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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16242-8.txt b/16242-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f380579 --- /dev/null +++ b/16242-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3239 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Purpose of the Papacy, by John S. Vaughan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Purpose of the Papacy + +Author: John S. Vaughan + +Release Date: July 8, 2005 [EBook #16242] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto), Suzanne Lybarger, +Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +-------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Notes: Fixed a few obvious typos in the text: | + | actually for actully, origin for orgin; and changed the | + | case of "sees" to "Sees". | + +-------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + THE + PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY + + BY THE RIGHT REVEREND + JOHN S. VAUGHAN, D.D. + BISHOP OF SEBASTOPOLIS + + AUTHOR OF "THOUGHTS FOR ALL TIMES," "DANGERS OF THE DAY" + "LIFE AFTER DEATH," ETC., ETC. + + "Let us go back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. + Either there was a Church of God then in the world, or there + was not. If there was not, then the Reformers certainly + could not create such a Church. It there was, they as + certainly had neither the right to abandon it, nor the power + to remodel it."--J.K. STONE. + + London + SANDS & CO. + 15 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN + EDINBURGH: 21 HANOVER STREET + + ST. LOUIS, Mo., U.S.A.: B. HERDER + + 1910 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +It may seem an impertinence on the present writer's part to indite a +preface to the work of a brother Bishop; and it would be a still +greater one to pretend to introduce the Author of this little book to +the reading public, to whom he is so well and so favourably known by a +stately array of preceding volumes. Nevertheless Bishop Vaughan has +been so insistent on my contributing at least a few introductory +lines, that, for old friendship's sake, I can no longer refuse. + +It is a remarkable and outstanding fact that never before in the +history of the Church has the Roman Papacy, though shorn of every +vestige of its once formidable temporal might, loomed greater in the +world, ruled over such vast multitudes of the faithful, or exercised +a greater moral power than at the present day. Never has the +_conscious_ unity of the whole world-wide Church with its Visible +Head--thanks to the marvellous developments of modern means of +communication and transport--been so vivid, so general, so intense as +in these times. Not only does "the Pope's writ run," as we may say, by +post and telegraph, and penetrate to the inmost recesses of every part +of the globe, so that the Holy See is in daily, nay hourly +communication with every bishop and every local Catholic community; +but never has there been a time when so many thousands, nay tens of +thousands of Catholic clergy and laity, even from the remotest lands, +have actually seen the Vicar of Christ with their own eyes, heard his +voice, received his personal benediction. Well may we say to Pius X. +as to Leo XIII.: "Lift up thy eyes round about and see; all these are +gathered together, they are come to thee; thy sons shall come from +afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see +and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the +multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the +Gentiles shall come to thee" (Isaias, lx. 4, 5). + +But not only is the present position of the Papacy thus unique and +phenomenal in the world; as the Author of this little book shows in +his first part, its career across the more than nineteen centuries of +the world's chequered history, from Peter to Pius X., is no less +unique and no less phenomenal. This is a fact which may well rivet the +attention, not of the Catholic alone, but of every thinking man, be he +Christian or non-Christian, and which surely calls for some +explanation that lies beyond and above that of the ordinary phenomena +of history. The only possible satisfactory solution of this problem is +the one so concisely, yet so simply, set forth in the following +pages. + +The second part is concerned with a more particular aspect of the same +problem, in its relation to the Church in this country, and especially +to that incredible latter-day myth which goes by the name of "the +Continuity Theory". It is difficult to us to realise how such a theory +can possibly be held by thoughtful and earnest men and women who have +even a moderate acquaintance with history. Bishop Vaughan applies more +than one touchstone, which, one would imagine, ought to be sufficient +to prove to any unprejudiced mind the falsity of that theory. Among +these, what I may call the "pallium touchstone,"--which still bears +its irrefragable testimony in the arms of the Archbishops of +Canterbury,[1]--has always appeared to me peculiarly conclusive.[2] + +In the present small volume, Bishop Vaughan adds another to the series +of popular and instructive books which have made his name a household +word among Catholic writers. May its success and its utility be as +great as in the case of those which have preceded it. + + [cross] LOUIS CHARLES, + _Bishop of Salford_. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Not in those of York since 1544, see Woodward's +_Ecclesiastical Heraldry_, p. 191 and plate XX.] + +[Footnote 2: See _The Pallium_, by Fr. Thurston, S.J., (C.T.S.) and +the striking list in Baxter's _English Cardinals_, pp. 93-98.] + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE. + + +The following chapters were not intended originally for publication. +If they are now offered to the public in book form, it is only in +response to the expressed request of many, who listened to them when +delivered _viva voce_, and who now wish to possess a more permanent +record of what was said. + +In the hope that they may help, in some slight measure at least, to +promote the sacred cause of truth, we wish them Godspeed. + + [cross] JOHN S. VAUGHAN, + _Bishop of Sebastopolis_. + + XAVERIAN COLLEGE, + MANCHESTER _January_, 1910. + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. GENERAL NOTIONS 3 + + II. THE POPE'S GREAT PREROGATIVE 18 + + III. WATCHMAN! WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 35 + + IV. THE CHURCH AND THE SECTS 53 + + V. THE POPE'S INFALLIBLE AUTHORITY 69 + + VI. THE POPE'S ORDINARY AUTHORITY 87 + + + PART II. + + THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, + OR + THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE IN ENGLAND IN PRE-REFORMATION TIMES. + + I. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORMATION 107 + + II. THE OATH OF OBEDIENCE 117 + + III. THE AWKWARD DILEMMA 130 + + IV. KING EDWARD AND THE POPE 145 + + + + +THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +GENERAL NOTIONS. + + +No one who is given to serious reflection, can gaze over the face of +the earth at the present day without being struck by the religious +confusion that everywhere reigns. Who, indeed, can help being +staggered as well as saddened by the extraordinary differences, the +irreconcilable views, and the diversities of opinion, even upon +fundamental points, that are found dividing Christians in Protestant +lands! The number of sects has so multiplied, that an earnest enquirer +scarcely knows which way to turn, or where to look for the pure +unadulterated truth. A spiritual darkness hangs over the non-Catholic +world; and chaos seems to have come again. + +Yet, amid this almost universal confusion, one bright and luminous +path may be easily descried. As a broad highroad runs straight through +some tangled forest, so this path runs through the ages, from the time +of Christ, even to the present day. + +We can trace its course, from its earliest inception in apostolic +times, and then in its development age after age, down to our own day: +from Peter to Gregory, from Gregory to Leo, and from Leo to Pius X., +now gloriously reigning. We refer to the mystical (and one might +almost say the miraculous) path trodden by the Popes, each Pontiff +carrying in turn, and then handing on to his successor, the glorious +torch of divine truth. Though clouds may gather and thunders may roll, +and tempests may rage, and though the surrounding darkness may grow +deeper and deeper, that supernatural light has never failed, nor grown +dim, nor refused to shed its beams and to illuminate the way.[3] + +The continual persistency of the Papacy, to whom this steadily burning +torch of truth has been entrusted, is unquestionably one of the most +certain, as it is one of the most startling facts in the whole of +history. It stares us full in the face. It arrests the attention of +even the least observant. It puzzles the historian. It taxes the +explanatory powers of the philosopher, and will remain to the end, a +permanent difficulty to the scoffer and to the sceptic, and to all +those who have not faith. As a fact in history, it is unique: forming +an extraordinary exception to the law of universal change: a portent, +and a standing miracle. Its persistence, century after century, in +spite of fire and sword; of persecution from without, and of treachery +from within; in prosperity, and in adversity; in honour and dishonour; +while kingdoms rise and fall; and while one civilisation yields to a +higher, and the very conditions of society shift and change, is deeply +significative, and betokens an inherent strength and vitality that is +more than natural and that must be referred to some source greater +than itself, yea, to a power far mightier than anything in this +world,--_viz._, to the abiding presence and divine support of Christ +the Man-God. + +Verily, there is but one possible explanation, and that explanation is +furnished us, by the words of the promise made by God-incarnate, +_viz._, "Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of +the world" (Matt, xxviii. 20). Yes, I, Who am "the true light which +enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (John i. 9), "will +abide with you for ever, and will lead you into all truth" (John xvi. 13). + +If but few persons, outside the Catholic Church, realise the force and +import of these words, it is because few realise the absolute and +irresistible power of Him Who gave them utterance. With their lips +they profess Christ to be God, but then, strange to relate, they +proceed to reason and to argue, just as though He were merely +man--one, that is to say, Who, when He established His Church, did +not consider nor bear in mind man's weakness and fickleness, and who +possessed no power to see the outcome of His own policy, nor the +difficulties that it would engender, nor the future multiplication of +the faithful, in every part of the world. For, did He know and foresee +all these things, He _must_ have guarded against them; and this they +_practically_ deny, by continuing to associate themselves with +churches where His promises are in no sense fulfilled, and where His +most solemn pledges remain unredeemed. We refer to those churches +wherein there is no recognised infallible authority; in fact, nothing +to protect their subjects from the inroads of the world, and from the +faults and errors inseparable from the exercise of purely human and +fallible reason. + +Those, however, who can put aside such false notions, and awaken to +the real facts, will find the truth growing luminous before their +gaze. History constrains them to admit that it was Christ Who +established the Church, with its supreme head, and its various +members. But Christ is verily God; of the same nature, and one with +the Father, and possessing the same divine attributes. Now, since He +is God, there is to Him no future, just as there is no past. To him, +all is equally present. Hence, in establishing a Church, and in +providing it with laws and a constitution, He did this, not +tentatively, not experimentally, not in ignorance of man's needs and +weaknesses, and folly, but with a most perfect foreknowledge of every +circumstance and event, actual and to come. He spoke and ordered and +arranged all things, with His eyes clearly fixed on the most remote +ages, no less than on the present and the actual. _We_ mortals write +history after the characters have already lived and died, and when +nations have already developed and run their course. But with Christ, +the whole history of man, his wars and his conquests, his vices and +his virtues, his religious opinions and doctrines, had been already +written and completed, down to the very last line of the very last +chapter, an eternity before He assumed our nature and founded His +Church. It was with this most intimate knowledge before Him, that He +promised to provide us with a reliable and infallible teacher, who +should safeguard His doctrine, and publish the glad tidings of the +Gospel, throughout all time, even unto the consummation of the world. +Since it is God Who promises, it follows, with all the rigour of +logic, that this fearless Witness and living Teacher must be a _fact_, +not a _figment_; a stupendous reality, not a mere name; One, in a +word, possessing and wielding the self-same authority as Himself, and +to be received and obeyed and accepted as Himself: "Who heareth you +heareth Me" (Luke x. 16). + +This teacher was to be a supreme court of appeal, and a tribunal, +before which every case could be tried, and definitely settled, once +for all. And since this tribunal was a divine creation, and invested +by God Himself with supernatural powers for that specific purpose, it +must be fully equipped, and thoroughly competent and equal to its +work. For God always adapts means to ends. Hence it can never +resemble the tribunals existing in man-made churches, which can but +mutter empty phrases, suggest compromises, and clothe thought in +wholly ambiguous language--tribunals that dare not commit themselves +to anything definite and precise. Yea, which utterly fail and break +down just at the critical moment, when men are dividing and +disagreeing among themselves, and most needing a prompt and clear +decision, which may close up the breach and bring them together. + +No! The decisions of the authority set up by Christ are in very +truth--just what we expect to find them--_viz._, clear, ringing +and definite. They divide light from darkness, as by a divine hand; +and segregate truth from error, as a shepherd separates the sheep from +the goats. + +Christ promised as much as this, and if He keep not His promise, then +He can hold out no claim to be God, for though Heaven and earth may +pass away, God's words shall never pass away. That He did so promise +is quite evident; and may be proved, first, _explicitly_, and from +His own words, and secondly, _implicitly_, from the very necessity of +the case; and from the whole history of religious development. +Cardinal Newman, even before his reception into the Church, was so +fully persuaded of this, that he wrote: "If Christianity is both +social and dogmatic, and intended for all ages, it must, humanly +speaking, have an infallible expounder.... By the Church of England a +hollow uniformity is preferred to an infallible chair; and by the +sects in England an interminable division" (_Develop._, etc., p. 90). +In the Catholic Church alone the need is fully met. + +The Church is established on earth by the direct act of God, and is +set "as an army in battle array". It exists for the express purpose of +combating error and repressing evil, in whatever form it may appear; +and whether it be instigated by the devil, or the world, or the flesh. +But, let us ask, Who ever heard of an army without a chief? An army +without a supreme commander is an army without subordination and +without law or order; or rather, it is not an army at all, but a +rabble, a mob. + +The supreme head of Christ's army--of Christ's Church upon earth, is +our Sovereign Lord the Pope. Some will not accept his rule, and refuse +to admit his authority. But this is not only to be expected. It was +actually foretold. As they cried out, of old, to one even greater than +the Pope, "We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke xix. 14), +so now men of similar spirit repeat the self-same cry, with regard to +Christ's vicar. + +Nevertheless, wheresoever his authority is loyally accepted, and where +submission, respect and obedience are shown to him, there results the +order and harmony and unity promised by Christ: while, on the +contrary, where he is not suffered to reign there is disorder, rivalry +and sects. + +To be able to look forward and to foresee such opposite results would +perhaps need a prophetic eye, an accurate estimate of human nature, +and a very nice balancing of cause and effect. It could be the +prognostication only of a wise, judicious, and observant mind. But we +are now looking, not forwards, but backwards, and in looking backwards +the case is reduced to the greatest simplicity, so that even a child +can understand; and "he that runs may read". + +The simplest intelligence, if only it will set aside prejudice and +pride, and just attend and watch, will be led, without difficulty, to +the following conclusions: firstly, without an altogether special +divine support, no authority can claim and exercise _infallibility_ in +its teaching; and secondly, without such infallibility in its teaching +no continuous unity can be maintained among vast multitudes of people, +least of all concerning dogmas most abstruse, mysteries most sublime +and incomprehensible, and laws and regulations both galling and +humiliating to human arrogance and pride. + +It is precisely because the Catholic Church alone possesses such a +supreme and infallible authority that she alone is able to present to +the world that which follows directly from it, namely a complete +unity and cohesion within her own borders. + +Yes! Strange to say: the Catholic Church to-day stands alone! There is +no rival to dispute with her, her unique and peerless position. Of all +the so-called Christian Churches, throughout the world, so various and +so numerous, and, in many cases, so modern and so fantastic, there is +not a single one that can approach her, even distantly, whether it be +in (_a_) the breadth of her influence, or in (_b_) the diversity and +dissimilarity of her adherents, or in (_c_) the number of her +children, or in (_d_) the extent of her conquests, or (_e_) in the +absolute unity of her composition. + +Even were it possible to unite into one single body the great +multitude of warring sects, of which Protestantism is made up, such a +body would fall far short of the stature of her who has received the +gentiles for her inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for +her possession (Ps. ii. 8), and who has the Holy Ghost abiding with +her, century after century, in order that she may be "a witness unto +Christ, in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the +uttermost parts of the world" (Acts i. 8). But we cannot, even in +thought, unite such contradictories, such discordant elements; any +more than we can reduce the strident sounds of a multitude of +cacophonous instruments to one harmonious and beautiful melody. + +And if the Catholic Church stands thus alone, again we repeat, it is +because no other has received the promise of divine support, or even +cares to recognise that such a promise was ever made. The Catholic +Church has been the only Church not only to exercise, but even to +claim the prerogative of infallibility: but she has claimed this from +the beginning. Every child born into her fold has been taught to +profess and to believe, firstly, that the Catholic Church is the sole +official and God-appointed guardian of the sacred deposit of divine +truth, and, secondly, that she, and no other, enunciates to the entire +world--to all who have ears to hear--the full revelation of +Christ--_His truth_; the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; +fulfilling, to the letter, the command of her Divine Master, "Go into +the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi. +15). + +How has this been possible? Simply and solely because God, Who +promised that "the Spirit of Truth" (_i.e._, the Holy Ghost) "should +abide with her for ever; and should guide her in all truth" (John xiv. +16, xvi. 12), keeps His promise. When our Lord promised to "_be with_" +the teaching Church, in the execution of the divine commission +assigned to it, "_always_" and "_to the end of the world_," that +promise clearly implied, and was a guarantee, first, that the teaching +authority should exist indefectibly to the end of the world; and +secondly, that throughout the whole course of its existence it should +be divinely guarded and assisted in fulfilling the commission given to +it, _viz._, in instructing the nations in "all things whatsoever +Christ has commanded," in other words, that it should be their +infallible Guide and Teacher. + +Venerable Bede, speaking of the conversion of our own country by +Augustine and his monks, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, says: "And +whereas he [Pope Gregory] bore the Pontifical power _over all the +world_, and was placed over the Churches already reduced to the faith +of truth, he made our nation, till then given up to idols, the Church +of Christ" (_Hist. Eccl._ lib. ii. c. 1). If we will but listen to the +Pope now, he will make it once again "the Church of Christ," instead +of the Church of the "Reformation," and a true living branch, drawing +its life from the one vine, instead of a detached and fallen branch, +with heresy, like some deadly decay, eating into its very vitals. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 3: No Pope, no matter what may have been his _private_ +conduct, ever promulgated a decree against the purity of faith and +morals.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE POPE'S GREAT PREROGATIVE. + + +The clear and certain recognition of a great truth is seldom the work +of a day. We often possess it in a confused and hidden way, before we +can detect, to a nicety, its exact nature and limitations. It takes +time to declare itself with precision, and, like a plant in its +rudimentary stages, it may sometimes be mistaken for what it is +not--though, once it has reached maturity, we can mistake it no +longer. As Cardinal Newman observes: "An idea grows in the mind by +remaining there; it becomes familiar and distinct, and is viewed in +its relations; it leads to other aspects, and these again to +others.... Such intellectual processes as are carried on silently and +spontaneously in the mind of a party or school, of necessity come to +light at a later date, and are recognised, and their issues are +scientifically arranged." Consequently, though dogma is unchangeable +as truth is unchangeable, this immutability does not exclude progress. +In the Church, such progress is nothing else than the development of +the principles laid down in the beginning by Jesus Christ Himself. +Thus--to take a simple illustration--in three different councils, the +Church has declared and proposed three different articles of Faith, +_viz._, that in Jesus Christ there are (1) two natures, (2) two wills, +and (3) one only Person. These may seem to some, who cannot look +beneath the surface, to be three entirely new doctrines; to be, in +fact, "additions to the creed". In sober truth, they are but +expansions of the original doctrine which, in its primitive and +revealed form, has been known and taught at all times, that is to say, +the doctrine that Christ is, at once, true God and true Man. That one +statement really contains the other three; the other three merely give +us a fuller and a completer grasp of the original one, but tell us +nothing absolutely new. + +In a similar manner, and by a similar process, we arrive at a clearer +and more explicit knowledge of other important truths, which were not +at first universally recognised as being contained in the original +deposit. The dogma of Papal infallibility is an instance in point. For +though no Catholic ever doubted the genuine infallibility of the +_Church_, yet in the early centuries, there existed some difference of +opinion, as to _where_ precisely the infallible authority resided. +Most Catholics, even then, believed it to be a gift conferred by +Christ upon Peter himself [who alone is the _rock_], and upon each +Pope who succeeded him in his office, personally and individually, but +some were of opinion that, not the Pope by himself, but only "the +Pope-in-Council," that is to say, the Pope supported by a majority of +Bishops, was to be considered infallible. So that, while _all_ +admitted the _Pope with a majority of the Bishops_, taken together, to +be divinely safeguarded from teaching error, yet the prevailing and +dominant opinion, from the very first, went much further, and ascribed +this protection to the Sovereign Pontiff likewise when acting alone +and unsupported. This is so well known, that even the late Mr. +Gladstone, speaking as an outside observer, and as a mere student of +history, positively brings it as a charge against the Catholic Church +that "the Popes, for well-nigh a thousand years, have kept up, with +comparatively little intermission, their claim to dogmatic +infallibility" (_Vat._ p. 28). Still, the point remained unsettled by +any dogmatic definition, so that, as late as in 1793, Archbishop Troy +of Dublin did but express the true Catholic view of his own day when +he wrote: "Many Catholics contend that the Pope, when teaching the +Universal Church, as their supreme visible head and pastor, as +successor to St. Peter, and heir to the promises of special assistance +made to him by Jesus Christ, is infallible; and that his decrees and +decisions in that capacity are to be respected as rules of faith, when +they are dogmatical, or confined to doctrinal points of faith and +morals. Others," the Archbishop goes on to explain, "deny this, and +require the expressed or tacit acquiescence of the Church assembled or +dispersed, to stamp infallibility on his dogmatic decrees." Then he +concludes:--"_Until the Church shall decide_ upon this question of the +Schools, either opinion may be adopted by individual Catholics, +without any breach of Catholic communion or peace." + +This was how the question stood until 1870. But it stands in that +position no longer; for the Church has now spoken--_Roma locuta est, +causa finita_. Hence, no Catholic can now deny or call into question +the great prerogative of the Vicar of Christ, without suffering +shipwreck of the faith. At the Vatican Council, Pope Pius IX. and the +Archbishops and Bishops of the entire Catholic world were gathered +together in Rome, and after earnest prayer and prolonged discussion, +they declared that the prerogative of infallibility, which is the very +source of Catholic unity, and the very secret of Catholic strength, +resides in the individual Pope who happens, at the time, to occupy the +Papal chair, and that when he speaks _ex cathedrâ_, his definitions +are infallibly true, and consonant with Catholic revelation, even +before they have been accepted by the hierarchy throughout the world. +But here it must be borne in mind that the Pope speaks _ex cathedrâ_, +that is to say, infallibly, only when he speaks:-- + + 1. As the Universal Teacher. + + 2. In the name and with the authority of the Apostles. + + 3. On a point of Faith or Morals. + + 4. With the purpose of binding every member of the Church to + accept and believe his decision. + +Thus it is clearly seen that from the year 1870 the dogma of _Papal_, +in contra-distinction to _ecclesiastical_ infallibility, has been +defined and raised to an article of faith, the denial of which is +heresy. + +The doctrine is at once new and yet not new. It is new in the sense +that up to the time of the Vatican Council it had never been actually +drawn out of the premises that contained it, and set forth before the +faithful in a formal definition. On the other hand, it is not new, but +as old as Christianity, in the sense that it was always contained +implicitly in the deposit of faith. Any body of truth that is living +grows, and unfolds and becomes more clearly understood and more +thoroughly grasped, as time wears on. The entire books of Euclid are +after all but the outcome of a few axioms and accepted definitions. +These axioms help us to build up certain propositions. And one +proposition, when established, leads to another, till at last we seem +to have unearthed statements entirely new and original. Yet, they are +certainly not really new, for had they not been all along contained +implicitly in the few initial facts, it is quite clear they could +never have been evolved from them. _Nemo dat, quod non habet._ + +Hence Papal Infallibility is not so much a new truth, or an "addition +to the Faith," as some heretics would foolishly try to persuade us, +as a clearer expression and a more exact and detailed presentation of +what was taught from the beginning. + +It is here that the well-known historian, Döllinger, who rejected the +definition, proved himself to be not only a proud rebel but also a +very poor logician. Until 1870, he was a practising Catholic, and, +therefore, like every other Catholic, he, of course, admitted that the +Pope and the Bishops, speaking collectively, were divinely supported +and safeguarded from error, when they enunciated to the world any +doctrine touching faith or morals. Yet, when the Pope and the Bishops, +assembled at the Vatican, did so speak collectively, and did +conjointly issue the decree of Papal Infallibility, he proceeded to +eat his own words, refused to abide by their decision, and was +deservedly turned out of the Church of God: being excommunicated by +the Archbishop of Munich on the 17th of April, 1871, in virtue of the +instructions given by Our Divine Lord Himself, _viz._: "If he will not +hear the Church (cast him out, _i.e._), let him be to thee as the +heathen and publican" (Matt. xviii. 17). He, and the few misguided men +that followed him in his rebellion, and called themselves Old +Catholics, had been quite ready to believe that the Pope, with the +Bishops, when speaking as one body, were Infallible. In fact, if they +had not believed that, they never could have been Catholics at any +time. But they did not seem to realise the sufficiently obvious fact +that, whether they will it or not, and whether they advert to it or +not, it is utterly impossible now to deny the Infallibility of the +Pope personally and alone, without at the same time denying the +Infallibility of the "Pope and the Bishops collectively," for the +simple reason that it is precisely the "Pope and the Bishops +collectively" who have solemnly and in open session declared that the +Pope enjoys the prerogative of Infallibility in his own individual +person. Since the Vatican Council, one is forced by the strict +requirements of sound reason to believe, either that the Pope is +Infallible, or else that there is no Infallibility in the Church at +all, and that there never had been. + +Those who were too proud to submit to the definition followed, of +course, the example of earlier heretics in previous Councils. They +excused themselves on the plea that the Council was (_a_) not free, or +else (_b_) not sufficiently representative, or, finally, (_c_) not +unanimous in its decisions. But such utterly unsupported allegations +served only to accentuate the weakness of their cause and the +hopelessness of their position; since it would be difficult, from the +origin of the Church to the present time, to find any Council so free, +so representative, and so unanimous. + +Pope Pius IX. (whom, it seems likely, we shall soon be called upon to +venerate as a canonised saint) convened the Vatican Council by the +Bull _Æterni Patris_, published on 29th June, 1868. It summoned all +the Archbishops, Bishops, Patriarchs, etc., throughout the Catholic +world to meet together in Rome on 8th December of the following year, +1869. When the appointed day arrived, and the Council was formally +opened, there were present 719 representatives from all parts of the +world, and very soon after, this number was increased to 769. On 18th +July, 1870--a day for ever memorable in the annals of the Church--the +fourth public session was held, and the constitution _Pater Æternus_, +containing the definition of the Papal Infallibility, was solemnly +promulgated. Of the 535 who were present on this grand occasion, 533 +voted for the definition (_placet_) and only two, one from Sicily, the +other from the United States, voted against it (_non placet_). +Fifty-five Bishops, who fully accepted the doctrine itself, but deemed +its actual definition at that moment inopportune, simply absented +themselves from this session. Finally, the Holy Father, in the +exercise of his supreme authority, sanctioned the decision of the +Council, and proclaimed officially, _urbi et orbi_ the decrees and the +canons of the "First Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ". + +It may be well here to clothe the Latin words of the Pope and the +assembled Bishops in an English dress. They are as follows: "We (the +Sacred Council approving) teach and define that it is a dogma +revealed, that the Roman Pontiff, _when_ he speaks _ex cathedrâ_--that +is, when discharging the office of Pastor and Teacher of all +Christians, by reason of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a +doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the whole Church--in +virtue of the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, +possesses that Infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed +that His Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith +or morals, and that, therefore, such definitions of the said Sovereign +Pontiff are unalterable of themselves, and not from the consent of the +Church. But if any one--which may God avert--presume to contradict +this our definition, let him be anathema." + +"_Every Bishop in the Catholic world_, however inopportune some may +have at one time held the definition to be, submitted to the +Infallible ruling of the Church," says E.S. Purcell. "A very small and +insignificant number of priests and laymen in Germany apostatised and +set up the Sect of 'Old Catholics'. But all the rest of the Catholic +world, true to their faith, accepted, without reserve, the dogma of +Papal Infallibility."[4] + +For over eighteen hundred years the Infallible authority of the +Pope-in-Council had been admitted by all Catholics. And in any great +emergency or crisis in the Church's history, these Councils were +actually held, and presided over by the Pope, either in person or by +his duly appointed representatives, for the purpose of clearing up and +adjusting disputed points, or to smite, with a withering anathema, the +various heresies as they arose, century after century. But in the +meantime, the Church, which had been planted "like a grain of mustard +seed, which is the least of all seeds" (Mark iv. 31), was fulfilling +the prophecy that had been made in regard to her, and "was shooting +out great branches" (Mark iv. 32) and becoming more extended and more +prolific than all her rivals. She enlarged her boundaries and spread +farther and farther over the face of the earth, while the number of +her children rapidly multiplied in every direction. + +In course of time, the immense continents of America and Australia, +together with New Zealand and Tasmania and other hitherto unknown +regions, were discovered and thrown open to the influences of human +industry and enterprise. And as men and women swarmed into these newly +acquired lands, the Church accompanied them: and new vicariates and +dioceses sprang up, and important Sees were formed, which in time, as +the populations thickened, became divided and sub-divided into smaller +Sees, till at last the number of Bishops in these once unknown and +distant regions rose to several hundreds. + +Thus the whole condition of things became altered; and the calling +together of an Ecumenical Council--a very simple affair in the +infancy of the Church--was becoming daily more and more difficult. Not +so much, perhaps, by reason of the enormous distances of the dioceses +from the central authority, for modern methods of locomotion have +almost annihilated space, but because of the immense increase in the +number of the hierarchy that would have to meet together, whenever a +Council is called. + +On the other hand, with the greater extension of the Church, would +naturally come an increased crop of heresies. For, cockle may be sown, +and weeds may spring up, in any part of the field, and the field is +now a hundred times vaster than it was. Now, it is extremely important +that as fast as errors arise they should be pointed out, and rooted up +without delay, and before they can breed a pestilence and corrupt a +whole neighbourhood. But the complicated machinery of a great +Ecumenical Council, which involves prolonged preparation, considerable +expense, and a temporary dislocation in almost every diocese +throughout the world, is too cumbersome and slow to be called into +requisition whenever a heresy has to be blasted, or whenever a +decision has to be made known. + +Hence we cannot help recognising and admiring the Providence of God +over His Church, in thus simplifying the process, in these strenuous +days, by which His truth is to be maintained and His revelation +protected. For the fact--true from the beginning, _viz._, that the +Pope enjoys the prerogative of personal infallibility--is not only a +profound truth; but a truth for the first time formally recognised, +defined, promulgated and explicitly taught as an article of Divine +faith. Consequently, without summoning a thousand Bishops from the +four quarters of the globe, the Sovereign Pontiff may now rise in his +own strength, and proclaim to the entire Church what is, and what is +not, consonant with the truths of revelation. This is evident from the +Vatican's definition, which declares that "THE POPE HAS THAT SAME +INFALLIBILITY WHICH THE CHURCH HAS"--"Romanum Pontificem eâ +infallibilitate pollere, quâ divinus Redemptor Ecclesiam suam in +definiendâ doctrinâ de fide vel moribus instructam esse voluit". Words +of the Bull, "PASTOR ÆTERNUS". + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 4: See _Life of Cardinal Manning_, vol. ii., p. 452.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WATCHMAN! WHAT OF THE NIGHT? + + +The most sacred deposit of Divine Revelation has been committed by +Jesus Christ to the custody of the Church, and century after century +she has guarded it with the utmost jealousy and fidelity. Like a loyal +watchman, stationed on a lofty tower, the Pope, with anxious eyes, +scans the length and breadth of the world, and, as the occasion +demands, boldly, and fearlessly, and categorically condemns and +anathematises all who, through pride or cunning, or personal interest +and ambition, or love of novelty, attempt to falsify or to minimise or +to distort the teaching of Our Divine Master. Without respect of +persons, without regard to temporal consequences, without either +hesitancy or ambiguity, he speaks "as one having power" (Matt. vii. +29). And while, on the one hand, every true Catholic throughout the +world, who hears his voice, is intimately conscious that he is hearing +the voice of Christ Himself, "who heareth you, heareth Me" (Luke x. +16); so, on the other hand, every true Catholic likewise knows that +all who refuse to obey his ruling, and who despise his warnings, are +despising and disobeying Christ Himself. "Who despises you, despises +Me" (Luke x. 16). Thus, the Sovereign Pontiff, as the infallible +source of religious truth, becomes at the same time the strong bond of +religious unity: for, just as error divides men from one another, so +truth always and necessarily draws them together. In this way the Pope +becomes the connecting link which unites over 250,000,000 of men: and +the foundation stone (or petros--Peter) of the mystical building +erected by God-incarnate ("Upon this rock will I build My Church," +Matt. xvi. 18). He is the foundation, that is to say, which supports +it, and keeps its various parts together, in one harmonious and +symmetrical whole, and against which the angry surges rise, and the +muddy waves of error for ever beat, yet ever beat in vain: for "the +gates of hell [Satan and his hosts] shall not prevail against it". Who +doubts this denies the most formal and unmistakable promises of the +Eternal Son of God, and makes of Him a liar. + +Our non-Catholic friends close their eyes to these patent facts, +and--with great peril to their salvation--refuse to see even the +obvious. As the Jews of old were so blinded by their prejudice, +jealousy and hatred of Him, whom they contemptuously styled "the Son +of the Carpenter," that they steadily refused to consider the justice +of His claims, and could not (or would not?) bring themselves to +understand how clearly the Scriptures bore witness to His divinity, +and how marvellously the prophecies and predictions (the words of +which they accepted), were fulfilled in His Divine Person; so now +Protestants steadily refuse to consider the claims of Her whom they +contemptuously style "the Romish Church," and are so prejudiced and +full of suspicion, if not of hate, that they too cannot bring +themselves to understand how She, like her Divine Founder, bears upon +her immortal brow the distinctive and unmistakable impress of her +supernatural origin and destiny. The Incarnate Son of God, who never +asks, nor can ask in vain, implored His Heavenly Father, that all His +followers might be one, and why? In order that this marvellous unity +might ever be fixed as a seal of authenticity to His Church, and be to +all men a permanent sign and proof of her genuineness. + +"Father," He prayed, grant "that they may ALL BE ONE, as Thou art in +Me, and as I am in Thee, that they also may be one in us, THAT THE +WORLD MAY KNOW that Thou hast sent Me" (John xvii. 21). Unity, then, +is undeniably the test and sign-manual attached by Christ to His +Bride, the Church; the presence or absence of which must (if there be +any truth in God) determine the genuineness or the falsity of every +claimant. + +Now, this mark is nowhere found outside the One, Holy, Catholic and +Apostolic Church, whose centre is in Rome. + +Other Churches not merely do not possess unity. They do not possess so +much as the requisite machinery to produce it, nor even the means of +preserving it, if produced. + +With us, on the contrary, it flows as naturally and as directly from +the recognised Supremacy and Infallibility of the Vicar of Christ as +light flows from the sun. It is so manifest that it would seem only +the blind can fail to see it: so that one is sometimes puzzled to know +how to excuse educated Protestants from the damnable sin of _vincible_ +ignorance. Thus, the faithful throughout the entire world are in +constant communication with their respective pastors; the pastors, in +their turn, are in direct communication with their respective Bishops, +and the Bishops, dispersed throughout the length and breadth of +Christendom, are in close and direct communication with the one +Supreme and Infallible Ruler, whom the Lord has placed over all His +possessions; who has been promised immunity from error; and whose +special duty and office is to "confirm his brethren" (Luke xxii. 32). +By this most simple, yet most practical and effective expedient, the +very least and humblest catechumen in China or Australia is as truly +in touch with the central authority at the Vatican, and as completely +under its direction in matters of faith and morals, as the crowned +heads of Spain or Austria, or as the Archbishops of Paris or Malines. +Certainly _Digitus Dei est hic_: the finger of God is here. The simple +fact is, there is always something about the works of God which +clearly differentiate them from the products of man, however close may +be the mere external and surface resemblance. A thousand artists may +carve a thousand acorns, so cunningly coloured, and so admirably +contrived as to be practically indistinguishable from the genuine +fruit of the oak. Each of these thousand artists may present me with +his manufactured acorn, and may assure me of its genuineness. And, +alas! I may be quite deceived and taken in; yes, but only _for a +time_. When I plant them in the soil, together with the genuine acorn, +and give them time to develop, the fraud is detected, and the truth +revealed. For the real seed proves its worth. How? In the simplest way +possible, that is to say, by actually doing what it was destined and +created to do. That is, by growing and developing into a majestic oak, +while the false and human imitations fall to pieces, belie all one's +hopes, and are found to produce neither branch nor leaf nor fruit. + +This is but an illustration of what may be observed equally in the +spiritual order, although there it is attended by more disastrous +consequences. Thus we find hundreds of Churches proclaiming themselves +to be foundations of God, which Time, the old Justice who tries all +such offenders, soon proves, most unmistakably, to be nothing but the +contrivances of man. They may bear a certain external resemblance to +the true Church, planted by the Divine Husbandman, but like the +man-made acorns, they deceive all our expectations, and are wholly +unable to redeem their promises, or to live up to their pretensions. + +For, while one and all declare with their lips that they possess the +truth as revealed by Christ, their glaring divisions, irreconcilable +differences, and internal dissensions emphatically prove that the +truth is not in them: and that they have been built, not on the rock, +but on the shifting sand, and are the erections, not of God, but of +feeble, fickle men. + +On the other hand, the Catholic Church, amid a thousand sects, +resembles the genuine acorn among the thousand imitations. Not only +does she alone possess the whole truth; but she alone can stand up and +actually prove this claim to the entire world, by pointing defiantly +at her marvellous and miraculous unity--a unity so conspicuous, and so +striking, and so absolutely unique, that even the hostile and bigoted +Protestant press can sometimes scarcely refrain from bearing an +unwilling testimony to it. + +We might give many instances of this, and quote from many sources, but +let the following extract from London's leading journal serve as an +example. It is no other paper than the _Times_, which makes the +following admission on occasion of the Vatican Council which opened in +1869: "Seven hundred Bishops, more or less, representing all +Christendom, were seen gathered round one altar and one throne, +partaking of the same Divine Mystery, and rendering homage, by turns, +to the same spiritual authority and power. As they put on their +mitres, or took them off, and as they came to the steps of the altar, +or the foot of the common spiritual Father, it was IMPOSSIBLE +not to feel the UNITY and the power of the Church which they +represented" (16th Dec., 1869). Here, then, is the most influential +journal certainly of Great Britain, perhaps of the world, proclaiming +to its readers far and wide, not simply that the Roman Catholic Church +is one, but that her oneness is of such a sterling quality, and of so +pronounced a character that it is impossible--mark the word, +impossible!--not to feel it. Yet men ask where the Church of God is to +be found. They ask for a sign, and lo! when God gives them one they +cannot see it, nor interpret it, nor make anything out of it: and +prefer to linger on in what Newman calls "the cities of confusion," +than find peace and security in "the communion of Rome, which is that +Church which the Apostles set up at Pentecost, which alone has 'the +adoption of sons, and the glory and the covenants and the revealed +law, and the service of God and the promises,' and in which the +Anglican [or any other Protestant] communion, whatever it merits and +demerits, whatever the great excellence of individuals in it, has, as +such, no part". But this is a digression. Let us return to our +subject. + +The incontestable value and immense practical importance of the Papal +prerogative of infallibility have been rendered abundantly manifest +ever since its solemn definition nearly forty years ago. In fact, +although the enormous increase of the population of the world has not +rendered the position of the Sovereign Pontiff any easier, yet he is +better fitted and equipped since the definition to cope promptly and +effectually with errors and heresies as they arise than he was before. +We do not mean that his prerogative of infallibility is invoked upon +every trivial occasion--one does not call for a Nasmyth hammer to +break a nut--but it is always there, in reserve, and may be used, on +occasion, even without summoning an Ecumenical Council, and this is a +matter of some consequence. For, though time may bring many changes +into the life of man, and may improve his physical condition and +surroundings, and add enormously to his comfort, health, and general +corporal well-being, it is found to produce no corresponding effect +upon his corrupt and fallen nature, which asserts itself as vigorously +now, after nearly two thousand years of Christianity, as in the past. +Pride and self still sway men's hearts. The spirit of independence and +self-assertion and egotism, in spite of all efforts at repression, +continue to stalk abroad. And human nature, even to-day, is almost as +impatient of restraint, and as unwilling to bear the yoke of +obedience, as in the time when Gregory resisted Henry of Germany, or +when Pius VII. excommunicated Napoleon. If, even in the Apostolic age, +when the number of the faithful was small and concentrated, there +were, nevertheless, men of unsound views--"wolves in sheep's +clothing"--amongst the flock of Christ, how much more likely is this +to be the case now. If the Apostle St. Paul felt called upon to warn +his own beloved disciples against those "who would not endure sound +doctrine," and who "heaped to themselves teachers, having itching +ears," and who even "closed their ears to the truth, in order to +listen to fables" (2 Tim. iv. 1-5), surely we may reasonably expect to +find, even in our own generation, many who have fallen, or who are in +danger of falling under the pernicious influence of false teachers, +and who are being seduced and led astray by the plausible, but utterly +fallacious, reasoning of proud and worldly spirits. It would be easy +to name several, but they are too well known already to need further +advertising here. + +Then, she has adversaries without, as well as within. For, though the +Church is not _of_ the world, she is _in_ the world. Which is only +another way of saying that she is surrounded continually and on all +sides by powerful, subtle, and unscrupulous foes. "The world is the +enemy of God," and therefore of His Church. If its votaries cannot +destroy her, nor put an end to her charmed life, they hope, at least, +to defame her character and to blacken her reputation. They seize +every opportunity to misrepresent her doctrine, to travesty her +history, and to denounce her as retrograde, old fashioned, and out of +date. And, what makes matters worse, the falsest and most mischievous +allegations are often accompanied by professions of friendship and +consideration, and set forth in learned treatises, with an elegance of +language and an elevation of style calculated to deceive the simple +and to misguide the unwary. It is Father W. Faber who remarks that, +"there is not a new philosophy nor a freshly named science but what +deems, in the ignorance of its raw beginnings, that it will either +explode the Church as false or set her aside as doting" (Bl. Sac. +Prologue). Indeed the world is always striving to withdraw men and +women from their allegiance to the Church, through appeals to its +superior judgment and more enlightened experience; and philosophy and +history and even theology are all pressed into the service, and +falsified and misrepresented in such a manner as to give colour to its +complaints and accusations against the Bride of Christ, who, it is +seriously urged, "should make concessions and compromises with the +modern world, in order to purchase the right to live and to dwell +within it". What is the consequence? Let the late Cardinal Archbishop +and the Bishops of England answer. "Many Catholics," they write in +their joint pastoral, "are consequently in danger of forfeiting not +only their faith, but even their independence, by taking for granted +as venerable and true the halting and disputable judgment of some men +of letters or of science which may represent no more than the wave of +some popular feeling, or the views of some fashionable or dogmatising +school. The bold assertions of men of science are received with awe +and bated breath, the criticisms of an intellectual group of _savants_ +are quoted as though they were rules for a holy life, while the mind +of the Church and her guidance are barely spoken of with ordinary +patience." + +In a world such as this, with the agents of evil ever active and +threatening, with error strewn as thorns about our path at every step, +and with polished and seductive voices whispering doubt and suggesting +rebellion and disobedience to men, already too prone to disloyalty, +and arguing as cunningly as Satan, of old, argued with Eve; in such a +world, who, we may well ask, does not see the pressing need as well as +the inestimable advantages and security afforded by a living, +vigilant, responsible and supreme authority, where all who seek, may +find an answer to their doubts, and a strength and a firm support in +their weakness? + +And as surely as the need exists, so surely has God's watchful +providence supplied it, in the person of the Supreme Pontiff, the +venerable Vicar of Christ on earth. He is authorised and commissioned +by Christ Himself "to feed" with sound doctrine, both "the lambs and +the sheep"; and faithfully has he discharged that duty. "The Pope," +writes Cardinal Newman, "is no recluse, no solitary student, no +dreamer about the past, no doter upon the dead and gone, no projector +of the visionary. He, for eighteen hundred years, has lived in the +world; he has seen all fortunes, he has encountered all adversaries, +he has shaped himself for all emergencies. If ever there was a power +on earth who had an eye for the times, who has confined himself to the +practicable, and has been happy in his anticipations, whose words have +been facts, and whose commands prophecies, such is he, in the history +of ages, who sits, from generation to generation, in the chair of the +Apostles, as the Vicar of Christ, and the Doctor of His Church." + +"These are not the words of rhetoric," he continues, "but of history. +All who take part with the Apostle are on the winning side. He has +long since given warrants for the confidence which he claims. From the +first, he has looked through the wide world, of which he has the +burden; and, according to the need of the day, and the inspirations of +his Lord, he has set himself, now to one thing, now to another; but to +all in season, and to nothing in vain.... Ah! What grey hairs are on +the head of Judah, whose youth is renewed like the eagle's, whose feet +are like the feet of harts, and underneath the Everlasting Arms." +Would that our unfortunate countrymen, tossed about by every wind of +doctrine, and torn by endless divisions, could be persuaded to set +aside pride and prejudice, and to accept the true principle of +religious unity and peace established by God. Then England would +become again, what she was for over a thousand years, _viz._: "the +most faithful daughter of the Church of Rome, and of His Holiness, the +one Sovereign Pontiff and Vicar of Christ upon earth," as our Catholic +forefathers were wont to describe her. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE CHURCH AND THE SECTS. + + +A natural tendency is apparent in all men to differ among themselves, +even concerning subjects which are simple and easily understood; +while, on more difficult and complicated issues, this tendency is, of +course, very much more pronounced. Hence, the well-known proverb: +"_Quot homines, tot sententiæ_"--there are as many opinions as there +are men. + +Now, if this is found to be the case in politics, literature, art, +music, and indeed in everything else, except perhaps pure mathematics, +it is found to be yet more universally the case in questions of +religion, since religion is a subject so much more sublime, abstruse, +and incomprehensible than others, and so full of supernatural and +mysterious truths, with which no merely human tribunal has any +competency to deal. Then, let me ask, what chance has a man of +arriving at a right decision on the most important of all +questions--questions concerning his own eternal salvation--who is +thrown into the midst of a world where there is no uniformity of view +on spiritual matters, where every variety of opinion is expressed and +defended, and where every conceivable form of worship has its fervent +supporters and followers. + +Or, leaving all others out of account, may we not well ask how the +vast multitudes even of Catholics, scattered throughout such a world +as this, are to maintain "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of +peace" (Eph. iv. 3), to preserve the tenets of their creed intact, and +to discriminate accurately and readily between the teaching of God, +and the fallacious doctrines of men? In dealing with anxious and angry +disputants there is little use to appeal, as Protestants do, to the +authority of teachers who have nothing more to commend them than a +learning and an intelligence but little better than that of their +disciples. Where man differs from man each will prefer his own view, +and claim that his personal opinion is as deserving of respect and as +likely to be right as his adversary's--which is practically what +obtains among non-Catholics at the present day. Indeed, the only +superhuman and infallible authority on earth recognised by them is the +Bible; and that, alas! has proved a block of stumbling and not a bond +of union, since, in the hands of unscrupulous men, it may be made to +prove absolutely anything. The most sacred and fundamental truths, +even such as the sublime doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, the Divinity +of Christ, and the Atonement, have all, at one time or another, been +vehemently denied _on the authority of the Bible_! The Anglican Bishop +Colenso, in writing to the _Times_, could quote eleven texts of +Scripture to prove that prayer ought not to be offered to Our Divine +Lord! yet, it made no difference. He was allowed to go on teaching +just as before! No one seemed to care. What is "pure Gospel" to Mr. +Brown is "deadly error" to Mr. Green; while "the fundamental verities" +of Mr. Thompson are "the satanical delusions" of Mr. Johnson. In fact, +there is really less dispute among men as to the interpretation of the +Vedas, of Chinese chronology, or of Egyptian archæology, than of the +Bible, which, to the eternal dishonour of Protestant commentators, has +now almost ceased to have any definite meaning whatever, because every +imaginable meaning has been defended by some and denied by others. It +is beyond dispute that the Bible, without an infallible Teacher to +explain its true meaning, will be of no use whatsoever as a bond of +unity. + +If the unity, promised by God-incarnate, is to be secured, the present +circumstances of the case, as well as the actual experience of many +centuries, prove three conditions to be absolutely necessary, _viz._: +a teacher who is _firstly_ ever living and accessible; _secondly_, who +can and will speak clearly and without ambiguity; and _thirdly_, and +most essential of all, whose decisions are authoritative and +decisive. One, in a word, who can pass sentence and close a +controversy, and whose verdict will be honoured and accepted _as +final_ by all Catholics without hesitation. These three requisites are +found in the person of the infallible Head of the Catholic Church, but +nowhere else. + +Experience shows that where, in religion, there is nothing but mere +human learning to guide, however great such learning may be, there +will always be room left for some differences of opinion. In such +controversies even the learned and the well read will not all arrange +themselves on one side; but will espouse, some one view, and some +another. We find this to be the case everywhere. And, since the Church +of England offers us as striking and as ready an example as any other, +we cannot do better than invoke it as both a warning and a witness. + +Though her adherents are but a small fraction, compared with +ourselves, and though they are socially and politically far more +homogeneous than we Catholics, who are gathered from all the nations +of the earth, yet even they, in the absence of any universally +recognised and infallible head, are split up into a hundred fragments. + +So that, even on the most essential points of doctrine, there is +absolutely no true unanimity. This is so undeniable that Anglican +Bishops themselves are found lamenting and wringing their hands over +their "unhappy divisions". Still, we wish to be perfectly just, so, in +illustration of our contention, we will select, not one of those +innumerable minor points which it would be easy to bring forward, but +some really crucial point of doctrine, the importance of which no man +in his senses will have the hardihood to deny. Let us say, for +instance, the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. Can we conceive anything +that a devout Christian would be more anxious to ascertain than +whether Our Divine Lord and Saviour be really and personally and +substantially present under the appearance of bread, or no! Picture to +yourselves, then, a fervent worshipper entering an Anglican church, +where they are said "to reserve," and kneeling before the Tabernacle. +Just watch the poor unfortunate man utterly and hopelessly unable to +decide whether he is prostrating and pouring out his soul before a +mere memorial, a simple piece of common bread, or before the Infinite +Creator of the Universe, the dread King of kings, and Lord of lords, +in Whose presence the very angels veil their faces, and the strong +pillars of heaven tremble! Imagine a Church where such a state of +things is possible! Yet, we have it on the authority of an Anglican +Bishop--and I know not where we shall find a higher authority--that +this is indeed the case; as may be gathered from the following words, +taken from a "charge" by the late Bishop Ryle, which are surely clear +enough: "One section of our (_i.e._, Anglican) clergy," says the +Bishop, "maintains that the Lord's Supper is a sacrifice, and another +maintains with equal firmness that it is not.... One section maintains +that there is a real objective presence of Christ's Body and Blood +under the forms of the consecrated bread and wine. The other maintains +that there is no real presence whatsoever, except in the hearts of the +believing communicant."[5] Was such a state of pitiable helplessness +ever seen or heard or dreamed of anywhere! And yet this church, please +to observe, is supposed to be a body sent by God to teach. Heaven +preserve us from such a teacher. As a further illustration of the +utter incompetency of the Establishment to perform this primary duty, +we may call to mind the strikingly instructive correspondence that was +published some years ago between his Grace Archbishop Sumner and Mr. +Maskell, who very naturally and very rightly sought direction from his +Ordinary concerning certain points of doctrine, of which he was in +doubt. + +"You ask me," writes the Archbishop to Mr. Maskell, "whether you are +to conclude that you ought not to teach, and have not the authority of +the [Anglican] Church to teach any of the doctrines spoken of in your +five former questions, in the dogmatical terms there stated." + +Here, then, we have a perfectly fair and straightforward question, +deserving an equally clear and straightforward answer: and such as +would be given at once if addressed by any Catholic enquirer to _his_ +Bishop. But how does the Anglican Archbishop proceed to calm and +comfort this helpless, agitated soul, groping painfully in the dark? +What is his Grace's reply? He cannot refer the matter to a Sovereign +Pontiff, for no Pontiff in the Anglican Church is possessed of any +sovereignty whatsoever. In fact the Archbishop himself has to "verily +testify and declare that His Majesty the King is the only supreme +Governor in _spiritual_ and _ecclesiastical_ things as well as +temporal," etc.[6] Nor dare he solve these troublesome doubts himself: +for he is no more infallible than his questioner. Then what does he +do? Practically nothing. He throws the whole burden back upon poor +Mr. Maskell, and leaves him to struggle with his doubts as best he +may. Thus; though the Church _of God_ was established to "teach all +nations," and _must_ still be teaching all nations if she exist at +all; the Church _of England_ seems unable to teach one nation, or even +one man. + +But to continue. The Archbishop begins by putting Mr. Maskell a +question. "Are they (_i.e._, the doctrines about which he is seeking +information) contained in the Word of God? St. Paul says, 'Preach the +Word'.... Now whether the doctrines concerning which you inquire are +contained in the Word of God, and can be proved thereby, _you have the +same means_ of discovering for yourself as I have, and I have no +special authority to declare." + +Did any one ever witness such an exhibition of ineptitude and +spiritual asthenia? We can conceive a man rejecting all revelation. It +is possible even to conceive a man denying the Divinity of Christ. But +we know nothing that would ever enable us even to conceive that +Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Power had established a Church which +cannot teach, or had sent an ambassador utterly unable to deliver His +message. There is no use for such Church as that. Total silence is +better than incoherent speech. What is the consequence? The +consequence is that in the Anglican community endless variations and +differences exist and flourish side by side, not alone in matters +where differences are comparatively of little account, but in even the +most momentous and fundamental doctrines, such as the necessity of +Baptism, the power of Absolution, the nature of the Holy Eucharist, +the effects of the sacrament of Holy Orders, and so forth. Were it not +for the iron hand of the State, which grasps her firmly, and binds her +mutually repellent elements together, she must have fallen to pieces +long ago. Now, we must beg our readers to consider well, that from the +very terms of the institution such a deplorable state of things as we +have been contemplating is absolutely impossible and unthinkable in +the Church (1) which _God-incarnate_ founded, _for the express +purpose of handing down His doctrine_, pure and undefiled to the end +of time; and (2) with which He promised to abide for ever; and (3) +which the Holy Ghost Himself, speaking through St. Paul, declared to +be "the pillar and ground of truth" (1. Tim. iii. 15). Nevertheless, +if the Catholic Church, numbering over 250,000,000 of persons, is not +to fall into the sad plight that has overtaken all the small churches +that have gone out from her, she must not only desire unity, as, no +doubt, all the sects desire it, but she must have been provided by her +all-wise Founder with what none of them even profess to possess, +_viz._, some simple, workable, and effective means of securing it. +This means, as practical as it is simple, is no other than one supreme +central and living authority, enjoying full jurisdiction over +all--that is to say, the authority of Peter, ever living in his See, +and speaking, now by the lips of Leo, and now by the lips of Pius, but +always in the name, and with the authority, and under the guidance of +Him who, in the plenitude of His divine power, made Peter the +immovable rock, against which the gates of hell may indeed expend +their fury, but against which they never have prevailed and never can +prevail. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against Thee." That any +one can fail to understand the meaning of these inspired words; that +any one can give them any application save that which they receive in +the Catholic Church, is but another illustration of the extraordinary +power of prejudice and pride to blind the reason and to darken the +understanding. + +Without this final Court of Appeal, set up by the wisdom of God, the +Church would disintegrate and fall into pieces to-morrow. To remove +from the Church of Christ the infallibility of the Pope would be like +removing the hub from the wheel, the key-stone from the arch, the +trunk from the tree, the foundation from the house. For, in each case +the result must mean confusion. If such a result could ever have been +doubted in the past, it can surely be doubted no longer. The sad +experience of the past three hundred years speaks more eloquently than +any words; and its verdict is conclusive. It proves two things beyond +dispute. The _first_ is, that even the largest and most heterogeneous +body of men may be easily united and kept together, if they can all be +brought to recognise and obey one supreme authority; and the _second_ +is, that, even a small and homogeneous body of men will soon divide +and split up into sections, if they cannot be brought to recognise +such an authority. + +Further, any one looking out over the face of Christendom, with an +unprejudiced eye, for the realisation of that unity which Christ +promised to affix to his Church as an infallible sign of authenticity, +will find it in the Catholic Communion, but certainly nowhere +else--least of all in the Church of England. + +"What," asks a well-known writer in unfeigned astonishment, "what +opinion is not held within the Established Church? Were not Dr. +Wilberforce and Dr. Colenso, Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Baring equally +Bishops of the Church of England? Were not Dr. Pusey and Mr. Jowett +at the same time her professors; Father Ignatius and Mr. Bellew her +ministers; Archdeacon Denison and Dr. M'Neile her distinguished +ornaments and preachers? Yet their religions differed almost as widely +as Buddhism from Calvinism, or the philosophy of Aristotle from that +of Martin Tupper." If a Catholic priest were to teach a single +heretical doctrine, he would be at once cashiered, and turned out of +the Church. But "if an Anglican minister must resign because his +opinions are at variance with some other Anglican minister, every soul +of them would have to retire, from the Archbishop of Canterbury down +to the last licentiate of Durham or St. Bees". + +As surely as infallibility is the essential prerogative of a divinely +constituted Teaching Church, so surely can it exist only in that +institution which alone has always claimed it, both as her gift by +promise and the sole explanation of her triumphs and her perpetuity. +It would be the idlest of dreams to search for it in a fractional part +of a modern community, like the Church of England, which had always +disowned and scoffed at it, and which could account for its own +existence ONLY on the plea that the Promises of God had +signally failed, and that _it_ alone was able to correct the failure. + +Men ask for some sign, by which they may recognise the true Church of +God and discriminate it readily from all spurious imitations. God, in +His mercy, offers them a sign--namely UNITY. Yet they hesitate and +hold back, and refuse to guide their tempest-tossed barques by its +unerring light into the one Haven of Salvation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: See Charge, etc., dated November, 1893.] + +[Footnote 6: _Ang. Ministry_, by Hutton, p. 504.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE POPE'S INFALLIBLE AUTHORITY. + + +1. The Church of God can be but one; because God is truth: and, truth +can be but one. The world may, and (as a matter of fact) does abound +in false Churches, just as it abounds in false deities; but, this is +rendered possible only _because they are false_. Two or more true +Churches involve a contradiction in terms. Such a condition of things +is as intrinsically absurd, and as unthinkable, as two or more true +Gods--as well talk of two or more multiplication tables! No! There can +be but "One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism". If several Churches all +teach the true doctrine of Christ, unmixed with error, they must all +agree, and, consequently, be virtually one and the self same. There is +no help for it; and sound reason will not tolerate any other +conclusion. The "Branch Theory" stands self-condemned, if truth be of +any importance: because it is inconsistent with truth. For, if one +Church contradicts the other on any single point of doctrine, then one +or the other must be false, that is, it must be either asserting what +Christ denied; or else denying what Christ asserted. They cannot, +under any circumstances, be described as _true_ Churches. This is not +sophistry or subtilty. It is common-sense. Christ promised unity in +promising truth; since truth is one. Is Christ divided? asks St. Paul. +No! Then neither is His Church. + +2. How was His truth to be maintained and securely developed, century +after century, pure and untainted, and free from all admixture of +error? _Humanly_ speaking, the thing was impossible. Then what +_superhuman_ guarantee did He offer? What was to be our security? +Nothing less than the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost Himself. + +Surely, then, we need not be anxious after that! Listen, and remember +it is to God you are listening. "The Spirit of Truth shall abide with +you for ever" (John xiv. 17). Non-Catholics do not seem in the least +to realise what those words mean, or that it is God Himself who +promises. But, to continue; what is the purpose of this extraordinary +and enduring presence? Why is it given? What is it for? Well, for the +express purpose of hindering divisions and sects. In order to lead, +not to mislead us. How do we know? Because God said so: "He shall +guide you into all truth" (John xvi. 13). And this truth, thus +permanently secured, was to draw all together into one body. In fact, +we have it on Divine authority, that the Church of Christ was to be as +truly a single organic whole, in which every part is subject to one +head, as is a living human body. The similitude is not of man's +choosing, but is inspired by the Holy Spirit Himself. "As the +(natural) body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of +that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.... Now, +ye are the (mystical) Body[7] of Christ" (1 Cor. xii.). + +What can be clearer, what more explicit? Now, if the Spirit of Truth, +that is to say, the Holy Ghost, _is really_ with the Church (as God +promised He always would be), and if He is always present for the +_express purpose of "guiding her into all truth"_ (as God promised +would be the case), surely this guidance must be a great reality, and +not the mere sham that it is everywhere found to be, outside the +Catholic Church. + +3. Consciously or unconsciously, Anglicans and other non-Catholics +have for centuries denied the truth of Our Lord's words and have +contradicted His clearest statements. In fact, the Church of England, +in her Book of Homilies, declares that "clergy and laity, learned and +unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children, +of whole Christendom, were altogether drowned in damnable idolatry by +the space of 800 years and more"! (Hom. on Peril of Idol., part iii.). +This is a specimen of the way in which God's promises are set aside, +and the Bible misinterpreted by outsiders while professing to make it +the foundation of their creed. Nor was this the teaching of a few +irresponsible persons. It was enforced by the whole Anglican Church. +"All parsons, vicars, curates, and all others having spiritual cure," +were "straitly enjoined" to read these Homilies Sunday after Sunday +throughout the year in every church and chapel of the kingdom. And the +25th Article declares the second book of Homilies to contain "a godly +and wholesome doctrine and necessary for these times"! Probably this +"godly and wholesome doctrine" is no longer obliged to be read and +taught by Anglicans; probably they no longer consider it either +"godly" or "wholesome," but quite the reverse. This we are quite ready +to admit. But, in the name of common prudence, who, in his senses, +would trust the salvation of his immortal soul to a Church that +teaches a thing is white in one century and black in the next, and +never knows its own mind? + +Here then let us put two very pertinent questions, for our +non-Catholic friends to ponder over, and to answer, if they can. +First: How is it possible for the Church to go astray, if God the Holy +Ghost is really guiding? Second: How is it possible for the Church to +wander away into _error_, if this same Spirit be leading her into _all +truth_? Will some one kindly explain that, without at the same time +denying the veracity of God? + +4. However, granting the absolute truth of Christ's promises, we may +now proceed to inquire in what way this divine and (because divine) +infallible guidance into all truth is brought about? Is it by the Holy +Spirit whispering to each individual priest or to each individual +Bishop? Emphatically not. Why not? Because, if that theory were well +founded, then every priest and Bishop would believe and teach +precisely the same set of doctrines, without any need of an +infallible Pope to guide him. For, clearly, the Spirit of _Truth_ +could not whisper "yea" to one, and "nay" to another, nor could He +declare a thing to be "black" to one person and "white" to his +neighbour. In fine, we have but two alternatives to choose from. We +must confess either that the promises themselves, so solemnly made, +are lies (which were blasphemy to affirm), or else, that God directs +His Church, and safeguards its truth, through its head, or chief +Pastor; just as we regulate and control the members of the physical +body through the brain. We must either renounce all belief in Christ +and His promises, or else admit that His words are actually carried +out, and that the prayer has been heard which He made for Peter, and +for those who should, in turn, exercise Peter's office and functions, +and should speak in his name. Harken to the narrative, as given by St. +Luke: "The Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have +you [_observe, the plural number_] that he may sift you as wheat; but +I have prayed [_not for all, but_] for _thee_, that _thy_ faith fail +not: and _thou_, being once converted, confirm thy brethren" (Luke +xxii. 32) [_observe the singular number_, "thee," "thy" and "thou"]. + +Peter still lives, in the person of Pope Pius X., and _in virtue of +that prayer_, and through the omnipotent power of God, Peter still +"confirms his brethren," and will continue to confirm them in the true +and pure doctrine of Christ, until the final crack of doom. As the +venerable Bishop W.B. Ullathorne wrote to Lady Chatterton, soon after +the Vatican Council, _i.e._, 19th November, 1875: "There is but one +Church of Christ, with one truth, taught by one authority, received by +all, believed by all within its pale; or there is no security for +faith. If we examine Our Lord's words and acts, such a Church there +is. If we follow the inclinations of our fallen nature, ever averse to +the control of authority, we there find the reason why so many who +love this world, receive not the authority that He planted, to endure +like His primal creation, to the end." + +"It is pleasant to human pride and independence to be a little god, +having but oneself for an authority, and a light, and a law to +oneself. But does this or does it not contradict the fact that we are +dependent beings, and that the Lord, He is God? This spirit of +independence, with self-sufficiency for its basis, and rebellion for +its act, is _just what_ Sacred Scripture ascribes to Satan" (p. 230). + +True. And it is just the reverse of the disposition that Christ +demands from all who wish to enter into His One Fold: for He declares +with startling clearness that "unless we become as little children" +(_i.e._, docile, submissive, trustful, etc.) "we shall not enter into +the Kingdom of heaven," which is His Church. + + * * * * * + +5. Before proceeding further, it may be well here to draw a +distinction between the Pope, considered as the _supreme_ ruler, and +the Pope, considered as the _infallible_ ruler. The reigning Pontiff, +whosoever he may be, is always the Supreme Ruler, the Head of the +Church, and the Vicar of Christ; but he is not, on all occasions, nor +under all circumstances, the infallible ruler. + +To guard against any mistake as to the meaning of our words, let us +explain that infallibility is a gift, but not a gift that the Pope +exercises every day, nor on every occasion, nor in addressing +individuals, nor public audiences, nor is it a prerogative that can be +invoked, except under special and indeed we may certainly add, very +exceptional circumstances. And further--unlike other powers--it can +never be delegated to another. The Pope himself is Infallible, but he +cannot transfer nor communicate his Infallibility, even temporarily or +for some special given occasion, to anyone else who may, in other +respects, represent him, such as a Legate, Ambassador, or Nuncio. + +"Neither in conversation," writes the theologian Billuart, "nor in +discussion, nor in interpreting Scripture or the Fathers, nor in +consulting, nor in giving his reasons for the point which he has +defined, nor in answering letters, nor in private deliberations, +supposing he is setting forth his own opinion, is the Pope +infallible." He is not infallible as a theologian, or as a priest, or +a Bishop, or a temporal ruler, or a judge, or a legislator, or in his +political views, or even in the government of the Church: but only +when he teaches the Faithful throughout the world, _ex cathedrâ_, in +matters of faith or of morals, that is to say, in matters relating to +revealed truth, or to principles of moral conduct. + +"It in no way depends upon the caprice of the Pope, or upon his good +pleasure, to make such and such a doctrine the object of a dogmatic +definition. He is tied up and limited to the divine revelation, and to +the truths which that revelation contains. He is tied up and limited +by the Creeds, already in existence, and by the preceding definitions +of the Church. He is tied up and limited by the divine law and by the +constitution of the Church. Lastly, he is tied up and limited by that +doctrine, divinely revealed, which affirms that, alongside religious +society, there is civil society, that alongside the Ecclesiastical +Hierarchy, there is the power of temporal magistrates, invested, in +their own domain, with a full sovereignty, and to whom we owe in +conscience obedience and respect in all things morally permitted, and +belonging to the domain of civil society."[8] + +Further, a definition of divine faith must be drawn from the Apostolic +deposit of doctrine, in order that it may be considered an exercise of +infallibility, whether in Pope or Council. Similarly, a precept of +morals, if it is to be accepted as from an infallible voice, must be +drawn from the moral law, that primary revelation to us from God. The +Pope has no power over the Moral Law, except to assert it, to +interpret it and to enforce it. + +6. From this, it is at once realised how restricted, after all, is the +infallible power of the Pope, in spite of the alarm its definition +excited in the Protestant camp, in 1870. + +Still, it must be clearly understood that whether speaking _ex +cathedrâ_ or not, the Pope is always the Vicar of Christ and the +divinely appointed Head of His Church, and that we, as dutiful +children, are bound both to listen to him with the utmost attention +and respect, and to show him ready and heartfelt obedience. Anyone who +should limit his submission to the Pope's infallible utterances is +truly a rebel at heart, and no true Catholic. + +The Holy Scripture is far from contemplating the exceptional cases of +infallible definitions when it lays down the command: "Remember them, +who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, +whose faith follow". And, "_obey_ them that have the rule over you, +and _submit_ yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that +must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief". +The margin in the Protestant Version (observes Cardinal Newman) reads +"those who are your _guides_," and the word may also be translated +"leaders". Well, whether as rulers or as guides and leaders, whichever +word be right, they are to be _obeyed_. + +7. From this it is evident enough that assent is of two kinds. There +is firstly the assent of Divine Faith; and secondly there is the +assent of religious obedience. Neither can be dispensed with. Both are +binding. All we affirm is that the one is not the other, and that the +first must not be confused with the last. A special kind of assent, +that is to say, the _assent of Divine Faith_ must be given to all +those doctrines which are proposed to us by the infallible voice of +the Church, as taught by Our Lord or the Apostles, and as contained in +the original deposit [_fidei Depositum_]. They comprise (_a_) all +things whatever which God has directly revealed; and (_b_) whatever +truth such revelation implicitly contains. + +These implicit truths are deduced from the original revelation, very +much as any other consequence from its premisses. For example. It is a +truth directly revealed, that the _Holy Ghost is God_. But, since God +is to be adored: the further proposition:--_the Holy Ghost is to be +adored_; is also contained, though only implicitly, in revelation; +and is therefore, equally, of faith. So again; that Christ is man, is +a fact of revelation; but the further proposition--Christ has a true +body--though not explicitly stated, is implicitly affirmed in the +first proposition. All consequences, such as the above, which are seen +immediately and evidently to be contained in the words of revelation, +must be accepted as of faith. Other consequences, which are equally +contained in the original deposit, but which are not so readily +detected and deduced, _must be explicitly_ accepted as of faith, only +so soon as the Church has publicly and authoritatively declared them +to be so contained; but not before. Thus, to take an illustration, the +Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin is a fact contained from +the beginning, implicitly locked up, as it were, in the deposit of +faith, left by the Apostles. Were it not so it never could have been +defined; for the Church does not invent doctrines. She only transmits +them. Yet, this doctrine is not so clearly and so self-evidently +included, and lies not so luminously and unmistakably on the very +surface of revelation as to be at once perceptible to all. Hence, +before its actual definition, a Catholic might deny it, or suspend his +judgment, without censure; whereas, to do either the one or the other, +after the Church has solemnly declared the doctrine to be contained in +the teaching of Christ and the Apostles, would be nothing short of +heresy. + +"The Infallibility, whether of the Church or of the Pope," says +Cardinal Newman, "acts principally or solely in two channels, (_a_) in +direct statement of truth, and (_b_) in the condemnation of error. The +former takes the shape of doctrinal definitions, the latter +stigmatises propositions as 'heretical,' 'next to heresy,' +'erroneous,' and the like" (p. 136). + +The gift of Infallibility, observes Cardinal Manning, "extends +_directly_ to the whole matter of divine truth, and _indirectly_ to +all truths which, though not revealed, are in such contact with +revelation that the deposit of faith and morals cannot be guarded, +expounded, and defended, without an infallible discernment of such +unrevealed truths" (_Vatican Decrees_, p. 167). + +8. To sum up: Persons who refuse to assent to doctrines which they +know to be directly revealed and defined, or which are universally +held by the Church as of Catholic Faith, become by that very act +guilty of heresy, and cut themselves adrift from the mystical Body of +Christ, and are no longer His members. If, on the other hand, their +assent is refused only to doctrines closely connected with these +dogmatic utterances, and which, as such, are proposed for their +acceptance, they become guilty, if not of actual heresy, then of +something perilously akin to it, and are, at all events, guilty of +serious sin. + +We may observe, in conclusion, that the Infallibility of Pontifical +definitions, as Father Humphrey so pertinently reminds us, does not +depend upon the reigning Pontiff's possession of any real knowledge of +ancient Church history or theology, or philosophy or science, but +_simply_ and solely upon the assistance of God the Holy Ghost, +guaranteed to him in his exercise of his function of Chief Pastor, in +feeding with divine doctrine the entire flock of God. Our Anglican +friends seem penetrated with the utterly false notion of justification +by scholarship alone; which is as untrue as it is unscriptural. +Indeed, their justification by scholarship is likely to lead to very +undesirable and deplorable results. + +In the foregoing chapter we have considered especially the Pope's +Infallible authority, and the assent and obedience due to it. In our +next it remains for us to consider the proper attitude of a loyal +Catholic towards the Sovereign Pontiff as the supreme ruler and +governor of the Church of God, even when not speaking _ex cathedrâ_. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 7: The word _soma_, observes Mgr. Capel, is never used in +Greek to express _mere_ association or aggregation (_Catholic_, p. +13).] + +[Footnote 8: From a Pastoral of the Swiss Bishops, which _received the +Pope's approbation_.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE POPE'S ORDINARY AUTHORITY. + + +1. When the Holy Father speaks _ex cathedrâ_, and defines any doctrine +concerning Faith or Morals, we are bound to receive his teaching with +the assent of divine faith: and cannot refuse obedience, without being +guilty of heresy. By one such wilful act of disobedience we cease to +be members of the Church of God, and must be classed with heathens and +publicans: "Who will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the +heathen and the publican" (Matt, xviii. 17). + +But the Holy Father rarely exercises his prerogative of Infallibility, +and therefore the occasions of these special professions of faith +occur but seldom--not once, perhaps, during the course of many years. + +2. What then, it may be asked, is the proper attitude of a Catholic +towards the Pope, at ordinary times? + +For a proper understanding of the answer, it may be well to remind the +general reader, that the law of God enjoins obedience to all lawfully +constituted authority; whether ecclesiastical or civil, and whether +Infallible or not: further that the Pope, whether speaking _ex +cathedrâ_ or not, is always our lawful superior in all matters +appertaining to religion, not only as regards faith and morals, but +also as regards ecclesiastical order and discipline. His jurisdiction, +or authority to command in these matters, is supreme and universal, +and carries with it a corresponding right to be obeyed. He is the +immediate and supreme representative of God upon earth; and has been +placed in that position by God Himself. And since the Primacy is +neither in whole, nor even in part of human derivation, but comes +directly and immediately from Christ, no man or number of men, whether +kings or princes or individual Bishops, nor even a whole Council of +Bishops, have any warranty or right to command him in religious or +ecclesiastical concerns.[9] The Council of Florence declares that: "To +him, in Blessed Peter, was delivered by Our Lord Jesus Christ the full +power of ruling and governing the Universal Church". Now this "full +power" accorded by Christ cannot be limited except by the authority of +Christ. Though the Pope is not the Sovereign of all the faithful in +the _temporal_ order, he is the Sovereign of all Christians in the +_spiritual_ order. If then--and this is admitted by all--we are bound +in conscience to obey our temporal sovereign and magistrates and +masters, and must submit to the laws of the country, so long as they +do not conflict with higher and superior laws, such as the Natural Law +and the Revealed Law, with still greater reason are we bound to obey +our spiritual Sovereign and the laws and regulations of the Church. + +3. To object that the Pope may possibly make a mistake when not +speaking _ex cathedrâ_ though true, is nothing to the point. For civil +governments are far more liable to fail in this respect, and as a +matter of fact, do frequently abuse their power and pass unjust laws, +and sometimes command what is sinful,[10] yet that fact does not +militate against the soundness of the _general_ proposition that +lawful superiors are to be obeyed. Nor does it diminish the force of +St. Peter's inspired words, in which he bids us be subject, for God's +sake, "whether it be to the king, as excelling, or to governors as +sent by him for the punishment of evil doers ... for such is the will +of God" (Peter ii.). Nor does it detract from the truth and validity +of St. Paul's still more emphatic words: "Let every soul be subject to +higher powers; for there is no power but from God: and those that are +ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, _resisteth the +ordinance of God. And they that resist purchase to themselves +damnation_" (Rom. xiii.). And again, when writing to Titus he says: +"Admonish them to be subject to princes and powers, and to obey" (Tit. +iii. 1). + +If the Apostles themselves thus command obedience to the State, even +to a pagan Government, such as the Roman was at the time they wrote, +it will scarcely be denied by any Christian that obedience is due to +the Church, and to the ecclesiastical government, altogether apart +from any question of infallibility. In fact, though both the civil +government and the ecclesiastical government are from God, and though +each is supreme within its own sphere; yet the authority in the case +of the Church is directly and immediately from God, whereas in the +case of the State, it is from God only mediately. This is why the +form of government, in the case of the State, may vary. It may be at +one time monarchical, and at another republican, and then oligarchic, +and so forth, whereas the Church must ever be ruled by one Supreme +Pontiff, and be monarchical in its form. Further, it is generally held +that even when not speaking _ex cathedrâ_, "the Vicar of Christ is +largely assisted by God in the fulfilment of his sublime office; that +he receives great light and strength to do well the great work +entrusted to him and imposed upon him, and that he is continually +guided from above in the government of the Catholic Church." [Words of +Father O'Reilly, S.J., quoted with approval by Cardinal Newman, p. +140.] And that supplies us with a special and an additional motive for +prompt obedience. + +"Two powers govern the world," wrote Pope Gelasius, to the Greek +Emperor Anastasius, more than fourteen hundred years ago, "the +spiritual authority of the Roman Pontiff, and the temporal power of +kings". These two powers have for their end, one the spiritual +happiness of man, here and hereafter, the other the temporal +prosperity of society in the present world. So that, we may say, +speaking generally, the Roman Pontiff has, in spiritual and +ecclesiastical matters, the same authority that secular sovereigns and +their Parliaments have in worldly and political matters. They command +and issue laws not only as regards what is _necessary_ for the welfare +of their subjects, but also as regards whatever is lawful and +expedient. It is not contended that they never make a mistake. It is +not asserted that their ruling is necessarily, and in every +particular, always wise and discreet, but even inexpedient orders, if +not unjust, may be valid and binding, even though they might have been +better non-issued. The principle to guide us is of practical +simplicity. As regards both the Church and the State--each in its own +order--the rule is that obedience is to be yielded. And, in doubtful +cases the presumption is in favour of authority. If anything were +ordered, which is _clearly seen_ to be contrary to, or incompatible +with the Law of God, whether natural or revealed, then, of course, it +would possess no binding force, for the Apostle warns us that--"We +must obey God, rather than man"--but, so long as we remain in a state +of uncertainty, we are bound to give a properly constituted authority +the benefit of the doubt--and submit. + +4. With these preliminary explanations and considerations to guide us +in our interpretation, we will now give the solemn teaching on the +subject, as laid down in the third chapter of the _Pastor Æternus_, +drawn up and duly promulgated by the Ecumenical Council of the +Vatican; and therefore of supreme authority. + +"We teach and declare that the Roman Church, according to the +disposition of the Lord, obtains the princedom of ordinary power over +all the other Churches; and that this, the Roman Pontiff's power of +jurisdiction, which is truly episcopal, is immediate; towards which +(power) all the pastors and faithful, of whatever right and dignity, +whether each separately or all collectively, are bound by the duty of +hierarchical subordination and true obedience, not only in the things +which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to +the _discipline and government_ (_regimen_) of the Church diffused +through the whole world; so that, unity being preserved with the Roman +Pontiff, as well of communion as of the profession of the same faith, +the Church of Christ may be one flock under one pastor. This is the +doctrine of Catholic truth, from which no one can deviate without loss +of faith and salvation." + +"We also teach and declare that the Roman Pontiff is the supreme judge +of the faithful, and that in all causes belonging to ecclesiastical +examination recourse can be had to his judgment: and that the judgment +of the Apostolic See, than whose authority there is none greater, is +not to be called in question, nor is it lawful for any one to judge +its judgment. Therefore, those wander from the right path of truth who +affirm that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman +Pontiffs to an Ecumenical Council, as to an authority superior to the +Roman Pontiff." + +"If any one, therefore, shall say that the Roman Pontiff has only the +office of inspection or direction, but not full and supreme power of +jurisdiction over the Universal Church, not only in the things which +pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to the +discipline and government of the Church diffused throughout the whole +world, or that he has only the principal place (_potiores partes_), +and not the whole plenitude of the supreme power, or that this, his +power, is not ordinary and immediate, whether over all and each of the +Churches, or over all and each of the pastors and faithful, let him be +anathema!" + +5. Since the Church is a perfect society, spread throughout the entire +world, with one supreme ruler at its head, it follows that it must be +endowed with all the means requisite for the carrying out of its +mission. Christ was sent, by His Eternal Father, from Heaven with full +powers. "All power is given me in heaven and in earth"; and these +powers He handed on to His Church. "As the Father hath sent Me, so I +also send you" (John xx. 21). Hence the Popes are, to use Scriptural +phraseology, "ambassadors for Christ; God, as it were, exhorting by +them" (2 Cor. v. 20); and no Catholic dare contest their power or +jurisdiction. + +Indeed, it would have been hopelessly impossible to carry on the +government of the Church and to maintain unity amongst its +ever-increasing numbers, if there were no supreme authority ready to +assert itself; to correct errors; to resist abuses; and to restrain +those who might introduce dissensions and differences. Of this fact, +the present deplorable chaotic state of the Anglican and other +non-Catholic Churches offers us abundant and forcible illustrations. +From the very first the One True Church has not only taught, but +ruled; not only spoken, but acted. And when any of her subjects have +proved obstreperous and disobedient, and stubborn in their resistance +to her orders, she has invariably turned them out of her fold, so that +they should not infect and contaminate the good and the loyal. It was +in this sense that St. Paul, the inspired Apostle, in the very first +century of the Christian era, instructed Titus to construe and +administer the law committed to his charge. After warning Titus that +there are "many vain talkers and deceivers," St. Paul commands him "to +rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in faith". He adds +further: "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke, _with all +authority_". But this was not all. He was not only to decide who were +the "vain talkers and deceivers". Nor was he simply "to exhort and +rebuke them sharply, and with all authority," that they might become +"sound in the faith," but if they persisted after the first and second +admonition, he was also to reject them, and thrust them out of the +Church, as heretics. "Reject a heretic, after the first and second +admonition" (Tit. iii. 10). Now Titus was neither an Apostle nor a +Pope, but a simple Bishop. If then such were the powers invested in +him, how much more fully still must this authority be inherent in the +Vicar of Christ himself, who is the supreme head upon earth of the +entire Church of God. + +It is this prompt amputation of the diseased members, before the +hideous canker has time to spread, that has kept the Church of God +pure to this day, while heretical bodies have fallen into greater and +greater spiritual decay. It is because she fearlessly and resolutely +insists upon all her children accepting the truth, the whole truth, +and nothing but the truth, that she presents to the world, century +after century, with miraculous clearness and perspicuity, the Divine +hall-mark of unity. + +6. Outside the true Church of God there is no recognised voice strong +enough to enforce any uniformity of belief. Though the Pope's +authority was acknowledged throughout England for over one thousand +years, yet at the time of the so-called Reformation, that Voice of +God, speaking through Peter, was admitted no longer. Hence, as +Cardinal Manning most truly observes: "The old forms of religious +thought are now passing away in England. The rejection of the Divine +Voice has let in the flood of opinion; and opinion has generated +scepticism; and scepticism has brought on contentions without end. +What seemed so solid once, is disintegrated. It is dissolving by the +internal action of the principle from which it sprung. The critical +unbelief of dogma has now reached to the foundation of Christianity, +and to the veracity of Scripture. Such is the world the Catholic +Church Sees before it at this day. The Anglicanism of the Reformation +is _upon the rocks_, like some tall ship stranded upon the shore, and +going to pieces, by its own weight and the steady action of the sea. +We have no need of playing the wreckers. It would be inhumanity to do +so. God knows that the desires and prayers of Catholics are ever +ascending that all that remains of Christianity in England may be +preserved, unfolded and perfected into the whole circle of revealed +truths, and the unmutilated revelation of the Faith. + +"It is inevitable that if we speak plainly we must give pain and +offence to those who will not admit the possibility that they are out +of the Faith and the Church of Jesus Christ. But, if we do not speak +plainly, woe unto us, for we shall betray our trust and our Master. +There is a day coming, when they who have softened down the truth, or +have been silent, will have to give account. I had rather be thought +harsh than be conscious of hiding the light which has been mercifully +shown to me" (_Temp. Mission_, etc., p. 215). + +It would be well if all Catholics took to heart these noble words of +the great English Cardinal, who was himself once an Archdeacon in the +Anglican Church. Real charity urges us to set forth the truth in all +its nakedness and beauty. This must be done, even though it may +sometimes give pain and cause irritation. If a man be walking in a +trance towards the crumbling edge of some ghastly precipice, who--let +me ask--acts with the greater charity, he who is afraid to interfere, +and will calmly allow the somnambulist to walk on, till he fall over +into the abyss; or he who will shout, and, if need be, roughly shake +him from his fatal sleep, and so, perhaps, save him from destruction? +Surely, to allow a fellow-creature to follow a path of extreme danger, +for fear of wounding his susceptibilities and incurring his anger, by +candidly pointing out his peril, is the mark, not of a lover of his +brethren, but rather of one who loves himself alone. + +We will conclude with the warning of God, given through the inspired +writer Ezekiel, the application of which, _positis ponendis_, is +sufficiently plain: "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shall surely +die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked +from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die +in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at thy hand. Yet _if +thou warn the wicked_, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from +his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but _thou hast delivered +thy soul_" (Ezek. iii. 18). + +_P.S._--Among the authors quoted in THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY may be +mentioned the following, as being easily obtainable by English +readers: Allnatt, Allies, Bonomelli, Capel, Castelplano, Dering, +Deviver, Franzelin, Humphrey, Manning, Merry del Val, Meyer, Minges, +Newman, O'Reilly, Rhodes, Ullathorne, Ward. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 9: "Da chi dipenderà il Pontefice nell' esercizio del suo +potere Spirituale? Dai Rè? Eccovi il gallicanismo parlamentare! Dalle +masse dei fedeli? Eccovi il richerianismo, e febronianismo! Dai +Vescovi? Eccovi il gallicanismo teologico" (_L. di Castelplanio_, p. +104).] + +[Footnote 10: Take for instance, 37 Henry VIII. Chap. 17, which +recites that "the clergy have no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, but by +and under the King, who is the _only Supreme Head of the Church_ of +England, to whom _all_ authority and power is _wholly_ given to hear +and determine all causes ecclesiastical."] + + + + +PART II. + +THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. +OR +THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE IN ENGLAND IN PRE-REFORMATION TIMES. + + + As the First Part of this little treatise is devoted to a + consideration of the position of the Pope and the authority + which he exercises throughout the Universal Church; so the + Second Part is concerned with the position occupied and the + authority exercised by the same Sovereign Pontiff in our own + country of England, before she was cut off from the + Universal Church in the sixteenth century. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORMATION. + + +One of the greatest glories of the Catholic Church is that she and she +alone possesses and is able to communicate to others the whole truth +revealed by Jesus Christ. The Church of England and other Churches +that have gone out from her have, we are thankful to say, carried with +them some fragments of Christianity, but the Catholic Church alone +possesses the whole unadulterated revelation of Jesus Christ. For over +a thousand years, the Church in England formed a part of the great +Universal Church, the centre of which is at Rome and the circumference +of which is everywhere. From the sixth to the sixteenth century the +Church in England was a province of that Church, and received her +power and jurisdiction from the Holy See. It was not until the +sixteenth century that she apostatised, and was cut off from the stem, +out of which she had sprung, as a rotten branch is lopped off from a +healthy tree. It was not until then that she became a Church apart, +distinct from the Church of God, no longer the _Catholic_ Church _in_ +England, but henceforth the _National_ Church _of_ England and of +England alone. The pre-"Reformation" Church was, as we have said, not +a separate Church, but a part of the one Catholic Church, whereas the +post-"Reformation" Church stands alone, unrecognised by the rest of +Christendom; hence the one is absolutely distinct from the other. The +grand old cathedrals and churches designed, built, and paid for by our +Catholic ancestors have been forcibly taken possession of, but the +Faith, the teaching, and the doctrine--in a word, the Church +itself--is totally distinct. The wolf may slay and devour the sheep +and may then clothe himself in its fleece, but the wolf is not the +sheep, and the nature of the one remains totally different from that +of the other. The proofs of all this are so numerous and so striking +that one scarcely knows which to choose, nor where to begin. In the +present chapter, we will content ourselves with calling attention to +certain points that every one will be able to grasp. It is said that a +straw will show which way the wind blows, so things even trivial in +themselves will enable any unprejudiced man to see that there must be +some radical difference between the Church in England four hundred +years ago, and the Church of England to-day. First, let us just look +round and consider the Catholic Church. It is spread all over the +world. It is found in France, in Belgium, in Italy, in Spain, and in +other countries, all of which recognised the Church in England before +the "Reformation" as one in faith and doctrine with themselves. They +felt themselves united with it in one and the same belief; they taught +the same seven Sacraments; they gathered around the same Sacrifice; +they acknowledged the same supremacy of the same spiritual head. Now +there is no single Catholic country that recognises the Church of +England as anything but heretical and schismatical. + +Formerly when any Archbishop of Canterbury travelled abroad he was +received as a brother by the Catholic Bishops all over the Continent. +He felt thoroughly at home in the Catholic churches, and offered up +the Divine Mysteries at their altars, using the same sacred vessels, +reading from the same missal, speaking the same language, and feeling +himself to be a member of the same spiritual family. Can the present +Archbishop of Canterbury follow their example? Would the Cardinal +Archbishop of Paris, for instance, or the Archbishop of Milan receive +the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, as a brother Bishop? Would they +cause their cathedrals to be thrown open to him? No. + +In vain does the Archbishop of Canterbury of to-day claim continuity +with the pre-"Reformation" Archbishops. For no one would be found to +admit such a claim. It may be said that this is of no great +importance. It may not be in itself, but it is the straw which shows +the way the wind blows; and clearly proves that the verdict of the +entire world and the chief centres of Christendom is against +continuity. + +Let us take another "straw". Before the pseudo-Reformation there were +Cardinals exercising authority in the Church in England. Some of them +even became famous. There was, for instance, Cardinal Stephen Langton, +who was Primate of England, and who brought together the Barons, and +forced the Great Charter from King John. There, amongst the signatures +to that famous document we find the name of a Roman Cardinal. From the +time of Stephen Langton to the time of Cardinal Fisher in the +sixteenth century there was a long succession of Cardinals in England, +all of whom were members of the Church in England. From the time of +Cardinal Robert Pullen to that of Cardinal John Fisher there were no +fewer than twenty-two Roman Cardinals belonging to that Church. How is +it that during those thousand years the English Church could have and +actually did have Cardinals, up to the time of the so-called +Reformation, but never since? How is it that such a thing has ceased +to be possible? Clearly because it is no longer the same Church. +Before, England was a part of the Universal Church; and just as the +Church in Italy, France, and Spain, had, and still have, their +Cardinals, so England also was given its share of representation in +the Sacred College. We shall realise the inference to be drawn if we +consider what a Cardinal is. In the first place, he is one chosen +directly by the Pope; secondly, he is one of the Pope's advisers; +thirdly, when the Holy Father dies it is he, as a member of the Sacred +College, who has to elect a successor; furthermore, he swears +allegiance to the Sovereign Pontiff, and on bended knee, with his +hands on the Holy Gospels, he solemnly declares his adhesion to the +Roman Catholic Faith. No Anglican of the present day, no Protestant, +no one who is not an out-and-out Roman Catholic can be, or could ever +have been, a Cardinal, yet there were Cardinals here in the Church in +England, and, as we have stated, a long succession of them right up to +the time of the pseudo-Reformation. How can there be continuity and +spiritual identity between the Church _in_ England, which before that +change could and did have Cardinals, and the Church _of_ England +to-day, which can produce nothing of the kind? Cardinals or no +Cardinals is not a matter of great importance in itself, but it is +another "straw" which clearly shows the completely altered condition +of things. Let us pass to another point. During the period between the +sixth and sixteenth centuries there were many canonised saints in the +Church in England. I refer to such men as St. Bede, who lived in the +eighth century; to St. Odo of Canterbury; to St. Dunstan, Archbishop +of Canterbury, in the tenth century; to St. Wolstan of Worcester; to +St. Osmond, Bishop of Salisbury in the eleventh century; to St. Thomas +à Becket, in the twelfth century; to St. Richard, Bishop of +Chichester and St. Edmund, in the thirteenth century; and to many +others we could mention, whose names are enrolled in the lists of the +Catholic Church, and who are set up before her children as models of +virtue, as the most perfect specimens of sanctity, and as worthy of +our imitation--all members of the Church in England before the +pseudo-Reformation.[11] How is it that the present Church of England +has never canonised any saint? Those to whom I have referred represent +the best and truest of the Church in England before the "Reformation". +We still show them reverence. In many cases we even recite their +offices and Masses. How, then, can they be members of the same Church +as the Church of England of to-day, which we know to be a schismatical +body, cut off from the unity of Christendom some four hundred years +ago? There has been no saint canonised according to the rite of the +Church of England, but if there had been, we would not and could not +reverence them, for they would be to us outside the Church--aliens, +heretics, and, from that point of view at all events, unworthy of +imitation. Let us point out yet another "straw" which clearly +indicates the essential difference between the Church in England +before the "Reformation" and the Church of England after it. When the +young King Henry VIII. first came to the throne he, like all his +predecessors, both kings and queens, was a true Roman Catholic. So +much so, that when a doctrine of the Church was attacked he wrote a +book in its defence; in fact, the Pope was so pleased with his zeal +that he determined to reward him by conferring on him the title of +"Defender of the Faith". But, in the name of common-sense! Defender of +what Faith? Was it the Protestant faith? Was it the faith professed by +the present Church of England? Is it likely, is it possible, that any +Pope would confer such a title on any one who was not in union with +the Holy See, and who rejected Catholic doctrine? Such a thing is +unthinkable. Was the faith of Henry VIII. before the break with Rome +the same as that of Edward VII. who on his coronation day declared the +Mass to be false, Transubstantiation to be absurd, and Catholics to be +idolaters? If not, then what becomes of the continuity theory? The +fact is that between the Church in England before the sixteenth +century and the Church of England to-day there is no real connection, +no true resemblance, and those who endeavour to prove the contrary are +but falsifying history and throwing dust into the eyes of simple +people, and trying to prove what is absolutely and wholly untrue. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 11: As early as 1170 Pope Alexander III. decreed that the +consent of the Roman Church was necessary before public honour as a +saint could be given to any person. Is it conceivable that such +consent would be given by any Pope in the case of one not united to +Rome in the same faith?] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE OATH OF OBEDIENCE. + + +In order to realise the absolute absurdity of the continuity theory, +and to see how thoroughly Roman Catholic England was right up to the +"Reformation," it is enough for us to turn back the hands of the great +clock of time some few hundred years, and to visit England at any +period during the long interval between the sixth and the sixteenth +century. + +One of the first facts that would strike any observant visitor to our +shores in those days, would be the attitude of the Church in England +towards the Holy See. Every Archbishop, every metropolitan from the +time of St. Augustine himself, A.D. 601, up to the sixteenth +century, not merely acknowledged the authority of the Pope, but +solemnly swore to show him reverence and obedience. Furthermore, even +when an Archbishop had been appointed and consecrated, he could not +exercise jurisdiction until he had received the sacred pallium, which +came from Rome, and was received as the symbol and token of the +authority conferred on him by the supreme Pastor. The pallium itself, +"taken from the body of Blessed Peter," is a band of lamb's wool, and +was worn by each Archbishop as the pledge of unity and of orthodoxy, +as well as the fetter of loving subjection to the Supreme Pastor of +the One Fold, the "apostolic yoke" of Catholic obedience. + +In the early Saxon times, long before trains or steamers had been +invented, we find Primate after Primate of All England undertaking the +long and perilous journey over the sea, and then across the Continent +of Europe, and over the precipitous and dangerous passes of the Alps, +down through the sunny and vine-clad slopes of Italy, in order to +receive the pallium in person from the venerable successor of St. +Peter, in the great Basilica in Rome. But, whether they actually went +for it themselves in person, or whether special messengers were sent +with it from Rome to England, they always awaited its reception before +they considered themselves fully empowered to exercise their +metropolitan functions. By way of illustration, it may be interesting +to consider some special case, and we will then leave the reader to +judge whether we are dealing with an England that is _Catholic_ or an +England that is _Protestant_; with an England united to the Holy See +and to the rest of Catholic Europe, or an England independent of the +Holy See, isolated, and established by Law and Parliament, as it is +to-day--an England in possession of the truth, which is universal and +the same everywhere, or an England clinging to error, which is local, +national and circumscribed. + +It does not much matter what name we select; any will answer our +purpose. Let us then take Simon Langham, as good and honest an English +name as ever there was. It is the year 1366, some two hundred years +before the Church in England cut itself off from the rest of +Christendom. The metropolitan See of Canterbury is vacant. The +widowed Diocese seeks, at the hands of the Pope, Urban V., a new +Archbishop. After mature inquiry and consideration the Pope selects +Simon Langham. And who is he? Who is this distinguished man, now +called to rule over that portion of the one Catholic Church +represented by England? If we study his history we shall find that he +in no way resembles the typical amiable Anglican Canon of the present +day, with a wife and children, living within the Cathedral close, but +that he is a simple, austere, Benedictine monk. He has been living for +some time past in the famous Abbey of Westminster. He was first a +simple monk, then he was chosen Prior, and finally Lord Abbot. Some +years later, _i.e._, in 1362, he was appointed to the vacant See of +Ely. By whom? Well, in those days the Church was not a mere department +of the State, so it was not by the Crown. No: nor by the Prime +Minister, as in the Anglican Church of to-day. But, as history +records, by a special Papal Bull. Thus, at the time we are now +considering, _viz._, 1366, he had been Bishop just four years. Now, +the Primatial throne of St. Augustine, as already stated, has become +vacant, and Simon Langham, the Bishop of Ely, is appointed Archbishop +of Canterbury, and Lord Primate of England. + +As with all the other Archbishops before the "Reformation," he cannot +exercise his metropolitan powers till he has received from Rome the +insignia of his office, _viz._, the sacred pallium. On this occasion +the Archbishop does not go himself to Italy, to receive it from the +hands of the Sovereign Pontiff, but it is brought by special +messengers from Rome to England. + +We may well imagine the interest these visitors from the Eternal City +would excite among the population of London. Their dark complexion and +bright, black eyes, and foreign appearance would, no doubt, attract +considerable attention. Of course they would be made welcome and be +shown the chief sights of the city. They would greatly admire, for +instance, the beauty of Westminster Abbey, and would probably ask its +history. Then they would be told how it originated with St. Edward the +Confessor. How he had made a vow to go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of +the Apostles at Rome, like a loyal Catholic, in order to pay homage to +the successor of St. Peter, whom Christ appointed as head of the +Church; how the pious King, finding his kingdom in danger of invasion, +and his authority threatened, and not daring to absent himself, begged +the Pope to release him from his vow; how the Pope at once commuted +it, and bade him build a church instead, in honour of St. Peter; and +so forth. Then they would very likely visit the inmates of the Abbey. +The Benedictine monks who served the Abbey would entertain them, and +ask after their brethren in Italy. Some of these English monks would +in all likelihood have been educated at Subiaco, where St. Benedict +first lived, or at Monte Cassino, where he died, and where his body +still lies. In any case, these English monks were undoubtedly true +children of St. Benedict, and followed his rule, and were animated by +his spirit, and rejoiced to acknowledge him as their founder and +spiritual father. There was nothing of the modern Anglican, and +nothing insular about them! + +In the meantime the great day arrives. It is the 4th of November in +the year 1366. The bells of the Abbey are ringing a merry peal. The +Faithful are flocking in to witness the Archbishop receive the +Pallium, the symbol of jurisdiction, and the sign that all spiritual +authority emanates from St. Peter, who alone has received the keys, +and from his rightful successors in the Petrine See of Rome. + +It is a grand ceremony, and we have even to-day, in the old Latin +records, a full account of what took place. Anything more truly Roman +Catholic, or less like the Anglican Church of the "Reformation," it +would be difficult to imagine. + +It was directed by the rubrics, that the Cathedral clergy should be +called together, at an early hour, and that Prime and the rest of the +Divine Office should be recited, up to the High Mass. Then the +cross-bearers and torch-bearers and thurifers, and the attendants +carrying the Book of the Gospels and other articles of the sanctuary, +are drawn up in processional order in the chancel. Two and two, +followed by priests and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, they walk +down the nave. Then comes the Archbishop himself, robed in full +pontificals, though, out of respect to the Pallium, with bare feet. +The rubric on this point is explicit, _viz._, "nudis pedibus". Behind +the Archbishop come the Prior and the monks wearing copes. In this +order they all pass through the streets of London to the gate of the +city to meet the Papal Commissioner who bears the Pallium. He is +dressed in an alb and choir-cope, and solemnly carries the Pallium +enclosed in a costly vessel either of gold or of silver. As soon as +the procession meets the Pallium-bearer it turns round, and those who +issued forth retrace their steps towards the Abbey. Last but one walks +the Archbishop, and last of all follows the bearer of the Pallium. On +reaching the church the Pallium is reverently laid on the high altar. +The Archbishop then remains, for some minutes, prostrate in prayer +before the high altar. Then the choir having finished their singing, +the Archbishop rises, and turning to the assembled multitude, gives +them his blessing. He then approaches the altar, and with his hands +upon the holy Gospels, takes the following solemn oath. + +Now, gentle reader, we are anxious that you should pay particular +attention to the words of this oath. They may be found in Wilkins' +_Concilia_ (vol. ii., p. 199), in the original Latin, just as they +were uttered by Simon Langham, and other Archbishops, in old Catholic +days. We give them translated into English. And, as you read them, ask +yourselves whether the Archbishops who uttered them were genuine Roman +Catholics, or merely Parliamentary Bishops of the local and national +variety, belonging to the present English Establishment. + +We take our stand in spirit in Westminster Abbey, on the 4th day of +November, 1366, and, in common with the rest of the vast congregation +which fills every available space, we listen to the newly elected +Archbishop, as in clear, ringing words, with his hands on the Gospels, +he swears as follow:-- + +"I, Simon Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury, will be from this hour +henceforth faithful and obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy +Apostolic Roman Church, and to my Lord the Pope, Urban V., and to his +canonical successors." + +Surely, some of us would open our eyes pretty wide if we saw the +present Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury with his hands on the +Gospels taking that oath. Yet we are assured, _ad nauseam_, that the +Church to which Simon Cardinal Langham belonged is the same as the +present Church of England, which repudiates the authority of the Pope +altogether. The same? Well, yes; if light and darkness, and sweetness +and bitterness, are the same. But let us read the whole of the oath: +"I, Simon Langham, will be from this hour henceforth faithful and +obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy Apostolic Roman Church, and to +my Lord the Pope, Urban V., and to his canonical successors. Neither +in counsel or consent or in deed, will I take part in aught by which +they might suffer loss of life, or limb, or liberty. Their counsel +which they may confide to me, whether by their envoys or their letter, +I will, to their injury, wittingly disclose to no man. The Roman +Papacy and the royalty of St. Peter, I will be their helper to defend +and to maintain, saving my order, against all men. When summoned to a +Synod I will come, unless hindered by a canonical impediment. The +Legate of the Apostolic See I will treat honourably in his coming and +going, and will help him in his needs. Every third year I will visit +the threshold of the Apostles, either personally or by proxy, unless I +am dispensed by Apostolic licence. The possessions which pertain to +the support of my Archbishopric, I will not sell, nor give away, nor +pledge, nor re-enfeoff, nor alienate in any way, without first +consulting the Roman Pontiff. So help me, God, and these God's Holy +Gospels." + +If you, who read these lines, had stood by, and listened to this oath, +would it leave any doubt in your minds as to the religion of the +Archbishop? Could you possibly mistake it for the religion of the +present Church of England? + +Was the present Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury chosen and appointed +by the Pope? Did he take a vow of celibacy? Does the present +Archbishop acknowledge publicly and officially that he receives his +jurisdiction from the Pope? Did he receive the Pallium from Rome, sent +by special Papal messengers? Did he stand up and swear on the Gospels +that he would be faithful and obedient to his Lord the Pope? Did he +promise to visit Rome every three years, to give his Lord the Pope an +account of his diocese? Nothing of the kind. Yet we are gravely told +that there is no break between the Church of St. Anselm, and Simon +Langham, and of Cardinal Fisher, on the one hand, and the Church of +the present Archbishop of Canterbury on the other! + +Why are these good men so exceedingly anxious to prove that black is +white? Why will they assert and re-assert, in every mood and tense, +that things most opposite are identical, and things most unlike are +exactly the same? + +We will deal with that question in the next chapter. All we now affirm +is that the reason is abundantly clear and evident, though little +creditable to these perverters of history. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE AWKWARD DILEMMA. + + +In the whole catalogue of sin, there is hardly one so detestable in +itself, or so withering in its effects, as the sin of heresy. +Consequently, though we feel a great love as well as a great interest +in the Church in England during the thousand years in which she formed +a part of the Church of God, we can have little love for the present +Church of England, as by law established, cut off, as she is, from the +only true Church, which Christ, the Incarnate God, was pleased in His +infinite wisdom to build upon St. Peter, and upon those who should +succeed him in his sublime office, and who have received the Divine +Commission to rule over the entire flock, to hold the keys of the +kingdom of heaven, and to confirm their brethren to the end of time. + +Besides, a careful study of the origin and genesis of the present +Anglican Establishment is scarcely calculated to predispose any one +particularly in its favour. It is not Catholics only who might be +thought biased upon such a point, but others also who feel this. In +fact, it is precisely impartial men, unaffected by any interest either +way, who most fully realise from what a very shady beginning the new +state of things arose. As Sir Osborne Morgan puts it, "Every student +of English history knows that, if a very bad king had not fallen in +love with a very pretty woman, and desired to get divorced from his +plain and elderly wife, and if he had not compelled a servile +Parliament to carry out his wishes, there would, in all human +probability, never have been an Established Church at all." + +This gentleman is a Protestant, and the son of a Protestant clergyman, +so we may be quite sure that he harbours no special leanings towards +us, yet he speaks impartially as one who has not only read history, +but read it without coloured spectacles. Perhaps Lord Macaulay puts +the case as bluntly as any one, and we may as well quote him because +he, too, was no Catholic, and held no brief for the Church of Rome. +This brilliant writer, who was, perhaps, an historian before all +things, tells us that the work of the Reformation was the work, not of +three saints, nor even of three ordinary decent men, but of three +notorious murderers! These are not our words, but Macaulay's, and it +is not our fault if this is his reading of history. We merely summon +him as a Protestant witness. He calmly and deliberately states that +the Reformation was "begun by Henry VIII., the murderer of his wives; +was continued by Somerset, the murderer of his brother; and was +completed by Elizabeth, the murderer of her guest". Not a very +auspicious beginning, it must be confessed, and scarcely suggestive of +the Divine afflatus. Those who planted the Catholic Church used no +violence, and did not inflict death. No! on the contrary, they endured +death, and their blood became the seed of the Church. And that is +quite another story. In former days every one admitted the present +Anglican Church to be the child of the Reformation. It was, to quote +the Protestant historian, Child, "as completely the creation of Henry +VIII., Edward's Council, and Elizabeth as Saxon Protestantism was of +Luther." But now? Oh! now, "nous avons changé tout cela," and history +has received a totally different setting. A certain section of +Anglicans, in these modern times, are labouring hard to persuade +themselves and others that they can trace their Church back to the +time of St. Augustine. They will by no means allow that they started +into being only in the sixteenth century. In fact, it is quite +pathetic to watch the strenuous efforts they make, and the extravagant +means to which they have recourse, in order to lull themselves into +the peaceful enjoyment of so sweet and consoling a delusion. + +A delusion which a candid study of past history must sooner or later +ruthlessly dispel, and which has not a shred of foundation in fact to +support it. But we promised to point out WHY, in spite of +its absolute absurdity, these good men, like the Bishop of London, +persist in repeating and restating with ever-increasing vehemence that +there has been no break in the continuity, and that the present Church +of England is one with the Church of St. Bede, of St. Dunstan, of St. +Anselm, of St. Thomas, and of other pre-Reformation heroes; though +they must surely know that there is not one amongst these glorious old +Catholic saints who would not a thousand times sooner have gone to the +stake and been burnt alive, than have accepted the Thirty-nine +Articles, or than have joined the present Bishop of London in any of +his religious services. Why do Anglicans make such heroic efforts to +connect their Church with the past? Why do they advance an impossible +theory? Why will they stubbornly affirm what history utterly denies? +Why do they assert, and with such emphasis, what no one but they +themselves have the hardihood to believe? Why? For precisely the same +reason that will induce a drowning man to grasp at a straw. In short, +because even if they did not realise it before, they are now +beginning to see that their very position depends upon their being +able to make out some sort of case for continuity. They realise that +to admit that the Church of England began in the sixteenth century is +simply to cut the ground from underneath their feet. Therefore, purely +in self-defence, they feel themselves constrained to cling to the +continuity theory. It may be absurd, it may be unhistorical, it may be +impossible and utterly repudiated by every impartial and honest man. +That cannot be helped. Impossible or not impossible; true or false, it +is necessary for their very existence, so that, just as a drowning man +catches at a straw, though it cannot possibly support him, so do these +most unfortunate and hardly-pressed men clutch at and cling to the +hollow theory of continuity. Sometimes, when off their guard, and in a +less cautious mood, they will confess as much themselves. And what is +more, we can provide our readers with an instance of such a +confession. Many will well remember a well-known and distinguished +Anglican divine, named Canon Malcolm MacColl. He died a few years ago, +and we do not wish to say anything against him. Well, he wrote to _The +Spectator_ in 1900. His letter may be seen in the issue of 22nd +December for that year. In the course of this letter he makes the +following admission: he declares that "to concede that the Church of +England starts from the reign of Henry VIII. or Elizabeth is to +surrender the whole ground of controversy with Rome. A Church," he +continues, "which cannot trace its origin beyond the sixteenth century +is obviously not the Church which Christ founded." + +The late Anglican Canon MacColl is, of course, perfectly right, and +his inference is strictly logical. A Church, however highly +respectable and however richly endowed, which came into existence only +1,500 years after Christ, came into existence just 1,500 years too +late, and cannot by any intellectual manoeuvring or stretching of the +imagination be identified with the one Church established by Christ +1,500 years earlier. Consequently every member of the Anglican +community finds himself, _nolens volens_, impaled on the horns of a +truly frightful dilemma. For either he must frankly confess that his +Church is not the Church of God, _i.e._, not the True Church, which +(human nature being what it is) he can hardly be expected to do; or +else he must assert that it goes back without any real break to the +time of the Apostles; which though absolutely untrue, is the only +other alternative. In a word, he finds himself in a very tight corner. +He knows, unless he is able to persuade himself of the truth of +continuity, the very ground of his faith must slip from under his +feet, and that he must give up pretending to be a member of Christ's +mystical body altogether. + +No wonder there is consternation in the Anglican camp. No wonder that +sermons are preached, and history is re-edited and facts suppressed, +and pamphlets are circulated to prove that black is white and that +bitterness is sweet, and that false is true. No wonder there are shows +and pageants and other attempts to prove the thing that is not. Poor +deluded mortals! It is really pitiable to witness such straining and +such pulling at the cords; as though truth--solid, imperturbable, +eternal truth--could ever be dislodged or forced out of existence! No! +They may disguise the truth for a time, they may hide it for a brief +period; just as a child, with a box of matches and a handful of straw, +may, for awhile, hide the eternal stars. But as the stars are still +there, and will appear again when the smoke has blown away, so will +the truth reappear and assert itself, when men grow calm, and put +aside pride and passion and prejudice and self-interest. "Magna est +veritas, et prevalebit!" + +It has been said: "Mundus vult decipi"; the world wishes to be +deceived; certainly the Anglican world does. But no one else is taken +in. The Dissenter, the Nonconformist, and others who have no axe to +grind, know well that "fine words butter no parsnips," and are far too +shrewd to be deluded. Why, even the old Catholic cathedrals with +their holy-water stoups, their occasional altars of stone, still +remaining, their Lady chapels, and their niches for the images of the +saints, as ill befit the present occupiers, and their modern English +services, as a Court dress befits a clown. + +That the sublime grotesqueness of the whole contention is clearly +visible to other besides Catholic eyes is clearly proved by the +occasional observations of the non-Catholic Press. Here, again, we +will offer the gentle reader a specimen. The _Daily News_ is one of +London's big dailies. It has a wide circulation. It is representative +of a large section of the English people. Let us select a passage from +one of its leaders. Speaking of the arrogance of the Anglican Church, +which, as compared to the Catholic Church, is but a baby, still in +long clothes, it gives expression to its views in the following +caustic lines. One might almost imagine it were the _Tablet_ or +_Catholic Times_ that we are about to quote from, but, nothing of the +kind, it is the Nonconformist organ, the _Daily News_. It writes: +"The Anglicans may still persist in patronising the Roman Catholics as +a new set of modern dissidents under the old name. It is the sort of +vengeance which, under favourable circumstances, the mouse may enjoy +at the expense of the elephant. If he can mount high enough by +artificial means, the smallest of created things may contrive to look +down on the greatest, and to affect to compassionate his want of +range. For purposes of controversy, the Anglican could talk of himself +as a terrestrial ancient-of-days, and regret the rage for innovation, +which led, not, of course, to his separation from Rome, but to Rome's +separation from him! So the pebble, if determined to put a good face +on it, might wonder what had become of the rock, and recite the +parable of the return of the prodigal to the Atlas Range"; and so +forth. The fact is that every unprejudiced man, who has so much as a +mere bowing acquaintance with the facts of history, knows perfectly +well that before the sixteenth century the Church in England was +united to the Holy See, and rested where Christ Himself had built it, +_viz._, on Peter, the rock. Whereas, after the sixteenth century, it +became a State Church, dependent, not on Peter, but upon Parliament, +and as purely local, national, and English as the British Army or the +British Navy. Bramhall tells us that, "whatsoever power our laws did +divest the Pope of, they invested the King with" (_Schism Guarded_, p. +340). + +We dealt in the last chapter with the relation between the +pre-Reformation Archbishops and Metropolitans and the Pope, and we saw +how each in turn swore obedience to the Vicar of Christ as his +spiritual sovereign. We will now conclude the present chapter by +transcribing a typical address presented by another representative +body of men to the Pope, in past times. It is the year 1427. Now +Chicheley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had been accused at Rome of +some fault or indiscretion, so the other Bishops of the province met +together for the purpose of defending him. With this end in view, +they address a letter to Pope Martin V. It begins as follows:-- + +"Most Blessed Father, one and only undoubted Sovereign Pontiff, Vicar +of Jesus Christ upon earth, with all promptitude of service and +obedience, kissing most devoutly your blessed feet," and so forth. +They then proceed to defend their Metropolitan, and in doing so +declare that "the Archbishop of Canterbury is, Most Blessed Father, a +most devoted son of your Holiness and of the Holy Roman Church". Nay, +more; they go on to testify that "he is so rooted in his loyalty, and +so unshaken in his allegiance especially to the Roman Church, that it +is known to the whole world, and ought to be known to the city +(_i.e._, Rome) that he is the most faithful son of the Church of Rome, +promoting and securing, with all his strength, the guarantees of her +liberty". + +Now, what we wish to know is, how in the world can a man be "the most +faithful son of the Church of Rome," so rooted in his loyalty to her +that "his allegiance is known to the whole world," and yet not be a +Roman Catholic? The Bishops then add that "they go down upon their +knees" to beseech the Pope's favour for the Archbishop, and in doing +so declare that they are "the most humble sons of your Holiness and of +the Roman Church". + +Then Archbishop Chicheley follows up their letter, by writing one +himself, in which he says: "Most Blessed Father, kissing most +devotedly the ground beneath your feet, with all promptitude of +service and obedience, and whatsoever a most humble creature can do +towards his lord and master" (_i.e._, domino et creatori--literally +"creator," in the sense that the Pope had made or "created" him +archbishop) and so forth. Then he goes on to explain that "Long before +now, were it not for the perils of the journey and the infirmities of +my old age, I would have made my way, Most Blessed Father, to your +feet, and have accepted most obediently whatsoever your Holiness would +have decided" (see Wilkins, vol. iii. pp. 471 and 486). Surely, no +Archbishop or Bishop could use language of such profound reverence +and of such perfect loyalty and obedience, unless he recognised the +Pope as the true representative of Christ upon earth, invested with +His divine authority ("To Thee do I give the keys of the Kingdom of +Heaven"). There is a whole world of difference between such men and +the Anglican Prelates of to-day who take the oath of homage to the +King, and say: "I do hereby declare that your Majesty is the only +supreme governor of this your realm, in spiritual and ecclesiastical +things, as well as temporal". + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +KING EDWARD AND THE POPE. + + +In a previous chapter, we promised to tell of a famous letter written +by one of our greatest kings to the Pope of his day. Let us then +introduce this interesting historical incident without further +preamble or delay. + +The King of whom we are about to speak is King Edward III., who +reigned over this land for more than fifty years, that is to say, from +1327 to 1377. The historian Hume tells us that, in general estimation, +his reign was not only one of the longest, but that it was considered +also "one of the most glorious that occurs in the annals of our +nation" (vol. ii., p. 297). It is important to remember, further, that +Edward was no timid weakling, ready to yield to others through +weakness or fear. Quite the contrary. He was strong, war-like, and +courageous. Hume informs us that "he curbed the licentiousness of the +great; that he made his foremost nobles feel his power, and that they +dared not even murmur against it, and that his valour and conduct made +his knights and warriors successful in most of their enterprises" +(_id._, p. 497). Yet, in spite of his strong, independent and man-like +character--or shall we not rather say because of it?--he ever showed +himself to be a most loyal child of the Catholic Church. He considered +it no indication of weakness to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy +and jurisdiction of the Sovereign Pontiff, and to subscribe himself as +a most obedient son of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, as we shall now +proceed to prove, in spite of all the frogs and jackdaws that the +Bishop of London appeals to as witnesses to the contrary. + +Now, it so fell out that, in the second decade of his reign, certain +persons, with perhaps more zeal than discretion, began to lodge sundry +complaints against the King. They carried stories to Rome, and sought +to prejudice the Pope, Benedict XII., against King Edward. In the +course of time the King got wind of what was going on, and found that +the suspicions of the Pope had been raised against him. Now, what did +Edward do? If he had been a modern Anglican, he would have snapped his +fingers at the Pope. Forgetful of Our Lord's words, "Unless you become +as little children you shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven," he +would have proudly declared that no Pope or foreign Bishop could claim +any jurisdiction in England, for that he himself was, in his own +realm, the supreme authority in things ecclesiastical as well as in +things temporal. Such would have been the natural and obvious course +for him to have taken. That is to say had he been a modern Anglican. +But since he was not a modern Anglican, but a genuine Roman Catholic +to his very backbone, like all the rest of his kingdom, he did not act +in that imperious, off-hand way, but was very much distressed and +concerned, as a loving son would be, who had incurred the displeasure +of a generous father. Finally, in the thirteenth year of his reign, +that is to say, in 1339, he determined to address a letter to the +Sovereign Pontiff, firstly to protest against these accusations, +secondly to assure the Pope of his innocence, and thirdly to beg him +to take no notice of those who had been calumniating him. + +The document is a very remarkable one, and from the point of view of +continuity (of which it completely disposes) it is of very +considerable interest. + +Before you read it, and ponder over its contents, let me remind you +that the writing of a letter in those days was a very serious +business. There was no post such as we have now, and special couriers +had to be despatched from London to Rome. Paper had not as yet been +invented, so the message had to be carefully written, by paid scribes, +on vellum or parchment. Further, a letter from a King to the Pope was +not a thing to be dashed off on the spur of the moment, but to be +carefully thought out, and expressed with great accuracy. The King +would summon his advisers, and his Secretary of State, and probably +consult some of the Bishops and weigh each word before committing his +message to parchment. In short, the document would represent his own +deliberate convictions as well as those of his official advisers and +counsellors. + +After addressing the Pope in the usual respectful and filial way, he +says: "Let not the envious information of our detractors find place in +the meek mind of your Holiness, or create any sinister opinion of a +son" [observe the King calls himself a son of the Pope], "who after +the manner of his predecessors" [so previous Kings were as loyal as +he] "shall always firmly persist in amity and obedience to the +Apostolic See. Nay, if any such evil suggestion concerning your son +should knock for entrance at your Holiness's ears, let no belief be +allowed it till the son who is concerned be heard, who trusts and +always intends both to say and to prove that each of his actions is +just before the tribunal of your Holiness, _presiding over every +creature, which to deny is to maintain heresy_." Nothing could be +stronger than this last sentence; but we will return to that later. +Then the King goes on to speak of others, who are dependent upon him, +and proceeds as follows: "And further, this we say, adjoining it as a +further evidence of our intention and greater devotion, that if there +be any one of our kindred or allies who walks not as he ought in the +way of _obedience towards the Apostolic See_, we intend to bestow our +diligence--and we trust to no little purpose--that leaving his +wandering course, he may return into the path of duty and walk +regularly for the future". + +From these words it is clear that the King of England, not satisfied +with obeying the Pope himself, likewise insisted upon all under his +authority obeying him likewise. Indeed, he would have made short work +of those who should refuse to do so. Then, alluding to some reproach, +admonition or censure which he had received from the Pope, he goes on +to express himself in words strangely out of harmony with the whole +tone and spirit of modern Anglicanism. They are as follows:-- + +"That the Kings of England, our predecessors, those illustrious +champions of Christ, those defenders of the Faith, those" [listen!] +"_zealous asserters of the rights of the Holy Roman Church, and devout +observers of her commands_, that they or we should deserve this +unkindness, we neither know nor believe. And though, for this very +reason many do say--though we say not so--that this aiding of our +enemies against us, seems neither the act of a father nor of a mother +towards us, but rather of a stepmother; yet this notwithstanding, we +constantly avow that we are" [remember, it is still the King of +England speaking], "and shall continue to be, to your Holiness and to +your seat, a devout and humble son, and not a step-son". + +Can any one imagine greater reverence or greater loyalty to the Vicar +of Christ than is shown forth in these words? Can you, dear readers, +by any stretch of the imagination, conceive any one who is not a Roman +Catholic giving vent to such sentiments as are here expressed? Have +words lost their plain meaning for the Bishop of London, and for those +who (we must in charity suppose, _blindly_) follow him? + +The letter is a long one, and we need not transcribe the whole of it, +but we will offer for your consideration just one more paragraph. The +King writes: "Your Holiness best knows the measure of good and just, +in whose hands are the keys to open and to shut the gates of heaven on +earth, as the _fulness of your power_ and the excellence of your +judicature requires.... We being ready to receive information of the +truth, from your sacred tribunal, _which is over all_," etc. + +Observe these words were written over five hundred years ago, long +before the present Anglican Establishment was so much as dreamed of; +yet, even if King Edward III. had actually foreseen the craze that +would seize Anglicans of to-day to prove that he, and his subjects +were not loyal Roman Catholics, he could not have expressed his +Catholicity and his loyalty to the Vicar of Christ in more +unmistakable or in more explicit terms. + +Whom shall we believe? King Edward III. himself, who, in the above +words, declares he is a staunch Roman Catholic, and an obedient son of +the Pope, ready to defend his rights against all, or the present +Bishop of London, who declares he was not? + +There is one sentence in the King's letter which is especially worthy +of consideration, as it is so pregnant with meaning. We refer to the +following: knowing that "your Holiness presides over every creature, +_which to deny is heresy_". + +You will observe that the King not only believes, but that he here +practically makes an explicit profession of faith in the spiritual +supremacy of St. Peter and his successors, the Popes. In fact, he not +only admits and confesses the Pope's supremacy to be true, which is +one thing, but he declares it to be a _revealed_ truth, taught by Our +Blessed Lord Himself, which is a great deal more. How does he do this? +Suffer us to explain. + +To deny any truth of religion is wrong and sinful, but it is not +necessarily and always heretical. Heresy is not the denial of any kind +of truth: it is the denial only of a special form of truth. It is the +denial of those truths which have been taught by Jesus Christ and the +Apostles. But the King explicitly declares in his letter to the Holy +Father that to deny the Pope's spiritual supremacy over all is not +only wrong, not only sinful, but that it is to be guilty of the +specially horrible sin of heresy. His words are: "It is to maintain +heresy". Yet Anglicans still fondly cling to the delusion that the +Church in England in the time of Edward III. is in unbroken continuity +with the Church of England in the time of King Edward VII.! + +But, to continue. It is interesting to note that the Pope, Benedict +XII., in due course replies to this letter from his "devout and humble +son," as Edward describes himself. He begins by expressing his +satisfaction that His "most dear Son in Christ King Edward of England" +should thus "follow the commendable footsteps of your progenitors, +Kings of England who," he goes on to say, "were famous for the fulness +of their devotion and faith towards God and the Holy Roman Church". + +Will the present Bishop of London, we wonder, be good enough to +explain how Pope Benedict XII. could possibly tell a renowned King of +England that his progenitors, that is to say, the Kings of England who +had preceded him, were famous--mark the word--"_famous_ for the +_fulness_ of their devotion and faith towards God _and the Holy Roman +Church_," if they were all the while cut off from the Roman Church, +and denounced as heretics by that Church, if, in short, they were of +one and the same faith as the Anglicans are to-day? We pause for a +reply. Of course we know that Anglicans are very hard pressed, and in +a quandary, and that some allowance must be made for drowning men when +they stretch forth their trembling hands to clutch at straws. But +really the claim to continuity, however vital to them, should hardly +be put forward in the face of such clear and overwhelming evidence of +its falsity. The ultimate effects of such vain efforts to prove black +to be white can only be to make them ridiculous, and to discredit them +in the eyes of honest men. + +In conclusion, we are persuaded that some may feel curious or +interested to see and read King Edward's letter for themselves, and in +its entirety. Some may even wish to satisfy themselves that we are +stating actual facts, and not romancing; so let us inform any such +persons that the letter quoted belongs to the thirteenth year of King +Edward III.'s reign (An. Regni xiii. Ed. Rex III.). The original, if +not at the Vatican, should be either at the Record Office or at the +British Museum. The English version, of which we have made use, may be +found on pages 126-30 of _The History of Edward III._, by J. Barnes, +Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and published in 1688. Had this +history been composed in more modern times, this famous letter to Pope +Benedict would probably have been quietly suppressed or omitted. + +But in 1688 the theory of continuity had not been invented by the +father of lies, to bolster up a lost cause, so the letter actually +appears in Barnes' History, to tell its own unvarnished tale: and to +bear its uncompromising testimony to the truth. + +In the meanwhile, time wears on, and the end draws near when each man +will have to give an account of his life and conduct to the Supreme +Judge of the living and the dead. And it will go hard with us if we +turn our back upon the truth. God is speaking in this England of ours, +and shedding His light, and many are finding their way back to that +glorious Faith of which they were cruelly robbed at the "Reformation". +"To-day, if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts," but +lend an attentive ear to His invitation, and pray that you may have +courage enough to join hands once again with Bede, and Dunstan, +Anselm, and Thomas à Becket, and with Edward III. and his royal +predecessors, all faithful sons of St. Peter and the Holy See, and to +enter that Church which was built by God Incarnate on Peter, and upon +no other foundation; which still rests securely upon Peter, and which +(if there be any truth in God's promises) will continue to rest on +Peter till the end of time. "Upon this Rock (Peter) will I build My +Church, and the gates of hell (_i.e._, the powers of darkness) shall +never prevail against it." + + + +=Also by Rt. Rev. JOHN S. VAUGHAN, D.D.,= +=Bishop of Sebastopol.= +=To be had of all Catholic Booksellers.= + + +1. CONCERNING THE HOLY BIBLE: ITS USE AND ABUSE. + With a Letter from H.E. Cardinal LOGUE. + Pp. xvi.-270. Price 3s. 6d. + + "It is impossible to take up this delightful volume without + desiring to express one's admiration of it.... As to the matter, + _it would be well if every Catholic had it at his fingers' + ends_, especially in this country.... It has an irresistible + charm of style."--_The Tablet_. + + H.E. Cardinal LOGUE writes to Bishop Vaughan: "You are to be + congratulated on the success with which you have treated + your important subject." + + _N.B.--The volume has already been translated into French and + Italian, and is now being translated into other foreign + languages._ + +2. EARTH TO HEAVEN. Fourth Edition. Pages 200. Price 2s. 6d. net. + + "There is a freedom, a freshness, and a new manner of expressing + old truths in Bishop Vaughan's writings, which is exceedingly + charming.... Better even than their beauty is their + suggestiveness," etc.--_Tablet_. + +3. FAITH AND FOLLY. Second Edition. Pages 502. Price 5s. net. + + "We know no author who has a happier method of popularising + theology."--_Catholic Times_. + + "A candid antagonist will feel respect for the + author."--_Spectator_. + + "The author has gifts of happy illustration, of close reasoning, + and of clear expression."--_Ave Maria_. + + "An excellent work and a timely one."--_The Rosary Magazine_. + + "We trust 'Faith and Folly' may have a wide + circulation."--_Dublin Review_. + +4. THOUGHTS FOR ALL TIMES. The Eighteenth Edition is now in + preparation. Pages 436. Price 5s. net. + + "Clear and well-written expositions, rich in illustrations and + adorned in places with beautiful and sublime + language."--_Whitehall Review_. + + "We would be glad to see a copy in every household in the land. + It needs only to be known to have its merits appreciated."--H.E. + Cardinal GIBBONS. + +5. LIFE AFTER DEATH. Fourteenth Edition. Pages 245. Price 2s. net. + + "Popular, luminous, eloquent, and persuasive. It is carefully + thought out, and forms a massive argument of great value."--_The + Gentleman's Journal_. + + "This work cannot but exercise a pleasing charm over the reader, + and serve to hold his attention spell-bound + throughout."--_Catholic Times_. + +6. DANGERS OF THE DAY. + + "An admirable book. Just what is wanted." + +7. THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY; and, THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY. + Just Published. Price 1s. 6d. + + * * * * * + + "HOW I CAME TO DO IT; or, How Parson Blackswhite gave up his Vow of + Celibacy." A Holiday Sketch. Pages 300. 2s. 6d. net. Edited by + Monsignor VAUGHAN. + + A PRIEST writes: "I read this novel, and laughed and + laughed till the tears rolled down my cheeks." + + _The Lamp_ says: "It is as instructive as it is amusing, and as + amusing as it is instructive." + + The well-known French paper _L'Univers_ says: "Ce livre est + charmant, et très interessant et mériterait d'être traduit en + français". + + _How I Came to Do It_ is now being put into French by M. l'abbé + P. Sécher, with the title _Les Raisons de ma Décision_. + + * * * * * + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Purpose of the Papacy, by John S. 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Vaughan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Purpose of the Papacy + +Author: John S. Vaughan + +Release Date: July 8, 2005 [EBook #16242] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto), Suzanne Lybarger, +Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>THE<a name="Page_iii"></a><br /> +PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY</h1> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>BY THE RIGHT REVEREND</h4> +<h2>JOHN S. VAUGHAN, D.D.</h2> +<h4>BISHOP OF SEBASTOPOLIS</h4> + +<br /> + +<h5>AUTHOR OF "THOUGHTS FOR ALL TIMES," "DANGERS OF THE DAY"<br /> +"LIFE AFTER DEATH," ETC., ETC.</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<div style="margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;"> +<p class="noin" style="font-size: 90%;"> +"Let us go back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. + Either there was a Church of God then in the world, or there + was not. If there was not, then the Reformers certainly + could not create such a Church. It there was, they as + certainly had neither the right to abandon it, nor the power + to remodel it."—<span class="sc">J.K. Stone</span>.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>London<br /> +SANDS & CO.<br /> +15 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN<br /> +EDINBURGH: 21 HANOVER STREET<br /> +<br /> +ST. LOUIS, Mo., U.S.A.: B. HERDER<br /> +<br /> +1910</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Page_iv"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tn"> +<p class="noin">Transcriber's Notes: Fixed a few obvious typos in the text: +actually for actully, origin for orgin; and changed the +case of "sees" to "Sees".</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="INTRODUCTION"></a><hr /> +<a name="Page_v"></a><br /> + +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>It may seem an impertinence on the present writer's part to indite a +preface to the work of a brother Bishop; and it would be a still +greater one to pretend to introduce the Author of this little book to +the reading public, to whom he is so well and so favourably known by a +stately array of preceding volumes. Nevertheless Bishop Vaughan has +been so insistent on my contributing at least a few introductory +lines, that, for old friendship's sake, I can no longer refuse.</p> + +<p>It is a remarkable and outstanding fact that never before in the +history of the Church has the Roman Papacy, though shorn of every +vestige of its once formidable temporal might, loomed greater in the +world, ruled over such vast multitudes of the faithful, or exercised<a name="Page_vi"></a> +a greater moral power than at the present day. Never has the +<i>conscious</i> unity of the whole world-wide Church with its Visible +Head—thanks to the marvellous developments of modern means of +communication and transport—been so vivid, so general, so intense as +in these times. Not only does "the Pope's writ run," as we may say, by +post and telegraph, and penetrate to the inmost recesses of every part +of the globe, so that the Holy See is in daily, nay hourly +communication with every bishop and every local Catholic community; +but never has there been a time when so many thousands, nay tens of +thousands of Catholic clergy and laity, even from the remotest lands, +have actually seen the Vicar of Christ with their own eyes, heard his +voice, received his personal benediction. Well may we say to Pius X. +as to Leo XIII.: "Lift up thy eyes round about and see; all these are +gathered together, they are come to thee; thy sons shall come from<a name="Page_vii"></a> +afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see +and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the +multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the +Gentiles shall come to thee" (Isaias, lx. 4, 5).</p> + +<p>But not only is the present position of the Papacy thus unique and +phenomenal in the world; as the Author of this little book shows in +his first part, its career across the more than nineteen centuries of +the world's chequered history, from Peter to Pius X., is no less +unique and no less phenomenal. This is a fact which may well rivet the +attention, not of the Catholic alone, but of every thinking man, be he +Christian or non-Christian, and which surely calls for some +explanation that lies beyond and above that of the ordinary phenomena +of history. The only possible satisfactory solution of this problem is +the one so concisely, yet so simply, set forth in the following +pages.</p> + +<p>The second part is concerned with a more particular aspect of the same<a name="Page_viii"></a> +problem, in its relation to the Church in this country, and especially +to that incredible latter-day myth which goes by the name of "the +Continuity Theory". It is difficult to us to realise how such a theory +can possibly be held by thoughtful and earnest men and women who have +even a moderate acquaintance with history. Bishop Vaughan applies more +than one touchstone, which, one would imagine, ought to be sufficient +to prove to any unprejudiced mind the falsity of that theory. Among +these, what I may call the "pallium touchstone,"—which still bears +its irrefragable testimony in the arms of the Archbishops of +Canterbury,<a name="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>—has +always appeared to me peculiarly conclusive.<a name="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2"><sup>[2]</sup></a></p> + +<p><a name="Page_ix"></a>In the present small volume, Bishop Vaughan adds another to the series +of popular and instructive books which have made his name a household +word among Catholic writers. May its success and its utility be as +great as in the case of those which have preceded it.</p> + +<br /> + +<div style="margin-left: 10em;"> +<span style="font-weight: bolder; font-size: 120%;">†</span> LOUIS CHARLES,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Bishop of Salford</i>.</span><br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a> Not in those of York since 1544, see Woodward's +<i>Ecclesiastical Heraldry</i>, p. 191 and plate XX.</p></div> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2">[2]</a> See <i>The Pallium</i>, by Fr. Thurston, S.J., (C.T.S.) and +the striking list in Baxter's <i>English Cardinals</i>, pp. 93-98.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Page_x"></a> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="AUTHORS_PREFACE"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_xi"></a>AUTHOR'S PREFACE.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The following chapters were not intended originally for publication. +If they are now offered to the public in book form, it is only in +response to the expressed request of many, who listened to them when +delivered <i>viva voce</i>, and who now wish to possess a more permanent +record of what was said.</p> + +<p>In the hope that they may help, in some slight measure at least, to +promote the sacred cause of truth, we wish them Godspeed.</p> + +<br /> + +<div style="margin-left: 10em;"> +<span style="font-weight: bolder; font-size: 120%;">†</span> JOHN S. VAUGHAN,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Bishop of Sebastopolis</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: -5em;" class="sc">Xaverian College,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: -3em;" class="sc">Manchester</span> <i>January, 1910.</i><br /> +</div> + +<a name="Page_xii"></a> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_xiii"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" width="65%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdlsc">Chap.</td> + <td class="tdrsc">Page</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td width="10%" class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td> + <td width="80%" class="tdlsc">General Notions</td> + <td width="10%" class="tdr">3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Pope's Great Prerogative</td> + <td class="tdr">18</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc">Watchman! What of the Night?</td> + <td class="tdr">35</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Church and the Sects</td> + <td class="tdr">53</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Pope's Infallible Authority</td> + <td class="tdr">69</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Pope's Ordinary Authority</td> + <td class="tdr">87</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="3"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdc"><a href="#PART_II">PART II.</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdc" style="font-size: 95%; white-space: nowrap;">THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND,<br /> + <span class="sc">or</span><br /> + THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE IN ENGLAND IN PRE-REFORMATION TIMES.<br /><br /></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td width="10%" class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_Ib">I.</a></td> + <td width="80%" class="tdlsc">The Church in England before the Reformation</td> + <td width="10%" class="tdr">107</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td width="10%" class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IIb">II.</a></td> + <td width="80%" class="tdlsc">The Oath of Obedience</td> + <td width="10%" class="tdr">117</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td width="10%" class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IIIb">III.</a></td> + <td width="80%" class="tdlsc">The Awkward Dilemma</td> + <td width="10%" class="tdr">130</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td width="10%" class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IVb">IV.</a></td> + <td width="80%" class="tdlsc">King Edward and the Pope</td> + <td width="10%" class="tdr">145</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Page_xiv"></a> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h2><a name="Page_1"></a>THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY.</h2> + +<br /> +<a name="Page_2"></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h2><a name="Page_3"></a>CHAPTER I.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>GENERAL NOTIONS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>No one who is given to serious reflection, can gaze over the face of +the earth at the present day without being struck by the religious +confusion that everywhere reigns. Who, indeed, can help being +staggered as well as saddened by the extraordinary differences, the +irreconcilable views, and the diversities of opinion, even upon +fundamental points, that are found dividing Christians in Protestant +lands! The number of sects has so multiplied, that an earnest enquirer +scarcely knows which way to turn, or where to look for the pure +unadulterated truth. A spiritual darkness hangs over the non-Catholic +world; and chaos seems to have come again.</p> + +<p>Yet, amid this almost universal <a name="Page_4"></a>confusion, one bright and luminous +path may be easily descried. As a broad highroad runs straight through +some tangled forest, so this path runs through the ages, from the time +of Christ, even to the present day.</p> + +<p>We can trace its course, from its earliest inception in apostolic +times, and then in its development age after age, down to our own day: +from Peter to Gregory, from Gregory to Leo, and from Leo to Pius X., +now gloriously reigning. We refer to the mystical (and one might +almost say the miraculous) path trodden by the Popes, each Pontiff +carrying in turn, and then handing on to his successor, the glorious +torch of divine truth. Though clouds may gather and thunders may roll, +and tempests may rage, and though the surrounding darkness may grow +deeper and deeper, that supernatural light has never failed, nor grown +dim, nor refused to shed its beams and to illuminate the way.<a name="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3"><sup>[3]</sup></a></p> + +<p><a name="Page_5"></a>The continual persistency of the Papacy, to whom this steadily burning +torch of truth has been entrusted, is unquestionably one of the most +certain, as it is one of the most startling facts in the whole of +history. It stares us full in the face. It arrests the attention of +even the least observant. It puzzles the historian. It taxes the +explanatory powers of the philosopher, and will remain to the end, a +permanent difficulty to the scoffer and to the sceptic, and to all +those who have not faith. As a fact in history, it is unique: forming +an extraordinary exception to the law of universal change: a portent, +and a standing miracle. Its persistence, century after century, in +spite of fire and sword; of persecution from without, and of treachery +from within; in prosperity, and in adversity; in honour and dishonour; +while kingdoms rise and fall; and while one civilisation yields to a +higher, and the very conditions of society shift and change, is deeply +significative, and betokens an inherent strength and vitality that is +more than natural and <a name="Page_6"></a>that must be referred to some source greater +than itself, yea, to a power far mightier than anything in this +world,—<i>viz.</i>, to the abiding presence and divine support of Christ +the Man-God.</p> + +<p>Verily, there is but one possible explanation, and that explanation is +furnished us, by the words of the promise made by God-incarnate, +<i>viz.</i>, "Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of +the world" (Matt, xxviii. 20). Yes, I, Who am "the true light which +enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (John i. 9), "will +abide with you for ever, and will lead you into all truth" (John xvi. 13).</p> + +<p>If but few persons, outside the Catholic Church, realise the force and +import of these words, it is because few realise the absolute and +irresistible power of Him Who gave them utterance. With their lips +they profess Christ to be God, but then, strange to relate, they +proceed to reason and to argue, just as though He were merely +man—one, that is to say, Who, when He established His Church, <a name="Page_7"></a>did +not consider nor bear in mind man's weakness and fickleness, and who +possessed no power to see the outcome of His own policy, nor the +difficulties that it would engender, nor the future multiplication of +the faithful, in every part of the world. For, did He know and foresee +all these things, He <i>must</i> have guarded against them; and this they +<i>practically</i> deny, by continuing to associate themselves with +churches where His promises are in no sense fulfilled, and where His +most solemn pledges remain unredeemed. We refer to those churches +wherein there is no recognised infallible authority; in fact, nothing +to protect their subjects from the inroads of the world, and from the +faults and errors inseparable from the exercise of purely human and +fallible reason.</p> + +<p>Those, however, who can put aside such false notions, and awaken to +the real facts, will find the truth growing luminous before their +gaze. History constrains them to admit that it was Christ Who +established the Church, with its supreme <a name="Page_8"></a>head, and its various +members. But Christ is verily God; of the same nature, and one with +the Father, and possessing the same divine attributes. Now, since He +is God, there is to Him no future, just as there is no past. To him, +all is equally present. Hence, in establishing a Church, and in +providing it with laws and a constitution, He did this, not +tentatively, not experimentally, not in ignorance of man's needs and +weaknesses, and folly, but with a most perfect foreknowledge of every +circumstance and event, actual and to come. He spoke and ordered and +arranged all things, with His eyes clearly fixed on the most remote +ages, no less than on the present and the actual. <i>We</i> mortals write +history after the characters have already lived and died, and when +nations have already developed and run their course. But with Christ, +the whole history of man, his wars and his conquests, his vices and +his virtues, his religious opinions and doctrines, had been already +written and completed, down to the very last line of the very last +chapter, an eternity before He assumed our <a name="Page_9"></a>nature and founded His +Church. It was with this most intimate knowledge before Him, that He +promised to provide us with a reliable and infallible teacher, who +should safeguard His doctrine, and publish the glad tidings of the +Gospel, throughout all time, even unto the consummation of the world. +Since it is God Who promises, it follows, with all the rigour of +logic, that this fearless Witness and living Teacher must be a <i>fact</i>, +not a <i>figment</i>; a stupendous reality, not a mere name; One, in a +word, possessing and wielding the self-same authority as Himself, and +to be received and obeyed and accepted as Himself: "Who heareth you +heareth Me" (Luke x. 16).</p> + +<p>This teacher was to be a supreme court of appeal, and a tribunal, +before which every case could be tried, and definitely settled, once +for all. And since this tribunal was a divine creation, and invested +by God Himself with supernatural powers for that specific purpose, it +must be fully equipped, and thoroughly competent and equal to its +work. For God always adapts means to ends. Hence it <a name="Page_10"></a>can never +resemble the tribunals existing in man-made churches, which can but +mutter empty phrases, suggest compromises, and clothe thought in +wholly ambiguous language—tribunals that dare not commit themselves +to anything definite and precise. Yea, which utterly fail and break +down just at the critical moment, when men are dividing and +disagreeing among themselves, and most needing a prompt and clear +decision, which may close up the breach and bring them together.</p> + +<p>No! The decisions of the authority set up by Christ are in very +truth—just what we expect to find them—<i>viz.</i>, clear, ringing +and definite. They divide light from darkness, as by a divine hand; +and segregate truth from error, as a shepherd separates the sheep from +the goats.</p> + +<p>Christ promised as much as this, and if He keep not His promise, then +He can hold out no claim to be God, for though Heaven and earth may +pass away, God's words shall never pass away. That He did so promise +is quite evident; and may be proved, first, <a name="Page_11"></a><i>explicitly</i>, and from +His own words, and secondly, <i>implicitly</i>, from the very necessity of +the case; and from the whole history of religious development. +Cardinal Newman, even before his reception into the Church, was so +fully persuaded of this, that he wrote: "If Christianity is both +social and dogmatic, and intended for all ages, it must, humanly +speaking, have an infallible expounder.... By the Church of England a +hollow uniformity is preferred to an infallible chair; and by the +sects in England an interminable division" (<i>Develop.</i>, etc., p. 90). +In the Catholic Church alone the need is fully met.</p> + +<p>The Church is established on earth by the direct act of God, and is +set "as an army in battle array". It exists for the express purpose of +combating error and repressing evil, in whatever form it may appear; +and whether it be instigated by the devil, or the world, or the flesh. +But, let us ask, Who ever heard of an army without a chief? An army +without a supreme commander is an army without subordination and +without law or order; <a name="Page_12"></a>or rather, it is not an army at all, but a +rabble, a mob.</p> + +<p>The supreme head of Christ's army—of Christ's Church upon earth, is +our Sovereign Lord the Pope. Some will not accept his rule, and refuse +to admit his authority. But this is not only to be expected. It was +actually foretold. As they cried out, of old, to one even greater than +the Pope, "We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke xix. 14), +so now men of similar spirit repeat the self-same cry, with regard to +Christ's vicar.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, wheresoever his authority is loyally accepted, and where +submission, respect and obedience are shown to him, there results the +order and harmony and unity promised by Christ: while, on the +contrary, where he is not suffered to reign there is disorder, rivalry +and sects.</p> + +<p>To be able to look forward and to foresee such opposite results would +perhaps need a prophetic eye, an accurate estimate of human nature, +and a very nice balancing of cause and effect. It could be the +prognostication only of a wise, <a name="Page_13"></a>judicious, and observant mind. But we +are now looking, not forwards, but backwards, and in looking backwards +the case is reduced to the greatest simplicity, so that even a child +can understand; and "he that runs may read".</p> + +<p>The simplest intelligence, if only it will set aside prejudice and +pride, and just attend and watch, will be led, without difficulty, to +the following conclusions: firstly, without an altogether special +divine support, no authority can claim and exercise <i>infallibility</i> in +its teaching; and secondly, without such infallibility in its teaching +no continuous unity can be maintained among vast multitudes of people, +least of all concerning dogmas most abstruse, mysteries most sublime +and incomprehensible, and laws and regulations both galling and +humiliating to human arrogance and pride.</p> + +<p>It is precisely because the Catholic Church alone possesses such a +supreme and infallible authority that she alone is able to present to +the world that which follows directly from it, namely a <a name="Page_14"></a>complete +unity and cohesion within her own borders.</p> + +<p>Yes! Strange to say: the Catholic Church to-day stands alone! There is +no rival to dispute with her, her unique and peerless position. Of all +the so-called Christian Churches, throughout the world, so various and +so numerous, and, in many cases, so modern and so fantastic, there is +not a single one that can approach her, even distantly, whether it be +in (<i>a</i>) the breadth of her influence, or in (<i>b</i>) the diversity and +dissimilarity of her adherents, or in (<i>c</i>) the number of her +children, or in (<i>d</i>) the extent of her conquests, or (<i>e</i>) in the +absolute unity of her composition.</p> + +<p>Even were it possible to unite into one single body the great +multitude of warring sects, of which Protestantism is made up, such a +body would fall far short of the stature of her who has received the +gentiles for her inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for +her possession (Ps. ii. 8), and who has the Holy Ghost abiding with +her, century after <a name="Page_15"></a>century, in order that she may be "a witness unto +Christ, in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the +uttermost parts of the world" (Acts i. 8). But we cannot, even in +thought, unite such contradictories, such discordant elements; any +more than we can reduce the strident sounds of a multitude of +cacophonous instruments to one harmonious and beautiful melody.</p> + +<p>And if the Catholic Church stands thus alone, again we repeat, it is +because no other has received the promise of divine support, or even +cares to recognise that such a promise was ever made. The Catholic +Church has been the only Church not only to exercise, but even to +claim the prerogative of infallibility: but she has claimed this from +the beginning. Every child born into her fold has been taught to +profess and to believe, firstly, that the Catholic Church is the sole +official and God-appointed guardian of the sacred deposit of divine +truth, and, secondly, that she, and no other, enunciates to the entire +world—to all who have <a name="Page_16"></a>ears to hear—the full revelation of +Christ—<i>His truth</i>; the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; +fulfilling, to the letter, the command of her Divine Master, "Go into +the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi. +15).</p> + +<p>How has this been possible? Simply and solely because God, Who +promised that "the Spirit of Truth" (<i>i.e.</i>, the Holy Ghost) "should +abide with her for ever; and should guide her in all truth" (John xiv. +16, xvi. 12), keeps His promise. When our Lord promised to "<i>be with</i>" +the teaching Church, in the execution of the divine commission +assigned to it, "<i>always</i>" and "<i>to the end of the world</i>," that +promise clearly implied, and was a guarantee, first, that the teaching +authority should exist indefectibly to the end of the world; and +secondly, that throughout the whole course of its existence it should +be divinely guarded and assisted in fulfilling the commission given to +it, <i>viz.</i>, in instructing the nations in "all things whatsoever +Christ has commanded," in other words, that <a name="Page_17"></a>it should be their +infallible Guide and Teacher.</p> + +<p>Venerable Bede, speaking of the conversion of our own country by +Augustine and his monks, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, says: "And +whereas he [Pope Gregory] bore the Pontifical power <i>over all the +world</i>, and was placed over the Churches already reduced to the faith +of truth, he made our nation, till then given up to idols, the Church +of Christ" (<i>Hist. Eccl.</i> lib. ii. c. 1). If we will but listen to the +Pope now, he will make it once again "the Church of Christ," instead +of the Church of the "Reformation," and a true living branch, drawing +its life from the one vine, instead of a detached and fallen branch, +with heresy, like some deadly decay, eating into its very vitals.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3">[3]</a> No Pope, no matter what may have been his <i>private</i> +conduct, ever promulgated a decree against the purity of faith and +morals.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_18"></a>CHAPTER II.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE POPE'S GREAT PREROGATIVE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The clear and certain recognition of a great truth is seldom the work +of a day. We often possess it in a confused and hidden way, before we +can detect, to a nicety, its exact nature and limitations. It takes +time to declare itself with precision, and, like a plant in its +rudimentary stages, it may sometimes be mistaken for what it is +not—though, once it has reached maturity, we can mistake it no +longer. As Cardinal Newman observes: "An idea grows in the mind by +remaining there; it becomes familiar and distinct, and is viewed in +its relations; it leads to other aspects, and these again to +others.... Such intellectual processes as are carried on silently and +spontaneously in the mind of a party or school, of necessity <a name="Page_19"></a>come to +light at a later date, and are recognised, and their issues are +scientifically arranged." Consequently, though dogma is unchangeable +as truth is unchangeable, this immutability does not exclude progress. +In the Church, such progress is nothing else than the development of +the principles laid down in the beginning by Jesus Christ Himself. +Thus—to take a simple illustration—in three different councils, the +Church has declared and proposed three different articles of Faith, +<i>viz.</i>, that in Jesus Christ there are (1) two natures, (2) two wills, +and (3) one only Person. These may seem to some, who cannot look +beneath the surface, to be three entirely new doctrines; to be, in +fact, "additions to the creed". In sober truth, they are but +expansions of the original doctrine which, in its primitive and +revealed form, has been known and taught at all times, that is to say, +the doctrine that Christ is, at once, true God and true Man. That one +statement really contains the other three; the other three merely give +us a fuller and a completer grasp of <a name="Page_20"></a>the original one, but tell us +nothing absolutely new.</p> + +<p>In a similar manner, and by a similar process, we arrive at a clearer +and more explicit knowledge of other important truths, which were not +at first universally recognised as being contained in the original +deposit. The dogma of Papal infallibility is an instance in point. For +though no Catholic ever doubted the genuine infallibility of the +<i>Church</i>, yet in the early centuries, there existed some difference of +opinion, as to <i>where</i> precisely the infallible authority resided. +Most Catholics, even then, believed it to be a gift conferred by +Christ upon Peter himself [who alone is the <i>rock</i>], and upon each +Pope who succeeded him in his office, personally and individually, but +some were of opinion that, not the Pope by himself, but only "the +Pope-in-Council," that is to say, the Pope supported by a majority of +Bishops, was to be considered infallible. So that, while <i>all</i> +admitted the <i>Pope with a majority of the Bishops</i>, taken together, to +be divinely safeguarded from teaching <a name="Page_21"></a>error, yet the prevailing and +dominant opinion, from the very first, went much further, and ascribed +this protection to the Sovereign Pontiff likewise when acting alone +and unsupported. This is so well known, that even the late Mr. +Gladstone, speaking as an outside observer, and as a mere student of +history, positively brings it as a charge against the Catholic Church +that "the Popes, for well-nigh a thousand years, have kept up, with +comparatively little intermission, their claim to dogmatic +infallibility" (<i>Vat.</i> p. 28). Still, the point remained unsettled by +any dogmatic definition, so that, as late as in 1793, Archbishop Troy +of Dublin did but express the true Catholic view of his own day when +he wrote: "Many Catholics contend that the Pope, when teaching the +Universal Church, as their supreme visible head and pastor, as +successor to St. Peter, and heir to the promises of special assistance +made to him by Jesus Christ, is infallible; and that his decrees and +decisions in that capacity are to be respected as rules of faith, when +they <a name="Page_22"></a>are dogmatical, or confined to doctrinal points of faith and +morals. Others," the Archbishop goes on to explain, "deny this, and +require the expressed or tacit acquiescence of the Church assembled or +dispersed, to stamp infallibility on his dogmatic decrees." Then he +concludes:—"<i>Until the Church shall decide</i> upon this question of the +Schools, either opinion may be adopted by individual Catholics, +without any breach of Catholic communion or peace."</p> + +<p>This was how the question stood until 1870. But it stands in that +position no longer; for the Church has now spoken—<i>Roma locuta est, +causa finita</i>. Hence, no Catholic can now deny or call into question +the great prerogative of the Vicar of Christ, without suffering +shipwreck of the faith. At the Vatican Council, Pope Pius IX. and the +Archbishops and Bishops of the entire Catholic world were gathered +together in Rome, and after earnest prayer and prolonged discussion, +they declared that the prerogative of infallibility, which is the very +source of Catholic unity, and <a name="Page_23"></a>the very secret of Catholic strength, +resides in the individual Pope who happens, at the time, to occupy the +Papal chair, and that when he speaks <i>ex cathedrâ</i>, his definitions +are infallibly true, and consonant with Catholic revelation, even +before they have been accepted by the hierarchy throughout the world. +But here it must be borne in mind that the Pope speaks <i>ex cathedrâ</i>, +that is to say, infallibly, only when he speaks:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>1. As the Universal Teacher.</p> + +<p> 2. In the name and with the authority of the Apostles.</p> + +<p> 3. On a point of Faith or Morals.</p> + +<p> 4. With the purpose of binding every member of the Church to + accept and believe his decision.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Thus it is clearly seen that from the year 1870 the dogma of <i>Papal</i>, +in contra-distinction to <i>ecclesiastical</i> infallibility, has been +defined and raised to an article of faith, the denial of which is +heresy.</p> + +<p>The doctrine is at once new and yet not new. It is new in the sense +that up to the time of the Vatican Council it had <a name="Page_24"></a>never been actually +drawn out of the premises that contained it, and set forth before the +faithful in a formal definition. On the other hand, it is not new, but +as old as Christianity, in the sense that it was always contained +implicitly in the deposit of faith. Any body of truth that is living +grows, and unfolds and becomes more clearly understood and more +thoroughly grasped, as time wears on. The entire books of Euclid are +after all but the outcome of a few axioms and accepted definitions. +These axioms help us to build up certain propositions. And one +proposition, when established, leads to another, till at last we seem +to have unearthed statements entirely new and original. Yet, they are +certainly not really new, for had they not been all along contained +implicitly in the few initial facts, it is quite clear they could +never have been evolved from them. <i>Nemo dat, quod non habet.</i></p> + +<p>Hence Papal Infallibility is not so much a new truth, or an "addition +to the Faith," as some heretics would foolishly try to <a name="Page_25"></a>persuade us, +as a clearer expression and a more exact and detailed presentation of +what was taught from the beginning.</p> + +<p>It is here that the well-known historian, Döllinger, who rejected the +definition, proved himself to be not only a proud rebel but also a +very poor logician. Until 1870, he was a practising Catholic, and, +therefore, like every other Catholic, he, of course, admitted that the +Pope and the Bishops, speaking collectively, were divinely supported +and safeguarded from error, when they enunciated to the world any +doctrine touching faith or morals. Yet, when the Pope and the Bishops, +assembled at the Vatican, did so speak collectively, and did +conjointly issue the decree of Papal Infallibility, he proceeded to +eat his own words, refused to abide by their decision, and was +deservedly turned out of the Church of God: being excommunicated by +the Archbishop of Munich on the 17th of April, 1871, in virtue of the +instructions given by Our Divine Lord Himself, <i>viz.</i>: "If he will not +hear the Church (cast him <a name="Page_26"></a>out, <i>i.e.</i>), let him be to thee as the +heathen and publican" (Matt. xviii. 17). He, and the few misguided men +that followed him in his rebellion, and called themselves Old +Catholics, had been quite ready to believe that the Pope, with the +Bishops, when speaking as one body, were Infallible. In fact, if they +had not believed that, they never could have been Catholics at any +time. But they did not seem to realise the sufficiently obvious fact +that, whether they will it or not, and whether they advert to it or +not, it is utterly impossible now to deny the Infallibility of the +Pope personally and alone, without at the same time denying the +Infallibility of the "Pope and the Bishops collectively," for the +simple reason that it is precisely the "Pope and the Bishops +collectively" who have solemnly and in open session declared that the +Pope enjoys the prerogative of Infallibility in his own individual +person. Since the Vatican Council, one is forced by the strict +requirements of sound reason to believe, either that the Pope is +Infallible, or <a name="Page_27"></a>else that there is no Infallibility in the Church at +all, and that there never had been.</p> + +<p>Those who were too proud to submit to the definition followed, of +course, the example of earlier heretics in previous Councils. They +excused themselves on the plea that the Council was (<i>a</i>) not free, or +else (<i>b</i>) not sufficiently representative, or, finally, (<i>c</i>) not +unanimous in its decisions. But such utterly unsupported allegations +served only to accentuate the weakness of their cause and the +hopelessness of their position; since it would be difficult, from the +origin of the Church to the present time, to find any Council so free, +so representative, and so unanimous.</p> + +<p>Pope Pius IX. (whom, it seems likely, we shall soon be called upon to +venerate as a canonised saint) convened the Vatican Council by the +Bull <i>Æterni Patris</i>, published on 29th June, 1868. It summoned all +the Archbishops, Bishops, Patriarchs, etc., throughout the Catholic +world to meet together in Rome on 8th December of the following year, +1869. When the <a name="Page_28"></a>appointed day arrived, and the Council was formally +opened, there were present 719 representatives from all parts of the +world, and very soon after, this number was increased to 769. On 18th +July, 1870—a day for ever memorable in the annals of the Church—the +fourth public session was held, and the constitution <i>Pater Æternus</i>, +containing the definition of the Papal Infallibility, was solemnly +promulgated. Of the 535 who were present on this grand occasion, 533 +voted for the definition (<i>placet</i>) and only two, one from Sicily, the +other from the United States, voted against it (<i>non placet</i>). +Fifty-five Bishops, who fully accepted the doctrine itself, but deemed +its actual definition at that moment inopportune, simply absented +themselves from this session. Finally, the Holy Father, in the +exercise of his supreme authority, sanctioned the decision of the +Council, and proclaimed officially, <i>urbi et orbi</i> the decrees and the +canons of the "First Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ".</p> + +<p><a name="Page_29"></a>It may be well here to clothe the Latin words of the Pope and the +assembled Bishops in an English dress. They are as follows: "We (the +Sacred Council approving) teach and define that it is a dogma +revealed, that the Roman Pontiff, <i>when</i> he speaks <i>ex cathedrâ</i>—that +is, when discharging the office of Pastor and Teacher of all +Christians, by reason of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a +doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the whole Church—in +virtue of the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, +possesses that Infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed +that His Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith +or morals, and that, therefore, such definitions of the said Sovereign +Pontiff are unalterable of themselves, and not from the consent of the +Church. But if any one—which may God avert—presume to contradict +this our definition, let him be anathema."</p> + +<p>"<i>Every Bishop in the Catholic world</i>, however inopportune some may +have at one time held the definition to be, submitted <a name="Page_30"></a>to the +Infallible ruling of the Church," says E.S. Purcell. "A very small and +insignificant number of priests and laymen in Germany apostatised and +set up the Sect of 'Old Catholics'. But all the rest of the Catholic +world, true to their faith, accepted, without reserve, the dogma of +Papal Infallibility."<a name="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4"><sup>[4]</sup></a></p> + +<p>For over eighteen hundred years the Infallible authority of the +Pope-in-Council had been admitted by all Catholics. And in any great +emergency or crisis in the Church's history, these Councils were +actually held, and presided over by the Pope, either in person or by +his duly appointed representatives, for the purpose of clearing up and +adjusting disputed points, or to smite, with a withering anathema, the +various heresies as they arose, century after century. But in the +meantime, the Church, which had been planted "like a grain of mustard +seed, which is the least of all seeds" (Mark iv. 31), was fulfilling +the prophecy that had been <a name="Page_31"></a>made in regard to her, and "was shooting +out great branches" (Mark iv. 32) and becoming more extended and more +prolific than all her rivals. She enlarged her boundaries and spread +farther and farther over the face of the earth, while the number of +her children rapidly multiplied in every direction.</p> + +<p>In course of time, the immense continents of America and Australia, +together with New Zealand and Tasmania and other hitherto unknown +regions, were discovered and thrown open to the influences of human +industry and enterprise. And as men and women swarmed into these newly +acquired lands, the Church accompanied them: and new vicariates and +dioceses sprang up, and important Sees were formed, which in time, as +the populations thickened, became divided and sub-divided into smaller +Sees, till at last the number of Bishops in these once unknown and +distant regions rose to several hundreds.</p> + +<p>Thus the whole condition of things became altered; and the calling +together <a name="Page_32"></a>of an Ecumenical Council—a very simple affair in the +infancy of the Church—was becoming daily more and more difficult. Not +so much, perhaps, by reason of the enormous distances of the dioceses +from the central authority, for modern methods of locomotion have +almost annihilated space, but because of the immense increase in the +number of the hierarchy that would have to meet together, whenever a +Council is called.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, with the greater extension of the Church, would +naturally come an increased crop of heresies. For, cockle may be sown, +and weeds may spring up, in any part of the field, and the field is +now a hundred times vaster than it was. Now, it is extremely important +that as fast as errors arise they should be pointed out, and rooted up +without delay, and before they can breed a pestilence and corrupt a +whole neighbourhood. But the complicated machinery of a great +Ecumenical Council, which involves prolonged preparation, considerable +expense, and a temporary dislocation in almost every <a name="Page_33"></a>diocese +throughout the world, is too cumbersome and slow to be called into +requisition whenever a heresy has to be blasted, or whenever a +decision has to be made known.</p> + +<p>Hence we cannot help recognising and admiring the Providence of God +over His Church, in thus simplifying the process, in these strenuous +days, by which His truth is to be maintained and His revelation +protected. For the fact—true from the beginning, <i>viz.</i>, that the +Pope enjoys the prerogative of personal infallibility—is not only a +profound truth; but a truth for the first time formally recognised, +defined, promulgated and explicitly taught as an article of Divine +faith. Consequently, without summoning a thousand Bishops from the +four quarters of the globe, the Sovereign Pontiff may now rise in his +own strength, and proclaim to the entire Church what is, and what is +not, consonant with the truths of revelation. This is evident from the +Vatican's definition, which declares that "<span class="sc">the Pope has that same +infallibility which the Church has</span>"—"Romanum <a name="Page_34"></a>Pontificem eâ +infallibilitate pollere, quâ divinus Redemptor Ecclesiam suam in +definiendâ doctrinâ de fide vel moribus instructam esse voluit". Words +of the Bull, "<span class="sc">Pastor Æternus</span>".</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4">[4]</a> See <i>Life of Cardinal Manning</i>, vol. ii., p. 452.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_35"></a>CHAPTER III.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>WATCHMAN! WHAT OF THE NIGHT?</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The most sacred deposit of Divine Revelation has been committed by +Jesus Christ to the custody of the Church, and century after century +she has guarded it with the utmost jealousy and fidelity. Like a loyal +watchman, stationed on a lofty tower, the Pope, with anxious eyes, +scans the length and breadth of the world, and, as the occasion +demands, boldly, and fearlessly, and categorically condemns and +anathematises all who, through pride or cunning, or personal interest +and ambition, or love of novelty, attempt to falsify or to minimise or +to distort the teaching of Our Divine Master. Without respect of +persons, without regard to temporal consequences, without either +hesitancy or ambiguity, he speaks "as one having power" (Matt. vii. +<a name="Page_36"></a>29). And while, on the one hand, every true Catholic throughout the +world, who hears his voice, is intimately conscious that he is hearing +the voice of Christ Himself, "who heareth you, heareth Me" (Luke x. +16); so, on the other hand, every true Catholic likewise knows that +all who refuse to obey his ruling, and who despise his warnings, are +despising and disobeying Christ Himself. "Who despises you, despises +Me" (Luke x. 16). Thus, the Sovereign Pontiff, as the infallible +source of religious truth, becomes at the same time the strong bond of +religious unity: for, just as error divides men from one another, so +truth always and necessarily draws them together. In this way the Pope +becomes the connecting link which unites over 250,000,000 of men: and +the foundation stone (or petros—Peter) of the mystical building +erected by God-incarnate ("Upon this rock will I build My Church," +Matt. xvi. 18). He is the foundation, that is to say, which supports +it, and keeps its various parts together, in one harmonious and +symmetrical whole, and against <a name="Page_37"></a>which the angry surges rise, and the +muddy waves of error for ever beat, yet ever beat in vain: for "the +gates of hell [Satan and his hosts] shall not prevail against it". Who +doubts this denies the most formal and unmistakable promises of the +Eternal Son of God, and makes of Him a liar.</p> + +<p>Our non-Catholic friends close their eyes to these patent facts, +and—with great peril to their salvation—refuse to see even the +obvious. As the Jews of old were so blinded by their prejudice, +jealousy and hatred of Him, whom they contemptuously styled "the Son +of the Carpenter," that they steadily refused to consider the justice +of His claims, and could not (or would not?) bring themselves to +understand how clearly the Scriptures bore witness to His divinity, +and how marvellously the prophecies and predictions (the words of +which they accepted), were fulfilled in His Divine Person; so now +Protestants steadily refuse to consider the claims of Her whom they +contemptuously style "the Romish Church," and are so <a name="Page_38"></a>prejudiced and +full of suspicion, if not of hate, that they too cannot bring +themselves to understand how She, like her Divine Founder, bears upon +her immortal brow the distinctive and unmistakable impress of her +supernatural origin and destiny. The Incarnate Son of God, who never +asks, nor can ask in vain, implored His Heavenly Father, that all His +followers might be one, and why? In order that this marvellous unity +might ever be fixed as a seal of authenticity to His Church, and be to +all men a permanent sign and proof of her genuineness.</p> + +<p>"Father," He prayed, grant "that they may <span class="sc">all be one</span>, as Thou +art in Me, and as I am in Thee, that they also may be one in us, +<span class="sc">that the world may know</span> that Thou hast sent Me" (John xvii. +21). Unity, then, is undeniably the test and sign-manual attached by +Christ to His Bride, the Church; the presence or absence of which must +(if there be any truth in God) determine the genuineness or the +falsity of every claimant.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_39"></a>Now, this mark is nowhere found outside the One, Holy, Catholic and +Apostolic Church, whose centre is in Rome.</p> + +<p>Other Churches not merely do not possess unity. They do not possess so +much as the requisite machinery to produce it, nor even the means of +preserving it, if produced.</p> + +<p>With us, on the contrary, it flows as naturally and as directly from +the recognised Supremacy and Infallibility of the Vicar of Christ as +light flows from the sun. It is so manifest that it would seem only +the blind can fail to see it: so that one is sometimes puzzled to know +how to excuse educated Protestants from the damnable sin of <i>vincible</i> +ignorance. Thus, the faithful throughout the entire world are in +constant communication with their respective pastors; the pastors, in +their turn, are in direct communication with their respective Bishops, +and the Bishops, dispersed throughout the length and breadth of +Christendom, are in close and direct communication with the one +Supreme and Infallible Ruler, whom the Lord has placed <a name="Page_40"></a>over all His +possessions; who has been promised immunity from error; and whose +special duty and office is to "confirm his brethren" (Luke xxii. 32). +By this most simple, yet most practical and effective expedient, the +very least and humblest catechumen in China or Australia is as truly +in touch with the central authority at the Vatican, and as completely +under its direction in matters of faith and morals, as the crowned +heads of Spain or Austria, or as the Archbishops of Paris or Malines. +Certainly <i>Digitus Dei est hic</i>: the finger of God is here. The simple +fact is, there is always something about the works of God which +clearly differentiate them from the products of man, however close may +be the mere external and surface resemblance. A thousand artists may +carve a thousand acorns, so cunningly coloured, and so admirably +contrived as to be practically indistinguishable from the genuine +fruit of the oak. Each of these thousand artists may present me with +his manufactured acorn, and may assure me of its genuineness. And, +alas! I may be <a name="Page_41"></a>quite deceived and taken in; yes, but only <i>for a +time</i>. When I plant them in the soil, together with the genuine acorn, +and give them time to develop, the fraud is detected, and the truth +revealed. For the real seed proves its worth. How? In the simplest way +possible, that is to say, by actually doing what it was destined and +created to do. That is, by growing and developing into a majestic oak, +while the false and human imitations fall to pieces, belie all one's +hopes, and are found to produce neither branch nor leaf nor fruit.</p> + +<p>This is but an illustration of what may be observed equally in the +spiritual order, although there it is attended by more disastrous +consequences. Thus we find hundreds of Churches proclaiming themselves +to be foundations of God, which Time, the old Justice who tries all +such offenders, soon proves, most unmistakably, to be nothing but the +contrivances of man. They may bear a certain external resemblance to +the true Church, planted by the Divine Husbandman, but like the +<a name="Page_42"></a>man-made acorns, they deceive all our expectations, and are wholly +unable to redeem their promises, or to live up to their pretensions.</p> + +<p>For, while one and all declare with their lips that they possess the +truth as revealed by Christ, their glaring divisions, irreconcilable +differences, and internal dissensions emphatically prove that the +truth is not in them: and that they have been built, not on the rock, +but on the shifting sand, and are the erections, not of God, but of +feeble, fickle men.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the Catholic Church, amid a thousand sects, +resembles the genuine acorn among the thousand imitations. Not only +does she alone possess the whole truth; but she alone can stand up and +actually prove this claim to the entire world, by pointing defiantly +at her marvellous and miraculous unity—a unity so conspicuous, and so +striking, and so absolutely unique, that even the hostile and bigoted +Protestant press can sometimes scarcely refrain from bearing an +unwilling testimony to it.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_43"></a>We might give many instances of this, and quote from many sources, but +let the following extract from London's leading journal serve as an +example. It is no other paper than the <i>Times</i>, which makes the +following admission on occasion of the Vatican Council which opened in +1869: "Seven hundred Bishops, more or less, representing all +Christendom, were seen gathered round one altar and one throne, +partaking of the same Divine Mystery, and rendering homage, by turns, +to the same spiritual authority and power. As they put on their +mitres, or took them off, and as they came to the steps of the altar, +or the foot of the common spiritual Father, it was <span class="sc">impossible</span> +not to feel the <span class="sc">unity</span> and the power of the Church which they +represented" (16th Dec., 1869). Here, then, is the most influential +journal certainly of Great Britain, perhaps of the world, proclaiming +to its readers far and wide, not simply that the Roman Catholic Church +is one, but that her oneness is of such a sterling quality, and of so +pronounced a character that it is impossible—<a name="Page_44"></a>mark the word, +impossible!—not to feel it. Yet men ask where the Church of God is to +be found. They ask for a sign, and lo! when God gives them one they +cannot see it, nor interpret it, nor make anything out of it: and +prefer to linger on in what Newman calls "the cities of confusion," +than find peace and security in "the communion of Rome, which is that +Church which the Apostles set up at Pentecost, which alone has 'the +adoption of sons, and the glory and the covenants and the revealed +law, and the service of God and the promises,' and in which the +Anglican [or any other Protestant] communion, whatever it merits and +demerits, whatever the great excellence of individuals in it, has, as +such, no part". But this is a digression. Let us return to our +subject.</p> + +<p>The incontestable value and immense practical importance of the Papal +prerogative of infallibility have been rendered abundantly manifest +ever since its solemn definition nearly forty years ago. In fact, +although the enormous increase of the <a name="Page_45"></a>population of the world has not +rendered the position of the Sovereign Pontiff any easier, yet he is +better fitted and equipped since the definition to cope promptly and +effectually with errors and heresies as they arise than he was before. +We do not mean that his prerogative of infallibility is invoked upon +every trivial occasion—one does not call for a Nasmyth hammer to +break a nut—but it is always there, in reserve, and may be used, on +occasion, even without summoning an Ecumenical Council, and this is a +matter of some consequence. For, though time may bring many changes +into the life of man, and may improve his physical condition and +surroundings, and add enormously to his comfort, health, and general +corporal well-being, it is found to produce no corresponding effect +upon his corrupt and fallen nature, which asserts itself as vigorously +now, after nearly two thousand years of Christianity, as in the past. +Pride and self still sway men's hearts. The spirit of independence and +self-assertion and egotism, in spite of all efforts at <a name="Page_46"></a>repression, +continue to stalk abroad. And human nature, even to-day, is almost as +impatient of restraint, and as unwilling to bear the yoke of +obedience, as in the time when Gregory resisted Henry of Germany, or +when Pius VII. excommunicated Napoleon. If, even in the Apostolic age, +when the number of the faithful was small and concentrated, there +were, nevertheless, men of unsound views—"wolves in sheep's +clothing"—amongst the flock of Christ, how much more likely is this +to be the case now. If the Apostle St. Paul felt called upon to warn +his own beloved disciples against those "who would not endure sound +doctrine," and who "heaped to themselves teachers, having itching +ears," and who even "closed their ears to the truth, in order to +listen to fables" (2 Tim. iv. 1-5), surely we may reasonably expect to +find, even in our own generation, many who have fallen, or who are in +danger of falling under the pernicious influence of false teachers, +and who are being seduced and led astray by the plausible, but utterly +fallacious, reasoning of proud and worldly <a name="Page_47"></a>spirits. It would be easy +to name several, but they are too well known already to need further +advertising here.</p> + +<p>Then, she has adversaries without, as well as within. For, though the +Church is not <i>of</i> the world, she is <i>in</i> the world. Which is only +another way of saying that she is surrounded continually and on all +sides by powerful, subtle, and unscrupulous foes. "The world is the +enemy of God," and therefore of His Church. If its votaries cannot +destroy her, nor put an end to her charmed life, they hope, at least, +to defame her character and to blacken her reputation. They seize +every opportunity to misrepresent her doctrine, to travesty her +history, and to denounce her as retrograde, old fashioned, and out of +date. And, what makes matters worse, the falsest and most mischievous +allegations are often accompanied by professions of friendship and +consideration, and set forth in learned treatises, with an elegance of +language and an elevation of style calculated to deceive the simple +and to misguide the unwary. It is Father W. Faber who remarks that, +"<a name="Page_48"></a>there is not a new philosophy nor a freshly named science but what +deems, in the ignorance of its raw beginnings, that it will either +explode the Church as false or set her aside as doting" (Bl. Sac. +Prologue). Indeed the world is always striving to withdraw men and +women from their allegiance to the Church, through appeals to its +superior judgment and more enlightened experience; and philosophy and +history and even theology are all pressed into the service, and +falsified and misrepresented in such a manner as to give colour to its +complaints and accusations against the Bride of Christ, who, it is +seriously urged, "should make concessions and compromises with the +modern world, in order to purchase the right to live and to dwell +within it". What is the consequence? Let the late Cardinal Archbishop +and the Bishops of England answer. "Many Catholics," they write in +their joint pastoral, "are consequently in danger of forfeiting not +only their faith, but even their independence, by taking for granted +as venerable and true the halting and <a name="Page_49"></a>disputable judgment of some men +of letters or of science which may represent no more than the wave of +some popular feeling, or the views of some fashionable or dogmatising +school. The bold assertions of men of science are received with awe +and bated breath, the criticisms of an intellectual group of <i>savants</i> +are quoted as though they were rules for a holy life, while the mind +of the Church and her guidance are barely spoken of with ordinary +patience."</p> + +<p>In a world such as this, with the agents of evil ever active and +threatening, with error strewn as thorns about our path at every step, +and with polished and seductive voices whispering doubt and suggesting +rebellion and disobedience to men, already too prone to disloyalty, +and arguing as cunningly as Satan, of old, argued with Eve; in such a +world, who, we may well ask, does not see the pressing need as well as +the inestimable advantages and security afforded by a living, +vigilant, responsible and supreme authority, where all who seek, may +find an <a name="Page_50"></a>answer to their doubts, and a strength and a firm support in +their weakness?</p> + +<p>And as surely as the need exists, so surely has God's watchful +providence supplied it, in the person of the Supreme Pontiff, the +venerable Vicar of Christ on earth. He is authorised and commissioned +by Christ Himself "to feed" with sound doctrine, both "the lambs and +the sheep"; and faithfully has he discharged that duty. "The Pope," +writes Cardinal Newman, "is no recluse, no solitary student, no +dreamer about the past, no doter upon the dead and gone, no projector +of the visionary. He, for eighteen hundred years, has lived in the +world; he has seen all fortunes, he has encountered all adversaries, +he has shaped himself for all emergencies. If ever there was a power +on earth who had an eye for the times, who has confined himself to the +practicable, and has been happy in his anticipations, whose words have +been facts, and whose commands prophecies, such is he, in the history +of ages, who sits, from generation to generation, in the chair of <a name="Page_51"></a>the +Apostles, as the Vicar of Christ, and the Doctor of His Church."</p> + +<p>"These are not the words of rhetoric," he continues, "but of history. +All who take part with the Apostle are on the winning side. He has +long since given warrants for the confidence which he claims. From the +first, he has looked through the wide world, of which he has the +burden; and, according to the need of the day, and the inspirations of +his Lord, he has set himself, now to one thing, now to another; but to +all in season, and to nothing in vain.... Ah! What grey hairs are on +the head of Judah, whose youth is renewed like the eagle's, whose feet +are like the feet of harts, and underneath the Everlasting Arms." +Would that our unfortunate countrymen, tossed about by every wind of +doctrine, and torn by endless divisions, could be persuaded to set +aside pride and prejudice, and to accept the true principle of +religious unity and peace established by God. Then England would +become again, what she was for over a thousand years, <i>viz.</i>: "the +<a name="Page_52"></a>most faithful daughter of the Church of Rome, and of His Holiness, the +one Sovereign Pontiff and Vicar of Christ upon earth," as our Catholic +forefathers were wont to describe her.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_53"></a>CHAPTER IV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE CHURCH AND THE SECTS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A natural tendency is apparent in all men to differ among themselves, +even concerning subjects which are simple and easily understood; +while, on more difficult and complicated issues, this tendency is, of +course, very much more pronounced. Hence, the well-known proverb: +"<i>Quot homines, tot sententiæ</i>"—there are as many opinions as there +are men.</p> + +<p>Now, if this is found to be the case in politics, literature, art, +music, and indeed in everything else, except perhaps pure mathematics, +it is found to be yet more universally the case in questions of +religion, since religion is a subject so much more sublime, abstruse, +and incomprehensible than others, and so full of supernatural and +mysterious truths, with which <a name="Page_54"></a>no merely human tribunal has any +competency to deal. Then, let me ask, what chance has a man of +arriving at a right decision on the most important of all +questions—questions concerning his own eternal salvation—who is +thrown into the midst of a world where there is no uniformity of view +on spiritual matters, where every variety of opinion is expressed and +defended, and where every conceivable form of worship has its fervent +supporters and followers.</p> + +<p>Or, leaving all others out of account, may we not well ask how the +vast multitudes even of Catholics, scattered throughout such a world +as this, are to maintain "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of +peace" (Eph. iv. 3), to preserve the tenets of their creed intact, and +to discriminate accurately and readily between the teaching of God, +and the fallacious doctrines of men? In dealing with anxious and angry +disputants there is little use to appeal, as Protestants do, to the +authority of teachers who have nothing more to commend them than a +learning and an <a name="Page_55"></a>intelligence but little better than that of their +disciples. Where man differs from man each will prefer his own view, +and claim that his personal opinion is as deserving of respect and as +likely to be right as his adversary's—which is practically what +obtains among non-Catholics at the present day. Indeed, the only +superhuman and infallible authority on earth recognised by them is the +Bible; and that, alas! has proved a block of stumbling and not a bond +of union, since, in the hands of unscrupulous men, it may be made to +prove absolutely anything. The most sacred and fundamental truths, +even such as the sublime doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, the Divinity +of Christ, and the Atonement, have all, at one time or another, been +vehemently denied <i>on the authority of the Bible</i>! The Anglican Bishop +Colenso, in writing to the <i>Times</i>, could quote eleven texts of +Scripture to prove that prayer ought not to be offered to Our Divine +Lord! yet, it made no difference. He was allowed to go on teaching +just as before! No one seemed <a name="Page_56"></a>to care. What is "pure Gospel" to Mr. +Brown is "deadly error" to Mr. Green; while "the fundamental verities" +of Mr. Thompson are "the satanical delusions" of Mr. Johnson. In fact, +there is really less dispute among men as to the interpretation of the +Vedas, of Chinese chronology, or of Egyptian archæology, than of the +Bible, which, to the eternal dishonour of Protestant commentators, has +now almost ceased to have any definite meaning whatever, because every +imaginable meaning has been defended by some and denied by others. It +is beyond dispute that the Bible, without an infallible Teacher to +explain its true meaning, will be of no use whatsoever as a bond of +unity.</p> + +<p>If the unity, promised by God-incarnate, is to be secured, the present +circumstances of the case, as well as the actual experience of many +centuries, prove three conditions to be absolutely necessary, <i>viz.</i>: +a teacher who is <i>firstly</i> ever living and accessible; <i>secondly</i>, who +can and will speak clearly and without ambiguity; and <i>thirdly</i>, and +most essential of all, whose decisions are <a name="Page_57"></a>authoritative and +decisive. One, in a word, who can pass sentence and close a +controversy, and whose verdict will be honoured and accepted <i>as +final</i> by all Catholics without hesitation. These three requisites are +found in the person of the infallible Head of the Catholic Church, but +nowhere else.</p> + +<p>Experience shows that where, in religion, there is nothing but mere +human learning to guide, however great such learning may be, there +will always be room left for some differences of opinion. In such +controversies even the learned and the well read will not all arrange +themselves on one side; but will espouse, some one view, and some +another. We find this to be the case everywhere. And, since the Church +of England offers us as striking and as ready an example as any other, +we cannot do better than invoke it as both a warning and a witness.</p> + +<p>Though her adherents are but a small fraction, compared with +ourselves, and though they are socially and politically far more +homogeneous than we Catholics, <a name="Page_58"></a>who are gathered from all the nations +of the earth, yet even they, in the absence of any universally +recognised and infallible head, are split up into a hundred fragments.</p> + +<p>So that, even on the most essential points of doctrine, there is +absolutely no true unanimity. This is so undeniable that Anglican +Bishops themselves are found lamenting and wringing their hands over +their "unhappy divisions". Still, we wish to be perfectly just, so, in +illustration of our contention, we will select, not one of those +innumerable minor points which it would be easy to bring forward, but +some really crucial point of doctrine, the importance of which no man +in his senses will have the hardihood to deny. Let us say, for +instance, the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. Can we conceive anything +that a devout Christian would be more anxious to ascertain than +whether Our Divine Lord and Saviour be really and personally and +substantially present under the appearance of bread, or no! Picture to +yourselves, then, a fervent <a name="Page_59"></a>worshipper entering an Anglican church, +where they are said "to reserve," and kneeling before the Tabernacle. +Just watch the poor unfortunate man utterly and hopelessly unable to +decide whether he is prostrating and pouring out his soul before a +mere memorial, a simple piece of common bread, or before the Infinite +Creator of the Universe, the dread King of kings, and Lord of lords, +in Whose presence the very angels veil their faces, and the strong +pillars of heaven tremble! Imagine a Church where such a state of +things is possible! Yet, we have it on the authority of an Anglican +Bishop—and I know not where we shall find a higher authority—that +this is indeed the case; as may be gathered from the following words, +taken from a "charge" by the late Bishop Ryle, which are surely clear +enough: "One section of our (<i>i.e.</i>, Anglican) clergy," says the +Bishop, "maintains that the Lord's Supper is a sacrifice, and another +maintains with equal firmness that it is not.... One section maintains +that there is a real objective <a name="Page_60"></a>presence of Christ's Body and Blood +under the forms of the consecrated bread and wine. The other maintains +that there is no real presence whatsoever, except in the hearts of the +believing communicant."<a name="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> Was such a state of pitiable helplessness +ever seen or heard or dreamed of anywhere! And yet this church, please +to observe, is supposed to be a body sent by God to teach. Heaven +preserve us from such a teacher. As a further illustration of the +utter incompetency of the Establishment to perform this primary duty, +we may call to mind the strikingly instructive correspondence that was +published some years ago between his Grace Archbishop Sumner and Mr. +Maskell, who very naturally and very rightly sought direction from his +Ordinary concerning certain points of doctrine, of which he was in +doubt.</p> + +<p>"You ask me," writes the Archbishop to Mr. Maskell, "whether you are +to conclude that you ought not to teach, and have not the authority of +the [Anglican] <a name="Page_61"></a>Church to teach any of the doctrines spoken of in your +five former questions, in the dogmatical terms there stated."</p> + +<p>Here, then, we have a perfectly fair and straightforward question, +deserving an equally clear and straightforward answer: and such as +would be given at once if addressed by any Catholic enquirer to <i>his</i> +Bishop. But how does the Anglican Archbishop proceed to calm and +comfort this helpless, agitated soul, groping painfully in the dark? +What is his Grace's reply? He cannot refer the matter to a Sovereign +Pontiff, for no Pontiff in the Anglican Church is possessed of any +sovereignty whatsoever. In fact the Archbishop himself has to "verily +testify and declare that His Majesty the King is the only supreme +Governor in <i>spiritual</i> and <i>ecclesiastical</i> things as well as +temporal," etc.<a name="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> Nor dare he solve these troublesome doubts himself: +for he is no more infallible than his questioner. Then what does he +do? Practically nothing. He throws the whole burden back upon poor +Mr. <a name="Page_62"></a>Maskell, and leaves him to struggle with his doubts as best he +may. Thus; though the Church <i>of God</i> was established to "teach all +nations," and <i>must</i> still be teaching all nations if she exist at +all; the Church <i>of England</i> seems unable to teach one nation, or even +one man.</p> + +<p>But to continue. The Archbishop begins by putting Mr. Maskell a +question. "Are they (<i>i.e.</i>, the doctrines about which he is seeking +information) contained in the Word of God? St. Paul says, 'Preach the +Word'.... Now whether the doctrines concerning which you inquire are +contained in the Word of God, and can be proved thereby, <i>you have the +same means</i> of discovering for yourself as I have, and I have no +special authority to declare."</p> + +<p>Did any one ever witness such an exhibition of ineptitude and +spiritual asthenia? We can conceive a man rejecting all revelation. It +is possible even to conceive a man denying the Divinity of Christ. But +we know nothing that would ever enable us even to conceive that +Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Power had established a <a name="Page_63"></a>Church which +cannot teach, or had sent an ambassador utterly unable to deliver His +message. There is no use for such Church as that. Total silence is +better than incoherent speech. What is the consequence? The +consequence is that in the Anglican community endless variations and +differences exist and flourish side by side, not alone in matters +where differences are comparatively of little account, but in even the +most momentous and fundamental doctrines, such as the necessity of +Baptism, the power of Absolution, the nature of the Holy Eucharist, +the effects of the sacrament of Holy Orders, and so forth. Were it not +for the iron hand of the State, which grasps her firmly, and binds her +mutually repellent elements together, she must have fallen to pieces +long ago. Now, we must beg our readers to consider well, that from the +very terms of the institution such a deplorable state of things as we +have been contemplating is absolutely impossible and unthinkable in +the Church (1) which <i>God-incarnate</i> founded, <i>for the express +purpose <a name="Page_64"></a>of handing down His doctrine</i>, pure and undefiled to the end +of time; and (2) with which He promised to abide for ever; and (3) +which the Holy Ghost Himself, speaking through St. Paul, declared to +be "the pillar and ground of truth" (1. Tim. iii. 15). Nevertheless, +if the Catholic Church, numbering over 250,000,000 of persons, is not +to fall into the sad plight that has overtaken all the small churches +that have gone out from her, she must not only desire unity, as, no +doubt, all the sects desire it, but she must have been provided by her +all-wise Founder with what none of them even profess to possess, +<i>viz.</i>, some simple, workable, and effective means of securing it. +This means, as practical as it is simple, is no other than one supreme +central and living authority, enjoying full jurisdiction over +all—that is to say, the authority of Peter, ever living in his See, +and speaking, now by the lips of Leo, and now by the lips of Pius, but +always in the name, and with the authority, and under the guidance of +Him who, in the plenitude of His divine power, made Peter the +<a name="Page_65"></a>immovable rock, against which the gates of hell may indeed expend +their fury, but against which they never have prevailed and never can +prevail. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against Thee." That any +one can fail to understand the meaning of these inspired words; that +any one can give them any application save that which they receive in +the Catholic Church, is but another illustration of the extraordinary +power of prejudice and pride to blind the reason and to darken the +understanding.</p> + +<p>Without this final Court of Appeal, set up by the wisdom of God, the +Church would disintegrate and fall into pieces to-morrow. To remove +from the Church of Christ the infallibility of the Pope would be like +removing the hub from the wheel, the key-stone from the arch, the +trunk from the tree, the foundation from the house. For, in each case +the result must mean confusion. If such a result could ever have been +doubted in the past, it can surely be doubted no longer. The sad +experience of the past three hundred years speaks more eloquently than +any words; <a name="Page_66"></a>and its verdict is conclusive. It proves two things beyond +dispute. The <i>first</i> is, that even the largest and most heterogeneous +body of men may be easily united and kept together, if they can all be +brought to recognise and obey one supreme authority; and the <i>second</i> +is, that, even a small and homogeneous body of men will soon divide +and split up into sections, if they cannot be brought to recognise +such an authority.</p> + +<p>Further, any one looking out over the face of Christendom, with an +unprejudiced eye, for the realisation of that unity which Christ +promised to affix to his Church as an infallible sign of authenticity, +will find it in the Catholic Communion, but certainly nowhere +else—least of all in the Church of England.</p> + +<p>"What," asks a well-known writer in unfeigned astonishment, "what +opinion is not held within the Established Church? Were not Dr. +Wilberforce and Dr. Colenso, Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Baring equally +Bishops of the Church of England? Were not Dr. Pusey and Mr. Jowett +at <a name="Page_67"></a>the same time her professors; Father Ignatius and Mr. Bellew her +ministers; Archdeacon Denison and Dr. M'Neile her distinguished +ornaments and preachers? Yet their religions differed almost as widely +as Buddhism from Calvinism, or the philosophy of Aristotle from that +of Martin Tupper." If a Catholic priest were to teach a single +heretical doctrine, he would be at once cashiered, and turned out of +the Church. But "if an Anglican minister must resign because his +opinions are at variance with some other Anglican minister, every soul +of them would have to retire, from the Archbishop of Canterbury down +to the last licentiate of Durham or St. Bees".</p> + +<p>As surely as infallibility is the essential prerogative of a divinely +constituted Teaching Church, so surely can it exist only in that +institution which alone has always claimed it, both as her gift by +promise and the sole explanation of her triumphs and her perpetuity. +It would be the idlest of dreams to search for it in a fractional part +of a modern community, like the Church <a name="Page_68"></a>of England, which had always +disowned and scoffed at it, and which could account for its own +existence <span class="sc">only</span> on the plea that the Promises of God had +signally failed, and that <i>it</i> alone was able to correct the failure.</p> + +<p>Men ask for some sign, by which they may recognise the true Church of +God and discriminate it readily from all spurious imitations. God, in +His mercy, offers them a sign—namely <span class="sc">unity</span>. Yet they +hesitate and hold back, and refuse to guide their tempest-tossed +barques by its unerring light into the one Haven of Salvation.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5">[5]</a> See Charge, etc., dated November, 1893.</p></div> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6">[6]</a> <i>Ang. Ministry</i>, by Hutton, p. 504.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_69"></a>CHAPTER V.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE POPE'S INFALLIBLE AUTHORITY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>1. The Church of God can be but one; because God is truth: and, truth +can be but one. The world may, and (as a matter of fact) does abound +in false Churches, just as it abounds in false deities; but, this is +rendered possible only <i>because they are false</i>. Two or more true +Churches involve a contradiction in terms. Such a condition of things +is as intrinsically absurd, and as unthinkable, as two or more true +Gods—as well talk of two or more multiplication tables! No! There can +be but "One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism". If several Churches all +teach the true doctrine of Christ, unmixed with error, they must all +agree, and, consequently, be virtually one and the self same. There is +no help for it; and sound reason <a name="Page_70"></a>will not tolerate any other +conclusion. The "Branch Theory" stands self-condemned, if truth be of +any importance: because it is inconsistent with truth. For, if one +Church contradicts the other on any single point of doctrine, then one +or the other must be false, that is, it must be either asserting what +Christ denied; or else denying what Christ asserted. They cannot, +under any circumstances, be described as <i>true</i> Churches. This is not +sophistry or subtilty. It is common-sense. Christ promised unity in +promising truth; since truth is one. Is Christ divided? asks St. Paul. +No! Then neither is His Church.</p> + +<p>2. How was His truth to be maintained and securely developed, century +after century, pure and untainted, and free from all admixture of +error? <i>Humanly</i> speaking, the thing was impossible. Then what +<i>superhuman</i> guarantee did He offer? What was to be our security? +Nothing less than the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost Himself.</p> + +<p>Surely, then, we need not be anxious <a name="Page_71"></a>after that! Listen, and remember +it is to God you are listening. "The Spirit of Truth shall abide with +you for ever" (John xiv. 17). Non-Catholics do not seem in the least +to realise what those words mean, or that it is God Himself who +promises. But, to continue; what is the purpose of this extraordinary +and enduring presence? Why is it given? What is it for? Well, for the +express purpose of hindering divisions and sects. In order to lead, +not to mislead us. How do we know? Because God said so: "He shall +guide you into all truth" (John xvi. 13). And this truth, thus +permanently secured, was to draw all together into one body. In fact, +we have it on Divine authority, that the Church of Christ was to be as +truly a single organic whole, in which every part is subject to one +head, as is a living human body. The similitude is not of man's +choosing, but is inspired by the Holy Spirit Himself. "As the +(natural) body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of +that one body, being many, are one body, so <a name="Page_72"></a>also is Christ.... Now, +ye are the (mystical) Body<a name="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> of Christ" (1 Cor. xii.).</p> + +<p>What can be clearer, what more explicit? Now, if the Spirit of Truth, +that is to say, the Holy Ghost, <i>is really</i> with the Church (as God +promised He always would be), and if He is always present for the +<i>express purpose of "guiding her into all truth"</i> (as God promised +would be the case), surely this guidance must be a great reality, and +not the mere sham that it is everywhere found to be, outside the +Catholic Church.</p> + +<p>3. Consciously or unconsciously, Anglicans and other non-Catholics +have for centuries denied the truth of Our Lord's words and have +contradicted His clearest statements. In fact, the Church of England, +in her Book of Homilies, declares that "clergy and laity, learned and +unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children, +of whole Christendom, were altogether drowned <a name="Page_73"></a>in damnable idolatry by +the space of 800 years and more"! (Hom. on Peril of Idol., part iii.). +This is a specimen of the way in which God's promises are set aside, +and the Bible misinterpreted by outsiders while professing to make it +the foundation of their creed. Nor was this the teaching of a few +irresponsible persons. It was enforced by the whole Anglican Church. +"All parsons, vicars, curates, and all others having spiritual cure," +were "straitly enjoined" to read these Homilies Sunday after Sunday +throughout the year in every church and chapel of the kingdom. And the +25th Article declares the second book of Homilies to contain "a godly +and wholesome doctrine and necessary for these times"! Probably this +"godly and wholesome doctrine" is no longer obliged to be read and +taught by Anglicans; probably they no longer consider it either +"godly" or "wholesome," but quite the reverse. This we are quite ready +to admit. But, in the name of common prudence, who, in his senses, +would trust the salvation of his <a name="Page_74"></a>immortal soul to a Church that +teaches a thing is white in one century and black in the next, and +never knows its own mind?</p> + +<p>Here then let us put two very pertinent questions, for our +non-Catholic friends to ponder over, and to answer, if they can. +First: How is it possible for the Church to go astray, if God the Holy +Ghost is really guiding? Second: How is it possible for the Church to +wander away into <i>error</i>, if this same Spirit be leading her into <i>all +truth</i>? Will some one kindly explain that, without at the same time +denying the veracity of God?</p> + +<p>4. However, granting the absolute truth of Christ's promises, we may +now proceed to inquire in what way this divine and (because divine) +infallible guidance into all truth is brought about? Is it by the Holy +Spirit whispering to each individual priest or to each individual +Bishop? Emphatically not. Why not? Because, if that theory were well +founded, then every priest and Bishop would believe and teach +precisely the same set of doctrines, <a name="Page_75"></a>without any need of an +infallible Pope to guide him. For, clearly, the Spirit of <i>Truth</i> +could not whisper "yea" to one, and "nay" to another, nor could He +declare a thing to be "black" to one person and "white" to his +neighbour. In fine, we have but two alternatives to choose from. We +must confess either that the promises themselves, so solemnly made, +are lies (which were blasphemy to affirm), or else, that God directs +His Church, and safeguards its truth, through its head, or chief +Pastor; just as we regulate and control the members of the physical +body through the brain. We must either renounce all belief in Christ +and His promises, or else admit that His words are actually carried +out, and that the prayer has been heard which He made for Peter, and +for those who should, in turn, exercise Peter's office and functions, +and should speak in his name. Harken to the narrative, as given by St. +Luke: "The Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have +you [<i>observe, the plural number</i>] that he may sift you as wheat; but +I have prayed <a name="Page_76"></a>[<i>not for all, but</i>] for <i>thee</i>, that <i>thy</i> faith fail +not: and <i>thou</i>, being once converted, confirm thy brethren" (Luke +xxii. 32) [<i>observe the singular number</i>, "thee," "thy" and "thou"].</p> + +<p>Peter still lives, in the person of Pope Pius X., and <i>in virtue of +that prayer</i>, and through the omnipotent power of God, Peter still +"confirms his brethren," and will continue to confirm them in the true +and pure doctrine of Christ, until the final crack of doom. As the +venerable Bishop W.B. Ullathorne wrote to Lady Chatterton, soon after +the Vatican Council, <i>i.e.</i>, 19th November, 1875: "There is but one +Church of Christ, with one truth, taught by one authority, received by +all, believed by all within its pale; or there is no security for +faith. If we examine Our Lord's words and acts, such a Church there +is. If we follow the inclinations of our fallen nature, ever averse to +the control of authority, we there find the reason why so many who +love this world, receive not the authority that He planted, to endure +like His primal creation, to the end."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_77"></a>It is pleasant to human pride and independence to be a little god, +having but oneself for an authority, and a light, and a law to +oneself. But does this or does it not contradict the fact that we are +dependent beings, and that the Lord, He is God? This spirit of +independence, with self-sufficiency for its basis, and rebellion for +its act, is <i>just what</i> Sacred Scripture ascribes to Satan" (p. 230).</p> + +<p>True. And it is just the reverse of the disposition that Christ +demands from all who wish to enter into His One Fold: for He declares +with startling clearness that "unless we become as little children" +(<i>i.e.</i>, docile, submissive, trustful, etc.) "we shall not enter into +the Kingdom of heaven," which is His Church.</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>5. Before proceeding further, it may be well here to draw a +distinction between the Pope, considered as the <i>supreme</i> ruler, and +the Pope, considered as the <i>infallible</i> ruler. The reigning Pontiff, +whosoever he may be, is always the Supreme Ruler, the <a name="Page_78"></a>Head of the +Church, and the Vicar of Christ; but he is not, on all occasions, nor +under all circumstances, the infallible ruler.</p> + +<p>To guard against any mistake as to the meaning of our words, let us +explain that infallibility is a gift, but not a gift that the Pope +exercises every day, nor on every occasion, nor in addressing +individuals, nor public audiences, nor is it a prerogative that can be +invoked, except under special and indeed we may certainly add, very +exceptional circumstances. And further—unlike other powers—it can +never be delegated to another. The Pope himself is Infallible, but he +cannot transfer nor communicate his Infallibility, even temporarily or +for some special given occasion, to anyone else who may, in other +respects, represent him, such as a Legate, Ambassador, or Nuncio.</p> + +<p>"Neither in conversation," writes the theologian Billuart, "nor in +discussion, nor in interpreting Scripture or the Fathers, nor in +consulting, nor in giving his reasons for the point which he has +defined, nor in <a name="Page_79"></a>answering letters, nor in private deliberations, +supposing he is setting forth his own opinion, is the Pope +infallible." He is not infallible as a theologian, or as a priest, or +a Bishop, or a temporal ruler, or a judge, or a legislator, or in his +political views, or even in the government of the Church: but only +when he teaches the Faithful throughout the world, <i>ex cathedrâ</i>, in +matters of faith or of morals, that is to say, in matters relating to +revealed truth, or to principles of moral conduct.</p> + +<p>"It in no way depends upon the caprice of the Pope, or upon his good +pleasure, to make such and such a doctrine the object of a dogmatic +definition. He is tied up and limited to the divine revelation, and to +the truths which that revelation contains. He is tied up and limited +by the Creeds, already in existence, and by the preceding definitions +of the Church. He is tied up and limited by the divine law and by the +constitution of the Church. Lastly, he is tied up and limited by that +doctrine, divinely revealed, which affirms that, alongside religious +society, there is civil society, <a name="Page_80"></a>that alongside the Ecclesiastical +Hierarchy, there is the power of temporal magistrates, invested, in +their own domain, with a full sovereignty, and to whom we owe in +conscience obedience and respect in all things morally permitted, and +belonging to the domain of civil society."<a name="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8"><sup>[8]</sup></a></p> + +<p>Further, a definition of divine faith must be drawn from the Apostolic +deposit of doctrine, in order that it may be considered an exercise of +infallibility, whether in Pope or Council. Similarly, a precept of +morals, if it is to be accepted as from an infallible voice, must be +drawn from the moral law, that primary revelation to us from God. The +Pope has no power over the Moral Law, except to assert it, to +interpret it and to enforce it.</p> + +<p>6. From this, it is at once realised how restricted, after all, is the +infallible power of the Pope, in spite of the alarm its definition +excited in the Protestant camp, in 1870.</p> + +<p>Still, it must be clearly understood that whether speaking <i>ex +cathedrâ</i> or not, <a name="Page_81"></a>the Pope is always the Vicar of Christ and the +divinely appointed Head of His Church, and that we, as dutiful +children, are bound both to listen to him with the utmost attention +and respect, and to show him ready and heartfelt obedience. Anyone who +should limit his submission to the Pope's infallible utterances is +truly a rebel at heart, and no true Catholic.</p> + +<p>The Holy Scripture is far from contemplating the exceptional cases of +infallible definitions when it lays down the command: "Remember them, +who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, +whose faith follow". And, "<i>obey</i> them that have the rule over you, +and <i>submit</i> yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that +must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief". +The margin in the Protestant Version (observes Cardinal Newman) reads +"those who are your <i>guides</i>," and the word may also be translated +"leaders". Well, whether as rulers or as guides and leaders, whichever +word be right, they are to be <i>obeyed</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_82"></a>7. From this it is evident enough that assent is of two kinds. There +is firstly the assent of Divine Faith; and secondly there is the +assent of religious obedience. Neither can be dispensed with. Both are +binding. All we affirm is that the one is not the other, and that the +first must not be confused with the last. A special kind of assent, +that is to say, the <i>assent of Divine Faith</i> must be given to all +those doctrines which are proposed to us by the infallible voice of +the Church, as taught by Our Lord or the Apostles, and as contained in +the original deposit [<i>fidei Depositum</i>]. They comprise (<i>a</i>) all +things whatever which God has directly revealed; and (<i>b</i>) whatever +truth such revelation implicitly contains.</p> + +<p>These implicit truths are deduced from the original revelation, very +much as any other consequence from its premisses. For example. It is a +truth directly revealed, that the <i>Holy Ghost is God</i>. But, since God +is to be adored: the further proposition:—<i>the Holy Ghost is to be +adored</i>; is also contained, though only implicitly, <a name="Page_83"></a>in revelation; +and is therefore, equally, of faith. So again; that Christ is man, is +a fact of revelation; but the further proposition—Christ has a true +body—though not explicitly stated, is implicitly affirmed in the +first proposition. All consequences, such as the above, which are seen +immediately and evidently to be contained in the words of revelation, +must be accepted as of faith. Other consequences, which are equally +contained in the original deposit, but which are not so readily +detected and deduced, <i>must be explicitly</i> accepted as of faith, only +so soon as the Church has publicly and authoritatively declared them +to be so contained; but not before. Thus, to take an illustration, the +Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin is a fact contained from +the beginning, implicitly locked up, as it were, in the deposit of +faith, left by the Apostles. Were it not so it never could have been +defined; for the Church does not invent doctrines. She only transmits +them. Yet, this doctrine is not so clearly and so self-evidently +included, and lies not so <a name="Page_84"></a>luminously and unmistakably on the very +surface of revelation as to be at once perceptible to all. Hence, +before its actual definition, a Catholic might deny it, or suspend his +judgment, without censure; whereas, to do either the one or the other, +after the Church has solemnly declared the doctrine to be contained in +the teaching of Christ and the Apostles, would be nothing short of +heresy.</p> + +<p>"The Infallibility, whether of the Church or of the Pope," says +Cardinal Newman, "acts principally or solely in two channels, (<i>a</i>) in +direct statement of truth, and (<i>b</i>) in the condemnation of error. The +former takes the shape of doctrinal definitions, the latter +stigmatises propositions as 'heretical,' 'next to heresy,' +'erroneous,' and the like" (p. 136).</p> + +<p>The gift of Infallibility, observes Cardinal Manning, "extends +<i>directly</i> to the whole matter of divine truth, and <i>indirectly</i> to +all truths which, though not revealed, are in such contact with +revelation that the deposit of faith and morals cannot be guarded, +expounded, and defended, <a name="Page_85"></a>without an infallible discernment of such +unrevealed truths" (<i>Vatican Decrees</i>, p. 167).</p> + +<p>8. To sum up: Persons who refuse to assent to doctrines which they +know to be directly revealed and defined, or which are universally +held by the Church as of Catholic Faith, become by that very act +guilty of heresy, and cut themselves adrift from the mystical Body of +Christ, and are no longer His members. If, on the other hand, their +assent is refused only to doctrines closely connected with these +dogmatic utterances, and which, as such, are proposed for their +acceptance, they become guilty, if not of actual heresy, then of +something perilously akin to it, and are, at all events, guilty of +serious sin.</p> + +<p>We may observe, in conclusion, that the Infallibility of Pontifical +definitions, as Father Humphrey so pertinently reminds us, does not +depend upon the reigning Pontiff's possession of any real knowledge of +ancient Church history or theology, or philosophy or science, but +<i>simply</i> and solely upon the assistance of God the Holy Ghost, +guaranteed to him in his exercise <a name="Page_86"></a>of his function of Chief Pastor, in +feeding with divine doctrine the entire flock of God. Our Anglican +friends seem penetrated with the utterly false notion of justification +by scholarship alone; which is as untrue as it is unscriptural. +Indeed, their justification by scholarship is likely to lead to very +undesirable and deplorable results.</p> + +<p>In the foregoing chapter we have considered especially the Pope's +Infallible authority, and the assent and obedience due to it. In our +next it remains for us to consider the proper attitude of a loyal +Catholic towards the Sovereign Pontiff as the supreme ruler and +governor of the Church of God, even when not speaking <i>ex cathedrâ</i>.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7">[7]</a> The word <i>soma</i>, observes Mgr. Capel, is never used in +Greek to express <i>mere</i> association or aggregation (<i>Catholic</i>, p. +13).</p></div> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8">[8]</a> From a Pastoral of the Swiss Bishops, which <i>received the +Pope's approbation</i>.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_87"></a>CHAPTER VI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE POPE'S ORDINARY AUTHORITY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>1. When the Holy Father speaks <i>ex cathedrâ</i>, and defines any doctrine +concerning Faith or Morals, we are bound to receive his teaching with +the assent of divine faith: and cannot refuse obedience, without being +guilty of heresy. By one such wilful act of disobedience we cease to +be members of the Church of God, and must be classed with heathens and +publicans: "Who will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the +heathen and the publican" (Matt, xviii. 17).</p> + +<p>But the Holy Father rarely exercises his prerogative of Infallibility, +and therefore the occasions of these special professions of faith +occur but seldom—not once, perhaps, during the course of many years.</p> + +<p>2. What then, it may be asked, is the <a name="Page_88"></a>proper attitude of a Catholic +towards the Pope, at ordinary times?</p> + +<p>For a proper understanding of the answer, it may be well to remind the +general reader, that the law of God enjoins obedience to all lawfully +constituted authority; whether ecclesiastical or civil, and whether +Infallible or not: further that the Pope, whether speaking <i>ex +cathedrâ</i> or not, is always our lawful superior in all matters +appertaining to religion, not only as regards faith and morals, but +also as regards ecclesiastical order and discipline. His jurisdiction, +or authority to command in these matters, is supreme and universal, +and carries with it a corresponding right to be obeyed. He is the +immediate and supreme representative of God upon earth; and has been +placed in that position by God Himself. And since the Primacy is +neither in whole, nor even in part of human derivation, but comes +directly and immediately from Christ, no man or number of men, whether +kings or princes or individual Bishops, nor even a whole Council of +<a name="Page_89"></a>Bishops, have any warranty or right to command him in religious or +ecclesiastical concerns.<a name="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> The Council of Florence declares that: "To +him, in Blessed Peter, was delivered by Our Lord Jesus Christ the full +power of ruling and governing the Universal Church". Now this "full +power" accorded by Christ cannot be limited except by the authority of +Christ. Though the Pope is not the Sovereign of all the faithful in +the <i>temporal</i> order, he is the Sovereign of all Christians in the +<i>spiritual</i> order. If then—and this is admitted by all—we are bound +in conscience to obey our temporal sovereign and magistrates and +masters, and must submit to the laws of the country, so long as they +do not conflict with higher and superior laws, such as the Natural Law +and the Revealed Law, with still greater reason <a name="Page_90"></a>are we bound to obey +our spiritual Sovereign and the laws and regulations of the Church.</p> + +<p>3. To object that the Pope may possibly make a mistake when not +speaking <i>ex cathedrâ</i> though true, is nothing to the point. For civil +governments are far more liable to fail in this respect, and as a +matter of fact, do frequently abuse their power and pass unjust laws, +and sometimes command what is sinful,<a name="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> yet that fact does not +militate against the soundness of the <i>general</i> proposition that +lawful superiors are to be obeyed. Nor does it diminish the force of +St. Peter's inspired words, in which he bids us be subject, for God's +sake, "whether it be to the king, as excelling, or to governors as +sent by him for the punishment of evil doers ... for such is the will +of God" (Peter ii.). Nor does it detract from the truth and validity +<a name="Page_91"></a>of St. Paul's still more emphatic words: "Let every soul be subject to +higher powers; for there is no power but from God: and those that are +ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, <i>resisteth the +ordinance of God. And they that resist purchase to themselves +damnation</i>" (Rom. xiii.). And again, when writing to Titus he says: +"Admonish them to be subject to princes and powers, and to obey" (Tit. +iii. 1).</p> + +<p>If the Apostles themselves thus command obedience to the State, even +to a pagan Government, such as the Roman was at the time they wrote, +it will scarcely be denied by any Christian that obedience is due to +the Church, and to the ecclesiastical government, altogether apart +from any question of infallibility. In fact, though both the civil +government and the ecclesiastical government are from God, and though +each is supreme within its own sphere; yet the authority in the case +of the Church is directly and immediately from God, whereas in the +case of the State, it is from God only mediately. This is <a name="Page_92"></a>why the +form of government, in the case of the State, may vary. It may be at +one time monarchical, and at another republican, and then oligarchic, +and so forth, whereas the Church must ever be ruled by one Supreme +Pontiff, and be monarchical in its form. Further, it is generally held +that even when not speaking <i>ex cathedrâ</i>, "the Vicar of Christ is +largely assisted by God in the fulfilment of his sublime office; that +he receives great light and strength to do well the great work +entrusted to him and imposed upon him, and that he is continually +guided from above in the government of the Catholic Church." [Words of +Father O'Reilly, S.J., quoted with approval by Cardinal Newman, p. +140.] And that supplies us with a special and an additional motive for +prompt obedience.</p> + +<p>"Two powers govern the world," wrote Pope Gelasius, to the Greek +Emperor Anastasius, more than fourteen hundred years ago, "the +spiritual authority of the Roman Pontiff, and the temporal power of +kings". These two powers have for <a name="Page_93"></a>their end, one the spiritual +happiness of man, here and hereafter, the other the temporal +prosperity of society in the present world. So that, we may say, +speaking generally, the Roman Pontiff has, in spiritual and +ecclesiastical matters, the same authority that secular sovereigns and +their Parliaments have in worldly and political matters. They command +and issue laws not only as regards what is <i>necessary</i> for the welfare +of their subjects, but also as regards whatever is lawful and +expedient. It is not contended that they never make a mistake. It is +not asserted that their ruling is necessarily, and in every +particular, always wise and discreet, but even inexpedient orders, if +not unjust, may be valid and binding, even though they might have been +better non-issued. The principle to guide us is of practical +simplicity. As regards both the Church and the State—each in its own +order—the rule is that obedience is to be yielded. And, in doubtful +cases the presumption is in favour of authority. If anything were +ordered, which is <i>clearly seen</i> to be <a name="Page_94"></a>contrary to, or incompatible +with the Law of God, whether natural or revealed, then, of course, it +would possess no binding force, for the Apostle warns us that—"We +must obey God, rather than man"—but, so long as we remain in a state +of uncertainty, we are bound to give a properly constituted authority +the benefit of the doubt—and submit.</p> + +<p>4. With these preliminary explanations and considerations to guide us +in our interpretation, we will now give the solemn teaching on the +subject, as laid down in the third chapter of the <i>Pastor Æternus</i>, +drawn up and duly promulgated by the Ecumenical Council of the +Vatican; and therefore of supreme authority.</p> + +<p>"We teach and declare that the Roman Church, according to the +disposition of the Lord, obtains the princedom of ordinary power over +all the other Churches; and that this, the Roman Pontiff's power of +jurisdiction, which is truly episcopal, is immediate; towards which +(power) all the pastors and faithful, of whatever right and dignity, +whether each separately or all <a name="Page_95"></a>collectively, are bound by the duty of +hierarchical subordination and true obedience, not only in the things +which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to +the <i>discipline and government</i> (<i>regimen</i>) of the Church diffused +through the whole world; so that, unity being preserved with the Roman +Pontiff, as well of communion as of the profession of the same faith, +the Church of Christ may be one flock under one pastor. This is the +doctrine of Catholic truth, from which no one can deviate without loss +of faith and salvation."</p> + +<p>"We also teach and declare that the Roman Pontiff is the supreme judge +of the faithful, and that in all causes belonging to ecclesiastical +examination recourse can be had to his judgment: and that the judgment +of the Apostolic See, than whose authority there is none greater, is +not to be called in question, nor is it lawful for any one to judge +its judgment. Therefore, those wander from the right path of truth who +affirm that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman +Pontiffs to an <a name="Page_96"></a>Ecumenical Council, as to an authority superior to the +Roman Pontiff."</p> + +<p>"If any one, therefore, shall say that the Roman Pontiff has only the +office of inspection or direction, but not full and supreme power of +jurisdiction over the Universal Church, not only in the things which +pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to the +discipline and government of the Church diffused throughout the whole +world, or that he has only the principal place (<i>potiores partes</i>), +and not the whole plenitude of the supreme power, or that this, his +power, is not ordinary and immediate, whether over all and each of the +Churches, or over all and each of the pastors and faithful, let him be +anathema!"</p> + +<p>5. Since the Church is a perfect society, spread throughout the entire +world, with one supreme ruler at its head, it follows that it must be +endowed with all the means requisite for the carrying out of its +mission. Christ was sent, by His Eternal Father, from Heaven with full +powers. "All power is given me in heaven and in earth"; and these +powers He handed on to His <a name="Page_97"></a>Church. "As the Father hath sent Me, so I +also send you" (John xx. 21). Hence the Popes are, to use Scriptural +phraseology, "ambassadors for Christ; God, as it were, exhorting by +them" (2 Cor. v. 20); and no Catholic dare contest their power or +jurisdiction.</p> + +<p>Indeed, it would have been hopelessly impossible to carry on the +government of the Church and to maintain unity amongst its +ever-increasing numbers, if there were no supreme authority ready to +assert itself; to correct errors; to resist abuses; and to restrain +those who might introduce dissensions and differences. Of this fact, +the present deplorable chaotic state of the Anglican and other +non-Catholic Churches offers us abundant and forcible illustrations. +From the very first the One True Church has not only taught, but +ruled; not only spoken, but acted. And when any of her subjects have +proved obstreperous and disobedient, and stubborn in their resistance +to her orders, she has invariably turned them out of her fold, so that +they should not infect and contaminate the <a name="Page_98"></a>good and the loyal. It was +in this sense that St. Paul, the inspired Apostle, in the very first +century of the Christian era, instructed Titus to construe and +administer the law committed to his charge. After warning Titus that +there are "many vain talkers and deceivers," St. Paul commands him "to +rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in faith". He adds +further: "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke, <i>with all +authority</i>". But this was not all. He was not only to decide who were +the "vain talkers and deceivers". Nor was he simply "to exhort and +rebuke them sharply, and with all authority," that they might become +"sound in the faith," but if they persisted after the first and second +admonition, he was also to reject them, and thrust them out of the +Church, as heretics. "Reject a heretic, after the first and second +admonition" (Tit. iii. 10). Now Titus was neither an Apostle nor a +Pope, but a simple Bishop. If then such were the powers invested in +him, how much more fully still must this authority be inherent in <a name="Page_99"></a>the +Vicar of Christ himself, who is the supreme head upon earth of the +entire Church of God.</p> + +<p>It is this prompt amputation of the diseased members, before the +hideous canker has time to spread, that has kept the Church of God +pure to this day, while heretical bodies have fallen into greater and +greater spiritual decay. It is because she fearlessly and resolutely +insists upon all her children accepting the truth, the whole truth, +and nothing but the truth, that she presents to the world, century +after century, with miraculous clearness and perspicuity, the Divine +hall-mark of unity.</p> + +<p>6. Outside the true Church of God there is no recognised voice strong +enough to enforce any uniformity of belief. Though the Pope's +authority was acknowledged throughout England for over one thousand +years, yet at the time of the so-called Reformation, that Voice of +God, speaking through Peter, was admitted no longer. Hence, as +Cardinal Manning most truly observes: "The old forms of religious +<a name="Page_100"></a>thought are now passing away in England. The rejection of the Divine +Voice has let in the flood of opinion; and opinion has generated +scepticism; and scepticism has brought on contentions without end. +What seemed so solid once, is disintegrated. It is dissolving by the +internal action of the principle from which it sprung. The critical +unbelief of dogma has now reached to the foundation of Christianity, +and to the veracity of Scripture. Such is the world the Catholic +Church Sees before it at this day. The Anglicanism of the Reformation +is <i>upon the rocks</i>, like some tall ship stranded upon the shore, and +going to pieces, by its own weight and the steady action of the sea. +We have no need of playing the wreckers. It would be inhumanity to do +so. God knows that the desires and prayers of Catholics are ever +ascending that all that remains of Christianity in England may be +preserved, unfolded and perfected into the whole circle of revealed +truths, and the unmutilated revelation of the Faith.</p> + +<p>"It is inevitable that if we speak plainly <a name="Page_101"></a>we must give pain and +offence to those who will not admit the possibility that they are out +of the Faith and the Church of Jesus Christ. But, if we do not speak +plainly, woe unto us, for we shall betray our trust and our Master. +There is a day coming, when they who have softened down the truth, or +have been silent, will have to give account. I had rather be thought +harsh than be conscious of hiding the light which has been mercifully +shown to me" (<i>Temp. Mission</i>, etc., p. 215).</p> + +<p>It would be well if all Catholics took to heart these noble words of +the great English Cardinal, who was himself once an Archdeacon in the +Anglican Church. Real charity urges us to set forth the truth in all +its nakedness and beauty. This must be done, even though it may +sometimes give pain and cause irritation. If a man be walking in a +trance towards the crumbling edge of some ghastly precipice, who—let +me ask—acts with the greater charity, he who is afraid to interfere, +and will calmly allow the somnambulist to walk on, till he fall over +into the <a name="Page_102"></a>abyss; or he who will shout, and, if need be, roughly shake +him from his fatal sleep, and so, perhaps, save him from destruction? +Surely, to allow a fellow-creature to follow a path of extreme danger, +for fear of wounding his susceptibilities and incurring his anger, by +candidly pointing out his peril, is the mark, not of a lover of his +brethren, but rather of one who loves himself alone.</p> + +<p>We will conclude with the warning of God, given through the inspired +writer Ezekiel, the application of which, <i>positis ponendis</i>, is +sufficiently plain: "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shall surely +die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked +from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die +in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at thy hand. Yet <i>if +thou warn the wicked</i>, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from +his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but <i>thou hast delivered +thy soul</i>" (Ezek. iii. 18).</p> + +<p><a name="Page_103"></a><i>P.S.</i>—Among the authors quoted in <span class="sc">The Purpose of the +Papacy</span> may be mentioned the following, as being easily obtainable +by English readers: Allnatt, Allies, Bonomelli, Capel, Castelplano, +Dering, Deviver, Franzelin, Humphrey, Manning, Merry del Val, Meyer, +Minges, Newman, O'Reilly, Rhodes, Ullathorne, Ward.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9">[9]</a> "Da chi dipenderà il Pontefice nell' esercizio del suo +potere Spirituale? Dai Rè? Eccovi il gallicanismo parlamentare! Dalle +masse dei fedeli? Eccovi il richerianismo, e febronianismo! Dai +Vescovi? Eccovi il gallicanismo teologico" (<i>L. di Castelplanio</i>, p. +104).</p></div> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10">[10]</a> Take for instance, 37 Henry VIII. Chap. 17, which +recites that "the clergy have no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, but by +and under the King, who is the <i>only Supreme Head of the Church</i> of +England, to whom <i>all</i> authority and power is <i>wholly</i> given to hear +and determine all causes ecclesiastical."</p></div> +<a name="Page_104"></a> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="PART_II"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_105"></a>PART II.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.</h3> + +<h4>OR</h4> + +<h3>THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE IN ENGLAND IN PRE-REFORMATION TIMES.</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<div style="margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;"> + <p>As the First Part of this little treatise is devoted to a + consideration of the position of the Pope and the authority + which he exercises throughout the Universal Church; so the + Second Part is concerned with the position occupied and the + authority exercised by the same Sovereign Pontiff in our own + country of England, before she was cut off from the + Universal Church in the sixteenth century.</p></div> + + +<br /> +<a name="Page_106"></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_Ib"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_107"></a>CHAPTER I.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORMATION.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>One of the greatest glories of the Catholic Church is that she and she +alone possesses and is able to communicate to others the whole truth +revealed by Jesus Christ. The Church of England and other Churches +that have gone out from her have, we are thankful to say, carried with +them some fragments of Christianity, but the Catholic Church alone +possesses the whole unadulterated revelation of Jesus Christ. For over +a thousand years, the Church in England formed a part of the great +Universal Church, the centre of which is at Rome and the circumference +of which is everywhere. From the sixth to the sixteenth century the +Church in England was a province of that Church, and <a name="Page_108"></a>received her +power and jurisdiction from the Holy See. It was not until the +sixteenth century that she apostatised, and was cut off from the stem, +out of which she had sprung, as a rotten branch is lopped off from a +healthy tree. It was not until then that she became a Church apart, +distinct from the Church of God, no longer the <i>Catholic</i> Church <i>in</i> +England, but henceforth the <i>National</i> Church <i>of</i> England and of +England alone. The pre-"Reformation" Church was, as we have said, not +a separate Church, but a part of the one Catholic Church, whereas the +post-"Reformation" Church stands alone, unrecognised by the rest of +Christendom; hence the one is absolutely distinct from the other. The +grand old cathedrals and churches designed, built, and paid for by our +Catholic ancestors have been forcibly taken possession of, but the +Faith, the teaching, and the doctrine—in a word, the Church +itself—is totally distinct. The wolf may slay and devour the sheep +and may then clothe himself in its fleece, but the wolf is not the +sheep, and the nature <a name="Page_109"></a>of the one remains totally different from that +of the other. The proofs of all this are so numerous and so striking +that one scarcely knows which to choose, nor where to begin. In the +present chapter, we will content ourselves with calling attention to +certain points that every one will be able to grasp. It is said that a +straw will show which way the wind blows, so things even trivial in +themselves will enable any unprejudiced man to see that there must be +some radical difference between the Church in England four hundred +years ago, and the Church of England to-day. First, let us just look +round and consider the Catholic Church. It is spread all over the +world. It is found in France, in Belgium, in Italy, in Spain, and in +other countries, all of which recognised the Church in England before +the "Reformation" as one in faith and doctrine with themselves. They +felt themselves united with it in one and the same belief; they taught +the same seven Sacraments; they gathered around the same Sacrifice; +they acknowledged the same supremacy <a name="Page_110"></a>of the same spiritual head. Now +there is no single Catholic country that recognises the Church of +England as anything but heretical and schismatical.</p> + +<p>Formerly when any Archbishop of Canterbury travelled abroad he was +received as a brother by the Catholic Bishops all over the Continent. +He felt thoroughly at home in the Catholic churches, and offered up +the Divine Mysteries at their altars, using the same sacred vessels, +reading from the same missal, speaking the same language, and feeling +himself to be a member of the same spiritual family. Can the present +Archbishop of Canterbury follow their example? Would the Cardinal +Archbishop of Paris, for instance, or the Archbishop of Milan receive +the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, as a brother Bishop? Would they +cause their cathedrals to be thrown open to him? No.</p> + +<p>In vain does the Archbishop of Canterbury of to-day claim continuity +with the pre-"Reformation" Archbishops. For no one would be found to +admit such a claim. <a name="Page_111"></a>It may be said that this is of no great +importance. It may not be in itself, but it is the straw which shows +the way the wind blows; and clearly proves that the verdict of the +entire world and the chief centres of Christendom is against +continuity.</p> + +<p>Let us take another "straw". Before the pseudo-Reformation there were +Cardinals exercising authority in the Church in England. Some of them +even became famous. There was, for instance, Cardinal Stephen Langton, +who was Primate of England, and who brought together the Barons, and +forced the Great Charter from King John. There, amongst the signatures +to that famous document we find the name of a Roman Cardinal. From the +time of Stephen Langton to the time of Cardinal Fisher in the +sixteenth century there was a long succession of Cardinals in England, +all of whom were members of the Church in England. From the time of +Cardinal Robert Pullen to that of Cardinal John Fisher there were no +fewer than twenty-two Roman Cardinals belonging to that Church. How is +it that <a name="Page_112"></a>during those thousand years the English Church could have and +actually did have Cardinals, up to the time of the so-called +Reformation, but never since? How is it that such a thing has ceased +to be possible? Clearly because it is no longer the same Church. +Before, England was a part of the Universal Church; and just as the +Church in Italy, France, and Spain, had, and still have, their +Cardinals, so England also was given its share of representation in +the Sacred College. We shall realise the inference to be drawn if we +consider what a Cardinal is. In the first place, he is one chosen +directly by the Pope; secondly, he is one of the Pope's advisers; +thirdly, when the Holy Father dies it is he, as a member of the Sacred +College, who has to elect a successor; furthermore, he swears +allegiance to the Sovereign Pontiff, and on bended knee, with his +hands on the Holy Gospels, he solemnly declares his adhesion to the +Roman Catholic Faith. No Anglican of the present day, no Protestant, +no one who is not an out-and-out Roman Catholic can be, or <a name="Page_113"></a>could ever +have been, a Cardinal, yet there were Cardinals here in the Church in +England, and, as we have stated, a long succession of them right up to +the time of the pseudo-Reformation. How can there be continuity and +spiritual identity between the Church <i>in</i> England, which before that +change could and did have Cardinals, and the Church <i>of</i> England +to-day, which can produce nothing of the kind? Cardinals or no +Cardinals is not a matter of great importance in itself, but it is +another "straw" which clearly shows the completely altered condition +of things. Let us pass to another point. During the period between the +sixth and sixteenth centuries there were many canonised saints in the +Church in England. I refer to such men as St. Bede, who lived in the +eighth century; to St. Odo of Canterbury; to St. Dunstan, Archbishop +of Canterbury, in the tenth century; to St. Wolstan of Worcester; to +St. Osmond, Bishop of Salisbury in the eleventh century; to St. Thomas +à Becket, in the twelfth century; to St. <a name="Page_114"></a>Richard, Bishop of +Chichester and St. Edmund, in the thirteenth century; and to many +others we could mention, whose names are enrolled in the lists of the +Catholic Church, and who are set up before her children as models of +virtue, as the most perfect specimens of sanctity, and as worthy of +our imitation—all members of the Church in England before the +pseudo-Reformation.<a name="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> How is it that the present Church of England +has never canonised any saint? Those to whom I have referred represent +the best and truest of the Church in England before the "Reformation". +We still show them reverence. In many cases we even recite their +offices and Masses. How, then, can they be members of the same Church +as the Church of England of to-day, which we know to be a schismatical +body, cut off <a name="Page_115"></a>from the unity of Christendom some four hundred years +ago? There has been no saint canonised according to the rite of the +Church of England, but if there had been, we would not and could not +reverence them, for they would be to us outside the Church—aliens, +heretics, and, from that point of view at all events, unworthy of +imitation. Let us point out yet another "straw" which clearly +indicates the essential difference between the Church in England +before the "Reformation" and the Church of England after it. When the +young King Henry VIII. first came to the throne he, like all his +predecessors, both kings and queens, was a true Roman Catholic. So +much so, that when a doctrine of the Church was attacked he wrote a +book in its defence; in fact, the Pope was so pleased with his zeal +that he determined to reward him by conferring on him the title of +"Defender of the Faith". But, in the name of common-sense! Defender of +what Faith? Was it the Protestant faith? Was it the faith professed by +the present Church of England? Is it likely, <a name="Page_116"></a>is it possible, that any +Pope would confer such a title on any one who was not in union with +the Holy See, and who rejected Catholic doctrine? Such a thing is +unthinkable. Was the faith of Henry VIII. before the break with Rome +the same as that of Edward VII. who on his coronation day declared the +Mass to be false, Transubstantiation to be absurd, and Catholics to be +idolaters? If not, then what becomes of the continuity theory? The +fact is that between the Church in England before the sixteenth +century and the Church of England to-day there is no real connection, +no true resemblance, and those who endeavour to prove the contrary are +but falsifying history and throwing dust into the eyes of simple +people, and trying to prove what is absolutely and wholly untrue.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11">[11]</a> As early as 1170 Pope Alexander III. decreed that the +consent of the Roman Church was necessary before public honour as a +saint could be given to any person. Is it conceivable that such +consent would be given by any Pope in the case of one not united to +Rome in the same faith?</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IIb"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_117"></a>CHAPTER II.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE OATH OF OBEDIENCE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In order to realise the absolute absurdity of the continuity theory, +and to see how thoroughly Roman Catholic England was right up to the +"Reformation," it is enough for us to turn back the hands of the great +clock of time some few hundred years, and to visit England at any +period during the long interval between the sixth and the sixteenth +century.</p> + +<p>One of the first facts that would strike any observant visitor to our +shores in those days, would be the attitude of the Church in England +towards the Holy See. Every Archbishop, every metropolitan from the +time of St. Augustine himself, <span class="sc">a.d.</span> 601, up to the sixteenth +century, not merely acknowledged the authority of the Pope, but +solemnly swore to show him reverence and obedience. Furthermore, even +when an Archbishop had been <a name="Page_118"></a>appointed and consecrated, he could not +exercise jurisdiction until he had received the sacred pallium, which +came from Rome, and was received as the symbol and token of the +authority conferred on him by the supreme Pastor. The pallium itself, +"taken from the body of Blessed Peter," is a band of lamb's wool, and +was worn by each Archbishop as the pledge of unity and of orthodoxy, +as well as the fetter of loving subjection to the Supreme Pastor of +the One Fold, the "apostolic yoke" of Catholic obedience.</p> + +<p>In the early Saxon times, long before trains or steamers had been +invented, we find Primate after Primate of All England undertaking the +long and perilous journey over the sea, and then across the Continent +of Europe, and over the precipitous and dangerous passes of the Alps, +down through the sunny and vine-clad slopes of Italy, in order to +receive the pallium in person from the venerable successor of St. +Peter, in the great Basilica in Rome. But, whether they actually went +for it themselves in person, or whether special <a name="Page_119"></a>messengers were sent +with it from Rome to England, they always awaited its reception before +they considered themselves fully empowered to exercise their +metropolitan functions. By way of illustration, it may be interesting +to consider some special case, and we will then leave the reader to +judge whether we are dealing with an England that is <i>Catholic</i> or an +England that is <i>Protestant</i>; with an England united to the Holy See +and to the rest of Catholic Europe, or an England independent of the +Holy See, isolated, and established by Law and Parliament, as it is +to-day—an England in possession of the truth, which is universal and +the same everywhere, or an England clinging to error, which is local, +national and circumscribed.</p> + +<p>It does not much matter what name we select; any will answer our +purpose. Let us then take Simon Langham, as good and honest an English +name as ever there was. It is the year 1366, some two hundred years +before the Church in England cut itself off from the rest of +Christendom. <a name="Page_120"></a>The metropolitan See of Canterbury is vacant. The +widowed Diocese seeks, at the hands of the Pope, Urban V., a new +Archbishop. After mature inquiry and consideration the Pope selects +Simon Langham. And who is he? Who is this distinguished man, now +called to rule over that portion of the one Catholic Church +represented by England? If we study his history we shall find that he +in no way resembles the typical amiable Anglican Canon of the present +day, with a wife and children, living within the Cathedral close, but +that he is a simple, austere, Benedictine monk. He has been living for +some time past in the famous Abbey of Westminster. He was first a +simple monk, then he was chosen Prior, and finally Lord Abbot. Some +years later, <i>i.e.</i>, in 1362, he was appointed to the vacant See of +Ely. By whom? Well, in those days the Church was not a mere department +of the State, so it was not by the Crown. No: nor by the Prime +Minister, as in the Anglican Church of to-day. But, as history +records, by a <a name="Page_121"></a>special Papal Bull. Thus, at the time we are now +considering, <i>viz.</i>, 1366, he had been Bishop just four years. Now, +the Primatial throne of St. Augustine, as already stated, has become +vacant, and Simon Langham, the Bishop of Ely, is appointed Archbishop +of Canterbury, and Lord Primate of England.</p> + +<p>As with all the other Archbishops before the "Reformation," he cannot +exercise his metropolitan powers till he has received from Rome the +insignia of his office, <i>viz.</i>, the sacred pallium. On this occasion +the Archbishop does not go himself to Italy, to receive it from the +hands of the Sovereign Pontiff, but it is brought by special +messengers from Rome to England.</p> + +<p>We may well imagine the interest these visitors from the Eternal City +would excite among the population of London. Their dark complexion and +bright, black eyes, and foreign appearance would, no doubt, attract +considerable attention. Of course they would be made welcome and be +shown the chief sights of the city. They <a name="Page_122"></a>would greatly admire, for +instance, the beauty of Westminster Abbey, and would probably ask its +history. Then they would be told how it originated with St. Edward the +Confessor. How he had made a vow to go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of +the Apostles at Rome, like a loyal Catholic, in order to pay homage to +the successor of St. Peter, whom Christ appointed as head of the +Church; how the pious King, finding his kingdom in danger of invasion, +and his authority threatened, and not daring to absent himself, begged +the Pope to release him from his vow; how the Pope at once commuted +it, and bade him build a church instead, in honour of St. Peter; and +so forth. Then they would very likely visit the inmates of the Abbey. +The Benedictine monks who served the Abbey would entertain them, and +ask after their brethren in Italy. Some of these English monks would +in all likelihood have been educated at Subiaco, where St. Benedict +first lived, or at Monte Cassino, where he died, and where his body +still lies. In any case, these English monks were <a name="Page_123"></a>undoubtedly true +children of St. Benedict, and followed his rule, and were animated by +his spirit, and rejoiced to acknowledge him as their founder and +spiritual father. There was nothing of the modern Anglican, and +nothing insular about them!</p> + +<p>In the meantime the great day arrives. It is the 4th of November in +the year 1366. The bells of the Abbey are ringing a merry peal. The +Faithful are flocking in to witness the Archbishop receive the +Pallium, the symbol of jurisdiction, and the sign that all spiritual +authority emanates from St. Peter, who alone has received the keys, +and from his rightful successors in the Petrine See of Rome.</p> + +<p>It is a grand ceremony, and we have even to-day, in the old Latin +records, a full account of what took place. Anything more truly Roman +Catholic, or less like the Anglican Church of the "Reformation," it +would be difficult to imagine.</p> + +<p>It was directed by the rubrics, that the Cathedral clergy should be +called together, at an early hour, and that Prime <a name="Page_124"></a>and the rest of the +Divine Office should be recited, up to the High Mass. Then the +cross-bearers and torch-bearers and thurifers, and the attendants +carrying the Book of the Gospels and other articles of the sanctuary, +are drawn up in processional order in the chancel. Two and two, +followed by priests and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, they walk +down the nave. Then comes the Archbishop himself, robed in full +pontificals, though, out of respect to the Pallium, with bare feet. +The rubric on this point is explicit, <i>viz.</i>, "nudis pedibus". Behind +the Archbishop come the Prior and the monks wearing copes. In this +order they all pass through the streets of London to the gate of the +city to meet the Papal Commissioner who bears the Pallium. He is +dressed in an alb and choir-cope, and solemnly carries the Pallium +enclosed in a costly vessel either of gold or of silver. As soon as +the procession meets the Pallium-bearer it turns round, and those who +issued forth retrace their steps towards the Abbey. Last but one walks +the Archbishop, and last of all <a name="Page_125"></a>follows the bearer of the Pallium. On +reaching the church the Pallium is reverently laid on the high altar. +The Archbishop then remains, for some minutes, prostrate in prayer +before the high altar. Then the choir having finished their singing, +the Archbishop rises, and turning to the assembled multitude, gives +them his blessing. He then approaches the altar, and with his hands +upon the holy Gospels, takes the following solemn oath.</p> + +<p>Now, gentle reader, we are anxious that you should pay particular +attention to the words of this oath. They may be found in Wilkins' +<i>Concilia</i> (vol. ii., p. 199), in the original Latin, just as they +were uttered by Simon Langham, and other Archbishops, in old Catholic +days. We give them translated into English. And, as you read them, ask +yourselves whether the Archbishops who uttered them were genuine Roman +Catholics, or merely Parliamentary Bishops of the local and national +variety, belonging to the present English Establishment.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_126"></a>We take our stand in spirit in Westminster Abbey, on the 4th day of +November, 1366, and, in common with the rest of the vast congregation +which fills every available space, we listen to the newly elected +Archbishop, as in clear, ringing words, with his hands on the Gospels, +he swears as follow:—</p> + +<p>"I, Simon Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury, will be from this hour +henceforth faithful and obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy +Apostolic Roman Church, and to my Lord the Pope, Urban V., and to his +canonical successors."</p> + +<p>Surely, some of us would open our eyes pretty wide if we saw the +present Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury with his hands on the +Gospels taking that oath. Yet we are assured, <i>ad nauseam</i>, that the +Church to which Simon Cardinal Langham belonged is the same as the +present Church of England, which repudiates the authority of the Pope +altogether. The same? Well, yes; if light and darkness, and sweetness +and bitterness, are the same. But let us read the whole of the oath: +"I, Simon <a name="Page_127"></a>Langham, will be from this hour henceforth faithful and +obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy Apostolic Roman Church, and to +my Lord the Pope, Urban V., and to his canonical successors. Neither +in counsel or consent or in deed, will I take part in aught by which +they might suffer loss of life, or limb, or liberty. Their counsel +which they may confide to me, whether by their envoys or their letter, +I will, to their injury, wittingly disclose to no man. The Roman +Papacy and the royalty of St. Peter, I will be their helper to defend +and to maintain, saving my order, against all men. When summoned to a +Synod I will come, unless hindered by a canonical impediment. The +Legate of the Apostolic See I will treat honourably in his coming and +going, and will help him in his needs. Every third year I will visit +the threshold of the Apostles, either personally or by proxy, unless I +am dispensed by Apostolic licence. The possessions which pertain to +the support of my Archbishopric, I will not sell, nor give away, nor +pledge, nor re-enfeoff, nor <a name="Page_128"></a>alienate in any way, without first +consulting the Roman Pontiff. So help me, God, and these God's Holy +Gospels."</p> + +<p>If you, who read these lines, had stood by, and listened to this oath, +would it leave any doubt in your minds as to the religion of the +Archbishop? Could you possibly mistake it for the religion of the +present Church of England?</p> + +<p>Was the present Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury chosen and appointed +by the Pope? Did he take a vow of celibacy? Does the present +Archbishop acknowledge publicly and officially that he receives his +jurisdiction from the Pope? Did he receive the Pallium from Rome, sent +by special Papal messengers? Did he stand up and swear on the Gospels +that he would be faithful and obedient to his Lord the Pope? Did he +promise to visit Rome every three years, to give his Lord the Pope an +account of his diocese? Nothing of the kind. Yet we are gravely told +that there is no break between the Church of St. Anselm, and Simon +Langham, and of Cardinal Fisher, on the one hand, and the <a name="Page_129"></a>Church of +the present Archbishop of Canterbury on the other!</p> + +<p>Why are these good men so exceedingly anxious to prove that black is +white? Why will they assert and re-assert, in every mood and tense, +that things most opposite are identical, and things most unlike are +exactly the same?</p> + +<p>We will deal with that question in the next chapter. All we now affirm +is that the reason is abundantly clear and evident, though little +creditable to these perverters of history.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IIIb"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_130"></a>CHAPTER III.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE AWKWARD DILEMMA.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In the whole catalogue of sin, there is hardly one so detestable in +itself, or so withering in its effects, as the sin of heresy. +Consequently, though we feel a great love as well as a great interest +in the Church in England during the thousand years in which she formed +a part of the Church of God, we can have little love for the present +Church of England, as by law established, cut off, as she is, from the +only true Church, which Christ, the Incarnate God, was pleased in His +infinite wisdom to build upon St. Peter, and upon those who should +succeed him in his sublime office, and who have received the Divine +Commission to rule over the entire flock, to hold the keys of the +kingdom of heaven, and to confirm their brethren to the end of time.</p> + +<p>Besides, a careful study of the origin <a name="Page_131"></a>and genesis of the present +Anglican Establishment is scarcely calculated to predispose any one +particularly in its favour. It is not Catholics only who might be +thought biased upon such a point, but others also who feel this. In +fact, it is precisely impartial men, unaffected by any interest either +way, who most fully realise from what a very shady beginning the new +state of things arose. As Sir Osborne Morgan puts it, "Every student +of English history knows that, if a very bad king had not fallen in +love with a very pretty woman, and desired to get divorced from his +plain and elderly wife, and if he had not compelled a servile +Parliament to carry out his wishes, there would, in all human +probability, never have been an Established Church at all."</p> + +<p>This gentleman is a Protestant, and the son of a Protestant clergyman, +so we may be quite sure that he harbours no special leanings towards +us, yet he speaks impartially as one who has not only read history, +but read it without coloured spectacles. Perhaps Lord Macaulay puts +the <a name="Page_132"></a>case as bluntly as any one, and we may as well quote him because +he, too, was no Catholic, and held no brief for the Church of Rome. +This brilliant writer, who was, perhaps, an historian before all +things, tells us that the work of the Reformation was the work, not of +three saints, nor even of three ordinary decent men, but of three +notorious murderers! These are not our words, but Macaulay's, and it +is not our fault if this is his reading of history. We merely summon +him as a Protestant witness. He calmly and deliberately states that +the Reformation was "begun by Henry VIII., the murderer of his wives; +was continued by Somerset, the murderer of his brother; and was +completed by Elizabeth, the murderer of her guest". Not a very +auspicious beginning, it must be confessed, and scarcely suggestive of +the Divine afflatus. Those who planted the Catholic Church used no +violence, and did not inflict death. No! on the contrary, they endured +death, and their blood became the seed of the Church. And that is +quite another story. In former days every <a name="Page_133"></a>one admitted the present +Anglican Church to be the child of the Reformation. It was, to quote +the Protestant historian, Child, "as completely the creation of Henry +VIII., Edward's Council, and Elizabeth as Saxon Protestantism was of +Luther." But now? Oh! now, "nous avons changé tout cela," and history +has received a totally different setting. A certain section of +Anglicans, in these modern times, are labouring hard to persuade +themselves and others that they can trace their Church back to the +time of St. Augustine. They will by no means allow that they started +into being only in the sixteenth century. In fact, it is quite +pathetic to watch the strenuous efforts they make, and the extravagant +means to which they have recourse, in order to lull themselves into +the peaceful enjoyment of so sweet and consoling a delusion.</p> + +<p>A delusion which a candid study of past history must sooner or later +ruthlessly dispel, and which has not a shred of foundation in fact to +support it. But we promised to point out <span class="sc">why</span>, in spite <a name="Page_134"></a>of +its absolute absurdity, these good men, like the Bishop of London, +persist in repeating and restating with ever-increasing vehemence that +there has been no break in the continuity, and that the present Church +of England is one with the Church of St. Bede, of St. Dunstan, of St. +Anselm, of St. Thomas, and of other pre-Reformation heroes; though +they must surely know that there is not one amongst these glorious old +Catholic saints who would not a thousand times sooner have gone to the +stake and been burnt alive, than have accepted the Thirty-nine +Articles, or than have joined the present Bishop of London in any of +his religious services. Why do Anglicans make such heroic efforts to +connect their Church with the past? Why do they advance an impossible +theory? Why will they stubbornly affirm what history utterly denies? +Why do they assert, and with such emphasis, what no one but they +themselves have the hardihood to believe? Why? For precisely the same +reason that will induce a drowning man to grasp at a straw. In short, +because <a name="Page_135"></a>even if they did not realise it before, they are now +beginning to see that their very position depends upon their being +able to make out some sort of case for continuity. They realise that +to admit that the Church of England began in the sixteenth century is +simply to cut the ground from underneath their feet. Therefore, purely +in self-defence, they feel themselves constrained to cling to the +continuity theory. It may be absurd, it may be unhistorical, it may be +impossible and utterly repudiated by every impartial and honest man. +That cannot be helped. Impossible or not impossible; true or false, it +is necessary for their very existence, so that, just as a drowning man +catches at a straw, though it cannot possibly support him, so do these +most unfortunate and hardly-pressed men clutch at and cling to the +hollow theory of continuity. Sometimes, when off their guard, and in a +less cautious mood, they will confess as much themselves. And what is +more, we can provide our readers with an instance of such a +confession. Many will well remember a <a name="Page_136"></a>well-known and distinguished +Anglican divine, named Canon Malcolm MacColl. He died a few years ago, +and we do not wish to say anything against him. Well, he wrote to <i>The +Spectator</i> in 1900. His letter may be seen in the issue of 22nd +December for that year. In the course of this letter he makes the +following admission: he declares that "to concede that the Church of +England starts from the reign of Henry VIII. or Elizabeth is to +surrender the whole ground of controversy with Rome. A Church," he +continues, "which cannot trace its origin beyond the sixteenth century +is obviously not the Church which Christ founded."</p> + +<p>The late Anglican Canon MacColl is, of course, perfectly right, and +his inference is strictly logical. A Church, however highly +respectable and however richly endowed, which came into existence only +1,500 years after Christ, came into existence just 1,500 years too +late, and cannot by any intellectual manoeuvring or stretching of the +imagination be identified with the one Church established by Christ +<a name="Page_137"></a>1,500 years earlier. Consequently every member of the Anglican +community finds himself, <i>nolens volens</i>, impaled on the horns of a +truly frightful dilemma. For either he must frankly confess that his +Church is not the Church of God, <i>i.e.</i>, not the True Church, which +(human nature being what it is) he can hardly be expected to do; or +else he must assert that it goes back without any real break to the +time of the Apostles; which though absolutely untrue, is the only +other alternative. In a word, he finds himself in a very tight corner. +He knows, unless he is able to persuade himself of the truth of +continuity, the very ground of his faith must slip from under his +feet, and that he must give up pretending to be a member of Christ's +mystical body altogether.</p> + +<p>No wonder there is consternation in the Anglican camp. No wonder that +sermons are preached, and history is re-edited and facts suppressed, +and pamphlets are circulated to prove that black is white and that +bitterness is sweet, and that false is true. No wonder there are shows +and <a name="Page_138"></a>pageants and other attempts to prove the thing that is not. Poor +deluded mortals! It is really pitiable to witness such straining and +such pulling at the cords; as though truth—solid, imperturbable, +eternal truth—could ever be dislodged or forced out of existence! No! +They may disguise the truth for a time, they may hide it for a brief +period; just as a child, with a box of matches and a handful of straw, +may, for awhile, hide the eternal stars. But as the stars are still +there, and will appear again when the smoke has blown away, so will +the truth reappear and assert itself, when men grow calm, and put +aside pride and passion and prejudice and self-interest. "Magna est +veritas, et prevalebit!"</p> + +<p>It has been said: "Mundus vult decipi"; the world wishes to be +deceived; certainly the Anglican world does. But no one else is taken +in. The Dissenter, the Nonconformist, and others who have no axe to +grind, know well that "fine words butter no parsnips," and are far too +shrewd to be deluded. Why, even the <a name="Page_139"></a>old Catholic cathedrals with +their holy-water stoups, their occasional altars of stone, still +remaining, their Lady chapels, and their niches for the images of the +saints, as ill befit the present occupiers, and their modern English +services, as a Court dress befits a clown.</p> + +<p>That the sublime grotesqueness of the whole contention is clearly +visible to other besides Catholic eyes is clearly proved by the +occasional observations of the non-Catholic Press. Here, again, we +will offer the gentle reader a specimen. The <i>Daily News</i> is one of +London's big dailies. It has a wide circulation. It is representative +of a large section of the English people. Let us select a passage from +one of its leaders. Speaking of the arrogance of the Anglican Church, +which, as compared to the Catholic Church, is but a baby, still in +long clothes, it gives expression to its views in the following +caustic lines. One might almost imagine it were the <i>Tablet</i> or +<i>Catholic Times</i> that we are about to quote from, but, nothing of the +kind, it is the Nonconformist organ, <a name="Page_140"></a>the <i>Daily News</i>. It writes: +"The Anglicans may still persist in patronising the Roman Catholics as +a new set of modern dissidents under the old name. It is the sort of +vengeance which, under favourable circumstances, the mouse may enjoy +at the expense of the elephant. If he can mount high enough by +artificial means, the smallest of created things may contrive to look +down on the greatest, and to affect to compassionate his want of +range. For purposes of controversy, the Anglican could talk of himself +as a terrestrial ancient-of-days, and regret the rage for innovation, +which led, not, of course, to his separation from Rome, but to Rome's +separation from him! So the pebble, if determined to put a good face +on it, might wonder what had become of the rock, and recite the +parable of the return of the prodigal to the Atlas Range"; and so +forth. The fact is that every unprejudiced man, who has so much as a +mere bowing acquaintance with the facts of history, knows perfectly +well that before the sixteenth century the Church in <a name="Page_141"></a>England was +united to the Holy See, and rested where Christ Himself had built it, +<i>viz.</i>, on Peter, the rock. Whereas, after the sixteenth century, it +became a State Church, dependent, not on Peter, but upon Parliament, +and as purely local, national, and English as the British Army or the +British Navy. Bramhall tells us that, "whatsoever power our laws did +divest the Pope of, they invested the King with" (<i>Schism Guarded</i>, p. +340).</p> + +<p>We dealt in the last chapter with the relation between the +pre-Reformation Archbishops and Metropolitans and the Pope, and we saw +how each in turn swore obedience to the Vicar of Christ as his +spiritual sovereign. We will now conclude the present chapter by +transcribing a typical address presented by another representative +body of men to the Pope, in past times. It is the year 1427. Now +Chicheley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had been accused at Rome of +some fault or indiscretion, so the other Bishops of the province met +together for the purpose of defending him. With this end in view, +<a name="Page_142"></a>they address a letter to Pope Martin V. It begins as follows:—</p> + +<p>"Most Blessed Father, one and only undoubted Sovereign Pontiff, Vicar +of Jesus Christ upon earth, with all promptitude of service and +obedience, kissing most devoutly your blessed feet," and so forth. +They then proceed to defend their Metropolitan, and in doing so +declare that "the Archbishop of Canterbury is, Most Blessed Father, a +most devoted son of your Holiness and of the Holy Roman Church". Nay, +more; they go on to testify that "he is so rooted in his loyalty, and +so unshaken in his allegiance especially to the Roman Church, that it +is known to the whole world, and ought to be known to the city +(<i>i.e.</i>, Rome) that he is the most faithful son of the Church of Rome, +promoting and securing, with all his strength, the guarantees of her +liberty".</p> + +<p>Now, what we wish to know is, how in the world can a man be "the most +faithful son of the Church of Rome," so rooted in his loyalty to her +that "his allegiance is known to the whole world," and yet not <a name="Page_143"></a>be a +Roman Catholic? The Bishops then add that "they go down upon their +knees" to beseech the Pope's favour for the Archbishop, and in doing +so declare that they are "the most humble sons of your Holiness and of +the Roman Church".</p> + +<p>Then Archbishop Chicheley follows up their letter, by writing one +himself, in which he says: "Most Blessed Father, kissing most +devotedly the ground beneath your feet, with all promptitude of +service and obedience, and whatsoever a most humble creature can do +towards his lord and master" (<i>i.e.</i>, domino et creatori—literally +"creator," in the sense that the Pope had made or "created" him +archbishop) and so forth. Then he goes on to explain that "Long before +now, were it not for the perils of the journey and the infirmities of +my old age, I would have made my way, Most Blessed Father, to your +feet, and have accepted most obediently whatsoever your Holiness would +have decided" (see Wilkins, vol. iii. pp. 471 and 486). Surely, no +Archbishop or Bishop could use language of such profound reverence +and <a name="Page_144"></a>of such perfect loyalty and obedience, unless he recognised the +Pope as the true representative of Christ upon earth, invested with +His divine authority ("To Thee do I give the keys of the Kingdom of +Heaven"). There is a whole world of difference between such men and +the Anglican Prelates of to-day who take the oath of homage to the +King, and say: "I do hereby declare that your Majesty is the only +supreme governor of this your realm, in spiritual and ecclesiastical +things, as well as temporal".</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IVb"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_145"></a>CHAPTER IV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>KING EDWARD AND THE POPE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In a previous chapter, we promised to tell of a famous letter written +by one of our greatest kings to the Pope of his day. Let us then +introduce this interesting historical incident without further +preamble or delay.</p> + +<p>The King of whom we are about to speak is King Edward III., who +reigned over this land for more than fifty years, that is to say, from +1327 to 1377. The historian Hume tells us that, in general estimation, +his reign was not only one of the longest, but that it was considered +also "one of the most glorious that occurs in the annals of our +nation" (vol. ii., p. 297). It is important to remember, further, that +Edward was no timid weakling, ready to yield to others through +weakness or fear. Quite the contrary. He was strong, war-like, and +courageous. <a name="Page_146"></a>Hume informs us that "he curbed the licentiousness of the +great; that he made his foremost nobles feel his power, and that they +dared not even murmur against it, and that his valour and conduct made +his knights and warriors successful in most of their enterprises" +(<i>id.</i>, p. 497). Yet, in spite of his strong, independent and man-like +character—or shall we not rather say because of it?—he ever showed +himself to be a most loyal child of the Catholic Church. He considered +it no indication of weakness to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy +and jurisdiction of the Sovereign Pontiff, and to subscribe himself as +a most obedient son of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, as we shall now +proceed to prove, in spite of all the frogs and jackdaws that the +Bishop of London appeals to as witnesses to the contrary.</p> + +<p>Now, it so fell out that, in the second decade of his reign, certain +persons, with perhaps more zeal than discretion, began to lodge sundry +complaints against the King. They carried stories to Rome, and sought +to prejudice the Pope, Benedict <a name="Page_147"></a>XII., against King Edward. In the +course of time the King got wind of what was going on, and found that +the suspicions of the Pope had been raised against him. Now, what did +Edward do? If he had been a modern Anglican, he would have snapped his +fingers at the Pope. Forgetful of Our Lord's words, "Unless you become +as little children you shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven," he +would have proudly declared that no Pope or foreign Bishop could claim +any jurisdiction in England, for that he himself was, in his own +realm, the supreme authority in things ecclesiastical as well as in +things temporal. Such would have been the natural and obvious course +for him to have taken. That is to say had he been a modern Anglican. +But since he was not a modern Anglican, but a genuine Roman Catholic +to his very backbone, like all the rest of his kingdom, he did not act +in that imperious, off-hand way, but was very much distressed and +concerned, as a loving son would be, who had incurred the displeasure +of a generous father. Finally, in the thirteenth <a name="Page_148"></a>year of his reign, +that is to say, in 1339, he determined to address a letter to the +Sovereign Pontiff, firstly to protest against these accusations, +secondly to assure the Pope of his innocence, and thirdly to beg him +to take no notice of those who had been calumniating him.</p> + +<p>The document is a very remarkable one, and from the point of view of +continuity (of which it completely disposes) it is of very +considerable interest.</p> + +<p>Before you read it, and ponder over its contents, let me remind you +that the writing of a letter in those days was a very serious +business. There was no post such as we have now, and special couriers +had to be despatched from London to Rome. Paper had not as yet been +invented, so the message had to be carefully written, by paid scribes, +on vellum or parchment. Further, a letter from a King to the Pope was +not a thing to be dashed off on the spur of the moment, but to be +carefully thought out, and expressed with great accuracy. The King +would summon his advisers, and his Secretary <a name="Page_149"></a>of State, and probably +consult some of the Bishops and weigh each word before committing his +message to parchment. In short, the document would represent his own +deliberate convictions as well as those of his official advisers and +counsellors.</p> + +<p>After addressing the Pope in the usual respectful and filial way, he +says: "Let not the envious information of our detractors find place in +the meek mind of your Holiness, or create any sinister opinion of a +son" [observe the King calls himself a son of the Pope], "who after +the manner of his predecessors" [so previous Kings were as loyal as +he] "shall always firmly persist in amity and obedience to the +Apostolic See. Nay, if any such evil suggestion concerning your son +should knock for entrance at your Holiness's ears, let no belief be +allowed it till the son who is concerned be heard, who trusts and +always intends both to say and to prove that each of his actions is +just before the tribunal of your Holiness, <i>presiding over every +creature, which to deny is to maintain heresy</i>." Nothing could be +<a name="Page_150"></a>stronger than this last sentence; but we will return to that later. +Then the King goes on to speak of others, who are dependent upon him, +and proceeds as follows: "And further, this we say, adjoining it as a +further evidence of our intention and greater devotion, that if there +be any one of our kindred or allies who walks not as he ought in the +way of <i>obedience towards the Apostolic See</i>, we intend to bestow our +diligence—and we trust to no little purpose—that leaving his +wandering course, he may return into the path of duty and walk +regularly for the future".</p> + +<p>From these words it is clear that the King of England, not satisfied +with obeying the Pope himself, likewise insisted upon all under his +authority obeying him likewise. Indeed, he would have made short work +of those who should refuse to do so. Then, alluding to some reproach, +admonition or censure which he had received from the Pope, he goes on +to express himself in words strangely out of harmony with the whole +tone and spirit <a name="Page_151"></a>of modern Anglicanism. They are as follows:—</p> + +<p>"That the Kings of England, our predecessors, those illustrious +champions of Christ, those defenders of the Faith, those" [listen!] +"<i>zealous asserters of the rights of the Holy Roman Church, and devout +observers of her commands</i>, that they or we should deserve this +unkindness, we neither know nor believe. And though, for this very +reason many do say—though we say not so—that this aiding of our +enemies against us, seems neither the act of a father nor of a mother +towards us, but rather of a stepmother; yet this notwithstanding, we +constantly avow that we are" [remember, it is still the King of +England speaking], "and shall continue to be, to your Holiness and to +your seat, a devout and humble son, and not a step-son".</p> + +<p>Can any one imagine greater reverence or greater loyalty to the Vicar +of Christ than is shown forth in these words? Can you, dear readers, +by any stretch of the imagination, conceive any one who is not a Roman +Catholic giving vent to such <a name="Page_152"></a>sentiments as are here expressed? Have +words lost their plain meaning for the Bishop of London, and for those +who (we must in charity suppose, <i>blindly</i>) follow him?</p> + +<p>The letter is a long one, and we need not transcribe the whole of it, +but we will offer for your consideration just one more paragraph. The +King writes: "Your Holiness best knows the measure of good and just, +in whose hands are the keys to open and to shut the gates of heaven on +earth, as the <i>fulness of your power</i> and the excellence of your +judicature requires.... We being ready to receive information of the +truth, from your sacred tribunal, <i>which is over all</i>," etc.</p> + +<p>Observe these words were written over five hundred years ago, long +before the present Anglican Establishment was so much as dreamed of; +yet, even if King Edward III. had actually foreseen the craze that +would seize Anglicans of to-day to prove that he, and his subjects +were not loyal Roman Catholics, he could not have expressed his +Catholicity and <a name="Page_153"></a>his loyalty to the Vicar of Christ in more +unmistakable or in more explicit terms.</p> + +<p>Whom shall we believe? King Edward III. himself, who, in the above +words, declares he is a staunch Roman Catholic, and an obedient son of +the Pope, ready to defend his rights against all, or the present +Bishop of London, who declares he was not?</p> + +<p>There is one sentence in the King's letter which is especially worthy +of consideration, as it is so pregnant with meaning. We refer to the +following: knowing that "your Holiness presides over every creature, +<i>which to deny is heresy</i>".</p> + +<p>You will observe that the King not only believes, but that he here +practically makes an explicit profession of faith in the spiritual +supremacy of St. Peter and his successors, the Popes. In fact, he not +only admits and confesses the Pope's supremacy to be true, which is +one thing, but he declares it to be a <i>revealed</i> truth, taught by Our +Blessed Lord Himself, which is a great deal more. How does he do this? +Suffer us to explain.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_154"></a>To deny any truth of religion is wrong and sinful, but it is not +necessarily and always heretical. Heresy is not the denial of any kind +of truth: it is the denial only of a special form of truth. It is the +denial of those truths which have been taught by Jesus Christ and the +Apostles. But the King explicitly declares in his letter to the Holy +Father that to deny the Pope's spiritual supremacy over all is not +only wrong, not only sinful, but that it is to be guilty of the +specially horrible sin of heresy. His words are: "It is to maintain +heresy". Yet Anglicans still fondly cling to the delusion that the +Church in England in the time of Edward III. is in unbroken continuity +with the Church of England in the time of King Edward VII.!</p> + +<p>But, to continue. It is interesting to note that the Pope, Benedict +XII., in due course replies to this letter from his "devout and humble +son," as Edward describes himself. He begins by expressing his +satisfaction that His "most dear Son in Christ King Edward of England" +should thus "follow the commendable footsteps of <a name="Page_155"></a>your progenitors, +Kings of England who," he goes on to say, "were famous for the fulness +of their devotion and faith towards God and the Holy Roman Church".</p> + +<p>Will the present Bishop of London, we wonder, be good enough to +explain how Pope Benedict XII. could possibly tell a renowned King of +England that his progenitors, that is to say, the Kings of England who +had preceded him, were famous—mark the word—"<i>famous</i> for the +<i>fulness</i> of their devotion and faith towards God <i>and the Holy Roman +Church</i>," if they were all the while cut off from the Roman Church, +and denounced as heretics by that Church, if, in short, they were of +one and the same faith as the Anglicans are to-day? We pause for a +reply. Of course we know that Anglicans are very hard pressed, and in +a quandary, and that some allowance must be made for drowning men when +they stretch forth their trembling hands to clutch at straws. But +really the claim to continuity, however vital to them, should hardly +be put forward in the face of such clear and overwhelming evidence <a name="Page_156"></a>of +its falsity. The ultimate effects of such vain efforts to prove black +to be white can only be to make them ridiculous, and to discredit them +in the eyes of honest men.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, we are persuaded that some may feel curious or +interested to see and read King Edward's letter for themselves, and in +its entirety. Some may even wish to satisfy themselves that we are +stating actual facts, and not romancing; so let us inform any such +persons that the letter quoted belongs to the thirteenth year of King +Edward III.'s reign (An. Regni xiii. Ed. Rex III.). The original, if +not at the Vatican, should be either at the Record Office or at the +British Museum. The English version, of which we have made use, may be +found on pages 126-30 of <i>The History of Edward III.</i>, by J. Barnes, +Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and published in 1688. Had this +history been composed in more modern times, this famous letter to Pope +Benedict would probably have been quietly suppressed or omitted.</p> + +<p>But in 1688 the theory of continuity <a name="Page_157"></a>had not been invented by the +father of lies, to bolster up a lost cause, so the letter actually +appears in Barnes' History, to tell its own unvarnished tale: and to +bear its uncompromising testimony to the truth.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, time wears on, and the end draws near when each man +will have to give an account of his life and conduct to the Supreme +Judge of the living and the dead. And it will go hard with us if we +turn our back upon the truth. God is speaking in this England of ours, +and shedding His light, and many are finding their way back to that +glorious Faith of which they were cruelly robbed at the "Reformation". +"To-day, if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts," but +lend an attentive ear to His invitation, and pray that you may have +courage enough to join hands once again with Bede, and Dunstan, +Anselm, and Thomas à Becket, and with Edward III. and his royal +predecessors, all faithful sons of St. Peter and the Holy See, and to +enter that Church which was built by <a name="Page_158"></a>God Incarnate on Peter, and upon +no other foundation; which still rests securely upon Peter, and which +(if there be any truth in God's promises) will continue to rest on +Peter till the end of time. "Upon this Rock (Peter) will I build My +Church, and the gates of hell (<i>i.e.</i>, the powers of darkness) shall +never prevail against it."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + +<h2>Also by Rt. Rev. JOHN S. VAUGHAN, D.D.,<a name="Page_159"></a></h2> +<h3>Bishop of Sebastopol.</h3> +<h4><i>To be had of all Catholic Booksellers.</i></h4> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<div style="margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;"> +<p class="hang">1. CONCERNING THE HOLY BIBLE: ITS USE AND ABUSE. +With a Letter from H.E. Cardinal <span class="sc">Logue</span>. +Pp. xvi.-270. Price 3s. 6d.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"It is impossible to take up this delightful volume without + desiring to express one's admiration of it.... As to the matter, + <i>it would be well if every Catholic had it at his fingers' + ends</i>, especially in this country.... It has an irresistible + charm of style."—<i>The Tablet</i>.</p> + +<p> H.E. Cardinal <span class="sc">Logue</span> writes to Bishop Vaughan: "You are + to be congratulated on the success with which you have treated + your important subject."</p> + +<p> <i>N.B.—The volume has already been translated into French and + Italian, and is now being translated into other foreign + languages.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="hang">2. EARTH TO HEAVEN. Fourth Edition. Pages 200. Price 2s. 6d. net.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"There is a freedom, a freshness, and a new manner of expressing + old truths in Bishop Vaughan's writings, which is exceedingly + charming.... Better even than their beauty is their + suggestiveness," etc.—<i>Tablet</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="hang">3. FAITH AND FOLLY. Second Edition. Pages 502. Price 5s. net.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"We know no author who has a happier method of popularising + theology."—<i>Catholic Times</i>.</p> + +<p> "A candid antagonist will feel respect for the + author."—<i>Spectator</i>.</p> + +<p> "The author has gifts of happy illustration, of close reasoning, + and of clear expression."—<i>Ave Maria</i>.</p> + +<p> "An excellent work and a timely one."—<i>The Rosary Magazine</i>.</p> + +<p> "We trust 'Faith and Folly' may have a wide + circulation."—<i>Dublin Review</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="hang"><a name="Page_160"></a>4. THOUGHTS FOR ALL TIMES. The Eighteenth Edition is now in +preparation. Pages 436. Price 5s. net.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Clear and well-written expositions, rich in illustrations and + adorned in places with beautiful and sublime + language."—<i>Whitehall Review</i>.</p> + +<p> "We would be glad to see a copy in every household in the land. + It needs only to be known to have its merits appreciated."—H.E. + Cardinal <span class="sc">Gibbons</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="hang">5. LIFE AFTER DEATH. Fourteenth Edition. Pages 245. Price 2s. net.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Popular, luminous, eloquent, and persuasive. It is carefully + thought out, and forms a massive argument of great value."—<i>The + Gentleman's Journal</i>.</p> + +<p> "This work cannot but exercise a pleasing charm over the reader, + and serve to hold his attention spell-bound + throughout."—<i>Catholic Times</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="hang">6. DANGERS OF THE DAY.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"An admirable book. Just what is wanted."</p></blockquote> + +<p class="hang">7. THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY; and, THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY. +Just Published. Price 1s. 6d.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<br /> + +<p class="hang"> "HOW I CAME TO DO IT; or, How Parson Blackswhite gave up his Vow of +Celibacy." A Holiday Sketch. Pages 300. 2s. 6d. net. Edited by +Monsignor <span class="sc">Vaughan</span>.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A <span class="sc">Priest</span> writes: "I read this novel, and laughed and + laughed till the tears rolled down my cheeks."</p> + +<p> <i>The Lamp</i> says: "It is as instructive as it is amusing, and as + amusing as it is instructive."</p> + +<p> The well-known French paper <i>L'Univers</i> says: "Ce livre est + charmant, et très interessant et mériterait d'être traduit en + français".</p> + +<p> <i>How I Came to Do It</i> is now being put into French by M. l'abbé + P. Sécher, with the title <i>Les Raisons de ma Décision</i>.</p></blockquote> + +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> + +<br /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Purpose of the Papacy, by John S. Vaughan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY *** + +***** This file should be named 16242-h.htm or 16242-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/2/4/16242/ + +Produced by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto), Suzanne Lybarger, +Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Purpose of the Papacy + +Author: John S. Vaughan + +Release Date: July 8, 2005 [EBook #16242] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto), Suzanne Lybarger, +Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +-------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Notes: Fixed a few obvious typos in the text: | + | actually for actully, origin for orgin; and changed the | + | case of "sees" to "Sees". | + +-------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + THE + PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY + + BY THE RIGHT REVEREND + JOHN S. VAUGHAN, D.D. + BISHOP OF SEBASTOPOLIS + + AUTHOR OF "THOUGHTS FOR ALL TIMES," "DANGERS OF THE DAY" + "LIFE AFTER DEATH," ETC., ETC. + + "Let us go back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. + Either there was a Church of God then in the world, or there + was not. If there was not, then the Reformers certainly + could not create such a Church. It there was, they as + certainly had neither the right to abandon it, nor the power + to remodel it."--J.K. STONE. + + London + SANDS & CO. + 15 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN + EDINBURGH: 21 HANOVER STREET + + ST. LOUIS, Mo., U.S.A.: B. HERDER + + 1910 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +It may seem an impertinence on the present writer's part to indite a +preface to the work of a brother Bishop; and it would be a still +greater one to pretend to introduce the Author of this little book to +the reading public, to whom he is so well and so favourably known by a +stately array of preceding volumes. Nevertheless Bishop Vaughan has +been so insistent on my contributing at least a few introductory +lines, that, for old friendship's sake, I can no longer refuse. + +It is a remarkable and outstanding fact that never before in the +history of the Church has the Roman Papacy, though shorn of every +vestige of its once formidable temporal might, loomed greater in the +world, ruled over such vast multitudes of the faithful, or exercised +a greater moral power than at the present day. Never has the +_conscious_ unity of the whole world-wide Church with its Visible +Head--thanks to the marvellous developments of modern means of +communication and transport--been so vivid, so general, so intense as +in these times. Not only does "the Pope's writ run," as we may say, by +post and telegraph, and penetrate to the inmost recesses of every part +of the globe, so that the Holy See is in daily, nay hourly +communication with every bishop and every local Catholic community; +but never has there been a time when so many thousands, nay tens of +thousands of Catholic clergy and laity, even from the remotest lands, +have actually seen the Vicar of Christ with their own eyes, heard his +voice, received his personal benediction. Well may we say to Pius X. +as to Leo XIII.: "Lift up thy eyes round about and see; all these are +gathered together, they are come to thee; thy sons shall come from +afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see +and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the +multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the +Gentiles shall come to thee" (Isaias, lx. 4, 5). + +But not only is the present position of the Papacy thus unique and +phenomenal in the world; as the Author of this little book shows in +his first part, its career across the more than nineteen centuries of +the world's chequered history, from Peter to Pius X., is no less +unique and no less phenomenal. This is a fact which may well rivet the +attention, not of the Catholic alone, but of every thinking man, be he +Christian or non-Christian, and which surely calls for some +explanation that lies beyond and above that of the ordinary phenomena +of history. The only possible satisfactory solution of this problem is +the one so concisely, yet so simply, set forth in the following +pages. + +The second part is concerned with a more particular aspect of the same +problem, in its relation to the Church in this country, and especially +to that incredible latter-day myth which goes by the name of "the +Continuity Theory". It is difficult to us to realise how such a theory +can possibly be held by thoughtful and earnest men and women who have +even a moderate acquaintance with history. Bishop Vaughan applies more +than one touchstone, which, one would imagine, ought to be sufficient +to prove to any unprejudiced mind the falsity of that theory. Among +these, what I may call the "pallium touchstone,"--which still bears +its irrefragable testimony in the arms of the Archbishops of +Canterbury,[1]--has always appeared to me peculiarly conclusive.[2] + +In the present small volume, Bishop Vaughan adds another to the series +of popular and instructive books which have made his name a household +word among Catholic writers. May its success and its utility be as +great as in the case of those which have preceded it. + + [cross] LOUIS CHARLES, + _Bishop of Salford_. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Not in those of York since 1544, see Woodward's +_Ecclesiastical Heraldry_, p. 191 and plate XX.] + +[Footnote 2: See _The Pallium_, by Fr. Thurston, S.J., (C.T.S.) and +the striking list in Baxter's _English Cardinals_, pp. 93-98.] + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE. + + +The following chapters were not intended originally for publication. +If they are now offered to the public in book form, it is only in +response to the expressed request of many, who listened to them when +delivered _viva voce_, and who now wish to possess a more permanent +record of what was said. + +In the hope that they may help, in some slight measure at least, to +promote the sacred cause of truth, we wish them Godspeed. + + [cross] JOHN S. VAUGHAN, + _Bishop of Sebastopolis_. + + XAVERIAN COLLEGE, + MANCHESTER _January_, 1910. + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. GENERAL NOTIONS 3 + + II. THE POPE'S GREAT PREROGATIVE 18 + + III. WATCHMAN! WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 35 + + IV. THE CHURCH AND THE SECTS 53 + + V. THE POPE'S INFALLIBLE AUTHORITY 69 + + VI. THE POPE'S ORDINARY AUTHORITY 87 + + + PART II. + + THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, + OR + THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE IN ENGLAND IN PRE-REFORMATION TIMES. + + I. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORMATION 107 + + II. THE OATH OF OBEDIENCE 117 + + III. THE AWKWARD DILEMMA 130 + + IV. KING EDWARD AND THE POPE 145 + + + + +THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +GENERAL NOTIONS. + + +No one who is given to serious reflection, can gaze over the face of +the earth at the present day without being struck by the religious +confusion that everywhere reigns. Who, indeed, can help being +staggered as well as saddened by the extraordinary differences, the +irreconcilable views, and the diversities of opinion, even upon +fundamental points, that are found dividing Christians in Protestant +lands! The number of sects has so multiplied, that an earnest enquirer +scarcely knows which way to turn, or where to look for the pure +unadulterated truth. A spiritual darkness hangs over the non-Catholic +world; and chaos seems to have come again. + +Yet, amid this almost universal confusion, one bright and luminous +path may be easily descried. As a broad highroad runs straight through +some tangled forest, so this path runs through the ages, from the time +of Christ, even to the present day. + +We can trace its course, from its earliest inception in apostolic +times, and then in its development age after age, down to our own day: +from Peter to Gregory, from Gregory to Leo, and from Leo to Pius X., +now gloriously reigning. We refer to the mystical (and one might +almost say the miraculous) path trodden by the Popes, each Pontiff +carrying in turn, and then handing on to his successor, the glorious +torch of divine truth. Though clouds may gather and thunders may roll, +and tempests may rage, and though the surrounding darkness may grow +deeper and deeper, that supernatural light has never failed, nor grown +dim, nor refused to shed its beams and to illuminate the way.[3] + +The continual persistency of the Papacy, to whom this steadily burning +torch of truth has been entrusted, is unquestionably one of the most +certain, as it is one of the most startling facts in the whole of +history. It stares us full in the face. It arrests the attention of +even the least observant. It puzzles the historian. It taxes the +explanatory powers of the philosopher, and will remain to the end, a +permanent difficulty to the scoffer and to the sceptic, and to all +those who have not faith. As a fact in history, it is unique: forming +an extraordinary exception to the law of universal change: a portent, +and a standing miracle. Its persistence, century after century, in +spite of fire and sword; of persecution from without, and of treachery +from within; in prosperity, and in adversity; in honour and dishonour; +while kingdoms rise and fall; and while one civilisation yields to a +higher, and the very conditions of society shift and change, is deeply +significative, and betokens an inherent strength and vitality that is +more than natural and that must be referred to some source greater +than itself, yea, to a power far mightier than anything in this +world,--_viz._, to the abiding presence and divine support of Christ +the Man-God. + +Verily, there is but one possible explanation, and that explanation is +furnished us, by the words of the promise made by God-incarnate, +_viz._, "Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of +the world" (Matt, xxviii. 20). Yes, I, Who am "the true light which +enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (John i. 9), "will +abide with you for ever, and will lead you into all truth" (John xvi. 13). + +If but few persons, outside the Catholic Church, realise the force and +import of these words, it is because few realise the absolute and +irresistible power of Him Who gave them utterance. With their lips +they profess Christ to be God, but then, strange to relate, they +proceed to reason and to argue, just as though He were merely +man--one, that is to say, Who, when He established His Church, did +not consider nor bear in mind man's weakness and fickleness, and who +possessed no power to see the outcome of His own policy, nor the +difficulties that it would engender, nor the future multiplication of +the faithful, in every part of the world. For, did He know and foresee +all these things, He _must_ have guarded against them; and this they +_practically_ deny, by continuing to associate themselves with +churches where His promises are in no sense fulfilled, and where His +most solemn pledges remain unredeemed. We refer to those churches +wherein there is no recognised infallible authority; in fact, nothing +to protect their subjects from the inroads of the world, and from the +faults and errors inseparable from the exercise of purely human and +fallible reason. + +Those, however, who can put aside such false notions, and awaken to +the real facts, will find the truth growing luminous before their +gaze. History constrains them to admit that it was Christ Who +established the Church, with its supreme head, and its various +members. But Christ is verily God; of the same nature, and one with +the Father, and possessing the same divine attributes. Now, since He +is God, there is to Him no future, just as there is no past. To him, +all is equally present. Hence, in establishing a Church, and in +providing it with laws and a constitution, He did this, not +tentatively, not experimentally, not in ignorance of man's needs and +weaknesses, and folly, but with a most perfect foreknowledge of every +circumstance and event, actual and to come. He spoke and ordered and +arranged all things, with His eyes clearly fixed on the most remote +ages, no less than on the present and the actual. _We_ mortals write +history after the characters have already lived and died, and when +nations have already developed and run their course. But with Christ, +the whole history of man, his wars and his conquests, his vices and +his virtues, his religious opinions and doctrines, had been already +written and completed, down to the very last line of the very last +chapter, an eternity before He assumed our nature and founded His +Church. It was with this most intimate knowledge before Him, that He +promised to provide us with a reliable and infallible teacher, who +should safeguard His doctrine, and publish the glad tidings of the +Gospel, throughout all time, even unto the consummation of the world. +Since it is God Who promises, it follows, with all the rigour of +logic, that this fearless Witness and living Teacher must be a _fact_, +not a _figment_; a stupendous reality, not a mere name; One, in a +word, possessing and wielding the self-same authority as Himself, and +to be received and obeyed and accepted as Himself: "Who heareth you +heareth Me" (Luke x. 16). + +This teacher was to be a supreme court of appeal, and a tribunal, +before which every case could be tried, and definitely settled, once +for all. And since this tribunal was a divine creation, and invested +by God Himself with supernatural powers for that specific purpose, it +must be fully equipped, and thoroughly competent and equal to its +work. For God always adapts means to ends. Hence it can never +resemble the tribunals existing in man-made churches, which can but +mutter empty phrases, suggest compromises, and clothe thought in +wholly ambiguous language--tribunals that dare not commit themselves +to anything definite and precise. Yea, which utterly fail and break +down just at the critical moment, when men are dividing and +disagreeing among themselves, and most needing a prompt and clear +decision, which may close up the breach and bring them together. + +No! The decisions of the authority set up by Christ are in very +truth--just what we expect to find them--_viz._, clear, ringing +and definite. They divide light from darkness, as by a divine hand; +and segregate truth from error, as a shepherd separates the sheep from +the goats. + +Christ promised as much as this, and if He keep not His promise, then +He can hold out no claim to be God, for though Heaven and earth may +pass away, God's words shall never pass away. That He did so promise +is quite evident; and may be proved, first, _explicitly_, and from +His own words, and secondly, _implicitly_, from the very necessity of +the case; and from the whole history of religious development. +Cardinal Newman, even before his reception into the Church, was so +fully persuaded of this, that he wrote: "If Christianity is both +social and dogmatic, and intended for all ages, it must, humanly +speaking, have an infallible expounder.... By the Church of England a +hollow uniformity is preferred to an infallible chair; and by the +sects in England an interminable division" (_Develop._, etc., p. 90). +In the Catholic Church alone the need is fully met. + +The Church is established on earth by the direct act of God, and is +set "as an army in battle array". It exists for the express purpose of +combating error and repressing evil, in whatever form it may appear; +and whether it be instigated by the devil, or the world, or the flesh. +But, let us ask, Who ever heard of an army without a chief? An army +without a supreme commander is an army without subordination and +without law or order; or rather, it is not an army at all, but a +rabble, a mob. + +The supreme head of Christ's army--of Christ's Church upon earth, is +our Sovereign Lord the Pope. Some will not accept his rule, and refuse +to admit his authority. But this is not only to be expected. It was +actually foretold. As they cried out, of old, to one even greater than +the Pope, "We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke xix. 14), +so now men of similar spirit repeat the self-same cry, with regard to +Christ's vicar. + +Nevertheless, wheresoever his authority is loyally accepted, and where +submission, respect and obedience are shown to him, there results the +order and harmony and unity promised by Christ: while, on the +contrary, where he is not suffered to reign there is disorder, rivalry +and sects. + +To be able to look forward and to foresee such opposite results would +perhaps need a prophetic eye, an accurate estimate of human nature, +and a very nice balancing of cause and effect. It could be the +prognostication only of a wise, judicious, and observant mind. But we +are now looking, not forwards, but backwards, and in looking backwards +the case is reduced to the greatest simplicity, so that even a child +can understand; and "he that runs may read". + +The simplest intelligence, if only it will set aside prejudice and +pride, and just attend and watch, will be led, without difficulty, to +the following conclusions: firstly, without an altogether special +divine support, no authority can claim and exercise _infallibility_ in +its teaching; and secondly, without such infallibility in its teaching +no continuous unity can be maintained among vast multitudes of people, +least of all concerning dogmas most abstruse, mysteries most sublime +and incomprehensible, and laws and regulations both galling and +humiliating to human arrogance and pride. + +It is precisely because the Catholic Church alone possesses such a +supreme and infallible authority that she alone is able to present to +the world that which follows directly from it, namely a complete +unity and cohesion within her own borders. + +Yes! Strange to say: the Catholic Church to-day stands alone! There is +no rival to dispute with her, her unique and peerless position. Of all +the so-called Christian Churches, throughout the world, so various and +so numerous, and, in many cases, so modern and so fantastic, there is +not a single one that can approach her, even distantly, whether it be +in (_a_) the breadth of her influence, or in (_b_) the diversity and +dissimilarity of her adherents, or in (_c_) the number of her +children, or in (_d_) the extent of her conquests, or (_e_) in the +absolute unity of her composition. + +Even were it possible to unite into one single body the great +multitude of warring sects, of which Protestantism is made up, such a +body would fall far short of the stature of her who has received the +gentiles for her inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for +her possession (Ps. ii. 8), and who has the Holy Ghost abiding with +her, century after century, in order that she may be "a witness unto +Christ, in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the +uttermost parts of the world" (Acts i. 8). But we cannot, even in +thought, unite such contradictories, such discordant elements; any +more than we can reduce the strident sounds of a multitude of +cacophonous instruments to one harmonious and beautiful melody. + +And if the Catholic Church stands thus alone, again we repeat, it is +because no other has received the promise of divine support, or even +cares to recognise that such a promise was ever made. The Catholic +Church has been the only Church not only to exercise, but even to +claim the prerogative of infallibility: but she has claimed this from +the beginning. Every child born into her fold has been taught to +profess and to believe, firstly, that the Catholic Church is the sole +official and God-appointed guardian of the sacred deposit of divine +truth, and, secondly, that she, and no other, enunciates to the entire +world--to all who have ears to hear--the full revelation of +Christ--_His truth_; the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; +fulfilling, to the letter, the command of her Divine Master, "Go into +the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi. +15). + +How has this been possible? Simply and solely because God, Who +promised that "the Spirit of Truth" (_i.e._, the Holy Ghost) "should +abide with her for ever; and should guide her in all truth" (John xiv. +16, xvi. 12), keeps His promise. When our Lord promised to "_be with_" +the teaching Church, in the execution of the divine commission +assigned to it, "_always_" and "_to the end of the world_," that +promise clearly implied, and was a guarantee, first, that the teaching +authority should exist indefectibly to the end of the world; and +secondly, that throughout the whole course of its existence it should +be divinely guarded and assisted in fulfilling the commission given to +it, _viz._, in instructing the nations in "all things whatsoever +Christ has commanded," in other words, that it should be their +infallible Guide and Teacher. + +Venerable Bede, speaking of the conversion of our own country by +Augustine and his monks, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, says: "And +whereas he [Pope Gregory] bore the Pontifical power _over all the +world_, and was placed over the Churches already reduced to the faith +of truth, he made our nation, till then given up to idols, the Church +of Christ" (_Hist. Eccl._ lib. ii. c. 1). If we will but listen to the +Pope now, he will make it once again "the Church of Christ," instead +of the Church of the "Reformation," and a true living branch, drawing +its life from the one vine, instead of a detached and fallen branch, +with heresy, like some deadly decay, eating into its very vitals. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 3: No Pope, no matter what may have been his _private_ +conduct, ever promulgated a decree against the purity of faith and +morals.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE POPE'S GREAT PREROGATIVE. + + +The clear and certain recognition of a great truth is seldom the work +of a day. We often possess it in a confused and hidden way, before we +can detect, to a nicety, its exact nature and limitations. It takes +time to declare itself with precision, and, like a plant in its +rudimentary stages, it may sometimes be mistaken for what it is +not--though, once it has reached maturity, we can mistake it no +longer. As Cardinal Newman observes: "An idea grows in the mind by +remaining there; it becomes familiar and distinct, and is viewed in +its relations; it leads to other aspects, and these again to +others.... Such intellectual processes as are carried on silently and +spontaneously in the mind of a party or school, of necessity come to +light at a later date, and are recognised, and their issues are +scientifically arranged." Consequently, though dogma is unchangeable +as truth is unchangeable, this immutability does not exclude progress. +In the Church, such progress is nothing else than the development of +the principles laid down in the beginning by Jesus Christ Himself. +Thus--to take a simple illustration--in three different councils, the +Church has declared and proposed three different articles of Faith, +_viz._, that in Jesus Christ there are (1) two natures, (2) two wills, +and (3) one only Person. These may seem to some, who cannot look +beneath the surface, to be three entirely new doctrines; to be, in +fact, "additions to the creed". In sober truth, they are but +expansions of the original doctrine which, in its primitive and +revealed form, has been known and taught at all times, that is to say, +the doctrine that Christ is, at once, true God and true Man. That one +statement really contains the other three; the other three merely give +us a fuller and a completer grasp of the original one, but tell us +nothing absolutely new. + +In a similar manner, and by a similar process, we arrive at a clearer +and more explicit knowledge of other important truths, which were not +at first universally recognised as being contained in the original +deposit. The dogma of Papal infallibility is an instance in point. For +though no Catholic ever doubted the genuine infallibility of the +_Church_, yet in the early centuries, there existed some difference of +opinion, as to _where_ precisely the infallible authority resided. +Most Catholics, even then, believed it to be a gift conferred by +Christ upon Peter himself [who alone is the _rock_], and upon each +Pope who succeeded him in his office, personally and individually, but +some were of opinion that, not the Pope by himself, but only "the +Pope-in-Council," that is to say, the Pope supported by a majority of +Bishops, was to be considered infallible. So that, while _all_ +admitted the _Pope with a majority of the Bishops_, taken together, to +be divinely safeguarded from teaching error, yet the prevailing and +dominant opinion, from the very first, went much further, and ascribed +this protection to the Sovereign Pontiff likewise when acting alone +and unsupported. This is so well known, that even the late Mr. +Gladstone, speaking as an outside observer, and as a mere student of +history, positively brings it as a charge against the Catholic Church +that "the Popes, for well-nigh a thousand years, have kept up, with +comparatively little intermission, their claim to dogmatic +infallibility" (_Vat._ p. 28). Still, the point remained unsettled by +any dogmatic definition, so that, as late as in 1793, Archbishop Troy +of Dublin did but express the true Catholic view of his own day when +he wrote: "Many Catholics contend that the Pope, when teaching the +Universal Church, as their supreme visible head and pastor, as +successor to St. Peter, and heir to the promises of special assistance +made to him by Jesus Christ, is infallible; and that his decrees and +decisions in that capacity are to be respected as rules of faith, when +they are dogmatical, or confined to doctrinal points of faith and +morals. Others," the Archbishop goes on to explain, "deny this, and +require the expressed or tacit acquiescence of the Church assembled or +dispersed, to stamp infallibility on his dogmatic decrees." Then he +concludes:--"_Until the Church shall decide_ upon this question of the +Schools, either opinion may be adopted by individual Catholics, +without any breach of Catholic communion or peace." + +This was how the question stood until 1870. But it stands in that +position no longer; for the Church has now spoken--_Roma locuta est, +causa finita_. Hence, no Catholic can now deny or call into question +the great prerogative of the Vicar of Christ, without suffering +shipwreck of the faith. At the Vatican Council, Pope Pius IX. and the +Archbishops and Bishops of the entire Catholic world were gathered +together in Rome, and after earnest prayer and prolonged discussion, +they declared that the prerogative of infallibility, which is the very +source of Catholic unity, and the very secret of Catholic strength, +resides in the individual Pope who happens, at the time, to occupy the +Papal chair, and that when he speaks _ex cathedra_, his definitions +are infallibly true, and consonant with Catholic revelation, even +before they have been accepted by the hierarchy throughout the world. +But here it must be borne in mind that the Pope speaks _ex cathedra_, +that is to say, infallibly, only when he speaks:-- + + 1. As the Universal Teacher. + + 2. In the name and with the authority of the Apostles. + + 3. On a point of Faith or Morals. + + 4. With the purpose of binding every member of the Church to + accept and believe his decision. + +Thus it is clearly seen that from the year 1870 the dogma of _Papal_, +in contra-distinction to _ecclesiastical_ infallibility, has been +defined and raised to an article of faith, the denial of which is +heresy. + +The doctrine is at once new and yet not new. It is new in the sense +that up to the time of the Vatican Council it had never been actually +drawn out of the premises that contained it, and set forth before the +faithful in a formal definition. On the other hand, it is not new, but +as old as Christianity, in the sense that it was always contained +implicitly in the deposit of faith. Any body of truth that is living +grows, and unfolds and becomes more clearly understood and more +thoroughly grasped, as time wears on. The entire books of Euclid are +after all but the outcome of a few axioms and accepted definitions. +These axioms help us to build up certain propositions. And one +proposition, when established, leads to another, till at last we seem +to have unearthed statements entirely new and original. Yet, they are +certainly not really new, for had they not been all along contained +implicitly in the few initial facts, it is quite clear they could +never have been evolved from them. _Nemo dat, quod non habet._ + +Hence Papal Infallibility is not so much a new truth, or an "addition +to the Faith," as some heretics would foolishly try to persuade us, +as a clearer expression and a more exact and detailed presentation of +what was taught from the beginning. + +It is here that the well-known historian, Doellinger, who rejected the +definition, proved himself to be not only a proud rebel but also a +very poor logician. Until 1870, he was a practising Catholic, and, +therefore, like every other Catholic, he, of course, admitted that the +Pope and the Bishops, speaking collectively, were divinely supported +and safeguarded from error, when they enunciated to the world any +doctrine touching faith or morals. Yet, when the Pope and the Bishops, +assembled at the Vatican, did so speak collectively, and did +conjointly issue the decree of Papal Infallibility, he proceeded to +eat his own words, refused to abide by their decision, and was +deservedly turned out of the Church of God: being excommunicated by +the Archbishop of Munich on the 17th of April, 1871, in virtue of the +instructions given by Our Divine Lord Himself, _viz._: "If he will not +hear the Church (cast him out, _i.e._), let him be to thee as the +heathen and publican" (Matt. xviii. 17). He, and the few misguided men +that followed him in his rebellion, and called themselves Old +Catholics, had been quite ready to believe that the Pope, with the +Bishops, when speaking as one body, were Infallible. In fact, if they +had not believed that, they never could have been Catholics at any +time. But they did not seem to realise the sufficiently obvious fact +that, whether they will it or not, and whether they advert to it or +not, it is utterly impossible now to deny the Infallibility of the +Pope personally and alone, without at the same time denying the +Infallibility of the "Pope and the Bishops collectively," for the +simple reason that it is precisely the "Pope and the Bishops +collectively" who have solemnly and in open session declared that the +Pope enjoys the prerogative of Infallibility in his own individual +person. Since the Vatican Council, one is forced by the strict +requirements of sound reason to believe, either that the Pope is +Infallible, or else that there is no Infallibility in the Church at +all, and that there never had been. + +Those who were too proud to submit to the definition followed, of +course, the example of earlier heretics in previous Councils. They +excused themselves on the plea that the Council was (_a_) not free, or +else (_b_) not sufficiently representative, or, finally, (_c_) not +unanimous in its decisions. But such utterly unsupported allegations +served only to accentuate the weakness of their cause and the +hopelessness of their position; since it would be difficult, from the +origin of the Church to the present time, to find any Council so free, +so representative, and so unanimous. + +Pope Pius IX. (whom, it seems likely, we shall soon be called upon to +venerate as a canonised saint) convened the Vatican Council by the +Bull _AEterni Patris_, published on 29th June, 1868. It summoned all +the Archbishops, Bishops, Patriarchs, etc., throughout the Catholic +world to meet together in Rome on 8th December of the following year, +1869. When the appointed day arrived, and the Council was formally +opened, there were present 719 representatives from all parts of the +world, and very soon after, this number was increased to 769. On 18th +July, 1870--a day for ever memorable in the annals of the Church--the +fourth public session was held, and the constitution _Pater AEternus_, +containing the definition of the Papal Infallibility, was solemnly +promulgated. Of the 535 who were present on this grand occasion, 533 +voted for the definition (_placet_) and only two, one from Sicily, the +other from the United States, voted against it (_non placet_). +Fifty-five Bishops, who fully accepted the doctrine itself, but deemed +its actual definition at that moment inopportune, simply absented +themselves from this session. Finally, the Holy Father, in the +exercise of his supreme authority, sanctioned the decision of the +Council, and proclaimed officially, _urbi et orbi_ the decrees and the +canons of the "First Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ". + +It may be well here to clothe the Latin words of the Pope and the +assembled Bishops in an English dress. They are as follows: "We (the +Sacred Council approving) teach and define that it is a dogma +revealed, that the Roman Pontiff, _when_ he speaks _ex cathedra_--that +is, when discharging the office of Pastor and Teacher of all +Christians, by reason of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a +doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the whole Church--in +virtue of the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, +possesses that Infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed +that His Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith +or morals, and that, therefore, such definitions of the said Sovereign +Pontiff are unalterable of themselves, and not from the consent of the +Church. But if any one--which may God avert--presume to contradict +this our definition, let him be anathema." + +"_Every Bishop in the Catholic world_, however inopportune some may +have at one time held the definition to be, submitted to the +Infallible ruling of the Church," says E.S. Purcell. "A very small and +insignificant number of priests and laymen in Germany apostatised and +set up the Sect of 'Old Catholics'. But all the rest of the Catholic +world, true to their faith, accepted, without reserve, the dogma of +Papal Infallibility."[4] + +For over eighteen hundred years the Infallible authority of the +Pope-in-Council had been admitted by all Catholics. And in any great +emergency or crisis in the Church's history, these Councils were +actually held, and presided over by the Pope, either in person or by +his duly appointed representatives, for the purpose of clearing up and +adjusting disputed points, or to smite, with a withering anathema, the +various heresies as they arose, century after century. But in the +meantime, the Church, which had been planted "like a grain of mustard +seed, which is the least of all seeds" (Mark iv. 31), was fulfilling +the prophecy that had been made in regard to her, and "was shooting +out great branches" (Mark iv. 32) and becoming more extended and more +prolific than all her rivals. She enlarged her boundaries and spread +farther and farther over the face of the earth, while the number of +her children rapidly multiplied in every direction. + +In course of time, the immense continents of America and Australia, +together with New Zealand and Tasmania and other hitherto unknown +regions, were discovered and thrown open to the influences of human +industry and enterprise. And as men and women swarmed into these newly +acquired lands, the Church accompanied them: and new vicariates and +dioceses sprang up, and important Sees were formed, which in time, as +the populations thickened, became divided and sub-divided into smaller +Sees, till at last the number of Bishops in these once unknown and +distant regions rose to several hundreds. + +Thus the whole condition of things became altered; and the calling +together of an Ecumenical Council--a very simple affair in the +infancy of the Church--was becoming daily more and more difficult. Not +so much, perhaps, by reason of the enormous distances of the dioceses +from the central authority, for modern methods of locomotion have +almost annihilated space, but because of the immense increase in the +number of the hierarchy that would have to meet together, whenever a +Council is called. + +On the other hand, with the greater extension of the Church, would +naturally come an increased crop of heresies. For, cockle may be sown, +and weeds may spring up, in any part of the field, and the field is +now a hundred times vaster than it was. Now, it is extremely important +that as fast as errors arise they should be pointed out, and rooted up +without delay, and before they can breed a pestilence and corrupt a +whole neighbourhood. But the complicated machinery of a great +Ecumenical Council, which involves prolonged preparation, considerable +expense, and a temporary dislocation in almost every diocese +throughout the world, is too cumbersome and slow to be called into +requisition whenever a heresy has to be blasted, or whenever a +decision has to be made known. + +Hence we cannot help recognising and admiring the Providence of God +over His Church, in thus simplifying the process, in these strenuous +days, by which His truth is to be maintained and His revelation +protected. For the fact--true from the beginning, _viz._, that the +Pope enjoys the prerogative of personal infallibility--is not only a +profound truth; but a truth for the first time formally recognised, +defined, promulgated and explicitly taught as an article of Divine +faith. Consequently, without summoning a thousand Bishops from the +four quarters of the globe, the Sovereign Pontiff may now rise in his +own strength, and proclaim to the entire Church what is, and what is +not, consonant with the truths of revelation. This is evident from the +Vatican's definition, which declares that "THE POPE HAS THAT SAME +INFALLIBILITY WHICH THE CHURCH HAS"--"Romanum Pontificem ea +infallibilitate pollere, qua divinus Redemptor Ecclesiam suam in +definienda doctrina de fide vel moribus instructam esse voluit". Words +of the Bull, "PASTOR AETERNUS". + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 4: See _Life of Cardinal Manning_, vol. ii., p. 452.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WATCHMAN! WHAT OF THE NIGHT? + + +The most sacred deposit of Divine Revelation has been committed by +Jesus Christ to the custody of the Church, and century after century +she has guarded it with the utmost jealousy and fidelity. Like a loyal +watchman, stationed on a lofty tower, the Pope, with anxious eyes, +scans the length and breadth of the world, and, as the occasion +demands, boldly, and fearlessly, and categorically condemns and +anathematises all who, through pride or cunning, or personal interest +and ambition, or love of novelty, attempt to falsify or to minimise or +to distort the teaching of Our Divine Master. Without respect of +persons, without regard to temporal consequences, without either +hesitancy or ambiguity, he speaks "as one having power" (Matt. vii. +29). And while, on the one hand, every true Catholic throughout the +world, who hears his voice, is intimately conscious that he is hearing +the voice of Christ Himself, "who heareth you, heareth Me" (Luke x. +16); so, on the other hand, every true Catholic likewise knows that +all who refuse to obey his ruling, and who despise his warnings, are +despising and disobeying Christ Himself. "Who despises you, despises +Me" (Luke x. 16). Thus, the Sovereign Pontiff, as the infallible +source of religious truth, becomes at the same time the strong bond of +religious unity: for, just as error divides men from one another, so +truth always and necessarily draws them together. In this way the Pope +becomes the connecting link which unites over 250,000,000 of men: and +the foundation stone (or petros--Peter) of the mystical building +erected by God-incarnate ("Upon this rock will I build My Church," +Matt. xvi. 18). He is the foundation, that is to say, which supports +it, and keeps its various parts together, in one harmonious and +symmetrical whole, and against which the angry surges rise, and the +muddy waves of error for ever beat, yet ever beat in vain: for "the +gates of hell [Satan and his hosts] shall not prevail against it". Who +doubts this denies the most formal and unmistakable promises of the +Eternal Son of God, and makes of Him a liar. + +Our non-Catholic friends close their eyes to these patent facts, +and--with great peril to their salvation--refuse to see even the +obvious. As the Jews of old were so blinded by their prejudice, +jealousy and hatred of Him, whom they contemptuously styled "the Son +of the Carpenter," that they steadily refused to consider the justice +of His claims, and could not (or would not?) bring themselves to +understand how clearly the Scriptures bore witness to His divinity, +and how marvellously the prophecies and predictions (the words of +which they accepted), were fulfilled in His Divine Person; so now +Protestants steadily refuse to consider the claims of Her whom they +contemptuously style "the Romish Church," and are so prejudiced and +full of suspicion, if not of hate, that they too cannot bring +themselves to understand how She, like her Divine Founder, bears upon +her immortal brow the distinctive and unmistakable impress of her +supernatural origin and destiny. The Incarnate Son of God, who never +asks, nor can ask in vain, implored His Heavenly Father, that all His +followers might be one, and why? In order that this marvellous unity +might ever be fixed as a seal of authenticity to His Church, and be to +all men a permanent sign and proof of her genuineness. + +"Father," He prayed, grant "that they may ALL BE ONE, as Thou art in +Me, and as I am in Thee, that they also may be one in us, THAT THE +WORLD MAY KNOW that Thou hast sent Me" (John xvii. 21). Unity, then, +is undeniably the test and sign-manual attached by Christ to His +Bride, the Church; the presence or absence of which must (if there be +any truth in God) determine the genuineness or the falsity of every +claimant. + +Now, this mark is nowhere found outside the One, Holy, Catholic and +Apostolic Church, whose centre is in Rome. + +Other Churches not merely do not possess unity. They do not possess so +much as the requisite machinery to produce it, nor even the means of +preserving it, if produced. + +With us, on the contrary, it flows as naturally and as directly from +the recognised Supremacy and Infallibility of the Vicar of Christ as +light flows from the sun. It is so manifest that it would seem only +the blind can fail to see it: so that one is sometimes puzzled to know +how to excuse educated Protestants from the damnable sin of _vincible_ +ignorance. Thus, the faithful throughout the entire world are in +constant communication with their respective pastors; the pastors, in +their turn, are in direct communication with their respective Bishops, +and the Bishops, dispersed throughout the length and breadth of +Christendom, are in close and direct communication with the one +Supreme and Infallible Ruler, whom the Lord has placed over all His +possessions; who has been promised immunity from error; and whose +special duty and office is to "confirm his brethren" (Luke xxii. 32). +By this most simple, yet most practical and effective expedient, the +very least and humblest catechumen in China or Australia is as truly +in touch with the central authority at the Vatican, and as completely +under its direction in matters of faith and morals, as the crowned +heads of Spain or Austria, or as the Archbishops of Paris or Malines. +Certainly _Digitus Dei est hic_: the finger of God is here. The simple +fact is, there is always something about the works of God which +clearly differentiate them from the products of man, however close may +be the mere external and surface resemblance. A thousand artists may +carve a thousand acorns, so cunningly coloured, and so admirably +contrived as to be practically indistinguishable from the genuine +fruit of the oak. Each of these thousand artists may present me with +his manufactured acorn, and may assure me of its genuineness. And, +alas! I may be quite deceived and taken in; yes, but only _for a +time_. When I plant them in the soil, together with the genuine acorn, +and give them time to develop, the fraud is detected, and the truth +revealed. For the real seed proves its worth. How? In the simplest way +possible, that is to say, by actually doing what it was destined and +created to do. That is, by growing and developing into a majestic oak, +while the false and human imitations fall to pieces, belie all one's +hopes, and are found to produce neither branch nor leaf nor fruit. + +This is but an illustration of what may be observed equally in the +spiritual order, although there it is attended by more disastrous +consequences. Thus we find hundreds of Churches proclaiming themselves +to be foundations of God, which Time, the old Justice who tries all +such offenders, soon proves, most unmistakably, to be nothing but the +contrivances of man. They may bear a certain external resemblance to +the true Church, planted by the Divine Husbandman, but like the +man-made acorns, they deceive all our expectations, and are wholly +unable to redeem their promises, or to live up to their pretensions. + +For, while one and all declare with their lips that they possess the +truth as revealed by Christ, their glaring divisions, irreconcilable +differences, and internal dissensions emphatically prove that the +truth is not in them: and that they have been built, not on the rock, +but on the shifting sand, and are the erections, not of God, but of +feeble, fickle men. + +On the other hand, the Catholic Church, amid a thousand sects, +resembles the genuine acorn among the thousand imitations. Not only +does she alone possess the whole truth; but she alone can stand up and +actually prove this claim to the entire world, by pointing defiantly +at her marvellous and miraculous unity--a unity so conspicuous, and so +striking, and so absolutely unique, that even the hostile and bigoted +Protestant press can sometimes scarcely refrain from bearing an +unwilling testimony to it. + +We might give many instances of this, and quote from many sources, but +let the following extract from London's leading journal serve as an +example. It is no other paper than the _Times_, which makes the +following admission on occasion of the Vatican Council which opened in +1869: "Seven hundred Bishops, more or less, representing all +Christendom, were seen gathered round one altar and one throne, +partaking of the same Divine Mystery, and rendering homage, by turns, +to the same spiritual authority and power. As they put on their +mitres, or took them off, and as they came to the steps of the altar, +or the foot of the common spiritual Father, it was IMPOSSIBLE +not to feel the UNITY and the power of the Church which they +represented" (16th Dec., 1869). Here, then, is the most influential +journal certainly of Great Britain, perhaps of the world, proclaiming +to its readers far and wide, not simply that the Roman Catholic Church +is one, but that her oneness is of such a sterling quality, and of so +pronounced a character that it is impossible--mark the word, +impossible!--not to feel it. Yet men ask where the Church of God is to +be found. They ask for a sign, and lo! when God gives them one they +cannot see it, nor interpret it, nor make anything out of it: and +prefer to linger on in what Newman calls "the cities of confusion," +than find peace and security in "the communion of Rome, which is that +Church which the Apostles set up at Pentecost, which alone has 'the +adoption of sons, and the glory and the covenants and the revealed +law, and the service of God and the promises,' and in which the +Anglican [or any other Protestant] communion, whatever it merits and +demerits, whatever the great excellence of individuals in it, has, as +such, no part". But this is a digression. Let us return to our +subject. + +The incontestable value and immense practical importance of the Papal +prerogative of infallibility have been rendered abundantly manifest +ever since its solemn definition nearly forty years ago. In fact, +although the enormous increase of the population of the world has not +rendered the position of the Sovereign Pontiff any easier, yet he is +better fitted and equipped since the definition to cope promptly and +effectually with errors and heresies as they arise than he was before. +We do not mean that his prerogative of infallibility is invoked upon +every trivial occasion--one does not call for a Nasmyth hammer to +break a nut--but it is always there, in reserve, and may be used, on +occasion, even without summoning an Ecumenical Council, and this is a +matter of some consequence. For, though time may bring many changes +into the life of man, and may improve his physical condition and +surroundings, and add enormously to his comfort, health, and general +corporal well-being, it is found to produce no corresponding effect +upon his corrupt and fallen nature, which asserts itself as vigorously +now, after nearly two thousand years of Christianity, as in the past. +Pride and self still sway men's hearts. The spirit of independence and +self-assertion and egotism, in spite of all efforts at repression, +continue to stalk abroad. And human nature, even to-day, is almost as +impatient of restraint, and as unwilling to bear the yoke of +obedience, as in the time when Gregory resisted Henry of Germany, or +when Pius VII. excommunicated Napoleon. If, even in the Apostolic age, +when the number of the faithful was small and concentrated, there +were, nevertheless, men of unsound views--"wolves in sheep's +clothing"--amongst the flock of Christ, how much more likely is this +to be the case now. If the Apostle St. Paul felt called upon to warn +his own beloved disciples against those "who would not endure sound +doctrine," and who "heaped to themselves teachers, having itching +ears," and who even "closed their ears to the truth, in order to +listen to fables" (2 Tim. iv. 1-5), surely we may reasonably expect to +find, even in our own generation, many who have fallen, or who are in +danger of falling under the pernicious influence of false teachers, +and who are being seduced and led astray by the plausible, but utterly +fallacious, reasoning of proud and worldly spirits. It would be easy +to name several, but they are too well known already to need further +advertising here. + +Then, she has adversaries without, as well as within. For, though the +Church is not _of_ the world, she is _in_ the world. Which is only +another way of saying that she is surrounded continually and on all +sides by powerful, subtle, and unscrupulous foes. "The world is the +enemy of God," and therefore of His Church. If its votaries cannot +destroy her, nor put an end to her charmed life, they hope, at least, +to defame her character and to blacken her reputation. They seize +every opportunity to misrepresent her doctrine, to travesty her +history, and to denounce her as retrograde, old fashioned, and out of +date. And, what makes matters worse, the falsest and most mischievous +allegations are often accompanied by professions of friendship and +consideration, and set forth in learned treatises, with an elegance of +language and an elevation of style calculated to deceive the simple +and to misguide the unwary. It is Father W. Faber who remarks that, +"there is not a new philosophy nor a freshly named science but what +deems, in the ignorance of its raw beginnings, that it will either +explode the Church as false or set her aside as doting" (Bl. Sac. +Prologue). Indeed the world is always striving to withdraw men and +women from their allegiance to the Church, through appeals to its +superior judgment and more enlightened experience; and philosophy and +history and even theology are all pressed into the service, and +falsified and misrepresented in such a manner as to give colour to its +complaints and accusations against the Bride of Christ, who, it is +seriously urged, "should make concessions and compromises with the +modern world, in order to purchase the right to live and to dwell +within it". What is the consequence? Let the late Cardinal Archbishop +and the Bishops of England answer. "Many Catholics," they write in +their joint pastoral, "are consequently in danger of forfeiting not +only their faith, but even their independence, by taking for granted +as venerable and true the halting and disputable judgment of some men +of letters or of science which may represent no more than the wave of +some popular feeling, or the views of some fashionable or dogmatising +school. The bold assertions of men of science are received with awe +and bated breath, the criticisms of an intellectual group of _savants_ +are quoted as though they were rules for a holy life, while the mind +of the Church and her guidance are barely spoken of with ordinary +patience." + +In a world such as this, with the agents of evil ever active and +threatening, with error strewn as thorns about our path at every step, +and with polished and seductive voices whispering doubt and suggesting +rebellion and disobedience to men, already too prone to disloyalty, +and arguing as cunningly as Satan, of old, argued with Eve; in such a +world, who, we may well ask, does not see the pressing need as well as +the inestimable advantages and security afforded by a living, +vigilant, responsible and supreme authority, where all who seek, may +find an answer to their doubts, and a strength and a firm support in +their weakness? + +And as surely as the need exists, so surely has God's watchful +providence supplied it, in the person of the Supreme Pontiff, the +venerable Vicar of Christ on earth. He is authorised and commissioned +by Christ Himself "to feed" with sound doctrine, both "the lambs and +the sheep"; and faithfully has he discharged that duty. "The Pope," +writes Cardinal Newman, "is no recluse, no solitary student, no +dreamer about the past, no doter upon the dead and gone, no projector +of the visionary. He, for eighteen hundred years, has lived in the +world; he has seen all fortunes, he has encountered all adversaries, +he has shaped himself for all emergencies. If ever there was a power +on earth who had an eye for the times, who has confined himself to the +practicable, and has been happy in his anticipations, whose words have +been facts, and whose commands prophecies, such is he, in the history +of ages, who sits, from generation to generation, in the chair of the +Apostles, as the Vicar of Christ, and the Doctor of His Church." + +"These are not the words of rhetoric," he continues, "but of history. +All who take part with the Apostle are on the winning side. He has +long since given warrants for the confidence which he claims. From the +first, he has looked through the wide world, of which he has the +burden; and, according to the need of the day, and the inspirations of +his Lord, he has set himself, now to one thing, now to another; but to +all in season, and to nothing in vain.... Ah! What grey hairs are on +the head of Judah, whose youth is renewed like the eagle's, whose feet +are like the feet of harts, and underneath the Everlasting Arms." +Would that our unfortunate countrymen, tossed about by every wind of +doctrine, and torn by endless divisions, could be persuaded to set +aside pride and prejudice, and to accept the true principle of +religious unity and peace established by God. Then England would +become again, what she was for over a thousand years, _viz._: "the +most faithful daughter of the Church of Rome, and of His Holiness, the +one Sovereign Pontiff and Vicar of Christ upon earth," as our Catholic +forefathers were wont to describe her. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE CHURCH AND THE SECTS. + + +A natural tendency is apparent in all men to differ among themselves, +even concerning subjects which are simple and easily understood; +while, on more difficult and complicated issues, this tendency is, of +course, very much more pronounced. Hence, the well-known proverb: +"_Quot homines, tot sententiae_"--there are as many opinions as there +are men. + +Now, if this is found to be the case in politics, literature, art, +music, and indeed in everything else, except perhaps pure mathematics, +it is found to be yet more universally the case in questions of +religion, since religion is a subject so much more sublime, abstruse, +and incomprehensible than others, and so full of supernatural and +mysterious truths, with which no merely human tribunal has any +competency to deal. Then, let me ask, what chance has a man of +arriving at a right decision on the most important of all +questions--questions concerning his own eternal salvation--who is +thrown into the midst of a world where there is no uniformity of view +on spiritual matters, where every variety of opinion is expressed and +defended, and where every conceivable form of worship has its fervent +supporters and followers. + +Or, leaving all others out of account, may we not well ask how the +vast multitudes even of Catholics, scattered throughout such a world +as this, are to maintain "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of +peace" (Eph. iv. 3), to preserve the tenets of their creed intact, and +to discriminate accurately and readily between the teaching of God, +and the fallacious doctrines of men? In dealing with anxious and angry +disputants there is little use to appeal, as Protestants do, to the +authority of teachers who have nothing more to commend them than a +learning and an intelligence but little better than that of their +disciples. Where man differs from man each will prefer his own view, +and claim that his personal opinion is as deserving of respect and as +likely to be right as his adversary's--which is practically what +obtains among non-Catholics at the present day. Indeed, the only +superhuman and infallible authority on earth recognised by them is the +Bible; and that, alas! has proved a block of stumbling and not a bond +of union, since, in the hands of unscrupulous men, it may be made to +prove absolutely anything. The most sacred and fundamental truths, +even such as the sublime doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, the Divinity +of Christ, and the Atonement, have all, at one time or another, been +vehemently denied _on the authority of the Bible_! The Anglican Bishop +Colenso, in writing to the _Times_, could quote eleven texts of +Scripture to prove that prayer ought not to be offered to Our Divine +Lord! yet, it made no difference. He was allowed to go on teaching +just as before! No one seemed to care. What is "pure Gospel" to Mr. +Brown is "deadly error" to Mr. Green; while "the fundamental verities" +of Mr. Thompson are "the satanical delusions" of Mr. Johnson. In fact, +there is really less dispute among men as to the interpretation of the +Vedas, of Chinese chronology, or of Egyptian archaeology, than of the +Bible, which, to the eternal dishonour of Protestant commentators, has +now almost ceased to have any definite meaning whatever, because every +imaginable meaning has been defended by some and denied by others. It +is beyond dispute that the Bible, without an infallible Teacher to +explain its true meaning, will be of no use whatsoever as a bond of +unity. + +If the unity, promised by God-incarnate, is to be secured, the present +circumstances of the case, as well as the actual experience of many +centuries, prove three conditions to be absolutely necessary, _viz._: +a teacher who is _firstly_ ever living and accessible; _secondly_, who +can and will speak clearly and without ambiguity; and _thirdly_, and +most essential of all, whose decisions are authoritative and +decisive. One, in a word, who can pass sentence and close a +controversy, and whose verdict will be honoured and accepted _as +final_ by all Catholics without hesitation. These three requisites are +found in the person of the infallible Head of the Catholic Church, but +nowhere else. + +Experience shows that where, in religion, there is nothing but mere +human learning to guide, however great such learning may be, there +will always be room left for some differences of opinion. In such +controversies even the learned and the well read will not all arrange +themselves on one side; but will espouse, some one view, and some +another. We find this to be the case everywhere. And, since the Church +of England offers us as striking and as ready an example as any other, +we cannot do better than invoke it as both a warning and a witness. + +Though her adherents are but a small fraction, compared with +ourselves, and though they are socially and politically far more +homogeneous than we Catholics, who are gathered from all the nations +of the earth, yet even they, in the absence of any universally +recognised and infallible head, are split up into a hundred fragments. + +So that, even on the most essential points of doctrine, there is +absolutely no true unanimity. This is so undeniable that Anglican +Bishops themselves are found lamenting and wringing their hands over +their "unhappy divisions". Still, we wish to be perfectly just, so, in +illustration of our contention, we will select, not one of those +innumerable minor points which it would be easy to bring forward, but +some really crucial point of doctrine, the importance of which no man +in his senses will have the hardihood to deny. Let us say, for +instance, the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. Can we conceive anything +that a devout Christian would be more anxious to ascertain than +whether Our Divine Lord and Saviour be really and personally and +substantially present under the appearance of bread, or no! Picture to +yourselves, then, a fervent worshipper entering an Anglican church, +where they are said "to reserve," and kneeling before the Tabernacle. +Just watch the poor unfortunate man utterly and hopelessly unable to +decide whether he is prostrating and pouring out his soul before a +mere memorial, a simple piece of common bread, or before the Infinite +Creator of the Universe, the dread King of kings, and Lord of lords, +in Whose presence the very angels veil their faces, and the strong +pillars of heaven tremble! Imagine a Church where such a state of +things is possible! Yet, we have it on the authority of an Anglican +Bishop--and I know not where we shall find a higher authority--that +this is indeed the case; as may be gathered from the following words, +taken from a "charge" by the late Bishop Ryle, which are surely clear +enough: "One section of our (_i.e._, Anglican) clergy," says the +Bishop, "maintains that the Lord's Supper is a sacrifice, and another +maintains with equal firmness that it is not.... One section maintains +that there is a real objective presence of Christ's Body and Blood +under the forms of the consecrated bread and wine. The other maintains +that there is no real presence whatsoever, except in the hearts of the +believing communicant."[5] Was such a state of pitiable helplessness +ever seen or heard or dreamed of anywhere! And yet this church, please +to observe, is supposed to be a body sent by God to teach. Heaven +preserve us from such a teacher. As a further illustration of the +utter incompetency of the Establishment to perform this primary duty, +we may call to mind the strikingly instructive correspondence that was +published some years ago between his Grace Archbishop Sumner and Mr. +Maskell, who very naturally and very rightly sought direction from his +Ordinary concerning certain points of doctrine, of which he was in +doubt. + +"You ask me," writes the Archbishop to Mr. Maskell, "whether you are +to conclude that you ought not to teach, and have not the authority of +the [Anglican] Church to teach any of the doctrines spoken of in your +five former questions, in the dogmatical terms there stated." + +Here, then, we have a perfectly fair and straightforward question, +deserving an equally clear and straightforward answer: and such as +would be given at once if addressed by any Catholic enquirer to _his_ +Bishop. But how does the Anglican Archbishop proceed to calm and +comfort this helpless, agitated soul, groping painfully in the dark? +What is his Grace's reply? He cannot refer the matter to a Sovereign +Pontiff, for no Pontiff in the Anglican Church is possessed of any +sovereignty whatsoever. In fact the Archbishop himself has to "verily +testify and declare that His Majesty the King is the only supreme +Governor in _spiritual_ and _ecclesiastical_ things as well as +temporal," etc.[6] Nor dare he solve these troublesome doubts himself: +for he is no more infallible than his questioner. Then what does he +do? Practically nothing. He throws the whole burden back upon poor +Mr. Maskell, and leaves him to struggle with his doubts as best he +may. Thus; though the Church _of God_ was established to "teach all +nations," and _must_ still be teaching all nations if she exist at +all; the Church _of England_ seems unable to teach one nation, or even +one man. + +But to continue. The Archbishop begins by putting Mr. Maskell a +question. "Are they (_i.e._, the doctrines about which he is seeking +information) contained in the Word of God? St. Paul says, 'Preach the +Word'.... Now whether the doctrines concerning which you inquire are +contained in the Word of God, and can be proved thereby, _you have the +same means_ of discovering for yourself as I have, and I have no +special authority to declare." + +Did any one ever witness such an exhibition of ineptitude and +spiritual asthenia? We can conceive a man rejecting all revelation. It +is possible even to conceive a man denying the Divinity of Christ. But +we know nothing that would ever enable us even to conceive that +Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Power had established a Church which +cannot teach, or had sent an ambassador utterly unable to deliver His +message. There is no use for such Church as that. Total silence is +better than incoherent speech. What is the consequence? The +consequence is that in the Anglican community endless variations and +differences exist and flourish side by side, not alone in matters +where differences are comparatively of little account, but in even the +most momentous and fundamental doctrines, such as the necessity of +Baptism, the power of Absolution, the nature of the Holy Eucharist, +the effects of the sacrament of Holy Orders, and so forth. Were it not +for the iron hand of the State, which grasps her firmly, and binds her +mutually repellent elements together, she must have fallen to pieces +long ago. Now, we must beg our readers to consider well, that from the +very terms of the institution such a deplorable state of things as we +have been contemplating is absolutely impossible and unthinkable in +the Church (1) which _God-incarnate_ founded, _for the express +purpose of handing down His doctrine_, pure and undefiled to the end +of time; and (2) with which He promised to abide for ever; and (3) +which the Holy Ghost Himself, speaking through St. Paul, declared to +be "the pillar and ground of truth" (1. Tim. iii. 15). Nevertheless, +if the Catholic Church, numbering over 250,000,000 of persons, is not +to fall into the sad plight that has overtaken all the small churches +that have gone out from her, she must not only desire unity, as, no +doubt, all the sects desire it, but she must have been provided by her +all-wise Founder with what none of them even profess to possess, +_viz._, some simple, workable, and effective means of securing it. +This means, as practical as it is simple, is no other than one supreme +central and living authority, enjoying full jurisdiction over +all--that is to say, the authority of Peter, ever living in his See, +and speaking, now by the lips of Leo, and now by the lips of Pius, but +always in the name, and with the authority, and under the guidance of +Him who, in the plenitude of His divine power, made Peter the +immovable rock, against which the gates of hell may indeed expend +their fury, but against which they never have prevailed and never can +prevail. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against Thee." That any +one can fail to understand the meaning of these inspired words; that +any one can give them any application save that which they receive in +the Catholic Church, is but another illustration of the extraordinary +power of prejudice and pride to blind the reason and to darken the +understanding. + +Without this final Court of Appeal, set up by the wisdom of God, the +Church would disintegrate and fall into pieces to-morrow. To remove +from the Church of Christ the infallibility of the Pope would be like +removing the hub from the wheel, the key-stone from the arch, the +trunk from the tree, the foundation from the house. For, in each case +the result must mean confusion. If such a result could ever have been +doubted in the past, it can surely be doubted no longer. The sad +experience of the past three hundred years speaks more eloquently than +any words; and its verdict is conclusive. It proves two things beyond +dispute. The _first_ is, that even the largest and most heterogeneous +body of men may be easily united and kept together, if they can all be +brought to recognise and obey one supreme authority; and the _second_ +is, that, even a small and homogeneous body of men will soon divide +and split up into sections, if they cannot be brought to recognise +such an authority. + +Further, any one looking out over the face of Christendom, with an +unprejudiced eye, for the realisation of that unity which Christ +promised to affix to his Church as an infallible sign of authenticity, +will find it in the Catholic Communion, but certainly nowhere +else--least of all in the Church of England. + +"What," asks a well-known writer in unfeigned astonishment, "what +opinion is not held within the Established Church? Were not Dr. +Wilberforce and Dr. Colenso, Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Baring equally +Bishops of the Church of England? Were not Dr. Pusey and Mr. Jowett +at the same time her professors; Father Ignatius and Mr. Bellew her +ministers; Archdeacon Denison and Dr. M'Neile her distinguished +ornaments and preachers? Yet their religions differed almost as widely +as Buddhism from Calvinism, or the philosophy of Aristotle from that +of Martin Tupper." If a Catholic priest were to teach a single +heretical doctrine, he would be at once cashiered, and turned out of +the Church. But "if an Anglican minister must resign because his +opinions are at variance with some other Anglican minister, every soul +of them would have to retire, from the Archbishop of Canterbury down +to the last licentiate of Durham or St. Bees". + +As surely as infallibility is the essential prerogative of a divinely +constituted Teaching Church, so surely can it exist only in that +institution which alone has always claimed it, both as her gift by +promise and the sole explanation of her triumphs and her perpetuity. +It would be the idlest of dreams to search for it in a fractional part +of a modern community, like the Church of England, which had always +disowned and scoffed at it, and which could account for its own +existence ONLY on the plea that the Promises of God had +signally failed, and that _it_ alone was able to correct the failure. + +Men ask for some sign, by which they may recognise the true Church of +God and discriminate it readily from all spurious imitations. God, in +His mercy, offers them a sign--namely UNITY. Yet they hesitate and +hold back, and refuse to guide their tempest-tossed barques by its +unerring light into the one Haven of Salvation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: See Charge, etc., dated November, 1893.] + +[Footnote 6: _Ang. Ministry_, by Hutton, p. 504.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE POPE'S INFALLIBLE AUTHORITY. + + +1. The Church of God can be but one; because God is truth: and, truth +can be but one. The world may, and (as a matter of fact) does abound +in false Churches, just as it abounds in false deities; but, this is +rendered possible only _because they are false_. Two or more true +Churches involve a contradiction in terms. Such a condition of things +is as intrinsically absurd, and as unthinkable, as two or more true +Gods--as well talk of two or more multiplication tables! No! There can +be but "One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism". If several Churches all +teach the true doctrine of Christ, unmixed with error, they must all +agree, and, consequently, be virtually one and the self same. There is +no help for it; and sound reason will not tolerate any other +conclusion. The "Branch Theory" stands self-condemned, if truth be of +any importance: because it is inconsistent with truth. For, if one +Church contradicts the other on any single point of doctrine, then one +or the other must be false, that is, it must be either asserting what +Christ denied; or else denying what Christ asserted. They cannot, +under any circumstances, be described as _true_ Churches. This is not +sophistry or subtilty. It is common-sense. Christ promised unity in +promising truth; since truth is one. Is Christ divided? asks St. Paul. +No! Then neither is His Church. + +2. How was His truth to be maintained and securely developed, century +after century, pure and untainted, and free from all admixture of +error? _Humanly_ speaking, the thing was impossible. Then what +_superhuman_ guarantee did He offer? What was to be our security? +Nothing less than the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost Himself. + +Surely, then, we need not be anxious after that! Listen, and remember +it is to God you are listening. "The Spirit of Truth shall abide with +you for ever" (John xiv. 17). Non-Catholics do not seem in the least +to realise what those words mean, or that it is God Himself who +promises. But, to continue; what is the purpose of this extraordinary +and enduring presence? Why is it given? What is it for? Well, for the +express purpose of hindering divisions and sects. In order to lead, +not to mislead us. How do we know? Because God said so: "He shall +guide you into all truth" (John xvi. 13). And this truth, thus +permanently secured, was to draw all together into one body. In fact, +we have it on Divine authority, that the Church of Christ was to be as +truly a single organic whole, in which every part is subject to one +head, as is a living human body. The similitude is not of man's +choosing, but is inspired by the Holy Spirit Himself. "As the +(natural) body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of +that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.... Now, +ye are the (mystical) Body[7] of Christ" (1 Cor. xii.). + +What can be clearer, what more explicit? Now, if the Spirit of Truth, +that is to say, the Holy Ghost, _is really_ with the Church (as God +promised He always would be), and if He is always present for the +_express purpose of "guiding her into all truth"_ (as God promised +would be the case), surely this guidance must be a great reality, and +not the mere sham that it is everywhere found to be, outside the +Catholic Church. + +3. Consciously or unconsciously, Anglicans and other non-Catholics +have for centuries denied the truth of Our Lord's words and have +contradicted His clearest statements. In fact, the Church of England, +in her Book of Homilies, declares that "clergy and laity, learned and +unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children, +of whole Christendom, were altogether drowned in damnable idolatry by +the space of 800 years and more"! (Hom. on Peril of Idol., part iii.). +This is a specimen of the way in which God's promises are set aside, +and the Bible misinterpreted by outsiders while professing to make it +the foundation of their creed. Nor was this the teaching of a few +irresponsible persons. It was enforced by the whole Anglican Church. +"All parsons, vicars, curates, and all others having spiritual cure," +were "straitly enjoined" to read these Homilies Sunday after Sunday +throughout the year in every church and chapel of the kingdom. And the +25th Article declares the second book of Homilies to contain "a godly +and wholesome doctrine and necessary for these times"! Probably this +"godly and wholesome doctrine" is no longer obliged to be read and +taught by Anglicans; probably they no longer consider it either +"godly" or "wholesome," but quite the reverse. This we are quite ready +to admit. But, in the name of common prudence, who, in his senses, +would trust the salvation of his immortal soul to a Church that +teaches a thing is white in one century and black in the next, and +never knows its own mind? + +Here then let us put two very pertinent questions, for our +non-Catholic friends to ponder over, and to answer, if they can. +First: How is it possible for the Church to go astray, if God the Holy +Ghost is really guiding? Second: How is it possible for the Church to +wander away into _error_, if this same Spirit be leading her into _all +truth_? Will some one kindly explain that, without at the same time +denying the veracity of God? + +4. However, granting the absolute truth of Christ's promises, we may +now proceed to inquire in what way this divine and (because divine) +infallible guidance into all truth is brought about? Is it by the Holy +Spirit whispering to each individual priest or to each individual +Bishop? Emphatically not. Why not? Because, if that theory were well +founded, then every priest and Bishop would believe and teach +precisely the same set of doctrines, without any need of an +infallible Pope to guide him. For, clearly, the Spirit of _Truth_ +could not whisper "yea" to one, and "nay" to another, nor could He +declare a thing to be "black" to one person and "white" to his +neighbour. In fine, we have but two alternatives to choose from. We +must confess either that the promises themselves, so solemnly made, +are lies (which were blasphemy to affirm), or else, that God directs +His Church, and safeguards its truth, through its head, or chief +Pastor; just as we regulate and control the members of the physical +body through the brain. We must either renounce all belief in Christ +and His promises, or else admit that His words are actually carried +out, and that the prayer has been heard which He made for Peter, and +for those who should, in turn, exercise Peter's office and functions, +and should speak in his name. Harken to the narrative, as given by St. +Luke: "The Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have +you [_observe, the plural number_] that he may sift you as wheat; but +I have prayed [_not for all, but_] for _thee_, that _thy_ faith fail +not: and _thou_, being once converted, confirm thy brethren" (Luke +xxii. 32) [_observe the singular number_, "thee," "thy" and "thou"]. + +Peter still lives, in the person of Pope Pius X., and _in virtue of +that prayer_, and through the omnipotent power of God, Peter still +"confirms his brethren," and will continue to confirm them in the true +and pure doctrine of Christ, until the final crack of doom. As the +venerable Bishop W.B. Ullathorne wrote to Lady Chatterton, soon after +the Vatican Council, _i.e._, 19th November, 1875: "There is but one +Church of Christ, with one truth, taught by one authority, received by +all, believed by all within its pale; or there is no security for +faith. If we examine Our Lord's words and acts, such a Church there +is. If we follow the inclinations of our fallen nature, ever averse to +the control of authority, we there find the reason why so many who +love this world, receive not the authority that He planted, to endure +like His primal creation, to the end." + +"It is pleasant to human pride and independence to be a little god, +having but oneself for an authority, and a light, and a law to +oneself. But does this or does it not contradict the fact that we are +dependent beings, and that the Lord, He is God? This spirit of +independence, with self-sufficiency for its basis, and rebellion for +its act, is _just what_ Sacred Scripture ascribes to Satan" (p. 230). + +True. And it is just the reverse of the disposition that Christ +demands from all who wish to enter into His One Fold: for He declares +with startling clearness that "unless we become as little children" +(_i.e._, docile, submissive, trustful, etc.) "we shall not enter into +the Kingdom of heaven," which is His Church. + + * * * * * + +5. Before proceeding further, it may be well here to draw a +distinction between the Pope, considered as the _supreme_ ruler, and +the Pope, considered as the _infallible_ ruler. The reigning Pontiff, +whosoever he may be, is always the Supreme Ruler, the Head of the +Church, and the Vicar of Christ; but he is not, on all occasions, nor +under all circumstances, the infallible ruler. + +To guard against any mistake as to the meaning of our words, let us +explain that infallibility is a gift, but not a gift that the Pope +exercises every day, nor on every occasion, nor in addressing +individuals, nor public audiences, nor is it a prerogative that can be +invoked, except under special and indeed we may certainly add, very +exceptional circumstances. And further--unlike other powers--it can +never be delegated to another. The Pope himself is Infallible, but he +cannot transfer nor communicate his Infallibility, even temporarily or +for some special given occasion, to anyone else who may, in other +respects, represent him, such as a Legate, Ambassador, or Nuncio. + +"Neither in conversation," writes the theologian Billuart, "nor in +discussion, nor in interpreting Scripture or the Fathers, nor in +consulting, nor in giving his reasons for the point which he has +defined, nor in answering letters, nor in private deliberations, +supposing he is setting forth his own opinion, is the Pope +infallible." He is not infallible as a theologian, or as a priest, or +a Bishop, or a temporal ruler, or a judge, or a legislator, or in his +political views, or even in the government of the Church: but only +when he teaches the Faithful throughout the world, _ex cathedra_, in +matters of faith or of morals, that is to say, in matters relating to +revealed truth, or to principles of moral conduct. + +"It in no way depends upon the caprice of the Pope, or upon his good +pleasure, to make such and such a doctrine the object of a dogmatic +definition. He is tied up and limited to the divine revelation, and to +the truths which that revelation contains. He is tied up and limited +by the Creeds, already in existence, and by the preceding definitions +of the Church. He is tied up and limited by the divine law and by the +constitution of the Church. Lastly, he is tied up and limited by that +doctrine, divinely revealed, which affirms that, alongside religious +society, there is civil society, that alongside the Ecclesiastical +Hierarchy, there is the power of temporal magistrates, invested, in +their own domain, with a full sovereignty, and to whom we owe in +conscience obedience and respect in all things morally permitted, and +belonging to the domain of civil society."[8] + +Further, a definition of divine faith must be drawn from the Apostolic +deposit of doctrine, in order that it may be considered an exercise of +infallibility, whether in Pope or Council. Similarly, a precept of +morals, if it is to be accepted as from an infallible voice, must be +drawn from the moral law, that primary revelation to us from God. The +Pope has no power over the Moral Law, except to assert it, to +interpret it and to enforce it. + +6. From this, it is at once realised how restricted, after all, is the +infallible power of the Pope, in spite of the alarm its definition +excited in the Protestant camp, in 1870. + +Still, it must be clearly understood that whether speaking _ex +cathedra_ or not, the Pope is always the Vicar of Christ and the +divinely appointed Head of His Church, and that we, as dutiful +children, are bound both to listen to him with the utmost attention +and respect, and to show him ready and heartfelt obedience. Anyone who +should limit his submission to the Pope's infallible utterances is +truly a rebel at heart, and no true Catholic. + +The Holy Scripture is far from contemplating the exceptional cases of +infallible definitions when it lays down the command: "Remember them, +who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, +whose faith follow". And, "_obey_ them that have the rule over you, +and _submit_ yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that +must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief". +The margin in the Protestant Version (observes Cardinal Newman) reads +"those who are your _guides_," and the word may also be translated +"leaders". Well, whether as rulers or as guides and leaders, whichever +word be right, they are to be _obeyed_. + +7. From this it is evident enough that assent is of two kinds. There +is firstly the assent of Divine Faith; and secondly there is the +assent of religious obedience. Neither can be dispensed with. Both are +binding. All we affirm is that the one is not the other, and that the +first must not be confused with the last. A special kind of assent, +that is to say, the _assent of Divine Faith_ must be given to all +those doctrines which are proposed to us by the infallible voice of +the Church, as taught by Our Lord or the Apostles, and as contained in +the original deposit [_fidei Depositum_]. They comprise (_a_) all +things whatever which God has directly revealed; and (_b_) whatever +truth such revelation implicitly contains. + +These implicit truths are deduced from the original revelation, very +much as any other consequence from its premisses. For example. It is a +truth directly revealed, that the _Holy Ghost is God_. But, since God +is to be adored: the further proposition:--_the Holy Ghost is to be +adored_; is also contained, though only implicitly, in revelation; +and is therefore, equally, of faith. So again; that Christ is man, is +a fact of revelation; but the further proposition--Christ has a true +body--though not explicitly stated, is implicitly affirmed in the +first proposition. All consequences, such as the above, which are seen +immediately and evidently to be contained in the words of revelation, +must be accepted as of faith. Other consequences, which are equally +contained in the original deposit, but which are not so readily +detected and deduced, _must be explicitly_ accepted as of faith, only +so soon as the Church has publicly and authoritatively declared them +to be so contained; but not before. Thus, to take an illustration, the +Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin is a fact contained from +the beginning, implicitly locked up, as it were, in the deposit of +faith, left by the Apostles. Were it not so it never could have been +defined; for the Church does not invent doctrines. She only transmits +them. Yet, this doctrine is not so clearly and so self-evidently +included, and lies not so luminously and unmistakably on the very +surface of revelation as to be at once perceptible to all. Hence, +before its actual definition, a Catholic might deny it, or suspend his +judgment, without censure; whereas, to do either the one or the other, +after the Church has solemnly declared the doctrine to be contained in +the teaching of Christ and the Apostles, would be nothing short of +heresy. + +"The Infallibility, whether of the Church or of the Pope," says +Cardinal Newman, "acts principally or solely in two channels, (_a_) in +direct statement of truth, and (_b_) in the condemnation of error. The +former takes the shape of doctrinal definitions, the latter +stigmatises propositions as 'heretical,' 'next to heresy,' +'erroneous,' and the like" (p. 136). + +The gift of Infallibility, observes Cardinal Manning, "extends +_directly_ to the whole matter of divine truth, and _indirectly_ to +all truths which, though not revealed, are in such contact with +revelation that the deposit of faith and morals cannot be guarded, +expounded, and defended, without an infallible discernment of such +unrevealed truths" (_Vatican Decrees_, p. 167). + +8. To sum up: Persons who refuse to assent to doctrines which they +know to be directly revealed and defined, or which are universally +held by the Church as of Catholic Faith, become by that very act +guilty of heresy, and cut themselves adrift from the mystical Body of +Christ, and are no longer His members. If, on the other hand, their +assent is refused only to doctrines closely connected with these +dogmatic utterances, and which, as such, are proposed for their +acceptance, they become guilty, if not of actual heresy, then of +something perilously akin to it, and are, at all events, guilty of +serious sin. + +We may observe, in conclusion, that the Infallibility of Pontifical +definitions, as Father Humphrey so pertinently reminds us, does not +depend upon the reigning Pontiff's possession of any real knowledge of +ancient Church history or theology, or philosophy or science, but +_simply_ and solely upon the assistance of God the Holy Ghost, +guaranteed to him in his exercise of his function of Chief Pastor, in +feeding with divine doctrine the entire flock of God. Our Anglican +friends seem penetrated with the utterly false notion of justification +by scholarship alone; which is as untrue as it is unscriptural. +Indeed, their justification by scholarship is likely to lead to very +undesirable and deplorable results. + +In the foregoing chapter we have considered especially the Pope's +Infallible authority, and the assent and obedience due to it. In our +next it remains for us to consider the proper attitude of a loyal +Catholic towards the Sovereign Pontiff as the supreme ruler and +governor of the Church of God, even when not speaking _ex cathedra_. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 7: The word _soma_, observes Mgr. Capel, is never used in +Greek to express _mere_ association or aggregation (_Catholic_, p. +13).] + +[Footnote 8: From a Pastoral of the Swiss Bishops, which _received the +Pope's approbation_.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE POPE'S ORDINARY AUTHORITY. + + +1. When the Holy Father speaks _ex cathedra_, and defines any doctrine +concerning Faith or Morals, we are bound to receive his teaching with +the assent of divine faith: and cannot refuse obedience, without being +guilty of heresy. By one such wilful act of disobedience we cease to +be members of the Church of God, and must be classed with heathens and +publicans: "Who will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the +heathen and the publican" (Matt, xviii. 17). + +But the Holy Father rarely exercises his prerogative of Infallibility, +and therefore the occasions of these special professions of faith +occur but seldom--not once, perhaps, during the course of many years. + +2. What then, it may be asked, is the proper attitude of a Catholic +towards the Pope, at ordinary times? + +For a proper understanding of the answer, it may be well to remind the +general reader, that the law of God enjoins obedience to all lawfully +constituted authority; whether ecclesiastical or civil, and whether +Infallible or not: further that the Pope, whether speaking _ex +cathedra_ or not, is always our lawful superior in all matters +appertaining to religion, not only as regards faith and morals, but +also as regards ecclesiastical order and discipline. His jurisdiction, +or authority to command in these matters, is supreme and universal, +and carries with it a corresponding right to be obeyed. He is the +immediate and supreme representative of God upon earth; and has been +placed in that position by God Himself. And since the Primacy is +neither in whole, nor even in part of human derivation, but comes +directly and immediately from Christ, no man or number of men, whether +kings or princes or individual Bishops, nor even a whole Council of +Bishops, have any warranty or right to command him in religious or +ecclesiastical concerns.[9] The Council of Florence declares that: "To +him, in Blessed Peter, was delivered by Our Lord Jesus Christ the full +power of ruling and governing the Universal Church". Now this "full +power" accorded by Christ cannot be limited except by the authority of +Christ. Though the Pope is not the Sovereign of all the faithful in +the _temporal_ order, he is the Sovereign of all Christians in the +_spiritual_ order. If then--and this is admitted by all--we are bound +in conscience to obey our temporal sovereign and magistrates and +masters, and must submit to the laws of the country, so long as they +do not conflict with higher and superior laws, such as the Natural Law +and the Revealed Law, with still greater reason are we bound to obey +our spiritual Sovereign and the laws and regulations of the Church. + +3. To object that the Pope may possibly make a mistake when not +speaking _ex cathedra_ though true, is nothing to the point. For civil +governments are far more liable to fail in this respect, and as a +matter of fact, do frequently abuse their power and pass unjust laws, +and sometimes command what is sinful,[10] yet that fact does not +militate against the soundness of the _general_ proposition that +lawful superiors are to be obeyed. Nor does it diminish the force of +St. Peter's inspired words, in which he bids us be subject, for God's +sake, "whether it be to the king, as excelling, or to governors as +sent by him for the punishment of evil doers ... for such is the will +of God" (Peter ii.). Nor does it detract from the truth and validity +of St. Paul's still more emphatic words: "Let every soul be subject to +higher powers; for there is no power but from God: and those that are +ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, _resisteth the +ordinance of God. And they that resist purchase to themselves +damnation_" (Rom. xiii.). And again, when writing to Titus he says: +"Admonish them to be subject to princes and powers, and to obey" (Tit. +iii. 1). + +If the Apostles themselves thus command obedience to the State, even +to a pagan Government, such as the Roman was at the time they wrote, +it will scarcely be denied by any Christian that obedience is due to +the Church, and to the ecclesiastical government, altogether apart +from any question of infallibility. In fact, though both the civil +government and the ecclesiastical government are from God, and though +each is supreme within its own sphere; yet the authority in the case +of the Church is directly and immediately from God, whereas in the +case of the State, it is from God only mediately. This is why the +form of government, in the case of the State, may vary. It may be at +one time monarchical, and at another republican, and then oligarchic, +and so forth, whereas the Church must ever be ruled by one Supreme +Pontiff, and be monarchical in its form. Further, it is generally held +that even when not speaking _ex cathedra_, "the Vicar of Christ is +largely assisted by God in the fulfilment of his sublime office; that +he receives great light and strength to do well the great work +entrusted to him and imposed upon him, and that he is continually +guided from above in the government of the Catholic Church." [Words of +Father O'Reilly, S.J., quoted with approval by Cardinal Newman, p. +140.] And that supplies us with a special and an additional motive for +prompt obedience. + +"Two powers govern the world," wrote Pope Gelasius, to the Greek +Emperor Anastasius, more than fourteen hundred years ago, "the +spiritual authority of the Roman Pontiff, and the temporal power of +kings". These two powers have for their end, one the spiritual +happiness of man, here and hereafter, the other the temporal +prosperity of society in the present world. So that, we may say, +speaking generally, the Roman Pontiff has, in spiritual and +ecclesiastical matters, the same authority that secular sovereigns and +their Parliaments have in worldly and political matters. They command +and issue laws not only as regards what is _necessary_ for the welfare +of their subjects, but also as regards whatever is lawful and +expedient. It is not contended that they never make a mistake. It is +not asserted that their ruling is necessarily, and in every +particular, always wise and discreet, but even inexpedient orders, if +not unjust, may be valid and binding, even though they might have been +better non-issued. The principle to guide us is of practical +simplicity. As regards both the Church and the State--each in its own +order--the rule is that obedience is to be yielded. And, in doubtful +cases the presumption is in favour of authority. If anything were +ordered, which is _clearly seen_ to be contrary to, or incompatible +with the Law of God, whether natural or revealed, then, of course, it +would possess no binding force, for the Apostle warns us that--"We +must obey God, rather than man"--but, so long as we remain in a state +of uncertainty, we are bound to give a properly constituted authority +the benefit of the doubt--and submit. + +4. With these preliminary explanations and considerations to guide us +in our interpretation, we will now give the solemn teaching on the +subject, as laid down in the third chapter of the _Pastor AEternus_, +drawn up and duly promulgated by the Ecumenical Council of the +Vatican; and therefore of supreme authority. + +"We teach and declare that the Roman Church, according to the +disposition of the Lord, obtains the princedom of ordinary power over +all the other Churches; and that this, the Roman Pontiff's power of +jurisdiction, which is truly episcopal, is immediate; towards which +(power) all the pastors and faithful, of whatever right and dignity, +whether each separately or all collectively, are bound by the duty of +hierarchical subordination and true obedience, not only in the things +which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to +the _discipline and government_ (_regimen_) of the Church diffused +through the whole world; so that, unity being preserved with the Roman +Pontiff, as well of communion as of the profession of the same faith, +the Church of Christ may be one flock under one pastor. This is the +doctrine of Catholic truth, from which no one can deviate without loss +of faith and salvation." + +"We also teach and declare that the Roman Pontiff is the supreme judge +of the faithful, and that in all causes belonging to ecclesiastical +examination recourse can be had to his judgment: and that the judgment +of the Apostolic See, than whose authority there is none greater, is +not to be called in question, nor is it lawful for any one to judge +its judgment. Therefore, those wander from the right path of truth who +affirm that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman +Pontiffs to an Ecumenical Council, as to an authority superior to the +Roman Pontiff." + +"If any one, therefore, shall say that the Roman Pontiff has only the +office of inspection or direction, but not full and supreme power of +jurisdiction over the Universal Church, not only in the things which +pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to the +discipline and government of the Church diffused throughout the whole +world, or that he has only the principal place (_potiores partes_), +and not the whole plenitude of the supreme power, or that this, his +power, is not ordinary and immediate, whether over all and each of the +Churches, or over all and each of the pastors and faithful, let him be +anathema!" + +5. Since the Church is a perfect society, spread throughout the entire +world, with one supreme ruler at its head, it follows that it must be +endowed with all the means requisite for the carrying out of its +mission. Christ was sent, by His Eternal Father, from Heaven with full +powers. "All power is given me in heaven and in earth"; and these +powers He handed on to His Church. "As the Father hath sent Me, so I +also send you" (John xx. 21). Hence the Popes are, to use Scriptural +phraseology, "ambassadors for Christ; God, as it were, exhorting by +them" (2 Cor. v. 20); and no Catholic dare contest their power or +jurisdiction. + +Indeed, it would have been hopelessly impossible to carry on the +government of the Church and to maintain unity amongst its +ever-increasing numbers, if there were no supreme authority ready to +assert itself; to correct errors; to resist abuses; and to restrain +those who might introduce dissensions and differences. Of this fact, +the present deplorable chaotic state of the Anglican and other +non-Catholic Churches offers us abundant and forcible illustrations. +From the very first the One True Church has not only taught, but +ruled; not only spoken, but acted. And when any of her subjects have +proved obstreperous and disobedient, and stubborn in their resistance +to her orders, she has invariably turned them out of her fold, so that +they should not infect and contaminate the good and the loyal. It was +in this sense that St. Paul, the inspired Apostle, in the very first +century of the Christian era, instructed Titus to construe and +administer the law committed to his charge. After warning Titus that +there are "many vain talkers and deceivers," St. Paul commands him "to +rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in faith". He adds +further: "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke, _with all +authority_". But this was not all. He was not only to decide who were +the "vain talkers and deceivers". Nor was he simply "to exhort and +rebuke them sharply, and with all authority," that they might become +"sound in the faith," but if they persisted after the first and second +admonition, he was also to reject them, and thrust them out of the +Church, as heretics. "Reject a heretic, after the first and second +admonition" (Tit. iii. 10). Now Titus was neither an Apostle nor a +Pope, but a simple Bishop. If then such were the powers invested in +him, how much more fully still must this authority be inherent in the +Vicar of Christ himself, who is the supreme head upon earth of the +entire Church of God. + +It is this prompt amputation of the diseased members, before the +hideous canker has time to spread, that has kept the Church of God +pure to this day, while heretical bodies have fallen into greater and +greater spiritual decay. It is because she fearlessly and resolutely +insists upon all her children accepting the truth, the whole truth, +and nothing but the truth, that she presents to the world, century +after century, with miraculous clearness and perspicuity, the Divine +hall-mark of unity. + +6. Outside the true Church of God there is no recognised voice strong +enough to enforce any uniformity of belief. Though the Pope's +authority was acknowledged throughout England for over one thousand +years, yet at the time of the so-called Reformation, that Voice of +God, speaking through Peter, was admitted no longer. Hence, as +Cardinal Manning most truly observes: "The old forms of religious +thought are now passing away in England. The rejection of the Divine +Voice has let in the flood of opinion; and opinion has generated +scepticism; and scepticism has brought on contentions without end. +What seemed so solid once, is disintegrated. It is dissolving by the +internal action of the principle from which it sprung. The critical +unbelief of dogma has now reached to the foundation of Christianity, +and to the veracity of Scripture. Such is the world the Catholic +Church Sees before it at this day. The Anglicanism of the Reformation +is _upon the rocks_, like some tall ship stranded upon the shore, and +going to pieces, by its own weight and the steady action of the sea. +We have no need of playing the wreckers. It would be inhumanity to do +so. God knows that the desires and prayers of Catholics are ever +ascending that all that remains of Christianity in England may be +preserved, unfolded and perfected into the whole circle of revealed +truths, and the unmutilated revelation of the Faith. + +"It is inevitable that if we speak plainly we must give pain and +offence to those who will not admit the possibility that they are out +of the Faith and the Church of Jesus Christ. But, if we do not speak +plainly, woe unto us, for we shall betray our trust and our Master. +There is a day coming, when they who have softened down the truth, or +have been silent, will have to give account. I had rather be thought +harsh than be conscious of hiding the light which has been mercifully +shown to me" (_Temp. Mission_, etc., p. 215). + +It would be well if all Catholics took to heart these noble words of +the great English Cardinal, who was himself once an Archdeacon in the +Anglican Church. Real charity urges us to set forth the truth in all +its nakedness and beauty. This must be done, even though it may +sometimes give pain and cause irritation. If a man be walking in a +trance towards the crumbling edge of some ghastly precipice, who--let +me ask--acts with the greater charity, he who is afraid to interfere, +and will calmly allow the somnambulist to walk on, till he fall over +into the abyss; or he who will shout, and, if need be, roughly shake +him from his fatal sleep, and so, perhaps, save him from destruction? +Surely, to allow a fellow-creature to follow a path of extreme danger, +for fear of wounding his susceptibilities and incurring his anger, by +candidly pointing out his peril, is the mark, not of a lover of his +brethren, but rather of one who loves himself alone. + +We will conclude with the warning of God, given through the inspired +writer Ezekiel, the application of which, _positis ponendis_, is +sufficiently plain: "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shall surely +die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked +from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die +in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at thy hand. Yet _if +thou warn the wicked_, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from +his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but _thou hast delivered +thy soul_" (Ezek. iii. 18). + +_P.S._--Among the authors quoted in THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY may be +mentioned the following, as being easily obtainable by English +readers: Allnatt, Allies, Bonomelli, Capel, Castelplano, Dering, +Deviver, Franzelin, Humphrey, Manning, Merry del Val, Meyer, Minges, +Newman, O'Reilly, Rhodes, Ullathorne, Ward. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 9: "Da chi dipendera il Pontefice nell' esercizio del suo +potere Spirituale? Dai Re? Eccovi il gallicanismo parlamentare! Dalle +masse dei fedeli? Eccovi il richerianismo, e febronianismo! Dai +Vescovi? Eccovi il gallicanismo teologico" (_L. di Castelplanio_, p. +104).] + +[Footnote 10: Take for instance, 37 Henry VIII. Chap. 17, which +recites that "the clergy have no Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, but by +and under the King, who is the _only Supreme Head of the Church_ of +England, to whom _all_ authority and power is _wholly_ given to hear +and determine all causes ecclesiastical."] + + + + +PART II. + +THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. +OR +THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE IN ENGLAND IN PRE-REFORMATION TIMES. + + + As the First Part of this little treatise is devoted to a + consideration of the position of the Pope and the authority + which he exercises throughout the Universal Church; so the + Second Part is concerned with the position occupied and the + authority exercised by the same Sovereign Pontiff in our own + country of England, before she was cut off from the + Universal Church in the sixteenth century. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORMATION. + + +One of the greatest glories of the Catholic Church is that she and she +alone possesses and is able to communicate to others the whole truth +revealed by Jesus Christ. The Church of England and other Churches +that have gone out from her have, we are thankful to say, carried with +them some fragments of Christianity, but the Catholic Church alone +possesses the whole unadulterated revelation of Jesus Christ. For over +a thousand years, the Church in England formed a part of the great +Universal Church, the centre of which is at Rome and the circumference +of which is everywhere. From the sixth to the sixteenth century the +Church in England was a province of that Church, and received her +power and jurisdiction from the Holy See. It was not until the +sixteenth century that she apostatised, and was cut off from the stem, +out of which she had sprung, as a rotten branch is lopped off from a +healthy tree. It was not until then that she became a Church apart, +distinct from the Church of God, no longer the _Catholic_ Church _in_ +England, but henceforth the _National_ Church _of_ England and of +England alone. The pre-"Reformation" Church was, as we have said, not +a separate Church, but a part of the one Catholic Church, whereas the +post-"Reformation" Church stands alone, unrecognised by the rest of +Christendom; hence the one is absolutely distinct from the other. The +grand old cathedrals and churches designed, built, and paid for by our +Catholic ancestors have been forcibly taken possession of, but the +Faith, the teaching, and the doctrine--in a word, the Church +itself--is totally distinct. The wolf may slay and devour the sheep +and may then clothe himself in its fleece, but the wolf is not the +sheep, and the nature of the one remains totally different from that +of the other. The proofs of all this are so numerous and so striking +that one scarcely knows which to choose, nor where to begin. In the +present chapter, we will content ourselves with calling attention to +certain points that every one will be able to grasp. It is said that a +straw will show which way the wind blows, so things even trivial in +themselves will enable any unprejudiced man to see that there must be +some radical difference between the Church in England four hundred +years ago, and the Church of England to-day. First, let us just look +round and consider the Catholic Church. It is spread all over the +world. It is found in France, in Belgium, in Italy, in Spain, and in +other countries, all of which recognised the Church in England before +the "Reformation" as one in faith and doctrine with themselves. They +felt themselves united with it in one and the same belief; they taught +the same seven Sacraments; they gathered around the same Sacrifice; +they acknowledged the same supremacy of the same spiritual head. Now +there is no single Catholic country that recognises the Church of +England as anything but heretical and schismatical. + +Formerly when any Archbishop of Canterbury travelled abroad he was +received as a brother by the Catholic Bishops all over the Continent. +He felt thoroughly at home in the Catholic churches, and offered up +the Divine Mysteries at their altars, using the same sacred vessels, +reading from the same missal, speaking the same language, and feeling +himself to be a member of the same spiritual family. Can the present +Archbishop of Canterbury follow their example? Would the Cardinal +Archbishop of Paris, for instance, or the Archbishop of Milan receive +the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, as a brother Bishop? Would they +cause their cathedrals to be thrown open to him? No. + +In vain does the Archbishop of Canterbury of to-day claim continuity +with the pre-"Reformation" Archbishops. For no one would be found to +admit such a claim. It may be said that this is of no great +importance. It may not be in itself, but it is the straw which shows +the way the wind blows; and clearly proves that the verdict of the +entire world and the chief centres of Christendom is against +continuity. + +Let us take another "straw". Before the pseudo-Reformation there were +Cardinals exercising authority in the Church in England. Some of them +even became famous. There was, for instance, Cardinal Stephen Langton, +who was Primate of England, and who brought together the Barons, and +forced the Great Charter from King John. There, amongst the signatures +to that famous document we find the name of a Roman Cardinal. From the +time of Stephen Langton to the time of Cardinal Fisher in the +sixteenth century there was a long succession of Cardinals in England, +all of whom were members of the Church in England. From the time of +Cardinal Robert Pullen to that of Cardinal John Fisher there were no +fewer than twenty-two Roman Cardinals belonging to that Church. How is +it that during those thousand years the English Church could have and +actually did have Cardinals, up to the time of the so-called +Reformation, but never since? How is it that such a thing has ceased +to be possible? Clearly because it is no longer the same Church. +Before, England was a part of the Universal Church; and just as the +Church in Italy, France, and Spain, had, and still have, their +Cardinals, so England also was given its share of representation in +the Sacred College. We shall realise the inference to be drawn if we +consider what a Cardinal is. In the first place, he is one chosen +directly by the Pope; secondly, he is one of the Pope's advisers; +thirdly, when the Holy Father dies it is he, as a member of the Sacred +College, who has to elect a successor; furthermore, he swears +allegiance to the Sovereign Pontiff, and on bended knee, with his +hands on the Holy Gospels, he solemnly declares his adhesion to the +Roman Catholic Faith. No Anglican of the present day, no Protestant, +no one who is not an out-and-out Roman Catholic can be, or could ever +have been, a Cardinal, yet there were Cardinals here in the Church in +England, and, as we have stated, a long succession of them right up to +the time of the pseudo-Reformation. How can there be continuity and +spiritual identity between the Church _in_ England, which before that +change could and did have Cardinals, and the Church _of_ England +to-day, which can produce nothing of the kind? Cardinals or no +Cardinals is not a matter of great importance in itself, but it is +another "straw" which clearly shows the completely altered condition +of things. Let us pass to another point. During the period between the +sixth and sixteenth centuries there were many canonised saints in the +Church in England. I refer to such men as St. Bede, who lived in the +eighth century; to St. Odo of Canterbury; to St. Dunstan, Archbishop +of Canterbury, in the tenth century; to St. Wolstan of Worcester; to +St. Osmond, Bishop of Salisbury in the eleventh century; to St. Thomas +a Becket, in the twelfth century; to St. Richard, Bishop of +Chichester and St. Edmund, in the thirteenth century; and to many +others we could mention, whose names are enrolled in the lists of the +Catholic Church, and who are set up before her children as models of +virtue, as the most perfect specimens of sanctity, and as worthy of +our imitation--all members of the Church in England before the +pseudo-Reformation.[11] How is it that the present Church of England +has never canonised any saint? Those to whom I have referred represent +the best and truest of the Church in England before the "Reformation". +We still show them reverence. In many cases we even recite their +offices and Masses. How, then, can they be members of the same Church +as the Church of England of to-day, which we know to be a schismatical +body, cut off from the unity of Christendom some four hundred years +ago? There has been no saint canonised according to the rite of the +Church of England, but if there had been, we would not and could not +reverence them, for they would be to us outside the Church--aliens, +heretics, and, from that point of view at all events, unworthy of +imitation. Let us point out yet another "straw" which clearly +indicates the essential difference between the Church in England +before the "Reformation" and the Church of England after it. When the +young King Henry VIII. first came to the throne he, like all his +predecessors, both kings and queens, was a true Roman Catholic. So +much so, that when a doctrine of the Church was attacked he wrote a +book in its defence; in fact, the Pope was so pleased with his zeal +that he determined to reward him by conferring on him the title of +"Defender of the Faith". But, in the name of common-sense! Defender of +what Faith? Was it the Protestant faith? Was it the faith professed by +the present Church of England? Is it likely, is it possible, that any +Pope would confer such a title on any one who was not in union with +the Holy See, and who rejected Catholic doctrine? Such a thing is +unthinkable. Was the faith of Henry VIII. before the break with Rome +the same as that of Edward VII. who on his coronation day declared the +Mass to be false, Transubstantiation to be absurd, and Catholics to be +idolaters? If not, then what becomes of the continuity theory? The +fact is that between the Church in England before the sixteenth +century and the Church of England to-day there is no real connection, +no true resemblance, and those who endeavour to prove the contrary are +but falsifying history and throwing dust into the eyes of simple +people, and trying to prove what is absolutely and wholly untrue. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 11: As early as 1170 Pope Alexander III. decreed that the +consent of the Roman Church was necessary before public honour as a +saint could be given to any person. Is it conceivable that such +consent would be given by any Pope in the case of one not united to +Rome in the same faith?] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE OATH OF OBEDIENCE. + + +In order to realise the absolute absurdity of the continuity theory, +and to see how thoroughly Roman Catholic England was right up to the +"Reformation," it is enough for us to turn back the hands of the great +clock of time some few hundred years, and to visit England at any +period during the long interval between the sixth and the sixteenth +century. + +One of the first facts that would strike any observant visitor to our +shores in those days, would be the attitude of the Church in England +towards the Holy See. Every Archbishop, every metropolitan from the +time of St. Augustine himself, A.D. 601, up to the sixteenth +century, not merely acknowledged the authority of the Pope, but +solemnly swore to show him reverence and obedience. Furthermore, even +when an Archbishop had been appointed and consecrated, he could not +exercise jurisdiction until he had received the sacred pallium, which +came from Rome, and was received as the symbol and token of the +authority conferred on him by the supreme Pastor. The pallium itself, +"taken from the body of Blessed Peter," is a band of lamb's wool, and +was worn by each Archbishop as the pledge of unity and of orthodoxy, +as well as the fetter of loving subjection to the Supreme Pastor of +the One Fold, the "apostolic yoke" of Catholic obedience. + +In the early Saxon times, long before trains or steamers had been +invented, we find Primate after Primate of All England undertaking the +long and perilous journey over the sea, and then across the Continent +of Europe, and over the precipitous and dangerous passes of the Alps, +down through the sunny and vine-clad slopes of Italy, in order to +receive the pallium in person from the venerable successor of St. +Peter, in the great Basilica in Rome. But, whether they actually went +for it themselves in person, or whether special messengers were sent +with it from Rome to England, they always awaited its reception before +they considered themselves fully empowered to exercise their +metropolitan functions. By way of illustration, it may be interesting +to consider some special case, and we will then leave the reader to +judge whether we are dealing with an England that is _Catholic_ or an +England that is _Protestant_; with an England united to the Holy See +and to the rest of Catholic Europe, or an England independent of the +Holy See, isolated, and established by Law and Parliament, as it is +to-day--an England in possession of the truth, which is universal and +the same everywhere, or an England clinging to error, which is local, +national and circumscribed. + +It does not much matter what name we select; any will answer our +purpose. Let us then take Simon Langham, as good and honest an English +name as ever there was. It is the year 1366, some two hundred years +before the Church in England cut itself off from the rest of +Christendom. The metropolitan See of Canterbury is vacant. The +widowed Diocese seeks, at the hands of the Pope, Urban V., a new +Archbishop. After mature inquiry and consideration the Pope selects +Simon Langham. And who is he? Who is this distinguished man, now +called to rule over that portion of the one Catholic Church +represented by England? If we study his history we shall find that he +in no way resembles the typical amiable Anglican Canon of the present +day, with a wife and children, living within the Cathedral close, but +that he is a simple, austere, Benedictine monk. He has been living for +some time past in the famous Abbey of Westminster. He was first a +simple monk, then he was chosen Prior, and finally Lord Abbot. Some +years later, _i.e._, in 1362, he was appointed to the vacant See of +Ely. By whom? Well, in those days the Church was not a mere department +of the State, so it was not by the Crown. No: nor by the Prime +Minister, as in the Anglican Church of to-day. But, as history +records, by a special Papal Bull. Thus, at the time we are now +considering, _viz._, 1366, he had been Bishop just four years. Now, +the Primatial throne of St. Augustine, as already stated, has become +vacant, and Simon Langham, the Bishop of Ely, is appointed Archbishop +of Canterbury, and Lord Primate of England. + +As with all the other Archbishops before the "Reformation," he cannot +exercise his metropolitan powers till he has received from Rome the +insignia of his office, _viz._, the sacred pallium. On this occasion +the Archbishop does not go himself to Italy, to receive it from the +hands of the Sovereign Pontiff, but it is brought by special +messengers from Rome to England. + +We may well imagine the interest these visitors from the Eternal City +would excite among the population of London. Their dark complexion and +bright, black eyes, and foreign appearance would, no doubt, attract +considerable attention. Of course they would be made welcome and be +shown the chief sights of the city. They would greatly admire, for +instance, the beauty of Westminster Abbey, and would probably ask its +history. Then they would be told how it originated with St. Edward the +Confessor. How he had made a vow to go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of +the Apostles at Rome, like a loyal Catholic, in order to pay homage to +the successor of St. Peter, whom Christ appointed as head of the +Church; how the pious King, finding his kingdom in danger of invasion, +and his authority threatened, and not daring to absent himself, begged +the Pope to release him from his vow; how the Pope at once commuted +it, and bade him build a church instead, in honour of St. Peter; and +so forth. Then they would very likely visit the inmates of the Abbey. +The Benedictine monks who served the Abbey would entertain them, and +ask after their brethren in Italy. Some of these English monks would +in all likelihood have been educated at Subiaco, where St. Benedict +first lived, or at Monte Cassino, where he died, and where his body +still lies. In any case, these English monks were undoubtedly true +children of St. Benedict, and followed his rule, and were animated by +his spirit, and rejoiced to acknowledge him as their founder and +spiritual father. There was nothing of the modern Anglican, and +nothing insular about them! + +In the meantime the great day arrives. It is the 4th of November in +the year 1366. The bells of the Abbey are ringing a merry peal. The +Faithful are flocking in to witness the Archbishop receive the +Pallium, the symbol of jurisdiction, and the sign that all spiritual +authority emanates from St. Peter, who alone has received the keys, +and from his rightful successors in the Petrine See of Rome. + +It is a grand ceremony, and we have even to-day, in the old Latin +records, a full account of what took place. Anything more truly Roman +Catholic, or less like the Anglican Church of the "Reformation," it +would be difficult to imagine. + +It was directed by the rubrics, that the Cathedral clergy should be +called together, at an early hour, and that Prime and the rest of the +Divine Office should be recited, up to the High Mass. Then the +cross-bearers and torch-bearers and thurifers, and the attendants +carrying the Book of the Gospels and other articles of the sanctuary, +are drawn up in processional order in the chancel. Two and two, +followed by priests and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, they walk +down the nave. Then comes the Archbishop himself, robed in full +pontificals, though, out of respect to the Pallium, with bare feet. +The rubric on this point is explicit, _viz._, "nudis pedibus". Behind +the Archbishop come the Prior and the monks wearing copes. In this +order they all pass through the streets of London to the gate of the +city to meet the Papal Commissioner who bears the Pallium. He is +dressed in an alb and choir-cope, and solemnly carries the Pallium +enclosed in a costly vessel either of gold or of silver. As soon as +the procession meets the Pallium-bearer it turns round, and those who +issued forth retrace their steps towards the Abbey. Last but one walks +the Archbishop, and last of all follows the bearer of the Pallium. On +reaching the church the Pallium is reverently laid on the high altar. +The Archbishop then remains, for some minutes, prostrate in prayer +before the high altar. Then the choir having finished their singing, +the Archbishop rises, and turning to the assembled multitude, gives +them his blessing. He then approaches the altar, and with his hands +upon the holy Gospels, takes the following solemn oath. + +Now, gentle reader, we are anxious that you should pay particular +attention to the words of this oath. They may be found in Wilkins' +_Concilia_ (vol. ii., p. 199), in the original Latin, just as they +were uttered by Simon Langham, and other Archbishops, in old Catholic +days. We give them translated into English. And, as you read them, ask +yourselves whether the Archbishops who uttered them were genuine Roman +Catholics, or merely Parliamentary Bishops of the local and national +variety, belonging to the present English Establishment. + +We take our stand in spirit in Westminster Abbey, on the 4th day of +November, 1366, and, in common with the rest of the vast congregation +which fills every available space, we listen to the newly elected +Archbishop, as in clear, ringing words, with his hands on the Gospels, +he swears as follow:-- + +"I, Simon Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury, will be from this hour +henceforth faithful and obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy +Apostolic Roman Church, and to my Lord the Pope, Urban V., and to his +canonical successors." + +Surely, some of us would open our eyes pretty wide if we saw the +present Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury with his hands on the +Gospels taking that oath. Yet we are assured, _ad nauseam_, that the +Church to which Simon Cardinal Langham belonged is the same as the +present Church of England, which repudiates the authority of the Pope +altogether. The same? Well, yes; if light and darkness, and sweetness +and bitterness, are the same. But let us read the whole of the oath: +"I, Simon Langham, will be from this hour henceforth faithful and +obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy Apostolic Roman Church, and to +my Lord the Pope, Urban V., and to his canonical successors. Neither +in counsel or consent or in deed, will I take part in aught by which +they might suffer loss of life, or limb, or liberty. Their counsel +which they may confide to me, whether by their envoys or their letter, +I will, to their injury, wittingly disclose to no man. The Roman +Papacy and the royalty of St. Peter, I will be their helper to defend +and to maintain, saving my order, against all men. When summoned to a +Synod I will come, unless hindered by a canonical impediment. The +Legate of the Apostolic See I will treat honourably in his coming and +going, and will help him in his needs. Every third year I will visit +the threshold of the Apostles, either personally or by proxy, unless I +am dispensed by Apostolic licence. The possessions which pertain to +the support of my Archbishopric, I will not sell, nor give away, nor +pledge, nor re-enfeoff, nor alienate in any way, without first +consulting the Roman Pontiff. So help me, God, and these God's Holy +Gospels." + +If you, who read these lines, had stood by, and listened to this oath, +would it leave any doubt in your minds as to the religion of the +Archbishop? Could you possibly mistake it for the religion of the +present Church of England? + +Was the present Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury chosen and appointed +by the Pope? Did he take a vow of celibacy? Does the present +Archbishop acknowledge publicly and officially that he receives his +jurisdiction from the Pope? Did he receive the Pallium from Rome, sent +by special Papal messengers? Did he stand up and swear on the Gospels +that he would be faithful and obedient to his Lord the Pope? Did he +promise to visit Rome every three years, to give his Lord the Pope an +account of his diocese? Nothing of the kind. Yet we are gravely told +that there is no break between the Church of St. Anselm, and Simon +Langham, and of Cardinal Fisher, on the one hand, and the Church of +the present Archbishop of Canterbury on the other! + +Why are these good men so exceedingly anxious to prove that black is +white? Why will they assert and re-assert, in every mood and tense, +that things most opposite are identical, and things most unlike are +exactly the same? + +We will deal with that question in the next chapter. All we now affirm +is that the reason is abundantly clear and evident, though little +creditable to these perverters of history. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE AWKWARD DILEMMA. + + +In the whole catalogue of sin, there is hardly one so detestable in +itself, or so withering in its effects, as the sin of heresy. +Consequently, though we feel a great love as well as a great interest +in the Church in England during the thousand years in which she formed +a part of the Church of God, we can have little love for the present +Church of England, as by law established, cut off, as she is, from the +only true Church, which Christ, the Incarnate God, was pleased in His +infinite wisdom to build upon St. Peter, and upon those who should +succeed him in his sublime office, and who have received the Divine +Commission to rule over the entire flock, to hold the keys of the +kingdom of heaven, and to confirm their brethren to the end of time. + +Besides, a careful study of the origin and genesis of the present +Anglican Establishment is scarcely calculated to predispose any one +particularly in its favour. It is not Catholics only who might be +thought biased upon such a point, but others also who feel this. In +fact, it is precisely impartial men, unaffected by any interest either +way, who most fully realise from what a very shady beginning the new +state of things arose. As Sir Osborne Morgan puts it, "Every student +of English history knows that, if a very bad king had not fallen in +love with a very pretty woman, and desired to get divorced from his +plain and elderly wife, and if he had not compelled a servile +Parliament to carry out his wishes, there would, in all human +probability, never have been an Established Church at all." + +This gentleman is a Protestant, and the son of a Protestant clergyman, +so we may be quite sure that he harbours no special leanings towards +us, yet he speaks impartially as one who has not only read history, +but read it without coloured spectacles. Perhaps Lord Macaulay puts +the case as bluntly as any one, and we may as well quote him because +he, too, was no Catholic, and held no brief for the Church of Rome. +This brilliant writer, who was, perhaps, an historian before all +things, tells us that the work of the Reformation was the work, not of +three saints, nor even of three ordinary decent men, but of three +notorious murderers! These are not our words, but Macaulay's, and it +is not our fault if this is his reading of history. We merely summon +him as a Protestant witness. He calmly and deliberately states that +the Reformation was "begun by Henry VIII., the murderer of his wives; +was continued by Somerset, the murderer of his brother; and was +completed by Elizabeth, the murderer of her guest". Not a very +auspicious beginning, it must be confessed, and scarcely suggestive of +the Divine afflatus. Those who planted the Catholic Church used no +violence, and did not inflict death. No! on the contrary, they endured +death, and their blood became the seed of the Church. And that is +quite another story. In former days every one admitted the present +Anglican Church to be the child of the Reformation. It was, to quote +the Protestant historian, Child, "as completely the creation of Henry +VIII., Edward's Council, and Elizabeth as Saxon Protestantism was of +Luther." But now? Oh! now, "nous avons change tout cela," and history +has received a totally different setting. A certain section of +Anglicans, in these modern times, are labouring hard to persuade +themselves and others that they can trace their Church back to the +time of St. Augustine. They will by no means allow that they started +into being only in the sixteenth century. In fact, it is quite +pathetic to watch the strenuous efforts they make, and the extravagant +means to which they have recourse, in order to lull themselves into +the peaceful enjoyment of so sweet and consoling a delusion. + +A delusion which a candid study of past history must sooner or later +ruthlessly dispel, and which has not a shred of foundation in fact to +support it. But we promised to point out WHY, in spite of +its absolute absurdity, these good men, like the Bishop of London, +persist in repeating and restating with ever-increasing vehemence that +there has been no break in the continuity, and that the present Church +of England is one with the Church of St. Bede, of St. Dunstan, of St. +Anselm, of St. Thomas, and of other pre-Reformation heroes; though +they must surely know that there is not one amongst these glorious old +Catholic saints who would not a thousand times sooner have gone to the +stake and been burnt alive, than have accepted the Thirty-nine +Articles, or than have joined the present Bishop of London in any of +his religious services. Why do Anglicans make such heroic efforts to +connect their Church with the past? Why do they advance an impossible +theory? Why will they stubbornly affirm what history utterly denies? +Why do they assert, and with such emphasis, what no one but they +themselves have the hardihood to believe? Why? For precisely the same +reason that will induce a drowning man to grasp at a straw. In short, +because even if they did not realise it before, they are now +beginning to see that their very position depends upon their being +able to make out some sort of case for continuity. They realise that +to admit that the Church of England began in the sixteenth century is +simply to cut the ground from underneath their feet. Therefore, purely +in self-defence, they feel themselves constrained to cling to the +continuity theory. It may be absurd, it may be unhistorical, it may be +impossible and utterly repudiated by every impartial and honest man. +That cannot be helped. Impossible or not impossible; true or false, it +is necessary for their very existence, so that, just as a drowning man +catches at a straw, though it cannot possibly support him, so do these +most unfortunate and hardly-pressed men clutch at and cling to the +hollow theory of continuity. Sometimes, when off their guard, and in a +less cautious mood, they will confess as much themselves. And what is +more, we can provide our readers with an instance of such a +confession. Many will well remember a well-known and distinguished +Anglican divine, named Canon Malcolm MacColl. He died a few years ago, +and we do not wish to say anything against him. Well, he wrote to _The +Spectator_ in 1900. His letter may be seen in the issue of 22nd +December for that year. In the course of this letter he makes the +following admission: he declares that "to concede that the Church of +England starts from the reign of Henry VIII. or Elizabeth is to +surrender the whole ground of controversy with Rome. A Church," he +continues, "which cannot trace its origin beyond the sixteenth century +is obviously not the Church which Christ founded." + +The late Anglican Canon MacColl is, of course, perfectly right, and +his inference is strictly logical. A Church, however highly +respectable and however richly endowed, which came into existence only +1,500 years after Christ, came into existence just 1,500 years too +late, and cannot by any intellectual manoeuvring or stretching of the +imagination be identified with the one Church established by Christ +1,500 years earlier. Consequently every member of the Anglican +community finds himself, _nolens volens_, impaled on the horns of a +truly frightful dilemma. For either he must frankly confess that his +Church is not the Church of God, _i.e._, not the True Church, which +(human nature being what it is) he can hardly be expected to do; or +else he must assert that it goes back without any real break to the +time of the Apostles; which though absolutely untrue, is the only +other alternative. In a word, he finds himself in a very tight corner. +He knows, unless he is able to persuade himself of the truth of +continuity, the very ground of his faith must slip from under his +feet, and that he must give up pretending to be a member of Christ's +mystical body altogether. + +No wonder there is consternation in the Anglican camp. No wonder that +sermons are preached, and history is re-edited and facts suppressed, +and pamphlets are circulated to prove that black is white and that +bitterness is sweet, and that false is true. No wonder there are shows +and pageants and other attempts to prove the thing that is not. Poor +deluded mortals! It is really pitiable to witness such straining and +such pulling at the cords; as though truth--solid, imperturbable, +eternal truth--could ever be dislodged or forced out of existence! No! +They may disguise the truth for a time, they may hide it for a brief +period; just as a child, with a box of matches and a handful of straw, +may, for awhile, hide the eternal stars. But as the stars are still +there, and will appear again when the smoke has blown away, so will +the truth reappear and assert itself, when men grow calm, and put +aside pride and passion and prejudice and self-interest. "Magna est +veritas, et prevalebit!" + +It has been said: "Mundus vult decipi"; the world wishes to be +deceived; certainly the Anglican world does. But no one else is taken +in. The Dissenter, the Nonconformist, and others who have no axe to +grind, know well that "fine words butter no parsnips," and are far too +shrewd to be deluded. Why, even the old Catholic cathedrals with +their holy-water stoups, their occasional altars of stone, still +remaining, their Lady chapels, and their niches for the images of the +saints, as ill befit the present occupiers, and their modern English +services, as a Court dress befits a clown. + +That the sublime grotesqueness of the whole contention is clearly +visible to other besides Catholic eyes is clearly proved by the +occasional observations of the non-Catholic Press. Here, again, we +will offer the gentle reader a specimen. The _Daily News_ is one of +London's big dailies. It has a wide circulation. It is representative +of a large section of the English people. Let us select a passage from +one of its leaders. Speaking of the arrogance of the Anglican Church, +which, as compared to the Catholic Church, is but a baby, still in +long clothes, it gives expression to its views in the following +caustic lines. One might almost imagine it were the _Tablet_ or +_Catholic Times_ that we are about to quote from, but, nothing of the +kind, it is the Nonconformist organ, the _Daily News_. It writes: +"The Anglicans may still persist in patronising the Roman Catholics as +a new set of modern dissidents under the old name. It is the sort of +vengeance which, under favourable circumstances, the mouse may enjoy +at the expense of the elephant. If he can mount high enough by +artificial means, the smallest of created things may contrive to look +down on the greatest, and to affect to compassionate his want of +range. For purposes of controversy, the Anglican could talk of himself +as a terrestrial ancient-of-days, and regret the rage for innovation, +which led, not, of course, to his separation from Rome, but to Rome's +separation from him! So the pebble, if determined to put a good face +on it, might wonder what had become of the rock, and recite the +parable of the return of the prodigal to the Atlas Range"; and so +forth. The fact is that every unprejudiced man, who has so much as a +mere bowing acquaintance with the facts of history, knows perfectly +well that before the sixteenth century the Church in England was +united to the Holy See, and rested where Christ Himself had built it, +_viz._, on Peter, the rock. Whereas, after the sixteenth century, it +became a State Church, dependent, not on Peter, but upon Parliament, +and as purely local, national, and English as the British Army or the +British Navy. Bramhall tells us that, "whatsoever power our laws did +divest the Pope of, they invested the King with" (_Schism Guarded_, p. +340). + +We dealt in the last chapter with the relation between the +pre-Reformation Archbishops and Metropolitans and the Pope, and we saw +how each in turn swore obedience to the Vicar of Christ as his +spiritual sovereign. We will now conclude the present chapter by +transcribing a typical address presented by another representative +body of men to the Pope, in past times. It is the year 1427. Now +Chicheley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had been accused at Rome of +some fault or indiscretion, so the other Bishops of the province met +together for the purpose of defending him. With this end in view, +they address a letter to Pope Martin V. It begins as follows:-- + +"Most Blessed Father, one and only undoubted Sovereign Pontiff, Vicar +of Jesus Christ upon earth, with all promptitude of service and +obedience, kissing most devoutly your blessed feet," and so forth. +They then proceed to defend their Metropolitan, and in doing so +declare that "the Archbishop of Canterbury is, Most Blessed Father, a +most devoted son of your Holiness and of the Holy Roman Church". Nay, +more; they go on to testify that "he is so rooted in his loyalty, and +so unshaken in his allegiance especially to the Roman Church, that it +is known to the whole world, and ought to be known to the city +(_i.e._, Rome) that he is the most faithful son of the Church of Rome, +promoting and securing, with all his strength, the guarantees of her +liberty". + +Now, what we wish to know is, how in the world can a man be "the most +faithful son of the Church of Rome," so rooted in his loyalty to her +that "his allegiance is known to the whole world," and yet not be a +Roman Catholic? The Bishops then add that "they go down upon their +knees" to beseech the Pope's favour for the Archbishop, and in doing +so declare that they are "the most humble sons of your Holiness and of +the Roman Church". + +Then Archbishop Chicheley follows up their letter, by writing one +himself, in which he says: "Most Blessed Father, kissing most +devotedly the ground beneath your feet, with all promptitude of +service and obedience, and whatsoever a most humble creature can do +towards his lord and master" (_i.e._, domino et creatori--literally +"creator," in the sense that the Pope had made or "created" him +archbishop) and so forth. Then he goes on to explain that "Long before +now, were it not for the perils of the journey and the infirmities of +my old age, I would have made my way, Most Blessed Father, to your +feet, and have accepted most obediently whatsoever your Holiness would +have decided" (see Wilkins, vol. iii. pp. 471 and 486). Surely, no +Archbishop or Bishop could use language of such profound reverence +and of such perfect loyalty and obedience, unless he recognised the +Pope as the true representative of Christ upon earth, invested with +His divine authority ("To Thee do I give the keys of the Kingdom of +Heaven"). There is a whole world of difference between such men and +the Anglican Prelates of to-day who take the oath of homage to the +King, and say: "I do hereby declare that your Majesty is the only +supreme governor of this your realm, in spiritual and ecclesiastical +things, as well as temporal". + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +KING EDWARD AND THE POPE. + + +In a previous chapter, we promised to tell of a famous letter written +by one of our greatest kings to the Pope of his day. Let us then +introduce this interesting historical incident without further +preamble or delay. + +The King of whom we are about to speak is King Edward III., who +reigned over this land for more than fifty years, that is to say, from +1327 to 1377. The historian Hume tells us that, in general estimation, +his reign was not only one of the longest, but that it was considered +also "one of the most glorious that occurs in the annals of our +nation" (vol. ii., p. 297). It is important to remember, further, that +Edward was no timid weakling, ready to yield to others through +weakness or fear. Quite the contrary. He was strong, war-like, and +courageous. Hume informs us that "he curbed the licentiousness of the +great; that he made his foremost nobles feel his power, and that they +dared not even murmur against it, and that his valour and conduct made +his knights and warriors successful in most of their enterprises" +(_id._, p. 497). Yet, in spite of his strong, independent and man-like +character--or shall we not rather say because of it?--he ever showed +himself to be a most loyal child of the Catholic Church. He considered +it no indication of weakness to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy +and jurisdiction of the Sovereign Pontiff, and to subscribe himself as +a most obedient son of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, as we shall now +proceed to prove, in spite of all the frogs and jackdaws that the +Bishop of London appeals to as witnesses to the contrary. + +Now, it so fell out that, in the second decade of his reign, certain +persons, with perhaps more zeal than discretion, began to lodge sundry +complaints against the King. They carried stories to Rome, and sought +to prejudice the Pope, Benedict XII., against King Edward. In the +course of time the King got wind of what was going on, and found that +the suspicions of the Pope had been raised against him. Now, what did +Edward do? If he had been a modern Anglican, he would have snapped his +fingers at the Pope. Forgetful of Our Lord's words, "Unless you become +as little children you shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven," he +would have proudly declared that no Pope or foreign Bishop could claim +any jurisdiction in England, for that he himself was, in his own +realm, the supreme authority in things ecclesiastical as well as in +things temporal. Such would have been the natural and obvious course +for him to have taken. That is to say had he been a modern Anglican. +But since he was not a modern Anglican, but a genuine Roman Catholic +to his very backbone, like all the rest of his kingdom, he did not act +in that imperious, off-hand way, but was very much distressed and +concerned, as a loving son would be, who had incurred the displeasure +of a generous father. Finally, in the thirteenth year of his reign, +that is to say, in 1339, he determined to address a letter to the +Sovereign Pontiff, firstly to protest against these accusations, +secondly to assure the Pope of his innocence, and thirdly to beg him +to take no notice of those who had been calumniating him. + +The document is a very remarkable one, and from the point of view of +continuity (of which it completely disposes) it is of very +considerable interest. + +Before you read it, and ponder over its contents, let me remind you +that the writing of a letter in those days was a very serious +business. There was no post such as we have now, and special couriers +had to be despatched from London to Rome. Paper had not as yet been +invented, so the message had to be carefully written, by paid scribes, +on vellum or parchment. Further, a letter from a King to the Pope was +not a thing to be dashed off on the spur of the moment, but to be +carefully thought out, and expressed with great accuracy. The King +would summon his advisers, and his Secretary of State, and probably +consult some of the Bishops and weigh each word before committing his +message to parchment. In short, the document would represent his own +deliberate convictions as well as those of his official advisers and +counsellors. + +After addressing the Pope in the usual respectful and filial way, he +says: "Let not the envious information of our detractors find place in +the meek mind of your Holiness, or create any sinister opinion of a +son" [observe the King calls himself a son of the Pope], "who after +the manner of his predecessors" [so previous Kings were as loyal as +he] "shall always firmly persist in amity and obedience to the +Apostolic See. Nay, if any such evil suggestion concerning your son +should knock for entrance at your Holiness's ears, let no belief be +allowed it till the son who is concerned be heard, who trusts and +always intends both to say and to prove that each of his actions is +just before the tribunal of your Holiness, _presiding over every +creature, which to deny is to maintain heresy_." Nothing could be +stronger than this last sentence; but we will return to that later. +Then the King goes on to speak of others, who are dependent upon him, +and proceeds as follows: "And further, this we say, adjoining it as a +further evidence of our intention and greater devotion, that if there +be any one of our kindred or allies who walks not as he ought in the +way of _obedience towards the Apostolic See_, we intend to bestow our +diligence--and we trust to no little purpose--that leaving his +wandering course, he may return into the path of duty and walk +regularly for the future". + +From these words it is clear that the King of England, not satisfied +with obeying the Pope himself, likewise insisted upon all under his +authority obeying him likewise. Indeed, he would have made short work +of those who should refuse to do so. Then, alluding to some reproach, +admonition or censure which he had received from the Pope, he goes on +to express himself in words strangely out of harmony with the whole +tone and spirit of modern Anglicanism. They are as follows:-- + +"That the Kings of England, our predecessors, those illustrious +champions of Christ, those defenders of the Faith, those" [listen!] +"_zealous asserters of the rights of the Holy Roman Church, and devout +observers of her commands_, that they or we should deserve this +unkindness, we neither know nor believe. And though, for this very +reason many do say--though we say not so--that this aiding of our +enemies against us, seems neither the act of a father nor of a mother +towards us, but rather of a stepmother; yet this notwithstanding, we +constantly avow that we are" [remember, it is still the King of +England speaking], "and shall continue to be, to your Holiness and to +your seat, a devout and humble son, and not a step-son". + +Can any one imagine greater reverence or greater loyalty to the Vicar +of Christ than is shown forth in these words? Can you, dear readers, +by any stretch of the imagination, conceive any one who is not a Roman +Catholic giving vent to such sentiments as are here expressed? Have +words lost their plain meaning for the Bishop of London, and for those +who (we must in charity suppose, _blindly_) follow him? + +The letter is a long one, and we need not transcribe the whole of it, +but we will offer for your consideration just one more paragraph. The +King writes: "Your Holiness best knows the measure of good and just, +in whose hands are the keys to open and to shut the gates of heaven on +earth, as the _fulness of your power_ and the excellence of your +judicature requires.... We being ready to receive information of the +truth, from your sacred tribunal, _which is over all_," etc. + +Observe these words were written over five hundred years ago, long +before the present Anglican Establishment was so much as dreamed of; +yet, even if King Edward III. had actually foreseen the craze that +would seize Anglicans of to-day to prove that he, and his subjects +were not loyal Roman Catholics, he could not have expressed his +Catholicity and his loyalty to the Vicar of Christ in more +unmistakable or in more explicit terms. + +Whom shall we believe? King Edward III. himself, who, in the above +words, declares he is a staunch Roman Catholic, and an obedient son of +the Pope, ready to defend his rights against all, or the present +Bishop of London, who declares he was not? + +There is one sentence in the King's letter which is especially worthy +of consideration, as it is so pregnant with meaning. We refer to the +following: knowing that "your Holiness presides over every creature, +_which to deny is heresy_". + +You will observe that the King not only believes, but that he here +practically makes an explicit profession of faith in the spiritual +supremacy of St. Peter and his successors, the Popes. In fact, he not +only admits and confesses the Pope's supremacy to be true, which is +one thing, but he declares it to be a _revealed_ truth, taught by Our +Blessed Lord Himself, which is a great deal more. How does he do this? +Suffer us to explain. + +To deny any truth of religion is wrong and sinful, but it is not +necessarily and always heretical. Heresy is not the denial of any kind +of truth: it is the denial only of a special form of truth. It is the +denial of those truths which have been taught by Jesus Christ and the +Apostles. But the King explicitly declares in his letter to the Holy +Father that to deny the Pope's spiritual supremacy over all is not +only wrong, not only sinful, but that it is to be guilty of the +specially horrible sin of heresy. His words are: "It is to maintain +heresy". Yet Anglicans still fondly cling to the delusion that the +Church in England in the time of Edward III. is in unbroken continuity +with the Church of England in the time of King Edward VII.! + +But, to continue. It is interesting to note that the Pope, Benedict +XII., in due course replies to this letter from his "devout and humble +son," as Edward describes himself. He begins by expressing his +satisfaction that His "most dear Son in Christ King Edward of England" +should thus "follow the commendable footsteps of your progenitors, +Kings of England who," he goes on to say, "were famous for the fulness +of their devotion and faith towards God and the Holy Roman Church". + +Will the present Bishop of London, we wonder, be good enough to +explain how Pope Benedict XII. could possibly tell a renowned King of +England that his progenitors, that is to say, the Kings of England who +had preceded him, were famous--mark the word--"_famous_ for the +_fulness_ of their devotion and faith towards God _and the Holy Roman +Church_," if they were all the while cut off from the Roman Church, +and denounced as heretics by that Church, if, in short, they were of +one and the same faith as the Anglicans are to-day? We pause for a +reply. Of course we know that Anglicans are very hard pressed, and in +a quandary, and that some allowance must be made for drowning men when +they stretch forth their trembling hands to clutch at straws. But +really the claim to continuity, however vital to them, should hardly +be put forward in the face of such clear and overwhelming evidence of +its falsity. The ultimate effects of such vain efforts to prove black +to be white can only be to make them ridiculous, and to discredit them +in the eyes of honest men. + +In conclusion, we are persuaded that some may feel curious or +interested to see and read King Edward's letter for themselves, and in +its entirety. Some may even wish to satisfy themselves that we are +stating actual facts, and not romancing; so let us inform any such +persons that the letter quoted belongs to the thirteenth year of King +Edward III.'s reign (An. Regni xiii. Ed. Rex III.). The original, if +not at the Vatican, should be either at the Record Office or at the +British Museum. The English version, of which we have made use, may be +found on pages 126-30 of _The History of Edward III._, by J. Barnes, +Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and published in 1688. Had this +history been composed in more modern times, this famous letter to Pope +Benedict would probably have been quietly suppressed or omitted. + +But in 1688 the theory of continuity had not been invented by the +father of lies, to bolster up a lost cause, so the letter actually +appears in Barnes' History, to tell its own unvarnished tale: and to +bear its uncompromising testimony to the truth. + +In the meanwhile, time wears on, and the end draws near when each man +will have to give an account of his life and conduct to the Supreme +Judge of the living and the dead. And it will go hard with us if we +turn our back upon the truth. God is speaking in this England of ours, +and shedding His light, and many are finding their way back to that +glorious Faith of which they were cruelly robbed at the "Reformation". +"To-day, if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts," but +lend an attentive ear to His invitation, and pray that you may have +courage enough to join hands once again with Bede, and Dunstan, +Anselm, and Thomas a Becket, and with Edward III. and his royal +predecessors, all faithful sons of St. Peter and the Holy See, and to +enter that Church which was built by God Incarnate on Peter, and upon +no other foundation; which still rests securely upon Peter, and which +(if there be any truth in God's promises) will continue to rest on +Peter till the end of time. "Upon this Rock (Peter) will I build My +Church, and the gates of hell (_i.e._, the powers of darkness) shall +never prevail against it." + + + +=Also by Rt. Rev. JOHN S. 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Price 5s. net. + + "Clear and well-written expositions, rich in illustrations and + adorned in places with beautiful and sublime + language."--_Whitehall Review_. + + "We would be glad to see a copy in every household in the land. + It needs only to be known to have its merits appreciated."--H.E. + Cardinal GIBBONS. + +5. LIFE AFTER DEATH. Fourteenth Edition. Pages 245. Price 2s. net. + + "Popular, luminous, eloquent, and persuasive. It is carefully + thought out, and forms a massive argument of great value."--_The + Gentleman's Journal_. + + "This work cannot but exercise a pleasing charm over the reader, + and serve to hold his attention spell-bound + throughout."--_Catholic Times_. + +6. DANGERS OF THE DAY. + + "An admirable book. Just what is wanted." + +7. THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY; and, THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY. + Just Published. Price 1s. 6d. + + * * * * * + + "HOW I CAME TO DO IT; or, How Parson Blackswhite gave up his Vow of + Celibacy." A Holiday Sketch. Pages 300. 2s. 6d. net. Edited by + Monsignor VAUGHAN. + + A PRIEST writes: "I read this novel, and laughed and + laughed till the tears rolled down my cheeks." + + _The Lamp_ says: "It is as instructive as it is amusing, and as + amusing as it is instructive." + + The well-known French paper _L'Univers_ says: "Ce livre est + charmant, et tres interessant et meriterait d'etre traduit en + francais". + + _How I Came to Do It_ is now being put into French by M. l'abbe + P. Secher, with the title _Les Raisons de ma Decision_. + + * * * * * + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Purpose of the Papacy, by John S. 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