question ruled, but expressions, however seemingly incidental, are in- fallible truth, very much would have been so declared already. Then it would be infallible truth (though originally a mistake of copyists), that " 4 she was to bruise the serpent's head;" and that " 5 as Christ, the Mediator of God and man, having taken our human nature, destroying the handwriting of the decree which was against us, * See above, p. 304. The inspiration must be extended to the writers of the Bulls also. * Encjcl., 1849, " Ubi primum." 6 " Tneffabilis," 1854. on this theory, now matters of faith. 329 nailed it to His cross, triumphing, so the Most Holy Virgin, conjoined with Him, by a most strait and indissoluble bond, exerting, together with Him, and through Him, eternal enmity against the venomous serpent, and triumphing most fully over him, bruised his head with her immaculate foot;" then it would be matter of faith, that " 5 she slew all heresies in the whole world ;" that she is " 5 the safest refuge of all in peril;" that " 5 she has in her hands the affairs of our salvation;" that the present " 5 zeal of piety, religion, love" towards her is not enough ; that she " 4 is placed between Christ and the Church ;" that " 4 if we have any hope, grace, salvation, all redounds from her." It would be infallible truth that " 5 the Most Blessed Virgin is a tabernacle created by God Himself, and formed by the Holy Spirit," i. e. " 0 by God, as the one only cause, without any operation of an earthly father, as was Jesus. For either she was conceived after the manner of men, in which case she was created by God in the same way in which He creates all born by human generation, and then this would have no bearing upon her imma- culateness; or she was created by God directly, in which case there would be no difference so far between her conception and that of our Lord." And, if these are matters of faith, it follows that every other statement, which I have mentioned • The argument of Narvacz, Exam. Bulla? Ineflabilis, p. 90. 330 Doctrines as to the Blessed Virgin, which are, above, is virtually matter of faith too, or may be presently made so. Larger principles may be involved, as when the Bull Ineffabilis alleges as a ground of a doctrinal decision that " the Church had been wont, both in Ecclesiastical offices and in the most holy Liturgy, to transfer the words, in which the Divine Scrip- tures speak of uncreated Wisdom and represent Its everlasting origin, to the origin of that Virgin too; which origin was fore-established by one and the same decree with the Incarnation of the Divine Wisdom." For, in order that this should be an argument, it must be, that applied meanings of Holy Scripture, not the literal only, should be grounds of belief, whereas S. Thomas says, " 7 All the senses (of Holy Scripture) are founded on one, viz. the literal, from which alone can an argument be drawn, not from what is said allegorically, as Augustine says 8 ." Yet larger is the statement that " in the Roman Church," i.e. in the Church at Rome, "alone has reli- gion been guarded inviolably, and from it it is requisite that all other Churches should borrow the propaga- tion of faith 9 ." " But if this were so, to what end," 7 P. 1, q. 1, art. 10, in resp. ad arg. 1. 8 Ep. c. Vincent. Donat. Narvaez quotes to the same end Acosta, a Jesuit, " de Christo revelato," iii. 4. 9 The writer of the " Ineffabilis " has applied to the Church at Rome, in relation to the rest of the Catholic Church, which has the faith already, words which Tertullian uses of the Church every where, in relation to those who, being newly converted, had on this theory, now matters of faith. 331 asked Narvaez, " to ask from the Churches every where, what was their doctrine, or rather their devo- tion, as to the Immaculate Conception ?" There is, indeed, an answer, which seems to be that of the writer of the "Constitution," that it was indeed superfluous, but that it was done to give greater solemnity to the proceeding, " that we might deliver our supreme judgment as solemnly as possible." But then again General Councils are declared to be superfluous. On the principle involved in the Encyclical of 1864 and the Syllabus, that historical statements, made by the Pope, are infallible 10 , it would be infallible truth, that " this doctrine was in vigour from the most ancient times, and thoroughly im- planted in the minds of the faithful, and mar- vellously propagated through the Catholic Church by the care and zeal of its sacred Bishops;" in which way it would be difficult to see how fathers, doctors, saints, and Popes, who denied it, were not guilty of heresy; that "the distinction between the first and second moment and instant of con- ception " (the active and passive conception) "was to receive the faith in the first instance. The writer of the Con- stitution says, " Ex qua traducemfidei reliquce omnes Ecclesice mutuentur oportet." Tertullian says, " The Apostles founded Churches in every city, from which the other Churches thence- forth borrowed the propagation of faith and seeds of doctrine (a quibus traducem Jidei et semina doctrinse cceterce exinde Ecclesice mutuatce sunt), and are daily borrowing them, that they may become Churches."— De Prsescr. c. 20, p. 468. Oxf. Tr. 9. See notes lb. 10 See above, pp. 293—295. 332 Doctrines as to the Blessed Virgin, which are, devised, in order to weaken the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception ;" whereas notoriously it was part of the philosophy of the day, and was the first stage of that doctrine, and the distinction was insisted upon, in order to admit of the law of the transmission of original sin, without admitting that it ever passed upon the soul of Mary. Again, it would be infallible truth, that Alexander VII. spoke of the conception of Mary as immaculate from the first moment; whereas he spoke only "of her soul, in the first instant of its creation and infusion into the body," in conformity with the distinction which Pius IX. rejects. Then it is infallible that his " predecessors vehemently gloried to institute by their Apostolic authority the feast of the Conception in the Roman Church ;" whereas Aquinas says, that " though the Roman Church does not celebrate the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, it tolerates the custom of some Churches who celebrate that festival 1 f or that the celebration of the festival of the Conception in itself proves that that Conception was immaculate, whereas the Feast of the Conception of S. John Baptist was inserted in the old Martyrologies, Roman, Usuard's, Adon's 2 ; and the feast of the Blessed Virgin, "de Spasmo," though since abolished as unworthy of her, would imply that this too was sacred; and 1 P. 3, q 29, art. 2, arg. 3. * Nat. Alex. H. E. Sac. ii. Diss. 16, § 21. on this theory \ now matters of faith. 333 Sixtus IV. would be infallible in approving an office of the Conception, which Pius V. was in- fallible in suppressing, as " being made up of fictitious testimonies of fathers and ecclesiastical writers, nowhere found in their works V Or if the lessons in any service authenticated the belief of what was celebrated in it, then, as Narvaez says, it might become matter of faith, which "is piously believed, that she [the Blessed Virgin] comforts the sons who are enrolled in the society of the Scapular, who have used a little abstinence and a few prayers, with a truly motherly affection, while they are expiated by the fire of purgatory, and by her intervention brings them most speedily to their heavenly home." In the same way the stigmata of S. Francis, or the piercing of the heart of S. Theresa, might be equally matter of faith 4 . Faber anticipated " an Age of Mary," in com- parison to which all previous devotion to her should be slight. Archbishop Manning anticipates a new era, in which the Pope should continually be declar- ing new matters of faith, to be believed without authority of Scripture or tradition, on his sole autho- rity ; or to be supposed to have authority of Scrip- 3 Nat. Al. ib. 4 The above instances are furnished by the very remarkable work of Narvaez, " Professor of Theology in the Order of Preachers, and in the University of Complutum " [Alcara de Henares], 1858, " Examen Bulla* Ineffabilis, institutum efc concinnatum juxta regulas sanioris theologise," Paris, 1858, — a detailed and just criticism of " the writer of the Bull." 834 Will those who now hold with Bossuet ture or tradition, solely because he declares them. Wherein these new eras should issue, whether in the coming of Christ, as Faber thought, or through a collapse of faith, (through the amount of that, taught as " of faith," which was no part of God's revelation to the Church,) in the coming of Anti-Christ, God only knows. Turrecremata spoke of old of those who, without any solid foundation, " 5 wish by flattery to equal the Popes, as it were, to God." The unhappy marriage of Henry VIII. with his brother's wife, with the yet more unhappy scruples of one who had no other scruples, and the rent of England, was the fruit of that flattery. More perilous yet may be men's strong convictions. Yet there are still those, although slightly spoken of and depreciated 3 by the Jesuits, who look with mis- giving on the rapid course with which this new state of things is hurried on 6 . It was currently said at Paris, that an Archbishop said to an English advocate of the new system, " Compared to you, Monsignor, I am not Gallican, I am Scandinavian." To such we, to whom Bossuet or De Noailles would, we believe, have listened, stretch forth our hands. The strife with unbeKef stretches and strains the 6 "Adulando eos quasi sequiparare Deo." He is speaking of those who claimed for the Pope the right to dispense with the degrees of kin prohibited by the Levitical law. He calls them " Doctorculi." See Dr. Pusey's Evidence, &c, p. 35. 6 It could only be under such strong conviction that Card. Wiseman said of the Abp. of Paris, who died in recovering his people at the barricades, " he was a mere Gallican." help towards re-union ? 335 powers of the Church every where 7 ; Satan's armies are united, at least in their warfare against " the truth as it is in Jesus." Are those who would main- tain the faith in Him alone to be at variance ? On the terms which Bossuet, we hope, would have sanc- tioned, we long to see the Church united ; to all who, in East or West, desire to see intercommunion restored among those who hold the faith of the undivided Church, we say, " This is not our longing only; this is impressed on our Liturgy by those who were before us ; for this, whenever we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, we are bound to pray, that God ' would inspire continually the Universal Church with the Spirit of truth, unity, and concord.' " For this I pray daily. For this I would gladly die. " O Lord, tarry not." 7 See in regard to the Roman Communion too, above, pp. 188, 189 ; below, pp. 357—359, 361, 362, 364, 365, 366, 367,369, 370, 372, 373, 374, 378,380,382, 384, 3S6, 387, 402, 403, 406. NOTES NOTE A. on P. 22. The Faith, according to the Fathers, is contained in FLoly Scripture. The Vlth Article does not touch upon the subject of the iuterpretation of Holy Scripture. The questions, " Who is its interpreter? by what rules the iuterpretation is to he guided ? what is the value of tradition or of the consent of antiquity in its interpretation ?" are wholly outside of its scope. Nor again, is it the question whether any things are true or right to he observed which are grounded on tradition, without being contained in, or provable by, Holy Scripture. The Article relates only to " Articles of Faith," and lays down the duty not of individuals, but of the Church, not to require to be believed as an Article of Faith, what cannot be proved by Holy Scripture. I have put down a few passages from the fathers, stating or implying that the faith is contained in Holy Scripture, as bearing out the Article, chiefly such as are quoted by Beveridge on the Articles, in Archbishop TJssher's Answer to a Jesuit (c. 2), and in the notes on S. Athanasius against the Arians (Library of the Fathers). Some I found in an American publication, taken, without acknowledgment, from Dean Goode's laborious collection in his " Divine Kule of Faith and Practice," vol. iii. pp. 29—211. From this I have selected some few. A fuller list may be seen in the work itself, with which, although written against us, we have, thus S. IrencBus, Tert., S. Clement of Alex. 337 far, uo controversy ; since the question between the school of Dean Goode and ourselves was not, whether Holy Scripture is the ultimate source of faith (in which we were always agreed), but whether it is its own interpreter. The argument from tradition was pressed upon heretics by S. Irenseus and Tertullian, that the Apostles committed orally their whole doctrine to the Churches which they founded. S. Irenceus begins his full argument of the value of tradition by asserting that what the Apostles delivered orally, that they wrote. " Through no other have we known the plan of our salvation, than through them, through whom the Gospel has come to us ; which Gospel they then preached, but afterwards by the will of God delivered us in the Scriptures, to be the foundation and pillar of our faith." — iii. 1. 1. In like way Tertullian : " What we are, that are the Scriptures from the beginning ; of them we are, before that any thing existed contrary to what we are" [heresy]. — De Praescr. c. 38, p. 489, Oxf. Tr. And a little before, having given the beginning and end of the Apostles' Creed, " She (the Church) joineth the law and the prophets with the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles, and thence drinketh in her faith." — lb. § 37. And negatively, " Whether all things were made of any subject-matter, I have as yet read nowhere. Let Hermogenes* shop show that it is written. If it is not written, let them fear that woe allotted to such as add or take away." — Adv. Herm. c. 22. S. Clement of Alexandria, — " He hath ceased to abide a man of God and faithful to the Lord, who hath kicked against the ecclesiastical tradition, and bounded off to the opinions of human heresies ; but he who hath returned from this deceit, lis- tening to the Scriptures, and turning back his life to the truth, is perfected, being in a manner deified. For we have the Lord as the source of the doctrine, guiding the true knowledge from beginning to end, ' in divers portions and in divers manners,' through the Prophets, and the Gospel, and the Holy Apostles. But if any think he needs any other first principle, that which is indeed the first principle would not be kept. But he who is trustworthy in himself may well be worthy of trust through the Scripture and voice of the Lord, which, through the Lord, worketh to the good of man. For this [Scripture and voice of the Y 338 Holy Scripture contains the FaitJi ; S. Hipp. Lord] we use as a rule of judging and discovering things. But every thing which is judged is as yet untrustworthy, before it is judged; so that what hath need of being judged cannot be a first principle. With good reason then do we, embracing by faith the first principle being undemonstrated, taking ex dbun- danti the proofs concerning the first principle from the first principle itself, are instructed by the voice of the Lord to the acknowledgment of the truth. Tf it suffice not simply to ex- press what we hold, but there is need to establish what we say, we do not wait for testimony from men, but we accredit the thing to be ascertained by the voice of the Lord, which is more trustworthy than any demonstration, yea, rather is the only demonstration. In which knowledge they who have only a simple knowledge of the Scriptures are faithful. — But if those who go after heresies also venture to use prophetic Scriptures, — first, they do not use all ; secondly, not perfectly ; not as the body and context of the prophecy suggests, but selecting what is said doubtfully, they draw it aside to their own opi- nions, plucking a few sayings here and there, not attending to what is signified by them, but using the bare phrases." — Strom, vii. 16, pp. 890, 1, Pott. S. Hippolyius, — " There is one God, "Whom we do not know otherwise than from the Holy Scriptures. For as, if any one would be disciplined in the wisdom of this world, he could not obtain it without reading the doctrines of philosophers ; so, whoever of us would practise piety towards God, shall not learn it except from the Divine Scriptures. Whatever, then, the Holy Scriptures set forth, let us know; and whatever they teach, let us learn ; and as the Father willeth to be believed, so let us believe ; and as He willeth the Son to be glorified, so let us glorify Him ; and as He willeth the Holy Ghost to be given, so let us receive Him. Not according to our own will, nor according to our own sense, nor doing violence to the things given by Him, but as He willed to teach us by the Holy Scripture, so let ua understand them." — c. Noet. n. 9, Opp. T. i., pp. 238, 9. Origen, — " In the two Testaments every word appertaining to God may be sought and discussed, and from them may all knowledge be obtained. But if there be any thing, upon which Divine Scripture decideth not, no other third Scripture ought Orig., S. Dionys. Alex., S. Cypr., S. Athan. 339 to be received as an authority for any knowledge ; but what re- maineth we should commit to the fire — i. e., reserve to God. For God doth not will that we should know all things in this pre- sent life." — In Lev. Horn. v. n. 9, ii. 212, ed. De la Rue. S. Dionysius of Alexandria, — He praises the Millenarians of the Arsinoite, that " very conscientiously and guilelessly, and with childlike hearts towards God, they received the things established by proofs and teaching of the Holy Scriptures." — In Euseb., H. E. vii. 24. 8. Cyprian declares the agreement with Holy Scripture to be the test of genuine tradition. " Whence is that tradition ? "Whether does it descend from the authority of the Lord and the Gospel, or does it come from the injunctions and epistles of the Apostles ? For that we are to do what is written, God testifieth and admonisheth, saying to Joshua, ' This book of the law shall not depart out of thy month,' &c. (Jos. i. 8.) Likewise the Lord, sending His Apostles, directs that the nations should be baptized and taught to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded. If, then, it is commanded in the Gospels, or con- tained in the Epistles or Acts of the Apostles, then be this holy and Divine tradition preserved." — Ep. 74, ad Pomp., n. 2, p. 261, Oxf. Tr. " What presumption to prefer human tradition to Divine ordi- nances, and not to perceive that God is displeased and angered, as often as human tradition relaxes the Divine command" (citing Isa. xxix. 13 ; S. Matt. xv. 8, 9 ; S. Mark vii. 9 ; 1 Tim. vi. 3—5). " It behoves the priests of God, who keep the Divine com- mandments, that, if the truth has in any respect tottered and faltered, we should go back to our Lord as our Head, and to the Evangelic and Apostolic tradition." — lb. n. 13, p. 267. S. Athanasius, admitted as a deacon to defend the faith at the Council of Nice, who witnesses so often that the Church there declared what it had received, states also the sufficiency of Holy Scripture : — "Vainly then do they [the Arians] run about with the pretext that they have demanded Councils for the faith's sake, for Divine Scripture is sufficient above all things ; but if a Council be needed on the point, there are the proceedings of the Fathers, for the Nicene Bishops did not neglect this matter ; but stated the doctrine so exactly, that persons reading their Y 2 340 Holy Scripture contains the Faith; S. Athan. words honestly, cannot but be reminded by them of the religion towards Christ announced in Divine Scripture." — Cone. Arim. et Sel. c. i. § 8, p. 81, Oxf. Tr. See further, above, p. 43. " Perhaps being refuted as touching the term Ingenerate also, they will say, according to their evil nature, ' it behoved, as regards our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ also, to state from the Scriptures what is there written of Him, and not to intro- duce un-Scriptural expressions.' Yes, it behoved, say I too ; for the tokens of truth are more exact as drawn from Scripture than from other sources ; but the ill disposition and the ver- satile and crafty irreligion of the Eusebians, compelled the bishops, as I said before, to publish more distinctly the terms which overthrow their irreligion." — Nicene Del", o. vii. § 6, p. 57, Oxf. Tr. " Such is their [the Arian] madness and temerity. But our faith is right, issuing from Apostolic teaching and tradition of the fathers, confirmed from both the New and Old Testament," which he proceeds to quote. — Ep. ad Adelph., § 6, T. i. p. 914, 5, Ben. " The holy and inspired Scriptures are sufficient of themselves for the preaching of the truth, yet there are also many treatises of our blessed teachers composed for this purpose." — Cont. Gent. init. " Since Divine Scripture is more sufficient than any thing else, I recommend persons who wish to know fully concerning these things (the doctrine of the blessed Trinity) to read the Divine oracles." — Ad Ep. JEg. 4. " The Scriptures are sufficient for teaching ; but it is good for us to exhort each other in the faith, and to refresh each other with discourses." — Vit. S. Anton. 16. S. Cyril of Jerusalem, having given a summary of the Creed, adds, " This seal have thou ever on thy mind, which now by way of summary has been touched on in its heads, and, if the Lord grant, shall hereafter be set forth according to our power, with Scripture-proofs. Eor concerning the Divine and most sacred Mysteries of the Eaith, we ought not to deliver even the most casual remark without the Holy Scriptures, nor be drawn aside by mere probabilities and the artifices of argu- ment. Do not then believe me, because I tell you these S. Cyril of Jerusalem, S. Hilary. 341 tilings, unless thou receive from the Holy Scriptures the proof of what is set forth ; for this salvation, which is of our faith, is not by ingenious reasonings, but by proof from the Holy Scriptures."— Lect. iv. 17, p. 42, Oxf. Tr. " Take thou and hold that faith only as a learner and in pro- fession, which is by the Church delivered to thee, and is esta- blished from all Scripture. For since all cannot read the Scriptures, but some, as being unlearned, others by business, are hindered from the knowledge of them ; in order that the soul may not perish for lack of instruction, in the Articles which are few we comprehend the whole doctrine of the Faith. This I wish you to remember even in the very phrase, and to rehearse it with all diligence among yourselves, not writing it on paper, but by memory graving it on your heart as on a monument. " This I wish you to keep all through your life as a provision for the way, and besides this to receive no other ever : whether we ourselves should change and contradict what we now teach ; or some opposing Angel, transformed into an Angel of light, should aim at leading you astray. ' For though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received, let them be accursed.' And for the present, commit to memory the Faith, merely listening to the words ; and expect at the fitting season the proof of each of its parts from the Divine Scriptures. For the Articles of the Faith were not composed at the good pleasure of men ; but the most important points, chosen from all Scripture, make up the one teaching of the Faith. And, as the mustard-seed in a little grain contains many branches, thus also this Faith, in a few words, hath enfolded in its bosom the whole knowledge of god- liness contained both in the Old and New Testaments. Behold, therefore, brethren, and ' hold the traditions ' which ye now receive, and 'write them on the table of your hearts.'" — Lect. v. § 12, p. 58, Oxf. Tr. S. Hilary, in rejecting a statement from the Book of Enoch : — " Let us pass by this. For the things which are not contained in the book of the law, we ought not even to know " (in Ps. 132, n. G), and in the context of the celebrated passage in which he speaks of the abuse of Holy Scripture by heretics, he said to Constantius, " In so far I truly admire thee, Lord Emperor 342 Holy Scripture contains the Faith; S. JEpiph. Constantius, for thy blessed and religious wish, in that thou desirest the faith only according to that ivliich is written, and has- tening, as is meet, to the very words of the Only-Begotten God, that your breast, which can contain an Emperor's cares, may also be filled with the Divine words. This whoso rejecteth is Anti-Christ, and whoso doth it in pretence, is anathema. But this one thing I ask — that in the presence of the Synod (of Constantinople), which is now at variance about the faith, thou wouldest vouchsafe to hear me as to the Evangelic Scriptures, that I may speak with thee in the words of my Lord Jesus Christ, whose exile or Bishop I am, — ' God,' according to the prophet, ' beholdeth him who is humble and trembleth at His word.' Emperor, thou seekest the faith; hear it, not out of new writings, but out of the Books of God." — Ad Const. Aug. ii. n. 8. S. Epiphanius, — " The children of the Church have received from their holy Fathers, that is, the holy Apostles, to guard the faith ; and withal to deliver and preach it to their own children. .... Cease not, faithful and orthodox men, thus to speak, and to teach the like from the Divine Scriptures, and to walk, and to catechize, to the confirmation of yourselves and those who hear you ; namely, that holy faith of the Catholic Church, as the holy and only Virgin of God received its custody from the holy Apostles of the Lord ; and thus, in the case of each of those who are under catechizing, who are to approach the holy Laver, ye ought not only to preach faith to your children in the Lord, but also to teach them expressly, as your common mother teaches, to say, ' We believe in one God,'" &c, adding the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed in full. — Ancorat. 120, T. ii. p. 122. S. Optatus,—" Why knock at heaven, when we have a Testa- ment here in the Gospel? Eor here things earthly may be rightly compared with things heavenly. The case is, as when a Father, having many sons, as long as he is with them, himself directs them, a Testament is not yet necessary. So Christ, as long as He was present on earth (although now, too, He fails us not), for the time commanded the Apostles whatever was necessary. But as an earthly father, when he feels him- self on the verge of death, fearing lest, after his death, the brothers should quarrel and go to law, calls witnesses, and transfers his will from his dying breast to tables which shall S. Optatus, S. Basil. 343 long endure, and, if any contention arises among the brothers, they do not go to the tomb, but ask for the Testament, and he who resteth in the tomb speaketh silently from the tables, — He Whose is the Testament is alive in heaven. So then let His Will be sought in the Gospel as in a Testament." — (As to the re-baptizing of Heretics.) — De Schism. Don. v. 3. S. Basil, in his treatise on the faith, sets out with saying, " What I have learnt from the God-inspired Scripture, this would I set before you as is pleasing unto God. I have thought it suited to our common end, in the simplicity of a sound faith, to fulfil the desire of your love in Christ, saying what I have been taught from the God-inspired Scripture, being sparing as to names and words, which are not actually introduced into the Divine Scripture, yet which preserve that meaning which lieth in Scripture. But those which, besides the language being foreign to Scripture, had a meaning also foreign to it, and which cannot be found used by the saints, these I shrank from altogether, as foreign and alien to godly faith. For faith is an unhesitating assent to the things which we have heard in the fulness of the truth of the things preached by the grace of God. — But if the Lord is faithful in all His words, — it is a manifest falling from faith, and sin of pride, either to reject any thing written, or to introduce any thing unwritten, since the Lord Jesus Christ saith, ' My sheep hear My voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers ;' and the Apostle, under an example taken from men, strongly forbiddeth to add or take away any thing in the God-inspired Scriptures, in that he says, ' Now a man's covenant, when confirmed, no man annulleth or addeth thereunto.' " — De Tide, n. 1, Opp. ii. 223, 224. " What then our Fathers said, we too say, that the Glory is common to the Father and the Son, wherefore we present our giving of glory to the Father with the Son. But this doth not suffice us, that it is the tradition of the Fathers. For they too followed the mind of the Scripture, taking as their first principle those testimonies which, a little while ago, we set before you from the Scripture." — De Spir. S. c. 7, n. 16, T. iii. p. 13. And, though not speaking of faith, he gives it as a rule, " That every word or thing ought to be confirmed by testimony of God- 344 Holy Scripture contains the Faith ; S. Greg. inspired Scripture, to the full conviction of the good and the shaming of the evil." — Keg. 26. Ib. ii. p. 256. " What is the character of faith ? An unhesitating conviction of the truth of the God-inspired words. What is the charac- ter of the faithful ? With the same conviction to embrace the meaning of what is said, and not to venture to annul or to add. For if every thing which is not of faith is sin, as the Apostle says, and faith is from hearing, and hearing through the Word, every thing which is without the God-inspired Scripture, being not of faith, is sin."— Eeg. 80, c. 22. Ib. p. 317. & Gregory of Nyssa, — "'I think we ought to inquire, over and above what has been said, whether the God-inspired teach- ings agree with these things.' She said, ' And who would con- tradict this, that that alone is to be set dowa as truth, to which the seal of the teaching of the Gospel is added?' " — De Anima et Ees. T. iii. p. 207. "But since with them [the philosophers], the theory as to the soul was carried out at their own pleasure, according to what seemed to them consequential, but we have no such power of saying whatever we will, seeing that we use Holy Scripture as a canon and law of all doctrine, we, of necessity, looking to it, receive that alone which agreeth with the purport of what is written."— Ib. p. 201. " Since the God-inspired testimony is the safe criterion of truth as to every doctrine, I think it well to accredit our teaching too by annexation of the Divine." — c. Eunom. L. i. T. ii. p. 346. " That God here (Gen. xi.) addressed the ministering Angels, since it is rested on no testimony of Scripture, we have rejected as false." — De Cognit. Dei, in Euthym. Panopl. Tit. 8, B. P. T. 19, p. 49. 8. Ambrose, — " What we do not find in Holy Scripture, how can we use ?" [not of doctrine.]— De Off. i. 23, § 102. " Why labour we so much for the world — who ought to serve no other save this Lord ? Here then there is no second [as the Arians called our Lord]. I adduce this testimony. I read that He is first ; I read that He is not second. Let those who say that He is second, show it by Scripture." — De Inst. Virg. c. xi. § 70, ii. 265, Ben. " They say, that the Son is 1 unlike 1 the Father ; we deny it ; Nyss., S. Ambr., S. Jer., Theoph. Alex. 345 yea, rather, we are horrified at the word. But I would not have you trust my argument, sacred Emperor, or my discussion. Let us interrogate the Scriptures ; let us interrogate the Apostles ; let us interrogate the Prophets ; let us interrogate Christ."— De Tide, i. 6, n. 41, T. ii. p. 451. " I wish not to be myself believed ; let Scripture be re- cited."— De Inc. Dom. Sacr. c. 3, n. 14, ii. 706. S. Jerome, — " But as we do not deny what is written, so what is not written we reject. That God was born of a Virgin, we believe, because we read. That Mary married after that Birth we believe not, because we read not." — Adv. Helvid. § 19, Opp. ii. 222, Vail. " The doctrine of the Church, which is the house of God, is found in the fulness of the Divine Scriptures." — Ep. 30, ad Paulam, § 6, i. 147. " Other things, too, which they [the heretics] find and invent without the authority and testimonies of the Scriptures, as if by Apostolical tradition, the sword of God [i. e. His living Word] strikes through."— On Hagg. i. 11, T. vi. p. 749. " The Church of Christ, which hath a goodly dwelling-place, and possesseth Churches in the whole world, is conjoined by unity of spirit, and hath the cities of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, hath not gone forth from her boun- daries, i. e. the Holy Scriptures, but retains the possession which she took." — In Mic. i. 10, T. vi. pp. 444, 5. " That treasure, in which are hidden all the treasures of wis- dom and knowledge, is either God the "Word, Who seemeth hidden in the flesh of Christ, or Holy Scripture, in which is laid up the knowledge of the Saviour." — In S. Matt. xiii. 44, T. vii. 97. " It is asked how God made known to us the mystery of His will in all wisdom and knowledge. And first this is to be taken simply, that the mystery of His will is our redemption through the Blood of His Son, and remission of Bins according to the riches of His grace, wherewith He hath abounded in us. Then that through His Scriptures He hath made known to us all mysteries, how He first made heaven and earth, and all things therein," &c. — In Ep. ad Eph. i. 9, p. 555. Theophilus of Alexandria, — [Origen] " not knowing that it is the suggestion of a dsemoniacal spirit to follow the sophism of 346 Holy Scripture contains the Faith; Rufin. human minds, and to think any thing Divine outside of the authority of the Scriptures." — Epist. Pasch. i. (06 among S. Jerome's), § 6, T. i. p. 560, Vail. " It is one thing, if they can teach out of the Scriptures that God the Word had His Soul before He was born of Mary, and that it was called His Soul before He took flesh. But if they are constrained by the authority of the Scriptures and reason itself, to admit that Christ had not a soul before He was born of Mary (for at the assumption of man, His Soul also was assumed), they are plainly convicted of saying that the same soul was, and was not, His. But let these madmen cease from the impiety of new dogmas. Let us, following the rule of the Scriptures, proclaim, with entire confidence of heart, that neither His Elesh nor His Soul were, before He was born of Mary." — Ep. Pasch. h. n. 8 (Ep. 98 in S. Jer.), i. 585. JRufinus, — After giving the catalogue of the Books of the Old and New Testament, he says: "These are they which the Bathers included within the canon, and out of which they willed the assertions of our faith to be established." — Comm. in Symb. Apost. § 37, p. 110, ed. Vallars. " These things have been delivered unto us by the Bathers, which, as I said, it seemed opportune to set down in this place for the instruction of those who are receiving the first elements of the Church and of the faith, that they may know from what fountains they are to draw the draughts of the Word of God."— lb. § 38, p. 101. Perhaps Gregory of Bostica, anyhow before S. Augustine, — " Since, then, thou knowest this unity of substance in the Bather and the Son, by authority, not only of the Prophets, but of the Gospel also, how sayest thou that the oyuoowiov is not found in the Divine Scriptures, as though the bpoovaiov were any other than what He saith, 'I came forth from the Bather,' and ' I and the Bather are one,' or what the Brophets plainly intimated as to the Substance of God?" — De Bide Orthod. c. 5, App. S. Ambr. ii. pp. 351, 2. S. Augustine, — " Albeit the Lord Jesus did many things, not all are written ; as this same S. John the Evangelist testifies that the Lord Christ both said and did many things which are not written : only those were selected to be written which S. Augustine. 347 were seen to suffice for the salvation of them that believe." — Horn. 49, in S. John, § 1, p. G49, Oxf. Tr. And after enumerating the books of Holy Scripture, " In all these books, they who fear God and are meek through piety, seek the Will of God. Of this work and labour the first observance is, to know those books, if not so as to understand them, yet by reading either to commit them to memory, or at least not to be altogether unacquainted with them. Then those things which are set down plainly in them, whether precepts as to life, or rules of faith, are to be searched into diligently and wisely ; of these any one will find the more, in proportion to his capacity and intelligence. For in those things which are set down plainly in the Scriptures, are found all things which contain faith, and the way of life, i. e., hope and charity." -De Doctr. Christ, ii. 9, § 14. " He made the authors of the Divine Scriptures the moun- tains of Israel. Feed there, that ye may find safety. What- soever ye hear thence, let that savour well unto you ; whatso- ever is without, reject. Wander not in the mist ; hear the voice of the Shepherd; gather yourselves to the mountains of Holy Scripture; there are the delights of your heart; there is nothing poisonous, nothing alien; it is a most rich pasture; do ye only come sound yourselves."— Serm. 4G, de Past. c. 11, § 24, Opp. v. 238. " He, having spoken first by the Prophets, then by Himself, afterwards by the Apostles, as much as He judged to be suffi- cient, formed also the Scripture whicli is called Canonical, of most eminent authority, which we trust as to those things, which it is not expedient to be ignorant of, and which yet we are not equal to know of ourselves." — De Civ. Dei, xi. 3, T. vii. p. 273. " It [the city of God] believes the Holy Scriptures, both the Old and the New, which we call Canonical, from which the faith itself is derived whereby the just liveth, by which we walk without doubting, so long as we are absent from the Lord ; which being safe and certain, we may without just blame doubt as to some things, which we have not perceived by sense or reason, and which have not become evident to us by Canonical Scriptures, nor have come to our knowledge by witnesses whom it were absurd to disbelieve." — lb. xix. 18. Ib. p. 562. 348 Holy Scripture contains the Faith ; S. Chrys. " Being about to speak of the day of the last Judgment of God, we ought first to lay down the divine testimonies as the foundation of the building." — lb. xx. 1. Ib. p. 562. " Read this to us from the Law, from the Prophets, from the Psalms, from the Gospel itself, from the Apostolic Epistles ; read, and we believe." — De Unit. Eccles. c. 6, ix. 345. " Accordingly, whether as to Christ or as to His Church, or any other thing which belongs to your faith and life, I say not 1 we ' (seeing we are in no wise to be compared to him who said ' although we '), but I say what he added, ' if an angel from heaven preach to you any thing besides what ye have received,' in the Scriptures of the Law and the Gospel, let him be ana- thema."— c. litt. Petil. iii. 6, T. ix. p. 301. S. Chrysostome, — " With good canse He calleth the Scriptures a ' door,' for they bring us to God, and open to us the knowledge of God ; they make us sheep, they guard us, and suffer not wolves to come in after us. For Scripture, like some sure door, barreth the way against heretics, placing us in a state of safety as to all which we desire, and not allowing us to wander; and if we undo it not, we shall not easily be con- quered by our foes. By it we can know all, both those which are, and those which are not shepherds. But what is ' into the fold ? ' It refers to the sheep and the care of them. For he that useth not the Scriptures, but climbeth up some other way, i. e. who cutteth out for himself another and an un- usual way, ' the same is a thief.' Seest thou from this too, that Christ agreeth with the Father, in that He bringetb forward the Scriptures ? On which account also He said to the Jews, 'Search the Scriptures,'" &c. — Horn. 59, on S. John x. 1, p. 513, Oxf. Tr. " All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profit- able, &c. ' For doctrine.' If we ought to learn or be ignorant of any thing, thence shall we know it ; if to disprove what is false, this too thence ; if to be corrected and taught wisdom — that is, if any thing is lacking, and hath to be added, ' that the man of God may be perfect,' he saith, to this end was the exhortation of Scripture. — Thou hast, he says, the Scriptures instead of me : if thou wiliest to learn any thing, thence mayest thou. But if he wrote these things to Timothy, who was filled with the Spirit, how much more to us! 'Thoroughly perfected to all S. Isidore, S. Cyril of Alexandria. 349 good works,' he saith, not simply partaking, but thoroughly and accurately furnished." — On 2 Tim. Horn. ix. § 1, T. xi. pp. 714, 715. S. Isidore of Pelusium, — "That these things are so, let us look into the canon of truth, I mean the Divine Scriptures. What then saith it ?"■— Epistt. L. iv. Ep. 114, p. 475. " The teaching as to the fall [of souls, i. e. Origen's] not being true, I deem, yet seeming to be plausible, many other things appear to overthrow, but two especially, in my judgment : one, that it is not clearly taught in the Scriptures." — lb. 163, against Origen, beg. p. 504. S. Cyril of Alexandria, — " We say that the ' fountains of salvation' are the holy Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles, who cause to gush forth on the world the saving word which is from above and from heaven, the Holy Spirit supplying them, and gladden the whole under heaven." — De Eecta Fide, ad Eeg. ii. init. Opp. v. 2, c. p. 128. " Since we must needs follow the Holy Scriptures, nowhere going out of the track of what they prescribe, let us say, in what way God the Father is said to crown the Son with glory."— Ib. p. 168. "Those who oppose must either condemn to disgrace those of old, and call those who taught the world the mysteries of the faith, false teachers, to whom Christ Himself said, ' Go, teach all nations ;' or if they shudder at this, they must choose to be right-minded about Christ, and bidding farewell to their own ignorances, hold fast to the Holy Scriptures, and following the inerrant path of the saints, go straight to the Truth itself." — De Eecta Fid. ad Imp. p. 6. " A. What right-minded person can fail to see, my friend, that you bale up empty words and heap up a cold profitless multitude of ideas, unless you point out the writings of the saints as harmonizing with what you say ? For we will follow, not those who M ill and are wont to pour out of their own ideas, but those who speak from the mouth of the Lord, as is written. B. Thou sayest right. Well, then, Divine David sang," &c. — De S. Trin. Dial. iii. T. v. 1, p. 477. " It is best then, O Hermias, not to be flurried with the petu- lances ( f others, since they would lead us to an undistinguishing mind, but to make the words of the Divine speakers the straight 350 Holy Scripture contains the Faith ; Theodor. and unswerving rule of faith. For it must be right to accept no others than these self-same, and to say, ' It is not ye who speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.' " — lb. Dial. iv. init. p. 504. Taken in part from S. Cyril, but later : — " Creation itself, and its preservation and government, proclaim the greatness of the Divine Nature. And first through the law and the pro- phets, then through His only-begotten Son our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, He hath made manifest the know- ledge of Himself according to our capacity. All things then which are delivered to us through the law and the prophets and Apostles we receive, and know, and confess, not seeking any thing beyond them. For it is impossible to say or even con- ceive any thing about God, besides what has been Divinely said to us by the Divine oracles of the Old and New Testament." — De Sacrosancta Trinitate, init. Opp. T. vi. P. 3, p. 2. Theodoret, — " From this we are taught not to quench the Spirit, but to stir up the grace which we have received, and to introduce nothing alien into Holy Scripture, but to be content with the teaching of the Spirit, and to abominate heresies, of which some have added fables to the Divine word, others have preferred their ungodly thoughts to the mind of Scripture." — Quasstt. in Lev. 9. 9. Orth. — " Bring me not human thoughts or syllogisms. For I obey the Divine Scripture alone." — Dial. c. x. T. iv. p. 18, Sch. JEran. — "How could one argue with those who deny the taking of the flesh, or the soul, or the mind, except by producing the proofs from the Divine Scripture ? And how could one refute those who strain to lessen the Divinity of the Only-Begotten, than by showing that Holy Scripture spake some things as to His Divinity, others as to the Incarnation ? Orth. — This saying is true. For it is ours ; nay, rather that of all who have kept the Apostolic rule unbent." — Dial. ii. p. 113. " I would not say it, persuaded by human reasonings. For I am not so rash as to say any thing on which Divine Scripture is silent."— Ib. p. 122. S. Proclus, — " Let faith, being the head of all virtues, re- main unadulterated, introducing nothing spurious from human reasonings, nor defiled by profane novelties of words, but re- S. Proclus, S. Leo. 351 maining within the bounds of the Gospels and Apostles, no one venturing to discuss any thing amiss in addition to that whereby we have been saved, and which, in Baptism, we sub- scribed with our tongue. For the sublimity of faith repels every attack and venture of presumption, not only of man, but even if carried aloft by any spiritual nature, the blessed Paul crying aloud, ' If we or an angel from heaven preach to you any other Gospel than what ye have received, let him be ana- thema.' Let us guard then with vigilance what we have re- ceived, keeping the eye of the soul open and steadily fixed on the treasure of faith. What, then, have we received from the Scriptures, but altogether this, that God created the universe by the Word ?" — Epist. ad Arm. App. Cone. Eph. iii. 1740, 1, Col. S. Leo, — " Into this folly they fall, who, when they are hindered by some obscurity from knowing the truth, betake themselves, not to the voices of the Prophets, not to the writings of the Apostles, not to the authorities of the Gospels, but to themselves. And therefore they became teachers of error, be- cause they had not been disciples of the truth. For what ad- ditional instruction did he acquire from the Divine books of the Old and New Testament, who did not grasp even the beginning of the Creed ?"— Ep. 28, ad Flavian. NOTE B. OTS P. 127, sqq. Douhts among the Roman Catholic Bishops, as to making the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin an Article of faith. In giving more fully the answers of some of the Bishops, who demurred to, doubted about, or objected to, the definition of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin as an Article of faith, it is right to premise two points ; 1. That no one of them objected to the definition, on the ground that he did not himself believe in it. All had been educated from infancy in that belief, as much as in the belief in the Holy Trinity or the Incarnation ; they had been taught it 352 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. in the seminaries ; they held it undoubtingly. 2. All were ready to submit their own opinion as to the expediency of making it a matter of faith to the authority of the Pope, and to receive what he decreed as " de fide." They are then opinions which have passed away, since the doubts or objections were ignored. Tet they have an historical interest, as showing how the sub- ject was looked upon hy some distinguished Bishops, how the influence of Eoman decisions upon those who are not in their communion was felt by some; what principles were held by some as to the evidence required to establish an Article of faith, or what evidence was supposed to exist as to this, and, in part perhaps, what hopes may be entertained of meeting upon common principles. France. — 1. The late Archbishop of Paris, embodying the opi- nion of his predecessor. His full answer was written Aug. 25, 1849 (Pareri, &c, ii. 26— 45), but withheld until Dec. 17, 1850 (Par. iii. 338). On July 26, 1850, he wrote, "I have con- sulted the gravest men, the most able theologians of my diocese. I have subsequently myself examined and weighed all things before God with the greatest care. Prom all this has resulted a work of which the conclusions are, " 1) In conformity with the principles of theology, the Im- maculate Conception of the most holy Virgin is not a matter which can be defined as a truth of the Catholic faith, and, in no case, can be imposed as a belief obligatory under pain of eternal damnation. " 2) That any definition whatsoever, even if the Church or the Holy See believed that they could frame it, would not be opportune ; for it would add nothing to the glory of the Immaculate Virgin, and it might be hurtful to the peace of the Church and the good of souls, especially in my diocese." — Par. iii. 310, 11. His letter of Aug. 25, 1849, which was sent four months later than the above, ran, " It was my first care (your Holiness suggested afterwards to the Venerable Cardinal of Bourges) to call into counsel the gravest men and most learned theologians of my diocese. They wrote a dissertation hereon, conspicuous for learning and wis- dom, which I have judged right to transmit to you, most Blessed Pather, at length. Afterwards, I weighed diligently the matter " of faith. " 77ie /ate Archbishop of Paris. 353 before God, and will humbly expLain my opinion to the supreme judgment of the Vicar of Christ. The Encyclical letter of your Blessedness, most Holy Father, raised two questions, the first whereof must be solved by learning, the other by prudence ; " 1st. As the theologians, my counsellors, observe, it must be inquired whether, according to the principles of sound theology, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Holy Virgin can be solved by a decree of the Church or of the Holy See, whereby the faithful should be bound to em- brace this doctrine : " 2ndly. "Whether it is opportune to publish such a decree now. " As to the dogmatic question, the authors of the Dissertation lay down, 1) that the doctriue of the Immaculate Conception can be enacted by a decree of the Church or of the Holy See, so as to be declared certain, yet not so as to be accounted among articles of faith ; 2) that the Immaculate Conception of the Most Holy Virgin cannot, as they think, be placed among articles of faith or truths of the Catholic faith, by a decree of the Church or the Holy See. "As to prudence, having weighed the advantages and disad- vantages of a solemn decree, whereby all the faithful should be bound to embrace the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, they think such a promulgation altogether inopportune. And I myself, most Holy Father, as well as the theologians, my counsellors, think that from the promulgation of such a decree the most grave disadvantages, and perhaps great calamities, will arise to the Church. And I myself think with them, that it is not lawful, either for the Church or for the Holy See to count the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in any case among the articles of faith, or verities of the Catholic faith. Yea, most Holy Father, I go further than the said theologians, and doubt whether the Church or the Holy See can enact by a solemn decree, that this doctrine is certain and must be em- braced by all under pain of eternal damnation. The Advisers think that their judgment can be easily demonstrated by those grounds which theologians are wont to employ to establish the doctrine as to the Immaculate Conception of the Most Holy Virgin. For, as these say, setting aside the testimonies of the Holy Fathers, who flourished in the first ages of the Church, Z 354 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. whose explanation lies under no slight difficulties, the truth of the Immaculate Conception is demonstrated by most grave Theological reasons, which rest especially on the glorious pri- vilege of the Divine maternity, and the constant practice of the Church for the last five centuries. " I will presently, most Blessed Father, set forth several doubts as to the force of these reasons, which, moreover, are reducible to the single ground of convenience. But for the time, admitting the gravity of this argument, I would explain modestly, and not without some fear, the following doubts." — [The original contains answers, enforcing these doubts. These I have omitted, when they seemed to be involved in the terms of the doubt itself, or were nearly identical in terms with it:—] " Doubt 1. Can the Church make a definition as to a doc- trine, which rests neither on Holy Scripture nor Tradition ? " D. 2. Can any thing else be inferred from the passages adduced from the Fathers of the earlier centuries, besides the sanctification of Mary from her mother's womb ? [He instanced such expressions as " Immaculate," " Most pure," " Free from stain of sin," which, he says, were used by S. Ber- nard, or S. Thomas Aquinas too, who denied the Immaculate Conception.] " D. 3. Can the Church, when it exceeds the limits of her authority, declare any truth as certain, on the sole ground of intrinsic suitableness ? " D. 4. Is the Church bound by no limit of lawfulness in the exercise of her authority, so that she can make a definition in all possible cases, in all circumstances, at her own will ? " D.o. Did the Church, without evident necessity, ever define a question of doctrine, as to which, here and now, no con- troversy is raised ? Would not the practice of Councils and the Holy See be contradicted by so doing ? " D. 6. Are the wishes of the faithful a sufficient motive that the Church should, by a solemn decision, settle a question of doctrine in their seuse ? [" One of the most learned Bishops of Belgium, who extremely desires the doctrinal decision, con- fessed to me, that this practice of the Church seemed to him of so much moment, that on this ground alone he somewhat hesitated."] " of faith" The late Archbishop of Paris. 355 " D. 7. Can the Church propose as obligatory an opinion as to doctrine, which is not necessarily connected with any re- vealed dogma ? " D. 8. Can the Church define, either as " de Fide," or as infallibly certain, a proposition which cannot be brought under theological conclusions ? [He explains, " Among the trutbs which the Church teaches with infallible authority, the last place is held by those which are contained in theological con- clusions, i. e., such as are deduced from a major proposition, not revealed, and a minor, revealed. Such conclusions then must be connected by some necessary and evident link with some verity of faith. But the Immaculate Conception is not so connected."] "D. 9. Can the Church define, as certainly to be be- lieved, a truth which does not touch upon the economy of religion ? " D. 10. Can the Church propose, under pain of eternal damnation, a doctrine which is altogether indifferent, in respect of dogma or rule of life ? " D. 11. Was it not always the mind of the Council of Trent to maintain liberty of opinions which do not injure dogma or morals ? " D. 12. As to the Immaculate Conception itself, did not the Holy Council of Trent and the Holy See decree that opiuions were free, and so, in themselves, indifferent ? " D. 13. After the Church has declared, at least implicitly, that neither of these opinions affects dogma or rules of life, would it not, by defining that the one was necessarily to be believed and anathematizing the other, seem to confess that it had erred, in tolerating error in its bosom ? " D. 14. Would not a new decision presuppose fresh grounds ? But whence have these arisen ? [" From the ' pious wishes ' of the faithful perchance?"] " D. 15. Tailing testimonies of Scripture or tradition, can a doctrinal decision rest on pious wishes of the faithful ? " D. 16. Failing texts of Scripture, or Apostolic tradition, what else will the testimonies of Bishops be, save a new weigh- ing of theological grounds in favour of the Immaculate Con- ception ? " D. 17. Can a new judgment, as to the value of theological 05G Doubts an to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. grounds, be prudently passed without a new controversy, which however has not been raised ? fi D. IS. But why this new controversy, if the question has been solved by the Council of Trent and the Holy See ? " D. 19. After a decree, declaring that opinions as to the Immaculate Conception are free, who will dare to assert the contrary r "D. 20. Can a more vivid sense of some reason of theological congruity, even if it affected the mind of all the Bishops of the Catholic world unanimously, be a sufficient ground for a doc- trinal decision ? '• D. 21. What weight is there in the ground of congruity, whereon alone the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception rests ? " D. 22. Does not God destroy all those reasons of congruity by the mystery of the Incarnation ? " D. 23. AVhy, in such a mystery of the self-emptying of the Word, should there be any dispute as to t^ie one or other degree of humility ? ' : D. 24. Might not perhaps the ground of congruence be brought forward more truly to prove that the Virgin Man- was sanctified in her mother's womb ? ' : D. 25. If some Theologians hold that the dogma of the Divine maternity is connected by a bond of mere congruence with the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, do not others contrariwise teach that it contradicts several revealed dogmas ? '• D. 26. In matter of revealed religion, before the authority of the Church pronounces decisively, must it not first be ex- amined, whether the difficulties both of sacred and profane knowledge can be solved ? [Dismissing the difficulties of modern physiology, he asks,] ' : D. 27. If. by a special grace, the fruit of human generation can be holy, immaculate, free from all fault, why was not Christ so born ? [He says, The learned Bishop whom I mentioned, when urged by this argument, did not hesitate to assert that the Fathers only hinted a certain necessity of propriety, when they speak of the Virginity of the Mother of God being neces- sary, and that in truth the Son of God might have taken flesh in the ordinary way of generation. I doubt not that that pious Bishop, on weighing the matter more maturely, would " of faith." The late Archbishop of Paris. 357 acknowledge that such a concession was altogether contrary to the doctrine of the Church. All testimonies of tradition, I deem, contradict it."] " D. 28. Would not Christ have been united with us by a closer bond of brotherhood, if born of man and woman, had this been possible, as is supposed in the opinion of the Imma- culate Conception ? " D. 29. Is any special teaching for the forming of life de- rivable from that mystery, so that a definition could be judged, if not necessary, at least useful ? " D. 30. Do they not do wrong to the Blessed Virgin, who expect singular and illustrious graces from the decree as to the Immaculate Conception? ["Such as, that there should here- after be no foreign wars, no civil discord, the empire of error be destroyed ; every where truth, peace, and charity." " When they exhibit to us the Blessed Virgin rejoicing in such honour, and therefore exulting, that we acknowledge her singular privi- lege, and, as a reward, taking care to pour most copious trea- sures of her gifts into the Church, do they not clothe the Queen of the heavenly Court with the failings of our infir- mities ? Do they not represent her as a woman, desirous of vain glory, to whose feet each makes his way by flattery and blandishments ? These things, if not vain phrenzies, are in- vented to the reproach of the Virgin."] " D. 31. Will not the doctrinal decision, contrary to the mind of the Church, diminish the cultus and glory of the Blessed Virgin ? "D. 32. The doctrinal decision will profit neither the faithful nor the Church, nor the glory of the holy Mother of God. "D. 33. Will not Dissenters mock the Church for such a solemn decision, and be repelled further from it ? " D. 34. Perils, which will arise thence, in respect to the unbelievers and politicians of this time. " D. 35. Perils, which will arise thence in respect to some faithful, especially in the Diocese of Paris. [" These, though they neglect the precepts of religion, yet profess to reverence its doctrines. Their faith, philosophic (so to speak) rather than Christian, will be too weak to bear such a trial. We fear, lest they should reject what they have hitherto venerated, or at least remove further from the Church. These perils are 358 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V especially to be feared in the diocese " of Paris. " There are to be found in Paris, more than any -where else, men eminent for civil dignity, or science, or wealth, or authority, who by their example affect others, and whom we are constrained to count in this class. Moved thereby, my predecessor of glorious memory " (the Archbishop who died as a martyr) " gave the same opinion as myself to the Holy See, asserting that the definition as to the Immaculate Conception would be rather a scandal than to edification among those of his Diocese."] " D. 36. Perils, which will arise as to some Catholic Theo- logians. [" These will endure anxiously this new head of con- troversy, this new definition which can be confirmed by no tradition, nay, -which, as many learned among them think, is at variance with the belief of former centuries of the Church. "Which peril, if it be lighter on the part of those who listen tractably to the Church, will appear much graver, if we con- sider those who profess to reject the heretics condemned in modern times, yet tread closely in their footsteps. Such per- chance may be found among us."] " D. 37. Will not new heresies arise out of a doctrinal de- cision ? [" Probably ' Anti-conceptionists ' will arise, and some of them will not hesitate to assert that the assistance of the Holy Spirit was not promised to the Church, to settle at pleasure mere theoretical questions. What marvel, if among the adherents of the new dogma, some, of more rigid minds, resting on the grounds I have hinted at [Doubts 27, 28], should come to deny the Virginity of Mary, and the operation of the Holy Ghost in the Incarnation ?"] " D. 38. "Will not the decision of the question turn to the ruin of a great munber of souls without any compensation ? " The wishes of the faithful, that the pious opinion of the Immaculate Conception should be counted among dogmas of faith, or at least among truths defined as certain, are inces- santly produced to us as a decisive ground. They who so boast, most Blessed Father, exceed the limits of truth. To us the faithful seem to have no wish as to this definition. They are contented to pour forth devout prayers to the Immaculate Virgin. If any pious souls, more inclined to that faith, have uttered such a wish, they are, beyond question, very few. But be they, in respect to the unbelieving, heretics, or indifferent, 11 of faith.' 11 The two last Archbishops of Paris. 359 as one, I do not say, to a thousand, but to a hundred, the piety or faith of this faithful soul will profit nothing by that defi- nition, if it turn to the destruction of those hundred unbe- lievers, heretics, indifferentists. Why, without reasonable or sufficient motive, without evident necessity, or any benefit, at the good pleasure alone of some pious faithful, should we imperil so many souls ? I conclude, " 1. It is at least doubtful whether the Church can declare the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception to be certain and obli- gatory. If its power is doubtful, it ought to be silent, since there is no necessity of speaking at this time. Your Holiness is not unaware, that many of the theologians who have written about the definability of this question, even such as have grave weight with the Holy See, went further than we ; they do not say that the authority of the Church in defining such questions is doubtful, they deny it altogether. But we, most Blessed Father, believe the matter to be doubtful, and that in matters of doubt there ought to be no action. 2. Since the Immaculate Conception cannot be demonstrated to the unbelieving or to heretics, either by Holy Scripture or by tradition ; since, more- over, both reason and science raise difficulties, either in them- selves insoluble or at least inextricable, against this opinion, if the Church were by a solemn decree to declare it obligatory, the Catholic controversy would in this point become weak and powerless. But thereby the authority of the Church becomes cheaper, the gravity of her decrees becomes questioned, and the truth of her doctrinal decisions is denied with increased temerity. Again then, most Blessed Father, moved by this most grave argument, we will say, the Church ought to ab- stain from any decree whereby the opinion as to the Immacu- late Conception would become obligatory. 3. Although by such a decree the Church should neither weaken her own sacred and infallible authority, nor the deposit of revealed doctrines which have been already defined, in the sight of the unbelieving and of heretics, she ought to abstain from passing it, on account of the inutility of the decree itself. For as we have tried to show, the decree in question would be useless, if not hurtful, — useless to the faithful, useless to the Church, useless in respect to the glory of the Blessed Virgin. This threefold inutility, even apart from the perils to Bouls, 300 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. abundantly suffices to make the course, which some expect the Supreme Pontiff to attempt, to appear illegitimate." — ii. 26. 2. Louis, Archbishop of Rouen. — " I consider that this belief is not clearly contained in the deposit of the Holy Scriptures. I consider that tradition in this respect is want- ing in precision and unanimity. Had the tradition been clear, could S. Anselm, S. Bonaventura, S. Bernard, S. Thomas, Bel- larmine, and so many others, have been ignorant of it ? I consider that the belief in the Immaculate Conception does not reach, in a way at all explicit or imposing, above the eleventh century ; and that if new beliefs or devotions, favour- able to piety and nowise contrary to order, may be wisely tolerated and even encouraged, it is still advisable to leave them as free beliefs and simple devotions. I consider that a dogmatic definition, under present circumstances, would be both superfluous and perilous. Superfluous, because no one now disputes the Blessed Virgin the privilege of her most pure Conception, and it is not the custom of the Church to erect into an article of faith what is disputed by no one. Perilous, because, considering the state of minds at this moment, it is to be feared that such a definition will only be a signal for the most lively discussions, the most wounding imputations. What, for instance, will the English Theologians, so well versed in the study of Ecclesiastical Antiquity, do or say, when they shall see the Holy See define, as a point of faith, a matter which so many ages have scarcely had a glimpse of (entrevue), which so many holy persons and great doctors have either denied or been .ignorant of? Will they not think that the Church, at this day, holds cheap that principle of S. Vincent of Lerins, so certain and venerable, quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus ? And will not the Catholic doctrine itself suffer much, as a whole, if, as has been recently the case, certain imprudent champions of the most Holy Virgin, in order the better to support the privilege of her Immaculate Conception, maintain publicly, that many of our sacred doctrines do not rest on any more solid foundation, on any more certain tradition ? Instead of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception being fortified, will not other much more important doctrines be shaken ? And, most Holy Father, I fear much that in this case the wish to make good " of faith." Abp. of Rouen, Bp. of Coutanges. 361 better will injure the good. I fear for the peace of the Church, which, on occasion of this new dogma, may witness destructive passions roused against her and within her own bosom. I fear for the honour of the Popes, who will be re- presented as having been, for 300 years, occupied in stifling free discussion on the subject ; forbidding on the one side, under grave penalties, any sort of attack upon the privi- lege of the Immaculate Conception, and, on the other, fa- vouring, by all possible means, the expansion of this pious belief. I fear even for yourself. — Will it not be said that Pius IX. exposed the bark of Peter to frightful tempests, for a matter in which the faith is not concerned, and which is inca- pable of any application to human conduct ? On all these grounds, I opine that there is no room for erecting into a dogma of faith the pious belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin. Par from desiring such a decree, I should regard it as a dangerous thing, as a two-edged sword, capable of wounding the hand which should use it. I should rejoice certainly, in the interest of the mother of God, but I should be disquieted, in the interest of the Church and her glorious head ; and I would not purchase so dear the consolations of piety."— -i. 357—9. 3. The Bishop of Coutanges. — "Having been taught that pious opinion from boyhood, we, for ourselves and as the in- terpreters of the whole Clergy, all profess that Mary was conceived without stain. Yet we are persuaded, that there is no necessity or advantage in deciding or teaching, as an Article of faith, that Mary was conceived without stain of original sin ; nay, we all unanimously think it inopportune and full of peril. Por whence should that necessity or advantage be derived ? No question is raised about it ; no adversary of the Immaculate Conception, not the very least, appears ; Catechists teach it to boys, Divinity Professors to seminarists, Preachers of the Divine word to the faithful. Every where piously preached, it is every where piously received. "Moreover, neither the Church nor the Holy See ever, as far as we know, erected any opinion piously believed into the dignity of a dogma, unless some controversy of greater moment were raised about it. " We think then, positively, that there is absolutely no 362 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. fitting occasion for it ; but there appears to us grave peril, if the matter be touched in the very least. " Every oue knows with what efforts Eationalists and Pro- testants are assailing the bark of Peter, the authority of the Eoman Pontiff, nay, the Church herself. Every one knows how many blasphemies the enemies of the Christian name pour out to weaken the Divine Monarchy. Every one knows with what calumnies those same inexorable enemies impugn daily the articles of faith. " If what was hitherto a mere opinion is to-morrow, at the good pleasure of certain Bishops, to be believed de Fide, under pain of damnation ; if, what the S. Council of Trent itself (as Pallavicini attests) would not decree, although then contro- verted and strongly impugned ; if, what Pope Pius V., of holy memory, Gregory XY., and Alexander VII. declared to be, not a dogma, but a mere pious opinion, what might be con- tradicted without note of heresy, should be delivered as a doctrine by decree of the present supreme Pontiff, would not the aforesaid Eationalists and all uncatholics take occasion for assailing anew and more fiercely all our doctrines with their impious speeches ? !N"ay, doubtless, a handle would be given them causelessly for so doing. " But what is to be more feared, than to raise up these waves of passions and opinions, especially at this time, when the whole world is shaken with unwonted commotions, in which Peter (alas !) is ejected from his See, &c. ? In these storms of tribulations, in this whirlpool of great crimes, in these perils and straits of all sorts, all faithful Christians turn their eyes to Mary, think of Mary, and call on her, piously and most inwardly believing that she was conceived without stain. " Moved by these reasons of graver moment, we judge that a dogmatic decree as to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed A T irgin Mary, which could with the greatest difficulty be derived from Holy Scripture or tradition, should, at least for a time, be abstained from." — i. 362, 363. 4. The Bishop of Evreux. — "In obedience to the com- mands of your Holiness, I have convened the most able Theo- logians of my diocese ; I joined them to my Episcopal Council, and, after having interrogated and heard them, after having long studied and meditated in presence of our Lord Jesus " of faith." Bishop of Evreux, Chartres. 3G3 Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, after having humbly entreated the Holy Spirit to have pity upon my misery and profound ignorance, this is my answer to the questions put by your Blessedness in your admirable letter. " 1. I do not think it well-timed to agitate at this moment the question of the Immaculate Conception ; (1) because it is attacked by no Catholic, and has never been more generally admitted than iu our century ; (2) because many Protestants, reconciled by our most loved and holy Pope Pius IX. with the Papacy, are in the way to return, and that nothing would be more calculated to alienate them, than the obligation which would be laid upon them to cease to regard the belief in the Immaculate Conception as a matter of opinion. " 2. I do not believe that the passages of Holy Scripture are precise enough, nor the language of tradition explicit enough, or certain enough in all Centuries, that this opinion (certain as it seems to me) should be advanced to be a dogma of faith. " The rules laid down by all Theologians seem to contradict this. " Our great strength, when we discuss with heretics, is this maxim of S. Vincent of Lerins, — Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus traditum est, Sfc. " On these grounds, which it would seem to me unsuitable and perfectly useless to develope to your Holiness, I would conjure you to abide by the examples of your Venerable Pre- decessors in the Apostolic See, and to leave amid oppositions this holy opinion, which Bossuet called the most certain of truths."— i. 100, 101. 5. The Bishop of Chartres. — " Never in my flock, and, I assert confidently, in all the Dioceses of Prance, did faithful Catholics burn with greater devotion and love towards Mary, never did they place fuller confidence in her ; never in tribu- lations did they with more fervent impetus seek protection at her feet. Nothing can be added to the most lively significa- tions of cultus towards Mary, which burst forth on all sides from the hearts of the faithful. It follows, that the pronounc- ing of this dogma ' of faith ' will add nothing to this full, complete, and (so to speak) exuberant devotion. Nay, so far from kindling, it would burden, hinder, disturb it. Por what confusion ! what tumults ! what protestations of rebellious "64 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. J\ men ! The Jansenists and other Catholics of weak or less proved faith would cry out against the insertion of this dogma amoDg articles of faith ; they would rise up most boldly against it, try to draw Augustine, Bernard, Thomas, on their side ; excite discord, assail with doubts and cavils the cultus of the Deipara which already includes the Immaculate Conception, and, so far from procuring any relaxation or comfort, would further accumulate the most vehement affliction of the Church. " 2. The Protestants, who incline to the Catholic faith, which the numerous conversions of very learned men, espe- cially in England, attest most gloriously, would be deterred by the newness of this dogma from completing what they have begun. They would think, that all the articles of faith were declared in the Council of Trent, and that that most learned synod completed the Catholic doctrine. The impious Bation- alists, Socialists, who are busy in entrapping the ignorance of the people by false interpretations of Evangelic doctrine, would try to accommodate this novelty to their ends, exclaiming that the Apostolic See, by sanctioning things hitherto unknown and unheard of, plainly favours their detestable comments. So then this plague, which no tears can expiate, would exult with fouler and more abominable licence. " 3. The faithful spontaneously, without constraint, without terror of Apostolic fulmination, believe, admire, venerate most profoundly the Immaculate Conception : devotion towards Mary seems thence the sweeter ; for voluntariness is the condiment of love, the sweet aspiration of piety, the seal of filial affection, &e. " To condense my meaning in few words, I declare it as rep;esented with wonderful clearness and absolute precision in the foDowing clause of the. most learned Petau : 'To bring to a close the discussion of this question, I think that the most holy Virgin Mother of God was free, not only from all actual sin of her own, but from original also. But I am so far per- suaded of this, that I would not have it counted of faith, nor would I believe that any one was to be condemned, or speak hardly of one who thinks otherwise; nor am I prepared to maintain it in any other way than that now prescribed by the Eoman Pontiffs and the Council of Trent, i. e. by the Catholic Church' (de Incarn. xiv. 2. 10). This tempered zeal circum- " °f faith" Annegy, 3Ieau.v : Carcassonne. 365 stances seem to me especially to recommend, as also Apostolic moderation, and the very necessary counsel not to add sharpest strifes about matters of faith to horrible civil tumults. I think that nothing ought to be added to the causes of division and heat of mind, whose fury and rage is unexampled from the beginning of the w orld. For the glory of the Virgin and the good of the Church, what, as Petau says, has been already decreed by supreme Pontiffs and the Council of Trent suffices. If, in a short time, as I most firmly believe, the most splendid benefits of the Virgin, who is terrible as an armed ho9t, require other attestations of gratitude, your Holiness has other honours at hand to discharge this debt, and declare throughout the world your piety and grateful remembrance." — i. 175, 176. 6. The Bishop of Annecy. — " We readily own to your Blessedness, that to us it would appear better, if a solemn sen- tence, whereby the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin should be proposed to be believed as an article of faith and true dogma, should be abstained from, For, in our opinion, such a judgment could not easily escape the note of novelty, as being contrary to the practice of the Church, which has not been wont to define Christian truths, resting on Scripture or transmitted by tradition, as to be held as dogmas under pain of anathema, unless they were impugned by some." — i. 445, 446. 7. The Bishop of Meaux. — " We confess that we do not think that, in the circumstances of these times, it is opportune that a matter, about which Doctors and Theologians, most dis- tinguished for piety and knowledge, have so long controverted among themselves, should be defined by a solemn judgment. We confess too, that we fear lest the cultus of the most Holy Virgin, conceived without stain, should suffer detriment ; and the piety which now of its own accord pays her distinguished honours should be chilled, when, by force of a dogmatic defi- nition, they shall seem less voluntary. It is to be feared too, lest the authority of Mother Church should perchance be diminished by the clamours of the pseudo-reformed and un- believing philosophers of these times, on all sides, that the faith is changed in the lapse of time, and that new doctrines are daily coined by the Church." — ii. 363. 8. The Bishop of Carcassonne. — " In these most miserable and sorrowful times, very many, who have been baptized in the 366 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, desert this faith, or, retaining its elements, have entangled it with so many false doctrines, that their mind, ever struggling against the truth, is most ready for every sort of scandal. Wherefore we fear lest, things being so, a solemn dogmatic definition of the Imma- culate Conception of the Most Holy Virgin Mary would give occasion to the ungodly and to heretics to sadden the Church by disputations, and to assail with contumelies and blasphemies the Mother of the Saviour, whom we venerate singularly with the inmost affections of the heart. Whence we think that there is ground to doubt, whether the pro- mulgation of such a decree, which in other times would fill our heart with joy, would be opportune at present." — hi. 333. 9. The Bishop of Amiens. — " But although, by that defi- nition, the most pious opinion as to the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God is set forth, as founded in the doctrine of the Universal Church, nor can it be called in question with- out condemnable temerity, or contradicted without note of error, there lack not among us such as think that, if that doctrine should be assimilated to an express article of faith, there would be ground to fear, lest controversies should arise in the schools as to the conditions required for an express article of faith. Thence, they say. perhaps would be scandal to the weak, discussions and strifes of words among the learned ; and to the heretics and unbelieving occasion would be given of speaking things wrong and injurious to religion." — i. 135. 10, 11. The Archbishop of Rheims, and the Bishop of Sois- sons said the same, more concisely, but with the same leading words, as the wish of themselves, the Canons, Directors of Semi- naries, Professors of Divinity, Parish Priests, and pious Laity. — i. 121, 122. hi. 290. 12. The Bishop of Beauvais. — " In order to proceed with due prudence in a matter of such moment, we did not neglect to consult the Canons of our Church and some pres- byters conspicuous for piety and learning. Some of them, (although all believe from the heart that Mary was free from original taint, yet having maturely weighed the question.) had some doubts whether the testimonies of Holy Scripture and tradition were so clear and unshaken that it might be settled u of faith." Amiens, Rheims, Beauvais, Blois. 3G7 by a dogmatic decree. They thought also that perhaps it was not necessary, since the most pious opinion as to the Immacu- late Conception is, at this time, not impugned, and is not connected with the defence of other dogma or rules of life ; nay, that it was not opportune, since there was ground to fear that heretics and unbelievers would say, that tradition was corrupted by the Church, or that new dogmas gradually crept in or were invented at will, and that thus, on account of a new decree on controverted doctrine, the weak might be turned away from embracing the ancient faith. "We should be glad that the words of the decree should be so softened, that they who do not assent to this privilege [of the Blessed Virgin] should remain free from the note, of heresy, in that it should be declared that the Church does not err when it teaches, that the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God, was wholly free from all taint of original fault. By a decree thus tempered, the end intended would be gained, the Catholic truth would be asserted, the piety of the faithful fostered, and heretics or unbelievers would have no place of crying out against the Church."— i. 320, 321. 13. The Bishop of Blois. — " In publishing such a definition, there is need of very great caution and indulgence for the salvation of many, since, in our times, the sense of Catholic truths is much diminished. Every one sees this, who considers things attentively and judges from experience, that there are men now, some indifferent to religion, others wholly intent on politics, many fevered with the licence of thinking what they will, and so that the truths of Christian faith and piety are obscured among the people ; and, accordingly, that the dog- matic definition of our most pious opinion, whereas at first it would be entertained with joy and gratulation by the pious and learned, would be received by most other Catholics with a dull carelessness, not to say, worse. For perchance (and this is not improbable on account of the age, the feverishness of men and the pride of the insolent) an opinion which seems to them new will cause hindrance or delay to some sinners in returning to the Father's house. Nay, manifoldly as the pastors may instruct the people, it is to be feared that many pious faithful will, with difficulty or not at all, understand how the Church, after eighteen centuries, should now employ 368 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. itself in proposing to all Christians, as an article of faith necessary to salvation, that which before it had left to the free and pious choice pf each ; especially since, in these our times, there is scarcely any one who disputes the truth of the Immaculate Conception, but every learned and religious Catholic accounts it a duty and merit to believe and profess it." — i. 211, 212. On the other hand, the Bishop of Blois set the need of con- solation which the Church had from the Blessed Virgin, which rendered the definition timely ; and so, in due regard to the charity needed by so many, weak and ignorant, blind and un- believing, asked the Pope not to define it so directly and expressly, that they who should not believe it, should thereby be separated from the Church, and incur the note and penalty of heresy. 14. The Archbishop of Bourges gave the opinion of eccle- siastics very distinguished for theological science, whom he had consulted, and who had given him their mature judgment. " It seems that, iu these troubled and stormy times, the pub- lication of this defiuition would perhaps give a handle to the enemies of God's Holy Church to raise new calumnies, and vomit forth blasphemies, whence no light scandal might arise, especially to the unlearned and weak ; they too, who are fre- quently engaged in controversy with un-Catholics, fear lest the very greatest hindrance should thus be put to the return of heretics on the point of coming back to the bosom of Mother Church, since there is nothing which they more abhor, nothing which turns them more from the Catholic faith. Moreover, some, who piously believe and profess the Immaculate Con- ception of the Blessed Virgin, think that this question, although clear, is not such that that well-known rule of Vincent of Lerins, ' quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus traditum est,' could be applied to it. Whence they think that, according to the ancient custom of the Church, it ought not to be defined. But I, most Holy Father, although I exceedingly desire what- ever would be to the honour of the glorious Virgin, cannot but acknowledge, on the aforesaid grounds, that a definition thereon from the Apostolic See perhaps would be inopportune, and would not make for peace and unity, especially amid these present storms, fearing that greater evils would come from it than good."— i. 497, 498. " °f faith." Bourges, Versailles, Angers. 3G9 15. The Bishop of Versailles. — " Although I was myself among those who, out of a feeling of filial piety toward Mary, humbly prayed his Holiness, Gregory XVI. of glorious memory, to declare the Conception of Mary Immaculate by a solemn decree, I think it due to my conscience to set before your Holiness a thought of fear, perhaps exaggerated, which takes hold of me. " In the bosom of France there still live unbelieving children whom heresy keeps far from their home. In their deplorable blindness, they still reproach us with the worship we render to Mary. It is not without difficulty that we can bring them to believe about the Mother of God, what is already of faith. Shall we not find more obstacles to their return, when, to reconcile them to the Church, we shall have to require of them explicit faith in the Immaculate Conception? Perhaps, to anticipate this difficulty, there would be ground for not giving the character of a Catholic dogma to the truth of the Immacu- late Conception, especially seeing that, even if the Immaculate Conception should Dot be a necessary object of faith, the glorious Virgin would not be less honoured by all the pious faithful under this title."— ii. 101. 103. 16. TJw Bishop of Angers. — " A doubt arises, first, because minds are at rest, as I said, not only in my Diocese, but in every part of France, yea, in the whole Catholic Church. "Would it not be to be wished, that this peace and rest of souls should be maintained ? Would there not be peril of dis- turbing minds by passing a decree on that subject, the minds not of the pious, but of those, no few, who contradict the truth, and subject all things to the examination of reanon ? I confess \hat there is, as far as I know, no such peril for my diocese ; but, in our times, there are many who love liberty, impatient of a yoke, who superextol reason and its discoveries. In France, there is great liberty, not to say, great licence of thinking, writing, printing, which writers, and those of no mean sort, use and abuse, to bring all things, even religious and sacred, into mockery and contempt ; and so they impel others and are impelled themselves to evil and blasphemy. In this condition, then, of things and minds, it is to be feared that a dogmatic decision may perhaps cherish evil passions and open a door to dangerous discussions. a a 370 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. " A doubt arises, secondly, not now from the clamours of impious men, but from the novelty of the definition itself. For among those who are less audacious, among those too who seem fairly good, not a few may be found, who will wonder that this definition has been so long delayed, the thing being so evident and clear ; and who will venture to say, although undeservedly, that new dogmas are fabricated and devised by the Church. Many things have indeed been defined, in the lapse of time, which before were not counted among articles of faith. They were often impugned, whence it became necessary in a manner to define them. Here the case is different. The fact of the Immaculate Conception is admitted, and securely believed, in the whole Catholic Church ; nor does it appear, that piety toward the Blessed Virgin would be much increased by the supervention of such a decree.": — i. 257. 17. Savoy. The Archbishop of Chamber)/. — " The Clergy and people of this diocese burn with the most sincere devotion towards the Blessed Virgin ; they profess her Immaculate Conception as a pious and most probable opinion, but not as a doctrine to be held of necessity and ' de fide,' i. e. in much the same way in which they profess the Assumption of the Virgin to heaven, and her preservation from all, even venial sin ; and this, because the tradition of former ages of the Church does not seem clear enough to constitute an article of faith, and a true dogma to be believed by all under pain of mortal sin. It would seem then to us better to imitate the prudent line of the Council of Trent, by abstaining from any definition, as did that same Council (sess. 24, can. 7 and 8), by asserting, e. g. that the cultus which 'the Catholic Church uses towards the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mother is pious and holy.' " — i. 411, 412. 18. Switzerland. The Bishop of S. Gall—" From all this, I and my Councillors are persuaded that the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom, with the Holy Father and Holy Church, we firmly believe to have been conceived without stain and exempt from original sin, cannot be increased by any dogmatic decision or definition that she was so conceived", and that such a dogmatic decision is for this time superfluous. " But what, in our disturbed times, every where seduced by a false worldly light, seems to advise, not to enact, at present, "offaith." C]iamb6ry,S.Gall,Munich,Bamberg. 371 the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, but rather to defer it to a new era, as is hoped, more friendly to the Catholic religion and ohedient to the Vicar of Christ and Bishops of the Holy Church, is as follows, — " Such a superfluous dogmatic decree being delivered and published in Switzerland and Germany, infected by un-Catholics and innovators, various disputations would be caused, pamph- lets full of hatred and calumnies would be published, the dogma would be impugned and wickedly deformed in public papers, which find entrance every where ; and so the seduction of many would be to be feared, the obstinacy of un-Catholics would be strengthened, and they be turned further away from the truth. Public papers and pamphlets written against re- ligion would be published in far greater numbers than those in defence of the Catholic faith. " It does not seem advisable to bring forward a matter so delicate as that of the Conception, or any treatise about it, without necessity. The temptation to wicked and carnal authors, of casting forth foul things after the manner of the wretched Voltaire and his followers, would be too great." — iii. 302, 303. 19. Bavaria. The Archbishop of Munich. — " But whether, in the present circumstances of the Church, a definition is advisable or no, I scarce venture to decide, since it may be said, not without some appearance of truth, that such a defi- nition will provoke fresh discussions in countries where Catho- lics live mixed with heretics." — ii. 417. 20. Archbishop of Bamberg. — " By far the greatest part of the Clergy is persuaded that this is not the time to decide what remained so long undecided, and which so many of your Predecessors, and those so great, and the fathers of the Triden- tine Council itself, hesitated to decide. They think that such a decision will be of no benefit to the faithful people, in that it adheres to the pious opinion of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin spread far and wide ; and to the body of the more erudite and learned in our Germany the matter does not seem so clear that (whatever the very learned and illustrious Tramontanes may say, who have very recently written in behalf of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin) they can think that this opinion, which has been hitherto cherished A a 2 372 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. as pious, should be enrolled among dogmas, about which no one may doubt. They think that account should be had of the state of the times, most troubled both as to the eccle- siastical and civil polity ; that it does not belong to these times to revive inveterate disputes ; that there is peril, lest new rents should take place in the Church ; lastly, that it is no derogation from the cultus of the Blessed Virgin, if that should be left longer undecided, which has so long seemed matter of most difficult discussion. In this opinion of far the greatest part of ray Clergy, which I have learned from the report of the Deans, the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Bamberg joined unanimously, to which I cannot but unite myself. Be the dogmatic definition of this question left, most Holy Father, to other times. Be the decision of this matter reserved to a General Council to be celebrated hereafter. We have that sacred deposit of dogmas decided by the most holy fathers in General Councils, to defend which against the very frequent attacks of the heresies of this time, and to establish it in the minds of our faithful people, will suffice for our most arduous office." — ii. 59. 21. Archbishop of Gorizia and Gradisca. — " The peasantry, and other of the lower orders of the Diocese committed to my care, worships \colit~] most devotedly the most Blessed Virgin Mary, and frequents in great numbers the shriues in my diocese dedicated to her ; but it does not desire that the pious belief of her Immaculate Conception should be turned into a Catholic dogma, an Article of faith ; nor is the least wish for any such decision manifested among the people, as far as has become known to myself and other neighbouring Bishops. As for persons of the upper, and, as they are called, more culti- vated classes, they do indeed still retain the devotion and cultus of the Virgin Mary, although not in that fervour and number observable in the peasantry and poorer artisans ; but so far from desiring that the most pious opinion of the Imma- culate Conception of the Virgin Mary should be raised to the rank of Catholic dogmas or articles of the Holy Faith, they (at least the larger part of the aforesaid classes) are of directly the opposite mind. " The fratres minores of S. Francis, called Observants in the Convent of Castagnavira, are most devoted to the cultus of "of faith." Gorizia and Gradisca. 373 the Blessed Virgin Mary, and have an office of their own of the Immaculate Conception, but they have never manifested the least wish that the most pious belief of the Immaculate Conception should be changed into an article of faith, nay, rather, though most observant of the discipline of their rule, they fear the effect of such a decision in regard to the hete- rodox and to lukewarm Catholics, the number of whom is at this time immense. " I must say the same of the secular Clergy, which, with few exceptions, is pious and studious of sacerdotal discipline. [Then follows, "If the present state — full of peril," given above, pp. 188, 189.] " For in past years there were heard, and still are heard, the assertions of Protestants and indifferent Catholics, ' that Rome puts an unbearable yoke on the faithful, by coining new dogmas, and forming articles of faith from the rhetorical expressions of one or two fathers, and enjoining that that should be held with firm faith as a dogma, which a few centuries, nay, a few decennia before, might be questioned, and the assertors of the contrary whereof Roman Pontiffs had forbidden to condemn.' What then would happen, if the most pious faith (yea, ' the pious opinion,' as it still stands in Catechisms) of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, should be declared as a dogma of sacred faith ? Will it be an increase of faith ? Will it be a happier condition of the Catholic Church ? Is a restoration of affairs at Pome to be hoped therefrom ? I, as far as it is given me by God to see, fear exceedingly the con- trary. It is a matter, I must repeat, full of peril. When some years ago, under Gregory XVI., the same question was pro- posed to the Bishops, there came to me letters of Catholic Bishops from countries very remote from this, the writers whereof exclaimed in amazement, 'Does Pome mean to form new articles of faith ?' Should we have a more beneficial result now? I doubt most exceedingly." [Then follows, "Under these circumstances — the Son of God." Above, p. 189.] He sums up, " This is what, after instituting a mature examina- tion in the sight of God in this most grave matter, I thought I ought to explain to your Holiness, and I do explain it with all befitting submission of mind and reverence," &c. — i. 178, 179. 374 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. 22. The ArcTilishop of Salzlurg. — " This pious faith being now nowhere controverted, nay, every one being free, undis- turbed by any, to indulge this cultus in his own way, all gladly acquiesce in the most wise constitution of the Council of Trent published thereon, so that I do not know that any one wishes for a new decree of the Apostolic See. Moreover, history attests, that the Church then chiefly intervened by a peremptory decision, when the wrongful zeal of men attempted either to question, or to corrupt by sinister interpretation the faith given by God, neither of which is done (it is known) in the present case. Added to this, the opinion is fixed in the minds of very many, that there exists not such authority of Apostolic tradition, that the Immaculate Conception of the' most Blessed Virgin can be established by a decree divinely certain. Wherefore I think that it is much to be feared, that, whereas formerly most grave and lasting controversies were lulled by Apostolic decrees, issued on matters of faith, the declaration of the Holy See would this time rather furnish fresh matter for doubts and discords about that question which are now quite hushed or unknown, and the enemies of the Church, ever ready to censure, would take occasion thence of impiously calumniating her, as though she debvered new dogmas without the suffrage of Divine tradition. Being then com- manded by your Holiness to explain candidly my mind in this matter, considering the adjuncts of the times, I cannot bring myself to think that the counsel to declare that pious belief as a Catholic dogma is opportune, or that it will really advance that cultus. In that ferment of minds which now prevails, very inimical to religion and piety, I fear that such a public and solemn declaration is a matter full of peril, such as the other many and great difficulties with which the Church now struggles, seem to dissuade from voluntarily provoking." — i. 326, 327. 23. The Bishop of Trieste.— ■" The people of the united Diocese of Trieste and Capo d'Istria are animated with such devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Marv, that any doubt which might be newly raised as to this doctrine would excite the greatest disturbance of mind, and give useless, nay, very perilous occasion to theological questions among the laity themselves. For this cause I omitted express " °f faith" Salzburg, Trieste, Moravia. 375 mention of the wish that it should at last be decided by a solemn judgment that the Blessed Virgin was conceived without original taint, in order to maintain the laudable and firm opinion of the faithful people herein ; and also I did not venture to express openly the consideration of the topic, to guard against discussions among some of the clergy them- selves, who keep silence as to the opposite opinion, not out of any conviction of their own, but rather out of obe- dience. " For myself, I own plainly, that it is extremely to be desired that the intention of the most Holy Council of Trent (Sess. v.), according to which the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary was not comprised in the decree as to original sin, should be explained more clearly, and the Catholic doctrine of her Immaculate Conception should be defined in unambiguous terms ; yet, having weighed the aforesaid considerations, I should wish to follow the counsel of many brethren (' con- fratrum,' other Bishops), who in the present circumstances and at this time hold that it is better that any direct defini- tion should be deferred, and wish only for a tacit definition, decreeing the sanctity of the ecclesiastical rite now used in the cultus of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin." — i. 435, 436. 21,25. Moravia. The Archbishop of Olmutz, and the Hishop of Brilnn. — ■" Nevertheless, the most humbly subscribed cannot adopt the opinion that now at present this pious assertion should be placed by a Pontifical decree among dogmas of faith. The gravest reason, whereby, after mature deliberation and fervid imploring of light from above, they feel themselves moved so to judge, is taken from the most difficult circum- stances of the countries over whose Churches they are set. A most cunning heresy spreads with impunity in these parts, which has been wont most greedily to seize every handle for criminating the Catholic Church. Among divers protests, whereby it attempts to entice the faithful to its side, is this also, that they blatter, (certainly, without any solid foundation,) that the Catholic Church forms new dogmas at will. But if, by a solemn judgment of the Holy Apostolic See, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin should be defined at this time as a dogmatic doctrine of the Catholic Church, doubtless 376 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. that most false incrimination would shake many, less firm in the Catholic faith, with great peril of souls. This peril ought the more to be considered, because hitherto, through an erroneous statement of the subject, the Immaculate Concep- tion of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been considered by many faithful of the Catholic Church as only a pious opinion ; accordingly, it could not be without disturbance of minds, that what (although persuaded of its truth, and not doubting) they seemed until now only to opine, they should be obliged to revere as a Catholic dogma. " Our counsel, therefore, tends to this, that, until circum- stances be changed, things should remain as they are. The faithful do not doubt the Immaculate Conception to the Tirgin Deipara ; the cultus of that mystery increases daily ; souls then are not imperilled on the head of truth's not being ac- knowledged ; but contrariwise no slight perils are avoided, which come reasonably to bo feared from the dogmatic pro- nouncement of the truth by the Apostolic See. " This state of things was the ground why the most humbly subscribed hesitated to execute the exhortation of your Holi- ness, prudently accounting that the appointment of public prayers in their dioceses for the obtaining of light from above for counsel to be taken in this matter, could not be without detriment to religion and the Holy Apostolic See." — iii. 232, 233. 25. b) The four Bishops of Bohemia. — They thank the Pope, for " the most precious letter, wherein in sweetest words the feelings of our mind towards the most Blessed Virgin are expressed;" and they state that they had assiduously en- deavoured to promote among the people " the Catholic cultus of her." " Full of the same faith as your Holiness, that the most Blessed Virgin was conceived without any stain of original fault, we gave public testimony of this faith in the prayer addressed to the Predecessor of your Holiness, of most pious memory, Gregory XVI., that we might be allowed publicly to enunciate and add the word Immaculate in the Preface aud Litanies of the Blessed Virgin Mary. " So then, unanimous and joyous, we report to your Holi- ness that this faith, that the Blessed Virgin Mary was con- 11 of faith." Bps. of Bohemia, Abp. of Breslau. 377 ceived without any stain of original fault, is held both by the clergy and the faithful people as a doctrine of our Holy Church from most ancient tradition. " Nevertheless, since the question is, that this faith be decreed by the solemn judgment of the Apostolic See, we, following the most venerable example of your Holiness, thought that we ought to consult some persons proved by piety and theological discipline. Having heard their judgment, and weighed it maturely in the Lord, we thought that we ought to signify to your Holiness that this faith, as we have set forth, is vivid, and is taught of old in our Christian people and clergy, but that because in these last times there has been no controversy about this belief, and no heretical doctrines, op- posed to it, seem to urge such a decision ; the modern adjuncts of time, place, and men do not recommend that this most ancient belief should be decreed as a doctrine by the solemn judgment of our holy Eoman Catholic Church. For the multitude of unbelievers, heretics, and adversaries of our holy Church in our neighbourhood, and living among the faithful in our regions, would abuse such a decision most foully to their own perverse ends by their diabolic calumnies ; so that we have good grounds to fear, lest many of the weak, the number whereof hath very greatly increased through the machinations of false prophets, be seduced, and make ship- wreck of their faith, and, with their faith, of their everlasting salvation. " This our judgment, besought from the Lord with assiduous prayers, which we signify to your Holiness," &c. — ii. 403. 26. Archbishop of Breslau, to the Apostolic Nuncio at Vienna. — " According to the opinion of the most zealous and en- lightened Catholics such a disturbance would infallibly arise, if the dogmatic decree [on the Immaculate Conception] should be passed by the Holy See. The Protestant writers con- tending, pro aris et focis, would seize it as a welcome prey, to deafen anew their poor people by their cries against the papacy and the manufacture of dogmas discovered after eighteen centuries ; unbelievers would join in chorus with the pietists, and would discharge fresh floods of sarcasms and blasphemies against this holy mystery ; the literary Jewish youth would especially excel therein. So much for thusu 378 Doubts as to waking Immac. Cone, of B. V. w ithout. "Within, the secular war in the schools of theology, appeased with so much difficulty, would be kindled anew ; that very delicate point of the infallibility of the Pope would give it an accession of combustible matter; the opposition of a part of the clergy imbued with Xeologism, in the Ehine provinces, in Baden, and in Bohemia, would also find food therein ; and as the result, instead of edification and a new spring of piety and devotion in the Catholic people, there would be nothing but troubles, divisions, scandals, disturbances without and within, — things a thousand times more dangerous now than they were in past centuries. • " I have re-read before I decided on writing this letter to you, my 'Lord, the chapters of Pallavicini (Hist, of the Council of Trent), and of Petau (Theol. Dogm. T. vi. L. xiv. c. 2) on this subject ; and this study has encouraged me to do so. History proves that hitherto the Holy See has only given dogmatic decrees to appease polemic and scandalous strifes, or to repress dangerous errors. In the present case neither of these grounds is apparent; the ground for acting would be a pure motive of piety, of devotion, — a motive very beautiful, very precious in the eyes of God and of every faithful soul,— a motive, which for certain countries and certain people might also be founded on the fruits to be looked for, but which for our country (as I have had the honour to explain to you, my Lord) is counterbalanced by greater considerations, which dis- cover the greatest dangers to the Church in the pronouncing of such a decree. I have allayed my Episcopal conscience, my Lord, in communicating to you my thoughts and appre- hensions in this matter. I have spoken to you as the organ of the sovereign Pontiff. I repeat once more, that, in what I have just set forth, I find myself of one mind with all the most zealous and enlightened Catholics in our country. Make what use of this letter you please. ' Disi et salvavi auimam meam.' "— ii. 466. 477. 27. The Bishop of JVarmia. — " The Clergy of this diocese — entertain a singular devotion to the most glorious A T irgin ; — but as to her conception, many (and among them the Chapter of Wttrmia) have given their judgment, that in these turbulent times, ill-disposed as to ecclesiastical as well as civil matters, for the guarding against heresies and avoidance of schisms, it " °f faith" Bishops of Warmia, Munster. 370 is not expedient to decree any thing new in this matter by Apostolic authority, but that it is more suitable, that this faith should, until a more fitting time, be left under the terms which the holy Tridentine Synod laid down (Sess. v.), on original sin. Yet after deducting these, there is still a great number of those who have openly professed the Immaculate Conception, with the most ardent desire that this faith should be decreed and confirmed by Apostolic authority." " Among the people of the diocese of Warmia, which is, with inmost devotion, addicted to the worship of the most Holy Virgin, — the faith of the Immaculate Conception obtains universally, although there are those, who, being less instructed in the faith, under the term ' Immaculate Conception,' apprehend and believe not the origin of the Virgin herself, but the Con- ception of God-Man in the Virgin's womb, by the operation of the Holy Ghost. The faith in the Immaculate Conception is cherished and fed among the people of Warmia by the diligence of the parisli priests, especially in sermons ; and, as I am persuaded, none of the clergy, although he hold an opposite opinion, would venture to teach or say any tiling to injure the pious faith in the Immaculate Conception among the people, or whereby that faith might be imperilled or made matter of doubt. But there are some among the people of Warmia, who fear lest, if any thing new be decreed by Apostolic authority about the Con- ception of the Blessed Virgin, the uninstructed people, who caunot distinguish between dogma and that which is only to be piously believed, may bring into some peril the faith as to the Immaculate Conception too, which now exists universally." 28. The Bishop of Munster. — " As to the longing that this opinion should now be defined by the Apostolic See as a doctrine of the Catholic Church, no wishes of this sort have reached me hitherto, except of some men whose opinion was especially sought. Nay, there are not wanting those who think that a dogmatic decision will not be without peril for these times and for Germany. Nor would I deny that, according to the charapter of the times, and in the provinces of our German fatherland, in which so many adherents of un-Catholic dogmas live mostly mixed with Catholics, controversies might arise on occasion of this definition, injurious to Catholicism, and perilous 380 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. to those Catholics who are less deeply acquainted with Catholic doctrine, and so are more easily moved by the objec- tions of unbelievers and heretics." — vii. pp. exxxviii, ix. 29. The Bishop of Paderborn. — " But even though I am persuaded that the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception rests on a firm foundation of truth, yet about the other question, whether this our time is opportune and fitted for the emanation of the aforesaid dogmatic declaration, I can scarce remove all doubt. At least, considering the circumstances of my diocese, which is manifoldlv extended amid regions alto- gether Protestant, and weighing especially the character of this restless time, very much inclined to dissensions and dispu- tations, religious as well as political, it is to be feared that the adversaries of the Church would from that dogmatic definition get a handle for disputations and revilings against our holy religion ; and lest to such of the faithful as are inadequately instructed in Divine things, or who cleave but lukewarmlv to the Holy Mother Church, scandals should arise thence and perils of discord and alienation from the orthodox faith. When I weigh these things, and at the same time revolve that the greater part of the faithful people are already heartily devoted to the pious opinion of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, and so, that there is no urgent necessity for the dogmatic declaration of the same; after having long and much weighed in my mind the bearings of this most grave matter, it seems to me most expedient, to the benefit of the Church, and to the praise of our most loving Mother Mary, if that dogmatic definition should be 1 not abandoned altogether,' but deferred for a time, until more quiet and peaceful times be restored to our Germany, and until the Church shall enjoy a firmer and consolidated fruition of the liberties granted to her in these last times by kings and princes. " This my sentence, whereto all the members of the Chapter of this Cathedral Church and other learned and good priests agree,I, explaining to your Holiness with the greatest devotion and all fitting confidence, leave the whole matter to your prudence and wisdom ; and whatever you, under the inspiration of God, shall think it conducive to His honour to determine or define thereon, that I will, with readiest heart and due submission, receive as the utterance of God, will ratify and profess by word and " of faith." Paderborn, Treves, Hildesheim. 381 deed throughout the diocese entrusted to my pastoral care." — iii. 181. 30. The Bishop of Treves. — " I confess that, for some little time, I, with some other Ecclesiastics, hesitated whether, having regard to un-Catholics, with whom, in most dioceses in Ger- many, we live intermixed, an opportune time has arrived for such a solemn declaration, in that I fear therefrom new cavils and incriminations against holy Mother Church, and against the holy Apostolic See. " But, having weighed the matter more maturely, I have laid aside all doubt, and firmly trust in the Lord, that the Concep- tion of the Immaculate Virgin, defined as a doctrine of the Catholic Church, will contribute most exceedingly to confound the adversaries of the faith, inasmuch as it is she who alone slew all heresies in the whole world." — vii. p. clvii. 31. The Bishop of Hildesheim. — " 1. In celebrating this [feast of the Immaculate Conception] the most Blessed Virgin is considered by the people all beautiful and without stain, so that they could not think that it would come into controversy ; hence they do not desire any decision. "2. There is scarce any hope that the devotion of the people should be increased by such decision ; rather, it is to be feared lest they should marvel at such a decree in a matter certain to them, and lest the younger should by its publication be incited ' ad cogitationes minus puras.' But as to the rest, who are alien from the Catholic Church, there is danger lest it should be made a handle of assailing the cultus of the Blessed Virgin with new calumnies. " Wherefore the greater part thought that a dogmatic decree was neither necessary, at least in these regions, nor desirable. "As to the Clergy, their opinions differed. The greater part professes the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin ; others consider it only a ' pious opinion,' sup- porting themselves by the decree of the Council of Trent. (Sess. v., of Original Sin.) "For myself, I profess that the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin seems to me inseparable from the dignity of the Mother of God, and, on the ground of the consent of the Church at this time, certain. But whether or no its dogmatic definition is desirable, at least for our regions, and is for the 0S2 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. good of the Church and the greater honour of the Blessed Yirgin, this, for the reasons set forth ahove by the Clergy, and which are not to be altogether thought lightly of, I would not dare to affirm. " — iii. 316. 32. Bishop ofFulJa. — " Tet neither among the Clergy are there wanting men, who, distinguished for knowledge, full of piety towards Mother Church, have indeed the same faith as others as to the Immaculate Conception of the Yirgin Mary, and who, should any thing be enacted by the Apostolic See thereon, would embrace it most humbly ; yet do not advise or wish that it should be done in our turbulent times, wherein impiety rages with such impunity, and neither Church nor State enjoy peace. They regard the greater part of the faith- ful people, who, even without any declaration of the Church that the most Blessed Virgin enjoys this prerogative, venerate the undefined Mother: they regard the tepid, living chiefly in cities with un-Catholics, who, not being stable in faith, nor well grounded in charity towards the most pious Yirgin, if a controversy should perchance arise between them and the adversaries of the Catholic faith, may easily be worsted : they regard the countless host of enemies, to whom, as they fear, an opportune occasion and handle would be given by the doctrine decided by the judgment of the Apostolic See, of calumniating the spouse of our Lord, the Catholic Church, and of inveighing most bitterly against the undefiled Yirgin, especially since, at this time, all things are disturbed in Germany, all are confused, aud that ancient serpent aims at the heel more vehemently than ever. Although I do not deny that these anxieties are not to be held cheap or despised, and would not conceal them from your Holiness, yet, after having poured forth copious prayers to God the Father of Light, I cannot subscribe to their opinion, which, approaching the throne of your Holiness. I can- didly confess. For the greater the number of adversaries, the more insolently they persecute the Lord Christ in His Church, the more the secular arm is shortened, the more impotent have become the kings who protect her, the more ought the Church, who has to contend with the powers of darkness, to pray for her aid and help, who bruised the serpent's head, to extol with praises and venerate with prayers her, who, praying her Son, aloue slew all heresies in the whole world." — ii. 439. u of faith" Fulda, Limburg, Spire, Malines. 383 33. J. A. Paredis, Apostolic Administrator of Limburg. — Alleged against the decision: "1. The question was too much agitated formerly without any fruit to souls. 2. Both sides have been defended by persons above all exception, nay, saints. 3. Those who denied or opposed it were as devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and venerated her as much as those who defended it. 4. The question is at this time extinct altogether, at least in this country. 5. The faithful are either ignorant of, or misunderstand the question." "But, on the other side, 1. According to the mind of the most Holy Lord, the mind of all Bishops, &c. in this matter has been sought. 2. The faithful were instructed of this, and exhorted to pour out prayer to this end. 3. The question then has in some measure revived, and if a definition do not follow, its issue is unknown. 4. For the affirmative, there are motives founded on theological reason, and on practice pretty general at this day ; therefore on this side I think the con- trary, and judge that a dogmatic definition may be published. " Meanwhile, our most Holy Lord, Pope Pius IX., will judge in his prudence and infallibility, and his judgment is ours." — - hi. 308. 33. b) The Bishop of Spire. — Himself desired its promulga- tion as an article of faith, but added, " The matter being of so great moment I cannot but observe, that there are some theo- logians and ecclesiastics who do not at all think that a doc- trine hitherto left to the disputations of the schools should be defined by an immutable sentence, whereby free judgment on the matter should be cut off, and pertinacious spirits might be harassed and irritated." — ii. 442. 34. Engelbcrt, Card. Archbishop of Malines. — " I thought, however, that I ought to add, that in these regions (and espe- cially in the neighbouring kingdoms of France and Holland) there are ecclesiastics, conspicuous for piety, knowledge, and prudence, who, although they acknowledge that great advan- tage would arise from an Apostolic decree, whereby it should be enacted, that all must believe of Divine faith, that the most Blessed Virgin was preserved from original stain, since thereby larger honour would accrue to the most Holy Deipara, and the faithful would conceive yet greater reverence towai'ds her, and would be kindled more and more to worship 384 Douhts as to jnakiiig Immac. Cone, of B. V. her, fear lest very great inconveniences should arise from it. They fear especially lest heretics and unbelievers, who, in journals and other writings dispersed every where, do not cease to attack the faith, should derive thence fresh ground for calumniating the Catholic Church, as though it were devising new doctrines, and paying undue cultus to the most Holy Mother of God. "Whence also it might follow that many, who now seem ready to embrace the faith, might start back from their purpose. If, then, having heard the report of the most eminent Divines, Doctors, Cardinals, and other distinguished men, to whom the examination of that most grave matter has been committed, your Holiness should judge that the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God is* to be defined as a Catholic dogma, perhaps it will be better to explain the Divine tradition clearly and luminously in the Apostolic decree, that it may be plain that nothing new is enacted, but that the ancient faith of the Church is alone declared and confirmed. For thus it may be hoped that the mouth of the malicious may be stopped, or at least the defenders of the faith may more readily refute their calumnies. '• Then, seeing that in these times those who have care of souls are compelled in moral matters to interpret the laws favourably [to men's wishes], and to use great indulgence, because the faith of many is languid and charity is cold, those same men doubt whether it is expedient at this day to bring in a new obbgation in a matter of doctrine, as to which not only there is no controversy, but it is extended more and more with a marvellous consent of all Catholics. For they fear lest perchance in countries in which there are theologians, who groundlessly deny the infallibility of the Eoman See in defining dogmas of faith, some may arise even out of the Clergy themselves, who, out of the itch of writing which there prevails, may with rash boldness openly impugn the Apostolic decree, and so raise public scandal. These doubts and these fears I report, most Blessed Father, simply that your Holiness may clearly know the state of things, and provide by a fitting remedy for any inconveniences, if it should seem that any are to be apprehended." — pp. 447, 448. 35. Italy. The Bishop of Adria. — "I know that the gates of hell cannot prevail against this rock founded by Christ ; yet " °f faith." Adria, Mondovi, Viterbo. 385 we must beware lest we give occasion to our enemies, that it should be assailed with new wars, which will, I am horribly afraid, be the case, if the Church after so many centuries exhibit to the faithful to be believed a new mystery, of which we find no testimony in the Scriptures or holy fathers, if we except many allegories spoken of the Eternal Wisdom. " But what if very many faithful, who, while the world rages, persevere still iD the faith ? I fear lest they too suffer scandal, rather than be built up. For faith in the Immaculate Concep- tion of the Blessed Virgin Mother is so deeply settled in their minds, that they do not allow themselves even to doubt its truth. Where is room for suspicion ? The Bishops continually discourse thereon in their homilies, the Parish Priests in their cate- chizings, Preachers in their sermons. What, when they know by the new decree of this holy See, that that was for so many ages uncertain which they held for certain, and which was every where announced as so certain ? ' If we were deceived in this,' they will say, ' perhaps we are mistaken and deceived about other mysteries of faith too,' or perhaps they will allow themselves to doubt of the truth of the same." — i. 317. 36. The Bishop of Mondovi. — " But whether the arguments, which they who at this day uphold this pious opinion, derived whether from Scripture or tradition and the almost universal zeal of the Church of the present time, suffice to prove that it ought to be transferred to a dogma of faith, if they be com- pared with what the fathers of the Councils of Florence, Lateran, and Trent, have uttered on this subject, and very chief theo- logians have discussed, I should fear to affirm. Nor, now that prayers have been poured out to God through the whole diocese, is it given to me to dare to do so. And I own that I am withheld by the same doubt, when I consider the fitting season of the aforesaid definition, which, since it is not of necessity to salvation, it seems to some may with greater advantage be put off to happier times of the Church. None of these difficulties, however, would perhaps arise, if it were only defined that the Church rightly promotes the cultus of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, yet so that the contrary opinion cannot be ever accounted heretical." — iii. 144. 37. The Cardinal Bishop of Viterbo and Toscanella. — " Two classes of the faithful are to be distinguished, the learned and b b 386 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V, unlearned. The unlearned, speaking of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, suppose and believe de fide that it was most exempt from all stain, and therefore do not think it a matter liable to be disputed, and so neither to be defined by the A postolic See ; wherefore, from ignorance, they neither have, nor can have any wish about it. The learned have not all the same mind or wish. Although all now hold most firmly that the most Blessed Virgin was conceived without any stain whatever, they are not unanimous that it is necessary or con- venient to define it by a dogmatic judgment of the Holy See. Some wish such decision ; others think it ought not to be proceeded to, especially considering the circumstances of the times. " For myself, I own ingenuously, that on the one side, from my observance and devotion to the most Holy Virgin, I wish that your Holiness should number the mystery of the Im- maculate Conception too among the articles of faith ; yet, on the other, weighing the reasons adduced by many most grave theologians, and especially by the most Eminent Cardinal Gotti, in his discourse on this controversy, exhibited to Clement XII., and recently published at Bome, I feel myself vehemently urged to judge that, in the present state of things, and especially in the coldness and infirmity of faith and religion at this day, it is more useful not to proceed further in so weighty a matter." — iii. 33, 34. 38. The Archbishop of Tlrlino. — " As to the necessity of publishing any definition, I do not think that there is any. For the Immaculate Conception of the most Blessed Virgin has no such close connexion with the other articles of faith (at least as far as I know), that, if this privilege were denied, it would follow that any of those articles should be impugned. But this being removed, I see not from what other head this real necessity should be extracted. " "Whether this definition should be held to be opportune, I confess that I still doubt. I have again and again weighed the ending of all contentions, the dissipating of doubt, main- tenance of truth, greater glory of God, praise of the Virgin, hope most sweet of new benefits to the good of the Church militant, and other grounds, which seem to support such opportuneness, and I have always owned them to be most "of faith." Abp. of Urbino. 387 excellent. But the peril of perdition -which may come to some from the definition, makes me doubt, now as ever, whether it is opportune. For although, as seems to me, it is now sounder to hold the Immaculate Conception of the most Blessed Virgin, and less sound to doubt it, and alto- gether folly openly to deny it, yet since, in these most unhappy times, the number of those is very great, who do not hesitate to question, or altogether to impugn, all the dogmas of the Church, yea, and the existence of God too, with the ruin of many, there seems to be a probable peril that they will the more easily impugn this doctrine too ; and that thence will follow the perdition of those, who, lightly esteeming the defini- tion of the Church, seduced by perverse discourses, will either not embrace the pious opinion, or, having embraced, will desert it, or at least be unable to lay aside their doubts. Nor does it seem difficult for the malice of the ungodly to pervert in this the understandings of the simple, since we see it done in more evident truths ; and since the example of those, who, in past time, though distinguished for learning and holiness, are thought to have denied this privilege, may be very moving and because, apart from the authority of the Church, the theological grounds do not seem to be so consequent, as to leave no room for the possibility of the contrary, nor so trans- parent, that at the first glance this truth should be clear to any one. Since, then, there seems to be this evident, or at least probable peril of perdition, which would be imminent to some, though perhaps few, even of those who are now counted among such as have been gained to Christ, I should not fully believe it opportune to add dogmatic certainty to this truth. " I say this, most Holy Father, with inmost grief of heart; but the necessity of charity seems to require it of me to con- sult alike for the salvation of the wise and the unwise; and the example of the Apostolic See itself moves me thereto, which hitherto seemed to have ' been made weak to the weak, that it may gain the weak,' wishing that those who hold the contrary should neither sin, nor be heretics." The Archbishop of Urbino appended to this response a letter to the same effect, which he had written Nov. 10, 1847, to the Bishop of Fano, who had urged him to ask for the decree. b b 2 388 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. He used there the same topics, and quoted the maxim of Sixtus III., that treating of dogmas, "nihil addi convenit vetustati." — iii. 43 — 45. 39. The Bishop of Ancona and JJmana. — "Having asked aid of God, I venture to opine that it is best to adopt that mode of defining, which should be free from all asperity, viz. by deciding directly that the Church is not deceived as to the truth of the object proposed by this cultus, whereby the im- munity of the Blessed Virgin from all stain in the first moment of her Conception is celebrated ; and that the Church does not err, when, according to the pious true opinion to be held by all, she proposes that the immunity of the Holy Mother of God from all fault in the first instant of her Conception should be celebrated. " But since the sanction of this opinion necessarily involves the disapproval and proscription of the contrary, which no few eminent and learned men held determinedly, men of eminent deserts towards the Christian religion, some account ought, it seems, to be had of them, that the words of the decree should be softened, and no note be branded on the advocates of the contrary opinion ; and that it should be so concluded, that the authors of the opposite opinion should be said to have expressed the contrary out of love of truth ; and the more, because they were destitute of those supports which came in afterwards, and which, burning as they were with piety to Mary, would have inclined them to the opinion which now prevails." — ii. 153. 40. The Bishop of Cervia. — " If I turn to weigh what is the rigorous import of a solemn, and that a direct declaration of any dogma, as de fide, no slight difiiculties float as clouds over my mind, and I do not in any way ascertain which opinion I ought to prefer. That saying of Vincent of Lerins must move me, received as a rule by all theologians, and constantly observed, whenever it was the question of distinguishing or defining dogmas of faith, what was always, every where, by all, received as a dogma of faith, and has been believed till now. Every Catholic dogma, being a fact manifest to us by Divine revelation, can neither be known or proved, save by the word of God, written or handed down ; and, since God could, either expressly or implicitly, by Scripture or tradition, reveal a truth " of faith." Ancona, Cervia. 339 unattainable by human intellect or reason, the Church never proposes any truth as a dogma to be received and believed by all, under pain of anathema or heresy, unless it be contained explicitly, or at least implicitly, in the Word of God, written or handed down. But some theologians contend, that this could scarcely be affirmed as to the proposed truth. For, had it been expressly or implicitly revealed in Scripture or tradi- tion, how should older Fathers, and Doctors, Theologians, and the whole order of Dominicans, and the whole school of the Thomists, not only be ignorant of it, but venture, with all their might and vehement abundance of argument [assail it], the Supreme Pontiffs conniving, or at least not condemning as heretics those who for many ages opposed with their whole strength the Conception, 'immaculate at the first instant?' On what ground was that most wise, and, above all the (Ecumenical Councils held in the Church, most learned Council of Trent, unwilling to define this truth expressly, but left it ' in its own possession' and statu quo, yet with that prudence and precision of words, that a grave and reverent weight should be added to establish and strengthen so pious and Catholic a truth, yet not to advance it to the sublimity of a dogma by a judgment and unalterable decree ? There was a deep silence as to this truth in the first centuries ; in sub- sequent centuries it was controverted, which would not have been, if in any of the above ways the Church had owned it as either expressly or implicitly revealed. Else we should fall into the heresy of Lutherans and un- Catholics, who, no less absurdly than impiously, tattle that the Church was obscured after the Apostolic times, the light of faith being almost extinguished, and that true dogmas were involved in the darkness of ignorance, &c. " It must be confessed that all dogmas were not always believed in the Church with a solemn and open faith, which now, errors having been defeated, we profess with a noble and universal belief. Yet scarce did error dare to raise its venomous head, but the Church too did not keep silence : it took arms, and gained an entire triumph over the rash attempt. " The question, which now occupies minds, does not relate to the truth of the Immaculate Conception, as is clear. For it ia so supported by most solid arguments, and engraven on 390 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. the minds of all, that the opposite opinion is rejected by the faithful as a manifest error. This truth, so sweet, so sublime, and to be cherished, remains unconquered, and now very near to faith ; yet so, that the doubt is not lost out of sight or mind, ' whether it be dogmatically definable de fide, as mysteries, which are proposed to all by the Church, to be believed by an act of faith under pain of heresy.' For although all dogma is truth, yet not conversely is all truth dogma. God willed not to reveal to us all truths, as of the end of the world and the time of His Second Advent, and many others, which John confesses to be unwritten, and so many, that if they had been written, they would fill the world. Many of the most pro- found theologians of the first rank, whom P. Perrone mentions, have impugned its definability, chiefly on the ground that it cannot be plainly extracted either from Scripture or tradition as de fide. The Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, cannot deceive the faithful in teaching ; but it does not frame new and impervious dogmas, but either explains or proposes to be believed what occur, as expressly or implicitly revealed. But all do not agree as to this express or implicit revelation : the divine revelation then remains as yet doubtful, or at least inevident, and consequently the foundation necessary for directly promulging a dogmatic definition fails altogether." — ii. 217—219. 41. The Archbishop of Otranto. — "As to my own opinion, I should think (' I speak as one unwise ') that such a declara- tion is not at all necessary, both because there are not, as in past ages, any disagreements among Catholics as to this pri- vilege of the Blessed Virgin, no enemy, no controversy in the schools ; and they who once supported the opposite opinion, panegyrize this privilege in the preaching of the Word of God ; and all Churches, during Mass, gladly praise God for the Im- maculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as also because the chief end of any decree or dogmatic declaration is already obtained, such a cultus throughout the world as should seem to need no new accession of piety. Tet I am constrained to confess that the grounds, whereon this privilege of the Blessed Virgin rests, are of such weight, that they ought to induce any Catholic to believe it de fide. In my opinion then there are all the grounds of probability to induce me to assert " of faith" Otranto, Perugia, Santorino. 391 that this privilege of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary may be declared as a dogma of faith. " Yet I should think that, if the Church should judge that it should come to this declaration, out of many forms which she has at times used in defining a dogma of faith, it would be most prudent to use that, whereby the dogma of the pri- vilege should be defined indirectly as the subject-matter, but directly the infallibility of the Church which teaches it, which formula the Tridentine Fathers at times used, Sess. xxiv. c. 7, ' If any say that the Church errs when it teaches,' " &c. — ii. 365, 366. 42. The Archbishop of Perugia. — " I should think that, before any definition is published, some account should be had of that difficulty which the adversaries cease not to proclaim loudly, that not without wrong would so many most wise men, who, either with the assent or at least the permission of the Church, adopted with impunity the opposite opinion, be pro- scribed at one blow, and punished with the note of heresy, and so, (unless your Blessedness should think of any other mode of satisfying as far as possible this specious difficulty,) the words of the decree should be so tempered for the former Theologians, that all, even the slightest, occasion of new complaints should be removed." — ii. 290. Three weeks afterwards he united with the Archbishop of Spoleto, two other Archbishops and fifteen Bishops, in earnestly imploring the issue of the decree, on account of " the increased devotion to the Blessed Virgin which it would occasion, and the help and defence which she, so honoured and invoked under this title, would give to the whole Christian people and the Holy lloman Church." He did not, however, withdraw the above wish. — ii. 379—81. 42. b) The Bishop of Santorino — "Although most devoted to the Immaculate Conception of the most Holy Mother, they [his Chapter and Clergy] did not deem it suitable, in these calamitous times of general confusion, to decide the question of the Conception. The speaker, moreover, who stood forward in the name of the rest, said that he thought it more advisable that the question of the Immaculate Conception should con- tinue undecided, because the devotion of the people was deeply rooted; and that to bring it to a decision and make it an article '392 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. of faith would perhaps be an obstacle in tbe case of attempting union with the Greek schismatics, it not being possible to prove it by clear arguments from Scripture and the Fathers, but merely by the argument of congruity. Thus far this Canon. Had he. however, said that in the case of the Protestants it would have given rise to new disputes, all very good ; but as for the Greeks, I do not see either that union with them is a likely thing to happen immediately, or that they have any rights : and, besides, the Greeks believe in and celebrate the festival of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin by S. Anne, which is what the Catholics also say and believe." He himself held, as decisive, the texts "full of grace," "the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee," " she shall bruise thy head ;" " nondum erant abvssi, et ego jam concepta eram " (Prov. viii.), " Fecit potentiam in brachio suo," and this, "ab initio creaturse." — i. 201. 43. The Bishop of Jfajorca. — "To these most pious wishes, longings, feelings, the Bishop of Majorca, (to express at length his own mind) knowing well how much (in things which in any way appertain to faith) that criterion is to be accounted of, which is not unfitly called an instinct of piety, infused into the hearts of the faithful by inspiration of God, viz., the unanimous feeling of Pastors and faithful, or of the whole Catholic Church, especially when Holy Scripture and the holy Fathers, the chief witnesses of tradition, are either altogether silent, or speak somewhat obscurely, or do not so agree together in attesting it, that their opinion can be certainly known, nor can any cer- tainty be arrived at, through their aid, what was handed down from the beginning of the Catholic Church. " Xo testimony is, in truth, found in Scripture which any so clear tradition has explained, as to be equal to the passing of a dogmatic judgment and to be a stable foundation thereof, although in some one, perhaps, the meaning may perhaps lie hid, as the germ in the seed. Some Fathers seem to oppose the 1 pious opinion,' especially S. Bernard and the Angelic Doctor, whose words S. Antoninus, Abp. of Florence, asserted to be twisted by the defenders of the Immaculate Concep- tion against their intention ; others, as S. Bonaventura, seem at one time to support the one opinion, at another the opposite. But it is marvellous and worthy of consideration, " of faith." Majorca. 393 that the sayings of the Holy Fathers, whereby the Immacu- late Conception is impugned, at least in appearance, are found to have been for the most part written or spoken, when, as Doctors and Theologians, they were discussing the doctrine of faith by the light of the Divine word, written or handed down ; contrariwise, what has been wont to be adduced in behalf of the singular privilege of the Virgin, whether in plain or equivalent terms, is taken almost en- tirely from sermons, prayers, hymns, and praises, when they expressed the affection of the heart towards the most benignant Mother rather than the judgment of the mind, the feelings of piety rather than the opinion of the understanding. Nay, the words of certain Fathers, which seem self-contradictory, may perhaps be reconciled in this way, that some attest the obscurity of Scripture and tradition in their eyes, some explain their inmost feelings, which led the Fathers and orthodox writers from the very birth of the Church to extol the integrity of the Virgin Mother from all spot with so many distinguished and elegant praises, yet so as sometimes to enunciate explicitly the mystery of the Conception. For the vehicles of tradition cannot be said to be clear, viz., sayings of Fathers, practice of the Church, sacred liturgies, and consent or persuasion of the faithful as to so excellent a privilege, since those most clear-sighted Bernard and Aquinas, Orators of the Blessed Virgin, did not see it. There lurked in the heart, and sometimes there burst forth in flames, as it were, that divine ardour and inmost feeling whereby the whole Church was borne to extol and celebrate the dignity and excellence of the Mother of God, than which no greater can be conceived under God. The opinion as to the Immaculate Conception had its germ, was cherished, grew, through the implanted warmth of piety, seizing step by step on the sacred rites of outward worship, the universities, and the minds of the faithful. Tet not so rapidly did it pervade the minds of the learned, who, in scho- lastic method, especially under the guidance of Aquinas and the Master of the Sentences, evolved the testimonies of the Bible and the ancient Fathers as to original sin (among whom are Card. Caietan, Melchior Cano, and other most excellent Theologians), until silence being imposed by the supreme Pontiffs on the opposite party, and the Feast of the Concep- 394 Doubts as to making Lnmac. Cone, of B. V. tion being sanctioned, there now remains no country, city, college, or community which does not, from the inmost heart, venerate that mystery. Although then, perhaps, some are not wanting, who, sincerely using the cultus of the Immaculate Con- ception in heart and external practice in order to obey the Pon- tifical decrees, yet in the inner judgment of the mind do not assent to it as a dogma of revelation (of which number were the most illustrious P. de Herrera and Master Yincent Ferre, whose MS. elucubrations are certainly extant at Salamanca, perhaps elsewhere) ; yet at present there is doubtless a common feeling of the faithful, a consent of the living instruction of Pastors with their wishes ; there is in the Church a wondrous con- spiracy of minds who profess the privilege of Mary, to which our safest criterion of the mystery which lurked obscurely under the veil of Scripture and the folds of primitive tradition, it pleased the Holy Spirit to reserve a clearer revelation in process of time. " The aim of all this, most Blessed Father, is, that while the Bishop of Majorca, giving his judgment, so subscribes to the truth of the Immaculate Conception, that else the Holy Spirit would seem to him to have deserted the Catholic Church, he at the same time estimates the difficulties which might arise out of the dogmatic definition, on account of the number and authority of distinguished Doctors who dis- sent, of the odium cast on the opposite opinion; and lastly (unless it seem otherwise to the prudence of the Supreme Pastor, led by the hand, as it were, by the Holy Spirit), the Bishop does not, on reflection, see any reason why that most safe way, trodden by the Council of Trent and your Predecessors, should be deserted, who thought good not to decide or define any thing dogmatically which had not been decided before, although Bishops, Congregations of religious, flourishing Universities, most powerful Kings and Princes who had deserved well of the Church, urged it. Of a truth, the cultus of this great mystery has so prevailed throughout the whole world, that it could hardly be carried further by a dogmatic definition, as other mysteries also of the Nativity and Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which have most solid foundation in ancient tradition, are celebrated throughout the world, without the faithful any where being anxious about their " °f faW l " Lugo. 395 dogmatic definition, not from any carelessness about sacred things, but being content with the reverence 'which they enter- tain and manifest towards the Divine Mother. " But, most Blessed Father, your Holiness, placed in the highest watch-tower of the Church, and approaching nearer to the light from above, by the office of the Apostolate and singular piety towards the Mother of God, will, by the Divine inspira- tion, understand and certainly know in what way the opinion of the Immaculate Conception ought to be confirmed, or more or less directly defined by a solemn judgment, which judgment of your Holiness, whatsoever it may be," &c. — ii. 157 — 160. 44. The Bishop of Lugo. — "But as our humble opinion also is asked, not only upon the ground of the doctrine, but also on the convenience and utility of the authoritative declaration of it, perhaps our agreement in this particular may not be so general or comprehensive. In Spain already no Academical Degrees are received in the Schools, nor is any Collation to Prebends or Ecclesiastical Benefices allowed, whether the Benefice be with or without cure of souls .... without the previous requirement of an oath expressly made, to defend the mystery of the Immaculate Conception I do not therefore understand, — and some of our first-rate Theo- logians are of the same judgment with me, — that there is any necessity or expediency in now proceeding to the declaration, which certain persons, carried along by their tender devotion towards the most Holy Virgin, are soliciting from your Holiness : for there would be no augmentation made by this means to the devotion and unbounded confidence in the pro- tection of the Queen of Angels ; on the contrary, it would in some measure go to impair that confidence by depriving the pious opinion of its voluntary character, adopted, without being made a dogma of faith ; in that it holds it as a duty to our Lady to attribute to her the gift of original purity : for we thus understand the honour, rather than that she was set free from the guilt of the children of Adam after having contracted it. Notwithstanding, it is possible that in this opinion we may deceive ourselves, as we should deceive ourselves if we believed it was a greater honour to Jesus Christ and His holy Mother to descend only from holy women, and not to reckon in this genealogy Thainar, Rahab, Euth, and Bathsheba, the four 396 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. specially marked -with dishonourable stains among the people of Judah. "Wherein is seen how different the judgment of men is wont to be from the judgment of God, which we can only know by the revelation made of it in Holy Scripture and constant tradition of the old Fathers, as the Universal Church has understood and understands them. " My opinion therefore is, most Holy Father, keeping in view these reasons which I have slightly intimated, that there is no express mention in Holy Scripture, nor in consistent Tradition, of the exclusion of the most Holy Virgin from the general mass of mankind which sinned in Adam ; and that it is not expedient, even supposing that I deceive myself in the opinion which I have formed, to declare as a point of doctrine that which is only a pious persuasion. Nevertheless, if your Holiness should judge and define otherwise, I, for my part, as a faithful and obedient son of the Holy Eoman Catholic Church, will submit my heart and mind to the decisions of its supreme Chief. Tet I venture to entreat your Holiness, that, sup- posing you decide the pious persuasion to be a point of Faith, you will condescend to adopt such modification of it as you may judge to be most suitable, that the great defender of the Church, S. Thomas Aquinas, may continue to hold the dis- tinguished and honourable place which the Church itself on very solemn occasions has granted him." — ii. 98. 45. The Bishop of Zamora. — " But as regards the mode of defining, your excellent prudence and wisdom will judge what is most right, and the same as to formulas of words ; and this only he [the Bishop] suppliantly desires, that no note be branded upon the supporters of the opposite judgment, who nourished before and after the aforesaid Council of Trent." — i. 415. 46. The Bishop of Iaca. — " I cannot dissemble, that the Church has not been wont to publish her dogmatic decisions, except when compelled by a sort of necessity, especially the impugning of heretics, and that in our days they wage no special war against the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, which perhaps would burst out anew if a definition were asked for. But I am fully persuaded that no account is to be had of here- tics in this matter, since their learned and instructed teachers have passed over in great measure into rationalism, and have " °f faith." Zamora, Iaca. 397 sunk in the deep, despising these and all otber controversies of this sort. The same judgment is not to be passed as to Catholics, who, if in any numbers they impugned the Immacu- late Conception, might cause some trouble. But since those who, in our time, do not acquiesce in ' the pious opinion,' seem to be few, I trust that they will not (out of a sort of rever- ence to the Doctors who hitherto thought otherwise) resist the votes of the Church every where, when weighed and solemnly pronounced by your Holiness "I have explained my own opinion as to this most grave controversy. But I think it not unadvisable to inform your Holiness that there are, in the very celebrated University of Salamanca, where I long taught Greek, some Doctors of Divinity, of no low rank, who, so far from holding that the "Word of God written or handed down favours the pious opinion, contend determinedly that it is contrary thereto ; and who hold most firmly that the definition ought to be abstained from altogether, as not at all necessary, they say, to the life of the Church, and as likely, perhaps, to occasion division and tumult. I had lately a great discussion hereon, by letter, with my master, F. P. Sanchez, a Doctor in Theology of Sala- manca, of the Dominicans, whom I thought that I ought to consult, as being eminent in all sorts of learning, extremely well versed in Theology, and thoroughly acquainted with the whole history and turns of this question. Moreover he took with him two MSS. in folio from the library of the Convent of S. Stephen in Salamanca (when, the tempest raging, all the Spanish families of religious were expelled from their convents) ; the one, a copy of which is said to be in the Vatican, elaborated by M. Herrera, the most wise moderator of the first class of Theology at Salamanca, afterwards a Bishop : the other, elabo- rated by M.Ferre 1 with unwearied toil, to prove the assertion of Maracci to be false, who affirms that both Greek and Latin 1 Narvaez (1. c. p. 56) mentions another learned Spanish writer on the same side : " A Dominican father, Vincentius de Bandelis of New Castille, who, as that most wise Pontiff, Lord Benedict XIV., says (de festo V. M., c. xv., de festo Conceptions, n. 8), maintained the opinion contrary to the Immaculate Conception, printed and published a treatise on the subject, whose title is, ' On the singular purity and prerogative of the Conception of our Saviour Jesus Christ, on the authorities of 2G0 most illustrious Doctors.' " 398 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. Fathers are on the side of the pious opinion. He weighs them all one by one, cites editions, chapters, pages, and at last con- cludes that that saying of S. Antoninus of the defenders of the Immaculate Conception is most true, 'that they twist the sayings of the ancients against the intention of the speakers.' I own that I have not read these MSS., which, it is said, ought to be highly accounted of, nor can I give any judgment of my own about them ; but I have no doubt that that saying of my master is most true, that there is nothing missing in them, which can avail to throw great light on all this question, nothing which has not been examined and weighed ; so that they should be waited for, as master-works, treating the con- troversy thoroughly and most copiously, and as magazines, from which the adversaries may draw their arguments, both to impugn the Immaculate Conception and to throw discredit on the object of the definition. I wish then, most Blessed Father, that these two MSS. should be examined by the Theo- logical body, with the aid of your Holiness, before any thing be decreed on this most grave question, lest we should incur that censure, ' "Whoso decrees any thing, one side unheard, though he decree what is just, is himself not just.' " — i. 480. 46. b) The Bishop of Santander. — " I say, 1 if it be ripe for a definition] because there are some here, who, although they shrink from imagining that Mary was conceived in original sin, yet think that her immunity from this stain was not revealed by God through Scripture or the tradition of the Church, but was left only to the piety and reverence of the faithful. For since there are many truths, which are not certainly to be revealed to men, except in their heavenly home, such as are, perhaps, those which maintain that S. John Baptist was ever free from any even light fault of speech, and S. Joseph, the spouse of the most pure Virgin, from any stain concerning chastity ; these think that of the number of these truths is this also, which maintains the immunity of the most Blessed Mother of God from original guilt. For sought out, say those who thus think, and too far-fetched are those arguments, whereby some celebrated writers contend that they demon- strate that this pious opinion is proximately definable. Too twisted are the interpretations whereby they endeavour to draw over to their side others, who are even openly opposed " °f faith " Santander, CJiiapo. 399 to it ; so that one may now, too, say of them, what S. Antoninus said formerly of their leaders (Summ. part. v. lib. 8, c. 2), ' They twist their sayings (those of ancient and modern doctors) against the intention of the speakers.' And they say that they have found a notable instance of such forced interpretation in a celebrated dissertation on this subject, published a few years ago by a most eminent man. For in it (at least as it was published in Spanish in 1847) Melchior Cano is counted among writers who supported the pious opinion, whereas neither did he utter the words adduced in confirmation thereof in his own person, but in the person of those who impugn the authority of the Holy Fathers ; nor do those words signify other than that the opinion of the immunity of the most Holy Virgin from original sin is pious and praiseworthy, which any one who estimates things fairly would in such questions, not defined by the Church, doubt not readily to confess of the opinion adverse to his own. " So these think, more freely perchance than is meet." — i. 424, 425. 47. The Bishop of Cliiapo in Mexico. — " Omitting what all know, that the adapted or allegorical meaning, unless inspired writers themselves have in other places so employed it, does not yield any firm argument in Theological matters, I wish to use the words of a Theologian of the first rank, and one of the chief maintainers of the Immaculate Concep- tion of the Blessed Virgin, F. F. Suarez, who says when writing thereon, ' You must not ask for any clear passage from Scripture, where this should be asserted, for it would be rash to require this, when other privileges of the Virgin, which the Church holds for certain, do not require such testi- mony of Scripture.' And in respect to tradition, he says, that ' it is worthy of consideration that the ancient Fathers have said little of this privilege of the Virgin,' having said before, a3 to the sanctification of the Blessed Virgin in the womb, ' This truth is not expressly defined, nor handed down as of faith.' And S. Thomas, who had read the writings of the Fathers better, perhaps, than any, did not find it, I say not ' handed down as of faith,' but not in any way ; else, doubtless, he would never have maintained the contrary. I am aware how many have strained with all their might to detach this most eminent 400 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. Saint therefrom ; but in vain, as I think ; since in so many places of his works, especially the Suintna, in -which, last of all and expressly, he treated this question, he taught it most openly, on account of the reverence due to the general sayings of Holy Scripture, and because there was as yet no leaning of the Church towards the pious opinion. Petau again, another of the more eminent Theologians, and most versed in the Fathers, although he contended for the Immaculate Conception of the most Holy Virgin, did not find it clearly handed down in them. If then, as is evident, the truth of the Immaculate Conception is not found so expressed in the Holy Scriptures that it can be pro- posed to the people as a dogma of faith ; if it is not clear in the writings of the holy Fathers that it was ' always, every where, and by all ' handed down, and much more handed down as of faith, since neither was her sanctification in the womb, (which was easier,) as Suarez asserts, so handed down ; since I have no qualifications which enable me to decide better than S. Thomas, or at least Petau, what is contained in tradition thereon ; since neither did the Fathers, who remained at Basle, and who left nothing untried to settle this matter, define it in this sense ; and since those words, whereby the most Blessed Virgin is called ' Immaculate,' may be understood, like those in 2 Pet. iii. 12, ' Wherefore, most dearly beloved, considering these things, be diligent, that ye may be found of Him im- maculate in peace,' not without great grief of heart, most Blessed Father, I dare not give a suffrage for the declaration of the aforesaid truth as a dogma of faith. Let, then, that most firm truth abide among all, yet with that certainty, wherewith the Assumption of the most Blessed Virgin into heaven, with body and soul at once, is believed, although it is not held as a dogma of faith. I have been not a little delayed, because a ' religious ' man, who had done good service in literature, with others whom I called that I might have the more light, only on the 16th of April last, showed me a work of some magnitude, elaborated with great care, and chiefly derived from the seraphic treasure-house, without examining which, from the desire I had of embracing a different opinion, I did not think it at all reasonable to deliver my judgment. " Although this has not happened [that his opinion had been changed], and what I have said notwithstanding, if the "of faith." Chiapo, Mysore. 401 Immaculate Conception of the most Holy Virgin be defined by your Holiness, or by any successor of yours, should I not myself be departed, I will receive it with the greatest exulta- tion, and with my whole heart, and will defend it with all my power."— T. ix., App. i. 19, 20. 48. Vicar Apostolic of Mysore. — " Although we are all by nature children of wrath, even although all perished in the first Adam, yet it is not repugnant either to my faith or reason to admit a marvellous and free exception as to the most Blessed Virgin in fact ; nay, it seems to me in the highest degree congruous, that there should have been such an exception ; whence I believe, by a faith of nature (' natu- raliter credo '), that God gave such a privilege with many other gifts of His free mercy to the Blessed Virgin Mary. But because neither Holy Scripture nor ancient tradition prove sufficiently clearly that such exemption from the stain of original sin was granted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I cannot believe it with a Divine faith. On the other side, considering that the Word of God had no repugnance to many other indignities in the life of His ancestors according to the flesh, both men and women, by parity of reason, it might have been absolutely, that He should have taken a Mother who had the stain of a fault strictly not her own, at least in the original moment [of her being] ; whence my opinion, therefore, stands only in the natural sense of fittingness towards my Redeemer, and in the pious desire of glory and veneration towards His most beloved Mother. " Fearing, lest Protestants and philosophers, objecting that such a decision, as de fide, is contrary to the Catholic axiom, 'quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus] and muttering that the Roman Church imposes mere opinions under pain of damnation, should also refuse most certain dogmas ; and, moreover, not clearly seeing that the confidence of Christiana as to the most pure Mary, or their fervour in the cultus of Mary, the refuge of sinners, can be increased by such a decision; especially being unwilling at this time to impose, as de fide, and under pain of damnation, an opinion which was free for eighteen centuries, and which, although thoroughly examined by many most pious and most learned Pontiffs, has yet always been undecided, with the most profound sub- C C 402 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. mission to the future judgment of your Holiness, I can in no way desire such a definition, and am compelled by my conscience so to confess." — iii. 353. 49. The Vicar Apostolic of Coimlatoor. — " Although, I repeat, I have no doubt as to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, I cannot but fear that from the definition of that doctrine as an article of faith some evils ■would arise to the Church ; I cannot but fear that such a definition (saving the reverence due to the many and most pious theologians who urge it) bears on its front a certain appearance of novelty, and diminishes the force and majesty of tradition, the firmness whereof will hereafter be more and more to be desired. " Doubtless, if the Holy See shall declare the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary an article of revealed faith, it will thereby define that the tradition was always such (for I think that this revelation will never be rested on Scripture alone, which seems to me yet more perilous). This will suffice for one who is firm and constant in the faith. But as to those weaker in the faith, whose weakness will always be to be indulged, the grounds of this tradition, resting on which the Church delivers the definition, are to be weighed. No easy task. Notwithstanding the pious attempts and industry of more recent theologians, must we not confess that their demonstrations, though rigorous, are not mostly easy to the conception of the faithful ? But it seems to me of great moment that tradition, on other grounds most precious (which will be an anchor of safety in the storms whereby Mother Church will still be tossed), should be found clear and conspicuous to the minds of all. "Perhaps, most Blessed Father, I fear where no fear is. But I own I fear the thick falsehood, which seems about to involve the human mind more and more. Aided thereby, the prince of darkness will seduce many, unless we reverence tradition most scrupulously. Let others boast the vain science of this world, and assert that the world day by day makes progress. I grieve to see mankind casting itself headlong into an inevitable gulf of darkness. The portentous abuses of printing, the venom of journals, which creeps even into un- civilized nations, corrupt the minds, and turn them from the of faith." Coimbatoor. R. C. Abp. Dublin. 403 right path : licence in writing, printing, and circulating every where all sorts of books, good or had, on any subject, with an unworthy mixture of sacred with profane, maintaining error with a bold iron forehead ; and under the appearance of sound philosophy or theology propagating false doctrine, enveloped in artfully contrived subtleties, so that the most wise laws of the Church hereon cannot be effectually maintained even in empires wholly Catholic ; these things, with many other causes, seem likely to bring so great a disturbance on the intellect of men, that hereafter, more perhaps than before, Catholics, mistrusting reasoning, but cleaving to the docu- ments of sacred tradition, will be compelled to acknowledge that only with the certainty of faith, ' which has been believed, every where, always, and by all.' " To return ; notwithstanding the pious industry of more recent theologians, and their diligence in scrutinizing the works of the Fathers, and adducing every thing which, directly or indirectly, evidently or inferentially, supports our opinion, it remains difficult to prove, in my opinion, that the Imma- culate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was believed always, and especially that it was believed every where. But will not minds, weak in the faith, be by that difficulty put in danger of doubting not only the articles defined, but moreover tradition itself, which was the shrine of this revelation ? But hence what perils are not to be feared for weak faith, to whose infirmity it is our office to be indulgent ? " So then, most Blessed Father, I should prefer that the truth of the Immaculate Conception of Mary should remain among truths which are generally admitted to be ' piously believed.' "— iii. 354, 355. 50. The Jtoman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. — -"It must be confessed, that there are some among us, (I believe, very few,) who are otherwise minded, and who think that it has not been revealed with sufficient clearness, that the Holy Virgin Mary had no ground to cry out like the other daughters of Adam, In sin did my mother conceive me. — [S. Bernard, Ep. 174, n. 8.] Although they most readily acknowledge that, through the foreseen merits of her future most Holy Son, He who is mighty freed her immediately from original fault, and made her full of richest graces. Now as to that, on which your c c 2 404 Doubts as to making Immac. Cone, of B. V. Holiness vouchsafed chiefly to inquire, whether or no it seems expedient for the advance of the glory of God, that the Holy See should declare hy a dogmatical decision, that it is to be believed, de fide, that the most Holy Virgin never, even in the first instant of her Conception, bore the very slightest spot of sin, herein too the opinions are different. For the greater part of the priests of this diocese think that the time is come, when the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the most Holy Ever- Virgin Mary is known to be so universal, that it may and ought to be promulgated as an article of faith. But no con- temptible part of grave, pious, and learned priests and laymen think otherwise ; and although they believe undoubtingly, that the Mother of the most Holy Saviour was always free from all spot of original sin, they do not at all think it expedient, that such a doctrine, however true, should be proposed to the faith- ful, to be believed as of Divine faith ; and that chiefly for these reasons : 1. A dogmatic decision of this matter, on which there is no dissension, would seem to them contrary to the practice of the Cliurch, since hitherto such decisions have only been promulged at such time as heretics dared to assail sound doctrine ; and they are not aware of any ground sufficiently grave for departing, in the present case, from the ancient custom, and incurring the note of novelty. 2. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary is believed peacefully almost every where, and is assailed publicly by no one ; and they think it much safer for the peace of religion ' quieta non movere,' than, under no pressure of necessity, to agitate the question as to a new article of faith in the present state of minds, when men, even Catholics, both in foreign parts and in Italy itself, are, alas! too much inclined to examine, without due reverence, the limits of Ecclesiastical power. 3. They would hardly dare to hope that the devotion towards the most Blessed Virgin, which already every where is lively in the hearts of the faithful, could be much increased by the solemn decision that she was always Immaculate, since, on the one side, the Church, which is already extensively attacked, would be exposed to new assaults by embittered and ever-vigilant enemies, who would doubtless seize occasion thence of chattering, ' Lo ! the Church of the Catholics has devised a new Article of faith after ages, which, as is evident, was not believed every icliere, nor always, nor by all. What new light 11 of faith." Tarragona, Braga, Lamego. 405 then dawn3 now upon that Church, which was denied to its Council of Trent ? ' Such fallacies the well-instructed Catholic will easily dissipate ; but they think that it is to be feared that the minds of the simple may be disturbed thereby, and their faith also perchance shaken. 4. Lastly, they fear, lest many Protestants who, as they hope, are now verging towards the Catholic Church, seeking a refuge there from their ever- varying errors, may be driven further from us on account of this new Article of faith, recently, as they will perhaps think, devised. These are some of the reasons which move those whose minds I have explained, to desire vehemently, unless the Holy Lord shall think differently, that nothing further should be done therein at present. "Among those who thus think are the Jesuit fathers at Dublin, almost all the Professors of our national College at Maynooth, and many others, both priests and laymen, con- spicuous for zeal for religion. And knowing their most pious feelings towards the Blessed Mother of God, and their desire that she should be honoured and worshipped every where with most ardent devotion, I cannot hold their opinion cheap ; and therefore do not venture to advise that a dogmatic decision Bhould go forth from the Holy See, declaring that it is to be believed, de fide, * that the most Holy Virgin Mary was con- ceived without stain of original sin,' however certain it be that that doctrine is true." — ii. 142 — 144-. He subsequently joined the other Eoman Catholic Arch- bishops and Bishops in praying the Pope to define it. — iii. 376—378. The Archbishop of Tarragona left the question of expe- diency to the judgment of the Pope (fi. 12G). The Bishop of Oviedo said, " Perhaps the fulness of time has come to declare this article " (ii. 229). The Archbishop of Braga de- sired it, " if there was no reason to fear for other realms, as in this most religious nation nothing is to be feared" (i. 126). The Bishop of Lamego evidently leant to think it inopportune : " Whether in the actual state of things the passing of such a decision is more opportune than it was in the time of some supreme Pontiffs of venerable memory, and of the most learned fathers of the Councd of Trent, I dare not give an opinion " (iii. 73). 406 Card. Bona held definition unallowable. So, I think, did tlie Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon : ""Whether for this longed-for definition a more opportune time has now come ; and those things are no longer to he feared, which were a hindrance to the Tridentine fathers, and the supreme Pon- tiffs ; whether the present state of many nations, most tur- bulent and most hostile to all authority, and the impious and most insidious efforts of Protestants and of all enemies of the Catholic Church, who do not cease to censure as new dogmas what are defined in the Catholic Church, and who endeavour with their whole might to impugn the infallibility of that Church, the existence of Divine tradition, and the authority of the Apostolic See, ought to cause some delay to that longed- for and implored decree ; — this, I think, to be left to thy most wise and prudent judgment." — iii. 56, 57. Narvaez (p. 48), counting the Bishops in Communion with Borne at 7 48, and those who answered the Encyclical at 576, leaves 172 who did not answer, of whom, allowing for vacancies, letters not reaching, &c, many, like the Austrian Bishops, must have been silent, because they did not wish to express their dissent. Narvaez gives, in strange contrast with 1864, this statement as to Cardinal Bona : " Alexander VII., when asked by the ambassador of Philip IV. of Spain to decide the Conception of the Blessed Virgin to be a dogma of faith, asked the wise and pious Cardinal Bona, whether he could decide the ques- tion by himself ? The Cardinal answered, that 'neither the Holy See, nor the Church herself can form new articles of faith ; that it can only declare what God has revealed to His Church, after having examined the matter according to the rules of the traditions transmitted by the Apostles.' The Pontiff replied, ' Can I decide what is to be believed on this matter under inspiration of the Holy Ghost?' Cardinal Bona said, ' Most Holy Father, if any thing should be revealed to you by God, this will profit yourself alone ; but it will not be lawful for you, nor can you bind the faithful to adhere to your decision, as neither can you bind me.' " — pp. 91, 92. One of the earliest fruits of the decision fell upon Spain, where the last sacraments were refused to " Father Mr. Pascual, who, until a.d. 1855, was the oracle of Salamanca, and was held by learned men a fountain of religious wisdom, gushing TJie Greek Church. 407 forth on all sides," because, " when interrogated by certain Bishops, he wrote that the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin never could come to be an article of faith, and never acknowledged the dogma, after the Lord Pope Pius IX. pronounced it a dogma of faith, and did not recant." And yet "inconsistently," Narvaez says, "the divine office was said for hia soul." — p. 54>. NOTE C. The GreeJc Church believes the Blessed Virgin to have been conceived in original sin. On this subject too, we are one with the Greek Church, and it is even strange, that of all the Bishops who returned answers, one only mentioned the Greeks as likely to be kept away by this decision of the Latin Church apart, and he only, summarily to overrule the objection as of less account than if it had been the Protestants. In regard to the belief of the Russian Church, my friend the Bev. G. Williams has furnished me with the following refer- ences. No exception is made, as though the Blessed Virgin had been exempt from the transmission of original sin to "all who are naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam." " 1. Confessio orthodoxa of 16-12, 3, which has very great authority in the Church." " The sin from our first parents is the transgression of Divine law given in Paradise to our forefather Adam, when it was said to him, ' Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ye shall not eat ; but in the day that ye eat thereof ye shall surely die.' This original (TrpoTvaTopiKov) sin passed from Adam to the whole human race, since we were all contained at that time in Adam. And thus through the one Adam sin passed to us all. Therefore we are all conceived and born with this sin, as the Holy Scripture teaches, ' By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed unto all men, because in him all sinned.' This original sin can be done away 408 The Greek Church believes the B. V. to have by no repentance, but only by the grace of God. But it is abolished by the dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Flesh, and the shedding of His precious Blood. And this takes place through the mystery of holy Baptism ; for whoso is not baptized, he is not free from sin, but is a child of wrath and of everlasting punishment, according to what is said (John hi. 5), ' Verily I say unto you, unless a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' " — P. iii., qu. xx., Kinimel, Libri Symb. Eccl. Orient., pp. 272, 273. In the Acts of the Synod at Giasion, in condemning Cyril Lucar for holding that " all had been guilty of actual mortal sin," it professed that the teaching of the Church was that none was exempt from original sin. " The sixth, that he includeth all human nature under sin, not only original (as our Church confesseth), but also under that which springeth from it, being of free choice and deadly (r-poaipe.Tua]v koX Oavdo-i/jiov) , which he calls the fruits of that, and exempting none from this, (the deadly sin which maketh him who doeth it condemned,) neither him who is the greatest among those born of women, nor her, the ' blessed among women,' the spotless and Ever- Virgin Mary, or certain Patriarchs or Prophets and Apostles, is condemned as alien from our faith."— § 6. Ib. pp. 410, 411. " The Confession of Dositheus, Patriarch of Jerusalem : ' We believe that the first man, created by God, fell in Para- dise, neglecting the Divine command : he obeyed the deceitful counsel of the serpent ; and that thence, by succession, flowed original sin ; so that no one is born according to the flesh who does not bear this burden, and who does not feel its fruits in this present hour. The fruits, we say, and burden, not sin, such as ungodliness, blasphemy, murder, adultery, fornication, hatred, and whatever else is gendered by wicked choice, not by nature, contrary to the Divine will. Por many, both of the Patriarchs and Prophets, and very many others, both under the shadow [the Law], and the truth [the Gospel], the divine forerunner (S. John Baptist), and especially the Mother of the Divine Word, the Ever- Virgin Mary, were not tempted by such and the like offences, but only [suffered] those tilings which the Divine righteousness assigned as punishment to men for the transgression, as the weariness of toil, afflictions, been conceived in original sin. 409 bodily weaknesses, pangs of childbirth, laborious life in our pilgrimage, and lastly, bodily death.' " — Deer. vi. pp. 432, 433. A Eussian layman, in vindicating the Greek Church on occasion of a " mandement " of the Archbishop of Paris, says remarkably : — " This last time has seen an obligatory decree on a dogmatic question emanate from the Pontifical throne. It is then an act completely ecclesiastic in the highest sense of the word; and, as being the only one for many years, it deserves special attention. This decree announces to all Christendom, and to ages to come, that the Blessed Mother of the Saviour was exempt from all, even original sin. But the Holy Virgin, did she not undergo death, like the rest of mankind ? She did. And death, is it not (as the Spirit of God said by the Apostle) the penalty of sin ? (lit. the wages of sin ?) It is so no longer : by a Papal decree it has become independent of sin ; it has become a simple accident of nature, and all Christendom is convicted of falsehood. Or the Blessed Virgin, has she un- dergone death like Christ, making herself sin for others? We should have two Saviours ; and Christendom would again bo convicted of falsehood. Lo, how Divine mysteries manifest themselves to the Koman Communion ; lo, the heritage which she bequeathed to futurity!" — Quelques Mots sur les Communions occidentales (Leipz., 1855), pp. 83, 84. THE END. GILBERT AND 1UVINGTON, 1'IUNTEKS, ST. JOHN'S SQUAKE, LONDON. UY THE SAME AUTHOR. COMMENTARY on the MINOE PEOPHETS. Three Parts. Hosea — Micah. Third Thousand. hs. each Part. PAEOCHIAL SEEMONS from ADVENT to WHIT- SUNTIDE. Vol. I. Fourth Edition. 8vo. cloth, Is. 6d. PAEOCHIAL SEEMONS, Yol. II. Third Edition. 8vo. cloth, 7s. 6d. ELEVEN SEEMONS preached at the Consecration of St. Saviour's, Leeds, 1815. Together with Sermons hy the Rev. J. Keble, Rev. Is. Williams, Rev. W. Dodsworth, Rev. C. Maeeiott, Rev. W. U. Richaeds. Second Edition. 7s. 6d. PLAIN SEEMONS, Vol. III. of the Series. SCEIPTUEAL DOCTEINE ok HOLY BAPTISM (on the passages of Holy Scripture which speak on that Sacrament). 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