/•^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^r.^ 
 
 •«&: 
 
 
 
 -^ c<sr . 
 <c:cccc <i_ 
 ^«ic C5!c cic: 
 
 
 
 ^ ■■■•■*:.<:: 
 
 ^«c< c^ ^^ «i^ , cr c r 
 
 ^'i^< i^tss. ■«:< ^^ ^-^^ ^^ '<•*-* 
 
 ^<< arc 

 
 10 
 
 /£f/. 
 
 WHAT IS THE WORKING OF THE CHURCH OF SPAIN? 
 
 WHAT IS IMPLIED IN SUBMITTING TO ROME? 
 
 WHAT IS IT THAT PRESSES HARDEST UPON THE 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND? 
 
 
 A TRACT (iurtt^. 
 
 ap-./n./pn\^ 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. FREDERICK MEYRICK, M.A. 
 
 FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 ^Q. av6r\Toi VcLKarai, ris vnas e^daKave ; Gal. iii. 1 . 
 
 'Erpej^f re koKcos' tU vfias dvfKoyj/f rfj dXTjdfla fir) neidfadai ; V. 7. 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 JOHN HENKY PARKEK, 
 
 AND 377, STRAND, LONDON, 
 
 1851.
 
 BAXTER, PEINTEE, OXFORD.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Were the minds of English Churchmen such as 
 they were before the year 1845, the following pages 
 would not have seen the light. It is no indulgence 
 of a mere reckless destructive spirit, which has 
 caused their publication, for, as Professor Hussey has 
 said, " In these days of doubt and fear, every good 
 man would labour rather to build up than to pull 
 down." It is because the writer has seen men 
 single-hearted and earnest, forsaking, and so far as they 
 are able throwing down, that which he fully believes 
 to be the greatest stronghold against the powers of 
 darkness, and the special depositary of God's Truth, 
 that he puts forward the following facts and state- 
 ments, with the purpose of shewing, that neither in 
 sanctifying co?iversation, nor in maintainifig the one 
 once-delivered Truth, is the foreign Catholic system 
 equal to that of our own Church, the Church of Engkmd. 
 Spite of Erastianism, spite of Latitudinarianism, he 
 does, to use Dr. Moberly's words, " from his heart 
 beheve, that there is no position in the Universal 
 Church, where a baptized Christian soul may be 
 more sacredly, more healthily, more truly trained 
 and strengthened to grow in grace, and reach the 
 heavenly inheritance, than in the Church of England."
 
 IV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 When a Roman Catholic Archbishop in Ireland has 
 the effrontery to say, that *'the truly heathenish 
 ignorance and brutal vices into which that portion 
 of the Enghsh population is sunk, who have no 
 instructors but those who have broken off all com- 
 munication with the Apostolic See, is a lamentable 
 commentary on the folly of National Churches," it 
 is time to meet assertion with counter-statement, and 
 deny the cause alleged. 
 
 ^UlUC^l
 
 A TRACT FROM OXFORD. 
 
 It were most earnestly to be desired, that there should be 
 a greater degree of acquaintance than at present exists 
 between the members of the three great Communions of 
 the Roman, the Grecian, and the English Obedience. Had 
 we more knowledge one of another, there would be much 
 less misconception on all sides. Our continental neigh- 
 bours might in time learn not to class us among a hetero- 
 geneous mass of Protestants and unbelievers', and we 
 might learn what degree of admixture of good and evil the 
 Western Communion really contains, and unlearn that 
 great fallacy of our childhood, that " the Orientals are much 
 the same as the Roman Catholics, but more corrupt." The 
 works of Dr. Wordsworth and the Journal of Mr. Allies, 
 one-sided and untrustworthy as the latter is, have done 
 something towards giving us a sort of acquaintance with 
 the French Church and the French Ecclesiastical system. 
 
 • The ludicrous misconceptions of the religion of "the English heretics" 
 that one meets with abroad, are almost beyond belief. During last Lent, the 
 writer was in Naples, and seeing some graves in what he understood to be 
 unconsecrated ground, close to " Virgil's Tomb," he enquired if those who 
 were buried there had died infidels. " Yes," answered one of the guides in 
 perfect simphcity, " they were English." " Yes," quoth the other, " they were 
 Protestants," as if either assertion clenched the matter. In fact, the names 
 were German. In Rome, a devout old woman informed him solemnly, that the 
 only thing which " I poveri Inglesi" had by way of Baptism was, that some 
 rose-water was poured over them. Other specimens will be found in the 
 following letters. 
 
 B
 
 '£ INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The state of Italy'' has become more or less known, by 
 reason of the disclosures accompanying the convulsions of 
 1848-49, and the constant ebb and flow between Rome and 
 London. Some interesting particulars, for the general 
 truth of which the wi'iter can vouch, may be found in a 
 little Tract, entitled, "A Voice fi'om Rome in the year 1842," 
 in which the results of personal observation, on the religious 
 life and practice of the Italian Chm'ch, are thrown together 
 within the compass of a few pages. But Spain is almost 
 unbroken ground. The Avriter therefore has thought, that 
 it would conduce to the knowledge of the Truth to publish 
 the accompanying Letters, which were written to him by two 
 friends residing in one of the Spanish towns, whose integrity 
 and judgment he can trust. Some inferences may perhaps 
 be drawn fi-om them not unsuitable for English Churchmen 
 to dwell upon in this present state of anxiety and difficulty. 
 He will however first give the facts in the words of the 
 writers themselves. 
 
 ^ The state of the Chm-ch in Italy at present is very similar to that of 
 France before the Great Kevolution, so graphically described by Mr. Pugia in 
 
 his remarkable " Appeal." " There is external conformity iu Eeligion, but 
 
 all those vents which in a state of religious freedom, like safety-valves, free 
 the Chm-ch from those corruptions and infidelities tliat in a great body of men 
 ever have existed and must exist, are now closed. The bended head at the 
 Elevation often concealed the sneer of infidelity, and the forced communicant 
 re^'iles the body of his Lord. And France was a Catliolic countrj', but there 
 were infidels on every side, men who beheved nothing, but conformed to 
 every thing, and soon a consuming fii-e of unbelief, concealed indeed under 
 a green surface, but wi-eathiug itself through unseen fissm-es under the whole 
 fabric of society, was rapidly gaining gromid. It penetrated the breasts of men 
 in every station, in every garb and office. There was infidehty among the 
 peasants, in the city, iu the court, in the council, in the Church itself, and at 
 length the powers of dai'kness break forth from then- lurking i^laces, and tlu"ow 
 off the mask, and in an incredibly short space of time this exclusively Catholic 
 counti-y publicly denies- — what ?" In the case of Italy this remains to be seen . 
 The state of the. south of the Peninsula, both ecclesiastically and politically, 
 is one that makes men curse with their hoai'ts, while they give good words 
 with then- mouth.
 
 STATE OF THE CHURCH IN SPAIN. $ 
 
 No. I. 
 Letter from J. B." 
 
 Christmas, 1850, 
 
 " The state of the Church here (in Spain) is very low. 
 We now live among Spaniards, and I never heard more 
 rampant " Protestantism" than I have heard here. People 
 do not go to confession, and justify it openly, some by 
 saying that the Church commands it indeed, but they will 
 not do it, because the Priests are worse than themselves : 
 others say, that they neither kill, rob, nor cheat, and as for 
 what concerns their souls, that is between themselves and 
 God, and no man. Priest or not, has any right to interfere 
 in it. It is a real fact, that when the law admitted no man 
 to hold any office or employment under government, who 
 was not able at Easter to produce a certificate fi-om a Priest 
 that he had confessed and communicated within the year, 
 the certificates were commonly sold for about ten-pence a 
 piece ; one person told us, that he had known one bought 
 for five-pence. However they were obtained, whether 
 Priests sold them, or laymen confessed and communicated 
 in order to get them to sell, a fearful amount of sacrilege 
 and profanity is involved. We are in the constant habit of 
 meeting a Priest whom I like very much. He is not a man 
 of much education or intelligence, and has not any ap- 
 pearance of what one would call sanctity; but he has a 
 downright straightforward character, and a gi'eat love for 
 the poor, and an excellent temper which I have seen much 
 tried. He was a Monk in one of the richest orders. 
 Fifteen years ago the Monks were turned out, their lands 
 and convents seized, and their pictures sold. The following 
 year he was appointed to the Chaplaincy of a Hospital, 
 which he has held ever since, saying Mass every morning 
 in the church attached. He does not dress like a Priest, 
 
 "= These Letters will be found to be wholly unsystematic in form, as the 
 wiiters never intended them for any thing but private perusal. 
 
 B 2
 
 '1 TONE OF MIND OF THE LAITY. PAYMENT OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 except that he wears the blue neckcloth. The great 
 amusement of the laymen at dinner is to attack him about 
 something ; so that unless we dine with him alone, it is 
 impossible to speak to him on any subject connected with 
 his profession, for fear of occasioning some irreverent and 
 painful discussion. His brother, who is also a Priest, and 
 formerly a Monk in the same order, was staying with him for 
 a month. He seems to feel bitterly the plundered and 
 degraded state of the Church, but says little unless he is 
 called out. I think that he must be confessor to some 
 Nuns, for I used to be quite weary of the way in which the 
 
 laymen would go on, "Padre, are the Nuns at pretty?'* 
 
 " Now, Padre, do tell me, are they pretty .?" " Padrecito, I 
 want to know so much if the Nuns are pretty." " Padre, 
 when the Nuns confess, do they tell you long stories about 
 one another?" Day after day they would question him in 
 this way, diversifying the amusement occasionally by semi- 
 sceptical questions on the Old Testament, as one of them 
 chanced to be in the possession of a Bible. 
 
 Tithes are entirely abolished, all Church lands seized 
 by Government, and the Clergy paid by a tax raised for 
 that purpose. The allowance is £80 per annum for a 
 " Cura :" if the parish is large, he has assistants called 
 " Beneficiados," who receive half as much as the " Cura," 
 but as the latter does not pay them, neither does he 
 name them. The Government used to keep for itself 
 at least half of the money raised for the Priests, but 
 fi-om the time that Narvaez came into power, there has not 
 been much embezzlement. In addition to this stipend, they 
 receive fees for attendance at funerals, and the scenes which 
 take place in bargaining about the amount, are sometimes 
 very painful. Schools they have none. The Spanish 
 Government is in advance of Mr. Fox. It has established 
 Schools for the poor, where those who have the means pay, 
 and those who have not, receive gi'atuitous instruction, the 
 expense being defrayed by a tax on the town, and the
 
 SCHOOLS. STABBING. SISTERS OF CHARITY. 5 
 
 Master appointed and removable by the Government alone. 
 The "Cura," has the right of inspection as regards religious 
 instruction only, and we know what that means. We asked 
 the Chaplain of the Hospital, what was the religious cha- 
 racter of the poor. He answered, that many of them were 
 still very good, especially in the villages. ' If it were not 
 for the poor,' he said, ' there would be no worship of God in 
 the land.' All wounded persons are carried to his hosjoital. 
 We asked him the number, and he said, ' It is a rare thing 
 for a day to pass without any : some days there are six or 
 seven"*, but few of them die,' This is the difference between 
 Spanish stabbing and Italian assassination. One day a 
 woman was brought into the hospital with seventeen wounds, 
 received from four or five men. It is only two years ago 
 since the law against knives was repealed. I should think 
 that when another generation had passed away, and the 
 Government schools have produced their fruits, the religious 
 character of the poor will die out, and there will be " no 
 worship of God in the land." 
 
 I am gradually coming to the same opinion with an 
 English Clergyman, who told me years ago, much to my 
 surprise at that time, that he regarded the English Church 
 as the great depositary of the truth, and the hope of the 
 world; and therefore I do not wonder that fierce attacks 
 should be made upon her on every side. If she should fall, 
 where indeed would Faith be found on the earth? Wliere 
 in Europe at least are we to look for any branch of the 
 Church, which shews such symptoms of life and truth as 
 our own ? 
 
 One day we held a conversation with the Priest about 
 Spanish Sisters of Charity. They are of the Order of 
 St. Vincent de Paul. I should like to see an Order like 
 them established in England, in addition to our Sisters of 
 
 ^ The size of the town in which this Hospital is situated is ratlier larger 
 than Bath. What would the occupants of Lansdown Crescent say to a daily 
 average of six or seven stabbing cases ?
 
 6 ELECTION OF BISHOPS. CLERICAL EDUCATION. FASTS. 
 
 Mercy. The latter give relief to the poor, and consequently 
 must have funds, and for the most part be of a certain class 
 of life. These Sisters do not give money. They live on 
 £20 a year each, which would perhaps go as far as £30 
 in England. They teach in the schools, nurse the sick, 
 and serve in hospitals. In our English parishes I should 
 like to see the actual Schoolmistresses and Nurses Sisters, 
 and it might well be done. 
 
 In Spain, the very form of electing a Bishop has vanished. 
 The Queen nominates, and the Pope approves. You may 
 be aware, that when Espartero was in power, the Pope 
 refused to approve his nominations. He refused to name 
 others, and so in, I think, thirty dioceses they were without 
 
 Bishops. That was the state of for three years. The 
 
 Government nominee had the Palace and income, and the 
 
 Diocese did without a Bishop Most of the Clergy 
 
 come from a very low class. Many who have been Monks, 
 were of the very poor. The regular education in the Bishop's 
 Seminary costs £40 a year, but not nearly all who are 
 ordained can afford that. At Salamanca a gratuitous 
 education is given. Young men of talent go there and hire 
 themselves in servi^ce, with the condition that they may 
 attend the lectiu'es. Sometimes they set up barber's shops, 
 or maintain themselves in any way they can. Many have 
 thus risen to be Bishops." 
 
 No. II. 
 Extracts /rom Letters of A. B. and C. D. 
 
 Nov. 7, 1850. 
 
 " There has been one Spanish fast day since we have 
 been here, the Vigil of All Saints. We had as good a 
 dinner of fish, vegetables, sweets, and fruit, as any one could 
 wish, but it made some of the guests very cross. They dis- 
 covered that the rule of the English Church was to fast on 
 Friday J so they turned round upon the two Priests, and
 
 VIGIL OF ALL SOULS. 7 
 
 asked why they did not fast on Friday '. Next, they went on 
 to raise the question, whether Protestants would go to glory, 
 and if they did not, where they would go : one of them who 
 had picked up some vague ideas about the English Church, 
 suggesting that people might be Catholics without being 
 Roman Catholics. Pick-pockets abound here. It is said, 
 that the little boys, who are employed in the churches to 
 assist at the Mass and to help clean the church, are the 
 most adroit. It may be so, for constant familiarity with 
 holy things, if it does not do good, must do harm, and the 
 idea of reverence never seems to enter their head : they 
 would just as soon stand on the top of the Altar as any 
 where," " On All Saints' day, being the Vigil of the ' Animas,^ 
 it is the custom in S23ain to go to the Campo Santo to burn 
 lights before the niches of the dead. We went and found that 
 it had degenerated into a crowded promenade, where people 
 meet and gossip, and look at each other. There can be no 
 holy and peaceful thoughts of the dead in such a scene. 
 Little stalls were set up all round with refreshments. The 
 next day we went to hear a celebrated preacher preach on 
 the Animas. The Sermon was on the doctrine of Purgatory, 
 and left the matter just where it was before in my mind, 
 viz. that for the Roman doctrhie of Purgatory, there is no 
 evidence either from revelation, reason, or tradition. The 
 latter part was very exciting to the congregation, which 
 consisted almost wholly of women. It was a long prayer 
 for the souls in Purgatory ; first for the Cardinals, Bishops, 
 and Priests, and the congregation answered with suppressed 
 and unanimous voice, ' Kequiescant in pace.' Then for 
 husbands, wives, children, each separately, and then you 
 might hear the low suppressed sobs running through the 
 church, and after each, the united ' Requiescant in pace.' 
 There has been a funeral at the English Burial Ground, at 
 which the Spaniards attended in great numbers; and they 
 have expressed themselves so much struck by the service, 
 
 ^ Vide p. 10.
 
 8 EXCESSIVE POWER OF THE STATE. 
 
 that there has in consequence appeared a public order from 
 the corregidor for the better arrangement and greater 
 propriety of their own." 
 
 No. III. 
 Letter from C. D. 
 
 Jan. 28, 1851. 
 
 "I cannot but be grateful to have learnt in daily life 
 
 what the Roman Church is. I have just been reading an 
 able letter in the Chronicle signed Gamaliel. ' The mi- 
 series of our own house almost drive us forth, but we are 
 deterred by finding that no perfect home awaits us.' 
 While you are fighting against evils at home, which seem 
 intolerable and deadly, I am constantly witnessing evils 
 here (mingled with good) which are so great, that I am 
 appalled at them. The rashness with which men rush out 
 of our Church into that which they do not practically know 
 is like the state of mind of a suicide, who, overwhelmed 
 with present evils, hurls himself out of life. 
 
 We are oppressed, enslaved, by the power of the State 
 at home. Well, here every Bishop is nominated by the 
 Government, subject only to the approval of the Pope ; the 
 Clergy are paid by the State, and as the Esperanza, the 
 High-Church paper, complains, they dare not oppose Go- 
 vernment, which would at once say, " Be silent, or I'll starve 
 you." The churches are kept in repair (such as it is) by the 
 State : the education is in the hands of the State ; the 
 schools are paid for and the masters appointed by the 
 State : the Clergy can only give a little instruction in the 
 schools, and do not catechise in the churches. Even the 
 seminaries where the priests are educated are supported 
 by the State, and the books to be used and the course of 
 instruction regulated by the Minister of Instruction. 
 
 We complain that our people dishonour and despise the 
 rules of their own Church. It is sadly, miserably true; but 
 what do we see here ? For more than three months we
 
 DISOBEDIENCE TO CHURCH LAWS. CREDULITY OR INFIDELITY. 9 
 
 have been constantly associating with Spaniards. Well, I 
 find not one but all of my companions openly neglecting 
 and refusing confession, and professing to do so. I have 
 said to them, " Why, the Church commands you to con- 
 fess." " Yes," they answer, " but we dont do it, that is, 
 the men; many of the women do." The most extreme 
 Protestant opinions are upon their lips, such as that the 
 care of their souls is a matter between themselves and 
 their God, and they do not see what any one else has to 
 do with it. The legends of the Roman Saints and stories 
 of miracles are wholly repudiated. I got the Priest, with 
 whom I am on very good terms, to tell me a legend of an 
 Image in his church, which, as the story ran, had reached 
 out its arm, and given absolution to a penitent. As the 
 story ended, one of the laymen came in, and began to make 
 a mock of it. It is a most unhappy thing, that truth and 
 falsehood have been mingled together in their miracles and 
 legends, and many of them have been put before the minds 
 of the people as of equal authority with Holy Scripture : 
 e. g. there is not a devout person here who does not hold it 
 quite as certain, that the thief on the Cross was called 
 Demas, and that he was forgiven at the intercession of the 
 Blessed Virgin, as that he was crucified at dlV. Now the 
 result of this is, that while among the uneducated or little 
 educated you may meet with much devotion and faith, you 
 find also the strangest mixture of legend and holy truth 
 intertwined inextricably together; while among the more 
 educated there is a dangerous tendency to disbelieve all. 
 They find, that they have been deceived and imposed on in 
 some things, and that throws a doubt on all. There are 
 very many who believe nothing. Some of the merchants' 
 sons would like to come to our service, but it is not 
 
 permitted by law. One of them said to last week, 
 
 " We could believe what your Church teaches, we cannot 
 
 believe what we are taught here." I know one sad case 
 
 f See below, p. 31. where the Legend of S. Demas will be found.
 
 10 THE BIBLE. SUNDAY. FRIDAY. DISPENSATIONS. 
 
 myself. Don F. is a thoroughly educated and refined 
 gentleman, but he has not faith in Avhat is taught him 
 in his own Church ; he knows the Priests have taught 
 him some falsehoods, and distrusts them Avholly. I look 
 upon him as a good, honourable, religious-minded man, 
 but without religion s. And the people have not the 
 Bible here to fall back upon. Let the people say what 
 they will of the abuse of that Holy Book, and the wretched 
 way men too often deal with it, yet think what it would be 
 to be robbed of it. Practically, people here are without the 
 Bible. I shall never forget the eagerness with which 
 Don F. boiTowed my Spanish Testament, when he found 
 that it was what he called " puro." " We only get gai'bled 
 scraps given us here," he said''. 
 
 Sunday is a regular day of toil. The poor man has no 
 day of rest. All the in-door trades are carried on till the 
 evening, or late afternoon, such as those of shoemakers and 
 tailors. Masons, carpenters, and labourers may be seen 
 commonly engaged at work on Sunday. This is directly 
 contrary to the rules and canons of the Church, but there is 
 no public opinion against it. The amusements of Sunday 
 are the most objectionable, and often shocking; such as the 
 bull-fights. It is the great day for the Theati-e. I used to 
 think, that they made up for the laxity of the Sunday by 
 observing the fast of Friday. In Spain, Friday is not a 
 fast: all are dispensed who have the "Bulla Crusada'," which 
 costs two reals, equal to about five-pence, and now people 
 take the dispensations without even that expense ; and 
 though no Indulgence can be of any avail without the 
 " Bulla," vast numbers never think of getting it. 
 
 s Any one wlio has spent any time in Italy, can parallel this case with many 
 instances. 
 
 ^ See below, p. 24. the princiiiles in ^yhic•h the Clergy are educated ^vith 
 regai'd to the use of Holy Scripture. 
 
 » For an account of the Bull of the Crusade, see Doblado's Letters from 
 Sjmin, p. 272.
 
 CLERICAL IMMORALITY. MISSION. 11 
 
 Another great evil that we complain of, and feel cruelly 
 in England, is the secularity of some of our Clergy ; but in 
 ti'uth that is a light evil, to what has been and still does 
 
 continue here. There are in numbers of families 
 
 known to be the children of friars. The friars no longer 
 exist, but there are still Priests, who notoriously have their 
 " AmasJ." Nothing has given a greater blow to religion than 
 this. It is true that religious parents have hardly dared 
 to let their daughters confess. "WHaat shall be done when 
 " the salt has lost its savour ?" I learn from the Chaplain 
 to the Hospital, that the cases which come before him 
 shew that the immorality which exhibits itself so sadly in 
 the streets of our towns, is here just the same, though more 
 concealed." 
 
 No. IV. 
 Extract from a Letter from C. D. 
 
 " We have just had a Mission here, some report of which 
 will, I think, interest you. I suppose that the Bishop 
 
 thought that wanted improvement and conversion ; 
 
 and he might indeed have thought so very justly. Ac- 
 cordingly a Mission was announced under his authority, 
 with the consent of the Government. The " Missionaries" 
 were four Capuchins, and they came for fifteen days. The 
 first day the Mission was opened by a Sermon in the 
 afternoon ; on Sunday and for the next fourteen days two 
 of them preached at the same hour at two of the parish 
 churches. The purpose of the Sermons was to preach 
 repentance, and bring people to the Confessional. Their 
 ways of preaching are very different from ovn-s, and some 
 of them very striking ; the preacher, for example, wishing 
 to impress upon them the reality that they must die, made 
 them repeat after him ten times very slowly, 'Ne de morir,' 
 ' I have to die.' The dress is a black cassock and cloak, 
 
 J This again can be too easily paralleled in Italy. For Spain, see poor 
 Blanco White's sadly truthful testimony, Letter V. Evidences, p. 1 18,
 
 12 MISSION. 
 
 with a silver crucifix on the breast. It is not permitted by 
 law to wear the friars' di-ess." 
 
 No. V. 
 Letter from A. B. 
 
 Jan. 29, 1851. 
 "I have to give you an account of a Mission that has been 
 carried on here lately. It has been quite refreshing to see 
 at last something of zeal and energy. It was announced 
 in the newspapers, that on Sunday, the — of January, a 
 Mission was to be held by four Ex-Capuchins, by order of 
 the Bishop. The first day there would be a Sermon at half 
 past six in the Cathedral ; for a fortnight after, two every day 
 at the same hour at two of the parish churches, and on the last 
 Sunday conclude with one at the Cathedral. The object was, 
 to be preaching repentance, and receiving confessions. The 
 confessors were to be empowered to absolve in reserved 
 cases, and there would be three Plenary Indulgences. 
 There was great need of something. The murders, stab- 
 bings, and immoralities were frightful in number. Two of 
 the four Capuchins are very celebrated preachers. Fray 
 Feliz Maria de Cadiz has a wonderful power over his 
 audience. He can make them laugh or cry as he pleases, 
 and he can preach for hours: another Padre Ronda is 
 breaking down from illness. It was necessary to arrange, 
 that these two should preach on the same day and at the 
 same hour, or the others would have been deserted for 
 them. On the fifth day of the Mission, Padre Cadiz reproved 
 his hearers bitterly. They thronged to hear, but nothing 
 more. That day there arrived by accident the Ilustrisimo 
 and Excelentisimo Senor Don Antonio Claret and Clara, 
 Archbishop of Santiago, in the isle of Cuba, accompanied by 
 six Missionaries and twenty Sisters of Charity. He is himself 
 a very celebrated preacher, and undertook to preach the 
 next day at the Cathedral. All — went mad on the spot.
 
 archbishop's sermon in the cathedral. 13 
 
 All the religious people were wild with delight at the num- 
 ber of Indulgences and spiritual privileges he could give, 
 and the others would as soon have missed seeing a wild- 
 beast show as the Archbishop. He was to preach at half past 
 four, and by three o'clock we found every seat occupied, 
 and the church crammed. I never saw such a scene. 
 Every body was talking loud, a thing which they do not 
 seem to think irreverent, and the noise echoing through the 
 building was like the waves of the sea. Some of my neigh- 
 bours occupied themselves in guessing who I was. Having 
 settled that I was English, they next debated whether or 
 not I understood them, and applied to me to decide the 
 question ; one man behind me quoted the last new farce, in 
 ridicule of the English. After a length of time, the church 
 door opened, and in came the procession struggling through 
 the living mass. We all stood up to see, and sitting down 
 again was impossible. Directly there was a talking through 
 the church, the tall people telling the short ones, " He's 
 in the pulpit," " Now he's kneeling down," " Now he is 
 standing xvp." " He is short, but they say he has a good 
 voice." " Can you hear .?" " Not a word." " Can you ?" 
 " It is a very pretty bird with fine feathers, but I have not 
 heard its voice." " Come along to the other side." The 
 Archbishop raised his voice in a shout which rang through 
 the whole building, and produced a momentary silence ; but 
 no human voice could have been audible in such a throng 
 for a continuance, and the noise rose up again like the waves 
 of the sea. His Archiepiscopal dress was beautifid ; dark 
 purple with silver lace, and a silver cross on the breast ; 
 his action was unceasing and most graceful, though thea- 
 trical. He continued for one hour and a half without once 
 stopping to take breath, or to wijje his face, as other 
 preachers do ; and when he chaunted the Blessing at the 
 conclusion, his voice was as clear, and sweet, and as fresh, 
 as at the beginning. All that I could catch of the Sermon, 
 amidst the noise, was a panegyric on ' Maria Santisima,'
 
 14 MARIA SANTISIMA. INDULGENCES. 
 
 and an exhortation to apply to her as the Giver of Repent- 
 ance, and all things. " All the gifts of God pass through 
 her hands. We may see this in a simile in our own 
 families. Through -whom do children receive all things ? 
 Through their mothers. If God gives such honour to earthly 
 mothers, is it likely that he would give less to His own ? 
 The Apostle said, that neither height nor depth could se- 
 parate him from the love of God ; so we may say that nothing 
 can separate us from the love of Maria Santisima." When 
 he had finished, he blessed all the rosaries and medals that 
 had been brought, from the pulpit, and gave several Indul- 
 gences. A Bishop can give forty days, an Archbishop 
 eighty days, an Apostolic Missionary one hundred days ; so 
 he gave one hundred and eighty, and we dispersed. I felt 
 very much as if I had been at the theatre. Next day the 
 Archbishop preached five more Sermons, and visited all the 
 convents, the Seminario and the Sisters of Charity, and by 
 half past five the next morning was gone. 
 
 The following day Padre Konda preached, and such an 
 effective Sermon I do not think I ever heard. They always 
 begin with a sort of preface ; then they desire the people to 
 say the Ave Maria with them; then give instruction on some 
 point of doctrine; and, lastly, a vehement exhortation, con- 
 cluding by displaying the Cracifix. The subject of instruction 
 this time was Indulgences'". 'The Sacrament of Penance, 
 he said, takes away the punishment of deadly sin, which is 
 hell, but it does not free us unconditionally: the eternal 
 punishment is commuted for a temporal penalty, which must 
 be paid either on earth by Penance, or in Purgatoiy by 
 torments equal in all but duration to those of hell. Some 
 people thought, that forty days' Indulgence only diminishes 
 forty days of our time in Purgatory: but this was a mistake: 
 it took away the debt for forty days of neglected earthly 
 penance, the payment of which in Purgatory may be many 
 
 ^ On the subject of Indiilgeuces, consult Jeremy Tajior's Dissuasive, Pai't I. 
 c. 1. §. 4. p. 138. and c. 2. §. 4, 5, 6. p. 235. ed. Eden.
 
 PADRE RONDA's SERMON. 15 
 
 thousands of years. Three Plenary Indulgences, by means 
 of one of which all arrears of Penance are wiped off. so that 
 a person dying immediately, being in a state of grace, would 
 go straight to glory without Purgatory, were attached to this 
 Mission. One was obtained by confessing and communicating, 
 another by attending the Sermons, and the third was to be 
 reserved till the hour of death, so that on the death-bed 
 the Priest would impart it in the regular form, and then they 
 would be safe fi-om Purgatory. But no Indulgences would 
 be of avail, unless they were in possession of the ' Bulla 
 Crusada,' which not only allowed them to eat meat on 
 Friday, but gave them the means, by the boon of the Holy 
 See, of getting no less than ninety Plenary Indulgences in 
 the course of the year; every day in Lent, for instance, by 
 only going to a church and saying so many Aves or Salves, 
 one might be got.' At the end, he exhorted them to con- 
 fession, telling them the story of some Saint who saw in a 
 vision a man trying to carry a heavy burthen of wood, and 
 because it was too heavy, adding more and more. Next he 
 told the story of the Rich Fool in the Gospels, to the great 
 edification of my next neighbour, who had evidently never 
 heard it before ; and ended with a picture of the death-bed of 
 Voltaire, how at last he would have repented and confessed, 
 how he sent for a Priest, and his infidel friend, D'Alembert 
 refused him admission; and how at last he died despairing, 
 saying, * T die abandoned by God and man.' At the conclu- 
 sion, he exhorted the people to confess while they had 
 time, to come to him that very night, to let the Angels 
 rejoice over them. 'Are you,' he said 'ashamed to confess, 
 because you are great sinners ? How many of the Saints 
 that are venerated on our altars were greater sinners than 
 you ? We are men, and shall be surprised at nothing.' 
 Then as he took down the Crucifix, and held it out, the 
 sobs burst out through the church into loud crying like 
 that of children, while he poured out a fervent prayer, crying 
 bitterly for himself and for the people, and covering the
 
 16 THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. MARIA SANTISIMA. 
 
 Crucifix with kisses. The scene was very striking, and the 
 effect of his eloquence immense. The local paper says, 
 that on the following day one thousand persons confessed 
 and communicated in one church. 
 
 In another Sermon, the preacher described the Day of 
 Judgment, with the following additions to the Scriptural 
 account. The Angels will come forth from Heaven in 
 procession, bearing the True Cross, of which all the parts 
 will be miraculously gathered together. This he said came 
 from the Fathers. A glorious throne will be set up, on which 
 our Lord Jesus Christ (on the mention of the name he 
 touched his cap) will sit, and on His right hand will be 
 seated His Mother, Maria Santisima, our Lady, the Sove- 
 reign Queen of Angels, (on the mention of her name he 
 touched his cap again, and every head bowed, and a murmur 
 ran through the church "Ave Maria,") and thrones will be 
 placed for the Apostles. The most remarkable thing was the 
 constant mention of "Maria Santisima," with the titles above 
 given each time repeated, the great reverence shewn by the 
 people to her name, and their taking no notice, of that of our 
 Lord. The farewell of the condemned soul was striking : 
 "Farewell Jesus Christ, whose blood I have wasted, whose 
 mercies I have scorned : farewell Maria Santisima, whose 
 love I have despised, whose kindness I have rejected: fare- 
 well Angels, with whom I might have dwelt for ever." Then 
 followed the farewells to his own relations, to the son, the 
 mother, the wife, who are going into everlasting happiness, 
 while he is to be in torment for ever. By this time the nerves 
 of the people were so worked up, that they were ready to 
 cry about any thing or nothing, and at this point one woman 
 by my side actually howled so as to make it difficult for 
 me to hear. What I felt to be painful in this last Sermon 
 was, that the affections of the people and their hopes were 
 directed as largely to Mary as to Jesus. It was not so 
 Mariolatrous as some that I have heard, but it grieved one 
 to see the mixture of evil in so much good.
 
 SUPPLY OF SPANISH CLERGY. SCHOOLMASTERS. 17 
 
 The Padre is very fi-iendly to us when the laymen 
 
 of his own Communion are away, and he can speak without 
 having his words turned into ridicule. The " frailes," of 
 whom he was one, all come from peasant-families. They 
 were generally sent to the convents very young, and some 
 have turned out badly, the worse of course, from being 
 bound to a holy life. Since the destruction of the Monas- 
 teries, the parochial cures have been filled by them in 
 great part, but now they are beginning to die out, and it 
 becomes a question how are Priests to be supplied. In the 
 south of Spain, the upper classes never take Holy Orders. 
 The Bishop's seminary contains in all eighty-one boys and 
 young men, and this is thought a great number, but the 
 course of education occupies twelve years, and though it 
 is clerical, all do not become Priests. So that this is nothing 
 for the wants of the Diocese, If educated Priests cannot 
 be had, they must have them uneducated; and the only 
 plan that can be thought of is, to re-establish the Monasteries 
 under certain regulations, such as, that they shall be few, 
 have no property, live on alms, &c. What Government 
 Monasteries will turn out, I do not know. The Government 
 has schools for the poor ; and the paper that we see, the 
 Spanish Guardian, is pleading very hard that the school- 
 masters ought to have enough to live upon, that they might 
 be able to give their time to the schools instead of working 
 in the fields. It goes so far as to say that the salary ought 
 not to be under £20 a year." 
 
 No. VI. 
 
 Letter from A. B. 
 
 Feb. 6, 1851. 
 
 " I must now complete the history of the Mission. Dona 
 
 G. has got us the hymns and prayers that were used. The 
 
 latter consist of the Rosary in Spanish, that is, of fifty Aves, 
 
 five Paters, and five Gloria Patris, with the Blessing, 
 
 c
 
 18 HYMNS TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 'Blessed be God, praised be God, exalted be God; 
 Blessed be Maria Santisima, praised be Maria Santisima, 
 &c.' The Hymns I have copied. One of them is addressed 
 to our Lord. The others are all to the Blessed Virgin, 
 under the title of the Divine Shepherdess. These h^'mus are 
 not so outrageous as some that I have met with, but I send 
 you a verse or two. " A silly sheep wandering from Thy 
 flock, I call Thee anxiously. Confirm to me Thy holy pro- 
 mises, and turn my steps from the path of wickedness. To 
 Thee I commend my body and my soul, my senses, my 
 powers, and all that I say and do. I hope. Lady, that in 
 every storm Thy name Mary shall be my hope. Remember, 
 Mother, that if now I am evil. Thou didst once count me 
 among Thy sheep." The Archbishop gave the Capuchins 
 a short prayer, to which he had attached a hundred and 
 eighty days of Indulgence, that is, as much remission of 
 purgatory as would be obtained by a hundred and eighty 
 days of the most rigorous penance. It is this, " O Virgin 
 Mother of God, I give myself to Thee as Thy child ; and 
 in honour and glory of Thy purit)', I offer to Thee my 
 body, my jjowers, and my senses ; and I beseech Thee to 
 obtain for rae the grace of never committing any sin." 
 
 How many confessions there have been cannot yet be told; 
 for when once the people began to confess, it was like an 
 epidemic. The Bishop has prolonged the time of special 
 Indulgences for another fortnight. One cannot but most 
 truly rejoice at such a result as has been brought about ; 
 yet I doubt of its durable effects. I told you, that in one 
 church a thousand people confessed in one day. There 
 were not above six or seven Priests in any church. If 
 there had been ten, it would have been a hundred con- 
 fessions in a day to each, and many of them first con- 
 fessions of middle-aged and elderly people, who had 
 lived all their lives in the neglect of the ordinances of 
 religion, and their first confessions made not deliberatel}' 
 and after careful preparation, but in the stonny excitement
 
 NOVENA TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 19 
 
 /reduced by the great eloquence of the preachers, and 
 the prospect of Plenary Indulgences. Surely they must 
 require more attention, more individual attention, than 
 could be given in such haste. The Capuchins however 
 have done their duty, and done it well, but w^hen they are 
 gone, and the people are left to the despised ministrations 
 of the ordinary confessors, there is much danger that the 
 majority will fall back again. These are such a very ex- 
 citable people, all feelings and no principles, and have a 
 marvellous way of combining religious feeling with the 
 practice of sin. The reason why Fray Feliz was the most 
 poj^ular preacher was, that he was " so witty." " He made 
 them all laugh or cry as he pleased." Dona G. has lent 
 us her books of devotion. She is a very good woman. 
 People here must believe every thing or nothing'. The 
 history of Sta. Rita" of Cassia stands on the same ground 
 to them with the history of our Lord Himself. If they 
 disbelieve one, they disbelieve the other. One of her books 
 is a Novena to the Blessed Virgin, under the title of the 
 Most Holy Mary, Queen and Mother of Mercy. One 
 Archbishop and eight Bishops have so highly approved of 
 it, that they have attached to it all the Indulgences that 
 they can : that is, four hundred days for each 23rayer, so 
 that to say one prayer from this book is better than to do a 
 year of rigorous penance. I will give you some extracts, 
 
 " Of the Charity of Most Holy Mary. 
 
 "As the eternal Father delivered His only-begotten Son 
 to death in order to give life to men, so this admirable 
 Mother of love delivered Her only Son Jesus to the rigours 
 of death, that all might be saved. She did not content 
 
 1 " Wherever the Religion of Rome reigns absolute, there is but one step 
 between it and complete infidelity." White's Evidence, Letter I. note A. 
 For the infidelity existing among the Spanish Clergy, see Doblado's Letters 
 from Spain, Letter IIL p. 126. 
 
 ™ For Sta. Rita's Legend, see below, p. 2;l. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 NOVENA TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN, 
 
 Herself with giving to the Divine Word flesh, wherein to 
 suffer for men : She Herself sacrificed Him. Standing at 
 the foot of the Cross, whilst Her Beloved immolated Himself 
 for the salvation of mortals, She Herself offered the sacrifice 
 of this unspotted Victim, beseeching of the Eteraal Father 
 that He would receive it as a payment and satisfaction for 
 all the sins of the world. She gave to men all that She 
 could give, and She loved them more. She gave Herself, 
 and if She did not realize the sacrifice, it was because Her 
 offering had all the merit of which it was capable. 
 
 " Of the Righteousness of Most Holy Mary. 
 
 " It is well known, that Most Holy Mary, instead of being 
 a debtor, gave so abundantly, that all remained and are Her 
 debtors : men for redemption : angels for their special joy : 
 even the most Holy Trinity are in a certain way a debtor 
 to Her for the accidental glory which has resulted and does 
 result to them from this their Beloved." 
 
 " Of the Patience of Most Holy Mary, 
 
 " She suffered in Jesus, and with Jesus, as much as 
 Jesus suffered." 
 
 " Of the Obedience of Most Holy Mary. 
 
 " She obeyed more than all creatures united, and by Her 
 obedience, supplied the want of obedience of all the evil 
 angels in heaven, and of all the ungrateful men on earth." 
 
 " Of the Religion of Most Holy Mary. 
 
 " Blind and deceived should we all have been, if Most 
 Holy Mary, in Her great mercy, had not given us in Jesus 
 Christ the needful knowledge of the only, sole, and true 
 religion. Though neither angels nor men had given, nor 
 should give, to God, the worship and veneration which they 
 ought ; Most Holy Mary would have fulfilled all the duties 
 laid on every creature by the necessity of the virtue of
 
 NOVENA TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 21 
 
 religion Instructress of the Church, by whom, and of 
 
 whom, the Apostles learnt to celebrate the mysteries of our 
 redemjation, to frequent the Sacrament of the Eucharist, to 
 venerate the Holy Cross, to pray, and exercise themselves 
 in all the acts of religion, I adore thee !" 
 
 " Of the Hope of Most Holy Mary. 
 
 " She Herself, was the object of the hope of the righteous, 
 and scarcely did She shew Herself in this world, when even 
 as the shadows of the night begin to flee away before the 
 coming of the dawn, so at the birth of Most Holy Mary, the 
 Queen and Mother of Mercy, fled from many their doubts 
 respecting the coming of the Messias. She Herself was 
 persuaded that He was at hand." 
 
 In these extracts, you will see, that the oflice of the 
 Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is attributed to 
 her. She sacrificed her Son for our salvation: we are 
 redeemed by her sufferings: she was the teacher of the 
 Apostles. It is universally understood here, and affirmed 
 in sermons, that when our Lord went into Heaven, He gave 
 his Mother to be the guide and ruler of the Church, and 
 our intercessor, and consequently, as the Archbishop said, 
 all the gifts of God pass through her hands. The same 
 book concludes with a hymn called " the Joys." The 
 following verses occur in it. " Life, salvation, and glad- 
 ness, all was lost by man, but in Thee he found all. O 
 sweet Virgin Mary ! What would be our fate without so 
 heavenly a Mother. Mother of Mercy, deliver us from all 
 evil. God angry would have punished with hell man, who 
 refused to respect his dominion ; but Thou, Virgin Mary, 
 didst faithfully succour him. Mother of Mercy, deliver us 
 from all evil. All this world, buried in its wickedness, sighed 
 and found no remedy, save in Thy pity. Thou wert the 
 especial remedy of such great iniquities. Mother of Mercies, 
 deliver us from all evil. Thy union with the immense God,
 
 22 THE BLESSED VIRGIN. INDULGENCES. 
 
 infinite in power, alone could merit the pardon of such 
 excesses. Hereby we were freed from such criminal acts. 
 He denies Thee nothing who created Thee so beautiful, 
 and so favoured and privileged with graces, and made Thee 
 a Queen : for by Thee He gave all to unfaithful man. He 
 ■who is able made Thee arbiter of his immense stores, that 
 none in the most fatal cases might fail to share the uni- 
 versal protection of Thy abundant wealth. Mother of Mercy, 
 deliver us from all evil°." 
 
 I remember, when I used to be pained at finding English 
 children learning Watts's Hymns, which represent the Father 
 as an angiy Judge, appeased by the Intercession of his Son, 
 and entirely forget that He so loved the world, that He sent 
 Him to redeem us ; but what is that to this bold assertion, 
 that the angry Judge was appeased, not by the Son, but by 
 the Virgin ! The assertion too, that our redemption is due 
 to the union of God with man, not in the Person of our 
 Lord, but of the Virgin Mary, is startling ! And all this 
 comes on the authority of the Church, For saying one verse 
 of this Hymn, Dona F. gets more Indulgence than she 
 would for a year of rigorous penance. The Novena is a series 
 of j)rayers for nine days. Each day there is an act of 
 contrition, a consideration on one of the virtues of the 
 Virgin, two prayers or three Aves. If you have time, it is 
 desirable to add also the Rosary and Litany of the Virgin 
 every day, and on the last day the Hymn. I have cal- 
 culated the Indulgences gained. Without the Litany, 
 Rosary, and Hymn in the nine days, you would gain 
 55 years and 125 days, the prayers occupying about half 
 
 " Can -we wonder at any amount of devotion to St. Mary, when we know 
 that the Coiu't of Eome ' has placed the Spanish dominions in Europe and 
 America under the protecting influence of her Immaculate Conception;' and 
 that luider Charles III. a law was enacted, requiring a declai-ation upon oath 
 of a firm heUef in the Immaculate Conception from every body taking his 
 degree at the University, or being admitted into any corporation, civil or reli- 
 gious, or even into a Mechanics' Guild ? See Doblado's Letters from Spain.
 
 INDULGENCES. STA. RITA. 32 
 
 an hour daily. With the R-osary and Hymn there would 
 be gained 667 years and 345 days. I do not know how 
 many prayers there are in the Litany, and have omitted it 
 from the calculation. The notice at the end does not 
 sum up what it comes to altogether, but says, " it is an 
 invaluable treasure." Dona F. is a very devout woman. 
 Her morning exercise contains the words, " I resolve this 
 day to gain all the Indulgences I can, and apply them 
 to the souls in Purgatory." Would it not be absolutely 
 absurd in her to spend an hour in prayer and meditation 
 at home, when she has only to go into any church, and 
 in five minutes gain more than by two years of jDrayer and 
 penance ? The system confines people to the use of those 
 prayers which have Indulgences attached to them. People 
 in England do not know these things. What they think 
 to be Roman doctrine, and what they are allowed to 
 hold as such in England concerning the Blessed Virgin 
 and Purgatory, would not be permitted in Spain, A 
 
 lady of my acquaintance, under N 's direction, is 
 
 allowed to use the same Hours of prayer as before, with 
 the simple addition of the Ave Maria. I can perfectly 
 understand her being well satisfied with that, but it is 
 impossible that she will he permitted to rest in it. Persons in 
 such a situation do not know to what they have given their 
 adhesion, and are gradually led on, while they serve at the 
 same time as decoys for others. 
 
 I mentioned Sta. Rita above. I select her only 
 
 because Dona F. reverences her greatly. She is the advocate 
 of the ' Impossibiles.' When she wished for figs or roses 
 in the winter, the trees immediately brought forth both 
 flowers and fruit. When she wished to be admitted into a 
 convent and w^as refused, three Saints took her in by night. 
 The sisters thought that the porteress had admitted her, but 
 when she told them who had done it, they accepted her as 
 a sister. When she prayed for suffering, she had a painful 
 and loathsome wound on the face. When she wished to
 
 24 STA. RITA. USE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
 
 go on a pilgrimage, and the Abbess would not let her go 
 because of the wound, it healed instantly. One thing in 
 her history, which the writer does not consider a miracle at 
 all, has a greater moral impossibility than the rest. She 
 wished to go into a convent, and as her parents would not 
 consent, she caused an oratory to be made in their house, 
 and painted with religious subjects, and lived in it for a 
 twelvemonth, without ever stirring fi-om it. Afterwards, seeing 
 that they were infirm, she came out, and served them as a 
 dutiful child. Some time after this, she arrived at the age of 
 twelve. Next she married a wicked and irreligious man of 
 good fortune, to please her parents ; but, as she did it on 
 pure principles of obedience, she was continually in tears 
 during the wedding festivities. Not many days had passed, 
 when her husband's violence of temper began to shew 
 itself to her. However, she converted him, and he died. 
 Now I am quite ready to believe things supernatural and 
 miraculous, if there are grounds ; but here there are 
 none. Nevertheless, it comes to Dona F. with as much 
 evidence as any fact in Holy Scripture. She believes both 
 one and the other. The same facts come before Don L. 
 an intelligent man, on the same evidence, and he believes 
 neither. 
 
 The Rector of the Seminary lent us a very nice book, 
 called the "Manual of the Serainarista." It is a book 
 giving a general sketch of the office and duties of Priests, 
 and the studies necessary for fulfilling them. I like almost 
 all of it, but in the chapter on the Scrip tiu'es, the author 
 says, that people in general, boys and women especially, 
 whose natural simpleness is often mixed with ignorance 
 and presumj)tion, and leads them into heresies, must not 
 have the Scriptures. They are the meat of the strong, and 
 must be given in portions well spiced and seasoned. He 
 quotes in evidence, " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing 
 by the word of God." Where, he asks triumphantly, will 
 you find it written, that Faith cometh by reading, and
 
 THE SCRIPTURES. SPANISH EDUCATION. 25 
 
 reading by the Holy Books ? Of course, with Priests edu- 
 cated in these ideas, it will not be often that permission is 
 given to read the Scriptures. And what a strange idea it 
 gives one, to think that all the Scriptures of the Old Testa- 
 ment should have no existence to one's mind : that Abraham, 
 Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, Samson, Ruth, all the pastoral 
 scenes and all the scenes in the desert that have been 
 pictured before one's mind from one's very earliest child- 
 hood, should never have been presented to it; that the 
 patriarchs and saints of former days should be mixed up 
 with modern Spanish saints, without any clear distinction 
 of times or manners. Dona F. thinks, that St. Paul the 
 Apostle went sword in hand to convert the Chinese and 
 Indians. Yet she is a superior person, and her manners 
 
 as good as those of any person 1 know in . 
 
 The only education which the ladies of the upper classes 
 receive more than the rest is a little French. I believe 
 they know nothing of the history of their country; and as 
 to modern Geograjohy, they will ask, how far England is 
 from London. The benefit would be incalculable if they 
 had some past things to think of, instead of having their 
 heads full of their " novios" or lovers. People cannot 
 imagine such a thing as female virtue °. They laugh and 
 shake their heads when I say, that in England a young lady 
 goes out alone to visit the poor ; that a young lady can 
 travel, if necessary, alone, and that English girls in general 
 do not talk to their lovers out of their bed-room windows 
 at night. They say, that every girl here must have her 
 " novio," and that it may occasionally happen that she 
 marries him, but not often. It is a way of passing the time; 
 
 " Again, the same is sadly true of Italy in married life. Byron says, " that 
 the custom of the Cavalier Servente" was introduced into Spain ft-om Italy. 
 Beppo, xxxvi. Why are not these things striven against, if the Church has 
 that Discipline by means of the Confessional to which she pretends ? Have 
 we ever heard of the mass of the upper classes in Naples, Venice, &c. being 
 excommunicated for their exdl lives ?
 
 26 FORGED MIRACLES. THE STIGMATA. HATRED OF FRIARS. 
 
 and carefully as they are watched with a mamma behind 
 them, they will manage to exchange notes as they are 
 walking. 
 
 The attempts to forge miracles are another great occa- 
 sion of infidelity. I do not know whether the late attempt 
 in France has reached the English papers. Blood was said 
 to flow from a picture. It proved an entire forgery. Yet 
 certainly the evidence at first was better than any given for 
 Sta. Rita's miracles. It is well known, that in some of the 
 disgi'aceful intrigues in the Royal Family of Spain, a very 
 important part was played by a Nun, who pretended to have 
 the Stigmata. For a time she w^as venerated as a Saint, 
 and some of her visions and revelations were used to 
 separate the King and Queen. The Queen is bad enough, 
 but if any thing could excuse her conduct, it would be the 
 heartless cruelty with which she was treated, and the way 
 in which the sanctions of Religion were used to mislead 
 her. The fraud was discovered, the King and Queen re- 
 conciled, and the King's Confessor sent away. What part 
 the Confessor had in it I do not know, for the newspapers 
 were not allowed to say any thing on the subject. He was 
 recalled some months ago. What effect must these things 
 have on the minds of people, who are required to believe 
 things as improbable as those which are proved false, 
 and have no standard whereby to judge between the funda- 
 mental truths of the Gospel, and the wildest fancies ! 
 
 The bitter hatred against the friars and monks is quite 
 astonishing. None of them were murdered here, because 
 when they were turned out, the Governor gave them warning, 
 and allowed them ten days to escape in disguise, before the 
 people knew it. An Englishwoman saved one by dressing 
 him in her son's clothes p : but I have no doubt, that now, if 
 
 p Almost the same thing occurred at Naples, and in many places in Italy 
 during the year 1848. Indeed, the e^ils exhibited in these Letters do not belong 
 to Spain as Spain, but to Roman Catholic countries as such. One who has 
 been in Italy would think that he was reading the account of it.
 
 CONTEMPT OF THE PRIESTHOOD. PADRE FELIZ. 27 
 
 one made his appearance in his monastic dress, he would 
 be torn in pieces. Not even the courtesy of Spaniards can 
 make them behave decently to a Priest. The Priesthood 
 in general seems to be tlioroughly despised''. 
 
 I do not know whether I told you, that there is an image 
 of the Blessed Virgin in the house which has an Indulgence 
 of forty days attached to it. Five Aves said before it five 
 times a day would gain each day two hundred days Indul- 
 gence." 
 
 No. VII. 
 Letter from A. B. 
 
 Feb.27, 1851. 
 
 The Missions ended on Saturday, and Padre Feliz preached 
 the next day. He is very eloquent. I believe he has not 
 any great amount of learning, but great zeal, pathos, and 
 humour. His jokes in the pulpit seem very poor, but they 
 have the desired effect of making the whole congregation 
 laugh, and he has great power of gaining the love of the 
 poor. The last day to which the Indulgences attached to 
 the Missions were prolonged, at nine o'clock at night, a 
 poor ragged man came into the church without either cloak 
 or jacket, and made his way into the Vestry. " Where is the 
 Saint that receives confessions?" Somebody said, "There is 
 Padre Feliz." The Padre went into the church with him, 
 and seeing that he was shivering with cold, he took off his 
 own cloak, and put it on him during the time of his con- 
 fession. Little acts of this kind make the people love him 
 as much as all the real labour he undergoes for them. He 
 preached on Sunday for three hours. Some people had 
 
 1 Are you going to be a Priest ? said a Roman Gentleman last year to the 
 writer, iu a tone which expressed, Can you, an lionom-able man, so degrade yoiu'- 
 self ? This was not the 'lowly estimation' in which every follower of a ci'uci- 
 fied Lord must he content to he held by a scoffing world ; but his words spoke 
 the bitter feeling engendered in a natm-ally generous breast by the sense of 
 wrong done, and immoral hfe iu those who were the object of it.
 
 28 THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 brought pictures to be blessed, and they were stolen. Padre 
 Feliz said in his Sermon, " Let the person who has taken 
 those pictures account that he is not taking pictures home 
 with him, but a thousand legions of devils." When the 
 Sermon was ended, they were found laid in a corner. 
 
 During the Mission, he was going through a Novena to 
 the Blessed Virgin under the title of the Divine Shepherdess. 
 It has since been published, and we have got it. Every thing 
 is of course attributed to her, guarding the fold, seeking the 
 lost sheep, laying it on her shoulders, healing the sick. 
 The Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba left some little books 
 of prayers and doctrine, which are striking. There is so 
 much ardent zeal and love in them, with such entire devotion 
 to the Virgin, some parts so beautiful, some so very painful. 
 Even the Creed has two additions, the epithet of "holy" 
 applied to the Virgin, and that of " Roman"" to the Church. 
 The daily devotions in one of them begin with offering our- 
 selves entirely to the Virgin. If they were but addressed 
 to our Lord instead of to her, they would be excellent. He 
 directs that even the hearing Mass and receiving the 
 Eucharist shall be done in honour of her. I had thought 
 before, that in the act of communion one might be free from 
 her. I understand more now how utterly and entirely the 
 whole system here is built on her. He gives as subjects of 
 meditation, the five Mysteries of Sorrow, and the five 
 Mysteries of Glory. These last are, the Resurrection, the 
 Ascension, the Coming of the Holy Ghost, the Assumption, 
 the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin as Queen and Lady of 
 Heaven and Earth. If, as they assert, our Lord on the 
 Cross gave her to us as our Mother, and us to her as 
 her children, and the Holy Trinity crowned her as Queen 
 and Lady of Heaven and Earth, then it follows, that " for 
 every grace and mercy we can go to no other than her." 
 In the Novena of the Divine Shepherdess, there are seven 
 Mysteries instead of five. Her coronation by the Father, 
 by the Son, and by the Holy Ghost, being regarded as three.
 
 MASSES FOR THE DEAD. 29 
 
 In addition to this, the third Mystery is the descent of the 
 Holy Ghost upon the Blessed Virgin in the form of tongues 
 of fire: the Apostles are not mentioned. These Novenas 
 are all in Spanish, so that the people can understand them. 
 There was an attack made upon the Priest the other day, 
 in which the laymen had got hold of one of the really weak 
 points. When any one dies in the hospital, he is buried, 
 as they say, like a dog. The body is put into a cart, and 
 taken off to the Campo Santo, where it is thrown into a pit, 
 without a word of prayer ^ The laymen asked him, "Where 
 are the souls of those who die in your hospital ?" " Those 
 who are not in hell, are all in Purgatory." One of them 
 turned round, " These people tell us, that all are equal 
 before God, rich and poor, but it is false. If a rich man 
 dies, his friends will have one or two hundred Masses said 
 for him, and he goes to heaven'; while these poor creatures 
 are tormented in Purgatory." I tried to turn it off by 
 saying, " As you feel so much for them, of course you have 
 Masses said for them." He laughed at the suggestion, and 
 said, " You do not believe all these things, though you 
 believe a great deal more than we do." All that the good 
 Padre was able to say was, that once a year a Mass is said 
 for all who have died in the hospital. Conceive the outcry 
 there would be in England, if the bodies of our poor were 
 
 f The same thing takes place at Naples. In the midst of the private sepul- 
 chres of the rich stands a large square surface, having in it 120 sealed openings 
 leading into separate pits. Each year, for three nights successively, these 
 openings ai-e unsealed, and the bodies of the poor arc thrown dowia under the 
 cover of the darkness, and \\'ithout a prayer pronounced upon the spot, without 
 coffins, "like dogs," and quick lime is pom-ed in upon them, and then the 
 opening is re-sealed till its turn comes round next year. And the gay volup- 
 tuous profligate capital is spared the pain of ever seeing the appearance of 
 death. It is all huddled over in the night. 
 
 3 Philip IV. of Spain left money for one hundred thousand Masses to be 
 said for his royal soul; and thiuldng it well nigh impossible that he could need 
 so many himself, he willed that the surplus should go to the benefit of the 
 most solitary soul in Pm-gatory, Ford, p. 1 70 .
 
 30 PRESENTATION TO BENEFICES. 
 
 treated in such a way, though we do not believe that their 
 souls are suffering in consequence. 
 
 There are two advertisements of 'Funciones' for to-day, 
 Friday. One is a masked ball for charity. The other, some 
 Masses to be said for the soul of a Lady lately deceased. 
 Her family have arranged for the late Masses, which are the 
 most expensive, and they advertise that they will pay in 
 addition the sum of fifteen pence to every Priest who will 
 say one for her in a certain church before ten o'clock. 
 The price generally advertised in the Madrid Papers is two 
 shillings before ten, and two shillings and sixpence after. 
 
 The town is full of Priests. There are now 76 
 benefices vacant in the Diocese, being for the most part 
 
 filled temporarily by the ex-friars. All the Parishes in 
 
 are in this case, except one. The Bishop is going to fill 
 them up, and there are 130 Priests come to try for them. 
 They have to go through an Examination, and dispute in 
 Latin before the Bishop and eight Clergy, named by him and 
 by the Chapter. The office of the eight Clergy is to assist and 
 advise the Bishop. He selects those of whom he approves, 
 and sends their names up to Madrid. The old rule is that 
 for a benefice he selects three, and the Queen chooses one 
 of the three'. How they manage with such an immense 
 number of vacancies, I do not know. One of the Candidates 
 was here the other day. He told us, that he had no idea of 
 continuing to bury his talents in the little village where he 
 then lived, as he had preached before the Queen, and passed 
 a brilliant career. 
 
 There have been some peculiarly atrocious murders 
 here lately. Happily there is a new Governor, who is so 
 strict, as to be known by the nick-name of the Executioner. 
 The sympathies of the people are much more with the 
 
 ' Conceive the triumphant scorn witli which the Rambler and Tablet would 
 point the finger at ' Her Majesty's Rectors,' if such a system existed in 
 England. And are there not many of om-selves who would look upon it as 
 a aign ? But why cue measure for Spain and anotlier for England ?
 
 MURDERS. GIPSY WIDOW. S. DEMAS. 31 
 
 criminal than the murderer. That a man should be stabbed 
 is so common a case, that they think nothing of it : that a 
 murderer should be garoted, would fill them with compas- 
 sion. A band of robbers has been committing great depre- 
 dations near Ronda. It is the business of the police to 
 take them, and as they would not, the military Governor 
 ordered out a troop of soldiers, who shot two of them. For 
 interfering with the functions of the civil Governor, he has 
 been dismissed; and yesterday came news of a most 
 horrible case of murder and mutilation committed on a 
 woman and some children by the same band. We heard 
 a very striking story the other day of a poor gipsy woman, 
 whose husband had been murdered by a man in a re- 
 spectable class of life. The murderer thought to get off by 
 money, he feed every Judge and person likely to help him, 
 and obtained delay after delay; but the case was so clear, 
 that they could not save him. He offered the widow money 
 enough to make her rich. She came into the court, and 
 knelt down with all her children round her, and asked for 
 justice. " You tell me," she said, " to forgive that man, 
 because forgiveness is a Christian duty. I do forgive him. 
 I do not seek his blood for revenge, but as a duty to my 
 husband. You offer me money : how can I touch it } Is 
 not it stained with my husband's blood ? and my children, 
 how would they spend one dollar of it ? Would it not be 
 the price of their father's blood ? I tell that man, I tell you, 
 that I will have his life." She kept her word, and he was 
 executed ; but again and again she had to leave her chil- 
 dren, and walk to Granada, 54 miles off, to defeat some 
 fresh attempt to save him. 
 
 I am not sure if I ever told you the story of S. Demas. 
 I will give it you as Padre Feliz told it to his congregation, 
 on the Archbishop's authority. When the Blessed Virgin fled 
 into Egypt, she fell in with a band of robbers, whose 
 captain was named Demas. He was a very wicked man, 
 but something in her appearance struck him, and though
 
 32 LEGEND OF S. DEMAS. INTERCESSION OF S. MARY. 
 
 he did not know that she was such " a great lady," he not 
 only did her no harm, but escorted her on her way. After 
 this he went on in his wickedness, and at last, 33 years 
 afterwards, was taken, imprisoned, and condemned to 
 death. When our Lord was crucified, to put Him to more 
 shame, Demas was chosen to be his companion. On the 
 Cross he prayed to our Lord to save him; the Virgin 
 remembered his kindness to her in past years, and asked 
 our Lord to have mercy upon him ; and thereupon He said, 
 " This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." From this 
 the Padre drew the lesson, that there is one Advocate able 
 to save even the most wicked, namely, the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 Dona F. fully believes the story of a man who died in 
 mortal sin, but because he had formerly been a devotee of 
 the Blessed Virgin, she interceded for him. In deadly sin 
 he could not enter either Purgatory or Heaven ; but our 
 Lord could not reject His Mother's petition, so the man 
 was sent back again to the earth to work out his salvation, 
 by earning some money to give to the person he had 
 injured. 
 
 Some of the Clergy in Madrid are tr3nng to put a stop 
 to masks and diversions on Ash-Wednesday and the Sunday 
 after. It seems to be thought very unreasonable, as, for a 
 long time, such things have always been on those days. 
 
 No. VIII. 
 
 Extracts from Letters of C. D. 
 
 Feb. 2b, 1851. 
 " There has been an affray with some robbers near Gibral- 
 tar. The country is in a miserable state. The streets of 
 
 are not safe for a single person late at night. Only 
 
 last night a watchman was murdered ; and I read in the 
 papers a story of five men taking possession of a hedge 
 near for seven days", and plundering every one that 
 
 " The same thing frequently occui-s in Greece. Last yeai" the Khan of 
 Ellada, the only resting-place, such as it is, for travellers, on the Plains of
 
 BANDITTI. METHOD OF BUILDING A CHURCH. 33 
 
 passed. Last week Mr. was riding out, and as he 
 
 passed a house in the hills, his guide told him that there 
 had been for a length of time four robbers concealed there, 
 who had plundered the country, and shot one of the Guar- 
 dias civiles : the country people all knew it, but no one 
 
 would give information There has been another 
 
 ease of murder. A poor Italian harper has been stabbed 
 in the street just after dark. The man who stabbed the 
 watchman is caught. The Governor declared, that he would 
 suspend the police if in eight days he were not found, and 
 accordingly he is taken. . . . The theological questions that 
 we hear raised constantly are outrageous. Whether the 
 Deluge was possible, and. Whether the soul could exist 
 separate fi'om the body, were the last. . . . There is an 
 amusing account of the method in which a new church at 
 Madrid has been built. A Committee was formed, consisting 
 of an Archbishop, several Bishops, Noblemen, and others : 
 the land was given, and they set to work : but soon money 
 failed : so they had a Bull-Jight, the proceeds of which 
 heljDed them on : then they had a ' funcion' in the 
 theatre, which gave them another help : besides which, they 
 obtained from the ' ayuntamento' the assistance of several 
 ' presidiarios,' i. e. convicts. But all failed, and it was not 
 half completed. What was to be done ? They tried another 
 Bull-fight, but this time the owner of the 'plaza de toros' 
 was not agreeable : then they tried another ' funcion,' but 
 that failed also. Fortunately at this juncture one of the 
 Bishops on the Committee was made Archbishop of Toledo, 
 and some funds came into his hands which he was able to 
 apply to the church, and then they got up to the roof. 
 But they could get no further, and at last the Government 
 took it in hand. It is now roofed in, and they say it will he 
 finished. All this is reported in the Esperanza (the 
 
 ThermopylfE, was occupied for a week by a band of forty brigands. They were, 
 however, very well behaved brigands, and never thought of being so uncoiirteous 
 as to be very troublesome to foreigners. 
 
 D
 
 34 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 " Guardian" of Spain) with the greatest simplicity, as if 
 greatly conducing to the honour and perseverance of the 
 Committee, who have continued thus patiently at work since 
 1839. . . . Whether the Ministry will stand seems a great 
 question. There is now no one with a strong hand whom 
 people fear as they did Narvaez, but they are all sick 
 of revolutions, and will bear any thing rather than another. 
 No one seems to have the slightest trust in the probity or 
 honour of any public man. All the religion that remains 
 is in the lower class. . . . There has been a man stabbed 
 in the open air. Two oilmen quarrelled, and went out 
 to fight with knives as usual, and as one was drawing his 
 knife, the other stabbed him to the heart, and left him dead. 
 This was at two o'clock in the da3\ . . . The other day I heard 
 a characteristic dialogue : some one rang the bell, and Jose 
 pulled the string, and opened the latch from upstairs, bawling 
 out, 'Quien es.' The answer was, * Ave Maria Purisima.' 
 To which Jose bawled again, 'Sin pacado concibida.' Itproved 
 to be a woman begging, so he supplicated his sister ' Per 
 Dios' to depart, and so the scene concluded. . . . There is 
 a new play come out here, called 'El Mercado de Londres.' 
 A rich London merchant becomes jealous of his wife, where- 
 upon, as is the fashion in England, he determines to sell 
 her, which he accordingly does for 24,000 reals. They 
 asked us gravelj-, whether it is the custom in England to 
 sell wives: and when we laughed, and said no, they evidently 
 suspected us of preferring patriotism to veracity. ... I have 
 many strange questions asked me; such as, whether we have 
 the Paier and Credo and Ave in England; whether the 
 Church of England believes ' that God comes down' in the 
 Mass; and others like them. . . . Thismorning we found our 
 
 way into the Sacristy of San . Three priests were 
 
 there who shewed us the robes, consisting of the chasuble 
 and dalmatic. One chasuble cost X'240. The vessels are 
 the same as our own, with the addition of tbe custodia and 
 the crucifix. The chalices and paten were silver gilt. I
 
 REVIVAL CAUSED BY THE MISSION. 35 
 
 asked them respecting catechising, as I had never heard it. 
 They said that it was not now practised. Yet the Canons 
 order it on every Sunday, and all days in Lent. I am reading 
 
 the Canons and Synodalia of , and comparing them 
 
 with modern practice. I find that Canons are dead letters 
 in other places as well as England." 
 
 These letters bring clearly enough before us in an 
 unformal way two points : 1. The normal state of the Church 
 of Spain, practically and doctrinally ; 2. The revival 
 caused by a Home Mission. It is not necessary to make 
 any lengthened remarks on either head. With regard to 
 the second, God foi'bid that we should refuse to rejoice in 
 the good wrought, or fail to attribute it, so far as it is to 
 be attributed, to His Grace. Such symptoms of life in the 
 midst of corruptions are exactly what we should be led to 
 expect from the theory of the English Chnrch, while the 
 fact of Bishop Andrewes and others is left unaccounted 
 for by the Roman theory. We freely acknowledge the 
 Roman Obedience to be a part of Christ's Holy Catholic 
 Church, and therefore we see good working among them 
 with pleasure, and without surprise ; we also maintain that 
 they have corrupted themselves, and added poison to the 
 waters of life, and therefore we expect to see and do see 
 evils. But, indeed, a revival of this kind partakes more of the 
 nature of a fever-fit than of vigorous life. It makes the 
 stagnant blood flow, and so far in itself it is a great good ; 
 but it implies antecedents, and suggests consequents of a 
 wholly contrary character. It implies past deadness, and 
 suggests future falling back when the impression made on 
 the feelings by fervid eloquence shall have abated. And 
 it is brought about by a belief instilled into the people, 
 that their attendance and confession will buy them off 
 the pains of penance in this world, and of Purgatory in 
 the next, by no less than three Plenary Indulgences. Its 
 likeness to the immediate effects produced by Whitfield, in 
 
 D 2
 
 3(j PRACTICAL WORKING OF THE FOREIGN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 his field-preaching near Bristol, is very striking. " The 
 deep silence of his rude auditors was the first proof that he 
 had imjjressed them, and by and bye he saw the white 
 gutters made by the tears which plentifully fell down their 
 black cheeks, black as they came out of the coal-pits. 
 ' The open firmament,' says Whitfield, ' above me, the 
 prospect of the adjacent fields, with the sight of thousands 
 and thousands, some in coaches, some on hoi'ses, and some 
 in the trees, and at times all affected and di'enched in tears 
 together ; to which sometimes was added the solemnity of 
 the approaching evening; was almost too much for, and 
 quite overcame me ''.' " 
 
 With regard to the first, those who have ears to hear, (for 
 there are many in these days, as in others, who do not use 
 them to hear,) and those that have eyes to see, will have 
 marked that practically the Church in Spain fails to 
 sanctify the conversation of the people, w'ho, in spite of the 
 warm and simple hearts which nature has given them, are 
 given up to dissolute, ungodly, and irreligious lives. "By 
 their fruits ye shall know them," says Holy Scripture. Yet 
 it would not be fair to press this point further than this. 
 Such a state of life and morals as is implied above is one 
 sign among many, of little weight perhaps by itself, but 
 coming in as one of the units whose sum, should they all 
 exist, would be a proof of a falling or fallen Church. The 
 very far higher character of England, for honesty, morality, 
 and general religion, than that of SjDain and Italy, is one 
 item, good as far as it goes, in favour of England's Church. 
 Again, the torpor of the Spanish Church, and the agonized 
 throes of her English sister under the heavy hand of 
 State-tyranny, is another sign not to be despised in the 
 comparison of one with the other. 
 
 Doctrinally it will be seen, that in spite of all that has been 
 
 ^ Southey's Life of Wesley, vol. i. \). 236. Had 'Wesley's Mii-acles' taken 
 place in the Cbnrcli of Eome, they would have been accounted for by a very 
 different hypothesis from that of Southey. p. 244.
 
 DOCTRINAL TEACHING OF THE FOREIGN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 37 
 
 said and unsaid, all that has been asserted and denied, it is 
 true, that in the religious regards of the people the Blessed 
 Virgin does stand in the place of God : that it is true, that 
 satisfaction for sin by way of penance is turned into a 
 calculating mechanical process of buying off" certain pains 
 by certain other painful expiatory acts : that it is true, that 
 the Bible is a closed book to the laity. It must be acknow- 
 ledged, that the first of these is a corruption of God's Truth; 
 that the second is a scheme whereby the feeling of free- 
 hearted penitence must be sapped, and the true means of 
 'pleasing God' obscured ; that the third is, in spite of what 
 may be said for it, a grievous wrong done to God's heritage, 
 and results in unreasoning credulity of everything thatis told 
 them in feeble minds, and an equally unreasoning disbelief 
 and suspicion of every thing in more awakened intellects y. 
 But these are only three points incidentally manifested. 
 There are many others, some of which it may be well to 
 throw together in a few pages ; for those who look towards 
 Rome in the disti'action and troubles of our own times, 
 often scarce wait to enquire what her doctrines are, or 
 to seriously ask themselves whether such a faith, so taken 
 up, will be the stay and comfort of their souls, when this 
 fretful scene of struggling shall have closed, and they 
 shall stand solitary before the Judge. To such as desire to 
 act honestly to themselves, (and the writer knows many 
 such,) the following questions may be useful. 
 
 Sect. II. 
 
 I. Are you prepared to take upon yourself to declare, 
 when the circumstances in which God has placed you do 
 
 y "In this oiir Clim-ch, aud the life that has so wonderfully revived in her, 
 lies, under God's good Spmt, if she shall he ever allowed a free sphere of 
 action for her own true principles, the best hope, (and I say it with a sad sense 
 of the infinite distance between the theory and the fact,) the best, I had 
 almost said, the only, hope of wnning the educated intellect of the present 
 age to a manly and rational obedience to the wUl and law of Christ." Sermon, 
 by the Rev. A. W. Haddan, on St. Stephen's Day.
 
 38 EXCLUSIVENESS. INNOVATION. 
 
 not require it, that the sixty-five million seven hundred 
 and seventy thousand souls in communion with the Ortho- 
 dox Greek Church % which consists of five Patriarchates, 
 two of which, if not three, are older than that of Rome, 
 and the sixteen million souls belonging to the Keformed 
 Catholic Communion, are not members of Christ's Church, 
 when you know the fearful risk of denying the operations 
 of Christ's Holy Spirit"? Would it be a light thing when 
 you repeat the words, ' The Holy Church throughout all 
 the world,' to have your mind confined to the worn out 
 countries of Spain, France, and Italy, together with parts 
 of Germany, and Mexico ? Yet all the bulk of th& Roman 
 Obedience is contained in these five countries. 
 
 n. Are you prepared to believe, that new doctrines may 
 be added to the Faith, which have come into being since 
 the time of SS. Peter and Paul ? Yet as much as this is 
 necessarily implied in the modern doctrine of development, 
 and any other ground for the defence of the Roman Faith, 
 is well nigh now given up by her most able advocates, and 
 indeed ca,nnot possibly be consistently maintained, since 
 Popes and Councils have taken upon themselves not to 
 enunciate the one truth ever held, but to fi-ame doctrine of 
 their own immediate authority. Can you reconcile such a 
 notion with S. Jude's exhortation, that we " should contend 
 earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the 
 
 ^ The numbers given above are taken from a calculation made ten years 
 ago. I am informed on very good authority, that they now amount to 70,000,000. 
 The coiTCctness of the Roman numbers may be tested by the fact, that the 
 whole population of France is included in their census, amomiting by itself 
 to upwards of 30,000,000. 
 
 » Matth. xiii. 31. The answer, " But you have to say tlie same of Dis- 
 senters," is no answer, because if we should acknowledge that they in no 
 sense made part of the Chm-ch, (yet on this point, Aide Hooker, Eccl. Pol. 
 V. C8. 6.) stUl the admission might be true of them, and false of Greece and 
 England, and, if false, it is just as awfiil an assertion to make and act upon, 
 whether or no another proposition, by the hypothesis not false, be similar to 
 it or no.
 
 PRINCIPLE OF INNOVATION. 39 
 
 saints*"?" Can you reconcile it with S. Paul's declaration 
 to the Ephesians, that he " had not shunned to declare 
 unto them all the counsel of God"?" Can you reconcile 
 it with his redoubled precept to the Galatians, " Though 
 we or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto 
 you than (i. e. beside) we have preached unto you, let him 
 be accursed ? As we said before, so say I now again, If 
 any man preach any other Gospel unto you than (beside) 
 that ye have received, let him be accursed''." Can you 
 reconcile it with the well-known principle of the early 
 Church, Ta aqy^onct l^>] KgarelTM, illustrated by the great 
 Councils of Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon? 
 In each of these, appeal was made to the sayings and 
 writings of the old doctors % in order to clear up what was 
 the mind of the Church from the beginning. There is no 
 framing ex cathedra as by some immediate inspiration and 
 living power. " After that," says Vincentius Lerinensis, 
 
 •» Jude 3. It is uufortunate, that in our version the full meaning of i(pdTra^, 
 literally " upon once," " once only," " once for aU," has not been given. 
 
 «= Acts xs. 27. 
 
 •1 Gal. i. 8, 9. Vide Vincentius Lei-inensis' instructive comment on these 
 verses in the 8th and 9th chapters of his Commonitory. " These precepts," 
 says he, " which are set down against changing the faith, are commanded to 
 all ages ; wherefore to preach unto Christian Catholic men beside that which 
 they have received never was lawful, no where is laAvful, never shall be 
 lawful. He crieth out, and again and again crieth out, in his Epistles, to all men, 
 to all times, to all places, that vessel of election, that Master of the Gentiles, 
 that trumpet of the Apostles, that herald of the earth, that seer of the things 
 of Heaven, that whosoever preacheth a new doctrine is to be acciu'sed. And, 
 on the contrai-y part, certain cry out, Cast away your old faith, your forefathers' 
 laws, yoiu' elders' trust committed to you, and receive after all what things ? 
 I tremble to utter them, so proud and presmnptuous are they." The principle 
 here laid down was that on which the Ancient Church acted, and thus she 
 fulfilled the great purpose for which she was formed, the maintenance of one 
 immutable Faith in its integrity. The present practice is to pronounce as 
 necessai'y to be believed whatever a sufficiently large public opinion demands. 
 See note on the subject of the Immaculate Conception. P. 43. 
 
 « For the way in which Rome treats the Fathers, vide Index Expurgatorius, 
 Dissuasive, p. 2. 1. 1. §. 0. Stillingfleet, Grounds, 1. s. 19. Newman on Roman- 
 ism, Lect. 2.
 
 40 PllINCIPLE OF INNOVATION. 
 
 commenting on the Council of Ephesus, " we admired and 
 highly commended the great humility and holiness of the 
 Council, that so many Priests, almost the greater part of 
 whom were Metropolitans, of such condition, of such 
 learning, that they were almost all sufficient to have dis- 
 puted concerning doctrines, and whose very assembling 
 might therefore seem enough to have emboldened them to 
 presume and determine somewhat of themselves, yet they 
 innovated in nothing, aiTOgated nothing to themselves; but 
 above all things were most careful not to deliver any thing 
 unto posterity which they also had not received from 
 their forefathers, not only disposing well of the business 
 then present, but leaving an example to posterity, namely, 
 how they in like manner should reverence the doctrines of 
 sacred antiquity, but condemn the inventions of profane 
 novelty." Would God that the Mediaeval Church had fol- 
 lowed that godly rule and example. The sharp severe 
 measure of sti-iking off at a blow all " profane novelties," 
 as Vincent indignantly termed them, " new inventions," as 
 Mr. Faber approvingly entitles them, and returning to " the 
 docti'ines of sacred antiquity," would not then have been 
 needed in the sixteenth century. 
 
 III. Are you really prepared to worship the Blessed 
 Virgin Mary ? I use the word uorship deliberately, for it 
 is the only word which is truthful. Else what mean not 
 only the foreign practices prayers and sennons, which, as has 
 been shewn by the previous letters, encourage the laity in 
 making St. Mary the centre of their religious system '^, but 
 also the dogmatic and devotional expressions accepted into 
 
 f The foUowiug conversation took place between the wi-iter and an old 
 woman in Rome last year. Q. ' Do you pray to la Santissima Madonna ?* 
 A. with a smile of pity, ' Of coiu-se.' ' Do yoii make any tlifference in your 
 prayers addi-essed to her and to Jesus Christ ?' ' Of course not.' ' "Which do 
 you pray most to ?' ' La Santissima Madonna.' ' "Why ?' ' Because I am a 
 woman, and so I pray to Her ; you are a man, so you pray to Him.' The men 
 in Italy do not pray. Their faith has been overtaxed, and they have, in the 
 middle classes, in numberless cases, cast away belief.
 
 WORSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 41 
 
 the public offices, and when used by individuals, approved 
 by authority ? Wliat, for example, is the meaning of the 
 " Psalter of the Blessed Virgin, compiled by the Seraphic 
 Doctor St. Bonaventura, Bishop of Alba, and Presbyter 
 Cardinal of the Holy Church of Rome," of whom Pope 
 Sixtus declared, when he canonized him in 1482, " that he 
 so wrote on divine subjects, that the Holy Spirit seems tohave 
 spoken in him ?" And his version of the Te Deum, in which 
 we read, " We praise Thee, O Lady, we acknowledge Thee 
 Mary the Virgin : all the earth shall worship Thee, the 
 Spouse of the Eternal Father. Holy, holy, holy, Mary, 
 Mother of God and Virgin ! O Lady, save Thy people ! Let 
 Thy great mercy be with us, because we do put our trust in 
 Thee, O A'^irgin Mary ! in Thee, sweet Mary, do we put our 
 trust, defend Thou us eternally.'"' And his Litany, in which 
 it is prayed, " Spare us. Good Lady !" " Good Lady, deliver 
 us !" " We sinners do beseech Thee to hear us. Good Lady ?" 
 Look again to the saying of Bernardinus Sennensis, who 
 was canonized by Nicholas V. in the year 1450: "Mary 
 has done more for_God, than God has for man, so that 
 thus on account of the Blessed Virgin, whom nevertheless 
 He made, God is in a certain manner under greater obli- 
 gations to us than man to Him." Alphonso Liguori was 
 canonized only twelve years ago; his words are, "All is 
 subject to Mary, even God Himself." It would be endless to y,. /(.-^ 
 enumerate such passages^, which those who have visited the v ^'~'. 
 
 g For fui'ther examples, vide supra, Letter VI. The excess to which this 
 adoration has heen caxi'ied by the new School of the Oratoiians is well known. ' ■ - '' ^ >' "• ' 
 It was hinted in Mr. Newman's published letter to Mr. Faber, in which he ^--^'v.-*^,^^ 
 signed himself, ' Yom-s in St. Mary and St. Philip.' It is brought out clearly '- ^'-^^tf- 
 in Mr. Faber's writings. The following extracts ai'e taken from his hymns. '^ /^i-^t. 
 The capital letters are Mr. Faber's. Li- ri^^,-^' 
 
 " Mary, one gift I beg of Thee, 
 
 My soul from sin and sorrow free ! 
 
 Direct my wandering feet aright. 
 
 And be Thyself mine own ti-ue light ! 
 
 Oh, Mai7, when I come to die. 
 
 Be Thou, Thy Spouse, and Jesus nigh !
 
 42 INTERCESSION OF SS. MARY AND JOSEPH. 
 
 churches near Rome and Naples know well, still breathe the 
 spirit of the Roman Church in Italy as well as in Spain. At 
 Naples the same principles which have put St. Mary in the 
 place of Jesus are now placing St. Joseph i i the place of 
 St. Mary"". What is Biel's Rationale of the system? 
 '' You are afraid to approach the Father, frightened by only 
 hearing of Him, but He gave you Jesus for a Mediator : 
 what could not such a Son obtain from such a Father ? . . . 
 This brother Mary gave you : but perhajjs even in Him 
 you fear the Divine Majesty, because although He was 
 made man, yet He remained God : you wish to have an 
 Advocate even to Him. Betake yourself to Mary, for in 
 Mary is pure humanity. The Son will hear the Mother, 
 and the Father will hear the Son." Is not the Neapolitan 
 peasant, justified in going a step farther, and betaking 
 himself to St. Joseph, because the wife will hear the 
 husband, or to St. Anna, because the daughter will hear 
 the Mother } And is not the whole system alien fi-om that 
 deep trustful spirit of filial love, whereby the humble 
 Christian looks up with his heartfelt "Abba Father," to 
 his dear Lord and Father, to Whom he is brought nigh by 
 the precious blood of Jesus ? " For there is one God, and 
 
 "WTien mute before the Judge I stand, 
 My holy shield be Mai'y's haud ! 
 Thou Mai-y, art luy hope and life. 
 The starhght of this earthly stiife." 
 Again, " Mary, let Thy Son no more 
 
 His liugeiing Spouses * thus expect, 
 God's childi'en to their God restore. 
 And to the Spirit his Elect." 
 
 ^ Mr. Faber is not left behind by the Itahan development here either. 
 Addressing St. Joseph, he says, 
 
 " Wilt thou 
 Forgive a poor exile for choosing thee now ? 
 There is no Saint in Heaven I worship like thee, 
 Sweet Spouse of our Lady ! deign to love me !" 
 • i. e. Tlie souls in Purgatory.
 
 THE ASSUMPTION. THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 43 
 
 one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 
 who gave Himself a ransom for all'." 
 
 IV. Do you believe, as you believe a fact of history, that 
 St. Mary was taken up bodily into Heaven ? Yet the 
 Feast of the Assumption is one of the Festivals which is 
 kept throughout Italy with the greatest splendom*. Do you 
 believe in the Immaculate Conception of St. Mary"", although 
 the dogma runs the risk of denying the Universality of 
 Original Sin, and of marring the true doctrine of the Incar- 
 nation, and although the testimony of the Church negative 
 and jjositive is against it' ? But you must believe both of 
 these, if you submit to the re-bajjtism of Rome. 
 
 i 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. 
 
 ^ With a slight alteration of the two subjects, ' The Saints,' and, ' The 
 Church of all lauds,' I should agree ^vith the following hues of Mr. Faber : 
 
 "And the Saints new inventions of homage have found, 
 New titles of honour, new honom's for thee, 
 New love for thy shining, sweet Star of the Sea ! 
 And now from the Chm-ch of all lands thy dear name 
 Comes borne on the breath of one mighty acclaim ; 
 Men call on thek Father that He should decree 
 A new gem to thy shining, sweet Star* of the Sea !" 
 
 Mr. Faber here acknowledges, that the honours and offices attributed to 
 St. Mary are new inventions, (let us weigh both the words well,) aud are 
 bestowed upon her by the Pope. For the dispute between the Franciscans 
 and Dominicans on the subject of the Immacidate Conception, see Council of 
 Trent, Sess. 4. For the progress of the opinion in Spain, see Doblado's 
 Letters, Note A. 
 
 1 St. Aug. de Pecc. Mentis, ii. 24. "Quod (de B. V.) assumpsit id profecto 
 aut suscipiendum mundavit, aut suscipiendo muuda^'dt." On which Arch- 
 deacon Wilberfoi-ce remarks : ' If the Blessed Virgin had not been an 
 inheritor of our common natm-e, she would have been less suitable for that 
 service which it was her privilege to discharge.' Might he not have said even 
 ' unsuitable,' nay, ' incapable ?' Doctrine of the Incarnation, p. 78. 
 
 Even so late a ^viiter as S. Bernard, speaks most strongly against this ' new 
 invention;' and we must recollect how much more valuable a late writer's 
 testimony against a doctrine is, than his testimony for it. Testimony in 
 favour of such and such a doctrine only bears witness to the fact, that at 
 a certain date it was taught, and it may have corruptly crept into prevalence 
 perhaps a centuiy previously. Testimony against a doctrine shews, that even
 
 44 IMAGE-WORSHIP. 
 
 V. Do you think it right to worship Images ? But this is 
 a point of the Roman Faith. They are not merely used as 
 memorials of the object of worship, for these are the exact 
 words in which the controversialist Bellarmine lays down 
 the dogma : " The Images of Christ and the Saints are to 
 be venerated, not only by accident and improperly, but 
 properly and by themselves : so that they themselves are 
 fluJl the end of the veneration, as they are considered in them- 
 selves, and not only as representatives"." The terms used 
 by the Council of Trent are not so monstrous, but these 
 are the expressions of Naclantus, Bishop of Clugium, 
 who was one of the leading Prelates in its deliberations. 
 " Wherefore not only must it be confessed that the faithful 
 in the Church do adore before the Images, (as some 
 perhaps for caution's sake express themselves,) but also 
 they do worship the Image without any manner of scruple 
 which you may suggest : nay, moreover, they venerate the 
 Image with that worship with which they venerate its origi- 
 nal : so that if the original has to be worshipped with latreia 
 or douleia or hyperdouleia, the Image is to be adored wnth the 
 self-same species of worship"." So that, according to the 
 teaching of some of the Roman Doctors, the Images of Christ 
 are to receive the worship of latreia for and in themselves, 
 the Images of the Blessed Virgin the worship of hyper- 
 
 at that date it had never heen heard of in the Chiu'ch except to be reprobated. 
 Thus the over-reverence of the Greek Church paid to the Blessed Virgin 
 proves nothing about the antiquity and truth of the doctrine. But the utter 
 ignorance in the Eastern Communion of the Suin'emacy of the See of Kome 
 is an insurmountable demonstration against the claim. 
 
 ■" Bell, de Im. SS. lib. ii. c. xxi. Imagines per se et proprie colendas. 
 Yet Bellarmine is more moderate than Aquinas, Sum. Theol. Pars 3. Qu. 
 25. Art. 3, 4. Cassander maintains the contrai-y view. Consult. 21. De 
 cultu Imag. " We are not unskilled," says Bp. Taylor, "in the devices of the 
 Komau wi-iters, and with how much artifice they would excuse this whole 
 matter and palhate the crime imputed to them, and elude the Scriptures, but 
 we know also that the arts of sophistry are not the ways of Salvation. Diss. 
 p. i. c. i. §. 8. 
 
 n J. Nacl. Clug. Exp. Ep. Rom. cited in Horn. iii. Against Peril of Idolatry.
 
 IMAGE- WORSHIP, 45 
 
 douleia, the Images of the Saints the worship of douleia. 
 Thus it is expressly stated, that latreia to an Image is 
 justifiable. Now Image is merely the English translation 
 of Idolon, so that latreia to an Idolon is acknowledged to be 
 right. Then how can we escape the conclusion, that 
 Idolatry", which is a mere combination of the two words, 
 is justifiable ? Can a thing be right when spoken of under 
 two words, and wrong when spoken of under one? Either 
 give up the thing, or defend the word. And how can you 
 reconcile either thing or word with the second Command- 
 mentP; with St. John's touching exhortation, "Little 
 children, keep yourselves from Idols i;" with the universal 
 practice of the Primitive Church, down to the seventh 
 century''? Nor would much be gained should it be urged, 
 as it might be, that the words of the Tridentine Council do 
 not bind those who receive its decrees to actual latreia of 
 the Image, but of the Image's Prototype. Is it possible to 
 conceive that a Socrates or a Cicero really worshipped 
 
 " Tliere are two senses in which the word Idolatry is used : 1. worshipping 
 that which has no real existence; 2. paying adoration to the outward repre- 
 sentations of real objects of worship. In the first sense no Christians are 
 guilty of it : in the second is it possible to deny it ? At the same time it must 
 be observed, that it is not their use but their adoration which is idolatrous. 
 
 P In foreign Catechisms, and in those churches abroad where the Command- 
 ments are exposed to view, the second Commandment is often wholly left out. 
 This is a very different thing from the practice of joining the first and second 
 Commandments together. 
 
 1 This woi'd would equally correctly be translated ' Images.' It is noticeable, 
 that this is the last warning in the beloved Disciple's Catholic Epistle. 
 1 John V. 21. 
 
 ■■ The well-known story of Epiphanius, whose date is about A.D. 370, is 
 illustrative of the strong feeling of the Church at the end of the fourth century 
 on this point. Going into a church in Palestine, "I found there a veil 
 hanging at the door of the chiu-ch dyed and painted, and having the Image as 
 it were of Christ, or some Saint. When therefore I saw this, that contrary to 
 the Scriptm-es the image of a man was suspended in the Chm-ch of Christ, I 
 cut it down, and gave counsel to the keepers of the place that they should use 
 it for the burial of some poor man." The date of the Second Council of Nice 
 is A.D. 787.
 
 40 HALF-COMMUNION. 
 
 pieces of wood and stone as pieces of wood and stone ? 
 Did tlie Jews worship the golden calf as a golden calf? 
 No; the first adored the Supreme Being or the Hero in this 
 his representation, and the latter we are expressly told 
 considered the Feast of the Golden Calf to be the Feast of 
 the Lord Jehovah'. And vet this was Idolatry. How 
 does even the educated Romanist differ from them, when 
 he puts forth the plea that he is worshipping the Saint in 
 the Image and God in the Saint' } 
 
 YI. Do you dare to give up the privilege that has been 
 yours since your Confirmation, of receiving that Cup which 
 St. Paul declares to be " the Communion of the Blood of 
 Christ" ?" Listen to the self-condemning words of the 
 Council of Constance, by which in the year 1415 this * pro- 
 fane novelty' was authorized. It " decrees, declares, and 
 determines", that although Christ instituted this venerable 
 Sacrament . . . and administered it to His disciples under 
 both kinds of bread and wine . . . and in like manner that 
 although in the Primitive Church the Sacrament was 
 received of the faithful underboth kinds, yet. ..we command," 
 (where was Vincentius' Rule here ?) " under pain of 
 excommunication, that no Priest communicate the people 
 under both kinds." AMiy did Christ institute the Cup } 
 Why did He distribute it ? Why did He say, Drink ye all 
 of this ? WTiy is the condition of ' drinking His blood,' added 
 to that of ' eating His flesh,' in order that He may dwell in 
 
 « Exodus xxxii. 5. 
 
 * St. Clement of Alexaudiia, iii the sixth book of his Stromateis, wi-ites : 
 " Moses had expressly enacted, that no statue or image must he made, that 
 we might not give ourselves to the objects of sense, hut pass on to objects to 
 he contemplated by the mind : for the familiarity of the sight always at hand 
 lessens the majesty of God, and makes it cheap, and to worship the Intellectual 
 Essence through matter is to dishouom- it thi-ough sense." " Non ego ilium 
 lapidem colo," pleads the heathen disputer, in S. Aug. Ps. xc^i. " sed semo 
 ei quem non ^ideo." 
 
 " 1 Cor. X. 10. 
 
 " Labb. Cone. Tom. xii. p. 1 00. Vide etiam Cone. Trident. Sessio 21. in Hai-d. 
 Act. Cone. torn. x. p. 1 19.
 
 HALF-COMMUNION. TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 47 
 
 US and we in Himv ? Is it not to be most gravely ques- 
 tioned, whether the blessed Sacrament can be received in 
 its integrity under one kind ? WHiat was the practice of the 
 Apostles ? What says Pope Gelasius, who lived in the 
 year 490 ? " We find that certain persons, when they have 
 received their portion of the Sacred Body, abstain from the 
 Cup of the Holy Blood. Let these men beyond doubt, 
 (since I know not by what superstition they can be hin- 
 dered,) either receive the Sacrament entire, or abstain from 
 it altogether, because thei'e cannot be a division of one and 
 the same mystery without great sacrilege." Pope Julius, as 
 late as the year 920, is not less explicit. "We have heard 
 that certain persons, filled with a schismatical ambition 
 against the divine decrees and the Apostolical institutions, 
 have offered the Eucharist to the people dipped in the wine 
 by way of full communion : but that this is contrary to the 
 Ajjostolical doctrine, and to the custom of the Church, it is not 
 difficult to prove, from the very fountain of truth from which 
 the mysteries of the Sacraments have themselves come; for 
 the setting forth of the bread and wine separately is recorded, 
 and therefore every such error ought immediately to cease." 
 VII. The difference between the Roman Transubstantia- 
 tion and the Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence, is a 
 most mysterious metaphysical question, to be handled with 
 all reverence of thought, but yet it must be fairly met. Do 
 you then mean by the former, that the external sign is so 
 changed into the thing signified, as to lose the propriety of 
 its own nature .'' In that case, where are the two parts of 
 the Sacrament, and what becomes of the argument of the 
 Fathers for the two natures of Christ from the twofold nature 
 of the Holy Elements } Do you choose the dogma of the 
 Council of Trent, or that of the Anglican and of the Primitive 
 Church embodied in the following extract from Pope Gela- 
 sius^ "Doubtless, the Sacrament of the Body and Blood 
 
 y John vi. 5G. 
 
 ' Gel. de duab. Nat. Tbeod. Dial. 2. St. Chrys, Ep. ad Ctes. Vide Peai'son 
 on the Creed, note p. Art. III. vol. ii. p. 201. ed. Burton.
 
 48 INLULGENCES. 
 
 which we receive is a Very Divine Thing, whereby we are 
 made partakers of the Divine Nature, and yet it doth not 
 cease to be bread and wine by substance and nature ?" 
 
 VIII. In Home as well as in Spain on almost every 
 church there is inscribed above the door, " Indulgentia, 
 Plenaria, Quotidiana," &c. On the Cross in the centre 
 of the Colosseum is written, " By kissing the holy Cross, 
 two hundred days' Indulgence is acquired*." Two hun- 
 dred and fifty-two years, i. e. as much as would be gained 
 by two hundred and fifty-two years of rigorous Penance, 
 is granted for ascending the Scala Santa on the knees. 
 Seven years and seven quarantines (i. e. seven years 
 and seven forty days) are given for attending a Procession 
 of the Host with a taper, five years and five quarantines 
 without a taper, three years and three quarantines for 
 attending it by deputy. In the church of Sta. Maria della 
 Pace, as well as numberless others, a board announces, that 
 every mass there celebrated delivers a soul from Purgatory''. 
 What is the meaning of these and a hundred other such 
 announcements ? Do you believe that the satisfactions of 
 the saints in the way of good works are more than are 
 needed for themselves ? Do you believe that this overplus 
 of good works, added to those merits of Christ which were 
 more than sufficient to redeem mankind, is entrusted to the 
 Church as a sort of fund% which the Pope may dispense 
 
 * "Baciando la santa eroce si acqnistano dncenti giomi d' indulgenza." 
 There is a passage through tlie Colosseum, and those who viish. to pass from 
 the part of Eome near S. John Lateran to the other parts of the city naturally 
 pass through it. It may be imagined, that so easy a method of maldng up for 
 two hundred days Penance is not lost. 
 
 *> " Ogui messa celehrata in quest' altare libera un' anima dal piu-gatorio." 
 The question natiu-ally aiises, ' Why then are tlie relations of tlie depai-ted so 
 cruel as to allow any to remain there ?' It is to be supposed, that none can be 
 allowed to stay in this state of torture, except such as have no friends on eaith 
 to pay for a mass. Vide supra p. 29. 
 
 c If this fund is formed only of the merits of the Saints, it may be exhausted; 
 if of the inexhaustible merits of Christ, why are those of the Saints added ?
 
 INVOCATION. SAINT-WORSHIP. 49 
 
 according to his pleasure, nay if he will for money % for the 
 benefit of those who have not made sufficient satisfaction 
 for the temporal jjunishment of sin, whether in this world or 
 in Purgatory I Will you believe all this with Rome, or will 
 you believe with the Catholic Church that doctrine of which 
 the other is the corruption, that the Church has the power 
 to remit the fulfilment of ecclesiastical censures imposed by 
 the Church? 
 
 IX. Do you realize to yourself all that is implied in the 
 Invocation of Saints, and the distinction between it and the 
 doctrine of the Intercession of Saints? Do you soberly 
 believe that they have the Godlike attributes of Ubiquity 
 and Omniscience ? Yet this is necessarily implied in their 
 Invocation. Do you believe that they are already advanced 
 to the full bliss of heaven, though the early ChurcH prayed 
 not to but /or them, on the grounds that they, with all the 
 accepted, were retained in Paradise until the time when the 
 elect should be accomplished? Do you in the bottom of 
 your heart believe that such prayers as the following, offered 
 to St. Peter on the anniversary of St. Peter's Chair, are not 
 derogatory to the glory of God, "O Peter, Blessed Shepherd, 
 of thy mercy receive our prayers, and loose by thy word the 
 chain of our sins^?" Is such a pi'ayer in accordance with 
 
 « Tetzel's profanity would be reprobated by all true Christians of liis 
 own Commnnion. But is it any thing else than a justifiable development in 
 a coarse mind, of the principle involved in ' The Tax Book of the Apostolic 
 Chancery,' and the Indulgence of Alex. VI. A.D. 1500 ? The form of Abso- 
 lution used by Tetzel, which was sold for money, contained the following 
 words : " I restore you to that innocence and purity which you possessed at 
 Baptism ; so that when you die, the gates of pimishment shall be shut, and the 
 gates of the Paradise of delight shall be opened ; and if you shall not die at 
 present, this grace shall remain in full force when you ai'e at the point of 
 death." Was the indignation that burnt within Luther's soul so groundless? 
 
 d In Cathedra S. Petri in Brev. Rom. this is offered publicly by authority. 
 In Italy, such prayers for private use are common in church after church. 
 They are written on a boai-d fastened by a small chain to a kneeling-bench 
 before the Image or Altar of the Sahit. They are in the vernacular, and conse- 
 quently tlie real prayers of the people, while the supplications in the Breviary 
 
 E
 
 60 CANON OF SCRIPTURE. DEAD LANGUAGE. 
 
 Rev. xix. 10. "And I fell at his feet to worship him, and he 
 said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, 
 and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. 
 Worship God r 
 
 X. The Council of Trent has altered the Canon of 
 Holy Scripture. It has added to the Inspired Word 
 of God the whole of the Books of the Apocrypha, 
 with the exception of the two Books of Esdras and the 
 Prayer of Manasses. Are you prepared to " receive 
 and venerate them with the same affection and reve- 
 rence" as the Canonical Scriptures, although, to put 
 aside the internal evidence against them, they were 
 ignored as inspired, while they were received with reve- 
 rence, as with us, by the whole of the early Church ? 
 The list given by Melito% Bishop of Sardis, A.D. 177, is 
 exactly the same as our own, as well as that of a string of 
 authorities, including the Council of Laodicaea in the year 
 367, and Gregory the Great in the year 590; nor indeed 
 was any other accepted by any part of the Church till 
 the year 1546. Dare you do so great dishonour to God's 
 word ? 
 
 XI. Do you think that the use of a dead langaiage for 
 prayer*^, and the necessary imposition of celibacy^, (how- 
 ever excellent the voluntary practice of it might be,) are in 
 accordance with the letter or spirit of St. Paul's teaching 
 in Holy Scriptm-e and primitive custom ? 
 
 XII. Do you believe, that all the Apostles received their 
 
 and Missal to God are ordinarily in the Latin. The following is hung up not 
 far from the chm-ch of St. Antony : 
 
 " Antonio il Santo, passeggiero adora 
 Che fui di miracoli fecondo 
 Pero con viva fide a lui affida 
 Che perir non puo mai che in lui confida." 
 ' Apud Euseb. Hist. Eccl. iv. 26. 
 
 f 1 Cor. xiv. Origen contra Celsum, lib. \iii. Fom-th Lateran Council, 
 Canon 6. This Council was as late as A.D. 1215. 
 
 8 ] Tim. iii. 2, 12. Council of Nice. Council of Gangra.
 
 PAPAL SUPREMACY. 51 
 
 Episcopal ordination, mission, and jurisdiction by imposition 
 of hands from St. Peter''? Is it conceivable that such an hypo- 
 thesis and the Acts of the holy Apostles can be both true } 
 Wliy does St. Paul expressly call himself "an Ajoostle not 
 of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the 
 Father," and proclaim himself " in nothing behind the very 
 chiefest Apostles," so much so that " he withstood Peter to 
 the face '," when it happened that the latter " was to be 
 blamed." Can such a theory be made to agree with the 
 account given us by St. Luke of the Council of Jerusalem '' ? 
 Is it not an historical fact, that the Roman is not " the 
 mother and mistress of all Churches," as much as that Julius 
 Cassar preceded Constantino ? Can you persuade yourself 
 that the Pope is " Bishop of Bishops, who rules over the 
 whole Church of God, and every part thereof, with supreme 
 sway; second only to God in spiritual jurisdiction, repre- 
 senting Him on earth, His Vicar, sitting on His visible 
 tribunal, and dispensing His supreme awards'?" Is 
 
 *• This notable ' privilege of Blessed Peter,' is proved by Bellarmine, by 
 two edifying arguments; ] . It is clear, he says, that our Lord ordained either 
 none or all, or some, or one. The first alternative may be passed over; the 
 second is disproved by the case of S. Paul; the thii'd, by the equality of the 
 Apostles, except Peter, among themselves ; therefore it remains that he 
 ordained St. Peter alone. 2. Except on this hypothesis it could not be true 
 that Eome was the mother of all Churches. " Alioqui enim cum omnes Apo- 
 stoli plmimos Episcopos in variis locis constitueriut, si Apostoli ipsi non smit 
 facti Episcopi a Petro certe maxima pars Episcoporum non deducit originem 
 a Petro." True, but would it not be simpler to form a destructive syllogism 
 instead of a constructive ? Bellarm. de Rom. Pont. lib. i. c. 23. 
 
 i Gal. i. 1. 2 Cor. xii. 11. Gal. ii. 11. 
 
 ^ In this Council St. James, as Bishop of Jerusalem, presided over his 
 brethren. (S. Chrys. Hom. 33 on Acts.) At the First GEcmnenical Council, 
 subsequently to this Apostolic SjTiod, the Bishop of Cordova presided ; at the 
 Second, the Patriai'chs of Constantinople and Antioch ; at the Thu-d, the 
 Patriarch of Alexandria. Thus it so happened, that each one of the five 
 Patriai-chates held this post of honom-, before it was occupied by the Legates 
 of the Eoman See. 
 
 • Tablet, Mai-ch 15, 1851. '< The Pontiff is the Doctor and Pastor of the 
 whole Church; therefore the whole Church is bound to hear and follow him;
 
 52 PAPAL SUPREMACY. 
 
 there a shadow of such a theory to be found in the 
 annals of the first centuries of the Church? The Fourth 
 Oecumenical Council, held at Chalcedon in the year 451, 
 has given the reason of the modified precedency which 
 was held by the Patriarchs of Rome. " For the Fathers 
 with reason gave precedency to the throne of old Rome," 
 (not because it was the See of S. Peter, nor that such 
 was the constitution of the Church, but) " because it 
 was the Imperial City, and the 150 Bishops beloved 
 of God," (who formed the Second Ecumenical Council,) 
 " moved by the same consideration, awarded equal 
 precedency to the most holy Throne of new Rome ; 
 justly judging, that a city which is honoured with 
 the Government and Senate, should enjoy equal rank 
 with the ancient Queen Rome, and like her be mag- 
 nified in ecclesiastical matters, having the second place 
 after her." The Second and Fourth Qi^cumenical Councils 
 therefore directly, and all the other early Councils, and 
 all the facts of history" hy implication, deny the autho- 
 rity of the Patriarchate of Rome, to be in any other sense 
 superior to that of the other four Patriarchates of Constan- 
 
 therefore if he eiTs, the whole Church will eiT." Bellarm. de Eoni. Pout. lib. 
 iv. c. 3. " The Supreme Pontiff is set over the whole Christian world, and 
 possesses in its completeness and plenitude that power which Christ left 
 on earth for the good of the Church." Id.c.24. " The Infallibility of the 
 Pope, and the consequent duty of implicit and universal submission to his 
 authority, are necessary conclusions from his supremacy." Dublin Eeview, 1844. 
 The whole Ultramontane theory is demolished by Bossuet, Def. lib. viii. c. 11, 
 12. " It is contrary to the whole spirit of antiquity, and is nullified by every 
 act of the ancient Church," said Mr. Allies in 1848. 
 
 o» " It is certain that St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, knew nothing of such 
 a Supremacy in Pope Anicetus ; that Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, and the 
 Synod of Asiatic Bishops, and St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, and the Council 
 assembled in that city, knew nothing of any such Supremacy in Pope Victor ; 
 that St. Cj^prian, Bishop of Carthage, and the African Bishops, knew nothing 
 of it in Pope Stephanus ; that St. Augustine and the Bishops of Africa knew 
 nothing of it in Popes Zosimus and Boniface ; and that the Bishops of Eome 
 themselves were ignorant of it for six himdred yeai-s." Wordsworth's Theoph. 
 Angl. Partll.p. 246.
 
 ST. GREGORY ON THE SUPREMACY. 53 
 
 tinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, than that in 
 which the Bishopric of London takes precedency of the 
 other sees in England. EJave you duly weighed the words 
 of St. Gregory the Great, Bp. of Rome A.D. 591, or have you 
 unfairly put them aside from your notice } " None of my pre- 
 decessors have allowed the use of this so profane name ; for 
 if one is called Universal Patriarch, the rest are robbed of 
 the name of Patriarchs. But far be this, far be this from the 
 mind of a Christian, to desire to grasp for one's self what 
 would in the very smallest particle seem to diminish his 
 brother's dignity. Therefore let your Holiness call no one 
 ever Universal." " Who is this who, contrary to the statutes 
 of the Gospels, contrary to the decrees of the Canons, pre- 
 sumes to usurp to himself this name } Far be that name 
 of blasphemy from the hearts of Christians, for by it the 
 dignity of all Priests is taken away, whilst it is madly 
 arrogated by one to himself." " I say unhesitatingly, that 
 whoever calls himself, or in his haughtiness wishes himself 
 to be called, Universal Priest, is the forerunner of Anti- 
 christ, because in his pride he places himself before the 
 rest"." These are strong words. They were written by the 
 same holy Bishop of Rome at the end of the sixth century, 
 to whom we owe the Mission of St. Augustine. 
 
 These are twelve points, few among many, in which 
 the Roman Communion has separated itself from the 
 Catholic Faith, and contravened the teaching of Scripture 
 and Primitive Antiquity. And we are not alone in our 
 Protest against them. We are united with the 65,770,000 
 members of the Greek Communion as Catholics against 
 uncatholic claims in many fundamental truths that we 
 alike affirm. And our very differences strengthen the 
 force of our unity where it does exist". It is only two 
 years since a firm and dignified Protest has been put forth 
 
 " S. Greg. Ep. V. and VII . <> Vide supra note, p. 43.
 
 54 PROTEST OF THE ORIENTAL CHURCH. ENCYCLICAL LETTER. 
 
 by the four Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, 
 Antioch, and Jerusalem, assembled with twenty-nine 
 Bishops in Synod, against the encroachments of Rome p. 
 This Protest was called for by an attempt on the part of 
 the Roman Pontiff, to divide the Greek Dioceses into Latin 
 Sees, similar to that which he has still more recently made 
 on England. They do not shun to declare, that " the 
 Church of Rome has cut herself off from the teaching of 
 the Apostles, upon many Catholic and most essential 
 articles of Christianity." Nay, they go so far as to affinn, 
 that she is "the great Heresy of modern times," having 
 ceased " to be jDiu-ely guided by the doctrine of the 
 Fathers, and to walk by the never-to-be-forgotten rule of 
 Scripture and holy Councils," and " claiming to herself the 
 powers of a spiritual monarch and arbitress, powers which 
 not even St. Peter possessed." 
 
 Sect. III. 
 
 We have now come to the third head : What is the most 
 pressing danger to the Church of England ? We cannot 
 conceal from ourselves, that there are many foes by whom 
 our Holy and Beautiful House is beleaguered, and we only 
 hesitate which amofig many to select as the most dangerous. 
 One of the greatest perils to which we are exposed is the 
 
 P It were most desii'able, that the " Encyclical Letter of the Eastern 
 Chiorch," and the "Answer" by the Ex-Patriarch, Constantius the Wise, 
 should be forthwith translated and published. See an able Ailicle on 
 this subject, in a new and valuable publication, ' The Scottish Eccles. 
 Journal, No. I.' A passage in it is well worth quoting': " Considering the 
 position of the Greek and Roman branches of the Chm'ch, we are persuaded 
 that any individual, who, upon liis own responsibUity, detennines to exchange 
 at the worst one state of scliism which he has inherited for another which 
 he makes his own by dehberate choice, becomes guilty of a com"se not only 
 undutiful and sinful also on other accounts, but in the highest degree 
 mischievous and injurious to the very cause which every Scottish or English 
 Chiu-chman, who, either Romanises or Grecises, will probably flatter himself 
 that he is endeavoming to promote ; we mean, the cause of Unity."
 
 PERILS OF THE CPIURCH OF ENGLAND. THE GREATEST. 55 
 
 spread of Latitudinarian and German views, whose tend- 
 ency has as yet been unmasked in only a few instances, 
 but which will inevitably lead many, minds on to an in- 
 tellectual Scepticism. What we feel very keenly at this 
 moment is the invasion of the rights and privileges and 
 offices of the Church, by the tyrannical power of the State, 
 and the reckless yet determinate resolution exhibited by 
 men in power to ignore the difference between the things 
 of God and the things of Caesar. Some dread lest we lose 
 an Article of the Faith by reason of the Gorham Judgment. 
 We cannot be safe, say some, till we have won back the 
 right of having a voice in the appointment of our Bishops: 
 till we meet freely to settle our own affairs in Convocation, 
 say others. Public opinion has been expressed by the 
 outcries of the Popular Meetings against us ; confess the 
 despondent. Where are our natural Protectors the Bishops } 
 ask the indignant. We shall be swamped by a hostile vote 
 in Parliament, whisper the timid. The scheme is deeper 
 laid; our education is being secularized, cry those who 
 would be more long-sighted. The Papal Aggression is our 
 danger, says another party. At least, there are perils 
 enough to make us stand prepared, girded for the strife, 
 with our armour burnished. But these are not the hardest 
 things to withstand ; there is another danger and affliction 
 which touches us closer. Such external adversaries as 
 those above mentioned would have the effect of rousing us, 
 but there is an internal evil which makes our knees feeble, 
 and our hands to hang down. What could the world do to 
 us, if we were faithful to ourselves } but these constant 
 fallings away are as drops of our best heart's blood. This 
 is the real danger of the Church of England. This is why 
 ' we walk together and are sad.' This is at the bottom of 
 many of those dangers enumerated above. Were it not for 
 this, public opinion would not be irritated, and consequently 
 the civil power would not dare to tyrannize. Were it not 
 for this, Neologianism would never have taken such root as
 
 56 ITS CAUSE AND ITS REMEDY. 
 
 it has. Mr. Froiide of 1847, is the legitimate result of 
 Mr. Newman of 1845<). 
 
 The cause of this.cause of evils is not hard to discover. 
 When a bow has been long bent in one way, on being let 
 go, it cannot but fly too far in the opposite direction. " Is 
 it not known to all, that every profound and powerful 
 movement among men, however unequivocal its direction 
 and purpose towards good, yet does by the necessity of our 
 infiiTu judgment and wayward will generate at least partial 
 excess'?" But it is now time that the pendulum should 
 grow steady. The series of Tracts begun twelve years ago 
 have proved to thinking Christians the necessity of Church- 
 Membership for present grace and final salvation ; but there 
 necessarily follows upon this a further question, "Wliat is 
 this Church of which we must be members ? and it is 
 on this — so to speak, minor premiss — that men are now 
 splitting. 
 
 The remedy is complex. With those things which will 
 be really of most avail, such as the self-devotion of those 
 who are loyal and sound-hea,rted, each in their own sphere, 
 the present Tract does not deal. One element of cure will 
 be to disabuse minds of a secret belief, illogically enough 
 taken up on account of evils at home, with which we are 
 familiar, that the system of the Catholic Church abroad 
 must be more perfect : " a sort of Utopia," as Mr. Pugin 
 says, " pleasant meadows, happy peasants, all holy monks, 
 
 <J Even those livhose love for the English Church, as their raother, " in 
 whom they have been new-bom, and by whom they have been fed all their Life 
 long," has waned, and faded, and perished, nay even Eomanists themselves, 
 many yet have cause bitterly to rue any step of theii's which they shall find 
 in the end has been instrumental in desti-oying what is now " the greatest 
 breakwater against the raging waves of InfideUty." That Eome should ever 
 erect her Monarchy in England is impossible; that she may disable us by 
 introducing di%ision, disunion, and disorganization, is all that can be the 
 result of her efforts ; and surely it would be better that she should first pull 
 out the beam that is in her own eye in Italy, France, and Spain, before she 
 proposes to cm'e us of the mote that is in oiur eye. 
 
 ' Quarterly Eeview, No. clxi. Ai't. 5.
 
 CONCLUSION, 57 
 
 all holy priests, holy every body : such charity, and such 
 hospitality, and such unity, where every man is a Catholic, 
 1 once believed in this Utopia myself, but when tested by 
 stern facts, it all melts away like a dream'." " It is but 
 a spurious humility," says a most able writer in the Quar- 
 terly Review, in the year 1847, "which has sometimes 
 found luihealthy scope in exaggerating the sins, infirmities, 
 and scandals of our own country, and the suppression of 
 its healthier signs and better deeds, while at the same time 
 the opposite rule has been applied to other lands in which 
 the Church of Rome bears sway, and what is good there 
 dangerously magnified, what is evil superstitiously repressed. 
 Not ujson grounds of impolicy alone, but of injustice, do we 
 protest against the admission of any such maxims. They 
 can only proceed upon the grossly false supposition, that 
 the parties acting upon them are so identified in feeling 
 with their own Church and nation, that in comparing them 
 with others, they must proceed, as they might laudably 
 proceed, if they were measuring themselves individually by 
 the standard of other individuals, whereas, on the contrary, 
 they have been men discontented and estranged, or fretted 
 and sore in spirit, and therefore with the balance of their 
 predispositions already cast in favour of what is foreign." 
 Rather it becomes us to acknowledge and maintain, that, if 
 there are scandals here, there are greater scandals there; 
 if there is heterodoxy here, there is worse heterodoxy there ; 
 and that if scandals and heterodoxy are not signs there, 
 neither can they be signs here. 
 
 '■ Pugin's Earnest Appeal. 
 
 ' In the Article entitled, From Oxford to Rome, which is well deserving 
 of perusal. 
 
 LAXTEIf, PRINTER, OXFORD.
 
 -
 
 
 
 
 
 
 >J>^ 
 
 
 »:>> ^JO 
 
 >">> 
 
 »> 
 
 ',"-J3D 
 
 >y> 
 
 ■»» 
 
 »» 
 
 *>^> 
 
 zi» 
 
 'SX> 
 
 >J»>^ 
 
 • » JOP-^ 
 
 >> :: 
 
 r»"> » 
 
 >^> 
 
 >2»> 
 
 >'»-5 
 
 ►■ >»••' 
 
 i3> 
 
 >5>~' 
 
 . 1>>J 
 
 ^>3 
 
 >n»i> >>■>■> >.~r>^> 
 
 
 ^-- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3> 'S* » 
 
 
 
 
 32KJIS>