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 Letter to the Rev. E.B. Pusey D.D on 
 
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Union L-ibrary. 
 
 THE REY. E. B. PUSEY, D.D. 
 
 HIS EEOENT 
 
 EIRET^IOON. 
 
 JOHN HENEY NEWMAN, D.D. 
 
 OF THE OEATOBT. 
 
 Veni, Domine, et noli tardare, relaxa faclnora plebi tuaj ; et revoca dispersos 
 in terram suam. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, EEADER, AND DYER, 
 
 PATEENOSTEE EOW. 
 
 1866. 
 
/4, l2■^-'^^^ 
 
 lONDON : 
 
 GILBEET AUD EITINGTON, PEINTEBS, 
 
 ST. JOHN'S SQUABE. 
 
A LETTER, 
 
 Sfc. 
 
 No one who desires the union of Christendom after 
 its many and long-standing divisions, can have any 
 other feeling than joy, my dear Pusey, at finding 
 from your recent Volume, that you see your way to 
 make definite proposals to us for effecting that 
 great object, and are able to lay down the basis 
 and conditions on which you could co-operate in 
 advancing it. It is not necessary that we should 
 concur in the details of your scheme, or in the 
 principles which it involves, in order to welcome 
 the important fact, that, with your personal know- 
 ledge of the Anglican body, and your experience of 
 its composition and tendencies, you consider the 
 time to be come when you and your friends may, 
 without imprudence, turn your minds to the con- 
 templation of such an enterprise. Even were you 
 an individual member of that Church, a watchman 
 upon a high tower in a metropolis of religious 
 
 A 2 
 
4 IKTEODUCTION 
 
 opinion, we should naturally listen with interest to 
 what you had to report of the state of the sky and 
 the progress of the night, what stars were mount- 
 ing up or what clouds gathering, — what were the 
 prospects of the three great parties which Angli- 
 canism contains within it, and what was just now 
 the action upon them respectively of the politics 
 and science of the time. You do not go into these 
 matters ; hut the step you have taken is evidently 
 the measure and the issue of the view which you 
 have formed of them all. 
 
 However, you are not a mere individual; from 
 early youth you have devoted yourself to the Esta- 
 hlished Church, and, after between forty and fifty 
 years of unremitting labour in its service, your 
 roots and your branches stretch out through every 
 portion of its large territory. You, more than any 
 one else alive, have been the present and untiring 
 agent by whom a great work has been eiFected in 
 it ; and, far more than is usual, you have received 
 in your life-time, as well as merited, the confidence 
 of your brethren. You cannot speak merely for 
 yourself ; your antecedents, your existing influence, 
 are a pledge to us, that what you may determine 
 will be the determination of a multitude. Num- 
 bers, too, for whom you cannot properly be said to 
 speak, will be moved by your authority or your 
 arguments ; and numbers, again, who are of a 
 school more recent than your own, and who are 
 only not your followers because they have out- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 stripped you in their free speeches and demon- 
 strative acts in our behalf, will, for the occasion, 
 accept you as their spokesman. There is no one 
 any where, — among ourselves, in your own body, 
 or, I suppose, in the Greek Church, — who can 
 affect so large a circle of men, so virtuous, so able, 
 so learned, so zealous, as come, more or less, under 
 your influence; and I cannot pay them a greater 
 compliment, than to tell them they ought all to be 
 Catholics, nor do them a more affectionate service 
 than to pray that they may one day become such. 
 Nor can I address myself to an act more pleasing, 
 as I trust, to the Divine Lord of the Church, or 
 more loyal and dutiful to His Vicar on earth, than 
 to attempt, however feebly, to promote so great a 
 consummation. 
 
 I know the joy it would give those conscientious 
 men, of whom I am speaking, to be one with our- 
 selves. I know how their hearts spring up with a 
 spontaneous transport at the very thought of union ; 
 and what yearning is theirs after that great privi- 
 lege, which they have not, communion with the see 
 of Peter, and its present, past, and future. I con- 
 jecture it by what I used to feel myself, while yet 
 in the Anglican Church. I r^oUect well what an 
 outcast I seemed to myself, when I took down from 
 the shelves of my library the volumes of St. Atha- 
 nasius or St. Basil, and set myself to study them ; 
 and how, on the contrary, when at length I was 
 brought into Catholic Communion, I kissed them 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with delight, with a feeling that in them I had more 
 than all that I had lost, and, as though I were directly- 
 addressing the glorious saints, who bequeathed them 
 to the Church, I said to the inanimate pages, 
 " You are now mine, and I am now yours, beyond 
 any mistake." Such, I conceive, would be the joy of 
 the persons I speak of, if they could wake up one 
 morning, and find themselves rightfully possessed 
 of Catholic traditions and hopes, without violence to 
 their own sense of duty ; — and, certainly, I am the 
 last man to say that such violence is in any case 
 lawful, that the claims of conscience are not para- 
 mount, or that any one may overleap what he 
 deliberately holds to be God's command, in order 
 to make his path easier for him or his heart 
 lighter. 
 
 I am the last man to quarrel with this jealous de- 
 ference to the voice of our conscience, whatever judg- 
 ment others may form of us in consequence, for this 
 reason, — because their case, as it at present stands, 
 has, as you know, been my own. You recollect well 
 what hard things were said against us twenty-five 
 years ago, which we knew in our hearts we did 
 not deserve. Hence, I am now in the position of 
 the fugitive Queen, in the well-known passage ; 
 who, " baud ignara mali " herself, had learned to 
 sympathize with those who were the inheritors of 
 her past wanderings. There were Priests, good men, 
 whose zeal outstripped their knowledge, and who 
 in consequence spoke confidently, when they would 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 have been wiser, had they suspended their adverse 
 judgment of those whom they had soon to welcome 
 as brethren in communion. We at that time were 
 in worse plight than your friends are now, for our 
 opponents put their very hardest thoughts of us 
 into print. One of them wrote thus in a Letter 
 addressed to one of the Catholic Bishops :— 
 
 " That this Oxford crisis is a real progress to Catholicism, 
 I have all along considered a perfect delusion. ... I look 
 upon Mr. Newman, Dr. Pusey, and their associates, as wily 
 and crafty, though unskilful guides. . . . The embrace of 
 Mr. Newman is the kiss that would betray us. . . . But, — 
 what is the most striking feature in the rancorous malignity 
 of these men, — their calumnies are often lavished upon us, 
 when we should be led to think that the subject-matter of 
 their treatises closed every avenue against their vituperation. 
 The three last volumes [of the Tracts] have opened my eyes 
 to the craftiness and the cunning, as well as the malice, of the 
 members of the Oxford Convention. ... If the Puseyites are 
 to be the new Apostles of Great Britain, my hopes for my 
 country are lowering and gloomy. ... I would never have con- 
 sented to enter the lists against this strange confraternity. . . . 
 if I did not feel that my own Prelate was opposed to the guile 
 and treachery of these men. ... I impeach Dr. Pusey and his 
 friends of a deadly hatred of our religion. . . . "What, my 
 Lord, would the Holy See think of the works of these 
 Puseyites ? . . . " 
 
 Another priest, himself a convert, wrote : — 
 
 " As we approach towards Catholicity, our love and respect 
 increases, and our violence dies away ; but the bulk of these 
 men become more rabid as they become like Eome, a plain 
 proof of their designs. ... I do not believe that they are any 
 nearer the portals of the Catholic Church than the most pre- 
 judiced Methodist and Evangelical preacher. . . . Sach, Eev. 
 Sir, is an outline of my views on the Oxford movement." 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I do not say that such a view of us was un- 
 natural; and, for myself, I readily confess, that 
 I had used about the Church such language, that 
 I had no claim on Catholics for any mercy. But, 
 after all, and in fact, they were wrong in their 
 anticipations,— nor did their brethren agree with 
 them at the time. Especially Dr. Wiseman (as 
 he was then) took a larger and more generous 
 view of us ; nor did the Holy See interfere, though 
 the writer of one of these passages invoked its judg- 
 ment. The event showed that the more cautious 
 line of conduct was the more prudent ; and one of 
 the Bishops, who had taken part against us, with 
 a supererogation of dharity, sent me on his death- 
 bed an expression of his sorrow for having in past 
 years mistrusted me. A faulty conscience, faith- 
 fully obeyed, through God's mercy, had in the long 
 run brought me right. 
 
 Fully, then, do I recognize the rights of con- 
 science in this matter. I find no fault with your 
 stating, as clearly and completely as you can, the 
 difficulties which stand in the way of your joining 
 us. I cannot wonder that you begin with stipu- 
 lating conditions of union, though I do not concur 
 in them myself, and think that in the event you 
 yourself would be content to let them drop. Such 
 representations as yours are necessary to open the 
 subject in debate; they ascertain how the land 
 lies, and serve to clear the ground. Thus I begin : 
 — but after allowing as much as this, I am obliged 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 in honesty to say what I fear, my dear Pusey, will 
 pain you. Yet I am confident, my very dear Friend, 
 that at least you will not be angry with me if I 
 say, what I must say, or say nothing at all, that 
 there is much both in the matter and in the manner 
 of your Volume, calculated to wound those who 
 love you well, hut love truth more. So it is; 
 with the best motives and kindest intentions, — 
 " Csedimur, et totidem plagis consumimus hostem." 
 We give you a sharp cut, and you return it. You 
 complain of our being " dry, hard, and unsym- 
 pathizing;" and we answer that you are unfair 
 and irritating. But we at least have not pro- 
 fessed to be composing an Irenicon, when we 
 treated you as foes. There was one of old time 
 who wreathed his sword in myrtle; excuse me — 
 you discharge your olive-branch as if from a 
 catapult. 
 
 Do not think I am not serious ; if I spoke seri- 
 ously, I should seem to speak harshly. Who will 
 venture to assert, that the hundred pages which 
 you have devoted to the Blessed Virgin give other 
 than a one-sided view of our teaching about her, 
 little suited to win us ? It may be a salutary cas- 
 tigation, if any of us have fairly provoked it, but 
 it is not making the best of matters; it is not 
 smoothing the way for an understanding or a 
 compromise. It leads a writer in the most mode- 
 rate and liberal Anglican newspaper of the day, 
 the " Guardian," to turn away from your repre- 
 
10 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 sentation of us with horror. " It is language," says 
 your Eeviewer, "which, after having often heard it, 
 we still can only hear with horror. We had rather 
 not quote any of it, or of the comments upon it." 
 What could an Exeter Hall orator, what could a 
 Scotch commentator on the Apocalypse, do more 
 for his own side of the controversy in the picture 
 he drew of us ? You may be sure that what 
 creates horror on one side, will be answered by 
 indignation on the other, and these are not the 
 most favourable dispositions for a peace conference. 
 I had been accustomed to think, that you, who in 
 times past were ever less declamatory in contro- 
 versy than myself, now that years had gone on, and 
 circumstances changed, had come to look on our 
 old warfare against Rome as cruel and inexpedient. 
 Indeed, I know that it was a chief objection urged 
 against me only last year by persons who agreed 
 with you in deprecating an Oratory at Oxford, 
 which at that time was in prospect, that such an 
 undertaking would be the signal for the rekindling 
 of that fierce style of polemics which is now out 
 of date. I had fancied you shared in that opinion ; 
 but now, as if to show how imperative you deem 
 its renewal, you actually bring to life one of my 
 own strong sayings in 1841, which had long been 
 in the grave, — that " the Eoman Church comes as 
 near to idolatry as can be supposed in a Church, 
 of which it is said, ' The idols He shall utterly 
 abolish.' "—p. 111. 
 
INTRODUCTION, 11 
 
 I know, indeed, and feel deeply, that your fre- 
 quent references, in your Volume, to what I have 
 lately or formerly written, are caused by your 
 strong desire to be still one with me as far as you 
 can, and by that true affection, which takes plea- 
 sure in dwelling on such sayings of mine as you 
 can still accept with the full approbation of your 
 judgment. I trust I am not ungrateful or irre- 
 sponsive to you in this respect; but other con- 
 siderations have an imperative claim to be taken 
 into account. Pleasant as it is to agree with you, 
 I am bound to explain myself in cases in which I 
 have changed my mind, or have given a wrong 
 impression of my meaning, or have been wrongly 
 reported; and, while I trust that I have higher 
 than such personal motives for addressing you in 
 print, yet it will serve to introduce my main sub- 
 ject, and give me an opportunity for remarks 
 which bear upon it indirectly, if I dwell for a page 
 or two on such matters contained in your Volume 
 as concern myself. 
 
 1. The mistake which I have principally in view 
 is the belief which is widely spread, that I have 
 publicly spoken of the Anglican Church as "the 
 great bulwark against infidelity in this land." In 
 a pamphlet of yours a year old, you spoke of " a 
 very earnest body of Roman Catholics," who " re- 
 joice in all the workings of God the Holy Ghost in 
 the Church of England (whatever they think of 
 her), and are saddened by what weakens her who 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is, in God's hands, the great bulwark against infi- 
 delity in this land." The concluding words you 
 were, thought to quote from my Apologia. In con- 
 sequence, Dr. Manning, now our Archbishop, re- 
 plied to you, asserting, as you say, " the contradic- 
 tory of that statement." In that counter-assertion, 
 he was at the time generally considered (rightly 
 or wrongly as it may be), though writing to you, 
 to be really correcting statements in my Apologia, 
 without introducing my name. Further, in the 
 Volume, which you have now published, you recur 
 to the saying; and you speak of its author in terms, 
 which, did I not know your partial kindness for me, 
 would hinder me from identifying him with myself. 
 You say, " The saying was not mine, but that of 
 one of the deepest thinkers and observers in the 
 Roman Communion," p. 7. A friend has suggested 
 to me that perhaps you mean De Maistre ; and, from 
 an anonymous letter which I have received from 
 Dublin, I find it is certain that the very words in 
 question were once used by Archbishop Murray ; but 
 you speak of the author of them as if now alive. At 
 length, a reviewer of your Volume in the " Weekly 
 Register," distinctly attributes them to me by name, 
 and gives me the first opportunity I have had of dis- 
 owning them ; and this I now do. What, at some time 
 or other, I may have said in conversation or private 
 letter, of course, I cannot tell ; but I have never, I 
 am sure, used the word "bulwark" of the Anglican 
 Church deliberately. What I said in my Apologia 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 was this : — That that Church was " a serviceable 
 breakwater against errors more fundamental than 
 its own." A bulwark is an integral part of the 
 thing it defends; whereas the words "serviceable" 
 and "breakwater" imply a kind of protection, 
 which is accidental and de facto. Again, in saying 
 that the Anglican Church is a defence against 
 "errors more fundamental than its own," I imply 
 that it has errors, and those fundamental. 
 
 2. There is another passage in your Volume, at 
 p. 337, which it may be right to observe upon. 
 You have made a collection of passages from the 
 Fathers, as witnesses in behalf of your doctrine that 
 the whole Christian faith is contained in Scripture, 
 as if, in your sense of the words. Catholics contra- 
 dicted you here. And you refer to my Notes on St. 
 Athanasius as contributing passages to your list; 
 but, after all, neither do you, nor do I in my Notes, 
 affirm any doctrine which Eome denies. Those 
 Notes also make frequent reference to a traditional 
 teaching, which (be the faith ever so certainly con- 
 tained in Scripture), still is necessary as a Eegula 
 Fidei, for showing us that it is contained there; vid. 
 pp. 283, 344 ; and this tradition, I know, you uphold 
 as fully as I do in the Notes in question. In con- 
 sequence, you allow that there is a twofold rule. 
 Scripture and Tradition; and this is all that 
 Catholics say. How, then, do Anglicans differ from 
 Rome here ? I believe the diff'erence is merely one 
 of words ; and I shall be doing, so far, the work 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of an Irenicon, if I make clear what this verbal 
 difference is. Catholics and Anglicans (I do not 
 say Protestants), attach different meanings to the 
 word " proof," in the controversy whether the whole 
 faith is, or is not, contained in Scripture. We 
 mean that not every article of faith is so contained 
 there, that it may thence be logically proved, inde- 
 pendently of the teaching and authority of the Tra- 
 dition ; but Anglicans mean that every article of 
 faith is so contained there, that it may thence be 
 proved, provided there be added the illustrations 
 and compensations supplied by the Tradition. And 
 it is in this latter sense that the Fathers also speak 
 in the passages which you quote from them. I am 
 sure at least that St. Athanasius frequently adduces 
 passages in proof of points in controversy, which no 
 one would see to be proofs, unless Apostolical Tra- 
 dition were taken into account, first as suggesting, 
 then as authoritatively ruling their meaning. Thus, 
 you do not deny, that the whole is not in Scripture 
 in such sense that pure unaided logic can draw it 
 from the sacred text ; nor do we deny, that the 
 faith is in Scripture, in an improper sense, in the 
 sense that Tradition is able to recognize and deter- 
 mine it there. You do not profess to dispense 
 with Tradition ; nor do we forbid the idea of pro- 
 bable, secondary, symbolical, connotative, senses of 
 Scripture, over and above those which properly 
 belong to the wording and context. I hope you 
 will agree with me in this. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 3. Nor is it only in isolated passages that you 
 give me a place in your Volume. A considerable 
 portion of it is written with a reference to two 
 publications of mine, one of which you name and de- 
 fend, the other you implicitly protest against ; Tract 
 90, and the Essay on Doctrinal Development. As 
 to Tract 90, you have from the first, as all the 
 world knows, boldly stood up for it, in spite of the 
 obloquy which it brought upon you, and have done 
 me a great service. You are now republishing it 
 with my cordial concurrence ; but I take this oppor- 
 tunity of noticing, lest there should be any mistake 
 on the part of the public, that you do so with a 
 dififerent object from that which I had when I wrote 
 it. Its original purpose was simply that of justi- 
 fying myself and others in subscribing to the 39 
 Articles, while professing many tenets which had 
 popularly been considered distinctive of the Roman 
 faith. I considered that my interpretation of the 
 Articles, as I gave it in that Tract, would stand, 
 provided the parties imposing them allowed it; 
 otherwise, I thought it could not stand : and, when 
 in the event the Bishops and public opinion did not 
 allow it, I gave up my Living, as having no right 
 to retain it. My feeling about the interpretation 
 is expressed in a passage in Loss and Gain, which 
 runs thus : — 
 
 "'Is it,' asked Eeding, 'a received view?' 'No view is 
 received,' said the other; 'the Articles themselves are re- 
 ceived, but there is no authoritative interpretation of them 
 at all/ 'Well,' said Eeding, 'is it a tolerated view?' 'It 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 certainly has been strongly opposed,' answered Bateman ; ' but 
 it has never been condemned.' ' That is no answer,' said 
 Charles. ' Does any one Bishop hold it ? Did any one Bishop 
 ever hold it ? Has it ever been formally admitted as tenable 
 by any one Bishop ? Is it a view got up to meet existing 
 difficulties, or has it an historical existence?' Bateman could 
 give only one answer to these questions, as they were suc- 
 cessively put to him. 'I thought so,' said Charles; 'the 
 view is specious certainly. I don't see why it might not have 
 done, had it been tolerably sanctioned ; but you have no 
 sanction to show me. As it stands, it is a mere theory struck 
 out by individuals. Our Church might have adopted this 
 mode of interpreting the Articles ; but, from what you tell 
 me, it certainly has not done so.' " — Ch. 15. 
 
 However, the Ti-act did not carry its object and 
 conditions on its face, and necessarily lay open to 
 interpretations vei-y far from the true one. Dr. 
 Wiseman (as he then was), in particular, with the 
 keen apprehension which was his characteristic, at 
 once saw in it a basis of accommodation between 
 Anglicanism and Eome. He suggested broadly 
 that the decrees of the Council of Trent should be 
 made the rule of interpretation for the 39 Articles, 
 a proceeding, of which Sancta Clara, I think, had 
 set the example; and, as you have observed, pub- 
 lished a letter to Lord Shrewsbury on the subject, 
 of which the following are extracts : — 
 
 " We Catholics must necessarily deplore [England's] separa- 
 tion as a deep moral evil, — as a state of schism, of which 
 nothing can justify the continuance. Many members of the 
 Anglican Church view it in the same light as to the first point 
 — its sad evil; though they excuse their individual position in 
 it as an unavoidable misfortune. . . . "We may depend upon 
 a willing, an able, and a most zealous co-operation with any 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 7 
 
 effort which we may make, towards bringing her into her 
 rightful position, in Catholic unity with the Holy See and the 
 Churches of its obedience, — in other words, with the Church 
 Catholic. Is this a visionary idea ? Is it merely the expression 
 of a strong desire ? I know that many will so judge it ; and, 
 perhaps, were I to consult my own quiet, I would not venture to 
 express it. But I will, in simplicity of heart, cling to hopefdness, 
 cheered, as I feel it, by so many promising appearances. . . . 
 
 "A natural question here presents itself; — what facilities 
 appear in the present state of things for bringing about so 
 happy a consummation, as the reunion of England to the 
 Catholic Church, beyond what have before existed, and par- 
 ticularly under Archbishops Laud or "Wake. It strikes me, 
 many. Pirst, &c. ... A still more promising circumstance 
 I think your Lordship will with me consider the plan which 
 the eventful Tract No. 90 has pursued, and in which Mr. Ward, 
 Mr. Oakeley, and even Dr. Pusey have agreed. I allude to the 
 method of bringing their doctrines into accordance with ours hy 
 explanation. A foreign priest has pointed out to us a valuable 
 document for our consideration, — ' Bossuet's Eeply to the 
 Pope,' — when consulted on the best method of reconciling the 
 followers of the Augsburg Confession with the Holy See. The 
 learned Bishop observes, that Providence had allowed so much 
 Catholic truth to be preserved in that Confession, that fu'l 
 advantage should be taken of the circumstance ; that no 
 retractations should be demanded, but an explanation of the 
 Confession in accordance with Catholic doctrines. Now, for 
 such a method as this, the way is in part prepared by the 
 demonstration that such interpretation may be given of the 
 most difficult Articles, as will strip them of all contradiction to 
 the decrees of the Tridentine Synod. The same method may be 
 pursued on other points ; and much pain may thus be spared to 
 individuals, and much difficulty to the Church." — Pp. 11. 35. 38. 
 
 This use of my Tract, so different from my own, 
 but sanctioned by the great name of our Cardinal, 
 you are now reviving ; and I gather from your doing 
 so, that your Bishops and the opinion of the public 
 
 B 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 are likely now, or in prospect, to admit what 
 twenty- five years ago they refused. On this point, 
 much as it rejoices me to know your anticipation, 
 of course, I cannot have an opinion. 
 
 4. So much for Tract 90. On the other hand, 
 as to my hypothesis of Doctrinal Development, I am 
 sorry to find you do not look upon it with friendly 
 eyes; though how, without its aid, you can main- 
 tain the doctrines of the Holy Trinity and Incarna- 
 tion, and others which you hold, I cannot under- 
 stand. You consider my principle may he the 
 means, in time to come, of introducing into our 
 Creed, as portions of the necessary Catholic faith, 
 the Infallibility of the Pope, and various opinions, 
 pious or profane, as it may be, about our Blessed 
 Lady. I hope to remove your anxiety as to these 
 consequences, before I bring my observations to an 
 end ; at present I notice it as my apology for inter- 
 fering in a controversy which at first sight is no 
 business of mine. 
 
 5. I have another reason for writing; and that 
 is, unless it is rude in me to say so, because you 
 seem to think writing does not become me, as being 
 a convert. I do not like silently to acquiesce in 
 such a judgment. You say at p. 98 : — 
 
 " Nothing can be more unpractical than for an individual to 
 throw himself into the Eoman Church, because he could accept 
 the letter of the Council of Trent. Those who were born 
 Roman Catholics, have a liberty, which, in the nature of 
 things, a person could not have, who left another system, to 
 embrace that of Eome. I cannot imagine how any faith could 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 stand the shock of leaving one system, criticizing it, and cast 
 himself into another system, criticizing it. Per myself, I have 
 always felt that had (which God of His mercy avert hereafter 
 also) the English Church, by accepting heresy, driven me out 
 of it, I could have gone in no other way than that of closing 
 n)y eyes, and accepting whatever was put before me. But a 
 liberty which individuals could not use, and explanations, 
 which, so long as they remain individual, must be unauthori- 
 tative, might be formally made by the Church of Kome to the 
 Church of England as the basis of re-union." 
 
 And again, p. 210 : — 
 
 " It seems to me to be a psychological impossibility for one 
 who has already exchanged one system for another to mike 
 those distinctions. One who, by his own act, places himself 
 under authority, cannot make conditions about his submission. 
 But definite explanations of our Articles have, before now, 
 been at least tentatively ofiered to us, on the Eoman and 
 Greek side, as sufficient to restore communion; and the 
 Eoman explanations too were, in most cases, mere supplements 
 to our Articles, on points upon which our Church had not 
 spoken." 
 
 Now passages such as these seem almost a chal- 
 lenge to me to speak; and to keep silence would 
 he to assent to the justice of them. At the cost, 
 then, of speaking ahout myself, of which I feel 
 there has been too much of late, I observe upon 
 them as follows : — Of course, as you say, a convert 
 comes to learn, and not to pick and choose. He 
 comes in simplicity and confidence, and it does not 
 occur to him to weigh and measure every proceed- 
 ing, every practice which he meets with among 
 those whom he has joined. He comes to Catho- 
 licism as to a living system, with a living teaching, 
 
 B 2 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and not to a mere collection of decrees and canons, 
 which by themselves are of course but the frame- 
 work, not the body and substance of the Church, 
 And this is a truth which concerns, which binds, 
 those also who never knew any other religion, not 
 only the convert. By the Catholic system, I mean 
 that rule of life, and those practices of devotion, 
 for which we shall look in vain in the Creed of 
 Pope Pius. The convert comes, not only to believe 
 the Church, but also to trust and obey her priests, 
 and to conform himself in charity to her people. 
 It would never do for him to resolve that he 
 never would say a Hail Mary, never avail himself 
 of an indulgence, never kiss a crucifix, never ac- 
 cept the Lent dispensations, never mention a 
 venial sin in confession. All this would not only 
 be unreal, but dangerous too, as arguing a wrong 
 state of mind, which could not look to receive the 
 divine blessing. Moreover, he comes to the cere- 
 monial, and the moral theology, and the ecclesias- 
 tical regulations, which he finds on the spot where 
 his lot is cast. And again, as regards matters of 
 politics, of education, of general expedience, of 
 taste, he does not criticize or controvert. And thus 
 surrendering himself to the influences of his new 
 religion, and not risking the loss of revealed truth al- 
 together by attempting by a private rule to discrimi- 
 nate every moment its substance from its accidents, 
 he is gradually so indoctrinated in Catholicism, as 
 at length to have a right to speak as well as to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 hear. Also in course of time a new generation 
 rises round him; and there is no reason why he 
 should not know as much, and decide questions with 
 as true an instinct, as those who perhaps number 
 fewer years than he does Easter communions. He 
 has mastered the fact and the nature of the differ- 
 ences of theologian from theologian, school from 
 school, nation from nation, era from era. He 
 knows that there is much of what may be called 
 fashion in opinions and practices, according to the 
 circumstances of time and place, according to cur- 
 rent politics, the character of the Pope of the day, 
 or the chief Prelates of a particular country ; — and 
 that fashions change. His experience tells him, 
 that sometimes what is denounced in one place as 
 a great offence, or preached up as a first principle, 
 has in another nation been immemorially regarded 
 in just a contrary sense, or has made no sensation 
 at all, one way or the other, when brought before 
 public opinion ; and that loud talkers, in the Church 
 as elsewhere, are apt to carry all before them, while 
 quiet and conscientious persons commonly have to 
 give way. He perceives that, in matters which 
 happen to be in debate, ecclesiastical authority 
 watches the state of opinion and the direction and 
 course of controversy, and decides accordingly; so 
 that in certain cases to keep back his own judg- 
 ment on a point, is to be disloyal to his superiors. 
 
 So far generally ; now in particular as to myself. 
 After twenty years of Catholic life, I feel no deli- 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cacy in giving my opinion on any point when there 
 is a call for me, — and the only reason why I have 
 not done so sooner or more often than I have, is 
 that there has heen no call. I have now reluctantly 
 come to the conclusion that your Volume is a call. 
 Certainly, in many instances in which theologian 
 differs from theologian, and country from country, 
 I have a definite judgment of my own; I can say so 
 without offence to any one, for the very reason that 
 from the nature of the case it is impossible to agree 
 with all of them. I prefer English habits of belief 
 and devotion to foreign, from the same causes, an,d 
 by the same right, which justifies foreigners in pre- 
 ferring their own. In following those of my people, 
 I show less singularity, and create less disturbance 
 than if I made a flourish with what is novel and 
 exotic. And in this line of conduct I am but 
 availing myself of the teaching which I fell in with 
 on becoming a Catholic ; and it is a pleasure to me 
 to think that what I hold now, and would transmit 
 after me if I could, is only what I received then. 
 The utmost delicacy was observed on all hands in 
 giving me advice: only one warning remains on 
 my mind, and it came from Dr. Grifiiths, the late 
 Vicar- Apostolic of the London district. He warned 
 me against books of devotion of the Italian school, 
 which were just at that time coming into England; 
 and when I asked him what books he recommended 
 as safe guides, he bade me get the works of Bishop 
 Hay. By this I did not understand that he was 
 
INTKODUCTION. 23 
 
 jealous of all Italian books, or made himself re- 
 sponsible for all that Dr. Hay happens to have 
 said ; but I took him to caution me against a cha- 
 racter and tone of religion, excellent in its place, 
 not suited for England. When I went to Rome, 
 though it may seem strange to you to say it, even 
 there I learned nothing inconsistent with this judg- 
 ment. Local influences do not form the atmo- 
 sphere of its institutions and colleges, which are 
 Catholic in teaching as well as in name. I recollect 
 one saying among others of my confessor, a Jesuit 
 father, one of the holiest, most prudent men I ever 
 knew. He said that we could not love the Blessed 
 Virgin too much, if we loved our Lox'd a great deal 
 more. When I returned to England, the first ex- 
 pression of theological opinion which came in my 
 way, was apropos of the series of translated Saints' 
 Lives which the late Dr. Faber originated. That 
 expression proceeded from a wise prelate, who was 
 properly anxious as to the line which might be 
 taken by the Oxford converts, then for the first 
 time coming into work. According as I recollect 
 his opinion, he was apprehensive of the effect of 
 Italian compositions, as unsuited to this country, 
 and suggested that the Lives should be original 
 works, drawn up by ourselves and our friends from 
 Italian sources. If at that time I was betrayed into 
 any acts which were of a more extreme character 
 than I should approve now, the responsibility of 
 course is mine; but the impulse came, not from 
 
2'1 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 old Catholics or superiors, but from men whom 
 I loved and trusted, \yho were younger than myself. 
 But to whatever extent I might be carried away, 
 and T cannot recollect any tangible instances, my 
 mind in no long time fell back to what seems to 
 me a safer and more practical course. 
 
 Though I am a convert, then, I think I have a 
 right to speak out ; and that the more because other 
 converts have spoken for a long time, while I have 
 not spoken ; and with still more reason may I speak 
 without offence in the case of your present cri- 
 ticisms of us, considering that, in the charges you 
 bring, the only two English writers you quote in 
 evidence, are both of them converts, younger in 
 age than myself. I put aside the Archbishop of 
 course, because of his office. These two authors 
 are worthy of all consideration, at once from their 
 character and from their ability. In their re- 
 spective lines they are perhaps without equals at 
 this particular time; and they deserve the influ- 
 ence they possess. One is still in the vigour of 
 his powers; the other has departed amid the tears 
 of hundreds. It is pleasant to praise them for their 
 real excellencies ; but why do you rest on them as 
 authorities ? You say of the one that he was " a 
 popular writer;" but is there not sufficient reason 
 for this in the fact of his remarkable gifts, of his 
 poetical fancy, his engaging frankness, his playful 
 wit, his affectionateness, his sensitive piety, without 
 supposing that the wide diffusion of his works 
 
INTRODUCTION, 25 
 
 arises out of his particular sentiments about the 
 Blessed Virgin ? And as to our other friend, do 
 not his energy, acuteness, and theological reading, 
 displayed on the vantage ground of the historic 
 " Dublin Review," fully account for the sensation 
 he has produced, without supposing that any great 
 number of our body go his lengths in their view of 
 the Pope's infallibility ? Our silence as regards their 
 writings is very intelligible : it is not agreeable to 
 protest, in the sight of the world, against the 
 writings of men in our own communion whom we 
 love and respect. But the plain fact is this, — they 
 came to the Church, and have thereby saved their 
 souls ; but they are in no sense spokesmen for 
 English Catholics, and they must not«stand in the 
 place of those who have a real title to such an office. 
 The chief authors of the passing generation, some 
 of them still alive, others gone to their reward, are 
 Cardinal Wiseman, Dr. Ullathorne, Dr. Lingard, 
 Mr. Tierney, Dr. Oliver, Dr. Rock, Dr. Water- 
 worth, Dr. Husenbeth, and Mr. Flanagan ; which 
 of these ecclesiastics has said any thing extreme 
 about the prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin or the 
 infallibility of the Pope ? 
 
 I cannot, then, without remonstrance, allow you 
 to identify the doctrine of our Oxford friends in 
 question, on the two subjects I have mentioned, 
 with the present spirit or the prospective creed 
 of Catholics ; or to assume, as you do, that, because 
 they are thorough-going and relentless in their 
 
26 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 Statements, therefore they are the harbingers of a 
 new age, when to show a deference for Antiquity- 
 will be thought little else than a mistake. For 
 myself, hopeless as you consider it, I am not 
 ashamed still to take my stand upon the Fathers, 
 and do not mean to budge. The history of their 
 times is not yet an old almanac to me. Of course I 
 maintain the value and authority of the " Schola," 
 as one of the loci theologici ; still I sympathize with 
 Petavius in preferring to its " contentious and 
 subtle theology," that " more elegant and fruitful 
 teaching which is moulded after the image of 
 erudite antiquity." The Fathers made me a Ca- 
 tholic, and I am not going to kick down the ladder 
 by which I ascended into the Church. It is a 
 ladder quite as serviceable for that purpose now 
 as it was twenty years ago. Though I hold, as 
 you know, a process of development in Apostolic 
 truth as time goes on, such development does not 
 supersede the Fathers, but explains and completes 
 them. And, in particular, as regards our teaching 
 concerning the Blessed Virgin, with the Fathers I 
 am content; — and to the subject of that teaching I 
 mean to address myself at once. I do so, because 
 you say, as I myself have said in former years, that 
 " That vast system as to the Blessed Virgin .... 
 to all of us has been the special crux of the Roman 
 system." — P. 101. Here, I say, as on other points, 
 the Fathers are enough for me. I do not wish to 
 say more than they, and will not say less. You, I 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 know, will profess the same; and thus we can join 
 issue on a clear and broad principle, and may hope 
 to come to some intelligible result. We are to 
 have a Treatise on the subject of our Lady soon 
 from the pen of the Most Reverend Prelate; but 
 that cannot interfere with such a mere argument 
 from the Fathers as that to which I shall confine 
 myself here. Nor indeed, as regards that argu- 
 ment itself, do I profess to be offering you any new 
 matter, any facts which have not been used by 
 others, — by great divines, as Petavius, by living 
 writers, nay, by myself on other occasions ; I write 
 afresh nevertheless, and that for three reasons ; first, 
 because I wish to contribute to the accurate state- 
 ment and the full exposition of the argument in 
 question ; next, because I may gain a more patient 
 hearing than has sometimes been granted to better 
 men than myself; lastly, because there just now 
 seems a call on me, under my circumstances, to 
 avow plainly what I do and what I do not hold 
 about the Blessed Virgin, that others may know, 
 did they come to stand where I stand, what they 
 would and what they would not be bound to hold 
 concerning her. 
 
28 CATHOLIC DOCTBINE AND DEVOTION 
 
 I BEGIN by making a distinction which will go 
 far to remove good part of the difficulty of my 
 undertaking, as it presents itself to ordinary in- 
 quirers, — the distinction between faith and devo- 
 tion. I fully grant that devotion towards the 
 Blessed Virgin has increased among Catholics with 
 the progress of centuries ; I do not allow that the 
 doctrine concerning her has undergone a growth, 
 for I believe that it has been in substance one 
 and the same from the beginning. 
 
 By "faith" I mean the Creed and the acceptance 
 of the Creed; by "devotion" I mean such reli- 
 gious honours as belong to the objects of our faith, 
 and the payment of those honours. Faith and de- 
 votion are as distinct in fact as they are in idea. 
 We cannot, indeed, be devout without faith, but 
 we may believe without feeling devotion. Of this 
 phenomenon every one has experience both in him- 
 self and in others ; and we express it as often as we 
 speak of realizing a truth or not realizing it. It 
 may be illustrated, with more or less exactness, by 
 matters which come before us in the world. For 
 instance, a great author, or public man, may be 
 acknowledged as such for a course of years ; yet 
 
WITH KESrECT TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 29 
 
 there may be an increase, an ebb and flow, and a 
 fashion, in his popularity. And if he takes a last- 
 ing place in the minds of his countrymen, he may 
 gradually grow into it, or suddenly be raised to it. 
 The idea of Shakespeare as a great poet, has ex- 
 isted from a very early date in public opinion ; and 
 there were at least individuals then who under- 
 stood him as well, and honoured him as much, as 
 the English people can honour him now; yet, I 
 think, there is a national devotion to him in this 
 day such as never has been before. This has hap- 
 pened, because, as education spreads in the country, 
 there are more men able to enter into his poetical 
 genius, and, among these, more capacity again for 
 deeply and critically understanding him; and yet, 
 from the first, he has exerted a great insensible in- 
 fluence over the nation, as is seen in the circum- 
 stance that his phrases and sentences, more than can 
 be numbered, have become almost proverbs among 
 us. And so again in philosophy, and in the 
 arts and sciences, great truths and principles have 
 sometimes been known and acknowledged for a 
 course of years; but, whether from feebleness of 
 intellectual power in the recipients, or external cir- 
 cumstances of an accidental kind, they have not 
 been turned to account. Thus the Chinese are said 
 to have known of the properties of the magnet from 
 time immemorial, and to have used it for land ex- 
 peditions, yet not on the sea. Again, the ancients 
 knew of the principle that water finds its own 
 
30 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE AND DEVOTION 
 
 level, but seem to have made little application of 
 their knowledge. And Aristotle was familiar with 
 the principle of induction ; yet it was left for Bacon 
 to develope it into an experimental philosophy. 
 Illustrations such as these, though not altogether 
 apposite, serve to convey that distinction between 
 faith and devotion on which I am insisting. It is 
 like the distinction between objective and subjective 
 truth. The sun in the spring-time will have to shine 
 many days before he is able to melt the frost, open 
 the soil, and bring out the leaves ; yet he shines out 
 from the first, notwithstanding, though he makes 
 his power felt but gradually. It is one and the 
 same sun, though his influence day by day becomes 
 greater ; and so in the Catholic Church it is the one 
 Virgin Mother, one and the same from first to last, 
 and Catholics may acknowledge her; and yet, in 
 spite of that acknowledgment, their devotion to 
 her may be scanty in one time and place, and over- 
 flowing in another. 
 
 This distinction is forcibly brought home to a 
 convert, as a peculiarity of the Catholic religion, on 
 his first introduction to its worship. The faith is 
 every where one and the same ; but a large liberty 
 is accorded to private judgment and inclination in 
 matters of devotion. Any large church, with its 
 collections and groups of people, will illustrate this. 
 The fabric itself is dedicated to Almighty God, and 
 that, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, or 
 some particular Saint ; or again, of some mystery be- 
 
WITH RESPECT TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 31 
 
 longing to the Divine Name or to the Incarnation, or 
 of some mystery associated with the Blessed Virgin. 
 Perhaps there are seven altars or more in it, and 
 these again have their several Saints. Then there is 
 the Feast proper to the particular day ; and, during 
 the celebration of Mass, of all the worshippers who 
 crowd around the Priest, each has his own parti- 
 cular devotions, with which he follows the rite. No 
 one interferes with his neighbour ; agreeing, as it 
 were, to differ, they pursue independently a common 
 end, and by paths, distinct but converging, present 
 themselves before God. Then there are Confrater- 
 nities attached to the church, — of the Sacred Heart, 
 or the Precious Blood ; associations of prayer for a 
 good death, or the repose of departed souls, or the 
 conversion of the heathen ; devotions connected with 
 the brown, blue, or red scapular ; — not to speak of 
 the great ordinary Ritual through the four seasons, 
 the constant Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, its 
 ever-recurring rite of Benediction, and its extraor- 
 dinary forty hours' Exposition. Or, again, look, 
 through some such manual of prayers as the Rac- 
 colta^ and you at once will see both the number 
 and the variety of devotions, which are open to 
 individual Catholics to choose from, according to 
 their religious taste and prospect of personal edifi- 
 cation. 
 
 Now these diversified modes of honouring God 
 did not come to us in a day, or only from the 
 Apostles ; they are the accumulations of centuries ; 
 
32 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE AND DEVOTION, &C. 
 
 and, as in the course of years some of them spring up, 
 so others decline and die. Some are local, in memory 
 of some particular saint, who happens to be the Evan- 
 gelist, or Patron, or pride of the nation, or who is 
 entombed in the church, or in the city where it 
 stands ; and these, necessarily, cannot have an earlier 
 date than the Saint's day of death or interment there. 
 The first of such sacred observances, long before 
 these national memories, were the devotions paid 
 to the Aposj^es , then those which were paid to the 
 Martyrs ; yet there were Saints nearer to our Lord 
 than either Martyrs or Apostles ; but, as if these 
 had been lost in the effulgence of His glory, and 
 because they were not manifested in external works 
 separate from Him, it happened that for a long 
 while they were less dwelt upon. However, in pro- 
 cess of time, the Apostles, and then the Martyrs, 
 exerted less influence than before over the popular 
 mind, and the local Saints, new creations of God's 
 power, took their place, or again, the Saints of some 
 religious order here or there established. Then, 
 as comparatively quiet times succeeded, the reli- 
 gious meditations of holy men and their secret 
 intercourse with heaven gradually exerted an in- 
 fluence out of doors, and permeated the Christian 
 populace, by the instrumentality of preaching and 
 by the ceremonial of the Church. Then those 
 luminous stars rose in the ecclesiastical heavens, 
 which were of more august dignity than any which 
 had preceded them, and were late in rising, for the 
 
THE BLESSED VIRGIN THE SECOND EVE. 33 
 
 very reason that they were so specially glorious. 
 Those names, I say, which at first sight might have 
 been expected to enter soon into the devotions of the 
 faithful, with better reason might have been looked 
 for at a later date, and actually were late in their 
 coming. St, Joseph furnishes the most striking 
 instance of this remark ; here is the clearest of 
 instances of the distinction between doctrine and 
 devotion. Who, from his prerogatives and the 
 testimony on which they come to us, had a greater 
 claim to receive an early recognition among the 
 faithful ? A saint of Scripture, the foster-father 
 of our Lord, he was an object of the universal and 
 absolute faith of the Christian world from the first, 
 yet the devotion to him is comparatively of late 
 date. When once it began, men seemed surprised 
 that it had not been thought of before ; and now, 
 they hold him next to the Blessed Virgin in their 
 religious affection and veneration. 
 
 As regards the Blessed Virgin, I shall postpone 
 the question of devotion for a while, and inquire 
 first into the doctrine of the undivided Church (to 
 use your controversial phrase), on the subject of 
 her prerogatives. 
 
 What is the great rudimental teaching of An- 
 tiquity from its earliest date concerning her ? By 
 " rudimental teaching " I mean the prima facie 
 view of her person and office, the broad outline 
 laid down of her, the aspect under which she comes 
 
 c 
 
34 THE BLESSED VIRGIN 
 
 to US, in the writings of the Fathers. She is the 
 Second Eve\ Now let us consider what this im- 
 plies. Eve had a definite, essential position in the 
 First Covenant. The fate of the human race lay 
 with Adam; he it was who represented us. It 
 was in Adam that we fell ; though Eve had fallen, 
 still, if Adam had stood, we should not have lost 
 those supernatural privileges which were bestowed 
 upon him as our first father. Yet though Eve was 
 not the head of the race, still, even as regards the 
 race, she had a place of her own ; for Adam, to whom 
 was divinely committed the naming of all things, 
 entitled her " the Mother of all the living," a name 
 surely expressive, not of a fact only, but of a dignity ; 
 but further, as she thus had her own general rela- 
 tion to the human race, so again had she her own 
 special place, as regards its trial and its fall in 
 Adam. In those primeval events, Eve had an in- 
 tegral share. " The woman, being seduced, was in 
 the transgression." She listened to the Evil Angel; 
 she offered the fruit to her husband, and he ate 
 of it. She co-operated, not as an irresponsible in- 
 strument, but intimately and personally in the sin: 
 she brought it about. As the history stands, she 
 was a sine-qua-non^ a positive, active, cause of it. 
 And she had her share in its punishment; in the 
 sentence pronounced on her, she was recognized 
 as a real agent in the temptation and its issue, 
 
 ' Vid. Essay on Development of Doctrine, 1845, p. 384, &c. 
 
:^E SECOND EVE. 35 
 
 and she suffered accordingly. In that awful trans- 
 action there were three parties concerned, — the 
 serpent, the woman, and the man ; and at the time 
 of their sentence, an event was announced for the 
 future, in which the three same parties were to 
 meet again, the serpent, the woman, and the man ; 
 hut it was to be a second Adam and a second Eve, 
 and the new Eve was to be the mother of the new 
 Adam. " I will put enmity between thee and the 
 woman, and between thy seed and her seed." The 
 Seed of the woman is the Word Incarnate, and the 
 Woman, whose seed or son He is, is His mother 
 Mary. This interpretation, and the parallelism it 
 involves, seem to me undeniable; but at all events 
 (and this is my point) the parallelism is the doc- 
 trine of the Fathers, from the earliest times; and, 
 this being established, we are able, by the position 
 and office of Eve in our fall, to determine the posi- 
 tion and office of Mary in our restoration. 
 
 I shall adduce passages from their writings, with 
 their respective countries and dates ; and the dates 
 shall extend from their births or conversions to 
 their deaths, since what they propound is at once 
 the doctrine which they had received from the 
 generation before them, and the doctrine which 
 was accepted and recognized as true by the gene- 
 ration to whom they transmitted it. 
 
 First then St. Justin Martyr (a.d. 120—165), 
 St. Iren^us (120—200) and TertuUian (160—240). 
 Of these TertuUian represents Africa and Eome; 
 
 c 2 
 
36 THE BLESSED VIRGIN 
 
 St, Justin represents Palestine ; and St. Irenseus Asia 
 Minor and Gaul;— or rather he represents St. John 
 the Evangelist, for he had been taught by the Mar- 
 tyr St. Polycarp, who was the intimate associate, as 
 of St. John, so of the other Apostles. 
 
 1. St. Justin':— 
 
 " We know that He, before all creatures, proceeded from the 
 Father by His power and will, . . . and by means of the Virgin 
 became man, that by what way the disobedience arising from 
 the serpent had its beginning, by that way also it might have 
 an undoing. For Eve, being a virgin and undefiled, conceiving 
 the word that was from the serpent, brought forth disobe- 
 dience and death ; but the Virgin Mary, taking faith and joy, 
 when the Angel told her the good tidings, that the Spirit of 
 the Lord should come upon her and the power of the Highest, 
 overshadow her, and therefore the Holy One that was born 
 of her was Son of God, answered, Be it to me according 
 to thy word."— 2V-y^^. 100. 
 
 2. TertuUian:— 
 
 " God recovered His image and likeness, which the devil 
 had seized, by a rival operation. For into Eve, as yet a virgin, 
 had crept the word which was the framer of death. Equally 
 into a virgin was to be introduced the Word of God which was 
 the builder-up of life ; that, what by that sex had gone into 
 perdition, by the same sex might be brought back to salvation. 
 Eve had believed the serpent ; Mary believed Gabriel ; the 
 fault which the one committed by believing, the other by be- 
 lieving has blotted out." — De Corn. Christ. 17. 
 
 3. St. Irenseus : — 
 
 " With a fitness, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, 
 
 ' I have attempted to translate literally without caring to 
 write English. The original passages are at the end of the 
 
 Letter. 
 
THE SECOND EVE. 37 
 
 'Behold Thy handmaid, Lord; be it to me according to 
 thy word.' But Eve was disobedient ; for she obeyed not, 
 while she was yet a virgin. As she, having indeed Adam for a 
 husband, but as yet being a virgin .... becoming disobedient, 
 became the cause of death both to herself and to the whole 
 human race, so also Mary, having the predestined man, and 
 being yet a virgin, being obedient, became both to herself and 
 to the whole human race the cause of salvation .... And on 
 account of this the Lord said, that the iirst would be last and 
 the last first. And the Prophet signifies the same, saying, 
 ' Instead of fathers you have children.' For, whereas the Lord, 
 when born, was the first begotten of the dead, and received into 
 His bosom the primitive fathers. He regenerated them into the 
 life of God, He Himself becoming the beginning of the living, 
 since Adam became the beginning of the dying. Therefore 
 also Luke, commencing the lines of generations from the Lord 
 referred it back to Adam, signifying that He regenerated the 
 old fathers, not they Him, into the Gospel of life. And so the 
 knot of Eve's disobedience received its unloosing through the 
 obedience of Mary ; for what Eve, a virgin, bound by incre- 
 dulity, that Mary, a virgin, unloosed by faith." — Adv. Hcer. iii. 
 22. 34. 
 
 And again, — 
 
 " As Eve by the speech of an Angel was seduced, so as to 
 flee God, transgressing His word, so also Mary received the 
 good tidings by means of the Angel's speech, so as to bear 
 God within her, being obedient to His word. And, though 
 the one had disobeyed God, yet the other was drawn to obey 
 God ; that of the virgin Eve the virgin Mary might become 
 the advocate. And, as by a virgin the human race had been 
 bound to death, by a virgin it is saved, the balance being 
 preserved, a virgin's disobedience by a virgin's obedience." — 
 Ibid. V. 19. 
 
 Now, what is especially noticeable in these three 
 writers, is, that they do not speak of the Blessed 
 Virgin merely as the physical instrument of our 
 
38 THE BLESSED VIRGIN 
 
 Lord's taking flesh, but as an intelligent, responsible 
 cause of it; her faith and obedience being accessories 
 to the Incarnation, and gaining it as her reward. As 
 Eve failed in these virtues, and thereby brought on 
 the fall of the race in Adam, so Mary by means of 
 them had a part in its restoration. You surely 
 imply, pp. 255, 256, that the Blessed Virgin was only 
 a physical instrument in our redemption ; " what 
 has been said of her by the Fathers as the chosen 
 vessel of the Incarnation, was applied personally to 
 her," (that is, by Catholics,) p. 151, and again "the 
 Fathers speak of the Blessed Virgin as the instru- 
 ment of our salvation, in that she gave birth to the 
 Redeemer," pp. 155, 156; whereas St. Augustine, in 
 well-known passages, speaks of her as more exalted 
 by her sanctity than by her relationship to our 
 Lord'. However, not to go beyond the doctrine of 
 the Three Fathers, they unanimously declare that she 
 was not a mere instrument in the Incarnation, such 
 as David, or Judah, may be considered ; they declare 
 she co-operated in our salvation, not merely by the 
 descent of the Holy Ghost upon her body, but by 
 specific holy acts, the efi^ct of the Holy Ghost 
 within her soul; that, as Eve forfeited privileges 
 by sin, so Mary earned privileges by the fruits of 
 grace; that, as Eve was disobedient and unbe- 
 lieving, so Mary was obedient and believing ; 
 that, as Eve was a cause of ruin to all, Mary was a 
 
 ' 0pp. t. 3, p. 2, col. 369, t. 6, col. 342. 
 
THE SECOND EVE. 39 
 
 cause of salvation to all; that as Eve made room 
 for Adam's fall, so Mary made room for our Lord's 
 reparation of it; and thus, whereas the free gift 
 was not as the offence, hut much greater, it follows 
 that, as Eve co-operated in effecting a great evil, 
 Mary co-operated in effecting a much greater good. 
 
 And, besides the run of the argument, which re- 
 minds the reader of St. Paul's antithetical sentences 
 in tracing the analogy between Adam's work and 
 our Lord's work, it is well to observe the particular 
 words under which the Blessed Virgin's office is 
 described. TertuUian says that Mary " blotted out" 
 Eve's fault, and " brought back the female sex," or 
 "the human race, to salvation;" and St. Irenseus 
 says that "by obedience she was the cause or 
 occasion " (whatever was the original Greek word) 
 " of salvation to herself and the whole human race ;" 
 that by her the human race is saved ; that by her 
 Eve's complication is disentangled ; and that she is 
 Eve's Advocate, . or friend in need. It is supposed 
 by critics, Protestant as well as Catholic, that the 
 Greek word for Advocate in the original was Pa- 
 raclete; it should be borne in mind, then, when 
 we are accused of giving our Lady the titles and 
 offices of her Son, that St. Irenseus bestows on her 
 the special Name and office proper to the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 So much as to the nature of this triple testi- 
 mony; now as to the worth of it. For a moment 
 put aside St. Irenseus, and put together St. Justin 
 
40 THE BLESSED VIRGIN 
 
 in the East with Tertullian in the West. I think 
 I may assume that the doctrine of these two 
 Fathers about the Blessed Virgin, was the received 
 doctrine of their own respective times and places ; 
 for writers after all are but witnesses of facts and 
 beliefs, and as such they are treated by all parties 
 in controversial discussion. Moreover, the coinci- 
 dence of doctrine which they exhibit, and again, 
 the antithetical completeness of it, show that they 
 themselves did not originate it. The next question 
 is. Who did? for from one definite organ or 
 source, place or person, it must have come. Then 
 we must inquire, what length of time would it take 
 for such a doctrine to have extended, and to be 
 received, in the second century over so wide an 
 area; that is, to be received before the year 200 in 
 Palestine, Africa, and Eome. Can we refer the 
 common source of these local traditions to a date 
 later than that of the Apostles, St. John dying 
 within thirty or forty years of St. Justin's conver- 
 sion and TertuUian's birth ? Make what allowance 
 you will for whatever possible exceptions can be 
 taken to this representation ; and then, after doing 
 so, add to the concordant testimony of these two 
 Fathers the evidence of St. Irenseus, which is so 
 close tipon the School of St. John himself in Asia 
 Minor. "A three-fold cord," as the wise man 
 says, " is not quickly broken." Only suppose there 
 were so early and so broad a testimony, to the eflPect 
 that our Lord was a mere man, the son of Joseph ; 
 
THE SECOKD EVE. 41 
 
 should we be able to insist upon the faith of the 
 Holy Trinity as necessary to salvation ? Or sup- 
 posing three such witnesses could be brought to 
 the fact that a consistory of elders governed the 
 local churches, or that each local congregation was 
 an independent Church, or that the Christian 
 community was without priests, could Anglicans 
 maintain their doctrine that the rule of Episcopal 
 succession is necessary to constitute a Church? 
 And then recollect that the Anglican Church 
 especially appeals to the ante-Nicene centuries, 
 and taunts us with having superseded their 
 testimony. 
 
 Having then adduced these Three Fathers of 
 the second century, I have at least got so far as 
 this : viz. — no one, who acknowledges the force of 
 early testimony in determining Christian truth, can 
 wonder, no one can complain, can object, that we 
 Catholics should hold a very high doctrine con- 
 cerning the Blessed Virgin, unless indeed stronger 
 statements can be brought for a contrary concep- 
 tion of her, either of as early, or at least of a later 
 date. But, as far as I know, no statements can be 
 brought from the ante-Nicene literature, to inva- 
 lidate the testimony of the three Fathers concern- 
 ing her ; and little can be brought against it from 
 the fourth century, while in that fourth century 
 the current of testimony in her behalf is as strong 
 as in the second; and, as to the fifth, it is far 
 stronger than in any former time, both in its fulness 
 
42 THE BLESSED VIRGIN 
 
 and its authority. This will to some extent be seen 
 as I proceed. 
 
 4. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315—386) speaks for 
 
 Palestine : — 
 
 " Since through Eye, a Virgin, came death, it behoved, that 
 through a Virgin, or rather from a Virgin, should life appear ; 
 that, as the Serpent had deceived the one, so to the other 
 Gabriel might bring good tidings." — Gat. xii. 15. 
 
 5. St. Ephrem Syrus (he died 378) is a witness 
 for the Syrians proper and the neighbouring Orien- 
 tals, in contrast to the Grseco-Syrians. A native 
 of Nisibis on the further side of the Euphrates, 
 he knew no language but Syriac. 
 
 " Through Eve, the beautiful and desirable glory of men was 
 extinguished : but it has revived through Mary." — 0pp. Syr. 
 ii. p. 318. 
 
 Again : — 
 
 " In the beginning, by the sin of our first parents, death 
 passed upon all men ; to-day, through Mary we are translated 
 from death unto life. In the beginning, the serpent filled the 
 ears of Eve, and the poison spread thence over the whole body ; 
 to-day, Mary from her ears received the champion of eternal 
 happiness : what, therefore, was an instrument of death, was 
 an instrument of life also." — iii. p. 607. 
 
 I have already referred to St. Paul's contrast 
 between Adam and our Lord in his Epistle to the 
 Romans, as also in his first Epistle to the Corin- 
 thians. Some writers venture to say that there is 
 no doctrinal truth, but a mere rhetorical display, in 
 those passages. It is quite as easy to say so, as to 
 attempt so to dispose of this received comparison, 
 
THE SECOND EVE. 43 
 
 in the writings of the Fathers, between Eve and 
 Mary. 
 
 6. St. Epiphanius (320—400) speaks for Egypt, 
 Palestine, and Cyprus : — 
 
 " She it is, who is signified by Eve, enigmatically receiving 
 
 the appellation of the Mother of the living It vras a 
 
 wonder that after the transgression she had this great epithet. 
 And, according to what is material, from that Eve all the race of 
 men on earth is generated. But thus in truth from Mary the 
 Life itself was born in the world, that Mary might bear living 
 things, and become the Mother of living things. Therefore, 
 enigmatically, Mary is called the Mother of living things . . . 
 Also, there is another thing to consider as to these women, and 
 wonderful, — as to Eve and Mary. Eve became a cause of 
 death to man .... and Mary a cause of life ; . . . that life 
 might be instead of death, life excluding death which came from 
 the woman, viz. He who through the woman has become our 
 li£e."— Mar. 78. 18. 
 
 7. By the time of St. Jerome (331—420), the 
 contrast between Eve and Mary had almost passed 
 into a proverb. He says (Ep. xxii, 21, ad 
 Eustoch.)^ "Death by Eve, life by Mary." Nor let 
 it be supposed that he, any more than the preced- 
 ing Fathers, considered the Blessed Virgin a mere 
 physical instrument of giving birth to our Lord, 
 who is the Life. So far from it, in the Epistle 
 from which I have quoted, he is only adding an- 
 other virtue to that crown which gained for Mary 
 her divine Maternity. They have spoken of faith, 
 joy, and obedience ; St. Jerome adds, what they had 
 only suggested, virginity. After the manner of the 
 Fathers in his own day, he is setting forth the 
 
44 THE BLESSED VIEGIN 
 
 Blessed Mary to the high-born Eoman Lady, whom 
 
 he is addressing, as the model of the virginal life ; 
 
 and his argument in its behalf is, that it is higher 
 
 than the marriage-state, not in itself, viewed in any 
 
 mere natural respect, but as being the free act of 
 
 self-consecration to God, and from the personal 
 
 religious purpose, which it involves. 
 
 " Higher wage," he says, " is due to that which is not a 
 compulsion, but an offering ; for, were virginity commanded, 
 marriage would seem to be put out of the question ; and it 
 would be most cruel to force men against nature, and to extort 
 from them an angel's Kfe." — 20. 
 
 I do not know whose testimony is more important 
 than St. Jerome's, the friend of Pope Damasus at 
 Eome, the pupil of St. Gregory Nazianzen at 
 Constantinople, and of Didymus in Alexandria, a 
 native of Dalmatia, yet an inhabitant, at different 
 times of his life, of Gaul, Syria, and Palestine. 
 
 8. St. Jerome speaks for the whole world, except 
 Africa; and for Africa in the fourth century, if we 
 must limit so world-wide an authority to place, 
 witnesses St. Augustine (354 — 430). He repeats 
 the words as if a proverb, " By a woman death, by 
 a woman life " ( 0pp. t. v. Serm. 232) ; elsewhere 
 he enlarges on the idea conveyed in it. In one 
 place he quotes St. Irenseus's words, as cited above 
 {adv. Julian i. 4). In another he speaks as 
 follows : — 
 
 " It is a great sacrament that, whereas through woman death 
 became our portion, so life was born to us by woman ; that, in 
 the case of both sexes, male and female, the baffled devil should 
 
THE SECOND EVE, 45 
 
 be tormented, when on the overthrow of both sexes he was re- 
 joicing; whose punishment had been small, if both sexes had 
 been liberated in us, without our being liberated through 
 both."— Opp. t. vi. Be Agon. Christ, c. 24. 
 
 9. St. Peter Chrysologus (400—450), Bishop 
 of Eavenna, and one of the chief authorities in the 
 4th General Council : — 
 
 " Blessed art thou among women ; for among women, on 
 whose womb Eve, who was cursed, brought punishment, Mary, 
 being blest, rejoices, is honoured, and is looked up to. And 
 woman now is truly made through grace the Mother of the 
 
 living, who had been by nature the mother of the dying 
 
 Heaven feels awe of God, Angels tremble at Him, the creature 
 sustains Him not, nature sufficeth not ; and yet one maiden so 
 takes, receives, entertains Him, as a guest within her breast, 
 that, for the very hire of her home, and as the price of her womb, 
 she asks, she obtains peace for the earth, glory for the heavens, 
 salvation for the lost, life for the dead, a heavenly parentage for 
 the earthly, the union of God Himself with human flesh." — 
 Serm. 140. 
 
 It is difficult to express more explicitly, though 
 in oratorical language, that the Blessed Virgin had 
 a real meritorious co-operation, a share which had 
 a " hire " and a " price," in the reversal of the fall. 
 
 10. St, Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe in Africa 
 (468 — 533). The Homily which contains the 
 following passage, is placed by Ceillier (t. xvi. p. 
 127), among his genuine works : — 
 
 " In the wife of the first man, the wickedness of the devil 
 depraved her seduced mind ; in the mother of the Second Man, 
 the grace of God preserved both her mind inviolate and her 
 flesh. On her mind it conferred the most firm faith ; from her 
 flesh it took away lust altogether. Since then man was in a 
 
46 THE BLESSED VIEGIN THE SECOND EVE. 
 
 miserable way condemned for sin, therefore without sin was in a 
 marvellous way born the God man."— &/•». 2, p. 124. Be 
 Dwpl. Nativ. 
 
 Accordingly, in the Sermon which follows (if it 
 
 is his); he continues, illustrating her office of 
 
 universal Mother, as ascribed to her by St. Epi- 
 
 phanius : — 
 
 " Come ye virgins to a Virgin, come ye who conceive to her 
 who conceived, ye who bear to one who bore, mothers to a 
 mother, ye that suckle to one who suckled, young girls to the 
 young girl. It is for this reason that the Virgin Mary has 
 taken on her in our Lord Jesus Christ all these divisions of 
 nature, that to all women who have recourse to her, she may 
 be a succour, and so restore the whole race of women who come 
 to her, being the new Eve, by keeping virginity, as the new 
 Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, recovers the whole race of 
 men." 
 
 Such is the rudimental view, as I have called it, 
 which the Fathers have given us of Mary, as the 
 Second Eve, the Mother of the living : I have cited 
 ten authors. I could cite more, were it necessary : 
 except the two last, they write gravely and without 
 any rhetoric. I allow that the two last write in a 
 different style, since the extracts I have made 
 are from their sermons ; but I do not see that the 
 colouring conceals the outline. And after all, men 
 use oratory on great subjects, not on small; — nor 
 would they, and other Fathers whom I might quote, 
 have lavished their high language upon the Blessed 
 Virgin, such as they gave to no one else, unless 
 they knew well that no one else had such claims, as 
 she had, on their love and veneration. 
 
HER IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 47 
 
 And now, I proceed to dwell for a while upon 
 two inferences, which it is obvious to draw from 
 the rudimental doctrine itself; the first relates to 
 the sanctity of the Blessed Virgin, the second to 
 her greatness. 
 
 1. Her sanctity. She holds, as the Fathers 
 teach us, that office in our restoration which Eve 
 held in our fall :^now in the first place what were 
 Eve's endowments to enable her to enter upon her 
 trial? She could not have stood against the wiles 
 of the devil, though she was innocent and sinless, 
 without the grant of a large grace. And this she 
 had ; — a heavenly gift, which was over and above 
 and additional to that nature of hers, which she 
 received from Adam, as Adam before her had also 
 received the same gift, at the very time (as it is 
 commonly held) of his original creation. This is 
 Anglican doctrine as well as Catholic; it is the 
 doctrine of Bishop Bull. • He has written a disser- 
 tation on the point. He speaks of the doctrine 
 which " many of the Schoolmen affirm, that Adam 
 was created in grace, that is, received a principle 
 of grace and divine life from his very creation, or 
 in the moment of the infusion of his soul; of 
 which," he says, " for my own part I have little 
 doubt." Again, he says, " It is abundantly mani- 
 fest from the many testimonies alleged, that the 
 ancient doctors of the Church did, with a general 
 consent, acknowledge, that our first parents in the 
 state of integrity, had in them something more 
 
48 HER IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 
 
 than nature, that is, were endowed with the divine 
 principle of the Spirit, in order to a supernatural 
 felicity." 
 
 Now, taking this for granted, because I know 
 that you and those who agree with you maintain it 
 as well as we do, 1 ask, was not Mary as fully en- 
 dowed as Eve ? is it any violent inference, that she, 
 who was to co-operate in the redemption of the 
 world, at least was not less endowed with power 
 from on high, than she who, given as a helpmate 
 to her husband, did in the event but co-operate 
 with him for its ruin. If Eve was raised above 
 human nature by that indwelling moral gift which 
 we call grace, is it rash to say that Mary had a 
 greater grace ? And this consideration gives sig- 
 nificance to the Angel's salutation of her as " full 
 of grace," — an interpretation of the original word 
 which is undoubtedly the right one, as soon as we 
 resist the common Protestant assumption that grace 
 is a mere external approbation or acceptance, an- 
 swering to the word " favour," whereas it is, as the 
 Fathers teach, a real inward condition or super- 
 added quality of soul. And if Eve had this super- 
 natural inward gift given her from the first moment 
 of her personal existence, is it possible to deny that 
 Mary too had this gift from the very first moment 
 of her personal existence ? I do not know how to 
 resist this inference : — well, this is simply and lite- 
 rally the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. 
 I say the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is 
 
HER IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 49 
 
 in its substance this, and nothing more or less than 
 this (putting aside the question of degrees of 
 grace) ; and it really does seem to me bound up in 
 that doctrine of the Fathers, that Mary is the 
 second Eve. 
 
 It is to me a most strange phenomenon that 
 so many learned and devout men stumble at this 
 doctrine, and I can only account for it by supposing 
 that in matter of fact they do not know what we 
 mean by the Immaculate Conception; and your 
 Volume (may I say it?) bears out my suspicion. 
 It is a great consolation to have reason for thinking 
 so, — for believing that in some sort the persons in 
 question are in the position of those great Saints in 
 former times, who are said to have hesitated about 
 it, when they would not have hesitated at all, if the 
 word " Conception" had been clearly explained in 
 that sense in which now it is universally received. 
 •I do not see how any one who holds with Bull the 
 Catholic doctrine of the supernatural endowments 
 of our first parents, has fair reason for doubting 
 our doctrine about the Blessed Virgin. It has no 
 reference whatever to her parents, but simply to 
 her own person; it does but aifirm that, together 
 with the nature which she inherited from her 
 parents, that is, her own nature, she had a super- 
 added fulness of grace, and that from the first 
 moment of her existence. Suppose Eve had stood 
 the trial, and not lost her first grace ; and suppose 
 she had eventually had children, those children 
 
 B 
 
 Cornell Catholic 
 Unioii Libraiy. 
 
50 HER IMIMIACULATE CONCEPTION. 
 
 from the first moment of their existence would, 
 through divine hounty, have received the same 
 privilege that she had ever had ; that is, as she was 
 taken from Adam's side, in a garment, so to say, of 
 grace, so they in turn would have received what 
 may be called an immaculate- conception. They 
 would have been conceived in grace, as in fact they 
 are conceived in sin. What is there difficult in 
 this doctrine ? What is there unnatural ? Mary 
 may be called a daughter of Eve unfallen. You 
 believe with us that St. John Baptist had grace 
 given to him three months before his birth, at the 
 time that the Blessed Virgin visited his mother. 
 He accordingly was not immaculately conceived, 
 because he was alive before grace came to him; but 
 our Lady's case only differs from his in this respect, 
 that to her grace came, not three months merely 
 before her birth, but from the first moment of her 
 being, as it had been given to Eve. 
 
 But it may be said, How does this enable us to 
 say that she was conceived without original sin ? 
 If Anglicans knew what we mean by original sin, 
 they would not ask the question. Our doctrine of 
 original sin is not the same as the Protestant 
 doctrine. " Original sin," with us, cannot be called 
 sin, in the ordinary sense of the word " sin ;" it is 
 a term denoting Adam's sin as transferred to us, 
 or the state to which Adam's sin reduces his 
 children ; but by Protestants it is understood to be 
 sin, in the same sense as actual sin. We, with the 
 
HER IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 51 
 
 Fathers, think of it as something negative, Pro- 
 testants as something positive. Protestants hold 
 that it is a disease, a radical change of nature, 
 an active poison internally corrupting the soul, 
 infecting its primary elements, and disorganizing 
 it; and they fancy that we ascribe a different 
 nature from ours to the Blessed Virgin, different 
 from that of her parents, and from that of fallen 
 Adam. We hold nothing of the kind; we consider 
 that in Adam she died, as others; that she was 
 included, together with the whole race, in Adam's 
 sentence ; that she incurred his debt, as we do ; 
 but that, for the sake of Him who was to redeem 
 her and us upon the Cross, to her the debt was 
 remitted by anticipation, on her the sentence was 
 not carried out, except indeed as regards her na- 
 tural death, for she died when her time came, as 
 others. All this we teach, but we deny that she 
 had original sin ; for by original sin we mean, as I 
 have already said, something negative, viz., this 
 only, the deprivalion of that supernatural un- 
 merited grace which Adam and Eve had on their 
 creation, — deprivation and the consequences of de- 
 privation. Mary could not merit, any more than 
 they, the restoration of that grace ; but it was 
 restored to her by Grod's free bounty, from the 
 very first moment of her existence, and thereby, 
 in fact, she never came under the original curse, 
 which consisted in the loss of it. And she had 
 this special privilege, in order to fit her to become 
 
 D 2 
 
62 HER IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 
 
 the Mother of her and our Eedeemer, to fit her 
 mentally, spiritually for it; so that, by the aid of 
 the first grace, she might so grow in grace, that 
 when the Angel came, and her Lord was at hand, 
 she might be " full of grace," prepared, as far as 
 a creature could be prepared, to receive Him into 
 her bosom. 
 
 I have drawn the doctrine of the Immaculate 
 Conception, as an immediate inference, from the 
 primitive doctrine that Mary is the second Eve. 
 The argument seems to me conclusive; and, if it 
 has not been universally taken as such, this has 
 come to pass, because there has not been a clear 
 understanding among Catholics, what exactly was 
 meant by the Immaculate Conception. To many it 
 seemed to imply that the Blessed Virgin did not die 
 in Adam, that she did not come under the penalty 
 of the fall, that she was not redeemed, that she was 
 conceived in some way inconsistent with the verse 
 in the Miserere Psalm. If controversy had in earlier 
 days so cleared the subject as to make it plain to 
 all, that the doctrine meant nothing else than that 
 in fact in her case the general sentence on man- 
 kind was not carried out, and that, by means of the 
 indwelling in her of divine grace from the first 
 moment of her being (and this is all the decree of 
 1854 has declared), I cannot believe that the doc- 
 trine would have ever been][opposed ; for an instinc- 
 tive sentiment has led Christians jealously to put the 
 Blessed Mary aside when sin comes into discussion. 
 
HEE EXALTATION. 53 
 
 This is expressed in the well-known words of St. 
 Augustine, All have sinned " except the Holy 
 Virgin Mary, concerning whona, for the honour of 
 the Lord, I wish no question to be raised at all, 
 when we are treating of sins" (de Nat. et Or at. 42) ; 
 words which, whatever St. Augustine's actual occa- 
 sion of using them, (to which you refer, p. 176,) 
 certainly in the spirit which they breathe, are well 
 adapted to convey the notion, that, apart from her 
 relation to her parents, she had not personally any 
 part in sin whatever. It is true that several great 
 Fathers of the fourth century do imply or assert 
 that on one or two occasions she did sin venially 
 or showed infirmity. This is the only real ob- 
 jection which I know of; and as I do not wish to 
 pass it over lightly, I propose to consider it at the 
 end of this Letter. 
 
 2. Now secondly, her greatness. Here let us 
 suppose that our first parents had overcome in their 
 trial ; and had gained for their descendants for ever 
 the full possession, as if by right, of the privileges 
 which were promised to their obedience, — grace 
 here and glory hereafter. Is it possible that those 
 descendants, pious and happy from age to age in 
 their temporal homes, would have forgotten their 
 benefactors ? Would they not have followed them 
 in thought into the heavens, and gratefully com- 
 memorated them on earth ? The history of the 
 temptation, the craft of the serpent, their sted- 
 
54 HER EXALTATION. 
 
 fastness in obedience, — the loyal vigilance, the sen- 
 sitive purity of Eve, — the great issue, salvation 
 wrought out for all generations, — would have been 
 never from their minds, ever welcome to their ears. 
 This would have taken place from the necessity of 
 our nature. Every nation has its mythical hymns 
 and epics about its first fathers and its heroes. 
 The great deeds of Charlemagne, Alfred, Cceur de 
 Lion, Wallace, Louis the ninth, do not die; and 
 though their persons are gone from us, we make 
 much of their names. Milton's Adam, after his 
 fall, understands the force of this law, and shrinks 
 from the prospect of its operation. 
 
 " Who of all ages to succeed, but, feeling 
 The evil on him brought by me, will curse 
 My head ? Ill fare our ancestor impure, 
 !Por this we may thank Adam." 
 
 If this anticipation has not been fulfilled in the 
 event, it is owing to the needs of our penal life, 
 our state of perpetual change, and the ignorance 
 and unbelief incurred by the fall; also because, 
 fallen as we are, from the hopefulness of our nature, 
 we feel more pride in our national great men, than 
 dejection at our national misfortunes. Much more 
 then in the great kingdom and people of God; — 
 the Saints are ever in our sight, and not as mere 
 inefifectual ghosts, but as if present bodily in their 
 past selves. It is said of them, " Their works do 
 follow them ;" what they were here, such are they 
 in heaven and in the Church. As we call them 
 
HER EXALTATION. 55 
 
 by their earthly names, so we contemplate them in 
 their earthly characters and histories. Their acts, 
 callings, and relations below, are types and antici- 
 pations of their mission above. Even in the case 
 of our Lord Himself, whose native home is the 
 eternal heavens, it is said of Him in His state of 
 glory, that He is " a Priest for ever ;" and when He 
 comes again. He will be recognized by those who 
 pierced Him, as being the very same that He was on 
 earth. The only question is, whether the Blessed 
 Virgin had a part, a real part, in the economy of 
 grace, whether, when she was on earth, she secured 
 by her deeds any claim on our memories; for, if 
 she did, it is impossible we should put her away 
 from us, merely because she is gone hence, and not 
 look at her still, according to the measure of her 
 earthly history, with gratitude and expectation. 
 If, as St. Irenseus says, she did the part of an 
 Advocate, a friend in need, even in her mortal 
 life, if, as St. Jerome and St. Ambrose say, she 
 was on earth the great pattern of Virgins, if she 
 had a meritorious share in bringing about our 
 redemption, if her maternity was earned by her 
 faith and obedience, if her Divine Son was subject 
 to her, and if she stood by the Cross with a mo- 
 ther's heart and drank in to the full those sufferings 
 which it was her portion to gaze upon, it is im- 
 possible that we should not associate these cha- 
 racteristics of her life on earth with her present 
 state of blessedness ; and this surely she antici- 
 
66 HER EXALTATION. 
 
 pated, when she said in her hymn that " all gene- 
 rations should call her blessed." 
 
 I am aware that, in thus speaking, I am following 
 a line of thought which is rather a meditation than 
 an argument in controversy, and I shall not carry 
 it further ; but still, in turning to other topics, it is 
 to the point to inquire, whether the popular astonish- 
 ment, excited by our belief in the Blessed Virgin's 
 present dignity, does not arise from the circum- 
 stance that the bulk of men, engaged in matters of 
 the world, have never calmly considered her his- 
 torical position in the gospels, so as rightly to rea- 
 lize (if I may use the word a second time) what 
 that position imports. I do not claim for the 
 generality of Catholics any greater powers of re- 
 flection upon the objects of their faith, than Pro- 
 testants commonly have, but there is a sufficient 
 number of religious men among Catholics who, 
 instead of expending their devotional energies (as 
 so many serious Protestants do) on abstract doc- 
 trines, such as justification by faith only, or the 
 sufficiency of Holy Scripture, employ themselves in 
 the contemplation of Scripture facts, and bring out 
 in a tangible form the doctrines involved in them, 
 and give such a substance and colour to the sacred 
 history, as to influence their brethren ; who, though 
 superficial themselves, are drawn by their Catholic 
 instinct to accept conclusions which they could not 
 indeed themselves have elicited, but which, when 
 elicited, they feel to be true. However, it would 
 
HEE EXALTATION IN SCEIPTUEE. 57 
 
 be out of place to pursue this course of reasoning 
 here; and instead of doing so, I shall take what 
 perhaps you may think a very bold step, — I shall 
 find the doctrine of our Lady's present exaltation 
 in Scripture. 
 
 I mean to find it in the vision of the Woman and 
 Child in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse ^ : — 
 now here two objections will be made to me at 
 once ; first that such an interpretation is but poorly 
 supported by the Fathers, and secondly that in 
 ascribing such a picture of the Madonna (as it 
 may be called) to the Apostolic age, I am com- 
 mitting an anachronism. 
 
 As to the former of these objections, I answer as 
 follows: — Christians have never gone to Scripture 
 for proofs of their doctrines, till there was actual 
 need, from the pressure of controversy; — if in 
 those times the Blessed Virgin's dignity were un- 
 challenged on all hands, as a matter of doctrine. 
 Scripture, as far as its argumentative matter was 
 concerned, was likely to remain a sealed book to 
 them. Thus, to take an instance in point; the 
 Catholic party in the English Church, (say, the Non- 
 jurors,) unable by their theory of religion simply 
 to take their stand on Tradition, and distressed for 
 proof of their doctrines, had their eyes sharpened 
 to scrutinize and to understand the letter of Holy 
 
 * Vid. Easay on Doctr. Development, p. 384, and Bishop 
 Ullathorne's work on the Immaculate Conception, p. 77. 
 
58 HER EXALTATION IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 Scripture, which to others brought no instruction. 
 And the peculiarity of their interpretations is this, 
 — that they have in themselves great logical co- 
 gency, yet are but faintly supported by patristical 
 commentators. Such is the use of the word Troieiv 
 or facere in our Lord's institution of the Holy 
 Eucharist, which, by a reference to the old Testa- 
 ment, is found to be a word of sacrifice. Such 
 again is XeirovpyovvTcov in the passage in the Acts, 
 " As they ministered to the Lord and fasted," which 
 again is a sacerdotal term. And such the passage 
 in Rom. xy. 16, in which several terms are used 
 which have an allusion to the sacrificial Eucharistic 
 rite. Such too is St. Paul's repeated message to 
 the household of Onesiphorus, with no mention of 
 Onesiphorus himself, but in one place with the 
 addition of a prayer that " he might find mercy of 
 the Lord" in the day of judgment, which, taking 
 into account its wording and the known usage of 
 the first centuries, we caa hardly deny is a prayer 
 for his soul. Other texts there are, which ought to 
 find a place in ancient controversies, and the omis- 
 sion of which by the Fathers affbrds matter for 
 more surprise; those, for instance, which, according 
 to Middleton's rule, are real proofs of our Lord's 
 divinity, and yet are passed over by Catholic dispu- 
 tants; for these bear upon a then existing contro- 
 versy of the first moment, and of the most urgent 
 exigency. 
 
 As to the second objection which I have sup- 
 
HER EXALTATION IN SCRIPTURE. 59 
 
 posed, so far from allowing it, I consider that it is 
 built upon a mere imaginary fact, and that the 
 truth of the matter lies in the very contrary direc- 
 tion. The Virgin and Child is not a mere modern 
 idea ; on the contrary, it is represented again and 
 again, as every visitor to Rome is aware, in the 
 paintings of the Catacombs. Mary is there drawn 
 with the Divine Infant in her lap, she with hands 
 extended in prayer, He with His hand in the attitude 
 of blessing. No representation can more forcibly 
 convey the doctrine of the high dignity of the Mo- 
 ther, and, I will add, of her power over her Son. 
 Why should the memory of His time of subjection 
 be so dear to Christians, and so carefully preserved ? 
 The only question to be determined, is the precise 
 date of these remarkable monuments of the first 
 age of Christianity. That they belong to the 
 centuries of what Anglicans call the " undivided 
 Church " is certain ; but lately investigations have 
 been pursued, which place some of them at an 
 earlier date than any one anticipated as possible. 
 I am not in a position to quote largely from the 
 works of the Cavaliere de Rossi, who has thrown so 
 much light upon the subject ; but I have his 
 "Imagini Scelte," published in 1863, and they 
 are sufficient for my purpose. In this work he has 
 given us from the Catacombs various representa- 
 tions of the Virgin and Child; the latest of these 
 belong to the early part of the fourth century, but 
 the earliest he believes to be referable to the very 
 
60 HER EXALTATION IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 age of the Apostles. He comes to this conclusion 
 from the style and the skill of the composition, 
 and from the history, locality, and existing inscrip- 
 tions of the subterranean in which it is found. 
 However he does not go so far as to insist upon so 
 early a date ; yet the utmost liberty he grants is to 
 refer the painting to the era of the first Antonines, 
 that is, to a date within half a century of the death 
 of St. John. I consider then, that, as you fairly 
 use, in controversy with Protestants, the traditional 
 doctrine of the Church in early times, as an expla- 
 nation of the Scripture text, or at least as a sug- 
 gestion, or as a defence, of the sense which you may 
 wish to put on it, quite apart from the question 
 whether your interpretation itself is traditional, so it 
 is lawful for me, though I have not the positive words 
 of the Fathers on my side, to shelter my own inter- 
 pretation of the Apostle's vision under the fact of the 
 extant pictures of Mother and Child in the Roman 
 Catacombs. There is another principle of Scripture 
 interpretation which we should hold with you, — when 
 we speak of a doctrine being contained in Scripture, 
 we do not necessarily mean, that it is contained 
 there in direct categorical terms, but that there is 
 no other satisfactory way of accounting for the lan- 
 guage and expressions of the sacred writers, con- 
 cerning the subject-matter in question, than to 
 suppose that they held upon it the opinions which 
 we hold, — that they would not have spoken as they 
 have spoken, unless they held it. For myself I 
 
HER EXALTATION IN SCEIPTURE. 61 
 
 have ever felt the truth of this principle, as regards 
 the Scripture proof of the Holy Trinity ; I should 
 not have found out that doctrine in the sacred text 
 vpithout previous traditional teaching ; hut when 
 once it is suggested from without, it commends 
 itself as the one true interpretation, from its appo- 
 siteness, — because no other view of doctrine, which 
 can be ascribed to the inspired writers, so happily 
 solves the obscurities and seeming inconsistencies 
 of their teaching. And now to apply what I have 
 said to the passage in the Apocalypse. 
 
 If there is an Apostle on whom, a priori, our 
 eyes would be fixed, as likely to teach us about the 
 Blessed Virgin, it is St. John, to whom she was 
 committed by our Lord on the Cross, — with whom, 
 as tradition goes, she lived at Ephesus till she was 
 taken away. This anticipation is confirmed d 
 posteriori; for, as I have said above, one of the 
 earliest and fullest of our informants concerning 
 her dignity, as being the second Eve. is Irenseus, 
 who came to Lyons from Asia Minor, and had 
 been taught by the immediate disciples of St. 
 John. The Apostle's vision is as follows : — 
 
 " A great sign appeared in heaven : A woman 
 clothed with the Sun, and the Moon under her 
 feet ; and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 
 And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, 
 and was in pain to be delivered. And there was 
 seen another sign in heaven ; and behold a great 
 red dragon . . . And the dragon stood before the 
 
62 HER EXALTATION IN SCRIPTURE, 
 
 woman who was ready to be delivered, that, when 
 she should be delivered, he might devour her son. 
 And she brought forth a man child, who was to 
 rule all nations with an iron rod ; and her son was 
 taken up to God and to His throne. And the 
 woman fled into the wilderness." Now I do not 
 deny of course, that, under the image of the Woman, 
 the Church is signified ; but what I would maintain 
 is this, that the Holy Apostle would not have 
 spoken of the Church under this particular image, 
 unless there had existed a Blessed Virgin Mary, 
 who was exalted on high, and the object of vene- 
 ration to all the faithful. 
 
 No one doubts that the " man-child " spoken 
 of is an allusion to our Lord: why then is not 
 " the Woman " an allusion to His Mother ? This 
 surely is the obvious sense of the words ; of course it 
 has a further sense also, which is the scope of the 
 image; doubtless the Child represents the children 
 of the Church, and doubtless the Woman repre- 
 sents the Church ; this, I grant, is the real or direct 
 sense, but what is the sense of the symbol? who 
 are the Woman and the Child ? I answer, They 
 are not personifications but Persons. This is true 
 of the Child, therefore it is true of the Woman. 
 
 But again: not only Mother and Child, but a 
 serpent is introduced into the vision. Such a 
 meeting of man, woman, and serpent has not been 
 found in Scripture, since the beginning of Scrip- 
 ture, and now it is found in its end. Moreover, in 
 
HER EXALTATION IN SCRIPTURE. 63 
 
 the passage in the Apocalypse, as if to supply, 
 before Scripture came to an end, what was wanting 
 in its beginning, we are told, and for the first time, 
 that the serpent in Paradise was the evil spirit. If 
 the dragon of St. John is the same as the serpent 
 of Moses, and the man-child is " the seed of the 
 woman," why is not the woman herself she, whose 
 seed the man-child is ? And, if the first woman is 
 not an allegory, why is the second ? if the first 
 woman is Eve, why is not the second Mary ? 
 
 But this is not all. The image of the woman, 
 according to Scripture usage, is too bold and pro- 
 minent for a mere personification. Scripture is not 
 fond of allegories. We have indeed frequent figures 
 there, as when the^ sacred writers speak of the arm 
 or sword of the Lord : and so too when they speak 
 of Jerusalem or Samaria in the feminine ; or of the 
 mountains leaping for joy, or of the Church as a 
 bride or as a vine ; but they are not much given to 
 dressing up abstract ideas or generalizations in 
 personal attributes. This is the classical rather 
 than the Scripture style. Xenophon places Her- 
 cules between Virtue and Vice, represented as 
 women ; ^schylus introduces into his drama Force 
 and Violence ; Virgil gives personality to public 
 rumour or Fame, and Plautus to Poverty. So on 
 monuments done in the classical style, we see vir- 
 tues, vices, rivers, renown, death and the like, 
 turned into human figures of men and women. I 
 do not say there are no instances at aU of this 
 
64 HER EXALTATION IN SCRIPTDEE. 
 
 method in Scripture, but I say that such poetical 
 compositions are strikingly unlike its usual method. 
 Thus we at once feel the difference from Scripture, 
 when we betake ourselves to the Pastor of Hermes, 
 and find the Church a woman, to St. Methodius, 
 and find Virtue a woman, and to St. Gregory's 
 poem, and find Virginity again a woman. Scrip- 
 ture deals with types rather than personifications. 
 Israel stands for the chosen people, David for 
 Christ, Jerusalem for heaven. Consider the re- 
 markable representations, dramatic I may call 
 them, in Jeremiah, Ezechiel, and Hosea: predic- 
 tions, threatenings, and promises, are acted out by 
 those Prophets. Ezechiel is commanded to shave 
 his head, and to divide and scatter his hair; and 
 Ahias tears his garment, and gives ten out of 
 twelve parts of it to Jeroboam. So too the struc- 
 ture of the imagery in the Apocalypse is not a mere 
 allegorical creation, but is founded on the Jewish 
 ritual. In like manner our Lord's bodily cures are 
 visible types of the power of His grace upon the 
 soul ; and His prophecy of the last day is conveyed 
 under that of the fall of Jerusalem. Even His 
 parables are not simply ideal, but relations of oc- 
 currences, which did or might take place, under 
 which was conveyed a spiritual meaning. The 
 description of Wisdom in the Proverbs, and other 
 sacred books, has brought out the instinct of com- 
 mentators in this respect. They felt that Wisdom 
 could not be a mere personification, and they 
 
HER EXALTATION IN SCRIPTURE. 65 
 
 determined that it was our Lord; and the later 
 of these books, by their own more definite lan- 
 guage, warranted that interpretation. Then, when 
 it was found that the Arians used it. in derogation 
 of our Lord's divinity, still, unable to tolerate the 
 notion of a mere allegory, commentators applied 
 the description to the Blessed Virgin. Coming 
 back then to the Apocalyptic vision, I ask. If the 
 Woman must be some real person, who can it be 
 whom the Apostle saw, and intends, and delineates, 
 but that same Great Mother to whom the chapters 
 in the Proverbs are accommodated ? And let it be 
 observed, moreover, that in this passage, from the 
 allusion in it to the history of the fall, she may be 
 said still to be represented under the character of 
 the Second Eve. I make a further remark : it is 
 sometimes asked, Why do not the sacred writers 
 mention our Lady's greatness ? I answer, she was, 
 or may have been alive, when the Apostles and 
 Evangelists wrote; — there was just one book of 
 Scripture certainly written after her death, and that 
 book does (so to say) canonize and crown her. 
 
 But if all this be so, if it is really the Blessed 
 Virgin whom Scripture represents as clothed with 
 the sun, crowned with the stars of heaven, and 
 with the moon as her footstool, what height of 
 glory may we not attribute to her ? and what are 
 we to say of those who, through ignorance, run 
 counter to the voice of Scripture, to the testimony 
 of the Fathers, to the traditions of East and West, 
 
 15 
 
66 THE BLESSED VIRGIN THE THEOTOCOS. 
 
 and speak and act contemptuously towards her 
 whom her Lord delighteth to honour ? 
 
 Now I have said all I mean to say on what I 
 have called the rudimental teaching of Antiquity 
 about the Blessed Virgin ; but after all I have not 
 insisted on the highest view of her prerogatives, 
 which the Fathers have taught us. You, my dear 
 Friend, who know so well the ancient controversies 
 and Councils, may have been surprised why I should 
 not have yet spoken of her as the Theotocos ; — but 
 I wished to show on how broad a basis her great- 
 ness rests, independent of that wonderful title; and 
 again I have been loth to enlarge upon the force 
 of a word, which is rather matter for devotional 
 thought than for polemical dispute. However, I 
 might as well not write on my subject at all, as 
 altogether be silent upon it. 
 
 It is then an integral portion of the Faith fixed 
 by Ecumenical Council, a portion of it which you 
 hold as well as I, that the Blessed Virgin is Theo- 
 tocos, Deipara, or Mother of God; and this word, 
 when thus used, carries with it no admixture of 
 rhetoric, no taint of extravagant affection, — it has 
 nothing else but a well-weighed, grave, dogmatic 
 sense, which corresponds and is adequate to its 
 sound. It intends to express that God is her Son, 
 as truly as any one of us is the son of his own 
 mother. If this be so, what can be said of any 
 creature whatever, which may not be said of her ? 
 
THE BLESSED VIRGIN THE THEOTOCOS. (J 7 
 
 what can be said too much, so that it does not 
 compromise the attributes of the Creator? He 
 indeed might have created a being more perfect, 
 more admirable, than she is; He might have en- 
 dued that being, so created, with a richer grant of 
 grace, of power, of blessedness : but in one respect 
 she surpasses all even possible creations, viz. that 
 she is Mother of her Creator. It is this awful title, 
 which both illustrates and connects together the 
 two prerogatives of Mary, on which I have been 
 lately enlarging, her sanctity and her greatness. It 
 is the issue of her sanctity ; it is the source of her 
 greatness. What dignity can be too great to attri- 
 bute to her who is as closely bound up, as inti- 
 mately one, with the Eternal Word, as a mother is 
 with a son ? What outfit of sanctity, what fulness 
 and redundance of grace, what exuberance of merits 
 must have been hers, on the supposition, which the 
 Fathers justify, that her Maker regarded them at all, 
 and took them into account, when he condescended 
 " not to abhor the Virgin's womb ? " Is it sur- 
 prising then that on the one hand she should be 
 immaculate in her conception ? or on the other 
 that she should be exalted as a queen with a crown 
 of twelve stars ? Men sometimes wonder that wo 
 call her Mother of life, of mercy, of salvation ; what 
 are all these titles compared to that one name. 
 Mother of God ? 
 
 I shall say no more about this title here. It is 
 scarcely possible to write of it without diverging 
 
 E 2 
 
68 THE BLESSED VIRGIN THE THEOTOCOS. 
 
 into a style of composition unsuited to a Letter ; so 
 T proceed to the history of its use. 
 
 The title of Theotocos ' begins with ecclesiastical 
 writers of a date hardly later than that at which 
 we read of her as the second Eve. It first occurs in 
 the works of Origen (185—254) ; but he, witnessing 
 for Egypt and Palestine, witnesses also that it was 
 in use before his time ; for, as Socrates informs us, 
 he " interpreted how it was to be used, and dis- 
 cussed the question at length" {Hist. vii. 32). 
 Within two centuries (431) in the General Council 
 held against Nestorius, it was made part of the for- 
 mal dogmatic teaching of the Church. At that 
 time, Theodoret, who from his party connexions 
 might have been supposed disinclined to its solemn 
 recognition, owned that " the ancient and more 
 than ancient heralds of the orthodox faith taught 
 the use of the term according to the Apostolic tra- 
 dition." At the same date John of Antioch, who 
 for a while sheltered Nestorius, whose heresy lay 
 in the rejection of the term, said, " This title no 
 ecclesiastical teacher has put aside. Those who 
 have used it are many and eminent; and those who 
 have not used it, have not attacked those who did." 
 Alexander again, one of the fiercest partisans of 
 Nestorius, witnesses to the use of the word, though 
 he considers it dangerous ; " That in festive solemni- 
 ties," he says, " or in preaching or teaching, theo- 
 
 ' ViJ. Translation of St, Athanasiusj pp. 420, 440, 447. 
 
THE BLESSED VIRGIN THE THEOTOCOS. 69 
 
 tocos should be unguardedly said by the orthodox 
 without explanation is no blame, because such state- 
 ments were not dogmatic, nor said with evil mean- 
 ing." If we look for those, in the interval, between 
 Origan and the Council, to whom Alexander refers, 
 we find it used again and again by the Fathers in 
 such of their works as are extant; by Archelaus of 
 Mesopotamia, Eusebius of Palestine, Alexander of 
 Egypt, in the third century; in the fourth by 
 Athanasius many times with emphasis, by Cyril of 
 Palestine, Gregory Nyssen of Cappadocia, Gregory 
 Nazianzen of Cappadocia, Antiochus of Syria, and 
 Ammonius of Thrace: — not to speak of the Em- 
 peror Julian, who, having no local or ecclesiastical 
 domicile, speaks for the whole of Christendom. 
 Another and earlier Emperor, Constantine, in his 
 speech before the assembled Bishops at Nicsea, uses 
 the still more explicit title of " the Virgin Mother 
 of God;" which is also used by Ambrose of Milan, 
 and by Vincent and Cassian in the south of France, 
 and then by St. Leo. 
 
 So much for the term ; it would be tedious to pro- 
 duce the passages of authors who, using or not using 
 the terra, convey the idea. " Our God was carried 
 in the womb of Mary," says Ignatius, who was mar- 
 tyred A.D. 106. "The word of God," says Hippo- 
 lytus, " was carried in that Virgin frame." " The 
 Maker of all," says Amphilochius, " is born of a 
 Virgin." " She did compass without circumscribing 
 the Sun of justice, — the Everlasting is born," says 
 
70 ZEAL OF THE FATHERS 
 
 Chrysostom. " God dwelt in the womb," says Pro- 
 clus. " When thou hearest that God speaks from 
 the bush," asks Theodotus, "in the bush seest 
 thou not the Virgin 1" Cassian says, " Mary bore 
 her Author." " The one God only-begotten," says 
 Hilary, " is introduced into the womb of a Virgin.'' 
 " The Everlasting," says Ambrose, "came into the 
 Virgin." "The closed gate," says Jerome, "by 
 which alone the Lord God of Israel enters, is the 
 Virgin Mary." " That man from heaven," says 
 Capriolus, " is God conceived in the womb." " He 
 is made in thee," says Augustine, "who made 
 thee." 
 
 This being the faith of the Fathers about the 
 Blessed Virgin, we need not wonder that it should 
 in no long time be transmuted into devotion. No 
 wonder if their language should become unmeasured, 
 when so great a term as " Mother of God " had 
 been formally set down a,s the safe limit of it. No 
 wonder if it should be stronger and stronger as time 
 went on, since only in a long period could the ful- 
 ness of its import be exhausted. And in matter of 
 fact, and as might be anticipated, (with the few ex- 
 ceptions which I have noted above, and which I am 
 to treat of below,) the current of thought in those 
 early ages did uniformly tend to make much of the 
 Blessed Virgin and to increase her honours, not to 
 circumscribe them. Little jealousy was shown of 
 her in those times ; but, when any such niggardness 
 
FOE THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 71 
 
 of devotion occurred, then one Father or other fell 
 upon the offender, with zeal, not to say with fierce- 
 ness. Thus St. Jerome inveighs against Helvidius ; 
 thus St. Epiphanius denounces ApoUinaris, St. 
 Cyril Nestorius, and St. Amhrose Bonosus ; on the 
 other hand, each successive insult offered to her by 
 individual adversaries did but bring out more fully 
 the intimate sacred affection with which Christen- 
 dom regarded her. " She was alone, and wrought 
 the world's salvation and conceived the redemption 
 of all," says Ambrose"; "she had so great grace, 
 as not only to preserve virginity herself, but to 
 confer it upon those whom she visited." The 
 rod out of the stem of Jesse," says Jerome, " and 
 the Eastern gate through which the High Priest 
 alone goes in and out, yet is ever shut." " The 
 wise woman," says Nilus, who " hath clad believers, 
 from the fleece of the Lamb born of her, with the 
 clothing of incorruption, and delivered them from 
 their spiritual nakedness." " The mother of life, 
 of beauty, of majesty, the morning star," according 
 to Antiochus. " The mystical new heavens," " the 
 heavens carrying the Divinity," " the fruitful vine," 
 "by whom we are translated from death to life," 
 according to St. Ephrem. " The manna, which is 
 delicate, bright, sweet, and virgin, which, as though 
 coming from heaven, has poured down on all the 
 people of the Churches a food pleasanter than 
 honey," according to St. Maximus. 
 
 ° Essay on Doctr. Dev. p. 408. 
 
72 HER INTERCESSORY POWER. 
 
 Basil of Seleucia says, that " she shines out above 
 all the martyrs as the sun above the stars, and 
 that she mediates between God and men." " Run 
 through all creation in your thought," says Proclus, 
 " and see if there be one equal or superior to the 
 Holy Virgin, Mother of God." " Hail, Mother, clad 
 in light, of the light which sets not ;" says Theodotus, 
 or some one else at Ephesus, " hail, all-undefiled 
 mother of holiness ; hail, most pellucid fountain of 
 the life-giving stream." And St. Cyril too at 
 Ephesus, "Hail, Mary Mother of God, majestic 
 common-treasure of the whole world, the lamp un- 
 quenchable, the crown of virginity, the sceptre of 
 orthodoxy, the indissoluble temple, the dwelling of 
 the Illimitable, Mother and Virgin, through whom 
 He in the holy gospels is called blessed who cometh 
 in the name of the Lord, .... through whom the 
 
 Holy Trinity is sanctified, through whom 
 
 Angels and Archangels rejoice, devils are put to 
 flight, .... and the fallen creature is received up 
 into the heavens, &c., &c.'." Such is but a portion 
 of the panegyrical language which St. Cyril used 
 in the third Ecumenical Council. 
 
 I must not close my review of the Catholic doc- 
 trine concerning the Blessed Virgin, without di- 
 rectly speaking of her intercessory power, though I 
 have incidentally made mention of it already. It 
 
 ' 0pp. t. G, p. 355. 
 
HER INTERCESSORY POWER. 73 
 
 is the immediate result of two truths, neither of 
 which you dispute ; — first, that " it is good and 
 useful," as the Council of Trent says, " suppliantly 
 to invoke the saints and to have recourse to their 
 prayers;" and secondly, that the Blessed Mary is 
 singularly dear to her Son and singularly exalted 
 in sanctity and glory. However, at the risk of 
 becoming didactic, I will state somewhat more fully 
 the grounds on which it rests. 
 
 To a candid pagan, it must have been one of the 
 most remarkable points of Christianity, on its first 
 appearance, that the observance of prayer formed 
 so vital a part of its organization ; and that, though 
 its members were scattered all over the world, and 
 its rulers and subjects had so little opportunity of 
 correlative action, yet they, one and all, found the 
 solace of a spiritual intercourse and a real bond of 
 union, in the practice of mutual intercession. Prayer 
 indeed is the very essence of religion; but in the 
 heathen religions it was either public or personal; 
 it was a state ordinance, or a selfish expedient, for 
 the attainment of certain tangible, temporal goods. 
 Very diflFerent from this was its exercise among 
 Christians, who were thereby knit together in one 
 body, different, as they were, in races, ranks, and 
 habits, distant from each other in country, and 
 helpless amid hostile populations. Yet it proved 
 suflScient for its purpose. Christians could not 
 correspond; they could not combine; but they 
 could pray one for another. Even their public 
 
74 HER INTERCESSORY POWER. 
 
 prayers partook of this character of intercession; 
 for to pray for the welfare of the whole Church was 
 in fact a prayer for all the classes of men, and all 
 the individuals of which it was composed. It was in 
 -prayer that the Church was founded. For ten 
 days all the Apostles "persevered with one mind 
 in prayer and supplication, with the women, and 
 Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with His brethren." 
 Then again at Pentecost " they were all with one 
 mind in one place;" and the converts then made 
 are said to have "persevered in prayer." And 
 when, after a while, St. Peter was seized and put 
 in prison with a view to his being put to death, 
 "prayer was made without ceasing" by the Church 
 of God for him ; and, when the angel released him, 
 he took refuge in a house " where many were 
 gathered together in prayer." 
 
 "We are so accustomed to these passages, as 
 hardly to be able to do justice to their singular 
 significance; and they are followed up by various 
 passages of the Apostolic Epistles. St. Paul en- 
 joins his brethren to " pray with all prayer and sup- 
 plication at all times in the Spirit, with all instance 
 and supplication for all saints," to " pray in every 
 place," " to make supplication, prayers, intercessions, 
 giving of thanks, for all men." And in his own person 
 he " ceases not to give thanks for them, commemo- 
 rating them in his prayers," and " always in all his 
 prayers making supplication for them all with joy." 
 
 Now, was this spiritual bond to cease- with life ? 
 
HER INTEECBSSOEY POWEE. 75 
 
 or had Christians similar duties to their bre- 
 thren departed ? From the witness of the early- 
 ages of the Church, it appears that they had; 
 and you, and those who agree with you, would 
 be the last to deny that they were then in the 
 practice of praying, as for the living, so for those 
 also who had passed into the intermediate state 
 between earth and heaven. Did the sacred com- 
 munion extend further still, on to the inhabit- 
 ants of heaven itself? Here too you agree with 
 us, for you have adopted in your Volume the words 
 of the Council of Trent, which I have quoted above. 
 But now we are brought to a higher order of 
 thought. 
 
 It would be preposterous to pray for those who 
 are already in glory ; but at least they can pray for 
 us, and we can ask their prayers, and in the Apo- 
 calypse at least Angels are introduced both sending 
 us their blessing and presenting our prayers before 
 the Divine Presence. We read there of an Angel 
 who "came and stood before the altar, having a 
 golden censer ;" and " there was given to him 
 much incense, that he should offer of the prayers 
 of all saints upon the golden altar which is before 
 the Throne of God." On this occasipn, surely the 
 Angel (Michael, as the prayer in Mass considers 
 him), performed the part of a great Intercessor or 
 Mediator above for the children of the Church 
 Militant below. Again, in the beginning of the 
 same book, the sacred writer goes so far as to 
 
76 HER INTERCESSORY POWER. 
 
 speak of " grace and peace " coming to us, not only 
 from the Almighty, but "from the seven Spirits 
 that are before His throne," thus associating the 
 Eternal with the ministers of His mercies ; and this 
 carries us on to the remarkable passage of St. Justin, 
 one of the earliest Fathers, who, in his Apology, 
 says, " To Him (God), and His Son who came 
 from Him and taught us these things, and the host 
 of the other good Angels who follow and resemble 
 Him, and the Prophetic Spirit, we pay veneration 
 and homage." Further, in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, St. Paul introduces, not only Angels, but 
 " the spirits of the just " into the sacred communion : 
 "Ye have come to Mount Sion, to the heavenly 
 Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, to God the Judge 
 of all, to the spirits of the just made perfect, and 
 to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament." 
 What can be meant by having " come to the spirits 
 of the just," unless in some way or other they do us 
 good, whether by blessing or by aiding us ? that is, 
 in a word, to speak correctly, by praying for us, for 
 it is by prayer alone that the creature above can 
 bless or aid the creature below. 
 
 Intercession thus being a first principle of the 
 Church's life, next it is certain again, that the 
 vital principle of that intercession, as an availing 
 power, is, according to the will of God, sanctity. 
 This seems to be suggested by a passage of St. 
 Paul, in which the Supreme Intercessor is said to 
 be "the Spirit :"—" the Spirit Himself maketh 
 
HER INTEECESSOllY POWER. 77 
 
 intercession for us; He maketh intercession for 
 the saints according to God." However, the truth 
 thus implied, is expressly brought out in other 
 parts of Scripture, in the form both of doctrine 
 and of example. The words of the man born blind 
 speak the common-sense of nature: — "if any man 
 be a worshipper of God, him He heareth." And 
 Apostles confirm them : — " the prayer of a just 
 man availeth much," and " whatever we ask, we 
 receive, because we keep his commandments." 
 Then, as for examples, we read of Abraham and 
 Moses, as having the divine purpose of judgment 
 revealed to them beforehand, in order that they 
 might deprecate its execution. To the friends of 
 Job it was said, " My servant Job shall pray for 
 you; his face I will accept." Elias by his prayer 
 shut and opened the heavens. Elsewhere we read 
 of " Jeremias, Moses, and Samuel ;" and of " Noe, 
 Daniel, and Job," as being great mediators between 
 God and His people. One instance is given us, 
 which testifies the continuance of so high an office 
 beyond this life. Lazarus, in the parable, is seen 
 in Abraham's bosom. It is usual to pass over this 
 striking passage with the remark that it is a 
 Jewish expression ; whereas, Jewish belief or not, 
 it is recognized and sanctioned by our Lord Him- 
 self. What do we teach about the Blessed Virgin 
 more wonderful than this ? Let us suppose, that, 
 at the hour of death, the faithful are committed 
 to her arms ; but if Abraham, not yet ascended on 
 
78 HER INTERCESSOEY POWER. 
 
 high, had charge of Lazarus, what oifence is it to 
 affirm the like of her, who was not merely " the 
 friend," but the very " Mother of God ? " 
 
 It may be added, that, though it availed nothing 
 for influence with our Lord, to be one of His com- 
 pany, if sanctity was wanting, still, as the Gospel 
 shows, He on various occasions allowed those who 
 were near Him, to be the means by which suppli- 
 cants were brought to Him or miracles gained 
 from Him, as in the instance of the miracle of the 
 loaves ; and if on one occasion. He seems to repel 
 His Mother, when she told Him that wine was 
 wanting for the guests at the marriage feast, it is 
 obvious to remark on it, that, by saying that she 
 was then separated from Him, because His hour 
 was not yet come. He implied, that when that hour 
 was come, such separation would be at an end. 
 Moreover, in fact He did, at her intercession, work 
 the miracle which she desired. 
 
 I consider it impossible then, for those who 
 believe the Church to be one vast body in heaven 
 and on earth, in which every holy creature of God 
 has his place, and of which prayer is the life, when 
 once they recognize the sanctity and greatness of 
 the Blessed Virgin, not to perceive immediately, 
 that her office above is one of perpetual inter- 
 cession for the faithful militant, and that our very 
 relation to her must be that of clients to a patron, 
 and that, in the eternal enmity which exists be- 
 tween the woman and the serpent, while the 
 
HEK INTEECESSOEY POWEE. 79 
 
 serpent's strength is that of being the Tempter, 
 the weapon of the Second Eve and Mother of God 
 is prayer. 
 
 As then these ideas of her sanctity and greatness 
 gradually penetrated the mind of Christendom, so did 
 that of her intercessory power follow close upon them 
 and with them. From the earliest times that media- 
 tion is symbolized in those representations of her 
 with up-lifted hands, which, whether in plaster or 
 in glass, are still extant in Rome, — that Church, 
 as St. Irenseus says, with which "every Church, 
 that is, the faithful from every side, must agree, 
 because of its more powerful principality;" "into 
 which," as TertuUian adds, "the Apostles poured 
 out, together with their blood, their whole doc- 
 trines." As far indeed as existing documents are 
 concerned, I know of no instance to my purpose 
 earlier than a.d. 234, but it is a very remarkable 
 one; and, though it has been often quoted in the 
 controversy, an argument is not the weaker for 
 frequent use. 
 
 St. Gregory Nyssen^ then, a native of Cappadocia 
 in the fourth century, relates that his name-sake, 
 Bishop of Neo-Csesarea, surnamed Thaumaturgus, 
 in the century preceding, shortly before he was 
 called to the pi'iesthood, received in a vision a Creed, 
 which is still extant, from the Blessed Mary at the 
 hands of St. John. The account runs thus : — He 
 was deeply pondering theological doctrine, which 
 ' Vid. Essay on Doctr. Dev. p. 386. 
 
80 HER INTERCESSORY POWER. 
 
 the heretics of the day depraved. "In such 
 thoughts," says his name-sake of Nyssa, " he was 
 passing the night, when one appeared, as if in 
 human form, aged in appearance, saintly in the 
 fashion of his garments, and very venerable both in 
 grace of countenance and general mien. Amazed at 
 the sight, he started from his bed, and asked who 
 it was, and why he came ; but, on the other calm- 
 ing the perturbation of his mind with his gentle 
 voice, and saying he had appeared to him by 
 divine command on account of his doubts, in order 
 that the truth of the orthodox faith might be 
 revealed to him, he took courage at the word, and 
 regarded him with a mixture of joy and fright. 
 Then, on his stretching his hand straight forward 
 and pointing with his fingers at something on one 
 side, he followed with his eyes the extended hand, 
 and saw another appearance opposite to the former, 
 in shape of a woman, but more than human. . . , 
 When his eyes could not bear the apparition, he 
 heard them conversing together on the subject of 
 his doubts; and thereby not only gained a true 
 knowledge of the faith, but learned their names, 
 as they addressed each other by their respective 
 appellations. And thus he is said to have heard 
 the person in woman's shape bid ' John the Evan- 
 gelist' disclose to the young man the mystery of 
 godliness; and he answered that he was ready to 
 comply in this matter with the wish of 'the Mother 
 of the Lord,' and enunciated a formulary, well- 
 
HER INTERCESSORY POWER. 81 
 
 turned and complete, and so vanished. He, on the 
 other hand, immediately committed to writing that 
 divine teaching of his mystagogue, and henceforth 
 preached in the Church according to that form, 
 and bequeathed to posterity, as an inheritance, 
 that heavenly teaching, by means of which his 
 people are instructed down to this day, being pre- 
 served from all heretical evil." He proceeds to 
 rehearse the Creed thus given, " There is One 
 God, Father of a Living Word," &c. Bull, after 
 quoting it in his work upon the Nicene Faith, 
 alludes to this history of its origin, and adds, " No 
 one should think it incredible that such a provi- 
 dence should befall a man whose whole life was 
 conspicuous for revelations and miracles, as all 
 ecclesiastical writers who have mentioned him (and 
 who has not ?) witness with one voice." 
 
 Here she is represented as rescuing a holy soul 
 from intellectual error. This leads me to a further 
 reflection. You seem, in one place in your Volume, 
 to object to the Antiphon, in which it is said of 
 her, "All heresies thou hast destroyed alone." 
 Surely the truth of it is verified in this age, as in 
 former times, and especially by the doctrine con- 
 cerning her, on which I have been dwelling. She 
 is the great exemplar of prayer in a generation, 
 which emphatically denies the power of prayer in 
 toto, which determines that fatal laws govern the 
 universe, that there cannot be any direct com- 
 munication between earth and heaven, that God 
 
82 TRUE AND FALSE DEVOTION 
 
 cannot visit His earth, and that man cannot in- 
 fluence His providence. 
 
 I cannot help hoping that your own reading of 
 the Fathers will on the whole hear me out in the 
 above account of their teaching concerning the 
 Blessed Virgin. Anglicans seem to me to overlook 
 the strength of the argument adducible from their 
 works in our favour, and they open the attack upon 
 our mediaeval and modern writers, careless of leaving 
 a host of primitive opponents in their rear. I do 
 not include you among such Anglicans, as you know 
 what the Fathers assert ; but, if so, have you not, 
 my dear Friend, been unjust to yourself in your 
 recent Volume, and made far too much of the dif- 
 ferences which exist between Anglicans and us on 
 this particular point ? It. is the ofSce of an Irenicon 
 to smoothe difficulties ; I shall be pleased if I suc- 
 ceed in removing some of yours. Let the public 
 judge between us here. Had you happened in your 
 Volume to introduce your notice of our teaching 
 about the Blessed Virgin, with a notice of the 
 teaching of the Fathers concerning her, ordinary 
 men would have considered that there was not much 
 to choose between you and us. Though you ap- 
 pealed ever so much, in your defence, to the authority 
 of the " undivided Church," they would have said 
 that you, who had such high notions of the Blessed 
 Mary, were one of the last men who had a right 
 to accuse us of quasi-idolatry. When they found 
 
TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 83 
 
 you calling her by the titles of Mother of God, 
 Second Eve, and Mother of all Living, the Mother 
 of Life, the Morning Star, the mystical new heaven, 
 the sceptre of Orthodoxy, the All-undefiled Mother 
 of Holiness, and the like, they would have deemed it 
 a poor compensation for such language, that you pro- 
 tested against her being called a Co-redemptress or 
 a Priestess. And, if they were violent Protestants, 
 they would not have read you with that relish and 
 gratitude with which, as it is, they have perhaps 
 accepted your testimony against us. Not that they 
 would have been altogether right in their view of 
 you ; — on the contrary I think there is a real dif- 
 ference between what you protest against, and what 
 with the Fathers you hold; but unread men and 
 men of the world form a broad practical judgment 
 of the things which come before them, and they 
 would have felt in this case that they had the same 
 right to be shocked at you, as you have to be 
 shocked at us; — and further, which is the point to 
 which I am coming, they would have said, that, 
 granting some of our modern writers go beyond 
 the Fathers in this matter, still the line cannot be 
 logically drawn between the teaching of the Fathers 
 concerning the Blessed Virgin and our own. This 
 view of the matter seems to me true and important; 
 I do not think the line can be satisfactorily drawn, 
 and to this point I shall now direct my attention. 
 
 It is impossible, I say, in a doctrine like this, to 
 draw the line cleanly between truth and error, right 
 
 P 2 
 
84 TRUE AND FALSE DEVOTION 
 
 and wrong. This is ever the case in concrete 
 matters, which have life. Life in this world is 
 motion, and involves a continual process of change. 
 Living things grow into their perfection, into their 
 decline, into their death. No rule of art will 
 suffice to stop the operation of this natural law, 
 whether in the material world or in the human 
 mind. We can indeed encounter disorders, when 
 they occur, hy external antagonisms and remedies ; 
 but we cannot eradicate the process itself, out of 
 which they arise. Life has the same right to 
 decay, as it has to wax strong. This is specially 
 the case with great ideas. You may stifle them; 
 or you may refuse them elbow-room; or you may 
 torment them with your continual meddling ; or 
 you may let them have free course and range, and 
 be content, instead of anticipating their excesses, to 
 expose and restrain those excesses after they have 
 occurred. But you have only this alternative ; and 
 for myself, I prefer much, wherever it is possible, 
 to be first generous and then just ; to grant full 
 liberty of thought, and to call it to account when 
 abused. 
 
 If what I have been saying be true of energetic 
 ideas generally, much more is it the case in matters 
 of religion. Religion acts on the affections; who 
 is to hinder these, when once roused, from gather- 
 ing in their strength and running wild ? They are 
 not gifted with any connatural principle within 
 them, which renders them self-governing and self- 
 
TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 85 
 
 adjusting. They hurry right on to their object, and 
 often in their case it is, The more haste, the worse 
 speed. Their object engrosses them, and they see 
 nothing else. And of all passions love is the most 
 unmanageable ; nay more, I would not give much 
 for that love which is never extravagant, which 
 always observes the proprieties, and can move 
 about in perfect good taste, under all emergencies. 
 What mother, what husband or wife, what youth 
 or maiden in love, but says a thousand foolish 
 things, in the way of endearment, which the 
 speaker would be sorry for strangers to hear; yet 
 they are not on that account unwelcome to the 
 parties to whom they are addressed. Sometimes by 
 bad luck they are written down, sometimes they 
 get into the newspapers ; and what might be even 
 graceful, when it was fresh from the heart, and 
 interpreted by the voice and the countenance, 
 presents but a melancholy exhibition when served 
 up cold for the public eye. So it is with devo- 
 tional feelings. Burning thoughts and words are 
 as open to criticism as they are beyond it. What 
 is abstractedly extravagant, may in religious per- 
 sons be becoming and beautiful, and only fall under 
 blame when it is found in others who imitate them. 
 When it is formalized into meditations or exercises, 
 it is as repulsive as love-letters in a police report. 
 Moreover, even holy minds readily adopt and 
 become familiar with language which they would 
 never have originated themselves, when it proceeds 
 
86 TEUB AND FALSE DEVOTION 
 
 from a writer who has the same objects of devotion 
 as they have ; and, if they find a stranger ridicule 
 or reprobate supplication or praise which has come 
 to them so recommended, they feel it as keenly as if 
 a direct insult were offered to those to whom that 
 homage is addressed. In the next place, what has 
 power to stir holy and refined souls is potent also 
 with the multitude ; and the religion of the multi- 
 tude is ever vulgar and abnormal ; it ever will be 
 tinctured with fanaticism and superstition, while 
 men are what they are. A people's religion is ever 
 a corrupt religion, in spite of the provisions of 
 Holy Church. If she is to be Catholic, you must 
 put up with fish of every kind, guests good and bad, 
 vessels of gold, vessels of earth. You may beat 
 religion out of men, if you will, and then their 
 excesses will take a different direction ; but if you 
 make use of religion to improve them, they will 
 make use of religion to corrupt it. And then you 
 will have effected that compromise of which our 
 countrymen report so unfavourably from abroad : — • 
 a high grand faith and worship which compels 
 their admiration, and puerile absurdities among 
 the people which excite their contempt. 
 
 Nor is it any safeguard against these excesses in 
 a religious system, that the religion is based upon 
 reason, and developes into a theology. Theology 
 both uses logic and baffles it; and thus logic acts 
 both as a protection and as the perversion of reli- 
 gion. Theology is occupied with supernatural 
 
TO THE BLESSED VIEGIN. 87 
 
 matters, and is ever running into mysteries, which 
 reason can neither explain nor adjust. Its lines of 
 thought come to an abrupt termination, and to 
 pursue them or to complete them is to plunge 
 down the abyss. But logic blunders on, forcing 
 its way, as it can, through thick darkness and 
 ethereal mediums. The Arians went ahead with 
 logic for their directing principle, and so lost the 
 truth; on the other hand, St. Augustine, in his 
 Treatise on the Holy Trinity, seems to show that, if 
 we attempt to find and tie together the ends of 
 lines which run into infinity, we shall only succeed 
 in contradicting ourselves; that for instance it is 
 difficult to find the logical reason for not speaking 
 of three Gods as well as of One, and of One Per- 
 son in the Godhead as well as of Three. I do not 
 mean to say that logic cannot be used to set right 
 its own error, or that in the hands of an able dis- 
 putant the balance of truth may not be restored. 
 This was done at the Councils of Antioch and 
 Nicsea, in the instances of Paulus and Arius. But 
 such a process is circuitous and elaborate ; and is 
 conducted by means of minute subtleties which 
 will give it the appearance of a game of skill in 
 the case of matters too grave and practical to de- 
 serve a mere scholastic treatment. Accordingly 
 St. Augustine simply lays it down that the state- 
 ments in question are heretical, for the former is 
 Tritheism and the latter Sabellianism. That is, 
 good sense and a large view of truth, are the cor- 
 
8^ TRUE AND FALSE DEVOTION 
 
 rectives of his logic. And thus we have arrived 
 at the final resolution of the whole matter; for 
 good sense and a large view of truth are rare gifts ; 
 whereas all men are bound to be devout, and most 
 men think they can argue and conclude. 
 
 Now let me apply what I have been saying to 
 the teaching of the Church on the subject of the 
 Blessed Virgin. I have to recur to a subject of so 
 sacred a nature, that, writing as I am for publi- 
 cation, I need the apology of my object for ven- 
 turing to pursue it. I say then, when once we 
 have mastered the idea, that Mary bore, suckled, 
 and handled the Eternal in the form of a child, 
 what limit is conceivable to the rush and flood of 
 thoughts which such a doctrine involves ? What 
 awe and surprise must attend upon the knowledge, 
 that a creature has been brought so close to the 
 Divine Essence? It was the creation of a new idea 
 and of a new sympathy, of a new faith and worship, 
 when the holy Apostles announced that God had 
 become incarnate ; and a supreme love and devo- 
 tion to Him became possible, which seemed hope 
 less before that revelation. But besides this, a 
 second range of thoughts was opened on mankind, 
 unknown before, and unlike any other, as soon as 
 it was understood that that Incarnate God had a 
 mother. The second idea is perfectly distinct from 
 the former, the one does not interfere with the 
 other. He is God made low, she is a woman made 
 high. I scarcely like to use a familiar illustration 
 
TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 89 
 
 on such a subject, but it will serve to explain what 
 I mean, when I ask you to consider the difference of 
 feeling, with which we read the respective histories 
 of Maria Theresa and the Maid of Orleans ; or with 
 which the middle and lower classes of a nation 
 regard a first minister of the day who has come of 
 an aristocratic house, and one who has risen from 
 the ranks. May God's mercy keep me from the 
 shadow of a thought dimming the purity or blunting 
 the keenness of that love of Him, which is our sole 
 happiness and our sole salvation ! But surely 
 when He became man, He brought home to us His 
 incommunicable attributes with a distinctiveness, 
 which precludes the possibility of our lowering Him 
 merely by exalting a creature. He alone has an 
 entrance into our soul, reads our secret thoughts, 
 speaks to our heart, applies to us spiritual pardon 
 and strength. On Him we solely depend. He 
 alone is our inward life; He not only regenerates 
 us, but (to allude to a higher mystery) semper 
 gignit ; He is ever renewing our new birth and 
 our heavenly sonship. In this sense He may be 
 called, as in nature, so in grace, our real Father. 
 Mary is only our mother by adoption, given us from 
 the Cross; her presence is above, not on earth; 
 her office is external, not within us. Her name is 
 not heard in the administration of the Sacraments. 
 Her work is not one of ministration towards us; 
 her power is indirect. It is her prayers that avail, 
 and they are effectual by the Jiat of Him who is 
 
90 TRUE AND PALSB DEVOTION 
 
 our all in all. Nor need she hear us by any innate 
 power, or any personal gift ; but by His manifes- 
 tation to her of the prayers which we make her. 
 When Moses was on the Mount, the Almighty told 
 him of the idolatry of his people at the foot of it, in 
 order that he might intercede for them ; and thus it 
 is the Divine Presence which is the intermediating 
 Power by which we reach her and she reaches us. 
 
 Woe is me, if even by a breath I sully these in- 
 effable truths ! but still, without prejudice to them, 
 there is, I say, another range of thought quite dis- 
 tinct from them, incommensurate with them, of 
 which the Blessed Virgin is the centre. If we 
 placed our Lord in that centre, we should only 
 be degrading Him from His throne, and making 
 Him an Arian kind of a God; that is, no God 
 at all. He who charges us with making Mary 
 a divinity, is thereby denying the divinity of Jesus. 
 Such a man does not know what divinity, is. Our 
 Lord cannot pray for us, as a creature, as Mary 
 prays; He cannot inspire those feelings which a 
 creature inspires. To her belongs, as being a 
 creature, a natural claim on our sympathy and 
 familiarity, in that she is nothing else than our 
 fellow. She is our pride, — in the poet's words, 
 " Our tainted nature's solitary boast." We look to 
 her without any fear, any remorse, any conscious- 
 ness that she is able to read us, judge us, punish 
 us. Our heart yearns towards that pure Virgin, 
 that gentle Mother, and our congratulations follow 
 
TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 91 
 
 her, as she rises from Nazareth and Ephesus, 
 through the choirs of angels, to her throne on high. 
 So weak yet so strong; so delicate, yet so glory- 
 laden ; so modest, yet so mighty. She has sketched 
 for us her own portrait in the Magnificat. "He 
 hath regarded the low estate of His hand-maid; for 
 behold, from henceforth all generations shall call 
 me blessed. He hath put down the mighty from 
 their seat; and hath exalted the humble. He hath 
 filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He 
 hath sent empty away." I recollect the strange 
 emotion which took by surprise men and women, 
 young and old, when, at the Coronation of our 
 present Queen, they gazed on the figure of one so 
 like a child, so small, so tender, so shrinking, who 
 had been exalted to so great an inheritance and so 
 vast a rule, who was such a contrast in her own 
 person to the solemn pageant which centred in her. 
 Could it be otherwise with the spectators, if they 
 had human afiection? And did not the All-wise 
 know the human heart when He took to Himself a 
 Mother ? did He not anticipate our emotion at the 
 sight of such an exaltation ? If He had not meant 
 her to exert that wonderful influence in His Church, 
 which she has in the event exerted, I will use a bold 
 word. He it is who has perverted us. If she is not 
 to attract our homage, why did He make her soli- 
 tary in her greatness amid His vast creation ? If 
 it be idolatry in us to let our affections respond to 
 our faith, He would not have made her what she 
 
92 TRUE AND FALSE DEVOTION 
 
 is, or He would not have told us that He had so 
 made her; but, far from this, He has sent His 
 Prophet to announce to us, " A Virgin shall con- 
 ceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His name 
 Emmanuel," and we have the same warrant for 
 hailing her as God's Mother, as we have for adoring 
 Him as God. 
 
 Christianity is eminently an objective religion. 
 For the most part it tells us of persons and facts in 
 simple words, and leaves the announcement to pro- 
 duce its eflFect on such hearts as are prepared to re- 
 ceive it. This at least is its general character; 
 and Butler recognizes it as such in his Analogy, 
 when speaking of the Second and Third Persons of 
 the Holy Trinity : — "The internal worship," he says, 
 " to the Son and Holy Ghost is no farther matter of 
 pure revealed command than as the relations they 
 stand in to us are matters of pure revelation ; for the 
 relations being known, the obligations to such inter- 
 nal worship are obligations of reason arising out of 
 those relations themselves '." It is in this way that 
 the revealed doctrine of the Incarnation exerted a 
 stronger and a broader influence on Christians, as 
 they more and more apprehended and mastered its 
 meaning and its bearings. It is contained in the 
 brief and simple declaration of St. John, " The 
 Word was made flesh ;" but it required century after 
 century to spread it out in its fulness, and to im- 
 
 ° Vid. Essay on Doctr. Dev., p. 50. 
 
TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 93 
 
 print it energetically on the worship and practice of 
 the Catholic people as well as on their faith. Atha- 
 nasius was the first and the great teacher of it. He 
 collected together the inspired notices scattered 
 through David, Isaias, St. Paul, and St. John, and 
 he engraved indelibly upon the imaginations of 
 the faithful, as had never been before, that man is 
 God, and God is man, that in Mary they meet, and 
 that in this sense Mary is the centre of all things. 
 He added nothing to what was known before, no- 
 thing to the popular and zealous faith that her Son 
 was God; he has left behind him in his works no 
 such definite passages about her as those of St. 
 Irenseus or St. Epiphanius; but he brought the 
 circumstances of the Incarnation home to men's 
 minds, by the manifold evolutions of his analysis, 
 and secured it for ever from perversion. Still, 
 however, there was much to be done; we have no 
 proof that Athanasius himself had any special 
 devotion to the Blessed Virgin; but he laid the 
 foundations on which that devotion was to rest, 
 and thus noiselessly and without strife, as the 
 first Temple in the Holy City, she grew up into 
 her inheritance, and was " established in Sion and 
 her power was in Jerusalem." Such was the origin 
 of that august cultus which has been paid to the 
 Blessed Mary for so many centuries in the East and 
 in the West. That in times and places it has fallen 
 into abuse, that it has even become a superstition, 
 I do not care to deny ; for, as I have said above, the 
 
94: EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 same process which brings to maturity carries on to 
 decay, and things that do not admit of abuse have 
 very little life in them. This of course does not 
 excuse such excesses, or justify us in making light 
 of them, when they occur. I have no intention of 
 doing so as regards the particular instances which 
 you bring against us, though but a few words will 
 suffice for what I need say about them: — before 
 doing so, however, I am obliged to make three or 
 four introductory remarks. 
 
 1. I have almost anticipated my first remark 
 already. It is this : that the height of our offend- 
 ing in our devotion to the Blessed Virgin would 
 not look so great in your Volume as it does, had 
 you not placed yourself on lower ground than your 
 own feelings towards her would have spontaneously 
 prompted you to take. I have no doubt you had 
 some good reason for adopting this course, but I 
 do not know it; what I do know is, that, for the 
 Fathers' sake who so exalt her, you really do love 
 and venerate her, though you do not evidence it in 
 your book. I am glad then in this place to insist 
 on a fact which will lead those among us, who 
 know you not, to love you from their love of her, 
 in spite of what you refuse to give her; and Angli- 
 cans, on the other hand, who do know you, to think 
 better of us, who refuse her nothing, when they 
 reflect that you do not actually go against us, but 
 merely come short of us, in your devotion to her. 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 95 
 
 2. As you revere the Fathers, so you revere the 
 Greek Church; and here agaih we have a witness 
 on our behalf, of which you must be aware as fully 
 as we are, and of which you must really mean to 
 give us the benefit. In proportion as this remark- 
 able fact is understood, it will take off the edge 
 of the surprise of Anglicans at the sight of our 
 devotions to our Lady. It must weigh with them, 
 when they discover that we can enlist on our side 
 in this controversy those "seventy millions" (I 
 think they so consider them) of Orientals, who are 
 separated from our communion. Is it not a very 
 pregnant fact, that the Eastern Churches, so inde- 
 pendent of us, so long separated from the West, so 
 jealous of Antiquity, should even surpass us in their 
 exaltation of the Blessed Virgin ? That they go 
 further than we do is sometimes denied, on the 
 ground that the Western devotion towards her is 
 brought out into system, and the Eastern is not; 
 yet this only means really, that the Latins have 
 more mental activity, more strength of intellect, 
 less of routine, less of mechanical worship among 
 them, than the Greeks. We are able, better than 
 they, to give an account of what we do; and we 
 seem to be more extreme, merely because we are 
 more definite. But, after all, what have the Latins 
 done so bold, as that substitution of the name of 
 Mary for the Name of Jesus at the end of the 
 collects and petitions in the Breviary, nay in the 
 Eitual and Liturgy ? Not merely in local or popu- 
 
9Q EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 lar, and in semi-authorized devotions, which are 
 the kind of sources that supplies you with your 
 matter of accusation against us, but in the formal 
 prayers of the Greek Eucharistic Service, petitions 
 are offered, not " in the name of Jesus Christ," 
 but " of the Theotocos." Such a phenomenon, in 
 such a quarter, I think ought to make Anglicans 
 merciful towards those writers among ourselves, 
 who have been excessive in singing the praises of 
 the Deipara. To make a rule of substituting Mary 
 with all Saints for Jesus in the public service, has 
 more " Mariolatry " in it, than to alter the Te 
 Deum to her honour in private devotion. 
 
 3. And thus I am brought to a third remark, 
 supplemental to your accusation of us. Two large 
 views, as I have said above, are opened upon our 
 devotional thoughts in Christianity; the one cen- 
 tering in the Son of Mary, the other in the Mother 
 of Jesus. Neither need obscure the other ; and in 
 the Catholic Church, as a matter of fact, neither 
 does. I wish you had either frankly allowed this 
 in your Volume, or pi'oved the contrary. I wish, 
 when you report that " a certain proportion, it has 
 been ascertained by those who have inquired, do 
 stop short in her," p. 107, that you had added your 
 belief, that the case was far otherwise with the 
 great bulk of Catholics. Might I not have expected 
 it ? May I not, without sensitiveness, be some- 
 what pained at the omission ? From mere Protes- 
 tants indeed I expect nothing better. They con- 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 97 
 
 tent themselves with saying that our devotions to 
 our Lady must necessarily throw our Lord into 
 the shade; and thereby they relieve themselves of 
 a great deal of trouble. Then they catch at any 
 stray fact which countenances or seems to coun- 
 tenance their prejudice. Now I say plainly I 
 never will defend or screen any one from your 
 just rebuke, who, through false devotion to Mary, 
 forgets Jesus. But T should like the fact to be 
 proved first; I cannot hastily admit it. There 
 is this broad fact the other way ; — that, if we look 
 through Europe, w^ shall find, on the whole, that 
 just those nations and countries have lost their 
 faith in the divinity of Christ, who have given up 
 devotion to His Mother, and that those on the 
 other hand, who have been foremost in her honour, 
 have retained their orthodoxy. Contrast, for in- 
 stance, the Calvinists with the Greeks, or France 
 with the North of Germany, or the Protestant 
 and Catholic communions in Ireland. As to Eng- 
 land, it is scarcely doubtful what would be the 
 state of its Established Church, if the Liturgy and 
 Articles were not an integral part of its Esta- 
 blishment ; and, when men bring so grave a charge 
 against us as is implied in your Volume, they cannot 
 be surprised if we in turn say hard things of An- 
 glicanism'. In the Catholic Church Mary has 
 
 ' I have spoken more on this subject in my Essay on Deve- 
 lopment, p. 438, " Nor does it avail to object, that, in this con- 
 trast of devotional exercises, the human is sure to supplant the 
 
 G 
 
98 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 shown herself, not the rival, but the minister of her 
 Son ; she has protected Him, as in His infancy, so 
 in the whole history of the Eeligion. There is then 
 a plain historical truth in Dr. Faber's words which 
 you quote to condemn, " Jesus is obscured, because 
 Mary is kept in the back-ground." 
 
 This truth, exemplified in history, might also be 
 abundantly illustrated, did my space admit, from 
 the lives and writings of holy men in modern times. 
 Two of them, St. Alfonso Liguori and the Blessed 
 Paul of the Cross, for all their notorious devotion 
 to the Mother, have shown their supreme love of 
 her Divine Son, in the names which they have 
 given to their respective congregations, viz. " of the 
 Redeemer," and " of the Cross and Passion." How- 
 ever, I will do no more than refer to an apposite 
 passage in the Italian translation of the work of a 
 French Jesuit, Fr. Nepveu, " Christian Thoughts 
 
 Divine, from the infirmity of our nature ; for, I repeat, tlie 
 question is one of fact, whether it has done so. And next, it 
 must be asked, whether the character of Protestant devotion 
 towards our Lord, has heen that of worship at all ; and not 
 rather such as we pay to an excellent human being. . . . Carnal 
 minds will ever create a carnal worship for themselves ; and to 
 forbid them the service of the saints will have no tendency to 
 teach them the worship of God. Moreover, . . . great and 
 constant as is the devotion which the' Catholic pays to St. 
 Mary, it has a special province, and has far more connexion 
 with the public services and the festive aspect of Ghristianity, and 
 with certain extraordinary offices which she holds, than with 
 what is strictly personal and primary in religion." Our late 
 Cardinal, on my reception, singled out to me this last sentence, 
 for the expression of his especial approbation. 
 
EXPLANATIONS, 99 
 
 for every Day in the Year," which was recom- 
 mended to the friend who went with me to Rome, 
 by the same Jesuit Father there, with whom, as I 
 have already said, I stood myself in such inti- 
 mate relations ; I believe it is a fair specimen of 
 the teaching of our spiritual books. 
 
 " The love of Jesus Christ is the most sure pledge of ou? 
 future happiness, and the most infallible token of our pre- 
 destination. Mercy towards the poor, devotion to the Holy 
 Virgin, are very sensible tokens of predestination ; nevertheless 
 they are not absolutely infallible ; but one cannot have a 
 sincere and constant love of Jesus Christ, without being pre- 
 destinated. . . . The destroying angel, which bereaved the 
 bouses of the Egyptians of their first-born, had respect to all 
 the houses which were marked with the blood of the Lamb." 
 
 And it is also exemplified, as I verily believe, 
 not only in formal and distinctive Confessions, not 
 only in books intended for the educated class, but 
 also in the personal religion of the Catholic popu- 
 lations. When strangers are so unfavourably im- 
 pressed with us, because they see Images of our 
 Lady in our Churches, and crowds flocking about 
 her, they forget that there is a Presence within the 
 sacred walls, infinitely more awful, which claims 
 and obtains from us a worship transcendently dif- 
 ferent from any devotion we pay to her. That 
 devotion might indeed tend to idolatry, if it were 
 encouraged in Protestant Churches, where there is 
 nothing higher than it to attract the worshipper; 
 but all the images that a Catholic Church ever 
 contained, all the Crucifixes at its Altars brought 
 
 G 2 
 
100 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 together, do not so affect its frequenters, as the lamp 
 which betokens the presence or absence there of 
 the Blessed Sacrament. Is not this so certain, so 
 notorious, that on some occas^ns it has been even 
 brought as a charge against us, that we are irreve- 
 rent in Church, when what seemed to the objector 
 to be irreverence was but the necessary change 
 of feeling, which came over those who were there, 
 on their knowing that their Lord was away ? 
 
 The Mass again conveys to us the same lesson of 
 the sovereignty of the Incarnate Son ; it is a return 
 to Calvary, and Mary is scarcely named in it. Hos- 
 tile visitors enter our Churches on Sunday at mid- 
 day, the time of the Anglican Service. They are 
 surprised to see the High Mass perhaps poorly 
 attended, and a body of worshippers leaving the 
 music and the mixed multitude who may be lazily 
 fulfilling their obligation, for the silent or the in- 
 formal devotions which are offered at an Image of 
 the Blessed Virgin. They may be tempted, with 
 one of your informants, to call such a temple, not a 
 " Jesus Church," but a " Mary Church," But, if 
 they understood our ways, they would know that 
 we begin the day with our Lord and then go on to 
 His Mother. It is early in the morning that reli- 
 gious persons go to Mass and Communion. The 
 High Mass, on the other hand, is the festive cele- 
 bration of the day, not the special devotional ser- 
 vice ; nor is there any reason why those who have 
 been at a Low Mass already, should not at that 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 101 
 
 hour proceed to ask the intercession of the Blessed 
 Virgin for themselves and all that is dear to them. 
 Communion, again, which is given in the morn- 
 ing, is a solemn unequivocal act of faith in the In- 
 carnate God, if any can be such ; and the most 
 gracious of admonitions, did we need one, of His 
 sovereign and sole right to possess us. I knew a 
 lady, who on her death-bed was visited by an 
 excellent Protestant friend. She, with great 
 tenderness for her soul's welfare, asked her whe- 
 ther her prayers to the Blessed Virgin did not, 
 at that awful hour, lead to forgetfulness of her 
 Saviour, " Forget Him ? " she replied with sur- 
 prise, "Why, He has just been here." She had 
 been receiving Him in communion. When then, 
 my dear Pusey, you read any thing extravagant in 
 praise of our Lady, is it not charitable to ask, even 
 while you condemn it in itself, did the author write 
 nothing else ? Did he write on the Blessed Sacra- 
 ment ? had he given up " all for Jesus ? " I recol- 
 lect some lines, the happiest, I think, which that 
 author wrote, which bring out strikingly the reci- 
 procity, which I am dwelling on, of the respective 
 devotions to Mother and Son; 
 
 " But scornful mea have coldly said 
 
 Thy love was leading me from God; 
 And yet in this I did but tread 
 The very path my Saviour trod. 
 
 " They know but little of thy worth 
 
 Who speak these heartless words to me ; 
 Por what did Jesus love on earth 
 One half so tenderly as thee ? 
 
102 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 " Get me the grace to love thee more ; 
 Jesus will give, if thou wilt plead ; 
 And, Mother, when life's cares are o'er, 
 Oh, I shall love thee then indeed. 
 
 " Jesus, when His three hours were run. 
 Bequeathed thee from the Cross to me ; 
 And oh ! how can I love thy Son, 
 Sweet Mother, if I love not thee." 
 
 4. Thus we are brought from the consideration 
 of the sentiments themselves, of which you com- 
 plain, to the persons who wrote, and the places 
 where they wrote them. I wish you had been led, 
 in this part of your work, to that sort of careful 
 labour which you have employed in so masterly a 
 way in your investigation of the circumstances of 
 the definition of the Immaculate Conception. In 
 the latter case you have catalogued the Bishops 
 who wrote to the Holy See, and analyzed their 
 answers. Had you in like manner discriminated 
 and located the Marian writers, as you call them, 
 and observed the times, places, and circumstances 
 of their works, I think, they would not, when 
 brought together, have had their present startling 
 effect on the reader. As it is, they inflict a vague 
 alarm upon the mind, as when one hears a noise, 
 and does not know whence it comes and what it 
 means. Some of your authors, I know are Saints ; 
 all, I suppose, are spiritual writers and holy men; 
 but the majority are of no great celebrity, even if 
 they have any kind of weight. Suarez has no busi- 
 ness among them at all, for, when he says that no 
 one is saved without the Blessed Virgin, he is speak- 
 
EXPLANATIONS, 103 
 
 ing not of devotion to her, but of her intercession. 
 The greatest name is St. Alfonso Liguori; but it 
 never surprises me to read any thing unusual in 
 the devotions of a saint. Such men are on a level 
 very different from our own, and we cannot under- 
 stand them. I hold this to be an important canon 
 in the Lives of the Saints, according to the words 
 of the Apostle, " The spiritual man judges all 
 things, and he himself is judged of no one." But 
 we may refrain from judging, without proceeding 
 to imitate. I hope it is not disrespectful to so 
 great a servant of God to say, that I never have read 
 his Glories of Mary ; but here I am speaking gene- 
 rally of all Saints, whether I know them or not; 
 — and I say that they are beyond us, and that we 
 must use them as patterns, not as copies. As to 
 his practical directions, St. Alfonso wrote them for 
 Neapolitans, whom he knew, and we do not know. 
 Other writers whom you quote, as de Salazar, are 
 too ruthlessly logical to be safe or pleasant guides 
 in the delicate matters of devotion. As to de 
 Montford and Oswald, I never even met with their 
 names, till I saw them in your book ; the bulk of 
 our laity, not to say of our clergy, perhaps know 
 them little better than I do. Nor did I know till 
 I learnt it from your Volume, that there were two 
 Bernardines. St. Bernardino of Sienna, I knew of 
 course, and knew too that he had a burnintj love 
 for our Lord. But about the other, " Bernardino de 
 Bustis," I was quite at fault. I find from the Pro- 
 
1 04 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 testant Cave, that he, as well as his namesake, made 
 himself conspicuous also for his zeal for the Holy 
 Name, which is much to the point here. " With 
 such devotion was he carried away," says Cave, " for 
 the bare name of Jesus, (which, by a new device of 
 Bernardine of Sienna, had lately begun to receive 
 divine honours,) that he was urgent with Innocent 
 VIII. to assign it a day and rite in the Calendar." 
 One thing, however, is clear about all these 
 writers; that not one of them is an Englishman. 
 I have gone through your book, and do not find 
 one English name among the various authors to 
 whom you refer, except of course the name of that 
 author whose lines I have been quoting, and who, 
 great as are his merits, cannot, for the reasons I 
 have given in the opening of my Letter, be con- 
 sidered a representative of English Catholic devo- 
 tion. Whatever these writers may have said or 
 not said, whatever they may have said harshly, 
 and whatever capable of fair explanation, still they 
 are foreigners; we are not answerable for their 
 particular devotions; and as to themselves, I am 
 glad to be able to quote the beautiful words which 
 you use about them in your letter to the Weekly 
 Register of November 25th last, " I do not 
 presume," you say, " to prescribe to Italians 
 or Spaniards, what they shall hold, or how they 
 shall express their pious opinions; and least of all 
 did I think of imputing to any of the writers whom 
 I quoted that they took from our Lord anv of the 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 105 
 
 love which they gave to His Mother." In these 
 last words too you have supplied one of the omis- 
 sions in your Volume which I noticed above. 
 
 5. Now then we come to England itself, which 
 after all, in the matter of devotion, alone concerns 
 you and me; for though doctrine is one and the 
 same every where, devotions, as I have already 
 said, are matters of the particular time and the 
 particular country. I suppose we owe it to the 
 national good sense, that English Catholics have 
 been protected from the extravagances which are 
 elsewhere to be found. And we owe it also to the 
 wisdom and moderation of the Holy See, which, in 
 giving us the pattern for our devotion, as well as 
 the rule of our faith, has never indulged in those 
 curiosities of thought which are both so attractive 
 to undisciplined imaginations and so dangerous to 
 grovelling hearts. In the case of our own common 
 people I think such a forced style of devotion would 
 be simply unintelligible; as to the educated, I 
 doubt whether it can have more than an occasional 
 or temporary influence. If the Catholic faith 
 spreads in England, these peculiarities will not 
 spread with it. There is a healthy devotion to 
 the Blessed Mary, and there is an artificial; it is 
 possible to love her as a Mother, to honour her as 
 a Virgin, to seek her as a Patron, and to exalt her 
 as a Queen, without any injury to solid piety and 
 Christian good sense: — I cannot help calling this 
 the English style. I wonder whether you find any 
 
106 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 thing to displease you in the Garden of the Soul, 
 the Key of Heaven, the Vade Mecum, the Golden 
 Manual, or the Crown of Jesus. These are the 
 books to which Anglicans ought to appeal, who 
 would be fair to us in this matter. I do not ob- 
 serve any thing in them which goes beyond the 
 teaching of the Fathers, except so far as devo- 
 tion goes beyond doctrine. 
 
 There is one collection of Devotions besides, of 
 the highest authority, which has been introduced 
 from abroad of late years. It consists of prayers 
 of very various kinds which have been indulgenced 
 by the Popes ; and it commonly goes by the name 
 of the Raccolta. As that word suggests, the lan- 
 guage of many of the prayers is Italian, while 
 others are in Latin. This circumstance is unfa- 
 vourable to a translation, which, however skilful, 
 must ever savour of the words and idioms of the 
 original; but, passing over this necessary disad- 
 vantage, I consider there is hardly a clause in the 
 good-sized volume in question which even the sensi- 
 tiveness of English Catholicism would wish changed. 
 Its anxious observance of doctrinal exactness is 
 almost a fault. It seems afraid of using the words 
 "give me," "make me," in its addresses to the 
 Blessed Virgin, which are as natural to adopt, as in 
 addressing a parent or friend. Surely we do not dis- 
 parage Divine Providence when we say that we are 
 indebted to our parents for our life, or when we ask 
 their blessing; we do not show any atheistical lean- 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 107 
 
 ing, because we say that a man's recovery must be 
 left to nature, or that nature supplies brute animals 
 with instincts. In like manner it seems to me a 
 simple purism, to insist upon minute accuracy of 
 expression in devotional and popular writings. 
 However, the Raccolta, as coming from responsible 
 authority, for the most part observes it. It com- 
 monly uses the phrases, " gain for us by thy 
 prayers," " obtain for us," " pray to Jesus for me," 
 " Speak for me, Mary," " carry thou our prayers," 
 "ask for us grace," "intercede for the people of 
 God," and the like, marking thereby with great 
 emphasis that she is nothing more than an Advo- 
 cate, and not a source of mercy. Nor do I recollect 
 in this book more than one or two ideas to which 
 you would be likely to raise an objection. The 
 strongest of these is found in the Novena before 
 her Nativity, in which, apropos of her Birth, we pray 
 that she " would come down again, and be re-born 
 spiritually in our souls ;" — but it will occur to you 
 that St. Paul speaks of his wish to impart to 
 his converts, " not only the gospel, but his own 
 soul;" and writing to the Corinthians, he says 
 he has "begotten them by the gospel," and to 
 Philemon, that he had " begotten Onesimus, in 
 his bonds;" whereas St. James, with greater accu- 
 racy of expression, says " of His own will hath 
 God begotten us with the word of truth." Again 
 ■ne find the petitioner saying to the Blessed 
 Mary, " In thee I place all my hope ;" but this is 
 
108 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 explained in another passage, " Thou art my best 
 hope, after Jesus." Again, we read elsewhere, " I 
 would I had a greater love for thee, since to love 
 thee is a great mark of predestination;" but the 
 prayer goes on, " Thy Son deserves of us an im- 
 measurable love ; pray that I may have this grace, a 
 great love for Jesus," and further on, " I covet no 
 good of the earth, but to love my God alone." 
 
 Then again, as to the lessons which our Catholics 
 receive, whether by catechising or instruction, you 
 would find nothing in our received manuals to which 
 you would not assent, I am quite sure. Again, as to 
 preaching, a standard book was drawn up three 
 centuries ago, to supply matter for the purpose to 
 the parochial clergy. You incidentally mention, 
 p. 153, that the comment of Cornelius a Lapide on 
 Scripture is " a repertorium for sermons ;" but I 
 never heard of this work being used, nor indeed can 
 it, because of its size. The work provided for the 
 purpose by the Church is the " Catechism of the 
 Council of Trent," and nothing extreme about our 
 Blessed Lady is propounded there. On the whole 
 I am sanguine that you will come to the conclusion, 
 that Anglicans may safely trust themselves to us 
 English Catholics, as regards any devotions to the 
 Blessed Virgin which might be required of them, 
 over and above the rule of the Council of Trent. 
 
 6. And, now at length coming to the statements, 
 not English, but foreign, which offend you in works 
 written in her honour, I will frankly say that I read 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 109 
 
 some of those which you quote with grief and 
 almost anger; for they seemed to me to ascribe to 
 the Blessed Virgin a power of " searching the reins 
 and hearts," which is the attribute of God alone ; 
 and I said to myself, how can we any more prove 
 our Lord's divinity from Scripture, if those cardinal 
 passages which invest Him with divine preroga- 
 tives, after all invest Him with nothing beyond what 
 His Mother shares with Him ? And how, again, 
 is there any thing of incommunicable greatness in 
 His death and passion, if He who was alone in 
 the garden, alone upon the cross, alone in the 
 resurrection, after all is not alone, but shared His 
 solitary work with His Blessed Mother, — with her 
 to whom, when He entered on His ministry, He said 
 for our instruction, not as grudging her her proper 
 glory, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" 
 And then again, if I hate those perverse sayings so 
 much, how much more must she, in proportion to 
 her love of Him ? and how do we show our love for 
 her, by wounding her in the very apple of her eye ? 
 This I said and say ; but then on the other hand I 
 have to observe that these strange words after all 
 are but few in number, out of the many passages 
 you cite ; that most of them exemplify what I said 
 above about the difficulty of determining the exact 
 point where truth passes into error, and that they 
 are allowable in one sense or connexion, and false 
 in another. Thus to say that prayer (and the 
 Blessed Virgin's prayer) is omnipotent, is a harsh 
 
110 EXPLANATIONS, 
 
 expression in every-day prose ; but, if it is explained 
 to mean that there is nothing which prayer may 
 not obtain from God, it is nothing else than the 
 very promise made us in Scripture. Again, to 
 say that Mary is the centre of all being, sounds 
 inflated and profane; yet after all it is only one 
 way, and a natural way, of saying that the Creator 
 and the creature met together, and became one in 
 her womb ; and as such, I have used the expression 
 above. Again, it is at first sight a paradox to say 
 that " Jesus is obscured, because Mary is kept in 
 the back-ground;" yet there is a sense, as I have 
 shown above, in which it is a simple truth. 
 
 And so again certain statements may be true, 
 under circumstances and in a particular time and 
 place, which are abstractedly false; and hence it 
 may be very unfair in a controversialist to inter- 
 pret by an English or a modern rule, whatever may 
 have been asserted by a foreign or mediaeval author. 
 To say, for instance, dogmatically, that no one 
 can be saved without personal devotion to the 
 Blessed Virgin, would be an untenable proposition ; 
 yet it might be true of this man or that, or of this 
 or that country at this or that date; and if the 
 very statement has ever been made by any writer of 
 consideration (and this has to be ascertained), then 
 perhaps it was made precisely under these excep- 
 tional circumstances. If an Italian preacher made 
 it, I should feel no disposition to doubt him, at 
 least a,s regards Italian youths and Italian maidens. 
 
EXPLANATIONS. Ill 
 
 Then I think you have not always made your 
 quotations with that consideration and kindness 
 which is your rule. At p. 106, you say, "It is 
 commonly said, that, if any Roman Catholic ac- 
 knowledges that ' it is good and useful to pray to 
 the saints,' he is not hound himself to do so. 
 Were the ahove teaching true, it would be cruelty 
 to say so ; because, according to it, he would be 
 forfeiting what is morally necessary to his salva- 
 tion." But now, as to the fact, where is it said 
 that to pray to our Lady and the Saints is nefces- 
 sary to salvation ? The proposition of St. Alfonso 
 is, that " God gives no grace except through 
 Mary;" that is through her intercession. But 
 intercession is one thing, devotion is another. 
 And Suare? says, " It is the universal sentiment 
 that the intercession of Mary is not only useful, 
 but also in a certain manner necessary;" but still 
 it is the question of her intercession, not of our 
 invocation of her, not of devotion to her. If it were 
 so, no Protestant could be saved ; if it were so, there 
 would be grave reasons for doubting of the sal- 
 vation of St. Chrysostom or St. Athanasius, or of 
 the primitive Martyrs; nay, I should like to know 
 whether St. Augustine, in all his voluminous writ- 
 ings, invokes her once. Our Lord died for those 
 heathens who did not know Him ; and His Mother 
 intercedes for those Christians who do not know 
 her ; and she intercedes according to His will, 
 and, when He wills to save a particular soul, she at 
 
112 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 once prays for it. I say, He wills indeed according 
 to her prayer, but then she prays according to His 
 will. Though then it is natural and prudent for 
 those to have recourse to her, who from the Church's 
 teaching know her power, yet it cannot be said 
 that devotion to her is a sine-qud-non of salvation. 
 Some indeed of the authors, whom you quote, go 
 further ; they do speak of devotion ; but even then, 
 they do not enunciate the general proposition 
 which I have been disallowing. For instance, they 
 say, " It is morally impossible for those to be saved 
 who neglect the devotion to the Blessed Virgin;" 
 but a simple omission is one thing, and neglect 
 another. " It is impossible for any to be saved 
 who turns away from her," yes ; but to " turn 
 away " is to offer some positive disrespect or in- 
 sult towards her, and that with sufficient know- 
 ledge; and I certainly think it would be a very 
 grave act, if in a Catholic country (and of such 
 the writers were speaking, for they knew of no 
 other), with Ave-Marias sounding in the air, and 
 images of the Madonna in every street and road, 
 a Catholic broke off or gave up a practice that was 
 universal, and in which he was brought up, and 
 deliberately put her name out of his thoughts. 
 
 7. Though, then, common sense may determine 
 for us, that the line of prudence and propriety has 
 been certainly passed in the instance of certain 
 statements about the Blessed Virgin, it is often not 
 easy to prove the point logically ; and in such cases 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 113 
 
 authority, if it attempt to act, would be in the 
 position which so often happens in our courts of 
 law, when the commission of an offence is morally 
 certain, but the government prosecutor cannot find 
 legal evidence sufficient to ensure conviction. I am 
 not denying the right of Sacred Congregations, at 
 their will, to act peremptorily, and without assigning 
 reasons for the judgment they pass upon writers; 
 but, when they have found it inexpedient to take 
 this severe course, perhaps it may happen from the 
 circumstances of the case, that there is no other 
 that they can take, even if they would. It is wiser 
 then for the most part to leave these excesses 
 to the gradual operation of public opinion, that is, 
 to the opinion of educated and sober Catholics; 
 and this seems to me the healthiest way of putting 
 them down. Yet in matter of fact I believe the 
 Holy See has interfered from time to time, when 
 devotion seemed running into superstition ; and not 
 so long ago. I recollect hearing in Gregory the 
 XVI.'s time, of books about the Blessed Virgin, 
 which had been suppressed by authority; and in 
 particular of a representation of the Immaculate 
 Conception which he had forbidden, and of mea- 
 sures taken against the shocking notion that the 
 Blessed Mary is present in the Holy Eucharist, in 
 the sense in which our Lord is present; but I have 
 no means of verifying the information I received. 
 
 Nor have I time, any more than you have had, to 
 ascertain how far great theologians have made pro- 
 
 H 
 
114 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 tests against those various extravagances of which 
 
 you so rightly complain. Passages, however, from 
 
 three well-known Jesuit Fathers have opportunely 
 
 come in my way, and in one of them is introduced in 
 
 confirmation, the name of the great Gerson. They 
 
 are Canisius, Petavius, and Raynaudus ; and as they 
 
 speak very appositely, and you do not seem to know 
 
 them, I will here make some extracts from them : — 
 
 (1.) Canisius: — 
 
 " "We confess that in the cultus of Mary it has been, and is 
 possible for corruptions to creep in ; and we have a more than 
 ordinary desire that the Pastors of the Church should be care- 
 fully vigilant here, and give no place to Satan, whose charac- 
 teristic ofiSce it has ever been, while men sleep, to sow the 
 cockle amid the Lord's wheat. . . . Tor this purpose it is his wont 
 gladly to avail himself of the aid of heretics, fanatics, and false 
 Catholics, as may be seen in the instance of this Marianus 
 cultus. This cultus, heretics, suborned by Satan, attack with 
 hostility. . . . Thus too, certain mad heads are so demented by 
 Satan, as to embrace superstitions and idolatries instead of the 
 true cultus, and neglect altogether the due measures whether 
 in respect to God or to Mary. Such indeed were the CoUy- 
 ridians of old. . . . Such that German herdsman a hundred 
 years ago, who gave out publicly that he was a new prophet, 
 and had had a vision of the Deipara, and told the people in her 
 name to pay no more tributes and taxes to princes. . . . More- 
 over, how many Catholics does one see who, by great and 
 shocldng negligence, have neither care nor regard for her cultus, 
 but, given to profane and secular objects, scarce once a year 
 raise their earthly minds to sing her praises or to venerate 
 her ?" — Be Maria Deipard, p. 518. 
 
 (2.) Father Petau says, when discussing the 
 teaching of the Fathers about the Blessed Virgin 
 (c?e Incarn. xiv. 8.) — 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 115 
 
 " I will venture to give this advice to all who would be 
 devout and panegyrical towards the Holy Virgin, viz. not to 
 exceed in their piety and devotion to her, but to be content 
 with true and solid praises, and to cast aside what is otherwise. 
 The latter kind of idolatry, lurking, as St. Augustine says, nay 
 implanted in human hearts, is greatly abhorrent from Theo- 
 logy, that is, from the gravity of heavenly wisdom, which 
 never thinks or asserts any thing, but what is measured by 
 certain and accurate rules. What that rule should be, and 
 what caution is to be used in our present subject, I will not 
 determine of myself; but according to the mind of a most 
 weighty and most learned theologian, John Gerson, who in one 
 of his Epistles proposes certain canons, which he calls truths, 
 by means of which are to be measured the assertions of theolo- 
 gians concerning the Incarnation By these truly 
 
 golden precepts G-erson brings within bounds the immoderate 
 licence of praising the Blessed Yirgin, and restrains it within 
 the measure of sober and healthy piety. And from these it is 
 evident that that sort of reasoning is frivolous and nugatory, 
 in which so many indulge, in order to assign any sort of grace 
 they please, however unusual, to the Blessed Virgin. For they 
 argue thus ; ' Whatever the Son of God could bestow for the 
 glory of His Mother, that it became Him in fact to furnish ;' 
 or again, ' Whatever honours or ornaments He has poured out 
 on other saints, those all together hath He heaped upon His 
 Mother ;' whence they draw their chain of reasoning to their 
 desired conclusion; a mode of argumentation which Gerson 
 treats with contempt as captious and sophistical." 
 
 He adds, what of course we all should say, that, 
 in thus speaking, he has no intention to curtail the 
 liberty of pious persons in such meditations and 
 conjectures, on the mysteries of faith, sacred his- 
 tories and the Scripture text, as are of the nature 
 of comments, supplements, and the like. 
 
 (3.) Kaynaud is an author, full of devotion, if 
 any one is so, to the Blessed Virgin; yet in the 
 
 H 2 
 
116 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 work which he has composed in her honour (Dip- 
 tycha Mariana)^ he says more than I can quote 
 here, to the same purpose as Petau. I abridge 
 some portions of his text : — 
 
 " Let this be taken for granted, that no praises of ours can 
 come up to the praises due to the Virgin Mother. But we 
 must not make up for our inability to reach her true praise, by 
 a supply of lying embellishment and false honours. For there 
 are some whose affection for religious objects is so imprudent 
 and lawless, that they transgress the due limits even towards the 
 saints. This Origen has excellently observed upon in the case 
 of the Baptist, for very many, instead of observing the measure 
 of charity, considered whether he might not be the Christ." 
 p. 9. "... St. Anselm, the first, or one of the first champions of 
 the public celebration of the Blessed Virgin's Immaculate Con- 
 ception, says, de JSxcell. Virg., that the Church considers it inde- 
 cent, that any thing that admits of doubt should be said in her 
 praise, when the things which are certainly true of her supply 
 such large materials for laudation. It is right so to interpret 
 St. Epiphanius also, when he says that human tongues should 
 not pronounce any thing lightly of the Deipara ; and who is 
 more justly to be charged with speaking lightly of the most 
 holy Mother of Q-od, than he, who, as if what is certain and 
 evident did not suffice for her full investiture, is wiser than the 
 aged, and obtrudes on us the toadstools of his own mind, and 
 devotions unheard of by those Holy Fathers who loved her 
 best ? Plainly, as St. Anselm says, that she is the Mother of 
 God, this by itself exceeds every elevation which can be named 
 or imagined, short of God. About so sublime a majesty we 
 should not speak haatUy from prurience of wit, or flimsy pre- 
 text of promoting piety ; but with great maturity of thought ; 
 and, whenever the maxims of the Church and the oracles of 
 faith do not suffice, then not without the suffrages of the Doc- 
 tors Those who are subject to this prurience of inno- 
 vation, do not perceive how broad is the difference between 
 subjects of human science, and heavenly things. All novelty 
 concerning the objects of our faith is to be put far away; 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 117 
 
 except so far as by diligent investigation of God's "Word, 
 written and unwritten, and a well founded inference from what 
 is thence to be elicited, something is brought to light which 
 though already indeed there, had not hitherto been recognized. 
 The innovations which we condemn are those which rest nei- 
 ther on the written nor unwritten Word, nor on conclusions 
 from it, nor on the judgment of ancient sages, nor sufficient 
 basis of reason, but on the sole colour and pretext of doing 
 more honour to the Deipara." — p. 10. 
 
 In another portion of the same work, he speaks 
 in particular of one of those imaginations to which 
 you especially refer, and for which, without strict 
 necessity (as it seems to me) you allege the autho- 
 rity of a Lapide. 
 
 " Nor is that honour of the Deipara to be offered, viz. that 
 the elements of the body of Christ, which the Blessed Virgin 
 supplied to it, remain perpetually unaltered in Christ, and 
 
 thereby are found also in the Eucharist This solicitude 
 
 for the Virgin's glory, must, I consider, be discarded; since, 
 if rightly considered, it involves an injury towards Christ, and 
 such honours the Virgin loveth not. And first, dismissing 
 philosophical bagatelles about the animation of blood, milk, &c., 
 who can endure the proposition that a good portion of the 
 substance of Christ in the Eucharist should be worshipped 
 with a cultus less than latria ? viz. by the inferior cultus of 
 Tiyperdulia ? The preferable class of theologians contend that 
 not even the humanity of Christ, is to be materially abstracted 
 from the Word of God, and worshipped by itself; how then 
 shall we introduce a cultus of the Deipara in Christ, which is 
 inferior to the cultus proper to Him ? How is this other than 
 a casting down of the substance of Christ from His Eoyal 
 Throne, and a degradation of it to some inferior sitting place ? 
 It is nothing to the purpose to refer to such Fathers, as say 
 that the flesh of Christ is the flesh of Mary, for they speak of 
 its origin. What will hinder, if this doctrine be admitted, our 
 also admitting that there is something in Christ which is de- 
 
118 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 testable ? for, as the first elements of a body which were com- 
 municated by the Virgin to Christ, have (as these authors say) 
 remained perpetually in Christ, so the same materia, at least in 
 part, which belonged originally to the ancestors of Christ, 
 came down to the Virgin from her father, unchanged, and 
 taken from her grandfather, and so on. And thus, since it is 
 not unlikely that some of these ancestors were reprobate, there 
 would now be something actually in Christ, which had belonged 
 to a reprobate, and worthy of detestation." — p. 237. 
 
 8. After such explanations, and with such au- 
 thorities, to clear my path, I put away from me, as 
 you would wish, without any hesitation, as matters 
 in which my heart and reason have no part, (when 
 taken in their literal and absolute sense, as any 
 Protestant would naturally take them, and as the 
 writers doubtless did not use them,) such sen- 
 tences, and phrases, as these : — that the mercy of 
 Mary is infinite; that God has resigned into her 
 hands His omnipotence; that (unconditionally) it is 
 safer to seek her than her Son; that the Blessed 
 Virgin is superior to God; that He is (simply) 
 subject to her command; that our Lord is now of 
 the same disposition as His Father towards sin- 
 ners, viz. a disposition to reject them, while Mary 
 takes His place as an Advocate with Father and 
 Son; that the Saints are more ready to intercede 
 with Jesus than Jesus with the Father; that 
 Mary is the only refuge of those with whom God 
 is angry; that Mary alone can obtain a Pro- 
 testant's conversion; that it would have sufficed 
 for the salvation of men if our Lord had died, not 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 119 
 
 to obey His Father, but to defer to the decree of 
 His mother; that she rivals our Lord in being 
 God's daughter, not by adoption, but by a kind of 
 nature; that Christ fulfilled the office of Saviour 
 by imitating her virtues; that, as the Incarnate 
 God bore the image of His Father, so He bore the 
 image of His Mother; that redemption derived 
 from Christ indeed its sufficiency, but from Mary 
 its beauty and loveliness; that as we are clothed 
 with the merits of Christ so we are clothed with the 
 merits of Mary ; that, as He is Priest in a like sense 
 is she Priestess ; that His Body and Blood in the 
 Eucharist are truly hers and appertain to her ; that 
 as He is present and received therein, so is she 
 present and received therein; that Priests are 
 ministers as of Christ, so of Mary; that elect 
 souls are born of God and Mary; that the Holy 
 Ghost brings into fruitfulness his action by her, 
 producing in her and by her Jesus Christ in His 
 members ; that the kingdom of God in our souls, 
 as our Lord speaks, is really the kingdom of Mary 
 in the soul — and she and the Holy Ghost produce 
 in the soul extraordinary things — and when the 
 Holy Ghost finds Mary in a soul He flies there. 
 
 Sentiments such as these I never knew of till I 
 read your book, nor, as I think, do the vast majority 
 of English Catholics know them. They seem to 
 me like a bad dream. I could not have conceived 
 them to be said. I know not to what authority to 
 go for them, to Scripture, or to the Fathers, or to the 
 
120 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 decrees of Councils, or to the consent of schools, or 
 to the tradition of the faithful, or to the Holy See, 
 or to Reason. They defy all the loci theologici. 
 There is nothing of them in the Missal, in the 
 Roman Catechism, in the Roman Raccolfa, in the 
 Imitation of Christ, in Gother, Challoner, Milner, 
 or Wiseman, as far as I am aware. They do 
 but scare and confuse me. I should not be holier, 
 more spiritual, more sure of perseverance, if I 
 twisted my moral being into the reception of them ; 
 I should but be guilty of fulsome frigid flattery 
 towards the most upright and noble of God's crea- 
 tures, if I professed them, — and of stupid flattery 
 too ; for it would be like the compliment of paint- 
 ing up a young and beautiful princess with the 
 brow of a Plato and the muscle of an Achilles. 
 And I should expect her to tell one of her people 
 in waiting to turn me off her service without warn- 
 ing. Whether thus to feel be the scandalum par- 
 vulorum in my case, or the scandalum Pharisce- 
 orum, I leave others to decide; but I will say 
 plainly that I had rather believe (which is impos- 
 sible) that there is no God at all, than that Mary 
 is greater than God. I will have nothing to do 
 with statements, which can only be explained, 
 by being explained away. I do not, however, 
 speak of these statements, as they are found in 
 their authors, for I know nothing of the originals, 
 and cannot believe that they have meant what 
 you say ; but I take them as they lie in your 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 121 
 
 pages. Were any of them the sayings of Saints in 
 ecstasy, I should know they had a good meaning; 
 still I should not repeat them myself; but I am 
 looking at them, not as spoken by the tongues of 
 Angels, but according to that literal sense which 
 they bear in the mouths of English men and English 
 'women. And, as spoken by man to man, in Eng- 
 land, in the nineteenth century, I consider them 
 calculated to prejudice inquirers, to frighten the 
 unlearned, to unsettle consciences, to provoke blas- 
 phemy, and to work the loss of souls. 
 
 9. And now, after having said so much as this, 
 bear with me, my dear Friend, if I end with an ex- 
 postulation. Have you not been touching us on a 
 very tender point in a very rude way ? is not the 
 effect of what you have said to expose her to scorn 
 and obloquy, who is dearer to us than any other 
 creature ? Have you even hinted that our love for 
 her is any thing else than an abuse ? Have you 
 thrown her one kind word yourself all through 
 your book ? I trust so, but I have not lighted upon 
 one. And yet I know you love her well. Can you 
 wonder, then, — can I complain, much, much as I 
 grieve, — that men should utterly misconceive of 
 you, and are blind to the fact that you have put the 
 whole argument between you and us on a new foot- 
 ing; and that, whereas it was said twenty-five years 
 ago in the British Critic, " Till Rome ceases to be 
 what practically she is, union is impossible between 
 her and England," you declare on the contrary, 
 
122 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 " Union is possible, as soon as Italy and England, 
 having the same faith and the same centre of unity, 
 are allowed to hold severally their ovpn theological 
 opinions?" They have not done you justice here; 
 because in truth, the honour of our Lady is dearer 
 to them than the conversion of England. 
 
 Take a parallel case, and consider hovr you vpould 
 decide it yourself. Supposing an opponent of a 
 doctrine for which you so earnestly contend, the 
 eternity of punishment, instead of meeting you 
 with direct arguments against it, heaped together a 
 number of extravagant descriptions of the place, 
 mode and circumstances of its infliction, quoted 
 TertuUian as a witness for the primitive Fathers, 
 and the Covenanters and Ranters for these last 
 centuries ; brought passages from the Inferno of 
 Dante, and from the Sermons of Wesley and Whit- 
 field; nay, supposing he confined himself to the 
 chapters on the subject in the work, which has 
 the sanction of Jeremy Taylor, on " The State of 
 Man," or to his Sermon on the Foolish Exchange, 
 or to passages in Leighton, South, Beveridge, and 
 Barrow, would you think this a fair and becoming 
 method of reasoning? and, if he avowed that he 
 should ever consider the Anglican Church com- 
 mitted to all these accessories of the doctrine, 
 till its authorities formally denounced Taylor, and 
 Whitfield, and a hundred others, would you think 
 this an equitable determination, or the procedure 
 of a theologian ? 
 
CONCLUSION, 123 
 
 So far concerning the Blessed Virgin ; the chief 
 but not the only subject of your Volume. And 
 now, when I could wish to proceed, she seems to 
 stop me, for the Feast of her Immaculate Concep- 
 tion is upon us ; and close upon its Octave, which 
 is kept with special solemnities in the Churches of 
 this town, come the great Antiphons, the heralds of 
 Christmas. That joyful season, joyful for all of us, 
 while it centres in Him who then came on earth, 
 also brings before us in peculiar prominence that 
 Virgin Mother, who bore and nursed Him. Here 
 she is not in the background, as at Easter-tide, but 
 she brings Him to us in her arms. Two great 
 Festivals, dedicated to her honour, to-morrow's and 
 the Purification, mark out and keep the ground, 
 and, like the towers of David, open the way to and 
 fro, for the high holiday season of the Prince of 
 Peace. And all along it her image is upon it, such 
 as we see it in the typical representation of the 
 Catacombs. May the sacred influences of this time 
 bring us all together in unity ! May it destroy all 
 bitterness on your side and ours ! May it quench 
 all jealous, sour, proud, fierce antagonism on our 
 side; and dissipate all captious, carping, fastidious 
 refinements of reasoning on yours! May that 
 bright and gentle Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
 
124 CONCLUSION. 
 
 overcome you with her sweetness, and revenge her- 
 self on her foes by interceding effectually for their 
 conversion ! 
 
 I am, 
 
 Yours, most affectionately, 
 
 JOHN H. NEWMAN. 
 
 The Oeatoet, Bibmhtgham, 
 Infest. S. Ambrosii, 1865. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 NOTE A. PAGE 36. 
 
 1. St. Justin : — Ylhv OeoS ye.ypaixii.h/ov avrov ev Tois aTrofivrjixo- 
 vevfjuxcri roiv airocTToXwv avTov ej^ovTcs, xat vlbv avrbv Xeyoi/T«s, 
 vcvorjKa/jiev, Kal Trpo Travrtov Troirj/ji.a.Twv am tov irarpos 8vvafji.€i avrov 
 Kol jiovXrj TrpoeXOovra .... Kal Sia r^s TrapOevov ai'^p(oiros[ov] 
 yeyovevat, iva kol oi rj's oSov rj aivo tov oifjeoi^ TrapaKor] ttjv o.p)(rjV 
 IXa^e, Kal Sia. ravTrjs Trji oSov Kal KaroXvariv A.ay8g' irap^eVos yap 
 ovcra Eva Kal a<^0opos tov koyov tov 0,770 toS o^cus trvXAa^Sovcra, 
 TrapaKorjV kol Odvarov ereKC iriaTiv 8e Kai ^apav XajSoScra Mapia ■^ 
 irapOevo^, tvayyeXi^o/JLevov avrfj TafipirjX ayyiXov, ort IlvcC/ia Kvpiov 
 
 ew' avr^i' eireXeucreTai, &c onreKpivaTO, Vivovro jioi Kara to 
 
 p^p,a crov. — Tryph. 100. 
 
 2. Tertullian : — " Ne mihi vacet incursus nominis Adae, unde 
 Christus Adam ab Apostolo dictus est, si terreni non fuit 
 census homo ejus? Sed et He ratio defendit, quod Deus 
 imaginem et similitudinem suam a diabolo captam aemula opera- 
 tione recuperavit. In virginem enim adhuc Evam irrepserat 
 verbum sedificatorium mortis. In virginem seque introducendum 
 erat Dei verbum extructorium vitse ; ut quod per ejusmodi 
 sexum abierat in perditionem, per eundem sexum redigeretur 
 in salutem. Crediderat Eva serpenti; credidit Maria Gabrieli; 
 quod ilia credendo deliquit, h$ec credendo delevit." — Be Cam. 
 Chr. 17. 
 
 3. St. Irenseus: — " Consequenter autem et Maria virgo 
 obediens invenitur, dicens, ecce ancilla tua, Domine, fiat mihi 
 secundum verbum tuum. Eva vero inobediens : non obedivit 
 
126 NOTES. 
 
 enim, adhuc quum esset virgo. Quemadmodum ilia, virum 
 quidem habens Adam, virgo tamen adhuc existens (erant enim 
 utrique nudi in Paradiso, et non confundebantur, qtioniam, 
 paullo ante facti, non intellectum habebant filiorum genera- 
 tionis ; oportebat enim illos primo adolescere, dehinc sic mulfci- 
 plicari), inobediens facta, et sibi et uni verso generi humano 
 causa facta est mortis: sic et Maria, habens prsBdestinatum 
 virum, et tamen virgo, obediens, et sibi et universo generi 
 humano causa facta est salutis. Et propter hoc Lex earn, quse 
 desponsata erat viro, licet virgo sit adhuc, uxorem ejus, qui 
 desponsaverat, vocat ; earn quae est a Maria in Evam recircu- 
 lationem significans : quia non aliter quod colligatum est sol- 
 veretur, nisiipsje compagines alligationis reflectantur retrorsus ; 
 nt primsB conjunctiones solvantur per secundas, secundae rursus 
 liberent primas. Et evenit primam quidem compaginem a 
 secunda colligatione solvere, secundam vero coUigationem primse 
 solutionis habere locum. Et propter hoc Dominus dicebat, 
 primes quidem novissimos futures, et novissimos primes. Et 
 propheta autem hoc idem significat, dicens, ' Pro patribus nati 
 sunt tibi filii.' ' Primogenitus ' enim ' mortuorum ' natus Domi- 
 nus, et in sinum suum recipiens pristinos patres, regeneravit 
 eos in vitam Dei, ipse initium viventium factus, quoniam Adam 
 initium morientium factus est. Propter hoc et Lucas initium 
 generationis a Domino inchoans, in Adam retulit, significans, 
 quoniam non illi hunc, sed hie illos in Evangelium vitse regene- 
 ravit. Sic autem et Evaj iuobedientise nodus solutionem accepit 
 per obedientiam Mariae. Quod enim alligavit virgo Eva per 
 incredulitatem, hoc virgo Maria solvit per fidem." — S. Iren. 
 contr. ILwr. iii. 22. 
 
 " Quemadmodum enim ilia per Angeli sermonem seducta est, 
 ut effugeret Deum, praevaricata verbum ejus ; ita et hsec per 
 Angelicum sermonem evangelizata est, ut portaret Deum, 
 obediens ejus verbo. Et si ea inobedierat Deo ; sed hasc suasa 
 est obedire Deo, uti Virginis Eveb Virgo Maria fieret advocata. 
 Et quemadmodum adstrictum est morti genus humanum per 
 Virginem, salvatur per Yirginera, asqua lance disposita, virginalis 
 inobedientia, per virginalem obedientiam." — ITnd. v. 19. 
 
 4. St. Cyril : — Ata irapOivov t^s EiJas rjKOev b ddvaro's, cSct Sia 
 TrapOevov, /u.aXXoi' h\ Ik TrapOivov, (j>av^vai T-qv i,u>rjv iva wo-Trep 
 
NOTES. 127 
 
 eKuvrjv 0(j)K Tjirarrjcrev, ovtoi koX Tavrrjv Ta^pirjX tvayycXicnjTai. — 
 Gat. xii. 15. 
 
 5. St. Bplirem. : — " Per Evam nempe decora et amabilis 
 hominis gloria extincta est, quse tameu rursus per Mariam 
 refloruit." — Oj>p. Syr. ii.p. 318. 
 
 " Initio protoparentum delicto in omnes homines mors per- 
 transiit; hodie vero per Mariam translati sumus de morte ad 
 vitam. Initio serpens, Ev83 auribus occupatis, inde virus in 
 totum corpus dilatavit ; hodie Maria ex auribus perpetuse'feli- 
 citatis assertorem excepit. Quod ergo mortis fuit, simul et 
 vitse extitit instrumentum." — iii. p. 607. 
 
 6. St. EpiPHANlTTS : — AvTrj icrnv 17 Trapa filv t^ Eva cn^fiaivofnevr] 
 8t' atviyjuaTOs Xapovaa to KoXuaOai fJ-t^Tijp ^(Lvtoiv. . . . koI rjv 
 Oavfia oTi fj-era ttjv 7rapd/3a(nv Tavrqv rrjv /ji,£yaXr]v la-)(f.v iiru>vvjJi.Lav. 
 Kai Kara fji,€v to cdaOrfTov, air iKcivr]^ t^s Evas TrScra tSiv dvOpunroyv 
 y] yewTjULs iirl yrji yeyevvqTaC wSe Se oAtj^uIs diro M.apia's avrr] t] ^oirj 
 T(3 /C0(7/U,a) yeyevvrjTai' Iva ^ZvTa yevvr/o'r], Kal yivvrjTai r] Ma/Dia P'l^TTjp 
 ^mVTOiv BC aiviyixaTOi ovv rj Mapta fi.'^Trjp ^(avTtav KiKXrjTai . . . 
 aXXa Kal erepov Trept tovtw hiavoiiadai idTi, Oavp.ao'TOV, Trepl 8i r^s 
 Evas Kai T^s Maptas' 17 p.€v yap Em Trpo^atrts yeyivvrjTai OavaTov 
 Tots av9p<o7roLi' . . . "^ Sk Mapt'a 7rp6<j>a(Ti,'s ^co^s . . . Iva ^wrj dvTL 
 uavoLTOv yewr/Tai, iKKkutraaa tov OdvaTov toi/ Ik yvvat/cos, irdXiv 6 
 Sia yvvfxiKO'i ■^juvt/oir] yeyevvrifiivo?. — Seer. 78. IS. 
 
 7. St. Jerome : — " Postquam vero Virgo concepit in utero, 
 et peperit nobis puerum . . . soluta maledictio est. Mors per 
 Evam, vita per Mariam."- — Up. 22, ad UustocTiium, 21. 
 
 8. St. Augustine : — " Hue accedit magnum sacramentum, ut, 
 quoniam per feminam nobis mors acciderat, vita nobis per 
 feminam nasceretur : ut de utraque natura, id est, feminina et 
 masculina, victus diabolus cruciaretur, quoniam de ambarum 
 subversione laetabatur, cui parum fuerat ad poenam si ambee 
 naturae in nobis liberarentur, nisietiam per ambas liberaremur." 
 — De Agone Christ. 24. 
 
 9. St. Peter Chrysologus : — " Benedicta tu in mulieribus. 
 Quia in quibus Eva maledicta puniebat viscera ; tunc in illis 
 gaudet, honoratur, suspicitur Maria benedicta. Et facta est 
 vere nunc mater viventium per gratiam quas mater extitit mori- 
 eutium per naturam. . . . Quantus sit Deus satis ignorat ille, 
 qui hujus Yirginis mentem non stupet, animum non miratur : 
 
128 NOTES. 
 
 pavet ccelum, tremunt Angeli, creatura non sustinet, natura 
 non sufficit, et una puella sic Deum in sui pectoris capit, 
 recipit, oblectat hospitio, ut pacem terris, coelis gloriam, salutem 
 perdifcis, vitam mortuis, terrenis cum coelestibus parentelam, 
 ipsius Dei cum came commercium, pro ipsa domus exigat 
 pensione, pro ipsius uteri mercede conquirat, et impleat illud 
 Prophetse : Ecce hsereditas Domini, filii mercea fructus ventris. 
 Sed jam se concludat sermo ut de partu Virginis, donante Deo, 
 et indulgente tempore, gratius proloquamur." — Serm. 140. 
 
 10. St. Pulgentius : — " In primi hominis conjuge, nequitia 
 diaboli seductam depravavit mentem : in secundi autem hominis 
 matre, gratia Dei, et mentem integram servavit, et carnem : 
 menti contulit firmissimam fidem, carni abstulit omnino libi- 
 dinem. Quoniam igitur miserabiliter pro peccato damnatus 
 est homo, ideo sine peccato mirabiliter natus est Deus homo." — 
 Serm. ii. 
 
 " Venite, virgines, ad virginem ; venite, concipientes, ad con- 
 cipientem ; venite, parturientes, ad parturientem ; venite, 
 matres, ad matrem ; venite, lactantes, ad lactantem ; venite, 
 juvenculsB, ad juvenculam. Ideo omnes istos cursus natursB 
 virgo Maria in Domino nostro Jesu Christo suscepit, ut 
 omnibus ad se confugientibus fceminis subveniret, et sic 
 restauraret omne genus feminarum ad se advenientium nova 
 Eva servando virginitatem, sicut omne genus virorum Adam 
 novus recuperat dominus Jesus Christus." — Ibid. iii. 
 
 P.S. Third Edition : A friend reminds me that I have 
 omitted, among the instances of the comparison of Eve with 
 Mary, the passage at the end of the Epistle to Diognetus, a 
 testimony most important from the great antiquity of that 
 work, from the religious beauty of its composition, and the 
 stress laid upon it by Protestants. 
 
 I should also observe, that, at the end of the last extract 
 from St. Irenaeus, p. 126, " solvatur " is found in some MSS. 
 for " salvatur." Vid. Ed. Bened. And so St. Augustine contr. 
 Jul. i. n. 5. Ed. Bened. This various reading does not affect 
 the general sense of the passage. 
 
NOTES. 129 
 
 NOTE B. PAGE 49. 
 
 Abridged from Suarez. 0pp. t. 17, p. 7 — Ed. Venet. 
 1746 :— 
 
 " 1. Statuendum est B. Virginem fuisse a Christo redemp- 
 tam, quia Christus fuit universalis redemptor totius generis 
 humani, et pro omnibus hominibus mortuus est." — p. 15. 
 
 " 2. Praeterea constat indiguisse Virginem redemptione, quia 
 nimirum descendebat ex Adamo per seminalem generationem." 
 -p. 7. 
 
 "3. Tanquam certum statuendum est, B. Virginem procrea- 
 tam esse ex viri et fceminse commixtione carnali, ad modum 
 aliorum hominum. Habetur certa traditione et communi con- 
 sensu totius Ecclesise." — p. 7. 
 
 " 4. Absolute et simpliciter fatendum B. Virginem in Adam 
 peccasse." — p. 16. 
 
 " 5. B. Virgo peccavit in Adamo, ex quo tanquam ex radice 
 infecta per seminalem rationem est orta ; bsec est tota ratio 
 contrahendi originale peccatum, quod est ex vi conceptionis, 
 nisi gratia Dei praeveniat." — p. 16. 
 
 " 6. Certum est B. Virginem fuisse mortuam saltem in 
 Adamo. Sicut in Christo vitam habuit, ita et in Adam fuit 
 mortua. Alias B. Virgo non contraxisset mortem aliasve 
 corporis poenalitates ex Adamo ; consequens [autem] est omnino 
 falsum. Habuit B. Virgo meritum mortis saltem in Adamo. 
 Ilia vera habuit mortem carnis ex peccato Adami contractam." 
 —p. 16. 
 
 " 7. B. Virgo, ex vi suae conceptionis fuit obnoxia originali 
 peccato, seu debitum habuit contrahendi illud, niai divina 
 gratia fuisset impeditum." — p. 16. 
 
 " 8. SiB. Virgo non fuisset (ut ita dicam) vendita in Adamo, 
 et de se servituti peccati obnoxia, non fuisset vere redempta." 
 — p, 16. 
 
 " 9. Dicendum est, potuisse B. Virginem praeservari ab ori- 
 
 I 
 
130 NOTES. 
 
 ginali peccato, et in primo suae conceptionis insfcanti sancti- 
 ficari."— p. 17. 
 
 " 10. Potuifc B. Virgo ex vi suae originis esse obnoxia culps, 
 et ideo indigere redemptione, et nihilominus in eodem mo- 
 mento,in quo erat obnoxia, praeveniri, ne illam contraheret." — 
 p. 14. 
 
 " 11. Dicendum B. Virginem in ipso primo instanti concep- 
 tionis suae fuisse sanctificatam, et ab originali peccato prse- 
 servafcam." — p. 19. 
 
 " 12. Carnem Yirginis fuisse carnem peccati . . . verum est, 
 non quia Ula caro aliquando fuit subdita peccato, aut informata 
 anima carente gratia, sed quia fuit mortalis et passibilis ex 
 debito peccati, cui de se erat obnoxia, si per Christi gratiam 
 non fuisset prsBservata." — p. 22. 
 
 " 13. Quod B. Yirgo de se fuerit obnoxia peccato, (si illud 
 revera nunquam habuit,) non derogat perfectae ejus sanctitati 
 et puritati." — pp. 16, 17. 
 
 Cornelius a Lapide, Comment, in Ep, ad Eom. v. 12 : — 
 
 "The Blessed Virgin sinned in Adam, and incurred this 
 necessity of contracting original sin ; but original sin itself sbe 
 did not contract in herself in fact, nor had it ; for she was anti- 
 cipated by the grace of God, which excluded all sin from her, in 
 the first moment of her conception." 
 
 In 2 Ep. ad Corinth, v. 15 :— 
 
 "AU died, namely in Adam, for in him all contracted the 
 necessity of sin and death, even the Deipara ; so that both her- 
 self and man altogether needed Christ as a Eedeemer and His 
 death. Therefore the Blessed Virgin sinned and died in Adam, 
 but in her own person she contracted not sin and the death of 
 the soul, for she was anticipated by God and God's grace." 
 
 Third Edition : If any one wishes to see our doctrine drawn 
 out in a Treatise of the present day, he should have recourse 
 to Dr. TJUathorne's Exposition of the Immaculate Conception, 
 a work full of instruction and of the first authority. 
 
NOTES. 131 
 
 NOTE C. PAGE 53. 
 
 I have allowed that several great Fathers of the Church, of 
 the fourth and fifth centuries, speak of the Blessed Virgin in 
 terms, which we never should think of using now, and which at 
 first sight are inconsistent with the belief and sentiment con- 
 cerning her, which I have ascribed to their times. These 
 leathers are St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, and St. Cyril of Alex- 
 andria ; and the occasion of their so speaking is furnished by 
 certain passages of Scripture, on which they are commenting. 
 It may in consequence be asked of me, why I do not take these 
 three, instead of St. Justin, St. Irenseus, and TertuUian, as my 
 authoritative basis for determining the doctrine of the primitive 
 times concerning the Blessed Mary : why, instead of making 
 St. Irenseus, &c. the rule, aijd St. BasU, &c. the exception, I do 
 not make the earlier Pathers the exception, and the later the 
 rule. Since I do not, it may be urged against me that I am 
 but making a case for my own opinion, and playing the part of 
 an advocate. 
 
 Now I do not see that it would be illogical or nugatory, 
 though I did nothing more than make a case ; indeed I have 
 worded myself in my Letter as if I wished to do little more. 
 Por as much as this is surely to the purpose, considering the 
 majority of Anglicans have a supreme confidence that no case 
 whatever can be made in behalf of our doctrine concerning 
 the Blessed Virgin from the ancient Fathers. I should have 
 gained a real point, if I did any thing to destroy this imagina- 
 tion ; but I intend to attempt something more than this. I 
 shall attempt to invalidate the only grounds on which any 
 teaching contrary to the Catholic can be founded on Antiquity. 
 
 I 2 
 
182 NOTES. 
 
 I. First I set down the passages wWcli create the difficulty, as 
 they are found in the great work of Petavius, a theologian too 
 candid and fearless, to put out of sight or explain away adverse 
 facts, from fear of scandal, or from the expedience of con- 
 troversy. 
 
 1. St. Basil then writes thus, in his 260th Epistle, addressed 
 to Optimus : — 
 
 " [Symeon] uses the word ' sword,' meaning the word which 
 is tentative and critical of the thoughts, and reaches unto the 
 separation of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow. Since 
 then every soul, at the time of the Passion, was subjected in a 
 way to some unsettlement (StaKpicret), according to the Lord's 
 word, who said, ' All ye shall be scandalized in Me,' Symeon 
 prophesies even of Mary herself, that, standing by the Cross, 
 and seeing what was doing, and hearing the words, after the 
 testimony of Gabriel, after the secret knowledge of the divine 
 conception, after the great manifestation of miracles. Thou wilt 
 experience, he says, a certain tossing (o-aXos) of thy soul. Por 
 it beseemed the Lord to taste death for every one, and to 
 become a propitiation of the world, in order to justify all in His 
 blood. And thee thyself who hast been taught from above the 
 things concerning the Lord, some unsettlement (StaKptcrts) will 
 reach. This is the sword ; ' that out of many hearts thoughts 
 may be revealed.' He obscurely signifies, that, after the scan- 
 dalizing which took place upon the Cross of Christ, both to the 
 disciples and to Mary herself, some quick healing should follow 
 upon it from the Lord, confirming their heart unto faith in 
 Him." 
 
 2. St. Chrysostom, in Matth. Hom. iv. : — 
 
 " ' Wherefore,' a man may say, ' did not the angel do in the 
 case of the Virgin, [what he did to Joseph ? ' " viz. appear to 
 her after, not before, the Incarnation,] " ' why did he not bring 
 her the good tidings after her conception ? ' lest she should 
 be in great disturbance and trouble. Por the probability 
 was, that, had she not known the clear fact, she would have 
 resolved something strange (aToirov) about herself, and had 
 recourse to rope or sword, not bearing the disgrace. Por the 
 Virgin was admirable, and Luke shows her virtue, when he 
 says that, when she heard the salutation, she did not at once 
 
NOTES, 133 
 
 become extravagant, nor appropriated the words, but was 
 troubled, searching what was the nature of the salutation. 
 One then of so accurately formed a mind (8u;Kpi/3o)/A£i/5j) would 
 be made beside herself with despondency, considering the dis- 
 grace, and not expecting, whatever she may say, to persuade 
 any one who hears her, that adultery had not been the fact. 
 Lest then these things occur, the Angel came before the con- 
 ception; for it beseemed that that womb should be without 
 disorder, which the Creator of all entered, and that that soul 
 should be rid of all perturbation, which was counted worthy to 
 become the minister of such mysteries." 
 
 In Matth. Horn. xliv. (vid. also in Joann. Hom. xxi.) : — 
 " To-day we learn something else even further, viz., that not 
 even to bear Christ in the womb, and to have that wonderful 
 childbirth, has any gain, without virtue. And this is especially 
 true from this passage, ' As He was yet speaking to the multi- 
 tude, behold His Mother and His brethren stood without, 
 seeking to speak to Him,' &c. This he said, not as ashamed of 
 His Mother, nor as denying her who bore Him ; for, had He 
 been ashamed. He had not passed through that womb ; but as 
 showing that there was no profit to her thence, unless she did 
 aU that was necessary. For what she attempted, came of over- 
 much love of honour ; for she wished to show to the people 
 that she had power and authority over her Son, in nothing ever 
 as yet having been greatly ostentatious (^avra^o/iei/ij) about 
 Him. Therefore she came thus unseasonably. Observe then 
 her and their recklessness (airwotav). . . . Had He wished to 
 deny His Mother, then He would have denied, when the Jews 
 taunted Him with her. But no ; He shows such care of her 
 as to commit her as a legacy on the Cross itself to the disciple 
 whom He loved best of all, and to take anxious oversight of 
 her. But does He not do the same now, by caring for her and 
 His brethren ? . . . And consider, not only the words which 
 convey the considerate rebuke, but also . . . who He is who 
 utters it, . . . and what He aims at in uttering it, not, that is, 
 as wishing to cast her into perplexity, but to release her from 
 a most tyrannical affection, an4 to bring her gradually to the 
 fitting thought concerning Him, and to persuade her that He 
 is not only her Son, but also her Master." 
 
134 NOTES. 
 
 3. St. Cyril, in Joann. lib. xii. : — 
 
 " How shall we explain this passage ? He introduces both 
 His Mother and the other women with her standing at the 
 Cross, and, as is plain, weeping. 'For somehow the race of 
 women is ever fond of tears ; and especially given to laments, 
 when it has rich occasions for weeping. How then did they 
 persuade the blessed Evangelist to be so minute in his account, 
 so as to make mention of this abidance of the women ? For 
 it was his purpose to teach even this, viz., that probably even 
 the Mother of the Lord herself was scandalized at the unex- 
 pected Passion, and that the death upon the Cross, being so 
 very bitter, was near unsettling her from her fitting mind; 
 and in addition to this, the mockeries of the Jews, and the 
 soldiers too, perhaps, who were sitting near the Cross and 
 making a jest of Him who was hanging on it, and daring, in 
 the sight of His very mother, the division of His garments. 
 Doubt not that she received (daeSiiaTo) some such thoughts as 
 these : — I bore Him who is laughed at on the wood ; but, in 
 saying He was the true Son of the Omnipotent God, perhaps 
 somehow He was mistaken. He said He was the Life, how 
 then has He been crucified ? how has He been strangled by the 
 cords of His murderers ? how prevailed He not over the plot 
 of His persecutors ? why descends He not from the Cross, 
 though He bade Lazarus to return to life, and amazed all 
 Judaea with His miracles ? And it is very natural that a 
 woman (to yvvaiov, woman's nature), not knowing the mystery, 
 should slide into some such trains of thought. For we should 
 understand, if we do well, that the gravity of the circumstances 
 was enough to overturn even a self-possessed mind ; it is no 
 wonder then if a woman (to ywaiov) slipped into this reasoning. 
 Eor if he himself, the chosen one of the holy disciples, Peter, 
 once was scandalized, ... so as to cry out hastily, Be it far 
 from Thee, Lord. . . . what paradox is it, if the soft mind of 
 womankind was carried off to weak ideas ? And this we say, 
 not idly conjecturing, as it may strike one, but entertaining 
 the suspicion from what is written concerning the Mother 
 of the Lord. For we remember that Simeon the Just, when 
 he received the Lord as a little child into his arms, . . . said 
 to her, ' A sword shall go through thine own soul, that out of 
 
NOTES. 135 
 
 many hearts thoughts may be revealed.' By sword he meant 
 the sharp access of suffering cutting down a woman's mind 
 into extravagant thoughts. For temptations test the hearts 
 of those who suffer them, and make bare the thoughts which 
 are in them." 
 
 Now what do these three Fathers say in these passages ? 
 
 1. St. Basil imputes to the Blessed Virgin, not only doubt, 
 bub the sin of doubt. On the other hand, 1. he imputes it only 
 on one occasion ; 2. he does not consider it to be a grave sin ; 
 3. he implies that, in point of spiritual perfection, she is above 
 the Apostles. 
 
 2. St. Chrysostom, in his first passage, does not impute sin to 
 her at all. He says God so disposed things for her as to shield 
 her from the chance of sinning ; that she was too admirable to 
 be allowed to be betrayed by her best and purest feelings into 
 sin. All that is implied in a spirit repugnant to a Catholic's 
 reverence for her, is, that her woman's nature, viewed in itself 
 and apart from the watchful providence of Grod's grace over her, 
 would not have had strength to resist a hypothetical temptation, 
 — a position which a Catholic wUl not care to affirm or deny, 
 though he will feel great displeasure at having to discuss it at all. 
 This too at least is distinctly brought out in the passage, viz., 
 that in St. Chrysostom's mind, our Lady was not a mere 
 physical instrument of the Incarnation, but that her soul, as 
 well as her body, "ministered to the mystery," and needed to 
 be duly prepared for it. 
 
 As to his second most extraordinary passage, I should not be 
 candid, unless I simply admitted that it is as much at variance 
 with what we hold, as it is solitary and singular in the writings 
 of Antiquity. The Saint distinctly and {pace illms) needlessly, 
 imputes to the Blessed Virgin, on the occasion in question, the 
 sin or infirmity of vain-glory. He has a parallel passage in 
 commenting on the miracle at the Marriage-feast. All that 
 can be said to alleviate the startling character of these passages 
 is, that it does not appear that St. Chrysostom would account 
 such vain-glory in a woman any great sin. 
 
 3. Lastly, as to St. Cyril, I do not see that he declares that 
 Mary actually doubted at the Crucifixion, but that, considering 
 
136 NOTES. 
 
 she was a woman, it is likely she was tempted to doubt, and 
 nearly doubted. Moreover, St. Cyril does not seem to consider 
 such doubt, had it occurred, as any great sin. 
 
 Thus on the whole, all three Fathers, St. Basil and St. Cyril 
 explicitly, and St. Chrysostom by implication, consider that on 
 occasions she was, or might be, exposed to violent temptation 
 to doubt ; but two Fathers consider that she actually did sin, 
 though she sinned I'ghtly ; — the sin being doubt, and on one 
 occasion, according to St. Basil ; and on two occasions, the sin 
 being vain-glory, according to St. Chrysostom. 
 
 However, the strong language of these Fathers is not directed 
 against our Lady's person, so much as against her nature. They 
 seem to have participated with Ambrose, Jerome, and other 
 Fathers in that low estimation of woman's nature which was gene- 
 ral in their times. In the broad imperial world, the conception en- 
 tertained of womankind was not high ; it seemed only to perpe- 
 tuate the poetical tradition of the " Varium et mutabile semper." 
 Little was then known of that true nobility, which is exempli- 
 fied in the females of the Gothic and German races, and in those 
 of the old Jewish stock, Miriam, Deborah, Judith, Susanna, the 
 forerunners of Mary. When then St. Chrysostom imputes vain- 
 glory to her, he is not imputing to her any thing worse than 
 an infirmity, the infirmity of a nature, inferior to man's, and 
 intrinsically feeble ; as though the Almighty could have created 
 a more excellent being than Mary, but could not have made a 
 greater woman. Accordingly Chrysostom does not say that she 
 sinned. He does not deny that she had all the perfections 
 which woman could have ; but he seems to have thought the 
 capabilities of her nature were bounded, so that the utmost 
 grace bestowed upon it could not raise it above that standard 
 of perfection in which its elements resulted, and that to at- 
 tempt more, would have been to injure, not benefit it. Of course 
 I am not stating this as brought out in any part of his writings, 
 but it seems to me to be the real sentiment of many of the 
 ancients. 
 
 I will add that such a belief on the part of these Fathers, 
 that the Blessed Virgin had committed a sin or a weakness, was 
 not in itself inconsistent with the exercise of love and devo- 
 tion to her (though I am not pretending that there is proof of 
 
NOTES. 137 
 
 its actual existence) ; and for this simple reason, that if sinless- 
 ness were a condition of inspiring devotion, we should not feel 
 devotion to any but our Lady, not to St. Joseph, or to the 
 Apostles, or to our Patron Saints. 
 
 Such then is the teaching of these three Fathers ; now how 
 far is it in antagonism to ours. On the one hand, we wiU not 
 allow that our Blessed Lady ever sinned ; we cannot bear the 
 notion, entering, as we do, into the full spirit of St. Augus- 
 tine's words, " Concerning the Holy Virgin Mary, I wish no 
 question to be raised at all, when we are treating of sins." On 
 the other hand, we admit, rather we maintain, that, except for 
 the grace of Grod, she might have sinned ; and that she may 
 have been exposed to temptation in the sense in which our 
 Lord was exposed to it, though as His Divine Nature made it 
 impossible for Him to yield to it, so His grace preserved her 
 from its assaults also. "While then we do not hold that St. 
 Simeon prophesied of temptation, when he said a sword would 
 pierce her, stiU, if any one likes to say he did, we do not con- 
 sider him heretical, provided he does not impute to her any 
 sinful or inordinate emotion as the consequence to it. In this 
 way St. Cyril may be let off altogether ; and we have only to 
 treat of the paradoxa or anomala of those great Saints, St. Basil 
 and St. Chrysostom. I proceed to their controversial value. 
 
 II. I mean, that having determined what the Three Fathers 
 say, and how far they are at issue with what Catholics hold now, 
 I now come to the main question, viz. What is the authoritative 
 force in controversy of what they thus say in opposition to 
 Catholic teaching ? I think I shall be able to show that it has 
 no controversial force at all. 
 
 I begin by observing, that the main force of passages which 
 can be brought from any Father or Fathers in controversy, lies 
 in the fact that such passages represent the judgment or senti- 
 ment of their own respective countries ; and again, I say that 
 the force of that local judgment or sentiment lies in its being 
 the existing expression of an Apostolical tradition. I am far, of 
 course, from denying the claim of the teaching of a Father on 
 our deference, arising out of his personal position and character ; 
 
138 NOTES. 
 
 or the claims of the mere sentimetits of a Christian popula- 
 tion on our careful attention, as a fact carrying with it, Under 
 circumstances, especial weight ; but, in a question of doctrine, 
 we must have recourse to the great source of doctrine, Aposto- 
 lical Tradition, and a Father must represent his own people, and 
 that people must he the witnesses of an uninterrupted Tradi- 
 tion from the Apostles, if any thing decisive is to come of any 
 theological statement which is found in his writings ; and if, in 
 a particular case, there is no reason to suppose that he does 
 echo the popular voice, or that that popular voice is transmitted 
 from Apostolic times, — or (to take another channel of Tradition) 
 unless the Father in question receives and reports his doctrine 
 from the Bishops and Priests who instructed him on the very 
 understanding and profession that it is Apostolical, — then, 
 though it was not one Father but ten who said a thing, it would 
 weigh nothing against the assertion of only one Father to the 
 contrary, provided it was clear that that Father witnessed to an 
 Apostolical Tradition. Now I do not say that I can decide the 
 question by this issue with all the exactness which is conceiv- 
 able, but still this is the issue by which it must be tried, and 
 which I think will enable me to come to a satisfactory conclu- 
 sion upon it. 
 
 Such, I say, being the issue, viz., that a doctrine reported by 
 the Fathers, in order to have dogmatic force, must be a Tra- 
 dition in its source or form, next, what is a Tradition, considered 
 in its matter ? It is a belief, which, be it affirmative or negative, 
 is positive. The mere absence of a tradition in a country, is 
 not a tradition the other way. If, for instance, there was no 
 tradition in Syria and Asia Minor that the words " consub- 
 stantial with the Father," came from the Apostles, that would 
 not be a tradition that they did not come from the Apostles, 
 though of course it would be necessary for those who said that 
 they did, to account for the ignorance of those countries as to 
 the real fact. 
 
 The proposition " Christ is God," serves as an example of what 
 I mean by an ailirmative tradition ; and " no one born of woman 
 is born in God's favour,'" is an example of a negative tradi- 
 tion. Here it is observable that a tradition does not ' carry 
 its own full explanation with it ; it does but land (so to say) 
 
NOTES. 139 
 
 a proposition at the feet of the Apostles, and its interpretation 
 has still to be determined, — as the Apostles' words in Scripture, 
 however much theirs, need an interpretation. Thus I may- 
 accept the above negative Tradition, that " no one woman-born 
 is born in God's favour," yet question its strict universality, as 
 a point of criticism, saying that a general proposition admits 
 of exceptions, that our Lord was born of woman, yet was 
 the sinless and acceptable Priest and sacrifice for all men. So 
 again the Arians allowed that " Christ was God," but they 
 disputed about the meaning of the word " God." 
 
 Further, there are explicit traditions and implicit. By an 
 explicit tradition I mean a doctrine which is conveyed in the 
 letter of the proposition which has been handed down ; and by 
 implicit, one which lies in the force and virtue, not in the letter 
 of the proposition. Thus it might be an Apostolical tradition 
 that our Lord was the very Son of God, of one nature with the 
 Pather, and in all things equal to Him ; and again a tradition 
 that there was but one God : these would be explicit, but in 
 them would necessarily be conveyed, moreover, the implicit 
 tradition, that the Father and the Son were numerically one. 
 Implicit traditions are positive traditions, as being strictly 
 conveyed in positive. 
 
 Lastly, there are at least two ways of determining an Apo- 
 stolical tradition : — 1. When credible witnesses declare that it 
 is Apostolical ; as when three hundred Fathers at Nicsea 
 stopped their ears at Arius's blasphemies ; 2. When, in various 
 places, independent witnesses enunciate one and the same 
 doctrine, as St. Irenaeus, St. Cyprian, and Eusebius assert, that 
 the Apostles founded a Church, Catholic and One. 
 
 Now to apply these principles to the particular case, on 
 account of which I have laid them down. 
 
 That " Mary is the new Eve," is a proposition answering to 
 the idea of a Tradition. I am not prepared to say that it can 
 be shown to have the first of the above two tests of its Apo- 
 stolicity, viz., that the writers who record it, profess to have 
 received it from the Apostles ; but I conceive it has the second 
 test, viz., that the writers are independent witnesses, as I have 
 shown at length in the course of my Letter. 
 
140 NOTES. 
 
 It is an explicit tradition ; and by the force of it follow two 
 others, which are implicit : — first (considering the condition of 
 Eve in paradise), that Mary had no part in sin, and indefinitely 
 large measures of grace ; secondly (considering the doctrine of 
 merits), that she has been exalted to glory proportionate to 
 that grace. 
 
 This is what I have to observe on the argument in behalf of 
 the Blessed Virgin. St. Justin, St. IrensBus, Tertullian, are 
 witnesses of an Apc»tolical tradition, because in three distinct 
 parts of the world they enunciate one and the same definite 
 doctrine. And it is remarkable that they witness just for those 
 three seats of Catholic teaching, where the truth in this matter 
 was likely to be especially lodged. St. Justin speaks for Jeru- 
 salem, the see of St. James; St. Irenseus for Ephesus, the 
 dwelling-place, the place of burial, of St. John ; and Tertullian, 
 who made a long residence at Eome, for the city of St. Peter 
 and St. Paul. 
 
 Now, let us inquire, what can be produced on the other side, 
 parallel to an argument like this ? A tradition in its matter is 
 a positive statement of belief; in its form it is a statement 
 which comes from the Apostles : now, first, what statement of 
 belief at all is witnessed to by St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, and 
 St. Cyril ? I cannot find any. They do but interpret certain 
 passages in the Grospels to our Lady's disadvantage ; is an in- 
 terpretation a distinct statement of belief ? but they do not all 
 interpret the same passages. Nor do they agree together in their 
 interpretation of those passages which one or other of them 
 interprets so unsatisfactorily ; for, while Bt. Chrysostom holds 
 that our Lord spoke in correction of His mother at the wedding 
 feast, St. Cyril on the contrary says that He wrought the 
 miracle then, which He was Himself unwilling to work, in order 
 to show "reverence to His Mother," and that she "having 
 great authority for the working of the miracle, got the victory, 
 persuading the Lord, as being her Son, as was fitting." But, 
 taking only the statements which are in her disparagement, can 
 we generalize them into one proposition ? Shall we make it such 
 as this, viz., " The Blessed Virgin during her earthly life com- 
 mitted actual sin?" If we mean by this, that there was a 
 
NOTES. 141 
 
 positive recognition of such a proposition in the country of St. 
 Basil or St. Chrysostom, this surely is not to be gathered merely 
 from their separate and independent comments on Scripture. 
 All that can be gathered thence legitimately is, that, had there 
 been a positive belief in her sinlessness in those countries, 
 the Fathers in question would not have spoken of her in the 
 terms which they have used ; in other words, that there was 
 no belief in her sinlessness then and there ; but the absence 
 of a belief is not a belief to the contrary, it is not that posi- 
 tive statement, which, as I have said, is required for the 
 matter of a tradition. 
 
 Nor do the passages which I have quoted from these Fathers 
 supply us with any tradition, viewed in its form, that is, as a 
 statement which has come down from the Apostles. I have sug- 
 gested two tests of such a statement : — one, when the writers 
 who make it so declare that it was from the Apostles ; and the 
 other when, being independent of one another, they bear wit- 
 ness to one positive statement of doctrine. Neither test is 
 fulfilled in this case. The three Fathers of the 4th and 5th 
 centuries are but commenting on Scripture; and comments, 
 though carrying with them of course, and betokening the tone of 
 thought of the place and time to which they belong, are, prima 
 facie of a private and personal character. If they are more 
 than this, the onus prdbandi lies with those who would have it 
 so. Exegetical theology is one department of divine science, and 
 dogmatic is another. On the other hand, the three Fathers of 
 the 2nd century are all writing on dogmatic subjects, when 
 they compare Mary to Eve. 
 
 Now to take the Three later Fathers one by one : — 
 
 1. As to St. Cyril, as I have said, he does not, strictly speak- 
 ing, say more than that our Lady was grievously tempted. 
 This does not imply sin, for our Lord was " tempted in all things 
 like as we are, yet without sin." Moreover, it is this St. Cyril 
 who spoke at Ephesus of the Blessed Virgin in terms of such 
 high panegyric, as to make it more consistent in him to sup- 
 pose that she was sinless, than that she was not. 
 
 2. St. Basil derived his notion, that the Blessed Virgin at 
 the time of the Passion admitted a doubt about our Lord's 
 mission, from Origen ; and he, so far from professing to rest it 
 
142 NOTES. 
 
 on Tradition, draws it as a theological conclusion from a re- 
 ceived doctrine. Origen's characteristic fault was to prefer 
 scientific reasonings to authority ; and he exemplifies it in the 
 case before us. In the middle age, the great obstacle to the 
 reception of the doctrine of the Blessed Mary's immaculate con- 
 ception, was the notion that, unless she had been in some sense 
 a sinner, she could not have been redeemed. By an argument 
 parallel to this, Origan argues, that since she was one of the 
 redeemed, she must at one time or another have committed 
 a sin. He says : " Are we to think, that the Apostles were 
 scandalized, and not the Lord's Mother ? If she suffered not 
 scandal at our Lord's passion, then Jesus died not for her sins. 
 If all have sinned and need the glory of God, being justified by 
 His grace, and redeemed, certainly Mary at that time was 
 scandalized." This is precisely the argument of Basil, as 
 contained in the passage given above ; his statement then of 
 the Blessed Virgin's wavering in faith, instead of professing 
 to be a tradition, carries with it an avowal of its being none 
 at all. 
 
 However, I am not unwilling to grant that, whereas Scripture 
 tells us that all were scandalized at our Lord's passion, there 
 was some sort of traditional interpretation of Simeon's words, 
 to the effect that she was in some sense included in that trial. 
 How near the Apostolic era the tradition arose, cannot be deter- 
 mined ; but this need not include the idea of sin in the Blessed 
 Virgin, but only the presence of temptation and darkness of 
 spirit. This tradition, whatever its authority, would be easily 
 perverted, so as actually to impute sin to her, by such reason- 
 ings as that of Origen. Origen himself, in the passage I have 
 quoted from him, refers to the sword of Simeon, and is the first 
 to do so. St. Cyril, who, though an Alexandrian as well as 
 Origen, represents a very different school of theology, has, as 
 we have seen, the same interpretation for the piercing sword. 
 It is also found in a Homily attributed to St. Amphilochius ; 
 and in that sixth Oration of Proclus, which, according to 
 Tillemont and Ceillier, is not to be considered genuine. It is 
 also found in a work incorrectly attributed to St. Augustine. 
 
 3. St. Chrysostom ia, par excellence, the Commentator of the 
 Church. As Commentator and Preacher, of all the Fathers, he 
 
NOTES. 143 
 
 carries about Mm the most intense personality. In this lies his 
 very charm, peculiar to himself. He is ever overflowing with 
 thought, and he pours it forth with a natural engaging frank- 
 ness, and an unwearied freshness and vigour. If he was in the 
 practice of deeply studying and carefully criticizing what he 
 delivered in public, he had in perfection the rare art of con- 
 cealing his art. He ever speaks from himself, not of course 
 without being impregnated with the fulness of a Catholic train- 
 ing, but stUl, not speaking by rule, but as if " trusting the lore 
 of his own loyal heart." On the other hand, if it is not a 
 paradox to say it, no one carries with him so little of the 
 science, precision, consistency, gravity of a Doctor of the 
 Church, as he who is one of the greatest. The difficulties are 
 well known which he has occasioned to school theologians : his 
 obiter dicta about our Lady are among them. 
 
 On the whole then I conclude that these three [Fathers supply 
 no evidence that, in what they say of her having failed in faith 
 or humility on certain occasions mentioned in Scripture, they 
 are reporting the decisions of Apostolical Tradition. 
 
 Such difficulties as the above are not uncommon in the 
 writings of the leathers. I will mention several : — 
 
 1. St. Grregory Nyssen is a great dogmatic divine ; he too, like 
 St. Basil, is of the school of Origen ; and, in several passages 
 of his works, he, like Origen, declares or suggests that future 
 punishment will not be eternal. Those Anglicans who con- 
 sider St. Chryaostom's passages in his Commentary on the 
 G-ospels to be a real argument against the Catholic belief of 
 the Blessed Virgin's sinlessness, should explain why they do 
 not feel St. Gregory Nyssen's teaching in his Catechetical 
 Discourse, an argument against their own belief in the eternity 
 of punishment. 
 
 2. Again, they believe in the proper divinity of our Lord, in 
 spite of Bull's saying of the Ante-Nicene Pathers, "nearly all 
 the ancient Catholics, who preceded Arius, have the appear- 
 ance of being ignorant of the invisible and incomprehensible 
 (immensam) nature of the Son of God ;" an article of faith 
 expressly contained in the Athanasian Creed, and enforced by 
 its anathema. 
 
 3. The Divinity of the Holy Ghost is an integral part of the 
 
144 NOTES. 
 
 fundamental doctrine of Christianity; yet St. Basil, in the 
 fourth century, apprehending the storm of controversy which 
 its assertion would raise, refrained from asserting it on an 
 occasion when the Arians were on watch as to what he would 
 say. And St. Athanasius took his part, on his keeping silence. 
 Such inconsistencies take place continually, and no Catholic 
 doctrine but suffers from them at times, until what has been 
 preserved by Tradition is formally pronounced to be apostolical 
 by definition of the Church. 
 
 Before concluding, I shall briefly take notice of two questions 
 which may be asked me. 
 
 1. How are we to account for the absence, at Antioch or 
 Csesarea, of a tradition of our Lady's sinlessness ? I consider 
 that it was obliterated or confused by the Arian troubles in the 
 countries in which those Sees are included. 
 
 It is not surely wonderful, if, in Syria and Asia Minor, the 
 seat in the fourth century of Arianism and Semi-arianism, the 
 prerogatives of the mother were obscured together with the 
 essential glory of the Son, or if they who denied the tradition 
 of His divinity, forgot the tradition of her sinlessness. Chris- 
 tians in those countries and times, however religious themselves, 
 however orthodox their teachers, were necessarily under pecu- 
 liar disadvantages. 
 
 Now let it be observed that Basil grew up in the very midst 
 of Semi-arianism, and had direct relations with that portion of 
 its professors who had been reconciled to the Church and 
 accepted the Homoiision. It is not wonderful then, if he had 
 no firm habitual hold upon a doctrine which (though Apo- 
 stolical) was in his day so much in the background aa yet 
 all over Christendom, as our Lady's sinlessness. 
 
 As to Chrysostom, not only was he in close relations with 
 the once Semi-arian Cathedra of Antioch, to the disavowal of 
 the rival succession there, recognized by Home and Alexandria, 
 but, as his writings otherwise show, he came under the teach- 
 ing of the celebrated Antiochene School, celebrated, that is, 
 at once for its Scripture criticism, and (orthodox as it was 
 itself) for the successive outbreaks of heresy among its 
 members. These outbreaks began in Paul of Samosata, were 
 
NOTES. 145 
 
 continued in the Semi-arian pupils of Lucian, and ended in 
 Ifestorius. The famous Theodore, and Diodorus, of the same 
 school, who, though not heretics themselves, have a bad name 
 in the Church, were, Diodorus the master, and Theodore the 
 fellow-pupil, of St. Chrysostom. (Vid. Avians of the Fourth 
 Cent., p. 8, and Doctr. Bevel, p. 252.) Here then is a natural 
 explanation, why St. Chrysostom, even more than St. Basil, 
 should be wanting in a clear perception of the place of the 
 Blessed Virgin in the Evangelical Dispensation. 
 
 2. How are we to account for the passages in the Gospels, 
 which are the occasion of the Pathers' remarks to her dis- 
 paragement ? They seem to me intended to discriminate be- 
 tween our Lord's work who is our Teacher and Eedeemer, and 
 the ministrative office of His Mother. 
 
 As to the words of Simeon, as interpreted by St. Basil and 
 St. Cyril, there is nothing in the sacred text which obliges us 
 to consider the "sword " to mean doubt rather than anguish; 
 but Matth. xii. 46 — 50, with its parallels Mark iii. 31—35, 
 and Luke viii. 19—21 ; Luke xi. 27, 28, and John ii. 4, re- 
 quire some explanation. 
 
 I observe then, that, when our Lord commenced His ministry, 
 and during it, as one of His chief self-sacrifices. He separated 
 Himself from all ties of earth, in order to fulfil the typical idea 
 of a teacher and priest ; and to give an example to His priests 
 after Him ; and especially to manifest by this action the car- 
 dinal truth, as expressed by the Prophet, " I am, I am the 
 Lord, and there is no Saviour besides Me." As to His Priests, 
 they, after Him, were to be of the order of that Melchizedech, who 
 was " without father and without mother ;" for " no man, being 
 a soldier to Grod, entangleth himself with secular business:" 
 and " no man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, 
 is fit for the kingdom of Grod." As to the Levites, who were 
 His types in the Old Law, there was that honourable history of 
 their zeal for Grod, when they even slew their own brethren 
 and companions who had committed idolatry ; " who said to his 
 father and to his mother, I do not know you, and to his bre- 
 thren, I know you not, and their own children they have not 
 known." To this separation even from His Mother He refers 
 
 K 
 
146 NOTES. 
 
 by anticipation at twelve years old in His words, " How is it 
 that you sought Me ? Did you not know that I must be about 
 My Father's business ? " 
 
 This separation from her, with whom He had lived thirty 
 years and more, was not to last beyond the time of His 
 ministry. She seems to have been surprised when she first 
 heard of it, for St. Luke says, on occasion of His staying in 
 the Temple, " they understood not the word, that He spoke to 
 them." ISTay, she seems hardly to have understood it at the 
 marriage-feast ; but He, in dwelling on it more distinctly then, 
 implied also that it was not to last long. He said, " Woman, 
 what have I to do with thee ? My hour is not yet come," 
 — the hour of His triumph, when His Mother was to take 
 her predestined place in His kingdom. In saying the hour was 
 not yet come. He implied that the hour would come, when He 
 would have to do with her, and she might ask and obtain from 
 Him miracles. Accordingly, St. Augustine thinks that that 
 hour had come, when on the Cross He said, " Conswnmatum 
 est," and, after this ceremonial estrangement of some years, 
 He recognized His mother and committed her to the beloved 
 disciple. Thus by marking out the beginning and the end of 
 the period of exception, when she could not exert her influence 
 upon Him, He signifies more clearly, by the contrast, that her 
 presence with Him, and her power, was to be the rule. In a 
 higher sense than He spoke to the Apostles, He seems to 
 address her in the words, " Because I have spoken these things, 
 sorrow hath filled your heart. But I will see you again, and 
 your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from 
 you." {Vid. Sermon iii. in Sermons on Subjects of the Day, on 
 " Our Lord's Last Supper and His First") 
 
 P.S. Third Edition : On the comment of St. Irenseus, &c., 
 upon our Lord's words to the Blessed Virgin at the marriage- 
 feast, vid. my note on Athanas. Orat. iii. 41. 
 
 Also, I might have added to the present Note the passage in 
 Tertullian, Gam. Christ. § 7, as illustrating, by its contrast with 
 § 17 (quoted above, p. 36), the distinction between^ doctrinal 
 tradition and personal opinion, could I have considered it clear 
 
NOTES. 147 
 
 that he included the Blessed Virgin in the unbelief which he 
 imputes to our Lord's brethren ; for he expressly separates her 
 off from them. The passage runs thus on the text, " Who is 
 My Mother ? and who are My Brethren ?" 
 
 " The Lord's brothers had not believed in Him, as is con- 
 tained in the Grospel published before Marcion. His Mother, 
 equally, is not described (non demonstratur) to have adhered to 
 Him, whereas Martha and Mary were frequent in His inter- 
 course. In this place at length their (eorum) incredulity is 
 evident ; while He was teaching the way of life, was preaching 
 the kingdom of God, was working for the cure of ailments and 
 diseases, though strangers were riveted to Him, these, so much 
 the nearest to Him (tam proximi), were away. At length they 
 come upon Him, and stand without, nor enter, not reckoning 
 forsooth on what was going on within. Nor even do they 
 wait ; as if they were bringing thither something necessary, 
 which He then was especially employed on ; but they go on to 
 interrupt, and wish Him recalled from so great a work." 
 
 K 2 
 
148 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE D. PAGE 96. 
 
 Canisius, in hia work de Maria Deipard Virgine, p. 514, while 
 engaged in showing the carefulness with which the Church dis- 
 tinguishes the worship of Grod from the cuUus of the Blessed 
 Virgin, observes, " Lest the Church should depart from Latria 
 (i. e. the worship of God) she has instituted the public suppli- 
 cations in the Liturgy in perpetuity in such wise as to address 
 them directly to God the Eather, and not to the Saints, accord- 
 ing to that common form of praying, ' Almighty, everlasting 
 God,' &c. ; and the said prayers which they also call ' Collects,' 
 she generally ends in this way, 'through Jesus Christ, Thy 
 Son, our Lord.' " He says more to the same purpose, but the 
 two points here laid down are sufficient ; viz. that as to the 
 Latin Missal, Eitual, and Breviary, 1. Saints are not directly 
 addressed in these books : and 2. prayers end with the name of 
 Jesus. An apposite illustration of both of these, that is, in 
 what is omitted and what is introduced, is supplied by the con- 
 cluding prayer of the Offertory in the Latin Mass. If in any 
 case the name of ' our Lady and all Saints ' may be substituted 
 at the end of a prayer for our Lord's name, it would be 
 when the object addressed is, not God the Father, but the Son, 
 or the Holy Trinity; but let us observe how the prayer 
 in question runs : — 
 
 "Suscipe, Sancta Trinitas" — "Eeceive, Holy Trinity, 
 this oblation which we make to Thee, in memory of the Pas- 
 sion, Eesurrection, and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and in honour of the Blessed Mary, Ever- Virgin, of Blessed 
 John Baptist, and of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of 
 these and all Saints, that it may avail for their honour and our 
 salvation, and that they may vouchsafe to intercede for us in 
 heaven, whose memory we celebrate on earth. Through the same 
 Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
 When in occasional Collects the intercession of the Blessed 
 Mary is introduced, it does not supersede mention of our Lord 
 
NOTES. 149 
 
 as the Intercessor. Thus in the Post-communion on the Feast 
 of the Circumcision, — 
 
 "May this communion, Lord, purify us from guilt; and 
 at the intercession of Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, 
 make us partakers of the heavenly remedy, through the same 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Amen." 
 
 In like manner, when the Son is addressed, and the inter- 
 cession of Mary and the Saints is supplicated, His own merits 
 are introduced at the close, as oil the Peast of the Seven 
 Dolours : — 
 
 " God, at whose passion, according to the prophecy of 
 Simeon, the most sweet soul of the glorious Virgin-Mother 
 Mary was pierced through with the sword of sorrow, mercifully 
 grant, that we, who reverently commemorate her piercing and 
 passion, may, by the intercession of the glorious merits and 
 prayers of the Saints who faithfully stood by the Cross, obtain 
 the happy fruit of Thy Passion, who livest and reignest, &c." 
 
 " We offer to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, our prayers and 
 sacrifices, humbly supplicating, that we, who renew in our 
 prayers the piercing of the most sweet soul of Thy Blessed 
 Mother Mary, by the manifold compassionate intervention of 
 both her and her holy companions under the Cross, ly the 
 merits of Thy death, may merit a place with the Blessed, who 
 livest, &c." 
 
 Now let us observe how far less observant of dogmatic ex- 
 actness, how free and fearless, is the formal Greek devotion : — 
 
 1. " We have risen from sleep, and we fall down before Thee, 
 O good God; and we sing to Thee the Angelic Hymn, O 
 powerful God. Holy, holy, holy art Thou, God ; have mercy on 
 us through the Theotocos. 
 
 " Thou hast raised me from my bed and slumber, God. 
 Lighten my mind, and open my heart and lips, to sing of Thee, 
 Holy Trinity. Holy, holy, holy art Thou, God ; have mercy 
 on us through the Theotocos. 
 
 " Soon will come the Judge, and the deeds of all will be laid 
 bare . . . Holy, holy, holy art Thou, God ; have mercy on us 
 through the Theotocos." — Horologium, p. 2, Venet. 1836 : vide 
 also, pp. 34. 48. 52. Also, Ilucholog. Venet. p. 358. 
 
150 NOTES. 
 
 2. " God, who lookest on the earth, and makest it tremble, 
 deliver us from the fearful threatenings of earthquake, Christ 
 our God ; and send down on us Thy rich mercies, and save 
 us, at the intercessions (jrpea-jiuaii) of the Theotocos." — Ibid. 
 p. 224. Vid. also Pentecostar. p. 14. 
 
 3. " Holy God, . . . visit us in Thy goodness, pardon us 
 every sin, sanctify our souls, and grant us to serve Thee in 
 holiness all the days of our life, at the intercessions (jrpia-- 
 Puai's) of the Holy Theotocos and all the Saints, &c." — JEucho- 
 logium, p. 64. Tenet. 1832. 
 
 4. " Again, and still again, let us beseech the Lord in peace. 
 Help, save, pity, preserve us, God [through] her, the all- 
 holy. Immaculate, most Blessed, and glorious, (Sta0u'Xa^ov ij/^as 
 ®€os, r^9 Trai/ayias,) &c." — jEuchologiwm, p. 92. Venet. 1832. 
 Vid. also Pentecostar. p. 232; and passim. 
 
 5. " Lord, Almighty Sovereign, . . . restore and raise from 
 her bed this Thy servant, &c. ... at the intercession (irpccr- 
 /Jetais) of the all-undefiled Theotocos and all the Saints." — 
 Ibid. p. 142. 
 
 6. " Have mercy and pardon, (for Thou alone hast power to 
 remit sins and iniquities,) at the intercession of Thy all-holy 
 Mother and all the Saints." — Ibid. p. 150. 
 
 7. " Lord God Almighty, . . . bless and hallow Thy place 
 ... at the intercession (Trpecr/Setats) of our glorious Lady, 
 Mary, Mother of God and Ever- Virgin." — Eucholog. p. 389. 
 
 Is the Blessed Virgin ever called " our Lady," as here, in 
 the Latin Prayers? whereas it is a frequent title of her in 
 the Greek. 
 
 8. " Save me, my God, from all injury and harm. Thou who 
 art glorified in Three Persons . . . and guard Thy flock at the 
 intercessions (evreu'leortv) of the Theotocos." — Pentecostariv/m, 
 p. 59. Venet. 1820. Vid. also Goar, Eucholog. p. 30. 
 
 9. " In the porch of Solomon there lay a multitude of sick 
 . . . Lord, send to us Thy great mercies at the intercession 
 (Trpeo-^Setais) of the Theotocos." — Pentecostar. p. 84. Vid. also 
 Goar, Eucholog. pp. 488. 543. 
 
 10. " great God, the Highest, who alone hast immortality 
 . . . prosper our prayer as the incense before Thee . . . that 
 we may remember even in the night Thy holy Name, . . . and 
 
NOTES. 151 
 
 rise anew in gladness of soul . . . bringing our prayers and 
 supplications to Thy loving-kindness in behalf of our own sins 
 and of all Thy people, whom visit in mercy at the intercessions 
 (7rp£(7j8e6ats) of the Holy Theotocos."— Ibid. p. 232. Vid. So- 
 rolog. p. 192. Venet. 1836. 
 
 11. Between the Trisagion and Epistle in Mass. " Holy 
 G-od, who dwellest in the holy place, whom with the voice of 
 their Trisagion the Seraphim do praise, &c. . . . sanctify our 
 souls and bodies, and grant us to serve Thee in holiness all the 
 days of our life, at the intercession (Trpeo-/8eiais) of the Holy 
 Theotocos and all the Saints." — Tlucholog. p. 64. Venet. 1832. 
 
 12. In the early part of Mass. " Lift up the horn of Chris- 
 tians, and send down on us Thy rich mercies, by the power of 
 the precious and life-giving Cross, by the grace of Thy light- 
 bringing, third-day resurrection from the dead, at the inter- 
 cession (Trpecr/Jctats) of our All-holy Blessed Lady Mary, Mo- 
 ther of God and Ever- Virgin, and all Thy Saints." — Assemaui, 
 Codex Liturg. t. v. p. 71. Bite of St. James. 
 
 13. At the Offertory at Mass. " In honour and memory of 
 our singularly blessed and glorious Queen, Mary Theotocos and 
 Ever- Virgin; at whose intercession, Lord, receive, O Lord, 
 this sacrifice unto Thy altar which is beyond the heavens." — 
 Goar, JEueJiol. p. 58. Site of St. Ohrysostom. 
 
 14. In the Commemoration at Mass. " Cantors. Hail, Mary, 
 full of grace, &c. &c. ... for thou hast borne the Saviour of 
 our souls. Priest. [Remember, Lord] especially the most 
 Holy Immaculate, &c. . . . Mary. Cantors. It is meet truly 
 to bless (jjMKapiluv) thee, the Theotocos . . . more honourable 
 than the Cherubim, &c. . . . thee we magnify, who art truly 
 the Theotocos. O Pull of Grace, in thee the whole creation re- 
 joices, the congregation of Angels, and the race of men, sanc- 
 tified shrine, and spiritual Paradise, boast of virgins," &c. — 
 Assemani, t. v. p. 44, Jerusalem Bite. 
 
 15. In the Commemoration at Mass. " Priest. Especially 
 and first of all, we make mention of the Holy, glorious, and 
 Ever- Virgin Mary, &c. Deacon. Eemember her. Lord God, 
 and at her holy and pure prayers be propitious, have mercy 
 upon us, and favourably hear us. Priest. Mother of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, pray for me to thy Son Only-begotten, who came 
 
1 52 NOTES. 
 
 of thee, that, having remitted my sins and debts. He may- 
 accept from my humble and sinful hands this sacrifice, which is 
 offered by my vileness on this altar, through thy intercession, 
 Mother most holy." — Ihid. p. 186. Syrian Bite. 
 
 16. Apparently, after the Consecration. " The Priest in- 
 censes thrice hefore the Image (imagine') of the Virgin, and says : 
 Eejoice, Mary, beautiful dove, who hast borne for us God, the 
 "Word; thee we salute with the Angel Gabriel, saying. Hail, 
 full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Hail, Virgin, true Queen ; 
 hail, glory of our race, thou hast borne Emmanuel. We 
 ask, remember us, faithful advocate, in the sight of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, that He put away from us our sins." — 
 Ibid. t. Vn., pars 2da. in Jin. p. 20. Alexandrian Site. 
 
 17. At the Communion in Mass. " Forgive, our God, 
 remit, pardon me my trespasses as many as I have committed, 
 whether in knowledge or in ignorance, whether in word or in 
 deed. All these things pardon me, as Thou art good and kind 
 to men, at the intercession (Trpecr/Jeiais) of Thy all-unde- 
 filed and Ever- Virgin Mother. Preserve me uncondemned, 
 that I may receive Thy precious and undefiled Body, for the 
 healing of my body and soul." — Goar, Eiwhologium, p. 66. 
 
 18. After Communion at Mass. " O Lord, be merciful to 
 us, bless us, let Thy countenance be seen upon us, and pity us. 
 Lord, save Thy people, bless Thine heritage, &c., . . . through 
 the prayers and addresses (orationes) which the Lady of us all. 
 Mother of God, the divine (diva) and Holy Mary, and the four 
 bright holy ones, Michael," &c., &c. — Eenaudot, lAturg. 
 Orient, t. i. p. 29. Coptic Site of St. Basil. Vid. also ibid. 
 pp. 29. 37. 89. 515, of St. Basil, Coptic, of St. Gregory, Coptic, 
 of Alexandria, Oreele, and of Ethiopia. 
 
 19. After Communion at Mass. " We have consummated 
 this holy service (XuTovpyiav), as we have been ordered, 
 Lord . . . we, sinners, and Thine unworthy servants, who have 
 been made worthy to serve at Thy holy altar, in offering to 
 Thee the bloodless sacrifice, the immaculate Body and the 
 precious Blood of the Great God, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, to 
 Thy glory, the unoriginate Eather, and the glory of Him, Thy 
 only-begotten Son, and of the Holy Ghost, good, life-giving, 
 and consubstantial with Thee. We ask a place on Thy right 
 
NOTES. 153 
 
 hand in Thy fearful and just day through the intercession (8ta 
 tSv TrpearpeiMv) and prayers of our most glorious Lady, Mary, 
 Mother of God, and Ever- Virgin, and of all saints." — Assemani, 
 Cod. Liturg. t. vii. p. 85. Rite of Alexandria. 
 
 20. After Communion at Mass. " We thank Thee, Lord, 
 Lover of men, Benefactor of our souls, that also on this day 
 Thou hast vouchsafed us Thy heavenly and immortal mysteries. 
 Direct our way aright, confirm us all in Thy fear, &c., ... at 
 the prayers and supplications of the glorious Theotocos and 
 Ever- Virgin Mary, and of all Thy saints." — Tlucholog. p. 86. 
 Venet. 1832. 
 
 21. Concluding words of Mass. "Blessed is He who has 
 given us His holy Body and precious Blood. We have received 
 grace and found life, by virtue of the Cross of Jesus Christ. 
 To Thee, Lord, we give thanks, &c. Praise to Mary, who 
 is the glory of us all, who has brought forth for us the Eu- 
 charist."- — B,enaudot, Liturg. Orient, t. i. p. 522. Mite of 
 Ethiopia. 
 
 I will add some of the instances, which have caught my eye 
 in these ecclesiastical books, of expressions about the Blessed 
 Virgin, which, among Latins, though occurring in some Anti- 
 phons, belong more to the popular than to the formal and 
 appointed devotions paid to the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 22. " Thee we have as a tower and a harbour, and an accept- 
 able ambassadress (irpecr^tv) to the God whom thou didst 
 bear. Mother of God who hadst no spouse, the salvation of 
 he]ievera."—Pentecostar. p. 209. Venet. 1820. 
 
 23. " Virgin alone holy and undefiled, who hast mira- 
 culously (dcTTTo/xos) conceived God, intercede (irpicTfieve) for the 
 salvation of the soul of thy servant." — Euclwlog. p. 439. 
 Venet. 1832. 
 
 24. " Show forth thy speedy protection and aid and mercy 
 on thy servant, and still the waves, thou pure one, of vain 
 thoughts, and raise up my fallen soul, O Mother of God. Eor 
 I know, Virgin, I know that thou hast power for whatever 
 thou wiliest."— JJirf. p. 679. 
 
 25. " Joachim and Anna were set free from the reproach of 
 childlessness, and Adam and Eve from the corruption of death, 
 
154 NOTES. 
 
 un defiled, in thy holy birth. And thy people keeps festival 
 upon it, being ransomed from the guilt of their offences in 
 crying to thee. The barren bears the Theotocos, and the nurse 
 of lAierSorolog. p. 198. Venet. 1836. 
 
 26. " Let us now run earnestly to the Theotocos, sinners as 
 we are, and low, and let us fall in repentance, crying from the 
 depth of our souls, Lady, aid us, taking compassion on us. 
 Make haste, we perish under the multitude of our offences. 
 Turn us not, thy servants, empty away ; for we have thee as 
 our only hope." — Ibid. p. 470. Vid. " My whole hope I repose 
 in thee." — Triodion, p. 94. Venet. 1820. 
 
 27. " We have gained thee for a wall of refuge, and the all- 
 perfect salvation of souls, and a release (TrXaTva-fi.bv) in afflic- 
 tions, and in thy light we ever rejoice ; Queen, even now 
 through suffering and danger preserve us." — Ibid. p. 474. 
 
 28. "By thy mediation. Virgin, I am saved." — Triad, p. 6. 
 Venet. 1820. 
 
 29. " The relief of the afflicted, the release of the sick, 
 Virgin Theotocos, save this city and people ; the peace 
 of those who are oppressed by war, the calm of the tem- 
 pest-tost, the sole protection of the faithful." — Goar, Uucholoff. 
 p. 478. 
 
 30. All through the Office Books are found a great number of 
 Collects and Prayers to the Blessed Virgin, called Theotocia, 
 whereas in the Latin Offices addresses to her scarcely get 
 beyond the Antiphons. There are above 100 of them in the 
 Euchology, above 170 in the Pentecostarium, close upon 350 in 
 the Triodion. These, according to Eenaudot, are sometimes 
 collected together into separate volumes. {Liturg. Orient, t. ii, 
 p. 98.) 
 
 31. At p. 424 of the Horologium there is a collection of 100 
 invocations in her honour, arranged for the year. 
 
 82. At p. 271 of the ISuoJiologiim,, is a form of prayer to her 
 " in the confession of a sinner," consisting of thirty-six collects, 
 concluding with a Gospel, supplication, &c. If there were 
 any doubt of the difference which the . Greeks make between 
 her and the Saints, one of these would be evidence of it. 
 " Talce with you (irapdXa/ie) the multitude of Archangels and of 
 
NOTES. 155 
 
 bhe heavenly hosts, and the Forerunner, &c., . . . and make 
 intercession (Trpea-pelav), Holy One, in my behalf with God," 
 p. 275. Vid. also ibid. p. 390, &c. 
 
 33. There is another form of prayer to her at p. 640, of forty- 
 three collects or verses, " in expectation of war,' ' arranged to form 
 an Iambic acrostic, " undefiled, be the ally of my household." 
 Among other phrases we read here, " Thou art the head com- 
 mander (o apxto-Tparryyos) of Christians ;" . . . " They in their 
 chariots and horses, we, thy people, in thy name;" "with thy 
 spiritual hand east down the enemies of thy people ;" " Thy 
 power runs with thy will (cruVSpo/xoi/ ex^'O; '^'^•" "Deliver 
 not thine heritage, holy one, into the hands of the heathen, 
 lest they shall say, where is the Mother of Qod in whom they 
 trusted?" "Hear from thy holy Temple, thy servants, 
 pure one, and pour out God's wrath upon the Gentiles that do 
 not know thee, and the kingdoms that have not faithfully 
 called upon thy celebrated name." 
 
 34. It is remarkable, that, not only the Jacobites, but even the 
 Ifestorians agree with the Orthodox in the unlimited honours 
 they pay to the Theotocos. "iN'o one," says Eenaudot, "has 
 accused the Orientals of deficiency in the legitimate honours, 
 which are the right of the Deipara; but many have charged 
 them with having sometimes been extravagant in that devotion, 
 and running into superstition, which accusation is not without 
 foundation." — t. i. p. 257. 
 
 Another remark of his is in point here. The extracts above 
 made are in great measure from Greek service-books of this day ; 
 but even those which are not such are evidence according to 
 their date and place of opinions and practices, then and there 
 existing. " Their weight does not depend on the authority of 
 the writers, but on the use of the Churches. Those prayers 
 had their authors, who indeed were not known; but, when 
 once it was clear that they had been used in Mass, who their 
 authors were ceased to be a question." — t. i. p. 173. The 
 existing manuscripts can hardly be supposed to be mere com- 
 positions, but are records of rites. 
 
 I say then, first : — That usage, which, after a split has taken 
 place in a religious communion, is found to obtain equally in 
 •each of its separated parts, may fairly be said to have existed 
 
156 NOTES. 
 
 before the split occurred. The concurrence of Orthodox, Nes- 
 torian, and Jacobite in the honours they pay to the Blessed 
 Virgin, is an evidence that those honours were paid to her in 
 their " Undivided Church." 
 
 Next : — Passages such as the above, taken from the formal 
 ritual of the Greeks, are more compromising to those who pro- 
 pose entering into communion with them, than such parallel 
 statements as occur in unauthoritative devotions of the Latins. 
 
NOTES. 157 
 
 NOTE E. PAGE 113. 
 
 I find the following very apposite passage at note t, p. 390, 
 of Vol. I. of Mr. Morris's " Jesus the Son of Mary," a work 
 full of learning, which unhappily I forgot to consult, till my 
 Letter was finished and in type. 
 
 " An error of this sort [that our Lady is in. the Holy Eucha- 
 rist] was held by some persons, and is condemned in the fol- 
 lowing language by Benedict XIV.[?], as has been pointed out 
 to me by my old and valued friend, Father Eaber : ' This doc- 
 trine was held to be erroneous, dangerous, and scandalous, and 
 the cultus was reprobated, which in consequence of it, they 
 asserted was to be paid to the most Blessed Virgin in the 
 Sacrament of the Altar.' " 
 
 Lambertini de Ccmonizatione Sanctorum. Lib. iv. p. 2, c. 31, 
 n. 32. 
 
 De cultu erga Deiparam in Sacramento Altaris. 
 
 Non multis abhinc annis prodiit Liber de cultu erga Deipa- 
 ram in Sacramento altaris, auctore Patre Zephyrino de Someire 
 EecoUecto Sancti Prancisci, in quo asserebatuf, in Sacramento 
 altaris aliquam illius partem adesse, eandem videlicet carnem, 
 quam olim ejus sanctissima anima vivificavit, eumdemque ilium 
 sanguinem, qui in ejus venis continebatur, at ipsum lac, quo ejus 
 ubera plena erant. Addebatur, nos habere in Sacramento non 
 tantum sanguinem Deiparse, quatenus in carnem et ossa Christi 
 mutatus est, sed etiam partem sanguinis in propria specie ; 
 neque solum veram carnem ipsius, sed etiam aliquid singulorum 
 membrorum, quia sanguis, et lac, ex quibus formatum et nutri- 
 tum fuit corpus Christi, missa fuerunt ab omnibus et singulis 
 membris Beatissimae Virginis. 
 
 Etiam Christophorus de Vega in volumine satis ample, quod 
 inscribitur, TSUOLOGIA MABIANA Lugduni edito ann. 
 1653, fusius ea omnia prosecutus est : sed Theophilus Eaynau- 
 
158 NOTES. 
 
 dua in suis Dipti/cMs Marianis t. 7. p. 65, ea reprobat, asserit- 
 que hferesim sapere juxta G-uidonem Carmelitam in Summa de 
 Tiwresibus tract, de Jiisresi Orcscorum c. 13., cujua verb» sunt 
 Lsec : " Tertius decimus error Orcecorum est. Dicunt enim, quod 
 reliquiw Panis consecrati sunt reliquice corporis Beatce Virginis. 
 Sic error stultitice et amentice plenus est. Nam corpus Okristi 
 suh qualilihet parte hostim consecrat(B integrum manet. Itaque 
 qumlibet pars, a tota consecrata liostia divisa et separata, est 
 verum corpus Christi. Iltsreticum autem est etfatuum dicere, 
 quod corpus Christi sit corpus Virginis matris sucb, sicut Jiare- 
 ticum e'sset dicere, quod Christus esset Seata Virgo ; quia dis- 
 tinctorum hominum distincta sunt corpora, nee tantus honor 
 deietur corpori virginis, quantus debetur corpori Christi, cui 
 ratione Divini Suppositi deietur honor latrice, non corpori Vir- 
 ginis. Igitur dicere, reliquias hostice consecrates esse reliquias 
 corporis BeattB Virginis est hcsreticum manifested 
 
 Porro Theologorum Princeps D. Thomas 3 part, qucest. 31, 
 art. 5, docet primo, Christi corpus conceptum fuisse ex Beatfe 
 Virginis castissimis et purissimis sanguinibus non quibuseun- 
 que, sed "perductis adquamdam ampliorem digestionem per virfu- 
 tem generativam ipsius, ut essent materia apta ad conceptum" 
 cum Christi conceptio fuerit secundum conditionem naturae ; 
 materiamque aptam, sive purissimum sanguinem in conceptione 
 Christi sola Spiritus Sancti operations in utero Virginis aduna- 
 tam, et in prolem formatum fuisse ; ita ut vere dicatur corpus 
 Christi ex purissimis et castissimis sanguinibus Beatse Virginis 
 fuisse formatum. Docet secundo, non potuisse corpus Christi 
 formari de aliqua substantia, videlicet de carne et ossibus 
 Beatissimae Virginis, cum sint partes integrantes corpus ipsius ; 
 ideoque subtrahi non potuissent sine corruptione, et ejus dimi- 
 nutione : illud vero, quod aliquando dicitur, Christum de Beata 
 Virgine carnem sumpsisse, intelligendum esse et explicandum, 
 non quod materia corporis ejus fuerit actu caro, sed sanguis 
 qui est potentia caro. Docet demuin tertio, quomodo subtrahi 
 potuerit ex corpore Adam aliqua ejus pars absque ipsius dimi- 
 nutione, cum Adam institutus ut principium quoddam humante 
 naturae, aliquid habuerit ultra partes sui corporis personales, 
 quod ab eo subtractum est pro formanda Heva, salva ipsius 
 
NOTES. 1 59 
 
 integritate in ratione perfect! corporia humani: quae locum 
 habere non potueriint in Beatissima Virgine, quae uti singu- 
 lare individuuin habuit perfectissimum corpus humanum, et 
 aptissimam materiem ad Christi corpus formandum, quantum 
 est ex parte feminse, et ad ejus naturalem generationem. Ex 
 quo fit, ut non potuerit, salva integritate Beatae Tirginis, 
 aliquid subtrahi, quod dici posset de substantia corporis 
 ipsius. 
 
 Itaque, cum per banc doctrinam, Eidei principiis conjunctis- 
 simam, directe et expressis verbis improbata remanserint asserta 
 in citato libro Patris Zephyrini, ejus doctrina habita est tan- 
 quam " erronea, periculosa, et scandalosa," reprobatusque fuit 
 cultus, quem ex ea prsestandum Beatissimse Virgini in Sacra- 
 mento altaris asserebat. Loquendi autem formulae a nonnuUis 
 Patribus adhibitae, Caro Marim est caro Christi Utc. Wobis 
 carnem Maria manducandum ad salutem dedit, ita explicandae 
 sunt, non ut dicamus, in Christo aliquid esse, quod sit Marias ; 
 sed Christum conceptum esse ex Maria Virgine, materiam ipsa 
 ministrante in similitudinem naturae et speciei, et ideo filium 
 ejus esse. Sic, quia caro Christi fait sumpta de David, ut 
 expresse dicitur ad Romanos 1. " Quifactus est ex semine David 
 secimdum carnem," David dicitur Christus, ut notat S. Augus- 
 tinus enarrat. in Psalm. 144, num. 2. " Intelligitur laus ipsi 
 David, laus ipsi Christo. Christus autem secundum carnem 
 David, quia JE^lius David." Et infra : " Quia itague ex ipso 
 Christus secundum carnem, ideo David." Est item solemnis 
 Scripturae usus, loquendo de parentibus, ut caro unius vocitetur 
 caro alterius. Sic Laban Oen. 29 dixit Jacob. : " Os meum es, et 
 caro mea ;" et Judas, loquendo de fratre suo Joseph, Gen. 27. 
 ait : " 3rater enim, et caro nostra est ;" et Lev. 18 legitur : 
 " Soror patris tui caro est patris tui, et sorer matris tuce caro 
 est matris tuts;" absque eo quod hinc inferri possit, ut in 
 Jacob fuerit aliqua actualis pars corporis Laban, aut in Joseph 
 pars Judae, aut in filio pars aliqua patris. Igitur id solum 
 afSrmare licet, in Sacramento esse carnem Christi assumptam 
 ex Maria, ut ait Sanctus Ambrosius relatus in canone Omnia, 
 de Consecrat. distinct. 2 his verbis : " Scbc caro mea est pro 
 mtmdi vita, et, ut mirahilim loquar, non alia plane, quam gum 
 
1 60 NOTES. 
 
 nata est de Mwria, et passa in cruce, et resurreait de sepuloro ; 
 h(SC,in^ucMn, ipsa est." Efc infra loquens de corpore Christi: 
 " Ulud vere, illud sane, quod sumptum est de Virgine, quod 
 passum est, et sepultum," 
 
 P.S. Second Edition: A correspondent of the Weekly 
 Eegister has pointed out that Oswald's work (vid. supr. p. 103) 
 is on the Index. Vide page 5 of " Appendix Librorum Pro- 
 hibitorura a die 6 Septembris, 1852, ad mensem junium, 1858." 
 
 Cornell Catholic 
 Union Library. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 
 111 o^^h^. 1^,9^ 
 
 .. //(f i 
 
 , i^ 
 
 GILBERT AND RIYINGTOS, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, LONDON. 
 
Cornell Catholic 
 A LETTER union Library. 
 
 ADDEESSED TO HIS GEACE 
 
 THE DUKE OF NOEFOLK 
 
 ON OCCASION OF 
 ME. GLADSTONE'S EECENT EXPOSTUTATION 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN HENEY NEWMAN D.D. 
 
 OP THE OEATOEY 
 
 LONDON 
 B M^ PICKERING 196 PICCADILLY 
 
 1875 
 
LONDON : 
 
 B. AND J. BRAWN, PEINTEIiS, PBINOES STREET, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, 
 
 HIGH HOLBOHN, W.O. 
 
TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORFOLK, 
 
 Hereditary Earl Marshal of England, 
 
 &c., &c. 
 
 My Dear Duke of Norfolk, 
 
 When I yielded to the earnest wish which you, 
 together with many others, urged upon me, that I should 
 reply to Mr. Gladstone's recent Expostulation, a friend 
 suggested that I ought to ask your Grace's permission to 
 address my remarks to you. Not that for a moment he 
 or I thought of implicating you, in any sense or measure, 
 in a responsibility which is solely and entirely my own; 
 but on a very serious occasion, when such heavy charges 
 had been made against the Catholics of England by so 
 powerful and so earnest an adversary, it seemed my duty, 
 in meeting his challenge, to gain the support, if I could, 
 of a name, which is the special representative and the 
 fitting sample of a laity, as zealous for the Catholic Religion 
 as it is patriotic. 
 
 You consented with something of the reluctance which 
 I had felt myself when called upon to write ; for it was 
 hard to be summoned at any age, early or late, from a 
 peaceful course of life and the duties of one's station, to a 
 scene of war. Still, you consented ; and for myself, it is 
 the compensation for a very unpleasant task, that I, who 
 belong to a generation that is fast flitting away, am thus 
 enabled, in what is likely to be my last publication, to asso- 
 ciate myself with one, on many accounts so dear to me, — so 
 full of young promise — whose career is before him. 
 
I deeply grieve that Mr. Gladstone has felt it his 
 duty to speak with such extraordinary severity of our 
 Eeligion and of ourselves. I consider he has committed 
 himself to a representation of ecclesiastical documents 
 which will not hold, and to a view of our position in the 
 country which we have neither deserved nor can be patient 
 under. None but the Schola Theologorum is competent to 
 determin'e the force of Papal and Synodal utterances, and the 
 exact interpretation of them is a work of time. But so 
 much may be safely said of the decrees which have lately been 
 promulgated, and of the faithful who have received them, 
 that Mr. Gladstone's account, both of them and of us, is 
 neither trustworthy nor charitable. 
 
 Yet not a little may be said in explanation of a step, 
 which so many of his admirers and well-wishers deplore. I 
 own to a deep feeling, that Catholics may in good measure 
 thank themselves, and no one else, for having alienated 
 from them so religious a mind. There are those among us, 
 ^s it must be confessed, who for years past have conducted 
 themselves as if no responsibility attached to wild words 
 and overbearing deeds ; who have stated truths in the most 
 paradoxical form, and stretched principles till they were 
 close upon snapping ; and who at length, having done their 
 best to set the house on fire, leave to others the task of putting 
 out the flame. The English people are sufiiciently sensitive of 
 the claims of the Pope, without having them, as if in defiance, 
 flourished in their faces. Those claims most certainly I am not 
 going to deny ; 1 have never denied them. I have no 
 intention, now that I have to write upon them, to conceal 
 any part of them. And I uphold them as heartily as I 
 recognize my duty of loyalty to the constitution, the laws, 
 and the government of England. I see no inconsistency 
 in my being at once a good Cathohc and a good English- 
 man. Yet it is one thing to be able to satisfy myself 
 as to my consistency, quite another to satisfy others ; and, 
 undisturbed as I am in my own conscience, I have great 
 difliculties in the task before me. I have one difiiculty 
 to overcome in the present excitement of the public mind 
 against our Religion, caused partly by the chronic extrava- 
 
gances of knots of Catholics here and there, partly by the 
 vehement rhetoric which is the occasion of my writing to 
 you. A worse difficulty lies in getting people, as they are 
 commonly found, to put off the modes of speech and lan- 
 guage which are usual with them, and to enter into scien- 
 tific distinctions and traditionary rules of interpretation, 
 which, as being new to ,them, appear evasive and unnatural. 
 And a third difficulty, as I may call it, is this — that in so 
 very wide a subject, opening so great a variety of questions, 
 and of opinions upon them, while it will be simply neces- 
 sary to take the objections made against us and our faith, 
 one by one, readers may think me trifling with their pati- 
 ence, because they do not find those points first dealt with, on 
 which they lay most stress themselves. 
 
 But I have said enough by way of preface ; and 
 without more delay turn to Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet. 
 
§ 1. Inteoductoey Eemaeks. 
 
 The main question wMcli Mr. Gladstone has started I 
 consider to be this : — Can Catholics be trustworthy subjects 
 of the State "? has not a foreign Power a hold over their 
 consciences such, that it may at any time be used to the 
 serious perplexity and injury of the civil government under 
 which they live ? Not that Mr. Gladstone confines him- 
 self to these questions, for he goes out of his way, I am sorry 
 to say, to taunt us with our loss of mental and moral freedom, 
 a vituperation which is not necessary for his purpose at all. 
 He informs us too that we have "repudiated ancient history," 
 and are rejecting " modern thought," and that ou^ Church 
 has been " refurbishing her rusty tools," and has been lately 
 aggravating, and is likely still more to aggravate, our state 
 l^of bondage. I think it unworthy of Mr. Gladstone's high 
 character thus to have inveighed against us ; what intellec- 
 tual manliness is left to us, according to him 1 yet his circle 
 of acquaintance is too wide, and his knowledge of his coun- 
 trymen on the other hand too accurate, for him not to know 
 that he is bringing a great amount of odium and bad feel- 
 ing upon excellent men, whose only offence is their religion. 
 The more intense is the prejudice with which we are regarded 
 by whole classes of men, the less is there of generosity in 
 his pouring upon us superfluous reproaches. The graver 
 the charge, which is the direct occasion of his writing against 
 us, the more careful should he be not to prejudice judge 
 and jury to our disadvantage. No rhetoric is needed in 
 England against an unfortunate Catholic at any time ; but 
 so little is Mr. Gladstone conscious of his treatment of us 
 that in one place of his Pamphlet, strange as it may seem, 
 he makes it his boast that he has been careful to '' do nothing 
 towards importing passion into what is matter of pure 
 argument." pp. 15, 16. I venture to think he will one day 
 be sorry for what he has said. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 7 
 
 However, we must take things as we find them ; and 
 what I propose to do is this — to put aside, unless it comes 
 directly in my way, his accusation against us of repudiating 
 ancient history, rejecting modem thought, and renouncing 
 our mental freedom, and to confine myself for the most part 
 to what he principally insists upon, that Catholics, if 
 they act consistently with their principles, cannot be 
 loyal subjects ; — I shall not, however, omit notice of his 
 attack upon our moral uprightness. 
 
 The occasion and the grounds of Mr. Gladstone's impeach-| 
 ment of us, if I understand him, are as follows :— He was 
 alarmed, as a statesman, ten years ago by the Pope's Ency- 
 clical of December 8, and by the Syllabus of Erroneoiis 
 Propositions which, by the Pope's authority, accompanied 
 its transmission to the bishops. Then came the Definitions 
 of the Vatican Council in 1870, upon the universal juris-^ 
 diction and doctrinal infallibility of the Pope. And lastly, 
 as the event which turned alarm into indignation, and into 
 the duty of public remonstrance, ''the Roman Catholic 
 Prelacy of Ireland thought fit to procure the rejection of" the 
 Irish University Bill of February, 1873, "by the direct 
 influence which they exercised over a certain number of Irish 
 Members of Parliament, &c." p. 60. This step on the part 
 of the bishops showed, if I understand him, the new and mis- 
 chievous force which had been acquired at Eome by the late 
 acts there, or at least left him at liberty, by causing his loss 
 of power, to denounce it. " From that time forward the 
 situation was changed," and an opening was made for a 
 " broad political discussion " on the subject of the Catholic re- 
 ligion and its professors, and " a debt to the country had to 
 be disposed of." That debt, if I am right, will be paid, if he 
 can ascertain, on behalf of the country, that there is nothing 
 in the Catholic Religion to hinder its professors from being 
 as loyal as other subjects of the State, and that the See of 
 Rome cannot interfere with their civil duties so as to give 
 the civil power trouble or alarm. The main ground on 
 which he relies for the necessity of some such inquiry is, first, 
 the text of the authoritative documents of 1864 and 1870 ; 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 next, and still more, the animus which they breathe, and 
 the sustained aggressive spirit which they disclose ; and, 
 thirdly, the daring deed of aggression in 1873, when the 
 Pope, acting (as it is alleged) upon the Irish Members of 
 Parliament, succeeded in ousting from their seats a ministry 
 who, besides past benefits, were at that very time doing for 
 Irish Catholics, and therefore ousted for doing, a special 
 service. 
 
 Now, it would be preposterous and officious in me to put 
 myelf forwa rd as champion for the Venerable Prelacy of 
 Ireland, or to take upon myself the part of advocate and 
 representative of the Holy See. " Non tali auxilio ;" in neither 
 character could I come forward without great presumption ; 
 not the least for this reason, because I cannot know the exact 
 points which are reaUy the gist of the aflfront, which Mr. 
 Gladstone conceives he has sustained, whether from the one 
 quarter or from the other ; yet in a question so nearly inte- 
 resting myself as that February bill, which he brought into 
 the House, in great sincerity and kindness, for the benefit of 
 the Catholic University in Ireland, I may be allowed to say 
 thus much — that I, who now have no official relation to the 
 Irish Bishops, and am not in any sense in the counsels of 
 Eome, felt at once, when I first saw the outline of that bill, 
 the greatest astonishment on reading one of its provisions, 
 and a dread which painfully affected me, lest Mr. Gladstone 
 perhaps was acting on an understanding with the Catholic 
 Prelacy. I did not see how in honour they could accept it. 
 It was possible, did the question come over again, to decide 
 in favour of the Queen's Colleges, and to leave the project 
 of a Catholic University alone. The Holy See might so 
 have decided in 1847. But at or about that date, three re- 
 scripts had come from Rome in favour of a distinctively 
 Catholic Institution ; a National Council had decided in its 
 favour ; large off'ers of the Government had been rejected ; 
 great commotions had been caused in the political world, mu- 
 nificent contributions had been made, aU on the sole principle 
 that Catholic teaching was to be upheld in the country in- 
 violate. If, then, for the sake of a money grant, or other 
 secular advantage, this ground of principle was deserted, and 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 9 
 
 Catholic youths after all were allowed to attend the lectures 
 of men of no religion, or of the Protestant, the contest of 
 thirty years would have been stultified, and the Pope and the 
 Bishops would seem to have been playing a game, while 
 puttiag forward the plea of conscience and religious duty. 
 ]. hoped that the clause in the BUI, which gave me such un- 
 easiness, could have been omitted from it ; but, any how, it 
 was an extreme relief to me when the papers announced 
 that the Bishops had expressed their formal dissatisfaction 
 with it. 
 
 They determined to decline a gift laden with such a con- 
 dition, and who can blame them for so doing ? who can be 
 surprised that they should now do what they did in 1847 1 
 what new move in polities was it, if they so determined 1 what 
 was there in it of a factious character ? Is the Catholic Irish 
 interest the only one which is not to be represented in the 
 House of Commons ? Why is not that interest as much a 
 matter of right as any other ? I fear to expose m)' own 
 ignorance of Parliamentary rules and proceedings, but I had 
 supposed that the railway interest, and what is called the 
 publican interest, were very powerful there : in Scotland, too, 
 I believe, a government has a formidable party to deal vfith ; 
 and, to revert to Ireland, there are the Home-rulers, who have 
 objects in view quite distinct from, or contrary to, those of the 
 Catholic hierarchy. As to the Pope, 'looking at the su;-face of 
 things, there is nothing to suggest that he interfered, there 
 was no necessity of interference, on so plain a point ; and, 
 when an act can be sufficiently accounted for without intro- 
 ducing an hypothetical cause, it is bad logic to introduce it. 
 Speaking according to my lights, I altogether disbelieve the 
 interposition of Rome in the matter. In the proceedings 
 which they adopted, the Bishops were only using civil rights, 
 common to all, which others also used and in their own 
 way. Why might it not be their duty to promote the inte- 
 rests of their religion by means of their political opportu- 
 nities ? Is there no Exeter Hall interest ? 1 thought it was a 
 received theory of our Eeformed Constitution that Members 
 of Parliament were representatives, and in some sort dele- 
 gates of their constituents^ and that the strength of each 
 
10 . INTEODUCTOEY EEMAEKS. 
 
 interest was shown, and the course of the nation determined, 
 by the divisions in the House of Commons. I recollect 
 the " Times " intimating its regret, after one general elec- 
 tion, that there was no English Catholic in the new House, 
 on the ground that every class and party should be repre- 
 sented there. Surely the Catholic religion has not a small 
 party in Ireland ; why then should it not have a corres- 
 ponding number of exponents and defenders at Westmin- 
 ster ? So clear does this seem to me, that I think there 
 must be some defect in my knowledge of facts to explain 
 Mr. Gladstone's surprise and displeasure at the conduct of 
 the Irish Prelacy in 1873 ; yet I suspect none ; and, if there 
 be none, then his unreasonableness in this instance of Ire- 
 land makes it not unlikely that he is unreasonable also in 
 his judgment of the Encyclical, Syllabus, and Vatican De- 
 crees. 
 
 However, the Bishops, I believe, not only opposed Mr. 
 Gladstone's bill, but, instead of it, they asked for some 
 money grant towards the expenses of their University. If 
 so, their obvious argument was this — ^that Catholics formed 
 the great majority of the population of Ireland, and it was 
 not fair that the Protestant minority should have all that 
 was bestowed in endowment or otherwise upon Education. 
 To this the reply, I suppose, would be, that it was not Pro- 
 testantism, but liberal education that had the money, and 
 that, if the Bishops chose to give up their own principles 
 and act as Liberals, they might have the benefit of it too. 
 I am not concerned here with these arguments, but I wish 
 to notice the position which the Bishops would occupy in 
 urging such a request : — I must not say that they were 
 Irishmen first and Catholics afterwards, but I do say that in 
 such a demand they spoke not simply as Catholic Bishops, 
 but as the Bishops of a Catholic nation. They did not speak 
 from any promptings of the Encyclical, Syllabus, or Vatican 
 Decrees. They claimed as Irishmen a share in the endow- 
 ments of the country ; and has not Ireland surely a right to 
 speak in such ' a matter, and might not her Bishops fairly 
 represent her ? It seems to me a great mistake to think 
 that every thing that is done by the Irish Bishops and clergy 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 11 
 
 is done on an ecclesiastical motive ; why not on a national 1 
 but if so, such acts have nothing to do with Rome. I know 
 weU what simple firm faith the great body of the Irish 
 people have, and how they put the Catholic Religion before 
 anything else in the world. It is their comfort, their joy, 
 their treasure, their boast, their compensation for a hundred 
 worldly disadvantages; but who can deny that in politics 
 their conduct at times — nay, more than at times — has had a 
 flavour rather of their nation than of their Church ? Only in 
 the last general election this was said, when they were so earn- 
 est for Home Rule. Why, then, must Mr. Gladstone come 
 down upon the Catholic Religion, because the Irish love 
 dearly the Green Island, and its interests ? Ireland is not 
 the only country in which politics, or patriotism, or party, 
 has been so closely associated with religion in the nation or a 
 class, that it is difficult to say which of the various motive 
 principles was uppermost. " The Puritan," says Macaulay, 
 " prostrated himself in the dust before his Maker, but he set 
 his foot on the neck of his king :" I am not accusing such a 
 man of hypocrisy on account of this ; having great wrongs, 
 as he considered, both in religious and temporal matters, and 
 the authors of these distinct wrongs being the same persons, 
 he did not nicely discriminate between the acts which he 
 did as a patriot and the acts which he did as a Puritan. 
 And so as regards Irishmen, they do not, cannot, distin- 
 guish between their love of Ireland and their love of reli- 
 gion ; their patriotism is religious, and their religion is 
 strongly tinctured with patriotism ; and it is hard to recog- 
 nize the abstract and ideal Ultramontane, pure and simple, 
 in the concrete exhibition of him in flesh and blood as found 
 in the polling booth or in his chapel. I do not see how the 
 Pope can be made answerable for him in any of his political 
 acts during the last fifty years. 
 
 This leads me to a subject, of which Mr. Gladstone makes 
 a good deal in his Pamphlet. I will say of a great man, whom 
 he quotes, and for whose memory I have a great respect, I 
 mean Bishop Doyle, that there was just a little tinge of 
 patriotism in the way in which, on one occasion, he speaks 
 of the Pope. I dare say any of us would have done the 
 
12 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 same, in the heat of a great struggle for national liberty, 
 for he said nothing but what was true and honest ; I only- 
 mean that the energetic language which he used was 
 not exactly such as would have suited the atmosphere of 
 Rome. He says to Lord Liverpool, " We are taunted with 
 the proceedings of Popes. What, my Lord, have we Catho- 
 lics to do with the proceedings of Popes, or why should we 
 be made accountable for them ?" p. 27. Now, with some pro- 
 ceedings of Popes, we Catholics have very much to do indeed ; 
 but, if the context of his words is consulted, I make no 
 doubt it will be found that he was referring to certain pro- 
 ceedings of certain Popes, when he said that Catholics had 
 no part of their responsibility. Assuredly there are certain 
 acts of Popes in which no one would hke to have part. 
 Then, again, his words require some pious interpretation 
 when he says that " the allegiance due to the king and the 
 allegiance due to the Pope, are as distinct and as divided 
 in their nature as any two things can possibly be," p. 30. 
 Yes, in their nature, in the abstract, but not in the particular 
 case ; for a heathen State might bid me throw incense upon 
 the altar of Jupiter, and the Pope would bid me not to do 
 so, I venture to make the same remark on the Address of 
 the Irish Bishops to their clergy and laity, quoted at p. 31, 
 and on the Declaration of the Vicars Apostolic in England, 
 ibid. 
 
 But I must not be supposed for an instant to mean, in 
 what I have said, that the venerable men, to whom I have 
 referred, were aware of any ambiguity either in such state- 
 ments as the above, or in others which were denials of 
 the Pope's infallibility. Indeed, one of them at an earlier 
 date, 1793, Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin, had introduced 
 into one of his Pastorals the subject, which Mr. Gladstone 
 considers they so summarily disposed of. The Archbishop 
 says : — " Many Catholics contend that the Pope, when teach- 
 ing 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 in- 
 fallible ; and that his decrees and decisions in that capacity 
 are to be respected as rules of faith, when they are dogma- 
 
INTEODUCTOEY EEMAEKS. 13 
 
 tical or confiiied to doctrinal points of faith and morals. 
 Others deny this, and require the expressed or tacit acqui- 
 escence of the Church, assembled or dispersed, to stamp in- 
 fallibility on his dogmatical decrees. Until the Church 
 shall decide upon this question of the Schools, either opinion 
 may be adopted by iadividual Catholics, without any breach 
 of Catholic communion or peace. The Catholics of Ireland 
 have lately declared, that it is not an article of the Catholic 
 faith; nor are they thereby required to believe or profess 
 that the Pope is infallible, without adopting or abjuring 
 either of the recited opinions which are open to discussion, 
 while the Church continues silent about them." The Arch- 
 bishop thus addressed his flock, at the time when he was 
 informing them that the Pope had altered the oath which 
 was taken by the Catholic Bishops. 
 
 As to the language of the Bishops in 1826, we must 
 recollect that at that time the clergy, both of Ireland and 
 England,were educated in GaUican opinions. They took those 
 opinions for granted, and they thought, if they went so far 
 as to ask themselves the question, that the definition of 
 Papal Infallibility was simply impossible. Even among those 
 at the Vatican CouncU, who themselves personally beheved in 
 it, I believe there were Bishops who, until the actual defini- 
 tion had been passed, thought that such a definition could 
 not be made. Perhaps they would argue that, though the 
 historical CAddence was sufficient for their own personal 
 conviction, it was not sufficiently clear of difficulties to 
 make it safe to impose it on Catholics as a dogma. Much 
 more would this be the feeling of the Bishops in 1826. 
 " How," they would ask, " can it ever come to pass that a 
 majority of our order should find it their duty to relinquish 
 their prime prerogative, and to make the Church take the 
 shape of a pure monarchy V They would think its definition 
 as much out of the question, as that, in twenty-five years after 
 their time, there would be a hierarchy of thirteen Bishops in 
 England, with a Cardinal for Archbishop. 
 
 But, all this while, such modes of thinking were foreign 
 altogether to the minds of the entourage of the Holy See. 
 Mr. Gladstone himself says, and the Duke of Wellington 
 
14 INTEODUCTOKY REMARKS. 
 
 and Sir Robert Peel must have known it as well as he, 
 " The Popes have kept np, with comparatively little inter- 
 mission, for weU nigh a thousand years, their claim to dog- 
 matic infallibility," p. 28. Then, if the Pope's claim to infal- 
 libility was so patent a fact, could they ever suppose that 
 he could be brought to admit that it was hopeless to turn 
 that claim into a dogma ? In truth, those ministers were very 
 little interested in that question ; as was said in a Petition 
 or Declaration, signed among others by Dr. Troy, it was 
 "immaterial in apolitical light ;" but, even if they thought it 
 material, or if there were other questions they wanted to 
 ask, why go to Bishop Doyle ? If they wanted to obtain 
 some real information about the probabilities of the future, 
 why did they not go to head-quarters ? Why did they 
 potter about the halls of Universities in this matter of 
 Papal exorbitances, or rely upon the pamphlets or examina- 
 tions of Bishops whom they never asked for their credentials? 
 Why not go at once to Rome ? 
 
 The reason is plain : it was a most notable instance, with a 
 grave consequence, of what is a fixed tradition with us the 
 English people, and a great embarrassment to every admi- 
 nistration in their dealings with Catholics. I recollect, 
 years ago. Dr. Griffiths, Vicar Apostolic of the London 
 District, giving me an account of an interview he had with 
 the late Lord Derby, then I suppose Colonial Secretary. I 
 understood him to say that Lord Derby was in perplexity 
 at the time, on some West India matter, in which Catholics 
 were concerned, because he could not find their responsible 
 representative. He wanted Dr. Griffiths to undertake the 
 office, and expressed something of disappointment when the 
 Bishop felt obliged to decline it. A chronic malady has from 
 time to time its paroxysms, and the history on which I am 
 now engaged is a serious instance of it. I think it is im- 
 possible that the British government could have entered 
 into formal negociations with the Pope, without its transpir- 
 ing in the course of them, and its becoming perfectly clear, 
 that Rome could never be a party to such a pledge as Eng- 
 land wanted, and that no pledge from Catholics was of any 
 value to which Rome was not a party. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. , 15 
 
 But no ; they persisted in an enterprise which was 
 hopeless in its first principle, for they thought to break the 
 indissoluble tie which bound together the head and the 
 members, — and doubtless Eome felt the insult, though she 
 might think it prudent not to notice it. France was not the 
 keystone of the ecumenical power, though her Church was 
 so great and so famous ; nor could the hierarchy of Ireland, 
 in spite of its fidelity to the Catholic faith, give any pledge 
 of the future to the statesmen who required one ; there was 
 but one See, whose word was worth anything in the matter, 
 " that church " (to use the language of the earliest of our Doc- 
 tors) " to which the faithful all round about are bound to 
 have recourse." Yet for three hundred years it has been 
 the official rule with England to ignore the existence of the 
 Pope, and to deal with Catholics in England, not as his chil- 
 drcn,but as sectaries of the Roman Catholic persuasion. Napo- 
 leon said to his envoy, " Treat with the Pope as if he was 
 master of 100,000 men." So clearly did he, from mere 
 worldly sagacity, comprehend the Pope's place in the then 
 state of European afiairs, as to say that, " if the Pope had not 
 existed, it would have been well to have created him for that 
 occasion, as the Eoman consuls created a dictator in difficult 
 circumstances." (Alison's Hist. ch. 35). But we, in the 
 instance of the greatest, the oldest power in Europe, a 
 Church whose grandeur in past history demanded, one would 
 think, some reverence in our treatment of her, the mother of 
 English Christianity, who, whether her subsequent conduct 
 had always been motherly or not, had been a true friend 
 to us in the beginnings of our history, her we have not only 
 renounced, but, to use a familiar word, we have absolutely 
 cut. Time has gone on and we have no relentings ; to-day, 
 as little as yesterday, do we understand that pride was' not 
 made for man, nor the cuddling of resentments for a great 
 people. I am entering into no theological question : I am 
 speaking all along of mere decent secular intercourse be- 
 tween England and Konie. A hundred grievances would 
 have been set right on their first uprising, had there been a 
 frank diplomatic understanding between two great powers ; 
 but, on the contrary, even within the last few weeks, the 
 
16 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 present Ministry has destroyed any hope of a better state of 
 things by withdrawing from the Vatican the make-shift 
 channel of intercourse which had of late years been per- 
 mitted there. 
 
 The world's politics has its laws ; and such abnormal 
 courses as England has pursued have their Nemesis. An 
 event has taken place which, alas, already makes itself felt 
 in issues, unfortunate for English Catholics certainly, but 
 alsoj as I think, for our country. A great Council has been 
 called ; and, as England has for so long a time ignored 
 Rome, Ptome, I suppose, it must be said, has in turn ignored 
 England. I do not mean of set purpose ignored, but as the 
 natural consequence of our act. Bishops brought from the 
 corners of the earth, in 1870, what could they know of 
 English blue books and Parliamentary debates in the years 
 1826 and 1829 "? It was an extraordinary gathering, and 
 its possibility, its purpose, and its issue, were alike mar- 
 vellous, as depending on a coincidence of strange condi- 
 tions, which, as might be said beforehand, never could take 
 place. Such was the long reign of the Pope, in itself a 
 marvel, as being the sole exception to a recognized ecclesi- 
 astical tradition. Only a Pontiff so unfortunate, so revered, 
 BO largely loved, so popular even with Protestants, with such 
 a prestige of long sovereignty, with such claims on the 
 Bishops around him, both of age and of paternal gracious 
 acts, only such a man could have harmonized and guided to 
 the conclusion, which he pointed out, an assembly so vari- 
 ously composed. And, considering the state of theological 
 opinion seventy years before, not less marvellous was the 
 concurrence of all but a feAv out of so many hundred 
 Bishops in the theological judgment, so long desired at 
 Eome ; the protest made by some eighty or ninety, at the 
 termination of the Council, against the proceedings of the 
 vast majority lying, not against the truth of the doctrine 
 then defined, but against its opportuneness. Nor less to be 
 noted is the neglect of the Catholic powers to send repre- 
 sentatives to the Council, who might have laid before the 
 Fathers its political bearings. For myself, I did not call it 
 inopportune, for times and seasons are known to God alone, 
 
INTKODUCTOHY REMARKS. 17 
 
 and persecution may be as opportune, though not so plea- 
 sant as peace ; nor, in accepting as a dogma what I had 
 ever held as a truth, could I be doing violence to any theo- 
 logical view or conclusion of my own ; nor has the accept- 
 ance of it any logical or practical effect whatever, as I con- 
 sider, in weakening my allegiance to Queen Victoria ; but 
 there are few Catholics, I think, who will not deeply regret, 
 though no one be in fault, that the English and Irish Prela- 
 cies of 1826, did not foresee the possibility of the Synodal 
 determinations of 1870, nor wiU they wonder that States- 
 men should feel themselves aggrieved, that stipulations, 
 . which they considered necessary for Catholic emancipation 
 should have been, as they may think, rudely cast to the 
 Avinds. 
 
 And now I must pass from the mere accidents of the 
 controversy to its essential points, and I cannot treat them 
 to the satisfaction of Mr. Gladstone, unless I go back a great 
 way, and be allowed to speak of the ancient Catholic 
 Church. 
 
§ 2. The Ancient Church. 
 
 When Mr. Gladstone accuses us of " repudiating ancient 
 history," he means the ancient history of the Church ; 
 also, I understand him to be viewing that history under a - 
 particular aspect. There are many aspects in which Chris- 
 tianity presents itself to us ; for instance, the aspect of social 
 usefulness, or of devotion, or again of theology ; but, though 
 he in one place glances at the last of these aspects, his own 
 view of it is its relation towards the civil power. He 
 writes "as one of the world at large;" as a "layman 
 who has spent most and the best years of his life in the 
 observation and practice of politics ; " p. 7, and, as a states- 
 man, he naturally looks at the Church on its political 
 side. Accordingly, in his title-page, in which he professes 
 to be expostulating with us for accepting the Vatican Decrees, 
 he does so, not for any reason whatever, but because of their 
 incompatibility with our civil allegiance. This is the key-note 
 of his impeachment of us. As a public man, he has only to do 
 with the public action and effect of our Eeligion, its aspect 
 upon national affairs, on our civil duties, on our foreign inte- 
 rests ; and he tells us that our Eeligion has a bearing and 
 behaviour towards the State utterly unlike that of an- 
 cient Christianity, so unlike that we may be said to repu- 
 diate what Christianity was in its first centuries, so imlike 
 to what it was then, that we have actually forfeited the proud 
 boast of being "Ever one and the same;" unlike, I say, 
 in this, that our action is so antagonistic to the State's 
 action, and our claims so menacing to civil peace and pro- 
 sperity. Indeed ! then I suppose our Lord and His Apos- 
 tles, that St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Folycarp of 
 Smyrna, and St. Cyprian of Carthage, and St. I-aurence of 
 Kome, that St. Alexander and St. Paul of Constantino- 
 ple, that St. Ambrose of Milan, that Popes Leo, John, Syl- 
 verian, Gregory, and Martio, all members of the " undi- 
 
THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 19 
 
 vided Churchj" cared supremely, and laboured successfully, 
 to cultivate peaceful relations with the government of Eome. 
 They had no doctrines and precepts, no rules of life, no iso- 
 lation and aggressiveness, which caused them to be consi- 
 dered, in spite of themselves, the enemies of the human^ 
 race ! May I not, without disrespect, submit to Mr. Glad- 
 stone that this is very paradoxical ? Surely it is our fidelity 
 to the history of our forefathers, and not its repudiation, 
 which Mr. Gladstone dislikes in us. When, indeed, was it 
 in ancient times that the State did not show jealousy of the 
 Church ? ■ Was it when Decius and Dioclesian slaughtered 
 their thousands who had abjured the religion of old 
 Rome? or, was it when Athanasius was banished to Treves? or 
 when Basil, on the Imperial Prefect's crying out, " Never 
 before did any man make so free with me," answered, "' Per- 
 haps you never before feU in with a Bishop T or when Chry- 
 sostom was sent off to Cucusus, to be worried to death by an 
 Empress ?_' Go through the long annals of Church History, 
 century after century, and say, was there ever a time when 
 her Bishops, and notably the Bishop of Eome, were slow to 
 give their testimony in behalf of the moral and revealed 
 law and to suffer for their obedience to it, or forgot that 
 they had a message to deliver to the world ? not the task 
 merely of administering spiritual consolation, or of making 
 the sick-bed easy, or of training up good members of society, 
 and of " serving tables," (though all this was included in 
 their range of duty) ; but specially and directly to deliver 
 a message to the world, a definite message to high and 
 low, from the world's Maker, whether men would hear 
 or whether they would forbear ? The history surely of 
 the Church in aU past times, ancient as well as medie- 
 val, is the very embodiment of that tradition of Apostolical 
 independence and freedom of speech which in the eyes of 
 man is her great offence now. 
 
 Nay, that independence, I may say, is even one of her 
 Notes or credentials ; for where shall we find it except 
 in the Catholic Church ? " I spoke of Thy testimonies," 
 says the Psalmist, "even before kings, and I was not 
 ashamed." This verse, I think Dr. Arnold used to say, rose 
 
20 THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 
 
 up in judgment against the Anglican Church, in spite of 
 its real excellences. As to the Oriental Churches, every 
 one knows in what bondage they lie, whether they are under 
 the rule of the Czar or of the Sultan. Such is the actual 
 fact that, whereas it is the very mission of Christianity to 
 hear witness to the Creed and Ten Commandments in a 
 world which is averse to them, Eome is now the one faithful 
 representative, and thereby is heir and successor of that 
 freespoken dauntless Church of old, whose traditions Mr. 
 Gladstone says the said Eome has repudiated. 
 
 I have one thing more to say on the subject of the " sem- 
 per eadem." In truth, this fidelity to the ancient Christian 
 system, seen in modern Eome, was the luminous fact which 
 more than any other turned men's minds at Oxford forty 
 years ago to look towards her with reverence, interest, and 
 love. It affected individual minds variously of course ; 
 some it even brought on eventually to conversion, others it 
 only restraiaed from active opposition to her claims ; but no 
 one could read the Fathers, and determine to be their disci- 
 ple, without feeling that Rome, like a faithfu] steward, had 
 kept in fulness and in vigour what his own communion had 
 let drop. The Tracts for the Times were founded'on a deadly 
 antagonism to what in these last centuries has been called 
 ErastianismorCsesarism. Their writers considered the Church 
 to be a divine creation, " not of men, neither by man, but by 
 Jesus Christ," the Ark of Salvation, the Oracle of Truth, 
 the Bride of Christ, with a message to all men every where, 
 and a claim on their love and obedience ; and, in relation to 
 the civil power, the object of that promise of the Jewish pro- 
 phets, " Behold, I will lift up My Hand to the Gentiles, and 
 Avill set up My standard to the peoples, kings and their 
 queens shall bow down to thee with their face toward the 
 earth, and they shall lick up the dust of thy feet." No 
 Ultramontane (so called) could go beyond those writers in 
 the account which they gave of her from the Prophets, and 
 that high notion is recorded beyond mistake in a thousand 
 passages of their writings. 
 
 There is a fine passage of Mr.^ Keble's in the British 
 Critic, in animadversion upon a contemporary reviewer. Mr, 
 
THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 21 
 
 Hurrell Froude, speaking of tlie Chiircli of England, had 
 said that " she was ' united ' to the State as Israel 
 to Egypt." This shocked the reviewer in question, who 
 exclaimed in consequence, "The Church is not united 
 to the State as Israel to Egypt; it is united as a be- 
 lieving wife to a husband who threatened to apostatize ; 
 and, as a Christian wife so placed would act . . clinging to 
 the connection . . so the Church must struggle even now^ and 
 save, not herself, but the State,, from the crime of a 
 divorce." On this Mr. Keble says, " We had thought 
 that the Spouse of the Church was a very different Per- 
 son from any or aU States, and her relation to the State 
 through Him very unlike that of hers, whose duties are 
 sumnfied up in ' love, service, cherishing, and obedi- 
 ence.' And since the one is exclusively of this world, 
 the other essentially of the eternal world, such an Alliance 
 as the above sentence describes, would have seemed 
 to us, not only fatal, hut monstrous /"''^ And he quotes the 
 lines, — 
 
 " Mortua quinetiam jungebat corpora vivis, 
 Componens manibusque manus, atque oribus era : 
 Tormenti genus ! " 
 
 It was this same conviction that the Church had rights 
 which the State could not touch, and was prone to ignore, 
 and which in consequence were the occasion of great trou- 
 bles between the two, that led Mr. Froude at the beginning 
 of the movement to translate the letters of St. Thomas 
 Becket, and Mr. Bowden to write the Life of Hildebrand. 
 As to myself, I wUl but refer, as to one out of many pas- 
 sages with the same drift, in the books and tracts which I 
 published at that time, to my Whit-Monday and Whit- 
 Tuesday Sermons. 
 
 I believe a large number of members of the Church of 
 England at this time are faithful to the doctrine which was 
 proclaimed within its pale in 1833, and following years ; the 
 main difference between them and Catholics being, not as 
 
 * Eeviewof Gladstone's " The State in its Relations with the. Ghurch," 
 October, 1839. 
 
22 THE ANCIENT CHUECH. 
 
 to the existence of certain Mgh prerogatives and spiritual 
 powers in tlie Christian Church, but that the powers which 
 we give to the Holy See, they lodge in her Bishops and 
 Priests, whether as a body or individually. Of course, this 
 is a very important diiierence, but it does not enter into 
 my argument here. It does seem to me preposterous to 
 charge the Catholic Church of to-day with repudiating an- 
 cient history by certain political acts of hers, and thereby 
 losing her identity, when it was her very likeness in poli- 
 tical action to the Church of the first centuries, that has in 
 our time attracted even to her communion, or at least to 
 her teaching, not a few educated men, who made those first 
 centuries their special model. 
 
 But I have more to say on this subject, perhaps too much, 
 when I go on, as I now do, to contemplate the. Christian 
 Church, when persecution was exchanged for establishment, 
 and her enemies became her children. As she resisted and 
 defied her persecutors, so she ruled her convert people. And 
 surely this was but natural, and will startle those only to 
 whom the subject is new. If the Church is independent of 
 the State, so far as she is a messenger from God, therefore, 
 should the State, with its high officials and its subject 
 masses, come into her communion, it is plain that they must 
 at once change hostility into submission. There was no 
 middle term ; either they must deny her claim to divinity 
 or humble themselves before it, — that is, as far as the do- 
 main of religion extends, and that domain is a wide one. 
 They could not place God and man on one level. We see 
 this principle carried out among ourselves in all sects every 
 day, though with greater or less exactness of application, 
 according to the supernatural power which they ascribe to 
 their ministers or clergy. It is a sentiment of nature, which 
 anticipates the inspired command, " Obey them that have 
 the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch 
 for your souls." 
 
 As regards the Eoman Emperors, immediately on their 
 becoming Christians, their exaltation of the hierarchy was 
 in proportion to its abject condition iii. the heathen period. 
 
THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 23 
 
 Grateful converts felt that they could not do too much in 
 its honour and service. Emperors bowed the head before 
 the Bishops, kissed their hands and asked their blessing. 
 When Constantiue entered into the presence of the assem- 
 bled Prelates at Nicaea, his eyes fell, the colour mounted up 
 into his cheek, and his mien was that of a suppliant ; he 
 would not sit, till the Bishops bade him, and he kissed the 
 wounds of the Confessors. JBe set the example for the suc- 
 cessors of his power, nor did the Bishops decline such 
 honours. Emperors' wives served them at table ; when 
 they did wrong, they did penance and asked forgive- 
 ness. When they quarrelled with them, and would banish 
 them, their hand trembled when they came to sign the 
 order, and refused to do its office, and after various attempts 
 they gave up their purpose. Soldiers raised to sovereignty 
 asked their recognition and were refused it. Cities under 
 imperial displeasure sought their intervention, and the 
 master of thirty legions found himself powerless to with- 
 stand the feeble voice of some aged travel-staiued stranger. 
 Laws were passed in favour of the Church ; Bishops could 
 only be judged by Bishops, and the causes of their clergy 
 were withdrawn from the secular courts. Their sentence 
 was final, as if it were the Emperor's own, and the governors 
 of provinces were bound to put it in execution. Litigants 
 everywhere were allowed the liberty of referring their cause 
 to the tribunal of the Bishops, who, besides, became arbitra- 
 tors on a large scale in private quarrels ; and the public, 
 even heathens, wished it so. St. Ambrose was sometimes so 
 taken up with business of this sort, that he had time for no- 
 thing else. St. Austin and Theodoret both complain of the 
 weight of such secular engagements, as forced upon them by 
 the importunity of the people. Nor was this all; the Empe- 
 rors showed their belief in the divinity of the Church and 
 of its creed by acts of what we should now call persecution. 
 Jews were forbidden to proselytize a Christian ; Christians 
 were forbidden to become pagans; pagan rites were abo- 
 lished, the books of heretics and infidels were burned whole- 
 sale ; their chapels were razed to the ground, and even 
 their private meetings were made illegal. 
 
24 THE ANCIENT CHUECH. 
 
 These characteristics of the convert Empire were the im- 
 raediate, some of them the logical, consequences, of its new 
 faith. Had not the Emperors honoured Christianity in its 
 ministers and in its precepts, they would not properly have 
 deserved the name of converts. Nor was it unreasonable in 
 litigants voluntarily to frequent the episcopal tribunals, if 
 they got justice done to them there better than in the civil 
 courts. As to the prohibition of heretical meetings, I can- 
 not get myself quite to believe that Pagans, Marcionites, 
 and Manichees had much tenderness of conscience in their 
 religious profession, or were wounded seriously by the Im- 
 perial rescript to their disadvantage. Many of these sects 
 were of a most immoral character, whether in doctrine or 
 practice ; others were forms of witchcraft ; often they were 
 little better than paganism. The Novatians certainly stand 
 on higher ground ; but on the whole, it would be moat un- 
 just to class such wild, impure, inhuman rites with even the 
 most extravagant and grotesque of American sectaries now. 
 They could entertain no bitter feeling that injustice was done 
 them in their repression. They did not make free thought 
 or private judgment their watch words. The populations 
 of the Empire did not rise in revolt when its religion 
 was changed. There were two broad conditions which 
 accompanied the grant of all this ecclesiastical power and 
 privilege, and made the exercise of it possible ; first, that 
 the people consented to it, secondly, that it was enforced 
 by the law of the Empire. High and low opened the door 
 to it. The Church of course would say that such preroga- 
 tives were rightfully hers, as being at least congruous grants 
 made to her, on the part of the State, in return for the benefits 
 which she bestowed upon it. It was her right to demand 
 them, and the State's duty to concede them. This seems 
 to have been the basis of the new state of society. And in fact 
 these prerogatives were in force and in exercise all through 
 those troublous centuries which followed the break-up of the 
 Imperial sway : and, though the handling of them at length 
 fell into the hands of one see exclusively (on which I shall 
 remark presently), the see of Peter, yet the substance and 
 character of these prerogatives, and the Church's claim to 
 
THE ANCIEKT CHURCH. 25 
 
 possess them, remained untouched. The change in the 
 internal allocation of power did not aflect the existence 
 and the use of the power itself. 
 
 Eanke, speaking of this development of ecclesiastical 
 supremacy upon the conversion of the Empire, remarks as 
 follows : 
 
 " It appears to me that this was the result of an internal 
 necessity. The rise of Christianity involved the liberation 
 of religion from all political elements. From this followed 
 the growth of a distinct ecclesiastical class with a pecuhar 
 constitution. In this separation of the Church from the 
 State consists, perhaps, the greatest, the most pervading 
 and influential peculiarity of all Christian times. The 
 spiritual and secular powers may come into near contact, 
 may even stand in the closest community ; but they can be 
 thoroughly incorporated only at rare conjunctures and for 
 a short period. Their mutual relations, their position with 
 regard to each other, form, from this time forward, one of 
 the most important considerations in all history." — The 
 Popes, vol. i., p. 10, trarisl. 
 
26 
 
 ^ 3. The Papal Church. 
 
 Now we come to the distinctive doctrine of the Cathohc 
 Religion, the doctrine which separates ns from all other de- 
 nominations of Christians however near they may approach 
 to us in other respects, the claims of the see of Eome, which 
 have given occasion to Mr. Gladstone's Pamphlet and to the 
 remarks which I am now making upon it. Of those rights, 
 prerogatives, privileges, and ^uties, which I have been sur- 
 veying in the ancient Church, the Pope is the heir. I shall 
 dwell now upon this point, as far as it is to my purpose to 
 do so, not treating it theologically (else I must define and 
 prove from Scripture and the Fathers the " Primatus jure 
 divino Eomani Pontificis "), but historically, because Mr. 
 Gladstone appeals to history. Instead of treating it theo- 
 logically I wish to look with (as it were) secular, or even 
 non-Catholic eyes at the powers claimed during the last 
 thousand years by the Pope — that is, only as they lie in the 
 nature of the case, and in the surface of the facts which 
 come before us in history. 
 
 1. I say then the Pope is the heir of the Ecumenical Hie- 
 rarchy of the fourth century, as being, what I may call, heir 
 by default. No one else claims or exercises its rights or its 
 duties. Is it possible to consider the Patriarch of Moscow 
 or of Constantinople, heir to the historical pretensions of St. 
 Ambrose or St. Martin 1 Does any Anglican Bishop for the 
 last 300 years recall to our minds the image of St. Basil 1 
 Well, then, has all that ecclesiastical power, which makes 
 such a show in the Christian Empire, simply vanished, or, if 
 not, where is it to be found 1 I wish Protestants would throw 
 themselves into our minds upon this point ; I am not hold- 
 ing an argument with them ; I am only wishing them to 
 understand where we stand and how we look at things. There 
 is this great difference of belief between us and them : they 
 do not believe that Christ set up a visible society, or rather 
 
THE PAPAL CHtTRCH. 27 
 
 kingdom, for the propagation and maintenance of His reli- 
 gion, for a necessary home and refuge of His people ; but 
 wc do. We know the kingdom is stdl on earth : where is 
 it 1 If all that can be found of it is what can be discerned 
 at Constantinople or Canterbury, I say, it has disappeared ; 
 and either there was a radical corruption of Christianity 
 from the first, or Christianity came to an end, in proportion 
 as the type of the Nicene Church faded out of the world : for 
 all that we know of Christianity, in ancient history, as a con- 
 crete fact, is the Church of Athanasius and his fellows : it is 
 nothing else historically but that bundle of phenomena, that 
 combination of claims, prerogatives, and corresponding acts, 
 some of which I have recounted above. Ther.e is no help 
 for it ; we cannot take as much as we please, and no more, 
 of an institution which has a monadic existence. We must 
 either give up the belief in the Church as a divine institu- 
 tion altogether, or we must recognize it in that communion 
 of which the Pope is the head. With him alone and round 
 about him are found the claims, the prerogatives, and duties 
 which we identify with the kingdom set up by Christ. We 
 must take things as they are ; to believe in a Church, is to 
 believe in the Pope. And thus this behef in the Pope and 
 his attributes, which seems so monstrous to Protestants, is 
 bound up with our being Catholics at all ; as our Catholicism 
 is with our Christianity. There is nothing then of wanton 
 opposition to the powers that be, no dinning of novelties in 
 their startled ears in what is often unjustly called Ultra- 
 montane doctrine ; there is no pernicious servility to the 
 Pope in our admission of his pretensions. I say, we cannot 
 help ourselves — Parliament may deal as harshly with us as 
 it will ; we should not believe in the Church at all, unless 
 we believed in its visible head. -~^ 
 
 So it is ; the course of ages has fulfilled the prophecy and 
 promise, " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I wiU build 
 My Church ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall 
 be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on 
 earth shall be loosed in heaven." That which in substance 
 was possessed by the Nicene Hierarchy, that the Pope 
 claims now. I do not wish to put difficulties in my way ; 
 
28 THE PAPAL CHURCH. 
 
 but I cannot conceal or smooth over what I beheve to be 
 a simple truth, though the avowal of it will be very un- 
 welcome to Protestants, and, as I fear, to some Catholics. 
 However, I do not call upon another to believe all that I 
 believe on the subject myself. I declare it, as my own 
 judgment, that the prerogatives, such as, and, in the 
 way in which, I have described them in substance, which the 
 Church had under the Roman Power, thosa she claims now, 
 and never, never will relinquish ; claims them, not as 
 having received them from a dead Empire, but partly l)y 
 the direct endowment of her Divine Master, and partly as 
 being a legitimate outcome of that endowment ; claims 
 them, but not except from Catholic populations, not as if 
 accounting the more sublime of them to be of every-day use, 
 but holding them as a protection or remedy in great emergen- 
 cies or on supreme occasions, when nothing else will serve, 
 as extraordinary and solemn acts of her religious sovereignty. 
 And our Lord, seeing what would be brought about by 
 human means, even had He not willed it, and recognizing, 
 from the laws which He Himself had imposed upon human 
 society, that no large community could be strong which had 
 no head, spoke the word in the beginning, as He did to 
 Judah, " Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise," and 
 then left it to the course of events to fulfil it. 
 
 2. Mr. Gladstone ought to have chosen another issue for 
 attack upon us, than the Pope's power. His real difficulty lies 
 deeper ; as little permission as he allows to thePope, would he 
 allow to any ecclesiastic who would wield the weapons of St. 
 Ambrose and St. Augustine. That concentration of the 
 Church's powers which history brings before us should not 
 be the object of his special indignation. It is not the ex- 
 istence of a Pope, but of a Church, which is his aversion. 
 It is the powers, and not their distribution and allocation in 
 the ecclesiastical body which he writes against. A triangle 
 or parallelogram is the same in 'its substance and nature, 
 whichever side is made its base. " The Pontiffs," says Mr. 
 Bowden, who writes as an Anglican, " exalted to the kingly 
 throne of St. Peter, did not so much claim new privileges 
 for themselvesj as deprive their episcopal brethren of privi- 
 
THE PAPAL CHURCH. 29 
 
 leges originally common to the hierarchy. Even the titles 
 by which those autocratical prelates, in the plenitude of 
 their power, delighted to style themselves, ' Summus Sacer- 
 dos,' ' Pontifex Maximus,' ' Vicarius Christi,' ' Papa ' itself, 
 had, nearer to the primitive times, been the honourable 
 appellations of every bishop ; as " Sedes Apostolica " had 
 been the description of every Bishop's throne. The ascrip- 
 tion of these titles, therefore, to the Pope only gave to the 
 terms new force, because that ascription became exclusive ; 
 because, that is, the bishops in general were stripped of 
 honours, to which their claims were as well founded as those 
 of their Koman brother, who became, by the change, not so 
 strictly universal as sole Bishop." {Greg. vii. vol. i. p. 64.) 
 Say that the Christian poHty remained, as history repre- 
 sents it to us in the fourth century, or that now it was, if 
 that was possible, to revert to such a state, would politicians 
 have less trouble with 1800 centres of power than they 
 have with one % Instead of one, with traditionary rules, the 
 trammels of treaties and engagements, public opinion to 
 consult and manage, the responsibility of great interests, 
 and the guarantee for his behaviour in his temporal posses- 
 sions, there would be a legion of ecclesiastics, each bishop 
 with his following, each independent of the others, 
 each with his own views, each with extraordinary powers, 
 each with the risk of misusing them, all over Christendom. 
 It would be the Anglican theory, made real. It would be 
 an ecclesiastical communism ; and, if it did not benefit reli- 
 gion, at least it would not benefit the civil power. Take a 
 small illustration :— what interruption at this time to Par- 
 liamentary proceedings, does a small zealous party occasion, 
 which its enemies call a " mere handful of clergy ;" and 
 why 1 Because its members are responsible for what they 
 do to God alone and to their conscience as His voice. Even 
 suppose it was only here or there that episcopal autonomy 
 was vigorous ; yet consider what zeal is kindled by local inte- 
 rests and national spirit. One John of Tuam, with a Pope's 
 full apostolic powers, would be a greater trial to successive 
 ministries than an Ecumenical Bishop at Eome. Parliament 
 understands this well, for it exclaims against the Sacerdotal 
 
30 THE PAPAL CHUKOH. 
 
 principle. Here, for a second reason, if our Divine Master 
 has given those great powers to the Church, which ancient 
 Christianity testifies, we see why His Providence has also 
 provided that the exercise of them should be concentrated 
 in one see. 
 
 But, anyhow, the progress of concentration was not the 
 work of the Pope ; it was brought about by the changes of 
 times and the vicissitudes of nations. It was not his fault 
 that the Vandals swept away the African sees, and the 
 Saracens those of Syria and Asia Minor, or that Constanti- 
 nople and its dependencies became the creatures of Imperial- 
 ism, or that France, England, and Germany would obey 
 none but the author of their own Christianity, or that clergy 
 and people at a distance were obstinate in sheltering them- 
 selves under the majesty of Eome against their own fierce 
 kings and nobles or imperious bishops, even to the imposing 
 forgeries on the, world and on the Pope in justification of 
 their proceedings. All this wUl be fact, whether the Popes 
 were ambitious or not ; and still it will be fact that the 
 issue of that great change was a great benefit to the whole 
 of Europe. No one but a Master, who was a thousand 
 bishops in himself at once, could have tamed and controlled, 
 as the Pope did, the great and little tyrants of the middle 
 age. 
 
 3. This is generally confessed now, even by Protestant 
 historians, viz. , that the concentration of ecclesiastical power in 
 those centuries was simply necessary for the civilization of 
 Europe. Of course it does not foUow that the benefits ren- 
 dered then to the European commonwealth by the political 
 supremacy of the Pope, would, if he was still supreme, be 
 rendered in time to come. I have no wish to make assump- 
 tions ; yet conclusions short of this will be unfavourable to 
 Mr. Gladstone's denunciation of him. We reap the fruit at 
 this day of his services in the past. With the purpose of 
 showing this I make a rather long extract from Dean Mil- 
 man's " Latin Christianity ;" he is speaking of the era of 
 Gregory I, and he says, the Papacy, " was the only power 
 which lay not entu-ely and absolutely prostrate before the 
 disasters of the times — a power which had an inlierent 
 
THE PAPAL CHURCH. 31 
 
 Btrength, and might resume its majesty. It was this power 
 which was most imperatively required to preserve all which 
 was to survive out of the crumbling wreck of Eoman civili- 
 zation. To Western Christianity was absolutely necessary 
 a centre, standing alone, strong in traditionary reverence, 
 and in acknowledged claims to supremacy. Even the per- 
 fect organization of the Christian hierarchy might in all 
 human probability have fallen to pieces in perpetual con- 
 flict : it might have degenerated into a half secular feudal 
 caste, with hereditary benefices more and more entirely sub- 
 servient to the civil authority, a priesthood of each nation or 
 each tribe, gradually sinking to the intellectual or religious 
 level of the nation or tribe. On the rise of a power both con- 
 trolling and conservative hung, humanly speaking, the life and 
 death of Christianity — of Christianity as a permanent, aggres- 
 sive, expansive, and, to a certain extent, uniform system. 
 There must be a counterbalance to barbaric force, to the un- 
 avoidable anarchy of Teutonism, with its tribal, or at the 
 utmost national independence, forming a host of small, con- 
 flicting, antagonistic kingdoms. AH Europe would have 
 been what England was under the Octarchy, what Germany 
 was when her emperors were weak ; and even her emperors 
 she owed to Rome, to the Church, to Christianity. Provi- 
 dence might have otherwise ordained ; but it is impossible 
 for man to imagine by what other organising or consolidating 
 force the commonwealth of the Western nations could have 
 grown up to a discordant, indeed, and conflicting league, 
 but stm a league, with that unity and conformity of man- 
 ners, usages, laws, religion, which have made their rivalries, 
 oppugnancies, and even their long ceaseless wars, on the 
 whole to issue in the noblest, highest, most intellectual form 
 of civihzation known to man... It is impossible to con- 
 ceive what had been the confusion, the lawlessness, the 
 chaotic state of the middle ages, without the medieval 
 Papacy ; and of the medieval Papacy the real father is 
 Gregory the. Great. In all his predecessors there was much 
 of the uncertainty and indefiniteness of a new dominion. 
 ...Gregory is the Roman altogether merged in the Chris- 
 tian Bishop. It is a Christian dominion, of which he 
 
32 THE PAPAL CHUBCH. 
 
 lays the foundations m the Eternal City, not the old Eome, 
 associatitig Christian influence to her ancient title of sove- 
 reignty." (Vol. i., p. 401, 2.) 
 
 4. From Gregory I. to Innocent III. is six hundred years ; 
 — a very fair portion of the world's history, to have passed 
 in doing good of primary importance to a whole continent, 
 and that the continent of Europe ; good, by which all 
 nations and their governors, all statesmen and legislatures, 
 are the gainers. And, again, should it not occur to Mr. 
 Gladstone that these services were rendered to mankind by 
 means of those very instruments of power on which he 
 thinks it proper to pour contempt as "rusty tools ?" The 
 right to warn and punish powerful men, to excommunicate 
 kings, to preach aloud truth and justice to the inhabitants 
 of the earth, to denounce immoral doctrines, to strike at 
 rebellion in the garb of heresy, were the very weapons by 
 which Europe was brought into a civilized condition ; yet 
 he calls them " rusty tools " which need " refurbishing." 
 Does he wish then that such high expressions of ecclesiasti- 
 cal displeasure, such sharp penalties, should be of daily use ? 
 If they are rusty, because they have been long without 
 using, then have they ever been rusty. Is a Council a rusty 
 tool, because none had been held, tiU 1870, since the six- 
 teenth century ? or because there had been but nineteen in 
 1900 years ? How many times is it in the history of Chris- 
 tianity that the Pope has solemnly drawn and exercised his 
 sword upon a king or an emperor ? If an extraordinary 
 weapon must be a rusty tool, I suppose Gregory VII. 's 
 sword was not keen enough for the German Hemy ; and 
 the seventh Pius too used a rusty tool in his excommunica- 
 tion of Napoleon. How could Mr. Gladstone ever " fondly 
 think that Home had disused " her weapons, and that they 
 had hung up as antiquities and curiosities in her celestial 
 armoury, — or, in his own words, as " hideous mummies," p. 
 46, — when the passage of arms between the great Conqueror 
 and the aged Pope was so close upon his memory ! Would 
 he like to see a mummy come to life again ? That unexpected 
 miracle actually took place in the first years of this century. 
 Gregory was considered to have done an astounding deed in 
 
THE PAPAL CHURCH. 33 
 
 the middle ages, when he broiight Henry, the German Em- 
 peror, to do penance and shiver in the snow at Canossa ; 
 but Napoleon had his snow-penance too, and that with an 
 actual interposition of Providence in the infliction of it. I 
 describe it in the words of Alison : — • 
 
 " ' What does the Pope mean,' said Napoleon to Eugene, 
 in July, 1807, 'by the threat of excommunicating me? 
 does he think the world has gone back a thousand years ? 
 Does he suppose the arms will faU from the hands of my 
 soldiers ?' Within two years after these remarkable words 
 were written, the Pope did excommunicate him, in return for 
 the confiscation of his whole dominions, and in less than 
 four years more, the arms did fall from the hands of his 
 soldiers ; and the hosts, apparently invincible, which he had 
 collected were dispersed and ruined by the blasts of winter. 
 ' The weapons of the soldiers,' says Segur, in describing 
 the Eussian retreat, ' appeared of an insupportable weight 
 to their stiffened arms. During their frecj^uent falls they fell 
 from their hands, and destitute of the power of raising 
 them from the ground, they were left in the snow. They 
 did not throw them away : famine and cold tore them from 
 their grasp.' ' The soldiers could no longer hold their 
 weapons,' says Salgues, ' they fell from the hands even 
 of the bravest and most robust. The muskets dropped 
 from the frozen arms of those who bore them.'" {Hist. ch. 
 Ix., 9th ed.) 
 
 Alison adds — " There is something in these marvellous 
 coincidences beyond the operations of chance, and which 
 even a Protestant historian feels himself bound to mark for 
 the observation of future ages. The world has not gone back 
 a thousand years, but that Being existed with whom a thou- 
 sand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand 
 years." As He was with Gregory in 1077, so He was with 
 Pius in 1812, and He will be with some future Pope again, i 
 when the necessity shall come. U 
 
 5. In saying this,I am farfrom saying that Popes are never 
 in the wrong, and are never to be resisted ; or that their excom- 
 munications always avail. I amnot bound to defend the policy 
 or the acts of particular Popes, whether before or after the 
 
34 THE PAPAL CHURCH. 
 
 great revolt from their authority in the 1 6th century. There 
 is no reason that 1 should contend, and I do not contend, for 
 instance, that they at all times have understood our own 
 people, our national character and resources, and our posi- 
 tion in Europe ; or that they have never suffered from bad 
 counsellors or misinformation. I say this the more freely, 
 because Urban VIII., about the year 1641 or 1642, 
 blamed the policy of some Popes of thd preceding century 
 in their dealings with our country.'''' 
 
 But, whatever we are bound to allow to Mr. Gladstone 
 on this head, that does not warrant the passionate invective 
 against the Holy See and us individually, which he has car- 
 ried on through sixty-four pages. What we have a manifest 
 right to expect from him is lawyer- like exactness and logi- 
 cal consecutiveness in his impeachment of us. The heavier 
 that is, the less does it need the exaggerations of a great 
 orator. If the Pope's conduct towards us three centuries 
 ago has righteously wiped out the memory of his earlier 
 benefits, yet he should have a fair trial. The more intoxi- 
 cating was his solitary greatness, when it was in the zenith, 
 the greater consideration should be shown towards him in his 
 presenttemporal humiliation, when concentration of ecclesias- 
 tical functions in one man, does but make him, in the presence 
 of the haters of Catholicism, what a Roman Emperor con- 
 templated, when he wished all his subjects had but one neck 
 that he might destroy them by one blow. Surely, in the 
 trial of so august a criminal, one might have hoped, at least, 
 to have found gravity and measure in language, and calm- 
 ness in tone — not a pamphlet written as if on impulse, in de- 
 fence of an incidental parenthesis in a previous publication, 
 
 * "When lie was urged to excommtinicate tte Kings of France and 
 Sweden, he made answer, ' We may declare them excommuni- 
 cate, as Pius V. declared Queen Elizabeth of England, and before him 
 Clement VII. the King of England, Henry VIII. . . but with what 
 success ? The whole world can tell. We yet bewail it with tears of 
 blood. Wisdom does not teach us to imitate Pius V. or Clement VII., 
 but Paul V. who, in the beginning, being many times urged by the Spa- 
 niards to excommunicate James King of England, never would consent 
 to it'" (State Paper Office, Italy, 1641—1662). Vide Mr. Simpson's very 
 able and careful life of Campion, 1867, p. 371. 
 
THE PAPAL CHURCH. 35 
 
 and then, after having been multiplied in 22,000 copies, ap- 
 pealing to the lower classes in the shape of a sixpenny tract, 
 the lowness of the price indicating the width of the circula- 
 tion. Surely Nana Sahib will have more justice done to him 
 by the English people, than has been shown to the Father of 
 European civilization. 
 
 6. I have been referring to the desolate state in which 
 the Holy See has been cast during the last years, such that the 
 Pope, humanly speaking, is at the mercy of his enemies, and 
 morally a prisoner in his palace. A state of such secular 
 feebleness cannot last for ever ; sooner or later there wiU 
 be, in the divine mercy, a change for the better, and the 
 Vicar of Christ will no longer be a mark for insult and 
 indignity. But one thing, except by an almost mira- 
 culous interposition, cannot be ; and that is, a return to the 
 universal religious sentiment, the public opinion, of the me- 
 dieval time, i The Pope himself calls those centuries " the 
 ages of faith." Such endemic faith may certainly be de- 
 creed for some future time ; but, as far as we have the 
 means of judging at present, centuries must run out 
 first. Even in the fourth century the ecclesiastical pri- 
 vileges, claimed on the one hand, granted on the other, 
 came into effect more or less under two conditions, that 
 they were recognized by public law, and that they had the 
 consent of the Christian populations. Is there any chance 
 whatever, except by miracles which were not granted then, 
 that the public law and the inhabitants of Europe will 
 allow the Pope that exercise of his rights, which they allowed 
 him as a matter of course in the 11th and 12th centuries ? 
 If the whole world will at once answer No, it is surely in- 
 opportune to taunt us with the acts of medieval Popes in 
 the case of certain princes and nobles, when the sentiment 
 of Europe was radically Papal. How does the past bear upon 
 the present in this matter ? Yet Mr. Gladstone is in earnest 
 alarm, earnest with the earnestness which distinguishes him 
 as a statesman, at the harm which society may receive from the 
 Pope, at a time when the Pope can do nothing. He grants (p. 
 46) that "the fears are visionary . . that either foreign foe or 
 domestic treason can, at the bidding of the Court of Eome, 
 
36 
 
 THE PAPAL CHURCH. 
 
 disturb these peaceful shores ; " he allows that " in the 
 middle ages the Popes contended, not by direct action of 
 fleets and armies/' but mainly " by interdicts," p. 35. Yet, 
 because men then believed in interdicts, though now they 
 don't, therefore the civil Power is to be roused against the 
 Pope. But his ammtts is bad ; his animus ! what csiu animus 
 do without matter to work upon ? Mere animus, like big 
 words, breaks no bones. 
 
 As if to answer Mr. Gladstone by anticipation, and to 
 aUay his fears, the Pope made a declaration three years ago 
 on the subject, which, strange to say, Mr. Gladstone quotas 
 without perceiving that it tells against the very argument, 
 which he brings it to corroborate ; — that is, except as the 
 Pope's animus goes. Doubtless he would wish to have the 
 place in the political world which his predecessors had, because 
 it was given to him by Providence, and is conducive to the 
 highest interests of mankind ; but he distinctly tells us that 
 he has not got it, and cannot have it, till a time comes, of the 
 prospect of which we are as good judges as he can be, and 
 which we say cannot come, at least for centuries. He speaks 
 of what is his highest political power, that of interposing in 
 the quarrel between a prince and his subjects, and of declar- 
 ing upon appeal made to him from them, that the Prince had 
 or had not forfeited their allegiance. This power, most 
 rarely exercised, and on very extraordinary occasions, and 
 without any aid of infallibility in the exercise of it, any more 
 than the civU power possesses that aid, it is not necessary for 
 any Catholic to believe ; and I suppose, comparatively speaking, 
 few Catholics do believe it ; to be honest, I must say, I do ; 
 that is, under the conditions which the Pope himself lays 
 down in the declaration to which I have referred, his answer 
 to the address of the Academia. He speaks of his right 
 " to depose sovereigns, and release the people from the obli- 
 gation of loyalty, a right which had undoubtedly sometimes 
 been exercised in crucial circumstances," and he says, " This 
 right {diritto) in those ages of faith, — '(which discerned in 
 the Pope, what he is, that is to say, the Supreme Judge of 
 Christianity, and recognized the advantages of his tribunal 
 in the great contests of peoples and sovereigns) — was freely 
 
THE PAPAL CHUECH. 37 
 
 extended, — (aided indeed as a matter of duty by the public 
 law {diritto) and by the common consent of peoples) — to 
 the most important {i piu gravi) interests of states and 
 their rulers." (G-uardian, Nov. 11, 1874). 
 
 Now let us observe how the Pope restrains the exercise 
 of this right. He calls it his right — that is, in the sense in 
 which right in one party is correlative with duty in the 
 other, so that, when the duty is not observed, the right 
 cannot be brought into exercise ,; and this is precisely what 
 he goes on to intimate ; for he lays down the conditions of 
 of that exercise. First it can only be exercised in rare 
 and critical circumstances {supreme oirconstanze, i piu 
 gravi interessi). Next he refers to his being the supreme 
 judge of Christianity, and to his decision as coming from a 
 tribunal ; his prerogative then is not a mere arbitrary power, 
 but must be exercised by a process of law and a formal 
 examination of the case, and in the presence and the 
 hearing of the two parties interested in it. Also in this 
 limitation is implied that the Pope's definitive sentence 
 involves an appeal to the supreme standard of right and 
 wrong, the moral law, as its basis and rule, and must con- 
 tain the definite reasons on which it decides in favour of 
 the one party or the other. Thirdly, the exercise of this 
 right is limited to the ages of faith ; ages which, on the one 
 hand, inscribed it among the provisions of the jm publicum,, 
 and on the other so fullyrecognized the benefits it conferred,as 
 to be able to enforce it by the common consent of the peoples. 
 These last words should be dwelt on : it is no consent which 
 is merely local, as of one country, of Ireland or of Belgium, 
 if that were probable ; but a united consent of various nations, 
 of Europe, for instance, as a commonwealth, of which the 
 Pope was the head. Thirty years ago we heard much of 
 the Pope being made the head of an Italian confederation : 
 no word came from England against such an arrangement. 
 It was possible, because the members of it were all of one 
 religion ; and in like manner a European commonwealth 
 would be reasonable, if Europe were of one religion. Lastly, 
 the Pope declares with indignation that a Pope is not in- 
 fallible in the exercise of this right ; such a notion is an 
 invention of the enemy ; he calls it " malicious." 
 
38 
 
 § 4. Divided Allegiance. 
 
 But one attribute the Church has, and the Pope as head 
 of the Church, whether he be in high estate, as this world 
 goes, or not, whether he has temporal possessions or not, 
 whether he is in honour or dishonour, whether he is at 
 home or driven about, whether those special claims of which 
 I have spoken are allowed or not, — and that is Sovereignty. 
 As God has sovereignty, though He may be disobeyed or 
 disowned, so has His Vicar upon earth ; and further than 
 this, since Catholic populations are found everywhere, he 
 ever will be in fact lord of a vast empire ; as large in num- 
 berSj as far spreading as the British ; and all his acts are 
 sure to be such as are in keeping with the position of one 
 who is thus supremely exalted. 
 
 I beg not to be interrupted here, as many a reader 
 will interrupt me in his thoughts , for I am using these 
 words, not at random, but as the commencement of a long 
 explanation, and, in a certain sense, limitation, of what I 
 have hitherto been saying concerning the Church's and 
 the Pope's power. To this task the remaining pages, 
 which I have to address to your Gtace, will be directed ; 
 and I trust that it will turn out, when I come to the end 
 of them, that, by first stating fully what the Pope's claims 
 are, I shall be able most clearly to show what he does not 
 claim. 
 
 Now the key-note of Mr. Gladstone's Pamphlet is 
 this : — that, since the Pope claims infallibility in faith and 
 morals, and since there are no " departments and func- 
 tions of human life which do not and cannot fall within 
 the domain of morals," p. 36, and since he claims also "the 
 domain of all that concerns the government and discipline 
 of the Church," and moreover, " claims the power of deter- 
 mining the limits of those domains," and " does not sever 
 them, by any acknowledged or intelligible line from the 
 
DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 39 
 
 domains of civil duty and allegiance," p. 45, therefore 
 Catholics are moral and mental slaves, and " every con- 
 Vert and member of the Pope's Church places his loyalty 
 and civil duty at the mercy of another," p. 45. 
 
 I admit Mr. Gladstone's premisses, but I reject his 
 conclusion ; and now I am going to show why I reject it. / 
 
 In doing this, I shall, with him, put aside for the 
 present the Pope's prerogative of infallibility in general 
 enunciations, whether of faith or morals, and confine my- 
 self to the consideration of his authority (in respect to 
 which he is not infallible) in matters of daily conduct, and of 
 our duty of obedience to him. " There is something wider 
 still, "he says, (than the claim of infallibility,) "and that is 
 the claim to an Absolute and entire Obedience," p. 37. 
 " Little does it matter to me, whether my Superior claims 
 infallibility, so long as he is entitled to demand and exact 
 conformity," p. 39. He speaks of a third province being 
 opened, " not indeed to the abstract assertion of Infallibi- 
 lity, but to the far more practical and decisive demand of 
 Absolute Obedience," p. 41, "the Absolute Obedience, at 
 the peril of salvation, of every member of his communion," 
 p. 42. 
 
 Now, I proceed to examine this large, direct, religious 
 sovereignty of the Pope, both in its relation to his sub- 
 jects, and to the Civil Power ; but first, I beg to be 
 allowed to say just one word on the principle of obedience 
 itself, that is, by way of inquiry, whether it is or is not 
 now a religious duty. — , 
 
 Is there then such a duty at all as obedience to eccle- 
 siastical authority now 1 or is it one of those obsolete ' 
 ideas, which are swept away, as unsightly cobwebs, by the 
 New Civilization 1 Scripture says, " Hemember them 
 which 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, aud submit- yourselves ; for 
 they watch ybr your souls, as they that must give account, 
 that they may do it with joy and not with grief; for that 
 is vmprofitable for you." The margin in the Protestant 
 
40 DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 
 
 Version reads, " those who are your guides ;" and the 
 word may also be translated "leaders." Well, as rulers, 
 or guides and leaders, whichever word be right, they are 
 to be obeyed. Now Mr. Gladstone dislikes our way of 
 fulfilling this precept, whether as regards our choice of 
 ruler and leader, or our " Absolute Obedience " to him ; 
 but he does not give us his own. Is there any liberalistic 
 reading of the Scripture passage 1 Or are the words only for 
 the benefit of the poor and ignorant^ not for the Schola (as it 
 may be called) of political and periodical writers, not for 
 individual members of Parliament, not for statesmen and 
 Cabinet ministers, and people of Progress 1 Which party 
 then is the more " Scriptural," those who recognize and 
 I carry out in their conduct texts like these, or those who 
 {don't 1 May not we Catholics claim some mercy from Mr. 
 Gladstone, though we be faulty in the object and the 
 manner of our obedience, since in a lawless day an object 
 and a manner of obedience we have 1 Can we be blamed, 
 if, arguing from those texts which say that ecclesiastical 
 authority comes from above, we obey it in that one form 
 in which alone we find it on earth, in that only person who 
 claims it of us, among all the notabilities of this nineteenth 
 century into which we have been born 1 The Pope has no 
 rival in his claim upon us ; nor is it our doing that his 
 claim has been made and allowed for centuries upon cen- 
 turies, and that it was he who made the Vatican decrees, 
 and not they Mm. If we give him up, to whom shall we 
 go 1 Can we dress up any civil functionary in the vest- 
 ments of divine authority 1 Can I, for instance, follow 
 the faith, can I put my soul into the hands, of our gracious 
 Sovereign 1 or of the Archbishop of Canterbury ? or of the 
 Bishop of Lincoln, albeit he is not broad and low, but 
 high 1 Catholics have " done what they could," — all that 
 any one could : and it should be Mr. Gladstone's business, 
 before telling us that we are slaves, because we obey the 
 Pope, first of aU to tear away those texts from the Bible. 
 
 With this preliminary remark, I prot'eed to consider 
 whether the Pope's authority is either a .slavery to his 
 subjects, or a menace to the Civil Power ; i,^nd first, as to 
 his power over his flock. 
 
DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 41 
 
 1. Mr. Gladstone says that "the Pontiff declares to belong 
 to him the supreme direction of Catholics in respect to all 
 duty," p. 37. Supreme direction; trae, but "supreme " is 
 not " minute," nor does " direction " mean supervision or 
 " management." Take the parallel of human law ; the 
 Law is supreme, and the Law directs our conduct under 
 the manifold circumstances in which we have to act, and 
 must be absolutely obeyed ; but who therefore says that 
 the Law has the " supreme direction " of us ? The State, 
 as well as the Church, has the power at its will of im- 
 posing laws upon us, laws bearing on our moral duties, 
 our daily conduct, affecting our actions in various ways, 
 and circumscribing our liberties ; yet no one would say 
 that the Law, after all, with all its power in the abstract and 
 its executive vigour in fact, interferes either with our 
 comfort or our conscience. There are numberless laws 
 about property, landed and personal, titles, tenures, trusts, 
 wills, covenants, contracts, partnerships, money transactions, 
 life-insurances, taxes, trade, navigation, education, sanitary 
 measures^ trespasses, nuisances, all in addition to the 
 criminal law. Law, - to apply Mr. Gladstone's words, 
 '• is the shadow that cleaves to us, go where we will." 
 /Moreover, it varies year after year, and refuses to give any 
 / pledge of fixedness or finality. Nor can any one tell what 
 , restraint is to come next, perhaps painful personally to him- 
 self. Nor are its enactments easy of interpretation ; for 
 actual cases, with the speeches and opinions of counsel, 
 and the decisions of judges, must prepare the raw material, 
 as it proceeds from the legislature, before it can be rightly 
 understood ; so that " the glorious uncertainty of the 
 Law " has become a proverb. And, after all, no one is sure 
 of escaping its penalties v/ithout the assistance of lawyers, 
 and that in such private and personal matters that the 
 lawyers are, as by an imperative duty, bound to a secrecy 
 which even courts of justice respect. And then, besides the 
 Statute Law, there is the common and traditional ; and, 
 [below this, usage. Is not all this enough to try the tem- 
 '; per of a free-born Englishman, and to make him cry out 
 with Mr. Gladstone, " Three-fourths of my life are handed 
 
42 DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 
 
 over to the Law ; I care not to ask if there be dregs or 
 tatters of human life, such as can escape from the descrip- 
 tion and boundary of Parliamentary tyranny?" Yet, 
 though we may dislike it, though we may at times suffer 
 from it ever so much, who does not see that the thraldom 
 and irksomeness is nothing compared with the great bless- 
 ings which the Constitution and Legislature secure to us 1 
 
 Such is the jurisdiction which the Law exercises over us. 
 What rule does the Pope claim which can be compared to 
 its strong and its long arm ? What interference with our 
 liberty of judging and acting in our daily work, in our 
 course of life, comes to us from him ? Eeally, at first sight, 
 I have not known where to look for instances of his actual 
 interposition in our private affairs, for it is our routine of 
 personal duties about which I am now speaking. Let us 
 see how we stand in this matter. 
 
 We are guided in our ordinary duties ,by the books of 
 moral theology, which are drawn up by theologians of 
 authority and experience, as an instruction for our Confessors. 
 These books are based on the three Christian foundations 
 of Faith, Hope, and Charity, on the Ten Commandments, 
 and on the six Precepts of the Church, which relate to 
 the observance of Sunday, of fast days, of confession and 
 communion, and, in one shape or other, to paying tithes. 
 A great number of possible cases are noted under these 
 heads, and in difficult questions a variety of opinions are 
 given, with plain directions, when it is that private Catho- 
 lics are at liberty to choose for themselves whatever answer 
 they like best, and when they are bound to follow some 
 one of them in particular. Eeducible as these directions 
 in detail are to the few and simple heads which I have 
 mentioned, they are little more than reflexions and memo- 
 randa of our moral sense, unlike the positive enactments of 
 the Legislatiire ; and, on the whole, present to us no diffi- 
 culty — though now and then some critical question may 
 arise, and some answer may be given (just as by the private 
 conscience) which it is difficult to us or painful to accept. 
 And again, cases may occur now and then, when our private 
 judgment differs from what is set down in theological 
 
DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 43 
 
 works, but even then it does not follow at once that our 
 private judgment must give way, for those books are no 
 utterance of Papal authority. If 
 
 And this is the point to which I am coming. So little 
 does the Pope come into this whole system of moral theo- 
 logy by which (as by oUr conscience) our lives are regulated, 
 that the weight of his hand upon us, as private men, is 
 absolutely unappreciable. \ I have had a difficulty where to 
 find a measure or guage of his interposition. At length I 
 have looked through Busenbaum's "Medulla," to ascertain 
 what light sxich a book would throw upon the question. It 
 is a book of casuistry for the use of Confessors, running to 
 700 pages, and is a large repository of answers made by 
 various theologians on points of conscience, and generally 
 of duty. It was first published in 1645 — my own edition 
 is of 1844 — and in the latter are marked those proposi- 
 tions, bearing on subjects treated in it, which have been 
 condemned by Popes in the intermediate 200 years. On 
 turning over the pages I find they are in all between 50 
 and 60. This list includes matters sacramental, ritual, 
 ecclesiastical, monastic, and disciplinarian, as well as moral, 
 — relating to the duties of ecclesiastics and regulars, of 
 parish priests, and of professional men, as weU as of private 
 Catholics. And the condemnations relate for the most part 
 to mere occasional details of duty, and are in reprobation 
 of the lax or wild notions of speculative casuists, so that 
 they are rather restraints upon theologians than upon lay- 
 men. For instance, the following are some of the proposi- 
 tions condemned : — " The ecclesiastic, who on a certain 
 day is hindered from saying Matins and Lauds, is not bound 
 to say, if he can, the remaining hours ;" "Where there is 
 good cause, it is lawful to swear without the purpose of 
 swearing, whether the matter is of light or grave moment;" 
 " Domestics may steal from their masters, in compensation 
 for their service, which they think greater than their 
 wages ;" " It is lawful for a public man to kUl an opponent, 
 who tries to fasten a calumny upon him, if he cannot other- 
 wise escape the ignominy.^' I have taken these instances at 
 random. It must be granted, I think, that in the long 
 
44 DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 
 
 course of 200 years the amount of tlie Pope's authoritative 
 enunciations has not been such as to press heavily on the 
 back of the private Cathohc. He leaves us surely far 
 more than that "one fourth of the department of con- 
 duct," which Mr. Gladstone allows us. Indeed, if my 
 account and specimens of his sway over us in morals be 
 correct, I do not see what he takes away at all from our 
 private consciences. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone says that the Pope virtually claims 
 to himself the wide domain of conduct, and there- 
 fore that we are his slaves: — let us see if another 
 illustration or parallel will not show this to be ■ a 
 non-sequitur. Suppose a man, who is in the midst 
 of various and important lines of business, has a medi- 
 cal adviser, in whom he has full confidence, as knowing- 
 well his constitution. This adviser keeps a careful and 
 anxious eye upon him ; and, as an honest man, says to 
 him, " You must not go ofi" on a journey to-day," or " you 
 must take some days' rest," or " you must attend to your 
 diet." Now, this is not a fair parallel to the Pope's hold upon 
 us ; for he does not speak to us personally but to all, and in 
 speaking definitively on ethical subjects, what he propounds 
 must relate to things good and bad in themselves, not to 
 things accidental, changeable, and of mere expedience ; so 
 that the*argument which I am drawing from the case of a 
 medical adviser is a fortiori in its character. However, I say 
 that, though a medical man exercises a "supreme direction" 
 of those who put themselves under him, yet we do not there- 
 fore say, even of him, that he interferes with our daily con- 
 duct, and that we are his slaves. He certainly does thwart 
 many of our wishes and purposes ; in a true sense we are 
 at his mercy : he may interfere any day, suddenly ; he 
 will not, he cannot, draw any line between his action and 
 our action. The same journey, the same press of business, 
 the same indulgence at table, which he passes over one 
 year, he sternly forbids the next. If Mr. Gladstone's 
 argument is good, he has a finger in all the commercial 
 transactions of the great merchant or financier who has 
 chosen him. But surely there is a simple fallacy here. 
 
DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 45 
 
 Mr. Gladstone asks us whether our political and civil life is 
 not at the Pope's mercy ; every act, he says, of at least 
 three-quarters of the day, is under his control. No, not 
 every, but any, and this is all the difference — that is, we have 
 no guarantee given us that there will never be a case, when 
 the Pope's general utterances may come to have a bearing upon 
 some personal act of ours. In the same way we axe all of 
 us in this age under the control of public opinion and the 
 public prints ; nay, much more intimately so. Journalism 
 can be and is very personal ; and, when it is in the right, 
 more powerful just now than any Pope ; yet we do not go 
 into fits, as if we were slaves, because we are under a sur- 
 veillance much more like tyranny than any sway, so indi- 
 rect, so practically limited, so gentle, as his is. 
 
 But it seems the cardinal point of our slavery lies, not 
 simply in the domain of morals, but in the Pope's general 
 authority over us in all things whatsoever. This count in 
 his indictment Mr. Gladstone founds on a passage in the 
 third chapter of the Pastor ceternus, in which the Pope, 
 speaking of the Pontifical jurisdiction, says : — " Towards 
 it (erga quam) pastors and people of whatsoever rite or dig- 
 nity, each and all, are bound by the duty of hierarchical 
 subordination and true obedience, not only in matters which 
 pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain 
 to the discipline and the regimen of the Church spread 
 throughout the world ; so that, unity with the Roman Pon- 
 tiff {both of communion and of profession of the same 
 faith) being preserved, the Church of Christ may be one 
 flock under one supreme Shepherd. This is the doctrine of 
 Catholic truth, from which no one can deviate without loss 
 of faith and salvation." 
 
 On Mr. Gladstone's use of this passage I observe first, 
 that he leaves out a portion of it which has much to do 
 with the due understanding of it (ita ut custodita, &c.) 
 Next, he speaks of " absolute obedience " so often, that any 
 reader, who had not the passage before him, would think that 
 the word " absolute " was the Pope's word, not his. Thirdly, 
 three times (at pp. 38, 41, and 42) does he make the Pope 
 say that no one can disobey him without risking his salva- 
 
46 DIVIDED ALLEGLfLNCE. 
 
 tion, wliereas what the Pope does say is, that no one can 
 disbelieve the duty of obedience and unity without such 
 risk. And fourthly, in order to carry out this false sense, or 
 rather to hinder its being evidently impossible, he mis- 
 translates, p. 38, "doctrina" (Hsec est doctrina) by the 
 word " rule." 
 
 But his chief attack is directed to the words " dis- 
 ciplina" and "regimen." "Thus," he says, "are swept 
 into the Papal net whole multitudes of facts, whole sys- 
 tems of government, prevailing, though in different de- 
 grees, in every country of the world," p. 41. That is, disci- 
 plina and regimen are words of such lax, vague, indetermi- 
 nate meaning, that under them any matters can be slipped 
 in which may be required for the Pope's purpose in this or 
 that country, such as,, to take Mr. Gladstone's instances, 
 blasphemy, poor-relief, incorporation and mortmain ; as if 
 no definitions were contained in our theological and eccle- 
 siastical works of words in such common use, and as if in 
 consequence the Pope was at liberty to give them any sense 
 of his own. As to discipline, Fr. Perrone says " Discipline 
 comprises the exterior worship of God, the liturgy, sacred 
 rites, psalmody, the administration of the sacraments, the 
 canonical form of sacred elections and the institution of 
 ministers, vows, feast-days, and the like ;" all of them 
 (observe) matters internal to the Church, and without any 
 relation to the Civil Power and civil affairs. Perrone adds, 
 " Ecclesiastical discipline is a practical and external rule, 
 prescribed by the Church, in order to retain the faithful in 
 their faith, and the more easily lead them on to eternal 
 happiness, " Prcel. Theol. t. 2, p. 381, 2nd ed., 1841. Thus 
 discipline is in no sense a political instrument, except as 
 the profession of our faith may accidentally become poh- 
 tical. In the same sense Zallinger : " The Eoman Pontiff 
 has by divine right the power of passing universal laws per- 
 taining to the discipline of the Church ; for instance, to 
 divine worship, sacred rites, the ordination and manner of 
 life of the clergy, the order of the ecclesiastical regimen, 
 and the right administration of the temporal possessions of 
 the church." — Jur. Eccles., lib. i., t. 2, S 121. 
 
DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 47 
 
 So too the word " regimen " has a definite meaning, 
 relating to a matter strictly internal to the Church ; it 
 means government, or the mode or form of government, or 
 the course of government, and, as, in the intercourse of 
 nation with nation, the nature of a nation's government, 
 whether monarchical or republican, does not come into 
 question, so the constitution of the Church simply belongs 
 to its nature, not to its external action. There are indeed 
 aspects of the Church which involve relations toward secular 
 powers and to nations, as, for instance, its missionary ofiice ; 
 but regimen has relation to one of its internal characteris- 
 tics, viz., its form of government, whether we call it a pure 
 monarchy or with others a monarchy tempered by aris- 
 tocracy. Thus Tournely says, " Three kinds of regimen or 
 government are set down by philosophers, monarchy, aris- 
 tocracy, and democracy." Theol.,t. 2, p. 100. Bellarmine 
 says the same, Rom. Pont. i. 2 ; and Perrons takes it for 
 granted, ibid. pp. 70, 71. 
 
 Now, why does the Pope speak at this time of regimen 
 and discipline ? He tells us, in that portion of the sentence, 
 which, thinking it of no account, Mr. Gladstone has omitted. 
 The Pope tells us that all Catholics should recollect their 
 duty of obedience to him, not only in faith and morals, but 
 in such matters of regimen and discipline as belong to the 
 universal Church, " so that unity with the Eoman PontiflF, 
 both of communion and of profession of the same faith 
 being preserved, the Church of Christ may be one flock 
 under one supreme Shepherd." I consider this passage to be 
 especially aimed at Nationalism : " EecoUect," the Pope 
 seems to say, " the Church is one, and that, not only in 
 faith and morals, for schismatics may profess as much as 
 this, but one-, wherever it is, aU over the world ; and not 
 only one, but one and the same, bound together by its one 
 regimen and discipline, and by the same regimen and 
 discipline, — the same rites, the saine sacraments, the same 
 usages, and the same one Pastor ; and in these bad times 
 it is necessary for all Catholics to recollect, that this doc- 
 trine of the Church's individuality and, as it were, person- 
 ality, is not a mere received opinion or understanding, which 
 
48 DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 
 
 may be entertained or not, as we please, but is a funda- 
 mental, necessary truth." This being, speaking under cor- 
 rection, the drift of the passage, I observe that the words 
 " spread throughout the world " or "universal" are so far 
 from turning " discipline and regimen " into what Mr. 
 Gladstone calls a " net," that they contract the range of 
 both of them, not including, as he would have it, " mar- 
 riage" here, "blasphemy" there, and "poor-relief " in a third 
 country, but noting and specifying that one and the same 
 structure of laws, rites, rules of government, independency, 
 everywhere, of which the Pope himself is the centre and 
 life. And surely this is what every one of us will say with 
 the Pope, who is not an Erastian, and who believes that 
 the Gospel is no mere philosophy thrown upon the world 
 at large, no mere quality of mind and thought, no mere 
 beautiful and deep, sentiment or subjective opinion, but a 
 substantive message from above, guarded and preserved in 
 a visible polity. 
 
 2. And now I am naturally led on to speak of the 
 Pope's supreme authority, such as I have described it, in 
 its bearing towards the Civil Power all over the world, — 
 various, as the Church is invariable, — a power which as 
 truly comes from God, as his own does. 
 
 That collisions can take place between the Holy See 
 and national governments the history of fifteen hundred 
 years teaches us ; also, that on both sides there may occur 
 grievous mistakes. But my question all along lies, not with 
 " quicquid delirant reges," but with what, under the cir- 
 cumstance of such a collision, is the duty of those who are 
 both children of the Pope and subjects of the Civil Power. 
 As to the duty of the Civil Power, I have already inti- 
 mated in my first section, that it should treat the Holy 
 See as an independent sovereign, and if this rule had been 
 observed, the difficulty to Catholics in a country not Catho- 
 lic, would be most materially lightened. Great Britain 
 recognizes and is recognized by the United States ; the 
 two powers have ministers at each other's courts ; here is 
 one standing prevention of serious quarrels. Misunderstand- 
 ings between the two co-ordinate powers may arise; but there 
 
DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 49 
 
 follow explanations, removals of the causes of offence, acts 
 of restitution. In actual collisions, there are conferences, 
 compromises, arbitrations. Now the point to observe here 
 is, that in such cases neither party gives up its abstract 
 rights, but neither party practically insists on them. And 
 each party thinks itself in the right in the particular case, 
 protests against any other view, but stilh concedes. Neither 
 party says, " I will not make it up with you, till you draw 
 an intelligible line between your domain and mine." I 
 suppose in the Geneva arbitration, though we gave way, 
 we still thought that, in our conduct in the American civil 
 war, we had acted within our rights. I say all this in 
 answer to Mr. Gladstone's challenge to us to draw the line 
 between the Pope's domain and the State's domain in civil 
 or political questions. Many a private American, I sup- 
 pose, lived in London and Liverpool, aU through the cor- 
 respondence between our Foreign Office and the govern- 
 ment of the United States, and Mr. Gladstone never 
 addressed any expostulation to them, or told them they 
 had lost their moral freedom because they took part with 
 their own government. The French, when their late war 
 began, did sweep their German sojourners out of France, 
 (the number, as I recollect, was very great,) but they were 
 not considered to have done themselves much credit by 
 such an act. When we went to war with Eussia, the Eng- 
 lish in St. Petersburg made an address, I think to the 
 Emperor, asking for his protection, and he gave it ; — I 
 don't suppose they pledged themselves to the Pvussian view 
 of the war, nor would he have called them slaves instead 
 of patriots, if they had refused to do so. Suppose England 
 were to send her Ironclads to support Italy against the 
 Pope and his aUies, English Catholics would be very indig- 
 nant, they would take part with the Pope before the war 
 began, they would use all constitutional means to hinder 
 it ; but who believes that, when they were once in the 
 war, their action would be anything else than prayers and 
 exertions for a termination of it ? What reason is there 
 for saying that they would commit themselves to any step 
 of a treasonable nature, any more than loyal Germans, had 
 
 D 
 
50 DIVIDED ALLEGIAIfCE. 
 
 they been allowed to remain in France ? Yet, because 
 those Germans would not relinquish their allegiance to 
 their country, Mr. Gladstone, were he consistent, would 
 at once send them adrift. 
 
 Of course it will be said that in these cases, there is 
 no double allegiance, and again that the German govern- 
 ment did not call upon them, as the Pope might call upon 
 English Catholics, nay command them, to take a side ; 
 but my argument at least shows this, that till there comes 
 to us a special, direct command from the Pope to oppose 
 our country, we need not be said to have " placed our loy- 
 alty and civil duty at the mercy of another," p. 45. It is 
 strange that a great statesman, versed in the new and true 
 philosophy of compromise, instead of taking a practical 
 view of the actual situation, should proceed against us, like 
 a Professor in the schools, with the " parade " of his " re- 
 lentless" (and may I add "rusty" ?) "logic," p. 23. 
 
 I say, till the Pope told us to exert ourselves for his 
 cause in a quarrel with this country, as in the time of the 
 Armada, we need not attend to an abstract and hypotheti- 
 cal difficulty : — then and not till then. I add, as before, 
 that, if the Holy See were frankly recognized by England, 
 as other Sovereign Powers are, direct quarrels between the 
 two powers would in this age of the world be rare indeed ; 
 and still rarer, their becoming so energetic and urgent as to 
 descend into the heart of the community, and to disturb 
 the consciences and the family unity of private Catholics. 
 
 But now, lastly, let us suppose one of these extraordi- 
 nary cases of direct and open hostility between the two 
 powers actually to occur ; — here first, we must bring before 
 us the state of the case. Of course we must recollect, on 
 the one hand, that Catholics are not only bound to allegi- 
 ance to the British Crown, but have special privileges as 
 citizens, can meet together, speak and pass resolutions, can 
 vote for members of Parliament, and sit in Parliament, and 
 can hold office, all which are denied to foreigners sojourn- 
 ing among us ; while on the other hand there is the autho- 
 rity of the Pope, which, though not " absolute " even in 
 religious matters, as Mr. Gla/lstone would have it to be, has 
 
DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 51 
 
 a call, a supreme call on our obedience. Certainly in the 
 event of such a collision of jurisdictions, there are cases in 
 which we should obey the Pope and disobey the State. 
 Suppose, for instance, an Act was passed in Parliament, 
 bidding Catholics to attend Protestant service every week, 
 and the Pope distinctly told us not to do so, for it was to 
 violate our duty to our faith : — I should obey the Pope and 
 not the Law. It will be said by Mr. Gladstone, that such a 
 case is impossible. I know it is ; but why ask me for what 
 I should do in extreme and utterly improbable cases such 
 as this, if my answer cannot help bearing the character of 
 an axiom ? It is not my fault that I must deal in truisms. 
 The circumferences of State jurisdiction and of Papal are 
 for the most part quite apart from each other ; there are 
 just some few degrees out of the 360 in which they inter- 
 sect, and Mr. Gladstone, instead of letting these cases of 
 intersection alone, till they occur actually, asks me what I 
 should do, if I found myself placed in the space intersected. 
 If I must answer then, I should say distinctly that did the 
 State tell me in a question of worship to do what the Pope 
 told me not to do, I should obey the Pope, and should 
 think it no sin, if I used all the power and the influence I 
 possessed as a citizen to prevent such a Bill passing the 
 Legislature, and to effect its repeal if it did. 
 
 But now, on the other hand, could the case ever occur, in \ 
 which I should act with the Civil Power, and not with the 
 Pope ? Now, here again, when I begin to imagine in- 
 stances. Catholics will cry out (as Mr. Gladstone in the 
 case I supposed, cried out in the interest of the other side), 
 that instances never can occur. I know they cannot ; I 
 know the Pope never can do what I am going to suppose ; 
 but then, since it cannot possibly happen in fact, there is 
 no harm in just saying what I should (hypothetically) do, 
 if it did happen. I say then in certain (impossible) cases I 
 should side, not with the Pope, but with the Civil Power. 
 For instance, I believe members of Parliament, or of the 
 Privy Council, take an oath that they would not acknow- 
 ledge the right of succession of a Prince of Wales, if he 
 became a Catholic. I should not consider the Pope could 
 
52 DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 
 
 release me from that oath had I bound myself by it. Of 
 course, I might exert myself to the utmost to get the act 
 repealed which bound me ; again, if I could not, I might 
 retire from Parliament or ofSce, and so rid myself of the 
 engagement I had made ; but I should be clear that, 
 though the Pope bade all Catholics to stand firm in one 
 phalanx for the Catholic Succession, still, while I remained 
 / in my office, or in my place in Parliament, I could not do 
 Las he bade me. 
 
 Again, were I actually a soldier or sailor in her 
 Majesty's service, and sent to take part in a war which I 
 could not in my conscience see to be unjust, and should 
 the Pope suddenly bid all Catholic soldiers and sailors to 
 retire from the service, here again, taking the advice of 
 others, as best I could, I should not obey him. 
 
 What is the use of forming impossible cases ? One 
 can find plenty of them in books of casuistry, with the 
 answers attached in respect to them. In an actual case, a 
 Catholic would, of course, not act simply on his own judg- 
 ment ; at the same time, there are supposable cases in 
 which he would be obliged to go by it solely — viz., when 
 his conscience could not be reconciled to any of the courses 
 of action proposed to him by others. 
 
 In support of what I have been saying, I refer to one 
 or two weighty authorities : — ■ 
 
 Cardinal Turrecremata says : — " Although it clearly 
 follows from the circumstance that the Pope can err at 
 times, and command things which must not be done, that 
 we are not to be simply obedient to him in all things, that 
 does not show that he must not be obeyed by all when his 
 commands are good. To know in what cases he is to be 
 obeyed and in what not . . it is said in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, 'One ought to obey God rather than man;" 
 therefore, were the Pope to command anything against 
 Holy Scripture, or the articles of faith, or the truth of the 
 Sacraments, or the commands of the natural or divine law, 
 he ought not to he obeyed, but in such commands to be 
 passed over (despiciendus)," Summ. de Eccl., pp. 47, 8. 
 
 Bellarmine, speaking of resisting the Pope, says : — 
 
DIVIDED ALLEGIAJSrCB. 53 
 
 " In order to resist and defend oneself no authority is re- 
 quired. . . Therefore, as it is lawful to resist the Pope, 
 if he assaulted a man's person, so it is lawful to resist him, 
 if he assaulted souls, or troubled the state (turbanti rem- 
 publicam), and much more if he strove to destroy the 
 Church. It is lawful, I say, to resist him, by not doing 
 what he commands, and hindering the execution of his will," 
 de Bum. Pont., ii. 29. 
 
 Archbishop Kenrick says : — " His power was given for 
 edification, not for destruction. If he uses it from the 
 love of domination (quod absit) scarcely will he meet with 
 obedient populations."— Theol. Moral, t. i, p. 158. — i 
 
 When, then, Mr. Gladstone asks Catholics how they I 
 can obey the Queen and yet obey the Pope, since it may 
 happen that the commands of the two authorities may 
 clash, I answer, that it is my rule, both to obey the one 
 and to obey the other, but that there is no rule in this 
 world without exceptions, and if either the Pope or the 
 Queen demanded of me an " Absolute Obedience," he or she 
 would be transgressing the laws of human nature and 
 human society. I give an absolute obedience to neither. Fur- 
 ther, if ever this double allegiance pulled me in contrary 
 ways, which in this age of the world I think it never will, 
 then I should decide according to the particular case, which 
 is beyond all rule, and must be decided on its own merits. 
 I should look to see what theologians could do for me, 
 what the Bishops and clergy around me, what my confes- 
 sor ; what friends whom I revered : and if, after all, I 
 could not take their view of the matter, then I must rule 
 myself by my own judgment and my own conscience. But j 
 all this is hypothetical and unreal. —' 
 
 Here, of course, it will be objected to me, that I am, 
 after all, having recourse to the Protestant doctrine of Private 
 Judgment ; not so ; it is the Protestant doctrine that Pri- 
 vate Judgment is our ordinary guide in religious matters, 
 but I use it, in the case in question, in very extraordinary 
 and rare, nay, impossible emergencies. Do not the highest 
 Tories thus defend the substitution of William for James 
 II. ? It is a great mistake to suppose our state in the 
 
54 DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE. 
 
 Catholic Church 'is so entirely subjected to rule and 
 system, that we are never thrown upon what is called by 
 divines "the Providence of God." The teaching and 
 assistance of the Church does not supply all conceivable 
 needs, but those which are ordinary ; thus, for instance, 
 the sacraments are necessary for dying in the grace of Grod 
 and hope of heaven, yet, when they cannot be got, acts of 
 faith, hope, and contrition, with the desire for those aids 
 which the dying man has not, will convey in substance what 
 those aids ordinarily convey. And so a Catechumen, not yet 
 baptised, may be saved' by his purpose and preparation to 
 receive the rite. And so, again, though " Out of the Church 
 there is no salvation," this does not hold in the case of 
 good men who are in invincible ignorance. And so it is 
 also in the case of our ordinations ; Chillingworth and 
 Macaulay say that it is morally impossible that we should 
 have kept up for 1800 years an Apostolical succession of 
 ministers without some -separation of the chain ; and we 
 in answer say that, however true this may be humanly 
 speaking, there has been a special Providence over the 
 Church to secure it. Once more, how else could private 
 Catholics save their souls when there was a Pope and 
 Anti-popes, each severally claiming their allegiance ? 
 
55 
 
 § 5. Conscience. 
 
 It seems, tliwn , that there are extreme cases in which 
 Conscience may come into collision with the word of a 
 Pope, and is to be followed in spite of that word. Now I 
 wish to place this proposition on a broader basis, acknow- 
 ledged by all Catholics, and, in order to do this satis- 
 factorily, as I began with the prophecies of Scripture and 
 the primitive Church, when I spoke of the Pope's preroga- 
 tives, so now I must begin with the Creator and His crea- 
 ture, when I would draw out the prerogatives and the, 
 supreme authority of Conscience. 
 
 I say, then, that the Supreme Being is of a certain 
 character, which, expressed in human language, we call 
 ethical. He has the attributes of justice, truth, wisdom, 
 sanctity, benevolence and mercy, as eternal characteristics 
 in His Nature, the very Law of His being, identical with 
 Himself ; and next, when He became Creator, He implanted 
 this Law, which is Himself, in the intelligence of all His 
 rational creatures. The Divine Law, then, is the rule of 
 ethical truth, the standard of right and wrong, a sovereign, 
 irreversible, absolute authority in the presence of men and 
 Angels. " The eternal law," says St. Augustine, " is the 
 Divine Eeason or Will of God, commanding the observ- 
 ance, forbidding the disturbance, of the natural order of 
 things." " The natural law," says St. Thomas, "is an im- 
 pression of the Divine Light in us, a participation of the 
 eternal law in the rational creature." (Gousset, Theol. 
 Moral, t. 1, pp. 24, &c.) This law, as apprehended in the 
 minds of individual men, is called "conscience;" and, 
 though it may suffer refraction in passing into the intellec- 
 tual medium of each, it is not thereby so affected as to lose 
 its character of being the Divine Law, but still has, as 
 such, the prerogative of commanding obedience. " The 
 Divine Law," says Cardinal Gousset, " is the supreme rule 
 
56 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 of actions ; our thoughts, desires, words, acts, all that 
 man is, is subject to the domain of the law of God ; and 
 this law is the rule of our conduct by means of our con- 
 science. Hence it is never lawful to go against our con- 
 science ;(as the fourth Lateran council says^ ' Quidquid fit 
 contra conscientiam, aedificat ad gehennam. ' 7 
 
 This, I know, is very different from the view ordinarily 
 taken of it, both by the science and literature, and by the 
 public opinion, of this day. It is founded on the doctrine 
 that conscience is the voice of God, whereas it is fashion- 
 able on all hands now to consider it in one way or another 
 a creation of man. Of course, there are great and broad 
 exceptions to this statement. It is not true of many or 
 most religious bodies of men ; especially not of their 
 teachers and ministers. When Anglicans, Wesleyans, the 
 various Presbyterian sects in Scotland, and other denomi- 
 nations among us, speak of conscience, they mean what we 
 mean, the voice of God in the nature and heart of man, 
 as distinct from the voice of Revelation. They speak of a 
 principle planted within us, before we have had any training, 
 though such training and experience is necessary for its 
 strength, growth, and due formation. They consider it a 
 constituent element of the mind, as our perception of other 
 ideas may be, as our powers of reasoning, as our sense of 
 order and the beautiful, and our other intellectual endow- 
 ments. They consider it, as Catholics consider it, to be 
 the internal witness of both the existence and the law of 
 God. They think it holds of God, and not of man, as an 
 Angel walking on the earth would be no citizen or depen- 
 dent of the CivU Power. They would not allow, any more 
 than we do, that it could be resolved into any combination 
 of principles in our nature, more elementary than itself; 
 nay, though it may be called, and is, a law of the mind, 
 they would not grant that it was nothing more ; I mean, 
 that it was not a dictate, nor conveyed the notion of re- 
 sponsibility, of duty, of a threat and a promise, with a vivid- 
 ness which discriminated it from all other constituents of 
 our nature. 
 
 This, at least, is how I read the doctrine of Protestants 
 
CONSCIENCE. 57 
 
 as well as of Catliolics. The rule and measure of duty is not 
 utility, nor expedience, nor tlie happiness of the greatest 
 number, nor State convenience, nor fitness, order, and the 
 pulchrum. Conscience is not a long-sighted selfishness, 
 nor a desire to be consistent with oneself ; but it is a mes-* 
 senger from Him, who, both in nature and in grace, 
 speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by His 
 representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of 
 Christ, a prophet in its informations, a monarch in its 
 peremptoriness, a priest in its blessings and anathemas, 
 and, even though the eternal priesthood throughout the 
 Church could cease to be, in it the sacerdotal principle 
 would remain and would have a sway. 
 
 Words such as these are idle empty verbiage to the great 
 world of philosophy now. All through my day there has 
 been a resolute warfare, I had almost said conspiracy, against 
 the rights of conscience, as I have described it. Literature 
 and science have been embodied in great institutions in 
 order to put it down. Noble buildings have been reared 
 as fortresses against that spiritual, invisible influence which is 
 too subtle for science and too profound for literature. 
 Chairs in Universities have been made the seats of an an- 
 tagonist tradition. Public writers, day after day, have 
 indoctrinated the minds of innumerable readers with theo- 
 ries subversive of its claims. As in Eoman times, and in 
 the middle age, its supremacy was assailed by the arm of 
 physical force, so now the intellect is put in operation to 
 sap the foundations of a power which the sword could 
 not destroy. We are told that conscience is but a twist in 
 primitive and untutored man ; that its dictate is an ima- 
 gination ; that the very notion of guiltiness, which that 
 dictate enforces, is simply irrrational, for how can there 
 possibly be freedom of will, how can there be consequent 
 re.sponsibility, in that infinite eternal network of cause and 
 eff"ect, in which we helplessly lie ? and what retribution 
 have we to fear, when we have had no real choice to do 
 good or evil ? ---i 
 
 So much for philosophers ; /now let us see what is the ^ 
 notion of conscience in this day in the popular mind. 
 
58 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 There, no more than in the intellectual world, does " con- 
 science" retain the old, true, Catholic meaning of the 
 word. There too the idea, the presence, of a Moral Gover- 
 nor is far away from the use of it, frequent and emphatic 
 as that use of it is. When men advocate the rights of 
 conscience, they in no sense mean the rights of the Creator, 
 nor the duty to Him, in thought and deed, of the creature ; 
 but the right of thinking, speaking, writing, and acting, 
 according to their judgment or their humour, without any 
 thought of God at all. They do not even pretend to go 
 by any moral rule, but they demand, what they think is 
 an Englishman's prerogative, to be his own master in all 
 things, and to profess what he pleases, asking no one's 
 leave, and accounting priest or preacher, Speaker or writer, 
 unutterably impertinent, who dares to say a word against 
 his going to perdition, if he like it, in his own way. Con- 
 science has rights because it has duties ; but in this age, 
 with a large portion of the public, it is the very right and 
 freedom of conscience to dispense with conscience, to ignore 
 a Lawgiver and Judge, to be independent of unseen obli- 
 gations. It becomes a license to take up any or no reli- 
 gion, to take up this or that and let it go again, to go to 
 Church, to go to chapel, to boast of being above all reli- 
 gions and to be an impartial critic of each of them. Con- 
 science is a stern monitor, but in this century it has been 
 superseded by a counterfeit, which the eighteen centuries 
 prior to it never heard of, and could not have mistaken for 
 ) it, if they had. It is the right of self-will. f^ f 
 
 (And now I shall turn aside for a moment to show how 
 it is that the Popes of our century have been misunder- 
 stood by English people, as if they really were speaking 
 against conscience in the true sense of the word, when 
 in fact they were speaking against it in the various false 
 senses, philosophical or popular, which in this day are put 
 upon the word. The present Pope, in his Encyclical of 
 1864, Quanta curd, speaks, (as will come before us in the 
 next section,) against " liberty of conscience," and he refers 
 to his predecessor, Gregory XVI., who, in his Mirari vos, 
 calls it a " delir amentum." It is a rule in formal ecclesias- 
 
CONSCIENCE. 59 
 
 tical proceedings, as I shall have occasion to notice lower 
 down, when books or authors are condemned, to use the 
 very words of the book or author, and to condemn the 
 words in that particular sense which they have in their 
 context and their drift, not in the literal, not in the reli- 
 gious sense, such as the Pope might recognize, were they in 
 another book or author. To take a familiar parallel, among 
 many which occur daily. Protestants speak of the " Blessed 
 Eeformation ;" Catholics too talk of " the Reformation," 
 though they do not call it blessed. Yet every " reforma- 
 tion " ought, from the very meaning of the word, to be good, 
 not bad ; so that Catholics seem to be implying a eulogy on 
 an event which, at the same time, they consider a surpassing 
 evil. Here then they are taking the word and using it in 
 the popular sense of it, not in the Catholic. They would 
 say, if they expressed their full meaning, " the so-called 
 reformation." In like manner, if the Pope condemned 
 " the Eeformation," it would be utterly sophistical to say 
 in consequence that he had declared himself against all 
 reforms ; yet this is how Mr. Gladstone treats him, because 
 he speaks of (so-called) liberty of conscience. To make 
 this distinction clear, viz., between the Catholic sense of 
 the word " conscience," and that sense in which the Pope con- 
 demns it, we find in the Recueil des Allocutions, &c., the 
 words accompanied with quotation-marks, both in Pope 
 Gregory's and Pope Pius's Encyclicals, thus : — Gregory's, 
 " Ex hoc putidissimo ' indifierentismi ' fonte," (mind, " in- 
 differentismi ' is under quotation-marks, because the Pope 
 will not make himself answerable for so unclassical a word) 
 " absurda ilia fluit ac erronea sententia, sen potius delira- 
 mentum, asserendam esse ac vindicandam cuilibet 'liber- 
 tatem conscientise.'" And that of Pius, "hand timent 
 erroneam illam fovere opinionem a Gregorio XVI. delira- 
 mentum appellatam, nimirum ' libertatem conscientise ' esse 
 proprium cujuscunque hominis jus." Both Popes cer- 
 tainly scoff at the "so-called liberty of conscience," but 
 there is no scoffing of any Pope, in formal documents 
 addressed to the faithful at large, at that most serious 
 doctrine, the right and the duty of following that Divine 
 
60 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 Authority, the voice of conscience, on which in truth the 
 Church herself is built. 
 
 So indeed it is ; did the Pope speak against Conscience 
 in the true sense of the word, he would commit a suicidal 
 act. He would be cutting the ground from under his feet. 
 His very mission is to proclaim the moral law, and to pro- 
 tect and strengthen that " Light which enlighteneth every 
 man that cometh into the world." On the law of conscience 
 and its sacredness are founded both his authority in. theory 
 and his power in fact. Whether this or that particular 
 Pope in this bad world always kept this great truth in 
 view in all he did, it is for history to tell. I am consider- 
 ing here the Papacy in its ofl&ce and its duties, and in 
 reference to those who acknowledge its claims. They are 
 not bound by a Pope's personal character or private acts, 
 but by his formal teaching. Thus viewing his position, we 
 shall find that it is by the universal sense of right and 
 wrong, the consciousness of transgression, the pangs of 
 guilt, and the dread of retribution, as first principles, 
 deeply lodged in the hearts of men, thus and only thus, 
 that he has gained his footing in the world and achieved 
 his success. It is his claim to come from the Divine Law- 
 giver, in order to elicit, protect, and enforce those truths 
 which the Lawgiver has sown in our very nature — it is this 
 and this only — that is the explanation of his length of life 
 more than antediluvian. The championship of the Moral 
 Law and of conscience is his raison d'etre. The fact of his 
 mission is the answer to the complaints of those who feel 
 the insufficiency of the natural light ; and the insufiiciency 
 of that light is the justification of his mission. 
 
 All sciences, except the science of Religion, have their 
 certainty in themselves ; as far as they are sciences, they 
 consist of necessary conclusions from undeniable premisses, 
 or of phenomena manipulated into general truths by an 
 irresistible induction. But the sense of right and wrong, 
 which is the first element in religion, is so delicate, so fitful, 
 so easily puzzled, obscured, perverted, so subtle in its argu- 
 mentative methods, so impressible by education, so biassed 
 by pride and passion, so unsteady in its flight, that, in 
 
CONSCIENCE. 61 
 
 the struggle for existence amid various exercises and tri- 
 umphs of the human intellect, this sense is at once the 
 highest of all teachers, yet the least luminous ; and the 
 Church, the Pope, the Hierarchy are, in the Divine purpose, 
 the supply of an urgent demand. Natural Eeligion, certain 
 as are its grounds and its doctrines as addressed to thought- 
 ful, serious minds, needs, in order that it may speak to 
 mankind with effect and subdue the world, to be sus- 
 tained and completed by Eevelation. 
 
 In saying all this, of course I must not be supposed 
 to be limiting the Eevelation of which the Church is the 
 keeper to a mere republication of the Natural Law ; but 
 still it is true, that, though Eevelation is so distinct from 
 the teaching of nature and beyond it, yet it is not inde- 
 pendent of it, nor without relations towards it, but is its 
 complement, re-assertion, issue, embodiment, and interpre- 
 tation. The Pope, who comes of Eevelation, has no juris- 
 diction over Nature. If, under the plea of his revealed 
 prerogatives, he neglected his mission of preaching truth, 
 justice, mercy, and peace, much more, if he trampled on 
 the consciences of his subjects,- — if he had done so all along, 
 as Protestants say, then he could not have lasted all these 
 many centuries till now, so as to be made the mark of their 
 reprobation. Dean Milman has told us above, how faithful 
 he was to his duty in the medieval time, and how success- 
 ful. Afterwards, for a while the Papal chair was filled by 
 men, who gave themselves up to luxury, security, and a 
 Pagan kind of Christianity ; and we all know what a moral 
 earthquake was the consequence, and how the Church lost, 
 thereby, and has lost to this day, one-half of Europe. The 
 Popes could not have recovered from so terrible a catas- 
 tr-ophfe, as they have done, had they not returned to their 
 first and better ways, and the grave lesson of the past is in 
 itself the guarantee of the future. 
 
 Such is the relation of the ecclesiastical power to the 
 human conscience : — however, another view may be taken 
 of it. It may be said that no one doubts that the Pope's 
 power rests on those weaknesses of human nature, that 
 religious sense, which in ancient days Lucretius noted as 
 
62 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 the cause of the worst ills of our race ; that he uses it dex- 
 terously, forming under shelter of it a false code of morals 
 for his own aggrandisement and tyranny ; and that thus 
 conscience becomes his creature and his slave, doing, as if 
 on a divine sanction, his will ; so that in the abstract in- 
 deed and in idea it is free, but never free in fact, never 
 able to take a flight of its own, independent of him, any 
 more than birds whose wings are clipped ; — moreover, that, 
 if it were able to exert a will of its own, then there would 
 ensue a collision more unmanageable than that between 
 the Church and the State, as being in one and the same 
 subject matter — viz., religion; for what would become of 
 the Pope's " absolute authority," as Mr. Gladstone calls it, if 
 the private conscience had an absolute authority also ? 
 I wish to answer this important objection distinctly. 
 
 1. First, I am using the word " conscience " in the high 
 sense in which I have already explained it ; not as a fancy 
 or an opinion, but as a dutiful obedience to what claims 
 to be a divine voice, speaking within us. 
 
 2. Secondly I observe that conscience is not a judg- 
 ment upon any speculative truth, any abstract doctrine, but 
 bears immediately on conduct, on something to be done or 
 not done. " Conscience," says St. Thomas, " is the practical 
 judgment or dictate of reason, by which we judge what l^t'c 
 et num^h to be done as being good, or to be avoided as 
 evil." Hence conscience cannot come into direct collision with 
 the Church's or the Pope's infallibility ; which is engaged 
 only on general propositions, or the condemnation of propo- 
 sitions simply particular. 
 
 3. Next, I observe that, conscience being a practical dic- 
 tate, a collision is possible between it and the Pope's 
 authority only when the Pope legislates, or gives pa^r- 
 ticular orders, and the like. JBut__aJ^;opejsji£tinfal]i^^ 
 inhis__iaws, nor in his commands, n or in his acts orstate, 
 iior i n his adminis ti\ation,jio£_ln] Es pub lic policy . Let it 
 be oBserved that the Vatican Council has left him just as it 
 found him here. Mr. Gladstone's language on this point is to 
 me quite unintelligible. Why, instead of using vague terms, 
 does he not point out precisely the very words by 
 
CONSCIENCE, 63 
 
 which the Council has made the Pope in his acts infallible? 
 Instead of so doing, he assumes a conclusion which is alto- 
 gether false. He says, p. 34, "First comes the Pope's 
 infallibility;" then in the next page he insinuates that, 
 under his infallibility, come acts of excommunication, as if 
 the Pope could not make mistakes in this field of action. 
 He says, p. 35, " It may be sought to plead that the Pope 
 does not propose to invade the country, to seize Woolwich, 
 or burn Portsmouth. He will only, at the worst, excom- 
 municate opponents. . . Is this a good answer ? After 
 all, even in the Middle Ages, it was not by the direct 
 action of fleets and armies of their own that the Popes 
 contended with kings who were refractory ; it was mainly by 
 interdicts," &c. What have excommunication and interdict 
 to do with Infallibility ? Was St. Peter infallible on that 
 occasion at Antioch when St. Paul withstood him ? was St. 
 Victor infallible when he separated from his communion 
 the Asiatic Churches ? or Liberius when in like manner he 
 excommunicated Athanasius ? And, to come to later times, 
 was Gregory XIIL, when he had a medal struck in honour 
 of the Bartholomew massacre 1 or Paul IV. in his conduct 
 towards Elizabeth ? or Sextus V. when he blessed the 
 Armada ? or Urban VIII. when he persecuted Galileo ? 
 No Catholic ever pretends that these Popes were infallible 
 in these acts. Since then infallibility alone could block the 
 exercise of conscience, and the Pope is not infallible in 
 that subject-matter in which conscience is of supreme 
 authority, no dead-lock, such as is implied in the objection 
 which I am answering, can take place between conscience 
 and the Pope. 
 
 4. But, of course, I have to say again, lest I should 
 be misunderstood, that when I speak of Conscience, I mean 
 conscience truly so called. / When it has the right of oppos- 
 ing the supreme, though not infallible Authority of the 
 Pope, it must be something more than that miserable coun- 
 terfeit which, as I have said above, now goes by the name. 
 If in a particular case it is to be taken as a sacred and 
 sovereign monitor, its dictate, in order to prevail against 
 the voice of the Pope, must follow upon serious thought, 
 
64 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 prayer, and all available means of arriving at a right judg- 
 ment on the matter in question. And further, obedience 
 - toJ;he Pope is what is called "in possession ;" that is, the 
 ■''M ^ima p i vhandi' oi establishing a case against him lies, as in 
 all cases of exception, on the side of conscience. Unless 
 a man is able to say to himself, as in the Presence of God, 
 that he must not, and dare not, act upon the Papal in- 
 junction, he is bound to obey it, and would commit a great 
 sin in disobeying it. Prima facie it is his bounden duty, 
 even from a sentiment of loyalty, to believe the Pope 
 right and to act accordingly. He must vanquish that 
 mean, ungenerous, selfish, vulgar spirit of his nature, which, 
 at the very first rumour of a command, places itself in 
 opposition to the Superior who gives it, asks itself whether 
 he is not exceeding his right, and rejoices, in a moral and 
 practical matter, to commence with scepticism. He must have 
 no wilful determination to exercise a right of thinking, say- 
 ing, doing just what he pleases, the question of truth and 
 falsehood, right and wrong, the duty if possible of obedi- 
 ence, the love of speaking as his Head speaks, and of standiiig 
 in aU cases on his Head's side, being simply discarded. 
 If this necessary rule were observed, collisions between the 
 Pope's authority and the authority of conscience would be 
 very rare. On the other hand, in the fact that, after all, 
 in extraordinary cases, the conscience of each individual is 
 free, we have a safeguard and security, were security neces- 
 sary (which is a most gratuitous supposition), that no Pope 
 ever will be able, as the objection supposes, to create a false 
 conscience for his own ends. 
 
 Now, I shall end this part of the subject, for I have not 
 done with it altogether, by appealing to various of our 
 theologians in evidence that, in what I have been saying, 
 I have not misrepresented Catholic doctrine on these im- 
 portant points. 
 
 That is, on the duty of obeying our conscience at all 
 hazards. 
 
 I have already quoted the words which Cardinal Gous- 
 set has adduced from the Fourth Lateran ; that " He who 
 
CONSCIENCE. 65 
 
 acts against his conscience loses his soul." This dictum is 
 brought out with singular fulness and force in the moral 
 treatises of theologians. The celebrated school, known as 
 the Salmanticenses, or Carmelites of Salamanca, lays dowii 
 the broad proposition, that conscience is ever to be obeyed 
 whether it tells truly or erroneously, and that, whether the 
 error is the fault of the person thus erring or not.* They 
 say that this opinion is certain, and refer, as agreeing 
 with them, to St. Thomas, St. Bonaventura, Caietan, 
 Vasquez, Durandus, Navarrus, Corduba, Layman, Escobar, 
 and fourteen others. Two of them even say this opinion is 
 de fide. Of course, if he is culpable in being in error, 
 which he would have escaped, had he been more in 
 earnest, for that error he is answerable to God, but 
 still he must act according to that error, while he is in 
 it, because he in full sincerity thinks the error to be 
 truth. 
 
 Thus, if the Pope told the English Bishops to order 
 their priests to stir themselves energetically in favour of tee- 
 totalism, and a particular priest was fully persuaded that 
 abstinence from wine, &c., was practically a Gnostic 
 error, and therefore felt he could not so exert himself 
 without sin ; or suppose there was a Papal order to hold 
 lotteries in each mission for some religious object, and a 
 priest could say in God's sight that he believed lotteries 
 to be morally wrong, that priest in either of these cases 
 would commit a sin hie et nunc if he obeyed the Pope, 
 whether he was right or wrong in his opinion, and, if 
 wrong, although he had not taken proper pains to get at 
 the truth of the matter. 
 
 Busenbaum, of the Society of Jesus, whose work I 
 have already had occasion to notice, writes thus : — ■•" A 
 heretic, as long as he judges his sect to be more or 
 equally deserving of belief, has no obligation to believe 
 [in the Church.] " And he continues, " When men who 
 
 * " Aliqui opinantur quod conscientia erronea non obligat; Secun- 
 dam sententiam, et certain, asserentem esse peccatum discordare §, con- 
 scientii erroned, invincibili aut vincibili, tenet D. Thomas ; quem 
 seqnuntur omnes Scholastici." — Theol. Moral, t. v., p. 12, ed. 1728. 
 
 E 
 
66 ' CONSCIENCE. 
 
 have been brought up in heresy, are persuaded from boy- 
 hood that we impugn and attack the word of God, that 
 we are idolaters, pestilent deceivers, and therefore are to be 
 shunned as pestilences, they cannot, while this persuasion 
 lasts, with a safe conscience, hear us."^ — t. 1, p. 54. 
 
 Antonio Corduba, a Spanish Franciscan, states the doc- 
 trine with still more point, because he makes mention of 
 Superiors. " In no manner is it lawful to act against con- 
 science, even though a Law, or a Superior commands it." 
 — De Conscient., p. 138. 
 
 And the French Dominican, Natalis Alexander : — " If, 
 in the judgment of conscience, though a mistaken con- 
 science, a man is persuaded that what his Superior com- 
 mands is disj)leasing to God, he is bound not to obey." 
 —Theol. t. 2, p. 32. 
 
 The word " Superior " certainly includes the Pope ; 
 but, to bring out this point clearly. Cardinal Jacobatius in 
 his authoritative work on Councils, which is contained in 
 Labbe's Collection of them, introdiices the Pope by name : 
 — " If it were doubtful," he says, " whether a precept [of 
 the Pope] be a sin or not, we must determine thus : — that, 
 if he to whom the precept is addressed has a conscientious 
 sense that it is a sin and injustice, first it is his duty to 
 put ofi" that sense ; but, if he cannot, nor conform himself 
 to the judgment of the Pope, in that case it is his duty to 
 follow his own private conscience, and patiently to bear it, 
 if the Pope punishes him." — lib. iv., p. 241. 
 
 Would it not be well for Mr. Gladstone to bring pas- 
 sages from our recognized authors as confirmatory of his 
 view of our teaching, as those which I have quoted are 
 destructive of it ? and they must be passages declaring, not 
 only that the Pope is ever to be obeyed, but that there are 
 no exceptions to the rule, for exceptions must be in all 
 concrete matters. 
 
 I add one remark. Certainly, if I am obliged to bring 
 religion into after-dinner toasts, (which indeed does not 
 seem quite the thing) I shall drink, — to the Pope, if you 
 please, — still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope after- 
 wards. 
 
67 
 
 § 6. The Encyclical op 1864. 
 
 The subject of Conscience leads us to the Encyclical, 
 which is one of the special objects of Mr. Gladstone's 
 attack ; and to do justice to it, I must, as in other sections, 
 begin from an earlier date than 1864. 
 
 Modern Rome then is not the only place where the tradi- 
 tions of the oldEmpire,its principles,provisions,and practices, 
 have been held in honour ; they have been retained, they 
 have been maintained in substance, as the basis of European 
 civilization down to this day, and notably among ourselves. 
 In the Anglican establishment the king took the place of 
 the Pope ; but the Pope's principles kept possession. When 
 the Pope was ignored, the relations between Pope and king 
 were ignored too, and therefore we had nothing to do any 
 more with the old Imperial laws which shaped those rela- 
 tions ; but the old idea of a Christian Polity was still in force. 
 It was a first principle with England that there was one 
 true religion, that it was inherited from an earlier time, that 
 it came of direct Eevelation, that it was to be supported to 
 the disadvantage, to say the least, of other religions, of pri- 
 vate judgment, of personal conscience. The Puritans held 
 these principles as firmly as the school of Laud. As to the 
 Scotch Presbyterians, we read enough about them in the 
 pages of Mr. Buckle. The Stuarts went, but still their 
 principles suffered no dethronement ; their action was re- 
 strained, but they were stUl in force, when this century 
 opened. 
 
 It is curious to see how strikingly in this matter the 
 proverb has been fulfilled, " Out of sight, out of mind." 
 Men of the present generation, born in the new civiHzation, 
 are. shocked to witness in the abiding Papal system the 
 words, ways, and works of their grandfathers, in my om-u 
 lifetime has that old world been alive, and has gone its wav. 
 Who will say that the plea of conscience was as effectual. 
 
68 THE ENCYCLICAL OF 1864. 
 
 sixty years ago, as it is now in England, for the toleration 
 of every sort of fancy religion ? Had the Press always that 
 wonderful elbow-room which it has now 1 Might public 
 gatherings be held, and speeches made, and republicanism 
 avowed in the time of the Eegency, as is possible now 1 
 Were the thoroughfares open to monster processions at that 
 date, and the squares and parks at the mercy of Sunday 
 manifestations ? Could savants in that day insinuate what 
 their hearers mistook for atheism in scientific assemblies, 
 and artizans practise it in the centres of political action 1 
 Could public prints day after day, or week after week, carry 
 on a war against religion, natural and revealed, as now is 
 the case 1 No ; law or public opinion would not suffer it ; 
 we may be wiser or better now, but we were then in the 
 wake of the Holy Koman Church, and had been so from the 
 time of the Eeformation. We were faithful to the tradition 
 of fifteen hundred years. All this was called Toryism, and 
 men gloried in the name ; now it is called Popery and 
 reviled. 
 
 When I was young the State had a conscience, and the 
 Chief Justice of the day pronounced, not as a point of obso- 
 lete law, but as an energetic, living truth, that Christianity 
 was the law of the land. And by Christianity was meant 
 pretty much what Bentham calls Church-of-Englandism, its 
 cry being the dianer toast, " Church and king." Blackstone, 
 though he wrote a hundred years ago, was held, I believe, 
 as an authority, on the state of the law in this matter, up to 
 the beginning of this century. On the supremacy of Eeli- 
 gion he writes as follows, that is, as I have abridged him for 
 my purpose. 
 
 " The belief of a future state of rewards and punishments, 
 &c., &c.,... these are the grand foundation of all judicial 
 oaths. All moral evidence, all confidence 'in human veracity, 
 must be weakened by irreligion, and overthrown by infidelity. 
 Wherefore all affronts to Christianity, or endeavours to 
 depreciate its efficacy, are highly deserving of human punish- 
 ment. It was enacted by the statute of William HI. that if 
 any person educated in, and having made 'profession of, the 
 Christian religion, shall by writing, printing, teaching, or 
 
THE ENCYCLICAL OP 1864. 69 
 
 advised speaking, deny the Christian religion to be true, or 
 the Holy Scriptures to be of divine authority," or again in 
 like manner, " if any person educated in the Christian reli- 
 gion shall by writing, &c., deny any one of the Persons of 
 the Holy Triaity to be God, or maintain that there are more 
 gods than one, he shall on the first offence be rendered in- 
 capable to hold any office or place of trust ; and for the 
 second, be rendered incapable of bringing any action, being 
 guardian, executor, legatee, or purchaser of lands, and shall 
 suffer three years' imprisonment without bail. To give 
 room, however, for repentance, if, within four months after 
 the first conviction, the delinquent wlU iu open court pub- 
 licly renounce his error, he is discharged for that once from 
 all disabilities." 
 
 Again : " those who absent themselves from the divine 
 worship in the established Church, through total irreligion, 
 and attend the service of no other persuasion, forfeit one 
 shilling to the poor every Lord's day they so absent them- 
 selves, and £20 to the king, if they continue such a default 
 for a month together. And if they keep any inmate, thus 
 irrehgiously disposed, in their houses, they forfeit £10 per 
 month." 
 
 Further, he lays down that " revUing the ordinances of 
 the Church is a crime of a much grosser nature than the 
 other of non- conformity ; since it carries with it the utmost 
 indecency, arrogance, and ingratitude ; — -indecency, by set- 
 ting up private judgment in opposition to public j arro- 
 gance, by treating with contempt and rudeness what has at 
 least a better chance to be right than the singular notions 
 of any particular man ; and ingratitude, by denyiag that 
 indulgence and liberty of conscience to the members of the 
 national Church, which the retainers to every petty conven- 
 ticle enjoy." 
 
 Once more : " In order to secure the established Church 
 agaiust perils from non-conformists of all denominations, 
 infidels, Turks, Jews, heretics, papists, and sectaries, there 
 are two bulwarks erected, called the Corporation and Test 
 Acts ; by the former, no person can be legally elected to 
 any office relating to the government of any city or corpo- 
 
70 THE ENCYCLICAL OP 1864. 
 
 ration, unless, within a twelvemonth before, he has received 
 the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites 
 
 of the Church of England ; the other, called the Test 
 
 Act, directs all officers, civil and military, to make the 
 declaration against transubstantiation within six months 
 after their admission, and also within the same time to 
 receive the sacrament according to the usage of the Church 
 of England." The same test being undergone by all persons 
 who desired to be naturalized, the Jews also were excluded 
 from the privileges of Protestant churchmen. 
 
 Laws, such as these, of course gave a tone to society, to 
 all classes, high and low, and to the publications, periodical 
 or other, which represented public opinion. Dr. Watson, who 
 was the liberal prelate of his day, in his answer to Paine, 
 calls him (unless my memory betrays me) " a child of the 
 devil and an enemy of all righteousness." Cumberland, a 
 man of the world, (here again I must trust to the memory 
 of many past years) reproaches a Jewish writer for ingrati- 
 tude in assaOing, as he seems to have done, a tolerant reli- 
 gious establishment ; and Gibbon, an unbeliever, feels him- 
 self at liberty to look down on Priestly, whose " Socinian 
 shield," he says, " has been repeatedly pierced by the mighty 
 spear of Horsley, and whose trumpet of sedition may at 
 length awake the magistrates of a free country." 
 
 Such was the position of free opinion and dissenting 
 worship in England till quite a recent era, when one after 
 another the various disabilities which I have been recount- 
 ing, and many others besides, melted away, like snow at 
 spring-tide ; and we all wonder how they could ever have 
 been in force. The cause of this great revolution is obvi- 
 ous, and its -effect inevitable. Though I profess to be an 
 admirer of the principles now superseded, in themselves, 
 mixed up as they were with the imperfections and evils 
 incident to everything human, nevertheless I say frankly 
 I do not see how they could possibly be maintained in the 
 ascendant. When the intellect is cultivated, it is as certain 
 that it will develop into a thousand various shapes, as that 
 infinite hues and tints and shades of colour will be reflected 
 from the earth's surface, when the sun-light touches it ; 
 
THE ENCYCLICAL OP 1864. 71 
 
 and in matters of religion the more, by reason of the ex- 
 treme subtlety and abstruseness of the mental action by 
 which they are determined. During the last seventy years, 
 first one class of the community, then another, has awakened 
 up to thought and opinion. Their multiform views on 
 sacred subjects necessarily affected and found expression in 
 the governing order. The State in past time had a con- 
 science ; George the Third had a conscience ; but there 
 were other men at the head of affairs besides him with con- 
 sciences, and they spoke for others besides themselves, and 
 what was to be done, if he could not work without them, 
 and they could not work with him, as far as religious ques- 
 tions came up at the Council-board ? This brought on a 
 dead-lock in the time of his successor. The ministry of the day 
 could not agree together in the policy or justice of keeping up 
 the state of things which Blackstone describes. The State 
 ought to have a conscience ; but what if it happen to have 
 half-a-dozen, or a score, or a hundred, in religious matters, 
 each different from each ? I think Mr. Gladstone has 
 brought out the difficulties of the situation himself 
 in his Autobiography. No government could be formed, 
 if religious 'unanimity was a sine qua non. What 
 then was to be done ? As a necessary consequence, 
 the whole theory of Toryism, hitherto acted on, came 
 to pieces and went the way of all flesh. This was in 
 the nature of things. Not a huncbed Popes could have 
 hindered it, unless Providence interposed by an effusion of 
 divine grace on the hearts of men, which would amount to 
 a miracle, and perhaps would interfere with human respon- 
 sibility. The Pope has denounced the sentiment that he 
 ought to come to terms with " progress, liberalism, and 
 the new civilization." I have no thought at all of dis- 
 puting his words. I leave the great problem to the future. 
 God will guide other Popes to act when Pius goes, as He 
 has guided him. No one can dislike the democratic prin- 
 ciple more than I do. No one mourns, for instance, more 
 than I, over the state of Oxford, given up, alas ! to 
 ' ' liberalism and progress, " to the forfeiture of her great medie - 
 val motto, ' ' Dominus Uluminatio mea," and with a consequent 
 
72 THE ENCYCLICAL OF 1864. 
 
 call on her to go to Parliament or the Heralds College for a 
 new one ; but what can we do ?. All I know is, that Tory- 
 ism, that is, loyalty to persons, " springs immortal in the 
 human breast ;" that Eeligion is a spiritual loyalty ; and 
 that Catholicity is the only divine form of Eeligion. And 
 thus, in centuries to come, there may be found out some 
 way of uniting what is free in the new structure of society 
 with what is authoritative in the old, without any base 
 compromise with " Progress " and " Liberalism." 
 
 But to return : — -I have noticed the great revolution in 
 the state of the Law which has taken place since 1828 for 
 this reason : — to suggest that Englishmen, who within fifty 
 years kept up the Pope's system, are not exactly the par- 
 ties to throw stones at the Pope for keeping it up still. 
 
 But I J go further^: — ^in fact the Pope has not said on 
 this subject of conscience (for that is the main subject in 
 question) what Mr. Gladstone makes him say. On this 
 point I desiderate that fairness in his Pamphlet which we 
 have a right to expect from him ; and in truth his unfair- 
 ness is wonderful. He says, pp. 15, 16, that the Holy See 
 has " condemned " the maintainers of " the Liberty of the 
 Press, of conscience, and of worship." Again, that the 
 "Pontiff has condemned free speech, free writing, a free 
 press, toleration of non- conformity, liberty of conscience," 
 p. 42. Now, is not this accusation of a very wholesale 
 character ? Who would not understand it to mean that 
 the Pope had pronounced a universal anathema against 
 all these liberties in toto, and that English law, on the 
 contrary, allowed those liberties in toto, which the Pope 
 had condemned. But the Pope has done no such thing. 
 -The real question is in what respect, in what measure, has he 
 spoken against liberty : the grant of liberty admits of de- 
 grees. Blackstone is careful to show how much more liberty 
 the law allowed to the subject in his day, how much less severe 
 it was in its safeguards against abuse, than it had used to be ; but 
 he never pretends that it is conceivable that liberty should 
 have no boundary at all. The very idea of political society 
 is based upon the principle that each member of it gives 
 
THE ENCYCLICAL OB" 1864. 73 
 
 up a portion of his natural liberty for advantages which are 
 greater than that liberty ; and the question is, whether the 
 Pope, in any act of his which touches us Catholics, in any 
 ecclesiastical or theological statement of his, h&s propounded 
 any principle, doctrine, or view, which is not carried out in 
 fact at this time in British courts of law, and would not be 
 conceded by Blackstone. I repeat, the very notion of 
 human society is a relinquishment, to a certain point, of 
 the liberty of its members individually, for the sake of a 
 common security. Would it be. fair on that account to say 
 that the British Constitution condemns all liberty of con- 
 science in word and in deed ? 
 
 We Catholics, on our part, are denied liberty of our 
 religion by English law in various ways, but we do not 
 complain, because a limit must be put to even innocent 
 liberties, and we acquiesce in it for the social compen- 
 sations which we gain on the whole. Our school boys 
 cannot play cricket on Sunday, not even in country 
 places, for fear of being taken before a magistrate and 
 fined. In Scotland we cannot play the piano on Sundays, 
 much less the fiddle, even in our own rooms. I have had 
 before now a lawyer's authority for saying that a religious 
 procession is Illegal even, within our own premises. TiU the 
 last year or two we could not call our Bishops by the titles 
 which our Eeligion gave them. A mandate from the Home 
 Secretary obliged us to put off our cassocks when we went 
 out of doors. We are forced to pay rates for the establish- 
 ment of secular schools which we cannot use, and then we 
 have to find means over again, for building schools of our 
 own. Why is not all this as much an outrage on our con- 
 science as the prohibition upon Protestants at Eome, 
 Naples, and Malaga, before the late political changes — not 
 to hold their services in a private, or in the ambassador's 
 house, or outside the walls, — but to flaunt them in public 
 and thereby to irritate the natives ? Mr. Gladstone seems to 
 think it is monstrous for the Holy See to sanction such a 
 prohibition. If so, may we not call upon him to gain for 
 us in Birmingham " the free exercise of our religion," in 
 making a circuit of the streets in our vestments, and chant- 
 
74 THE ENCYCLICAL OP 1864. 
 
 ing the " Pange Lingua," and tHe protection of tlie police 
 against the mob which would be sure to gather round us, 
 — particularly since we are Enghsh born ; but the Protes- 
 tants at Malaga or Naples were foreigners.* But we have 
 the good sense neither to feel it a hardship, nor to protest 
 against it as a grievance. 
 
 But now for the present state of English Law : — I say- 
 seriously Mr. Gladstone's accusation of us avails quite as 
 much against Blackstone's four volumes, against laws in 
 general, against the social contract, as against the Pope. 
 What the Pope has said, I will show presently : first let us 
 ;see what the statute book has to tell us about the present 
 state of English liberty of speech, of the press, and of 
 worship. 
 
 First, as to public speaking and meetings : — do we allow 
 of seditious language, or of insult to the sovereign, or his 
 representatives ? Blackstone says, that a misprision is com- 
 mitted against him by speaking or writing against him, 
 cursing or wishing him ill, giving out scandalous stories 
 'Concerning him, or doing anything that mEt,y tend to lessen 
 him in the esteem of his subjects, may weaken his govern- 
 ment, or may raise jealousies between him and his people." 
 Also he' says, that " threatening and reproachful words to 
 any judge sitting in the Courts " involve " a high mispri- 
 sion, and have been punished with large fines, imprison- 
 ment, and corporal punishment." And we may recollect 
 quite lately the judges of the Queen's Bench prohibited 
 public meetings and speeches which had for their object the 
 issue of a case then proceeding in Court. 
 
 Then, again, as to the Press, there are two modes of 
 bridling it, one before the printed matter is published, the 
 •other after. The former is the method of censorship, the latter 
 that of the law of libel. Each is a restriction on the liberty 
 of the Press. We prefer the latter. I never heard it said 
 that the law of libel was of a mild character ; and I never 
 heard that the Pope, in any Brief or Eescript, had insisted 
 on a censorship. 
 
 * "Hominibus illuc immigrantibus." These words Mr. Gladstone 
 omits, also he translates "publicum" "free," pp.' 17, 18. 
 
THE ENCYCLICAL OF 1864. 75 
 
 Lastly, liberty of worsliip : as to the English restriction 
 of it, we have had a notable example of it in the last 
 session of Parliament, and we shall have still more edify- 
 ing illustrations of it in the next, though not certainly 
 from Mr. Gladstone. The ritualistic party, in the free 
 exercise of their rights, under the shelter of the Anglican 
 rubrics, of certain of the Anglican offices, of the teaching 
 of their great divines, and of their conscientious interpre- 
 tation of their Articles, have, at their own expense, built 
 churches for worship after their own way ; and, on the 
 other hand. Parliament and the newspapers are attempting 
 to put them down, not so much because they are acting 
 against the tradition and the law of the Establishment, 
 but because of the national dislike and dread of the prin- 
 ciples and doctrines which their worship embodies. 
 
 When Mr. Gladstone has a right to say broadly, by 
 reason of these restrictions, that British law and the British 
 people condemn the maintainers of liberty of conscience, of 
 the press, and of worship, m toto, then may he say so of 
 the Encyclical, or account of those words which to him have 
 so frightful a meaning. 
 
 Now then let us see, on the other hand, what the 
 proposition is, the condemnation of whichleads him to say, that 
 the Pope has unrestrictedly " condemned those who main- 
 tain the liberty of the Press, the liberty of conscience and 
 of worship, and i^e liberty of speech," p. 16, — has "con- 
 demned free speech, free writing, and a free press," p. 42. 
 The condemned proposition speaks as follows : — 
 
 " Liberty of conscience and worship, is the inherent 
 right of aU men. 2. It ought to be proclaimed in every 
 rightly constituted society. 3. It is a right to all sorts of 
 liberty (omnimodam libertatem) such, that it ought not to 
 be restrained by any authority, ecclesiastical or civil, as far 
 as public speaking, printing, or any other public manifes- 
 tation of opinions is concerned." 
 
 Now, is there any government on earth that could stand 
 the strain of such a doctrine as this ? It starts by taking 
 for granted that there are certain Rights of man ; Mr. 
 Gladstone so considers, I believe ; but other deep thinkers 
 
*7Q THE ENCYCLICAL OF 1864. 
 
 of the day are quite of another opinion ; however, if the 
 doctrine of the proposition is true, then the right of con- 
 science, of which it speaks, being inherent in man, 
 is of universal force — that is, all over the world — also, 
 says the proposition, it is a right which must be recog- 
 nized by aU rightly constituted governments. Lastly, 
 what is the right of conscience thus inherent in our 
 nature, thus necessary for all states ? The proposition 
 teUs us. It is the liberty of every one to give public utter- 
 ance, in every possible shape, by every possible channel, 
 without any let or hindrance from God or man, to all his 
 notions whatsoever* 
 
 Which of the two in this matter is peremptory and 
 sweeping in his utterance, the author of this thesis 
 himself, or the Pope who has condemned what he has 
 uttered ? Who is it who would force upon the world a 
 universal ? All that the Pope has done is to deny a uni- 
 versal, and what a universal ! a universal liberty to all men 
 to say out whatever doctrines they may hold by preaching, 
 or by the press, uncurbed by church or civil power. Does 
 not this bear out what I said in the foregoing section 
 of the sense in which Pope Gregory denied a "liberty 
 of conscience ? " It is a liberty of self-will. What 
 if a man's conscience embraces the duty of regicide? 
 or infanticide ? or free love ? You may say that in 
 England the good sense of the nation would stifle and 
 extinguish such atrocities. True, but the proposition says 
 that it is the very right of every one, by nature, in every 
 weU constituted society. If so, why have we gagged the Press 
 in Ireland on the ground of its being seditious ? Why is not 
 India brought within the British constitution ? It seems 
 a light epithet for the Pope to use, when he calls such a 
 doctrine of conscience deliramentum : of all conceivable 
 absurdities it is the wildest and most stupid. Has Mr. 
 
 * " Jus ciyibus inesse ad omnimodam libertatem, tiulld vel eccle- 
 siastica vel civili auctoritate coarctandam, quo suos conceptus quoscunque 
 sive voce, sive typis, sive alia ratione, palam puhliceque manifestare ac 
 declarare valeant." 
 
THE ENCYCLICAL OF 1864. 77 
 
 Grladstone really no better complaint to make against the 
 Pope's condemnations tlian this ? 
 
 Perhaps he will say, Why should the Pope take the 
 trouble to condemn what is so wild ? But he does : and 
 to say that he condemns something which he does not 
 condemn, and then to inveigh against him on the ground 
 of that something else, is neither jiist nor logical. 
 
78 
 
 § 1. The Syllabus. 
 
 Now I come to the Syllabus of " Errors," the publica- 
 tion of which has been exclaimed against in England as 
 such singular enormity, and especially by Mr. Grladstone. 
 The condemnation of theological statements which militate 
 against the Catholic Faith is of long usage in the Church. 
 Such was the condemnation of the heresies of Wickliffe in 
 the Council of Constance ; such those of Huss, of Luther, 
 of Baius, of Jansenius ; such the condemnations which 
 were published by Sextus IV., Innocent XI., Clement XL, 
 Benedict XIV., and other Popes. Such condemnations 
 are no invention of Pius IX. The Syllabus is a col- 
 lection of such erroneous propositions, as he has con- 
 demned during his Pontificate ; there are 80 of them. 
 
 The word " SyUabus " means a collection ; the French 
 translation calls it a "Resume ■" — -a Collection of what? 
 I have already said, of propositions, — propositions which the 
 Pope in his various Allocutions, Encyclicals, and like docu- 
 ments, since he has been Pope, has pronounced to be 
 Errors. Who gathered the propositions out of these Papal 
 documents, and put them together in one ? We do not 
 know ; all we know is that, by the Pope's command, this 
 Collection of Errors was sent by his Foreign Minister to 
 the Bishops. He, Cardinal Antonelli, sent to them at the 
 same time the Encyclical of December, 1864, which is a 
 document of dogmatic authority. The Cardinal says, in 
 his circular to them, that the Pope ordered him to do so. 
 The Pope thought, he says, that perhaps the Bishops had 
 not seen some of his Allocutions, and other authoritative 
 letters and speeches of jDast years ; in consequence the Pope 
 had had the Errors which, at one time or other he had 
 therein condemned, brought together into one, and that for 
 the use of the Bishops. 
 
 Such is the Syllabus and its object. There is not a word 
 
THE SYLLABUS. 79 
 
 in it of the Pope's own writing ; there is nothing in it at all 
 but the Erroneous Propositions themselves — ^that is, ex- 
 cept the heading "A Syllabus, containing the principal 
 Errors of our times, which are noted in the Consistorial 
 Allocutions, in the Encyclicals, and in other Apostolical 
 Letters of our most Holy Lord, Pope Pius IX." There is 
 one other addition — viz., after each proposition a reference 
 is given to the AUocution, Encyclical, or other document in 
 which it is condemned. 
 
 The Syllabus, then, is to be received with profound sub- 
 mission, as having been sent by the Pope's authority to 
 the Bishops of the world. It certainly has indirectly his 
 extrinsic sanction ; but intrinsically, and viewed in itself, it is. 
 nothing more than a digest of certain Errors made by an ano- 
 nymous writer. There would be nothing on the face of it, to 
 show that the Pope had ever seen it, page by page, unless the 
 " Imprimatur " implied in the Cardinal's letter had been an 
 evidence of this. It has no marls or seal put upon it which 
 gives it a direct relation to the Pope. Who is its author ? 
 Some select theologian or high official doubtless ; can it be 
 Cardinal AntoneUi himself ? No surely : any how it is not 
 the Pope, and I do not see my way to accept it for what it 
 is not. I do not speak as if I had any difficulty in re- 
 cognizing and condemning the Errors which it catalogues, did 
 the Pope himself bid me ; but he has not as yet done so, and 
 he cannot delegate his Magisterium to another. I wish with 
 St. Jerome to " speak with the Successor of the Fisherman 
 and the Disciple of the Cross." I assent to that which the 
 Pope propounds in faith and morals, but it must be he 
 speaking officially, personally, and immediately, and not 
 any one else, who has a hold over me. The Syllabus is not 
 an official act, because it is not signed, for instance, with 
 " Datum Eomse, Pius P. P. IX," or " sub annulo Pisca- 
 toris," or in some other way; it is not a personal, for he does 
 not address his " Venerabiles Eratres," or " Dilecto Eilio," 
 or speak as " Pius Episcopus ;" it is not an immediate, for it 
 comes to the Bishops only through the Cardinal Minister of 
 State. 
 
 If, indeed, the Pope should ever make that anonymous 
 
80 THE SYLLABUS. 
 
 compilation direfetly his own, then of course I should bow 
 to it and accept it as strictly His. He might have done 
 so ; he might do so still ; again, he might issue a fresh list 
 of Propositions in addition, and pronounce them to be 
 Errors, and I should take that condemnation to be of dog- 
 matic authority, because I believe him appointed by his 
 Divine Master to determine in the detail of faith and 
 morals what is true and what is false. But such an act of 
 his he would formally authenticate ; he would speak in 
 his own name, as Leo X. or Innocent XL did, by BuU or 
 Letter Apostolic. Or, if he wished to speak less authorita- 
 tively, he would speak through a Sacred Congregatioij. ; 
 but the Syllabus makes no claim to be acknowledged as the 
 word of the Pope. Moreover, if the Pope drew up that 
 catalogue, as it may be called, he would discriminate the 
 errors one from another, for they greatly differ in gravity, 
 and he would guard against seeming to say that all intel- 
 lectual faults are equal. What gives cogency to this re- 
 mark is, that a certain number of Bishops and theologians, 
 when a Syllabus was in contemplation, did wish for such a 
 formal act on the part of the Pope, and in consequence 
 they drew up for his consideration the sort of document 
 on which, if he so willed, he might suitably stamp his 
 infallible sanction ; but he did not accede to their prayer. 
 This composition is contained iu the " Recueil des Allocu- 
 tions," &c., and is far more than a mere " collection of 
 errors." It is headed, " Theses ad Apostolicam Sedem de- 
 latse cum censuris," Sec, and each error from first to last 
 has the ground of its condemnation marked upon it. There 
 are sixty-one of them. The first is " impia, injuriosa reli- 
 gioni," &c. ; the second is " complexive sumpta, falsa," &c. ; 
 the third the same ; the fourth " hseretica," and so on, the 
 epithets affixed having a distinct meaning, and denoting 
 various degrees of error. Such a document, unlike the 
 Syllabus, has a substantive character. 
 
 Here I am led to interpose a remark ; — it is plain, then, 
 that there are those near, or with access, to the Holy Father, 
 who would, if they could, go much further in the way of 
 assertion and command, than the divine Assistentia, which 
 
THE SYLLABUS. 81 
 
 overshadows him, wills or permits : so that his acts and his 
 words on doctrinal subjects must be carefully scrutinized 
 and weighed, before we can be sure what really he has said. 
 Utterances which must be received as coming from an In- 
 fallible Voice are not made every day, indeed they are very 
 rare ; and those which are by some persons affirmed or 
 assumed to be such, do not always turn out what they are 
 said to be ; nay, even such as are really dogmatic must be 
 read by definite rules and by traditional principles of inter- 
 pretation, which are as cogent and unchangeable as the Pope's 
 own decisions themselves. What I have to say presently will 
 illustrate this truth ; meanwhile I use the circumstance 
 which has led to my mentioning it, for another purpose 
 here. When intelligence which we receive from Eome 
 startles and pains us from its seemingly harsh or extreme 
 character, let us learn to have some little faith and patience, 
 and not take for granted that all that is reported is the' 
 truth. There are those who wish and try to carry measures, 
 and declare they have carried, when they have not carried 
 them. How many strong things, for instance, have been 
 reported with a sort of triumph on one side and with irri- 
 tation and despondency on the other, of what the Vatican 
 Council has done ; whereas the very next year after it. 
 Bishop Fessler, the Secretary General of the Council, brings 
 out his work on " True and False Infallibility,"''' reducing 
 what was said to be so monstrous to its true dimensions. 
 When I see all this going on, those grand lines always rise 
 on my lips in the Greek Tragedy — 
 
 " OvTTOTe Tav At09 apixovi'av 
 
 OvaTiov ■Tra.pe^Mcri, fiovXa'i," — 
 
 and still more the consolation given us by a Divine Speaker 
 that, though the swelling sea is so threatening to look at, 
 yet there is One who rules it and says, " Hitherto shalt 
 thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves 
 be stayed !" 
 
 But to return : — the Syllabus then has no dogmatic force ; 
 it addresses us, not in its separate portions, but as a whole, 
 
 * A translation of this important work will in a few days be published 
 by Messrs. Burns and Gates. 
 
 F 
 
82 THE SYLLABUS. 
 
 and is to be received from the Pope by an act of obedience, 
 not of faith, that obedience being shown by having recourse 
 to the original and authoritative documents, (Allocutions 
 and the like,) to which the Syllabus pointedly refers. More- 
 over, when we turn to those documents, which are authori- 
 tative, we find the Syllabus cannot even be called an echo 
 of the Apostolic Voice ; for, in matters in which wording is 
 so important, it is not an exact transcript of the words of 
 the Pope, in its account of the errors condemned, — ^just as 
 would be natural in what is an index for reference. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone indeed wishes to unite the Syllabus to 
 that Encyclical which so moved him in December, 1864, 
 and says that the Errors noted in the Syllabus are all 
 brought under the infallible judgment pronounced on cer- 
 tain errors specified in the Encyclical. This is an untenable 
 assertion. He says of the Pope and of the Syllabus, p. 20 : 
 " These are not mere opinions of the Pope himself, nor even 
 are they opinions which he might paternally recommend to 
 the pious consideration of the faithful. With the promul- 
 gation of his opinions is unhappily combined, in the Ency- 
 clical Letter which virtually, though not expressly, includes 
 the ivhole, a command to all his spiritual children (from 
 which command we, the disobedient children, are in no way 
 excluded) to hold them," and he appeals in proof of this to 
 the language of the Encyclical ; but let us see what that 
 language is. The Pope speaks thus, as Mr. Gladstone himself 
 quotes him : " AU and each of the wrong opinions and doc- 
 trines, mentioned one by one in this Encyclical {hisce litteris), 
 by our Apostolical authority, we reprobate, &c. " He says, as 
 plainly as words can speak, that the wrong opinions which 
 m this passage he condemns, are specified in the Encychcal, 
 not outside of it; and, when we look into the earlier part 
 of it, there they are, about ten of them ; there is not a 
 single word in the Encyclical to show that the Pope in it 
 was alluding to the Syllabus. The Syllabus does not exist 
 as far as the language of the Encyclical is concerned. This' 
 gratuitous assumption seems to me marvellously unfair. 
 
 The only connexion between the Syllabus and the Ency- 
 clical is one external to them both, the connexion of time and 
 
THE SYLLABUS, 83 
 
 organ ; Cardinal Antonelli sending them both to the Bishops 
 with the introduction of one and the same letter. In that 
 letter he speaks to the Bishops thus, as I paraphrase his 
 words :* — The Holy Father sends you by me a list, which 
 he has caused to be drawn up and printed, of the errors 
 which he has in various formal documents, in the course of 
 the last eighteen years, condemned. At the same time, 
 and with that list of errors, he is sending you a new 
 Encyclical, which he has judged it apropos to write to 
 the Catholic Bishops ; — so I send you both at once." 
 
 The Syllabus, then, is a list, or rather an index, of the 
 Pope's Encyclical or Allocutional condemnations, an index 
 raisonne, — not alphabetical, as is found, for instance, in Bel- 
 larmine's or Lambertini's works, — drawn up by the Pope's 
 orders, out of his paternal care for the flock of Christ, and 
 conveyed to the Bishops through his Minister of State. But 
 we can no more accept it as de Jide, as a dogmatic docu- 
 ment, than other index or table of contents. Take a parallel 
 case, mutatis mutandis : Counsel's opinion being asked on 
 a point of law, he goes to his law books, writes down his 
 answer, and, as authority, refers his client to 23 George 
 III., c. 5, s. 11 ; 11 Victoria, c. 12, s. 19, and to Thomas v. 
 Smith, Att.-Gen. v. Roberts, and Jones v. Owen. Who would 
 say that that sheet of foolscap had force of law, when it 
 was nothing more than a list of references to the Statutes 
 of the Eealm, or Judges' decisions, in which the Law's 
 voice really was found ? 
 
 The value of the Syllabus, then, lies in its references ; 
 but of these Mr. Gladstone has certainly availed himself 
 very little. Yet, in order to see the nature and extent of 
 
 * His actual -words (abridged) are these: — "Notre T.S.S. Pius IX. 
 n'a jamais cease de proscrire les principales erreurs de notre trSs-malheu- 
 reuse gpoque, par ses Eaoycliques, et par ses Allocutions, &c. Mais, 
 comme il peut arriver que tons les aotes pontificaux ne perviennent pas 
 i chacun des Ordinaires, le meme Souverain PoDtife a voulu que Ton 
 redigeat un Syllabus de ces memes erreurs, destine h, etre envoy6 a tous 
 les Eveques, &c. Ilm'a ensuite ordonn6 de veiller a ce que ce Syllabus 
 imprime fut envoye a V.E.R. dans ce temps oii le meme Souverain Pon- 
 tife a juge h, propos d'ecrire un autre Lettre Encyclique. Ainsi, je 
 m'empresse d'enroyer a V.E. ce Syllabus aveo ces Lettres." 
 
84 THE SYLLABUS. 
 
 the condemnation passed on any proposition of the Sylla- 
 bus, it is absolutely necessary to turn out the passage of 
 the Allocution, Encyclical, or other -document, in which the 
 condemnation is found ; for the wording of the errors which 
 the Syllabus contains is to be interpreted by its references. 
 Instead of this Mr. Gladstone uses forms of speech about 
 the Syllabus which only excite in me fresh wonder. In- 
 deed, he speaks upon these ecclesiastical subjects gene- 
 rally in a style in which priests and parsons are accused 
 by their enemies of speaking concerning geology. For 
 instance, the Syllabus, as we have seen, is a list or 
 index ; but he calls it " extraordinary declarations," p. 21. 
 How can a list of Errors be a series of Pontifical " Declara- 
 tions V 
 
 However, perhaps he would say that, in speaking of 
 " Declarations,^' he was referring to the authoritative state- 
 ments which I have accused him of neglecting. With all 
 my heart ; but then let us see how those statements fulfil the 
 character he gives of them. He calls them " Extraordinary 
 declarations on personal and private duty," p. 21, and "strin- 
 gent condemnations," p. 1 9 . Now, I certainly must grant that 
 some are stringent, but only some. One of the most severe 
 that I have found among them is that in the Apostolic 
 Letter of June 10, 1851, against some heretic priest out 
 at Lima, whose elaborate work in six volumes against the 
 Curia Eomana, is pronounced to be in its various statements 
 scandalous, rash, false, schismatical, injurious to the Eoman 
 Pontiffs and Ecumenical Councils impious and here- 
 tical." It well deserved to be called by these names," 
 which are not terms of abuse, but each with its defi- 
 nite meaning ; and, if Mr Gladstone, in speaking of 
 the condemnations, had confined his epithet " stringent'" 
 to it, no one would have complained of him. And another 
 severe condemnation is that of the works of Professor 
 Nuytz. But let us turn to some other of the so-called 
 condemnations, in order to ascertain whether they answer 
 to his general description of them. 
 
 1. For instance, take his own 16th (the 77th of the 
 " erroneous Propositions ") that, " It is no longer expedient 
 
THE SYLLABUS. 85 
 
 that the Catholic Religion should be established to the exclu- 
 sion of all others." When we turn to the Allocution, which is 
 the ground of its being put into the Syllabus, what do we 
 find there ? First, that the Pope was speaking, not of 
 States universally, but of one particular State, Spain, defi- 
 nitely Spain ; secondly, he was not speaking of the propo- 
 sition in question directly, or dogmatically, or separately, 
 but was protesting against the breach in many ways of the 
 Concordat on the part of the Spanish government; further, 
 that he was not referring to any theological work containing 
 it, nor contemplating any proposition ; nor, on the other 
 hand, using any word of condemnation at all, nor using any 
 harsher terms of the Government in question than those of 
 " his wonder and bitterness." And again, taking the Pope's 
 remonstrance as it stands, is it any great cause of complaint 
 to Englishmen, who so lately were severe in their legisla- 
 tion upon Unitarians, Catholics, unbelievers and others, 
 that the Pope does merely not think it expeciient for every 
 state from this timejorth to tolerate every sort of religion 
 on its territory, and to disestablish the Church at once 1 for 
 this is all that he denies. As in the instance in the fore- 
 going section, he does but deny a universal, which the ' 
 " erroneous proposition" asserts- without any explanation. '' 
 2. Another of Mr. Gladstone's "stringent Condemna- I 
 tions" (his 1 8th) is that of the Pope's denial of the proposition I 
 that " the Roman Pontiff can and ought to come to terms 
 with Progress, Liberalism, and the New Civilization." I 
 turn to the Allocution of March 18, 1861, and find there no 
 formal condemnation of this Proposition at aU. The Allocu- 
 tion is a long argument to the efi'ect that the moving parties 
 in that Progress, Liberalism, and new Civilization, make 
 use of it so seriously to the injury of the Faith and the 
 Church, that it is both out of the power, and con- 
 trary to the duty, of the Pope to come to terms with 
 them. Nor would those prime movers themselves difi"er 
 from him here ; certainly in this country it is the 
 common cry that Liberalism is and will be the Pope's 
 destruction, and they wish and mean it so to be. This 
 Allocution on the subject is at once beautiful, dignified, 
 
86 THE SYLLABUS. 
 
 and touching: and I cannot conceive how Mr. Gladstone 
 should make stringency his one characteristic of these con- 
 demnations, especially when after all there is here no con- 
 demnation at all. 
 
 3. Take, again, Mr. Gladstone's 15th—" That the aboli- 
 tion of Temporal Power of the Popedom would be highly ad- 
 vantageous to the Church." Neither can I find in the Pope's 
 Allocution any formal condemnation whatever of this 
 proposition, much less a " stringent " one. Even the 
 Syllabus does no more in the case of any one of the 
 eighty, than to call it an " error ;" and what the Pope 
 himself says of this particular error is only this : — "We 
 cannt)t but in particular warn and reprove (monere et 
 redarguere) those who applaud the decree by which the 
 Eoman Pontiff has been despoiled of all the honour and 
 dignity of his civil rule, and assert that the said decree, 
 more than anything else, conduces to the liberty and pros- 
 
 > perity of the Church itself." — Alloc, April 20, 1849.. 
 
 S- 4. Take another of his instances, the 1 7th, the " error " 
 that "in countries called Catholic the public exercise of other 
 religions may laudably be allowed." I have had occasion 
 to mention already his mode of handling the Latin text of this 
 proposition — viz., that, whereas the men who were forbid- 
 den the public exercise of their religion were foreigners, 
 who had no right to be in a country not their own at 
 all, and might fairly have conditions imposed upon them 
 during their stay there ; nevertheless Mr. Gladstone (appa- 
 rently through haste) has left out the word " hominibus 
 illuc immigrantibus," on which so much turns. Next, as 
 I have observed above, it was only the sufi'erance of their 
 public worship, and again of all worships whatsoever, how- 
 ever many and various, which the Pope blamed ; further, the 
 the Pope's words did not apply to all States, but specially, 
 and, as far as the Allocution goes, definitely, to New Gra- 
 nada. 
 
 However, the point I wish to insist upon here is, that 
 there was in this case no condemned proposition at all, but 
 it was merely, as in the case of Spain, an act of the Govern- 
 ment which the Pope protested against. The Pope merely 
 
THE SYLLABUS. 
 
 87 
 
 told that Government that that act, and other acts which 
 they had committed, gave him very great pain ; that he had 
 expected better things of them ; that the way they went 
 on was all of a piece ; and they had his best prayers. Some- 
 how, it seems to me strange, for any one to call an expos- 
 tulation like this one of a set of " extraordinary declara- 
 tions" "stringent condemnations." 
 
 I am convinced that the more the propositions and the 
 references contained in the Syllabus are examined, the more 
 signally will the charge break down, brought against the 
 Pope on occasion of it : as to those Propositions which 
 Mr. Gladstone specially selects, some of them I have 
 already taken in hand, and but few of them present g-ny dif- 
 ficulty. 
 
 5. As to those on Marriage, I cannot follow Mr. Glad- 
 stone's meaning here, which seems to me very confused, 
 and it would be going out of the line of remark which I 
 have traced out for myself^ (and which already is more ex- 
 tended than I could wish), were I to treat of them. 
 
 6. His fourth Error, (taken from the Encyclical) that 
 " Papal judgments and decrees may, without sin, be dis- 
 obeyed or differed from," is a denial of the principle of 
 Hooker's celebrated work on Ecclesiastical Polity, and 
 would be condemned by him as well as by the Pope. 
 And it is plain to common sense that no society can stand 
 if its rules are disobeyed. What club or union would not 
 expel members who refused so to be bound ? 
 
 7. And the 5th,* 8th, and 9th propositions are necessarily 
 errors, if the Sketch of Church Polity drawn out in former 
 sections is true, and are necessarily considered as such by 
 those, as the Pope, who maintain that Polity. 
 
 8. The 10th Error, as others which I have noticed 
 above, is a universal (that " in the conflict of laws, civil 
 and ecclesiastical, the civil law should prevail"), and the 
 Pope does but deny a universal. 
 
 * Father Coleridge, in his Sermon on " The Abomination of Desola- 
 tion," observes that, whereas Proposition 5th speaks of "jura," Mr. Glad- 
 stone translates " cm7 jura." Vid. that Sermon, and the " Month" for De- 
 cember, for remarks on various of these Propositions ; but above all 
 Mgr. Dupanloup's works on the subject, Messrs. Barns and Gates, 1865. 
 
88 THE SYLLABUS. 
 
 9. Mr. Gladstone's 11th, which I do not quite under- 
 stand in his wording of it, runs thus : — " Catholics can 
 approve of that system of education for youth which is sepa- 
 rated from the Catholic faith and the Church's power, and 
 which regards the science only of physical things, and the 
 outlines (fines) of earthly social life alone or at least prima- 
 rily." How is this not a<ji " Error V Surely there are 
 Englishmen enough who protest against the elimination 
 of religion from our schools ; is such a protest so dire an 
 ofience to Mr. Gladstone 1 
 
 10. And the 12th Error is this : — That " the science of 
 philosophy and of morals, also the laws of the State, can 
 and should keep clear of divine and eccfesiastical autho- 
 rity." This too will not be anything short of an error in 
 the judgment of great numbers of our own people. Is 
 Benthamism so absolutely the Truth, that the Pope is to be 
 denounced because he has not yet become a convert to it 1 
 
 11. There are only two of the condemnations which 
 really require a word of explanation ; I have already 
 referred to them. One is that of Mr. Gladstone's sixth 
 Proposition, "Eoman Pontiifs and Ecumenical Councils, 
 have departed from the limits of their power, have usurped 
 the rights of Princes, and even in defining matters of 
 faith and morals have erred." These words are taken 
 from the Lima Priest's book. We have to see then what 
 he means by " the Rights of Princes," for the propo- 
 sition is condemned in Ms sense of the word. It is 
 a rule of the Church in the condemnation of a book to 
 state the proposition condemned in the words of the book 
 itself, without the Church being answerable for the words 
 employed.""' I have already referred to this rule in my 
 
 * Propositiones, de quibus Ecclesia judicium suum prdnunoiat, duobus 
 prsesertim modis'spectari possunt, vel absolute ac in se ipsis/veljrelativS ad 
 sensum libri et auctoris. In censur^ propositionis alicujus auctoris vel 
 libri, Ecclesia attendit ad sensum ab eo intentum, qui quidem ex verbis, 
 ex tota doctrinse ipsius serie, libri textura et coufirmatione, consilio, in- 
 stitutoque elicitur. Propositio libri vel auctoris cequivocaesse potest, dupli- 
 cemque babere sensum, rectum unum et alterum malum. Ubi contingit 
 Ecclesiam propositiones hujusmodi cequivocas absque prcevid distinctione 
 sensuum configere, censura miice cadit in sensum perversum libri vel aMC- 
 tom.— Tournely t. 2, p. 170, ed. 1752. 
 
THE SYLLABUS. 89 
 
 5th section. Now this Priest included among the 
 rights of Catholic princes that of deposing Bishops 
 from their sacred Ministry, of determining the impedi- 
 ments to marriage, of forming Episcopal sees, and of 
 being free from episcopal authority in spiritual mat- 
 ters. When, then, the Proposition is condemned "that 
 Popes had usurped the rights of Princes ;" what is meant 
 is, "the so-called rights of Princes," which were really 
 the rights of the Church, in assuming which there was no 
 usurpation at all. 
 
 12. The other proposition, Mr. Gladstone's seventh, 
 the condemnation of which requires a remark, is this : 
 "The Church has not the power to employ force (vis 
 inferendse) nor any temporal power direct or indirect." 
 This is one of a series of Propositions found in the 
 work of Professor Nuytz, entitled, "Juris Ecclesiastici 
 Institutiones," all of which are condemned in the Pope's 
 Apostolic Letter of August 22, 1851. Now here " employ- 
 ing force " is not the Pope's phrase but Professor Nuytz's, 
 and the condemnation is meant to run thus, '" It is an 
 error to say, with Professor Nuytz, that what he calls 
 ' employing force ' is not allowable to the Church." 
 That this is the right interpretation of the "error" de- 
 pends of course on a knowledge of the Professor's work, 
 which I have never had an opportunity of seeing; but 
 here I will set down what the received doctrine of the 
 Church is on ecclesiastical punishments, as stated in a 
 work of the highest authority, since it comes to us with 
 letters of approval from Gregory XVI. and Pius IX. 
 
 " The opinion," says Cardinal Soglia, " that the coercive 
 power divinely bestowed upon the Church consists in the 
 infliction of spiritual punishments alone, and not in corporal 
 or temporal, seems more in harmony with the gentleness 
 of the Church. Accordingly I follow their judgment, who 
 withdraw from the Church the corporal sword, by which, 
 the body is destroyed or blood is shed. Pope Nicholas 
 thus writes : ' The Church has no sword but the spiritual. 
 She does not kill, but gives life, hence that weU-known 
 saying, ' Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine.' But the lighter 
 
90 THE SYLLABUS. 
 
 punishments, thougli temporal and corporal, such as shut- 
 ting up in a monastery, prison, flogging, and others of the 
 same kind, short of effusion of blood, the Church jure suo 
 can inflict." — (Institut. Jur., pp. 161, 9, Paris.) 
 
 And the Cardinal quotes the words of Fleury, "The 
 Church has enjoined on penitent sinners almsgivings, 
 fastings, and other corporal inflictions. . . Augustine 
 speaks of beating with sticks, as sanctioned by the Bishops, 
 after the manner of masters in the case of servants, par- 
 ents in the case of children and schoolmasters of scholars. 
 Abbots flogged monks in the way of paternal and domestic 
 chastisement . . Imprisonment for a set time or for life is 
 mentioned among canonical penances ; priests and other 
 clerics, who had been deposed for their crimes, being 
 committed to prison in order that they might pass the 
 time to come in penance for their crime, which thereby 
 was withdrawn from the memory of the public." 
 
 But now I have to answer one question. If what I 
 have said is substantially the right explanation to give to 
 the drift and contents of the Syllabus, have not I to account 
 for its making so much noise, and giving such deep and wide 
 offence on its appearance 1 It has already been reprobated 
 by the voice of the world. Is there not, then, some reason 
 at the bottom of the aversion felt by educated Europe 
 towards it, which I have not mentioned ? This is a very 
 large question to entertain, too large for this place ; but 
 I will say one word upon it. 
 
 Doubtless one of the reasons of the excitement and dis- 
 pleasure which the Syllabus caused and causes so widely, 
 is the number and variety of the propositions marked as 
 errors^ and the systematic arrangement to which they were 
 subjected. So large and elaborate a work struck the public 
 mind as a new law, moral, social and ecclesiastical, which 
 •was to be the foundation of a European code, and the 
 beginning of a new world, in opposition to the social prin- 
 ciplesof the 19tb century; and there certainly were per- 
 sons in high station who encouraged this idea. When 
 this belief was^once received, it became the interpretation 
 
THE SYLLABUS. 91 
 
 of the whole Syllabus through the eighty Propositions, of 
 which it recorded the erroneousness ; as if they were all 
 portions of one great scheme of aggression. Then, when 
 the public was definitively directed to the examination of 
 these Theses damnatce, their drift and the meaninof of their 
 condemnation was sure to be misunderstood, from the 
 ignorance, in the case of all but ecclesiastics, of the nature 
 and force of ecclesiastical language. The condemnations had 
 been pubhshed in the Pope's Encyclicals and Allocutions in 
 the course of the preceding eighteen years, and no one had 
 taken any notice of them; now, when they were brought all 
 together, they on that very account made a great sensation. 
 Next, that same fact seemed in itself a justification, with 
 minds already prejudiced, for expecting in each, of them 
 something extraordinary, and even hostile, to society ; and 
 then, again, when they were examined one by one, cer- 
 tainly their real sense was often not obvious, and could 
 not be, to the intelligence of laymen, high and low, 
 educated and simple. 
 
 Another circumstance, which I am not theologian enough 
 to account for, is this, — that the wording of many of the 
 erroneous propositions, as they are drawn up in the Sylla- 
 bus, gives an apparent breadth to the matter condemned 
 which is not found in the Pope's own words in his Allocu- 
 tions and Encyclicals. Not that really there is any difier- 
 ence between the Pope's words and Cardinal Antonelli's, 
 for (as I have shown in various instances) what the former 
 says in the concrete, the latter does but repeat in the 
 abstract ; or, to speak logically when the Pope enunciates 
 as true the particular affirmative, " New Granada ought 
 to keep up the establishment of the Catholic Eeligion," 
 then (since its contradictory is necessarily false) the Car- 
 dinal declares," " To say that no State should keep up the 
 establishment of the Catholic Keligion is an error." But 
 there is a dignity and beauty in the Pope's own language 
 which the Cardinal's abstract Syllabus cannot have, and 
 this gave to opponents an opportunity to declaim against 
 the Pope, which opportunity was in no sense afibrded 
 by what he said himself 
 
92 THE SYLLABUS. 
 
 Then,again,itmustbe recpllected, in connexion with what 
 I have said, that theology is a science, and a science of a 
 special kind ; its reasoning, its method, its modes of ex- 
 pression, and its language are all its own. Every science 
 must be in the hands of a comparatively few persons — 
 that is, of those who have made it a study. The courts 
 of law have a great number of rules in good measure 
 traditional ; so has the House of Commons, and, judging 
 by what one reads in the public prints, men must have a 
 noviceship there before they can be at perfect ease in their 
 position. In like manner young theologians, and still 
 more those who are none, are sure to mistake in matters 
 of detail ; indeed a really first-rate theologian is rarely to 
 be found. At -Jlome the rules of interpreting authorita- 
 tive documents are known with a perfection which at this 
 time is scarcely to be found elsewhere. Some of these 
 rules, indeed, are known to all priests ; but even this gene- 
 ral knowledge is not possessed by laymen, much less by 
 Protestants, however able and experienced in their own 
 several lines of study or profession. One of those rules I have 
 had several times occasion to mention. In the censure of 
 books, which offend against doctrine or discipline, it is 
 a common rule to take sentences out of them in the 
 author's own words, whether those words are in themselves 
 good or bad, and to afl&x some note of condemnation to 
 them in the sense in which they occur in the book 
 in question. Thus it may happen that even what seems 
 at first sight a true statement, is condemned for being 
 made the shelter of an error ; for instance : " Faith 
 justifies' when it works," or " there is no religion where 
 there is no charity," may be taken in a good sense ; 
 but each proposition is condemnel in Quesnell, because 
 it is false as he uses it. 
 
 A further illustration of the necessity of a scientific 
 education in order to understand the value of Propositions, 
 is afforded by a controversy which has lately gone on 
 among us as to the validity of Abyssinian Orders. In 
 reply to a document urged on one side of the question, it 
 was allowed on the other, that, " if that document was to 
 
THE SYLLABUS. 93 
 
 be read in the same way as we should read any ordinary 
 judgment, the interpretation which had been given to it 
 was the most obvious and natural" " But it was well 
 known," it was said, " to those who are familiar with the 
 practical working of such decisions, that they are only 
 interpreted with safety in the light of certain rules, which 
 arise out of what is called the styhis curice." And then 
 some of these rules were given ; first, " that to understand 
 the real meaning of a decision, no matter how clearly set 
 forth, we should know the nature of the difficulty or 
 duhium, as it was understood by the tribunal that had to 
 decide upon it. Next, nothing but the direct proposition, 
 in its nudest and severest sense, as distinguished from in- 
 direct propositions, the grounds of the decision, or implied 
 statements, is ruled by the judgment. Also, if there is 
 anything in the wording of a decision which appears in- 
 consistent with the teaching of an approved body of theo- 
 logians, &c., the decision is to be interpreted so as to leave 
 such teaching intact ;" and so on.* It is plain that the 
 view thus opened upon us has further bearings than that 
 for which I make use of it here. 
 
 These remarks on scientific theology apply also of course 
 to its language. I have employed myself in illustration 
 in framing a sentence, which, would be plain enough to' 
 any priest, but I think would perplex any Protestant. I 
 hope it is not of too light a character to introduce here. 
 We will suppose then a theologian to write as follows : — 
 " Holding, as we do, that there is only material sin in 
 those who, being invincibly ignorant, reject the truth, 
 therefore in charity we hope that they have the future 
 portion of formal believers, as considering that by virtue 
 of their good faith, though not of the hody of the faithful, 
 they implicitly and interpretatively believe what they seem 
 to deny." • 
 
 What sense would this statement convey to the mind 
 of a member of some Reformation Society or Protestant 
 League 1 He would read it as follows, and consider it all 
 
 * Mouth, Nov. and Dec, 1873. 
 
94 THE SYLLABUS. 
 
 the more insidious and dangerous for its being so very 
 unintelligible : — " Holding, as we do, that there is only a 
 very considerable sin in those who reject the truth out of 
 contumacious ignorance, therefore in charity we hope that 
 they have the future portion of nominal Christians, as 
 considering, that by the excellence of their living faith, 
 though not in the number of believers, they believe with- 
 out any hesitation, as interpreters | of Scripture 1] what 
 they seem to deny." 
 
 Now, considering that the Syllabus was intended for 
 the Bishops, who would be the interpreters of it, as the 
 need arose, to their people, and it got bodily into English 
 newspapers even before it was received at many an epis- 
 copal residence, we shall not be surprised at the commo- 
 tion which accompanied its publication. 
 
 I have spoken of the causes intrinsic to the Syllabus, 
 which have led to misunderstandings about it. As to ex- 
 ternal, I can be no judge myself as to what Catholics who 
 have means of knowing nre very decided in declaring, the 
 tremendous power of the Secret Societies. It is enough 
 to have suggested here, how a wide-spread organization 
 like theirs might malign and frustrate the most beneficial 
 acts of the Pope. One matter I had information of myself 
 from Rome at the time when the Syllabus had just been pub- 
 lished, before there was yet time to ascertain how it would 
 be taken by the world at large. Now, the E,ock of St. Peter 
 on its stimmit enjoys a pure and serene atmosphere, but 
 there is a great deal of Eoman malaria at the foot of it. 
 While the Holy Father was in great earnestness and 
 charity addressing the Catholic world by his Cardinal 
 Minister, there were circles of light-minded men in his 
 city who were laying bets with each other whether the 
 Syllabus would " make a row in Europe " or not. Of 
 course it was the interest of those who betted on the affir- 
 mative side to represent the Pope's act to the greatest 
 disadvantage ; and it was very easy to kindle a flame in 
 the mass of English and other visitors at Kome which 
 with a very little nursing was soon strong enough to 
 take care of itself 
 
95 
 
 § 8. The Vatican Council. 
 
 In beginning to speak of the Vatican Council, I am 
 oblige'd from circumstances to begin by speaking of myself. 
 Tlie most unfounded and erroneous assertions have publicly 
 been made about my sentiments towards it, and as confi- 
 dently as they are unfounded. Only a few weeks ago it was 
 stated categorically by some anonymous correspondent of 
 a Liverpool paper, with reference to the prospect of my 
 undertaking the task on which I am now employed, that 
 it was, " in fact, understood that at one time Dr. Newman 
 was on the point of uniting with Dr. DoUinger and his 
 party, and that it required the earnest persuasion of several 
 members of the Eoman Catholic Episcopate to prevent him 
 from taking that step," — an unmitigated and most ridi- 
 culous untruth in every word of it, nor would it be worth 
 while to notice it here, except for its connexion with the 
 subject on which I am entering. 
 
 But the explanation of such reports about me is 
 easy. They arise from forgetfulness on the part of those 
 who spread them, that there are two sides of ecclesiastical 
 acts, that right ends are often prosecuted by very un- 
 worthy means, and that in consequence those who, like 
 myself, oppose a mode of action, are not necessarily opposed 
 to the issue for which it has been adopted. Jacob gained by 
 wrong means his destined blessing. " All are not Israelites, 
 who are of Israel," and there are partizans of Eome who 
 have not the sanctity and wisdom of Eome herself 
 
 I am not referring to anything which took place 
 within the walls of the Council chambers ; of that of course 
 we know nothing ; but even though things occurred there 
 which it is not pleasant to dwell upon, that would not 
 at all afiect, not by an hair's breadth, the validity of 
 the resulting definition, as I shall presently show. What 
 
 Cornell Catholic 
 
96 THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 
 
 I felt deeply, and ever shall feel, while life lasts, is the 
 violence and cruelty of journals and other publications, 
 which, taking as they professed to do the Catholic side, em- 
 ployed themselves by their rash language (though, of course, 
 they did not mean it so), in unsettling the weak in faith, 
 throwing back inquirers, and shocking the Protestant mind. 
 Nor do I speak of publications only ; a feeling was too 
 prevalent in many places that no one could be true to God 
 and His Church, who had any pity on troubled souls, or any 
 scruple of " scandalizing those little ones who believe in " 
 Christ, and of " despising and destroying him for whom 
 He died." 
 
 It was this most keen feeling, which made me say, as I 
 did continually, " I will not believe that the Pope's Infalli- 
 bility will be defined, till defined it is." 
 
 Moreover, aprivate letter ofminebecamepublicproperty. 
 That letter, to which Mr. Gladstone has referred with a 
 compliment to me which I have not merited, was one of the 
 most confidential I ever wrote in my life. I wrote it to my 
 own Bishop, under a deep sense of the responsibility I should 
 incur, were I not to speak out to him my whole mind. 
 I put the matter from me when I had said my say, and kept 
 no proper copy of the letter. To my dismay I saw it in 
 the public prints : to this day I do not know, nor suspect, 
 how it got there. I cannot withdraw it, for I never put it 
 forward, so it will remain on the columns of newspapers 
 whether I wiU or not ; but I withdraw it as far as I can, 
 by declaring that it was never meant for the public eye. 
 
 1. So much as to my posture of mind before the De- 
 finition : now I will set down how I felt after it. On July 24, 
 1870, I wrote as follows : — 
 
 " I saw the new Definition yesterday, and am pleased 
 at its moderation — that is, if ^ the doctrine in question is 
 to be defined at all. The terms are vague and comprehen- 
 sive ; and, personally, I have no difficulty in admitting it. 
 The question is, does it come to me with the aiithority of 
 an Ecumenical Council ? 
 
 " Now the primd facie argument is in favour of its 
 
THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 97 
 
 having that authority. The Council was legitimately 
 called ; it was more largely attended than any Council 
 before it ; and innumerable prayers from the whole of 
 Christendom, have preceded and attended it, and merited a 
 happy issue of its proceedings. 
 
 "Were it not then for certain circumstances, under 
 which the Council made the definition, I should receive 
 that definition at once. Even as it is, if I were caUed 
 upon to profess it, I should be unable, considering it came 
 from the Holy Father and the competent local authorities, 
 at once to refuse to do so. On the other hand, it cannot 
 be denied that there are reasons for a Catholic, tiU better 
 informed, to suspend his judgment on its validity. 
 
 "We aU know that ever since the opening of the 
 Council, there has been a strenuous opposition to the defi- 
 nition of the doctrine ; and that, at the time when it was 
 actually passed, more than eighty Fathers absented them- 
 selves from the Council, and would have nothing to do with 
 its act. But, if the fact be so, that the Fathers were not 
 unanimous, is the definition valid ? This depends on the 
 question whether unanimity, at least moral, is or is not 
 necessary for its validity ? As at present advised I think 
 it is ; certainly Pius IV. lays great stress on the unanimity 
 of the Fathers in the Council of Trent. ' Quibus rebus 
 perfectis,' he says in his Bull of Promulgation, ' con- 
 cilium tanta omnium qui illi interfuerunt concordia perac- 
 tum fuit, ut consensum plane a Domino eifectum esse 
 constiterit ; idque in nostris atque omnium oculis valde 
 mirabile fuerit.' 
 
 " Far different has been the case now, — though the 
 Council is not yet finished. But, if I must now at once 
 decide what to think of it, I should consider that all turned 
 on what the dissentient Bishops now do. 
 
 " If they separate and go home without acting as a 
 body, if they act only individually, or as individuals, and 
 each in his own way, then I should not recognize in their 
 opposition to the majority that force, firmness, and unity 
 of view, which creates a real case of want of moral unani- 
 mity in the Council. 
 
 a 
 
98 THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 
 
 " Again, if the Council continues to sit, if the dissen- 
 tient Bishops more or less take part in it, and concur in its 
 acts ; if there is a new Pope, and he continues the policy 
 of the present ; and if the Council terminates without any 
 reversal or modification of the definition, or any effective 
 movement against it on the part of the dissentients, then 
 again there will be good reason for sajdng that the want 
 of a moral unanimity has not been made out. 
 
 " And further, if the definition is consistently received 
 by the whole body of the faithful, as valid, or as the ex- 
 pression of a truth, then too it wiU claim our assent by 
 the force of the great dictum, ' Securus judicat orbis terra- 
 rum.' 
 
 " This indeed is a broad principle by which all acts of 
 the rulers of the Church are ratified. But for it, we might 
 reasonably question some of the past Councils or their 
 acts." 
 
 Also I wrote as follows to a friend, who was troubled 
 at the way in which the dogma was passed, in order to 
 place before him in various points of view the duty of 
 receiving it : — 
 
 "July 27, 1870. 
 " I have been thinking over the subject which just 
 now gives you and me with thousands of others, who care 
 /-ibr jeligion, so much concern. 
 
 ) " First, tiU better advised, nothing shall make nae say 
 
 that a mere majority in a Council, as opposed to a moral 
 unanimity, in itself creates an obligation to receive its dog- 
 matic decrees. This is a point of history and precedent, 
 and of course on further examination I may find myself 
 wrong in the view which I take of history and precedent ; 
 but I do not, cannot see, that a majority in the present 
 Council can of itself rule its own sufficiency, without such 
 external testimony. 
 
 " But there are other means by which I can be brought 
 under the obhgation of receiving a doctrine as a dogma. 
 If I am clear that there is a primitive and uninterrupted 
 tradition, as of the divinity of our Lord ; or where a high 
 probability drawn from Scripture or Tradition is partially 
 
THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 99 
 
 or probably confirmed by tbe Church. Thus a particular 
 Catholic might be so nearly sure that the promise to Peter 
 in Scripture proves that the infallibility of Peter is a neces- 
 sary dogma, as only to be kept from holding it as such by 
 the absence of any judgment on the part of the Church, so 
 that the present unanimity of the Pope and 500 Bishops, 
 even though not sufficient to constitute a formal Synodal 
 act, would at once put him in the position, and lay him 
 under the obligation, of receiving the doctrine as a dogma, 
 that is, to receive it with its anathema. 
 
 " Or again, if nothing definitely sufiicient from Scrip- 
 ture or Tradition can be brought to contradict a defini- 
 tion, the fact of a legitimate Superior having defined it, 
 may be an obfigation in conscience to receive it with an 
 internal assent. For myself, ever since I was a Catholic, I 
 have held the Pope's infallibility as a matter of theological 
 opinion ; at least, I see nothing in the Definition ■ which 
 necessarily contradicts Scripture, Tradition, or History; 
 and the " Doctor Ecclesiae," (as the Pope is styled by the 
 Council of Florence) bids me accept it. In this ease, I do not 
 receive it on the word of the CouncU, but on the Pope's 
 self-assertion. 
 
 " And I confess, the fact that all along for so many 
 centuries the Head of the Church and Teacher of the faith- 
 ful and Vicar of Christ has been allowed by God to assert 
 virtually his infallibility, is a great argument in favour of 
 the validity of his claim. 
 
 " Another ground for receiving the dogma, still not 
 upon the direct authority of the Council, or with accept- 
 ance of the validity of its act per se, is the consideration 
 that our Merciful Lord would not care so little for His 
 elect people, the multitude of the faithful, as to allow their 
 visible Head, and such a large number of Bishops to lead 
 them into error, and an error so serious, if an error. This 
 consideration leads me to accept the doctrine as a dogma, 
 indirectly indeed from the Council, but not so much from a 
 Council,' as from the Pope and a very large number of 
 Bishops. The question is not whether they had a right to 
 impose, or even were right in imposing the dogma on the 
 faithful ; but whether, having done so, I have not, an obli- 
 
100 THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 
 
 gation to accept it, according to the maxim, ' Fieri non 
 [d.ebuit, factum valet.' " 
 
 This letter, written before the minority had melted 
 away, insists on this principle, that a Council's definition 
 would have a virtual claim on our reception, even though 
 it were not passed conciliariter, but in some indirect way ; 
 as, for, instance, to use a Parliamentary expression, in 
 general committee, the great object of a Council being in 
 some way or other to declare the judgment of the Church. 
 I think the third Ecumenical will furnish an instance of 
 what I mean. There the question in dispute was settled 
 and defined, even before certain constituent portions of the 
 Episcopal body had made their appearance ; and this, with 
 a protest of 68 of the Bishops then j)resent against 82. 
 When the remaining 43 arrived, these did more than protest 
 against the definition which had been carried ; they actually 
 anathematised the Fathers who carried it, whose number 
 seems to have stood altogether at 124 against 111 ; and in 
 this state of disunion the Council ended. How then was its 
 definition valid ? By after events, which I suppose must 
 be considered complements, and integral portions of the 
 Council. The heads of the various parties entered into 
 correspondence with each other, and at the end of two 
 years their difierences with each other were arranged. 
 There are those who have no belief in the authority of 
 Councils at all, and feel no call upon them to discriminate 
 between one Council and another ; but Anglicans, who are 
 so fierce against the Vatican, and so respectful towards the 
 Ephesine, should consider what good reason they have for 
 swallowing the third Council, while they strain out the 
 nineteenth. 
 
 The Council of Ephesus furnishes us with another re- 
 mark, bearing upon the Vatican. It was natural for men 
 who were in the minority at Ephesus to think that the faith 
 of the Church had been brought into the utmost peril by 
 the definition of the CouncU which they had unsuccessfully 
 opposed. They had done so from their conviction that that 
 definition gave great encouragement to religious errors in 
 the oppo^te extreme to those which it condemned ; and, in 
 
THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 101 
 
 fact, I think that, humanly speaking, the peril was extreme. 
 The event proved it to be so, when twenty years afterwards 
 another Council was held under the successors of the majo- 
 rity at Ephesus and carried triumphantly those very errors 
 whose eventual success had been predicted by the minority. 
 But Providence is never wanting to His Church. St. Leo, 
 the Pope of the day, interfered with this heretical Council, 
 and the innovating party was stopped in its career. Its 
 acts were cancelled at the great Council of Chalcedon, the 
 Fourth Ecumenical, which was held under the Pope's gui- 
 dance, and, without of course touching the definition of the 
 Third, which had been settled once for all, trimmed the 
 balance of doctrine by completing it, and excluded for ever 
 from the Church those errors which seemed to have received 
 some sanction at Ephesus. There is nothing of course that 
 can be reversed in the Vatican definitions ; but, should the 
 need arise, (which is not likely,) to set right a false inter- 
 pretation, another Leo will be given us for the occasion ; 
 " in monte Dominus videbit." 
 
 In this remark, made for the benefit of those who need 
 it, as I do not myself, I shelter myself under the following 
 passage of Molina, which a friend has pointed out to me : — 
 " Though the Holy Ghost has always been present to the 
 Church, to hinder error in her definitions, and in conse- 
 quence they are all most true and consistent, yet it is not 
 therefore to be denied, that God, when any matters have 
 to be defined, requires of the Church a co-operation and in- 
 vestigation of those matters, and that, in proportion to the 
 quality of the men who meet together in Councils, to the 
 investigation and diligence which is applied, and the greater 
 or less experience and knowledge which is possessed more 
 at one time than at other times, definitions more or less 
 perspicuous are drawn up and matters are defined more 
 exactly and completely at one time than at other times. . . . 
 And, whereas by disputations, persevering reading, medita- 
 tion, and iiivestigation of matters, there is wont to be 
 increased in course of time the knowledge and understand- 
 ing of the same, and the Fathers of the later Councils are 
 assisted by the investigation and definitions of the former, 
 
102 THE VATICAN COUNCIL, 
 
 tence it arises that the definitions of later Councils are 
 wont to be more luminous, fuller, more accurate and exact 
 than those of the earlier. Moreover, it belongs to the later 
 Councils to interpret and to define more exactly and fully 
 what in earlier Councils have been defined less clearly, fully, 
 and exactly." (De Concord. Lib. Arhit., &,c.^ xiii. 15, p. 59.) 
 
 2. The other main objection to the Vatican Council is 
 founded upon its supposed neglect of history in the decision 
 which its Definition embodies. This objection is touched 
 upon by Mr. Gladstone in the beginning of his Pamphlet, 
 where he speaks of its " repudiation of ancient history," and 
 I have an opportunity given me of noticing it here. 
 
 He asserts that, during the last forty years, " more 
 and more have the assertions of continuous uniformity 
 of doctrine " in the Catholic Church " receded into scarcely 
 penetrable shadow. More and more have another series 
 of assertions, of a living authority, ever ready to open, 
 adopt, and shape Christian doctrine according to the 
 ^times, taken their place." Accordingly, he considers that 
 a dangerous opening has been made in the authoritative 
 teaching of the Church for the repudiation of ancient truth 
 and the rejection of new. However, as I understand him, 
 he withdraws this charge from the controversy he has 
 initiated (though not from his Pamphlet) as far as it is 
 aimed at the pure theology of the Church. It " belongs," 
 he says, " to the theological domain," and "is a matter unfit 
 for him to discuss, as it is a question of divinity." It has 
 been, then, no duty of mine to consider it, except as it 
 relates to matters ecclesiastical ; but I am unwilling, when 
 a charge has been made against our theology, though un- 
 supported, yet unretracted, to leave it altogether without 
 reply ; and that the more, because, after renouncing " ques- 
 tions of divinity" at p. 14, nevertheless Mr. Gladstone 
 brings them forward again at p. 15, speaking, as he does, 
 of the " deadly blows of 1854 and 1870 at the old, historic, 
 scientific, and moderate school " by the definitions of the 
 Immaculate Conception and Papal Infallibility. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone then insists on the duty of " maintaining 
 the truth and authority of history, and the inestimable value 
 
THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 103 
 
 of the Mstoric spirit ;" and so far of course I have the plea- 
 sure of heartily agreeing with him. As the Church is a 
 sacred and divine creation, so in like manner her history, 
 with its wonderful evolution of events, the throng of great 
 actors who have a part in it, and its multiform literature, 
 stained though its annals are with human sin and error, 
 and recorded on no system, and by uninspired authors, stiU 
 is a sacred work also ; and those who make light of it, or 
 distrust its lessons, incur a grave responsibility. But it is 
 not every one who can read its pages rightly ; and certainly 
 I cannot foUow Mr. Gladstone's reading of it. He is too 
 well informed indeed, too large in his knowledge, too acute 
 and comprehensive in his views, not to have an acquaint- 
 ance with history far beyond the run of even highly 
 educated men ; still, when he accuses us of deficient atten- 
 tion to history, one cannot help asking, whether he does 
 not, as a matter of course, take for granted as true the 
 principles for using it familiar with Protestant divines,, and 
 denied by our own, and in consequence whether his im- 
 peachment of us does not resolve itself into the fact that he 
 is Protestant and we are Catholics. Nay, has it occurred 
 to him that perhaps it is the fact, that we have views on 
 the relation of History to Dogma different from those which 
 Protestants maintain ? And is he so certain of the facts of 
 History in detail, of their relfevancy, and of their drift, as 
 to hdve a right, I do not say to have an opinion of his own, 
 but to publish to the world, on his own warrant, that we 
 have " repudiated ancient history 1" He publicly charges 
 us, not merely with having "neglected" it, or "garbled" 
 its evidence, or with having contradicted certain ancient 
 usages or doctrines to which it bears witness, but he says 
 "repudiated." He could not have used a stronger term, 
 supposing the Vatican Council had, by a formal act, cut 
 itself off from early times, instead of professing, as it does 
 (hypocritically, if you will, but still professing) to speak 
 "supported by Holy Scripture and the decrees both of pre- 
 ■ceding Popes and General Councils," and "faithfully adhering 
 to the aboriginal tradition of the Church." Ought any one 
 but an oculatus testis, a man whose profession was to 
 
104 THE VATICAN COTJlsrCIL. 
 
 acquaint himself with the details of history, to claim to 
 himself the right of bringing, on his own authority, so ex- 
 treme a charge against so august a power, so inflexible and 
 rooted in its traditions through the long past, as Mr. Glad- 
 stone would admit the Eoman Church to be ? 
 
 Of course I shall be reminded that, though Mr. Gladstone 
 cannot be expected to speak on so large a department of 
 knowledge with the confidence decorous in one who has 
 made a personal study of it, there are others who have a 
 right to do so ; and that by those others he is corroborated 
 and sanctioned. There are authors, it may be said, of so 
 commanding an authority from their learning and their 
 honesty, that, for the purposes of discussion or of contro- 
 versy, what they say may be said by any one else without 
 presumption or risk of confutation. I will never say a word 
 of my own against those learned, and distinguished men to 
 whom I refer. No : their present whereabout, wherever it 
 is, is to me a thought full of melancholy. It is a tragical 
 event, both for them and for us, that they have left us. It 
 robs us of a great prestige ; they have left none to take 
 their place. I think them utterly wrong in what they 
 have done and are doing ; and, moreover, I agree as little 
 in their view of history as in their acts. Extensive as may 
 be their historical knowledge, I have no reason to think 
 that they, more than Mr. Gladstone, would accept the posi- 
 tion which History holds among the Loci Theologici, as. 
 Catholic theologians determine it ; and I am denjdng not 
 their report of facts, but their use of the facts they report,, 
 and that, because of that special stand-point from which 
 they view the relations existing between the records of 
 History and the enunciations of Popes and Councils. They 
 seem to me to expect from History more than History can 
 furnish, and to have too little confidence in the Divine Pro- 
 mise and Providence as guiding and determining those 
 enunciations. 
 
 Why should Ecclesiastical History, any more than the 
 text of Scripture, contain in it " the whole counsel of God ?" 
 "Why should private judgment be unlawful in interpreting 
 Scripture against the voice of authority, and yet be lawful 
 
THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 105 
 
 in the interpretation of History? There are those who 
 make short work of questions such as these by denying 
 authoritative interpretation altogether ; that is their pri- 
 vate concern, and no one has a right to inquire into their 
 reason for so doing ; but the case would be different were 
 such a man to come forward publicly, and to arraign others, 
 without first confuting their theological prcemnbula, for 
 repudiating history, or for repudiating the Bible. 
 
 For myself, I would simply confess that no doctrine of 
 the Church can be rigorously proved by historical evidence ; 
 but at the same time that no doctrine can be simply disproved, 
 by it. Historical evidence reaches a certain way, more or 
 less, towards a proof of the Catholic doctrines ; often nearly 
 the whole way ; sometimes it goes only so far as to point 
 in their direction ; sometimes there is only an absence of 
 evidence for a conclusion contrary to them ; nay, some- 
 times there is an apparent leaning of the evidence to a 
 contrary conclusion, which has to be explained ; — in all cases 
 there is a margin left for the' exercise of faith in the word 
 of the Church. He who believes the dogmas of the Church 
 onlj' because he has reasoned them out of History, is 
 scarcely a Catholic. It is the Church's use of History 
 in which the Catholic believes ; and she uses other inform- 
 ants also, Scripture, Tradition, the ecclesiastical sense, or 
 ^povrjjxa, and a subtle ratiocinative power, which in its origin 
 is a divine gift. There is nothing of bondage or " renun- 
 ciation of mental freedom " in this view, any more than in 
 the converts of the Apostles believing what the Apostles 
 might preach to them or teach them out of Scripture. 
 
 What has been said of History in relation to the forma;l 
 Definitions of the Church, applies also to the exercises of 
 Ratiocination. Our logical powers, too, being a gift from 
 God, may claim to have their informations respected ; and 
 Protestants sometimes accuse our theologians, for instance, 
 the medieval schoolmen, of having used them in divine 
 matters a little too freely. But it has ever been our teach- 
 ing and our protest that, as there are doctrines which lie 
 beyond the direct evidence of history, so there are doc- 
 trines which transcend the discoveries of reason ; and, 
 
105 THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 
 
 after all, whether they are more or less recommended to us 
 by the one informant or the other, in all cases the imme- 
 diate motive in the mind of a Catholic for his reception of 
 them is, not that they are proved to him by Eeason or by 
 History, but because Eevelation has declared them by means 
 of that high ecclesiastical Magisterium which is their 
 legitimate exponent. 
 
 What has been said also applies to those other truths, 
 wi\k which Eatiocination has more to do than History, 
 which are sometimes called developments of Christian doc- 
 trine, truths which are not upon the surface of the Aposto- 
 lic depositum — that is, the legacy of Eevelation, — ^but which 
 from time to time are brought into form by theologians, and 
 sometimes have been proposed to the faithful by the Church, 
 as direct objects of faith. No Catholic would hold that 
 they ought to be logically deduced in their fulness and 
 exactness from the belief of the first centuries, but only 
 this,— that, on the assumption of the Infallibility of the 
 Church (which will overcome every objection except a contra- 
 dictionin thought), there is nothing greatly totrythereasonin 
 such difficulties as occur in reconciling those evolved doctrines 
 with the teaching of the ancient Fathers ; such develop- 
 ment being evidently the new form, explanation, trans- 
 formation, or carrjdng out of what in substance was held 
 from the first, what the Apostles said, but have not recorded 
 in writing, or would necessarily have said under our cir- 
 cumstances, or if they had been asked, or in view of certain 
 uprisings of error, and in that sense really portions of the 
 legacy of truth, of which the Church, in all her members, 
 but especially in her hierarchy, is the divinely appointed 
 trustee. 
 
 Such an evolution of doctrine has been, as I would main- 
 tain, a law of the Church's teaching from the earliest 
 times, and in nothing is her title of " semper eadem " more 
 remarkably illustrated than in the correspondence of her 
 ancient and modern exhibition of it. As to the ecclesias- 
 tical Acts of 1854 and 1870, I think with Mr. Gladstone 
 that the principle of doctrinal development, and that of 
 authority, have never in the proceedings of the Church 
 
THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 107 
 
 "been so freely and largely used as in the Definitions then 
 promulgated to the faithful ; but I deny that at either 
 time the testimony of history was repudiated or perverted. 
 The utmost that can be fairly said by an opponent against 
 the theological decisions of those years is, that antece- 
 dently to the event, it might appear that there were no suffi- 
 cient historical grounds in behalf of either of them — I do 
 not mean for a personal belief in either, but — for the purpose 
 of converting a doctrine long existing in the Church into a 
 dogma, and making it a portion of the Catholic Creed. 
 This adverse anticipation was proved to be a mistake by 
 the fact of the definition being made. 
 
 3. Here T will say just a few words on the case of 
 Pope Honorius, whose condemnation by anathema in the 
 6th Ecumenical Council, is certainly a strong primd facie 
 argument against the Pope's doctrinal infallibility. His 
 case is this : — Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople, favoured, 
 or rather did not condemn, a doctrine concerning our 
 Lord's Person which afterwards the sixth Council pro- 
 nounced to be heresy. He consulted Pope Honorius upon 
 the subject, who in two formal letters declared his entire 
 concurrence with Sergius's opinion. Honorius died in 
 peace, but, more than forty years after him, the 6th Ecume- 
 nical Council was held, which condemned him as a heretic 
 on the score of those two letters. The simple question is, 
 whether the heretical documents proceeded from him as an 
 infallible authority or as a private Bishop. 
 
 Now I observe that, whereas the Vatican Council has 
 determined that the Pope is infallible only when he speaks 
 ex cathedrd, and that, in order to speak ex cathedrd, he 
 must at least speak " as exercising the ofiice of Pastor and 
 Doctor of all Christians, defining, by virtue of his Apos- 
 tolical authority, a doctrine whether of faith or of morals 
 for the acceptance of the universal Church " (though Mr. 
 Gladstone strangely says, p. 34, "There is no estabhshed or 
 accepted definition of the phrase ex cathedrd") from this 
 Pontifical and dogmatic explanation of the phrase it fol- 
 lows, that, whatever Honorius said in answer to Sergius, 
 and whatever he held, his words were not ex cathedrd, and 
 therefore did not proceed from his infallibility 
 
108 THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 
 
 I say so first, because he could not fulfil the above 
 conditions of an ex cathedra utterance, if he did not ac- 
 tually mean to fulfil them. The question is unlike the 
 question about the Sacraments ; external and positive acts, 
 whether material actions or formal words, speak for them- 
 selves. Teaching on the other hand has no sacramental visible 
 signs ; it is mainly a question of intention. Who would 
 say that the architriclinus at the wedding feast who said, 
 " Thou hast kept the good wine until now," was teaching 
 the Christian world, though the words have a great ethical 
 and evangplical sense ? What is the worth of a signature, 
 if a man does not consider he is signing ? The Pope can- 
 not address his people East and West, North and South, 
 without meaning it, as if his very voice, the sounds from, 
 his lips, could literally be heard from pole to pole ; nor can 
 he exert his " Apostolical , authority " without knowing he 
 is doing so ; nor can he draw up a form of words and use 
 care and make an effort in doing so accurately, without 
 intention to do so ; and, therefore, no words of Honorius pro- 
 ceeded from his prerogative of infallible teaching, which were 
 not accompanied with the intention of exercising that prero- 
 gative ; and who will dream of saying, be he Anglican, 
 Protestant, unbeliever, or on the other hand Catholic, that 
 Honorius in the 7th century did actually intend to exert 
 that infallible teaching voice which has been dogmatically 
 recognized in the nineteenth ? 
 
 What resemblance do these letters of his, written almost 
 as private instructions, bear to the "Pius Episcopus, Servus 
 Servorum Dei, Sacro approbante Concilio, ad 'perpetuam rei 
 memoriam," with the " Si quis huic nostrse definitioni contra- 
 dieere, (quod Deus avertat), prsesumpserit, anathema sit " of 
 the Pastor ^ternus'^ What to the "Venerabilibus fratri- 
 bus, Patriarchis, primatibus, Archiepiscopis, et Episcopis 
 universis" &c., and with the date and signature, " Datum 
 Romse apud Sanctum Petrum, Die 8 Dec. anno 1864, &c. 
 Pius P.P. IX." of the Quantd curd? 
 
 Secondly, it is no part of our doctrine, as I shall say 
 in my next section, that the discussions previous to a 
 Council's definition, or to an ex Cathedrd utterance of a 
 
THE VATICAN COUNCIL. 109 
 
 Pope, are infallible, and these letters of Honorius on their 
 very face are nothing more than portions of a discussion 
 mth a view to some final decision. 
 
 For these two reasons the condemnation of Honorius 
 by the Council in no sense compromises the doctrine of 
 Papal Infallibility. At the utmost it only decides that 
 Honorius in his own person was a heretic, which is incon- 
 sistent with no Catholic doctrine ; but we may rather hope 
 and believe that the anathema fell, not upon him, but upon 
 his letters in their objective sense, he not intending per- 
 sonally what his letters legitimately expressed. 
 
 4. I have -one more remark to make upon the argu- 
 mentative method by which the Vatican CouncU was car- 
 ried on to its definition. The Pastor ^ternus refers to 
 various witnesses as contributing their evidence towards 
 the determination of the contents of the depositum, such 
 as Tradition, the Fathers and Councils, History, and espe- 
 cially Scripture. For instance, the Bull, speaks of the 
 Gospel (" juxta Evangelii testimonia," c. 1) and of Scripture 
 " manifesta S.S. Scripturarum doctrina," c. 1 : " apertis S.S. 
 Literarum testimoniis," c. 3. " S.S. Scrip turis consentanea," 
 c. 4.) And it lays an especial stress on three passages of 
 Scripture in particular — viz., "Thou art Peter," &c., Mat- 
 thew xvi, 16-19; "I have prayed for thee," &c., Luke 
 xxii., 32, and "Feed My sheep," &c., John xxi., 15-17. 
 Now I wish all objectors to our method of reasoning 
 from Scripture would view it in the light of the following 
 passage in the great philosophical work of Butler, Bishop 
 of Durham. 
 
 He writes as follows — "As it is owned the whole scheme 
 of Scripture is not yet understood, so, if it ever comes to 
 be understood, before the ' restitution of all things,' and 
 without miraculous interpositions, it must be in the same 
 way as natural knowledge is come at, by the continuance 
 and progress of learning and of liberty, and by particular 
 persons attending to, comparing, and pursuing intimations 
 scattered up and down it, which are overlooked and dis- 
 regarded by the generality of the world. For this is the 
 way in which all improvements are made by thoughtful 
 
110 THE VATICAJSr COUNCIL. 
 
 men tracing on obscure hints, as it were, dropped us by 
 nature accidentally, or which seem to come into our minds, 
 by chance. Nor is it at all incredible that a book, which 
 has been so long in the possession of mankind, should contain 
 many truths as yet undiscovered. For all the same phe- 
 nomena, and the same faculties of investigation, from 
 which such great discoveries in natural knowledge have 
 been made in the present and last age, were equally in the 
 possession of mankind several thousand years before. And 
 possibly it might be intended that events, as they come to^ 
 pass, should open and ascertain the meaning of several 
 parts of Scripture," ii. 3, vide also ii 4, fin. 
 
 What has the long history of the contest for and 
 against the Pope's infallibility been, but a growing insight 
 through centuries into the meaning of those three texts, to 
 which I just now referred, ending at length by the Church's 
 definitive recognition of the doctrine thus gradually mani- 
 fested to her ? 
 
Ill 
 
 § 9 The Vatican Definition. 
 
 Now I am to speak of the Vatican definition, by which I 
 the doctrine of the Pope's infaUibility has become dejidey 
 that is, a truth necessary to be believed, as being included 
 in the original divine revelation, for those terms, revela- 
 tion, depositum, dogma, and dejide, are correlatives ; and I 
 begin with a remark which suggests the drift of aU I have 
 to say about it. It is this : — that so difficult a virtue is 
 faith, even with the special grace of God, in proportion as 
 the reason is exercised, so difficult is it to assent inwardly 
 to propositions, verified to us neither by reason nor 
 experience, but depending for their reception on the word 
 of the Church as God's oracle, that she has ever shown the 
 utmost care to contract, as far as possible, the range of 
 truths and the sense of propositions, of which she demands 
 this absolute reception. " The Church," says Pallavicini, 
 " as far as may be, has ever abstained from imposing upon 
 the minds of men that commandment, the most arduous 
 of the Christian Law— viz., to believe obscure matters 
 without doubting."* To co-operate in this charitable duty 
 has been one special work of her theologians, and rules are 
 laid down by herself, by tradition, and by custom, to assist 
 them in the task. She only speaks when it is necessary 
 to speak ; but hardly has she spoken out magisterially some 
 great general principle, when she sets her theologians to 
 work to explain her meaning in the concrete, by strict 
 interpretation of its wording, by the Olustration of its 
 circumstances, and by the recognition of exceptions, in 
 order to make it as tolerable as possible, and the least of a 
 temptation, to self-willed, independent, or wrongly edu- 
 cated minds. I A few years ago it was the fashion among us to 
 
 * Quoted by Father Ryder, (to -whom I am indebted for other of my 
 references,) in his " Idealism in Theology," p. 25. 
 
r 
 
 112 THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 
 
 call writers, who conformed to this rule of the Church, by 
 the name of " Minimizers ; " that day of tyrannous ijsse- 
 dixits, I trust, is over : Bishop Fessler, a man of high 
 authority, for he was Secretary General of the Vatican 
 Council, and of higher autliority still in his work, for it 
 has the approbation of the Sovereign Pontiff, clearly 
 proves to us that a moderation of doctrine, dictated by 
 charity, is not inconsistent with soundness in the faith. 
 Such a sanction, I suppose, wiU be considered sufficient 
 for the character of the remarks which I am about to make 
 upon definitions in general, and upon the Vatican in par- 
 ticular. 
 
 The Vatican definition, which comes to us in the shape 
 of the Pope's Encyclical Bull called the Pastor JEternus, 
 declares that "the Pope has that same infallibility which the 
 Church has:"''' to determine therefore what is meant by 
 the infallibility of the Pope we must turn first to consi- 
 der the infallibility of the Church. And again, to deter- 
 mine the character of the Church's infallibility, we must 
 consider what is the characteristic of Christianity, consi- 
 dered as a revelation of God's will. 
 
 Our Divine Master might have communicated to us 
 heavenly truths without telling us that they came from 
 Him, as it is commonly thought He has done in the 
 case of heathen nations ; but He willed the Gospel to 
 be a revelation acknowledged and authenticated, to be 
 public, fixed, and permanent ; and accordingly, as Catholics 
 hold. He framed a Society of men to be its home, its in- 
 strument, and its guarantee. The rulers of that Association 
 are the legal trustees, so to say, of the sacred truths which 
 He spoke to the Apostles by word of mouth. As He was 
 leaving them. He gave them their great commission, and 
 bade them "teach" their converts all over the earth, " to ob- 
 serve all things whatever He had ' commanded them ; " 
 and then He added, " Lo, I am with you always, even 
 to the end of the world." 
 
 * Eomanum Pontificem ea infallibilitate pollei-e, qua divinus Redemp- 
 tor Ecolesiam suam in definiend^ doctrina de fide vel moribus instructam 
 esse voluit. 
 
THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 113 
 
 Here, first, He told them to "teach" His revealed 
 Truth; next, "to the consummation of aU things;" 
 thirdly, for their encouragement. He said that He would 
 be with them "all days," all along, on every emergency 
 or occasion, untU that consummation. They had a duty 
 put upon them of teaching their Master's words, a duty 
 which they could not fulfil in the perfection which fide- 
 lity required, without His help ; therefore came His pro- 
 mise to be with them in their performance of it. Nor 
 did that promise of supernatural help end with the 
 Apostles personally, for He adds, "to the consummation 
 of the world," implying that the Apostles would have 
 successors, and engaging that He would be with those 
 successors as He had been with them. 
 
 The same safeguard of the Eevelation — viz. , an autho- 
 ritative, permanent tradition of teaching is insisted on 
 by an informant of equal authority with St. Matthew, 
 but altogether independent of him, I mean St. Paul. 
 He calls the Church " the pillar and ground of the Truth ;" 
 and he bids his convert Timothy, when he had become a 
 ruler in that Church, to "take heed unto his doctrine," to 
 " keep the deposit " of the faith, and to " commit" the things 
 which he had heard from himself " to faithful men who 
 should be fit to teach others." 
 
 This is how Catholics understand the Scripture record, 
 nor does it appear how it can otherwise be understood ; but, 
 when we have got as far as this, and look back, we find 
 that we have by implication made profession of a further 
 doctrine. For, if the Church, initiated by the Apostles 
 and continued in their successors, has been set up for 
 the direct object of protecting, preserving, and declaring 
 the Eevelation, and that by means of the Guardianship and 
 Providence of its Divine Author, we are led on to perceive that, 
 in asserting this, we are in other words asserting, that, so 
 far as the revealed message is concerned, the Church is 
 infallible ; for what is meant by infallibility in teach- 
 ing but that the teacher in his teaching is secured from 
 error 1 and how can fallible man be thus secured except by 
 a supernatural infallible guidance.'' And what can have 
 
 H 
 
114 THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 
 
 been the object of the words, " I am with you all along to 
 the end," but to give thereby an answer by anticipation to 
 the spontaneous, silent alarm of the feeble company of 
 fishermen and labourers, to whom they were addressed, on 
 their finding themselves laden with superhuman duties 
 and responsibilities. 
 
 Such then being, in its simple outline, the infallibility of 
 the Church, such too will be the Pope's infallibility, as the 
 Vatican Fathers have defined it. And if we find that by 
 means of this outline we are able to fill out in all important 
 respects the idea of a Council's infallibility, we shall thereby 
 be ascertaining in detail what has been defined in 1870 
 about the infallibility of the Pope. With an attempt to 
 do this I shall conclude. 
 
 1. The Church has the ofiice of teaching, and the 
 matter of that teaching is the body of doctrine, which the 
 Apostles left behind them as her perpetual possession. If 
 a question arises as to what the Apostolic doctrine is on a 
 particular point, she has infallibility promised to her to 
 enable her to answer correctly. And, as by the teaching 
 of the Church is understood, not the teaching of this or 
 that Bishop, but their united voice, and a Council is the 
 form the Church must take, in order that all men may 
 recognize that in fact she is teaching on any point in dis- 
 pute, so in like manner the Pope must come before us in 
 some special form or posture, if he is to be understood to 
 be exercising his teaching ofiice, and that form is called ex 
 cathedrd. This term is most appropriate, as being on one 
 occasion used by our Lord Himself When the Jewish 
 doctors taught, they placed themselves in Moses' seat, and 
 spoke ex cathedrd ; and then, as He tells us, they were to be 
 obeyed by their people, a,nd that, whatever were their pri- 
 vate lives or characters. " The Scribes and Pharisees," He 
 says, " are seated on the chair of Moses : all things there- 
 fore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do ; . 
 iDut according to their works do you not, for they say and 
 do not." 
 
 2. The forms, by which a General Council is identified 
 
THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 115 
 
 as representing the Church herself, are too clear to need 
 drawing out ; but what is to be that moral cathedra, or 
 teaching chair, in which the Pope sits, when he is to be 
 recognized as in the exercise of his infallible teaching 1 The 
 new definition answers this question. He speaks ex caihe- 
 drd, or infallibly, when he speaks, fir'st, as the Universal 
 Teacher ; secondly, in the name and with the authority of 
 the Apostles; thirdly, on a point of faith or morals; fourthly, 
 with the purpose of binding every member of the Church 
 to accept and believe his decision. 
 
 3. These conditions of course contract the range of 
 his infallibility most materially. Hence Billuart speaking 
 of the Pope, says, " Neither in conversation, nor in discus- 
 sion, 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 infaUible," t. ii., p. 110.* And for 
 this simple reason, because, on these various occasions 
 of speaking his mind, he is not in the chair of the universal I 
 doctor. __y 
 
 4. Nor is this all ; the greater part of Billuart's nega- 
 tives refer to the Pope's utterances when he is out of the 
 Cathedra Petri, but even, when he is in it, his words do not 
 necessarily proceed from his infallibility. He has no wider 
 prerogative than a Council, and of a Council Perrone says, 
 "Councils are not infallible in the reasons by which they 
 are led, or on which they rely, in making their definition, 
 nor in matters which relate to persons, nor to physical 
 matters which have no necessary connexion with dogma." 
 Prcel. Theol. t. 2, p. 492. Thus, if a Council has con- 
 demned a work of Origen or Theodoret, it did not in so 
 condemning go beyond the work itself ; it did not touch 
 the persons of either. Since this holds of a Council, it also 
 holds in the case of the Pope; therefore, supposing a Pope has 
 quoted the so-caUed works of the Areopagite as if really 
 
 * And so Fessler : " The Pope is not infallible as a man, or a theo- 
 logian, or a priest, or a bishop, or a temporal prince, or a judge, or a 
 legislator, or in his political views, or even in his government of the 
 Church." — Introd, 
 
r 
 
 116 THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 
 
 genuine, there is no call on us to believe him ; nor again, 
 when he condemned Galileo's Copernicanism, unless the 
 earth's immobility has a " necessary connexion with some 
 dogmatic truth," which the present bearing of the Holy See 
 towards that philosophy virtually denies. 
 
 5. Nor is a Council infallible, even in the prefaces and 
 introductions to its definitions. There are theologians of 
 name, as Tournely and Amort,'"' who contend that even those 
 most instructive capitula passed in the Tridentine Coun- 
 cil, from which the Canons with anathemas are drawn up, 
 are not portions of the Church's infallible teaching ; and 
 the parallel introductions prefixed to the Vatican ana- 
 themas have an authority not greater nor less than that of 
 those capitula. 
 
 6. Such passages, however, as these are too closely 
 connected with the definitions themselves, not to be what 
 is sometimes called, by a catachresis, " proximum fidei ;" 
 stiU, on the other hand, it is true also that, in those circum- 
 stances and surroundings of formal definitions, which I 
 have been speaking of, whether of a Council or a Pope, 
 there may be not only no exercise of an infallible voice, 
 but actual error. Thus, in the Third Council, a passage of 
 an heretical author was quoted in defence of the doctrine 
 defined, under the belief he was Pope Julius, and narra- 
 tives, not trustworthy, are introduced into the Seventh. 
 
 This remark and several before it will become intelli- 
 gible if we consider that neither Pope nor Council are on 
 a level with the Apostles. To the Apostles the whole 
 revelation was given, by the Church it is transmitted ; 
 no simply new truth has been given to us since St. 
 John's death ; the one office of the Church is to guard 
 " that noble deposit " of truth, as St. Paul speaks to 
 Timothy, which the Apostles bequeathed to her, in its 
 fulness and integrity. Hence the infallibility of the 
 Apostles was of a far more positive and wide character 
 than that needed by and granted to the Church. We call it, 
 in the case of the Apostles, inspiration ; in the case of the 
 Church assistentia. , 
 
 * Vid. Amort. Dem. Cr., pp. 205— (5. This applies to the Unam 
 Sanctam, vid. Fesskr. 
 
THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 117 
 
 Of course there is a sense of the word " inspiration " 
 in which it is common to all members of the Church, and 
 therefore especially to its Bishops, and still more directly 
 to its rulers, when solemnly called together in Council after 
 much prayer throughout Christendom, and in a frame of 
 mind especially serious and earnest by reason of the work 
 they have in hand. The Paraclete certainly is ever with 
 them, and more efiectively in a Council, as being " in Spi- 
 ritu Sancto congregata ;" but I speak of the special and 
 promised aid necessary for their fidelity to Apostolic teach- 
 ing ; and, in order to secure this fidelity, no inward gift of 
 infallibility is' needed, such as the Apostles had, no direct 
 suggestion of divine truth, but simply an external guardian- 
 ship, keeping them ofi" from error (as a man's Guardian 
 Angel, without enabling him to walk, might, on a 
 night journey, keep him from pitfalls in his way), a guar- 
 dianship saving them, as far as their ultimate decisions are 
 concerned, from the effects of their inherent infirmities, 
 from any chance of extravagance, of confusion of thought, 
 of collision with former decisions or with Scripture, which 
 in seasons of excitement might reasonably be feared. 
 
 " Never," says Perrone, " have Catholics taught that 
 the gift of infallibility is given by God to the Church after 
 the manner of inspiration." — t. 2, p. 253. Again: "[Human] 
 media of arriving at the truth are excluded neither by a 
 Council's nor by a Pope's infallibility, for God ha? pro- 
 mised it, not by way of an infused " or habitual " gift, but 
 by the way of assistentia." — ibid. p. 541. • — 
 
 But since the process of defining truth is human, 
 it is open to the chance of error; what Providence has 
 guaranteed is only this, that there should be no error in 
 the final step, in the resulting definition or dogma. 
 
 7. Accordingly, all that a Council, and all that the 
 Pope, is infallible in, is the direct answer to the special 
 question which he happens to be considering ; his prero- 
 gative does not extend beyond a power, when in his 
 Cathedra, of giving that very answer truly. " Nothing," 
 says Perrone, " but the objects of dogmatic definitions of 
 Councils are immutable, for in these are Councils infallible, 
 not in their reasons," &c. — ibid. 
 
n 
 
 118 THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 
 
 8. This rale is so strictly to be observed that, though 
 dogmatic statements are found from time to time in a 
 Pope's Apostolic Letters, &c., yet they are not accounted 
 to be exercises of his infallibility if they are said only 
 ohiter — by the way, and without direct intention to define. 
 A striking instance of this sine qua non condition is 
 afforded by Nicholas I., who, in a letter to the Bulga- 
 rians, spoke as if baptism were valid, when administered 
 simply in our Lord's Name, without distinct mention of 
 the Three Persons ; but he is not teaching and speaking 
 ex cathedrd, because no question on this matter was 
 in any sense the occasion of his writing. The question 
 asked of him was concerning the minister of baptism — viz., 
 whether a Jew or Pagan could validly baptize ; in answer- 
 ing in the affirmative, he added obiter, as a private doctor, 
 says Bellarmine, "that the baptism was valid, whether 
 administered in the name of the three Persons or in the 
 name of Christ only." [de Rom,. Pont., iv. 12.) 
 
 9. Another limitation is given in Pope Pius's own con- 
 ditions set down in the Pastor^ternus, for the exercise of infal- 
 libility : viz., the proposition defined will be without any claim 
 to be considered binding on the belief of Catholics, unless 
 it is referable to the Apostolic depositum, through the 
 channel either of Scripture or Tradition ; and, though the 
 Pope is the judge whether it is so referable or not, yet the 
 necessity of his professing to abide by this reference is in itself 
 a certain limitation of his dogmatic actionT) A Protestant 
 will object indeed that, after his distinctly asserting that 
 the Immaculate Conception and the Papal Infallibility are 
 in Scripture and Tradition, this safeguard against erroneous 
 definitions is not worth much, nor do I say that it is one 
 of the most effective ; but any how, in consequence of it, 
 no Pope any more than a Council, could, for instance, intro- 
 duce Ignatius's Epistles into the Canon of Scripture ; — and, 
 as to his dogmatic condemnation of particular books, which, 
 of course, are foreign to thedepositum, I would say, that, as to 
 their false doctrine there can be no difficulty in condemning 
 that, by means of that Apostolic deposit; nor surely in his 
 condemning the very wording, in which they convey it, when 
 
THE VATICAN DEFINITION. Il9 
 
 the subject is carefully coiisiclered. For the Pope's con- 
 demning the language, for instance, of Jansenius is a parallel 
 act to the Church's receiving the word " Consubstantial," 
 and if a Council and the Pope were not infallible so far in 
 their judgment of language, neither Pope nor Council 
 could draw up a dogmatic definition at all, for the right 
 exercise of words is involved in the right exercise of 
 thought. 
 
 I ' 10. And in like manner, as regards the precepts con- 
 cerning moral duties, it is not in every such precept that the 
 Pope is infallible. As a definition of faith must be drawn 
 from the Apostolic dejiositum of doctrine, in order that it 
 may be considered an exercise of infallibility, whether in 
 the Pope or a Council, so too a precept of morals, if it is to 
 be accepted as dogmatic, must be drawn from the Moral 
 law, that primary revelation to us from God. 
 
 That is, in the first place, it must relate to things in 
 themselves good or evil. If the Pope prescribed lying or 
 revenge, his command would simply go for nothing, as if he 
 had not issued it, because he has no power over the Moral 
 Law. If he forbade his flock to eat any but vegetable 
 food, or to dress in a particular fashion (questions of de- 
 cency and modesty not coming into the question), he would 
 in like manner be going beyond his province, because such 
 a rule does not relate to a matter in itself good or bad. If 
 he gave a precept all over the world for the adoption of lot- 
 teries instead of tithes or offerings, certainly it would be very 
 hard to prove that he was contradicting the Moral Law, or 
 ruling a practice to be in itself good which was in itself 
 evil. There are few persons but would allow that it is at 
 least doubtful whether lotteries are abstractedly evil, and 
 in a doubtful matter the Pope is to be believed and obeyed. 
 However, there are other conditions besides this, neces- 
 saryfor the exercise of Papal infallibility in moral subjects : — ■ 
 for instance, his definition must relate to things necessary for 
 salvation. No one would so speak of lotteries, nor of a 
 particular dress, or of a particular kind of food ; — such 
 precepts, then, did he make them, would be simply external 
 to the range of his prerogative. 
 
120 THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 
 
 And again, his infallibility in consequence is not called 
 into exercise, unless lie speaks to the whole world ; for, if 
 his precepts, in order to be dogmatic, must enjoin what is 
 necessary to salvation, they must be necessary for all men. 
 Accordingly orders which issue from him for the observ- 
 ance of particular countries, or political or religious classes, 
 have no claim to be the utterances of his infallibility. If 
 he enjoins upon the hierarchy ©f Ireland to withstand 
 I mixed education, this is no exercise of his infallibility. 
 
 It may be added that the field of morals contains so 
 little that is unknown and unexplored, in contrast with 
 revelation and doctrinal fact, which form the domain of 
 faith, that it is difficult to say what portions of moral 
 teaching in the course of 1800 years actually have pro- 
 ceeded from the Pope, or from the Church, or where 
 to look for such. Nearly all that either oracle has 
 done in this respect, has been to condemn such pro- 
 positions as in a moral point of view are false, or dangerous, 
 or rash ; and these condemnations, besides being such as 
 in fact, will be found to command the assent of most men, 
 as soon as heard, do not necessarily go so far as to pre- 
 sent any positive statements for universal acceptance. 
 
 11. With the mention of condemned propositions I 
 am brought to another and large consideration, which is 
 one of the best illustrations that I can give of that prin- 
 ciple of minimizing so necessary, as I think, for a wise 
 and cautious theology ; at the same time I cannot insist 
 upon it in the connexion into which I am going to intro- 
 duce it, without submitting myself to the correction of 
 divines more learned than I can pretend to be myself 
 r~ The infallibility, whether of the Church or of the Pope, 
 
 acts principally or solely in two channels, in direct state- 
 ments of truth, and in the condemnation of error. The 
 former takes the shape of doctrinal definitions, the latter 
 stigmatizes propositions as heretical, next to heresy, erro- 
 neous, and the like. In each case the Church, as 
 guided by her Divine Master, has made provision for 
 weighing as lightly as possible on the faith and conscience of 
 ^er children. 
 
THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 121 
 
 As to the condemnation of propositions all she tells 
 us is, that the thesis condemned when taken as a whole, 
 or, again, when viewed in its context, is heretical, or blas- 
 phemous, or impious, or whatever other epithet she affixes 
 to it. We have only to trust her so far as to allow our- 
 selves to be warned against the thesis, or the work con- 
 taining it. Theologians employ themselves in determining 
 what precisely it is that is condemned in that thesis or 
 treatise ; and doubtless in most cases they do so with suc- 
 cess ; but that determination is not de fide ; all that is 
 of faith is that there is in that thesis itself, which is noted, 
 heresy or error, or other peccant matter, as the case may 
 be, such, that the censure is a peremptory command 
 to theologians, preachers, students, and all other whom it 
 concerns, to keep clear of it. But so light is this obliga- 
 tion, that instances frequently occur, when it is success- 
 fully maintained by some new writer, that the Pope's act 
 does not imply what it has seemed to imply, and ques- 
 tions which seemed to be closed, are after a course of 
 years re-opened. In discussions sxich as these, there is 
 a real exercise of private judgment, and an allowable 
 one ; the act of faith, which cannot be superseded or 
 trifled with, being, I repeat, the unreserved acceptance 
 that the thesis in question is heretical, or erroneous in faith, 
 &c., as the Pope or the Church has spoken of it. 
 
 In these cases which in a true sense may be called 
 the Pope's negative enunciations, the opportunity of a 
 legitimate minimizing lies in the intensely concrete cha- 
 racter of the matters condemned ; in his affirmative enun- 
 ciations a like opportunity is afforded by their being more 
 or less abstract. pTndeed, excepting such as relate to 
 persons, that is, to the Trinity in Unity, the Blessed 
 Virgin, the Saints, and the like, all the dogmas of Pope 
 or of Council are but general, and so far, in consequence, 
 admit of exceptions in their actual application, — these 
 exceptions being determined either by other authoritative 
 utterances, or by the scrutinizing vigilance, acuteness, 
 and subtlety of the Schola Theologorum. 
 
 One of the most remarkable instances of what I am 
 
122 THE VATICAN DET"INITION. 
 
 insisting on is found in a dogma, which no Catholic can 
 ever think of disputing, viz., that " Out of the Church, 
 and out of the faith, is no salvation." Not to go to 
 Scripture, it is the doctrine of St. Ignatius, St. Irenseus, 
 St. Cyprian in the first three centuries, as of St. Augus- 
 tine and his contemporaries in the fourth and fifth. It 
 can never be other than an elementary truth of Christi- 
 anity ; and the present Pope has proclaimed it as all 
 Popes, doctors, and bishops before him. But that truth 
 has two aspects, according as the force of the negative 
 falls upon the " Church " or upon the " salvation." The 
 main sense is, that there is no other communion or so- 
 called Church, but the Catholic, in which are stored the 
 promises, the sacraments and other means of salvation ; 
 the other and derived sense is, that no one can be saved 
 who is not in that one and only Church. But it does 
 not follow, because there is no Church but one which 
 has the Evangelical gifts and privileges to bestow, that 
 therefore no one can be saved without the intervention 
 of that one Ch urch. 7 Anglicans quite understand this 
 distinction ; for, on the one hand, their Article says, 
 " They are to be had accursed (anathematizandi) that 
 presume to say, that every man shall be saved hy (in) 
 the law or sect which he professeth, so that he be dili- 
 gent to frame his life according to that law and the light 
 of nature ;" while on the other hand they speak of and 
 hold the doctrine of the " uncovenanted mercies of God." 
 The latter doctrine in its Catholic form is the doctrine of 
 invincible ignorance — or, that it is possible to belong to 
 the soul of the Church without belonging to the body ; 
 and, at the end of 1,800 years, it has been formally 
 and authoritatively put forward by the present Pope 
 (the first Pope, I suppose, who has done so,) on the 
 very same occasion on which he has repeated the funda- 
 mental principle of exclusive salvation itself. It is to the 
 purpose here to quote his words ; they occur in the course 
 of his Encyclical, addressed to the Bishops of Italy, under 
 date of August 10, 1863. 
 
 " We and you knoio, that those who lie under invin" 
 
THE VATICAN DEPINITION. 123 
 
 cible ignorance as regards our most Holy Religion, and 
 who, diligently observing the natural law, and its precepts, 
 which are engraven by God on the hearts of all, and pre- 
 pared to obey God, lead a good and upright life, are able, 
 by the operation of the power of divine light and grace, to 
 obtain eternal life."* 
 
 Who would at first sight gather from the wording of 
 so forcible a universal, that an exception to its operation, 
 such as this, so distinct, and, for what we know, so very 
 wide, was consistent with holding it 1 
 
 Another instance of a similar kind is the general 
 acceptance in the Latin Church, since the time of St. Augus- 
 tine, of the doctrine of absolute predestination, as instanced 
 in the teaching of other great saints besides him, such as 
 St. Fulgentius, St. Prosper, St. Gregory, St. Thomas, 
 and St. Buonaventure. Yet in the last centuries a 
 great explanation and modification of this doctrine has 
 been effected by the efi"orts of the Jesuit School, which have 
 issued in the reception of a distinction between predestina- 
 tion to grace and predestination to glory ; and a conse- 
 quent admission of the principle that, though our own 
 works do not avail for bringing us into a state of salvation 
 on earth, they do avail, when in that state of salvation or 
 grace,' for our attainment of eternal glory in heaven. Two 
 saints of late centuries, St. Francis de Sales and St. Alfonso, 
 seem to have professed this less rigid opinion, which is now 
 the more common doctrine of the day. 
 
 Another instance is supplied by the Papal decisions 
 concerning Usury. Pope Clement V., in the Council of 
 Vienne, declares, " If any one shall have fallen into the 
 error of pertinaciously presuming to aflirm that usury 
 is no sin, we determine that he is to be punished as a 
 heretic." However, in the year 1831 the Sacred Pceniten- 
 tiaria answered an inquiry on the subject, to the effect that 
 
 * The Pope speaks more forcibly still in an earlier Allocution. After 
 mentioning invincible ignorance h,e adds : — " Quis tantiim sibi arroget, ut 
 hujusmodi ignorautise designate limites queat, juxta populorum, regio- 
 num, ingeniorum, aliarumque rerum tam multarum rationem et varie- 
 tatem ?"— Z>ec. 9, 1854. 
 
124 THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 
 
 the Holy See suspended its decision on the point, and that 
 a confessor who allowed of usury was not to be disturbed, 
 "non esse inquietandum." Here again a double aspect 
 seems to have been realized of the idea intended by the 
 word usury. 
 
 To show how natural this process of partial and gra- 
 dually developed teaching is, we may refer to the apparent 
 contradiction of Bellarmine, who says " the Pope, whether 
 he can err or not, is to be obeyed by all the faithful," [Rom. 
 Pont. iv. 2), yet, as I have quoted him above, p. 52-53, sets 
 down (ii. 29) cases in which he is not to be obeyed. 
 An illustration may be given in political history in the dis- 
 cussions which took place years ago as to the force of the 
 Sovereign's Coronation Oath to uphold the Established 
 Church. The words were large and general, and seemed to 
 preclude any act on his part to the prejudice of the Estab- 
 lishment ; but lawyers succeeded at length in making a 
 distinction between the legislative and executive action of 
 the Crown, which is now generally accepted. 
 
 These instances out of many similar are sufficient to 
 show what caution is to be observed, on the part of private 
 and unauthorized persons, in imposing upon the consciences 
 of others any interpretation of dogmatic enunciations which 
 is beyond the legitimate sense of the words, inconsistent 
 with the principle that all general rules have exceptions, 
 and unrecognized by the Theological Schola. 
 
 12. From these various considerations it follows, that 
 Papal and Synodal definitions, obligatory on our faith, are 
 of rare occurrence ; and this is confessed by all sober theo- 
 logians. Father O'EeiUy, for instance, of Dublin, one of 
 the first theologians of the day, says : — ■ 
 
 " The Papal Infallibility is comparatively seldom 
 brought into action. I am very far from denying that 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 weU the great work entrusted to him and imposed on 
 him, that he is continually guided from above in the govern- 
 ment of the Catholic Church. But this is not the meaning 
 of Infallibility. . . What is the use of dragging in th^ Infalli- 
 
THE VATICAN DEllNITION. 125 
 
 bility in connexion with Papal acts with which it has nothing 
 to do 1 Papal acts, which are very good and very holy, 
 and entitled to all respect and obedience, acts in which . 
 the Pontiff is commonly not mistaken, but in w^hich he 
 could be mistaken and still remain infallible in the only 
 sense in which he has been declared to be so." (The Irish 
 Monthly, Vol. ii. No. 10, 1874.)-"- 
 
 This great authority goes on to disclaim any desire 
 to minimize, but there is, I hope, no real difference be- 
 tween us here. He, I am sure, would sanction me in my 
 repugnance to impose upon the faith of others more 
 than what the Church distinctly claims of them : and I 
 should follow him in thinking it a more scriptural, Chris- 
 tian, dutiful, happy frame of mind, to be easy, than to 
 be difficult, of belief. I have already spoken of that un- 
 catholic spirit, which starts with a grudging faith in the 
 word of the Church, and determines to hold nothing but 
 what it is, as if by demonstration, compelled to believe. 
 To be a true Catholic a man must have a generous loy- 
 alty towards ecclesiastical authority, and accept what is 
 taught him with what is > called the pz'etos Jidei, and only 
 such a tone of mind has a claim, and it certainly has a 
 claim, to be met and to be handled with a wise and 
 gentle minimism. Still the fact remains, that there has 
 been of late years a fierce and intolerant temper abroad, 
 which scorns and virtually tramples on the little ones of 
 Christ. 
 
 I end with an extract from the Pastoral of the Swiss 
 Bishops, a Pastoral which has received the Pope's approba- 
 tion. 
 
 " It in no way depends upon the caprice of the Pope, 
 or upon his good pleasure, to make such and such a doc- 
 trine, 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 
 
 * fid. Fessler also ; and I believe Father Perrone says the same. 
 
 ,:i 
 
126 THE VATICAN DEFINITION. 
 
 Creeds, already in existence, and by the preceding defini- 
 tions 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 
 obedience in conscience, and respect in all things morally 
 permitted, and belonging to the domain of civil society." 
 
127 
 
 § 10. Conclusion. 
 
 I have now said all that I consider necessary in order 
 to fulfil the task which I have undertaken, a task very- 
 painful to me and ungracious. I account it a great mis- 
 fortune, that my last words, as they are likely to be, should 
 be devoted to a controversy with one whom I have always so 
 much respected and admired. But I should not have been 
 satisfied with myself, if I had not responded to the call 
 made upon me from such various quarters, to the opportu- 
 nity at last given me of breaking a long silence on subject 
 deeply interesting to me, and to the demands of my owi 
 honour. 
 
 The main point of Mr. Gladstone's charge against 
 us is that in 1870, after a series of preparatory acts, a 
 great change and irreversible was effected in the political 
 attitude of the Church by the third and fourth chapters 
 of the Vatican Pastor jEternus, a change which no state 
 or statesman can afford to pass over. Of this cardinal 
 assertion I consider he has given no proof at all ; and my 
 object throughout the foregoing pages has been to make 
 this clear. I'he Pope's infallibility indeed and his supreme 
 authority have in the Vatican capita been declared matters 
 of faith ; but his prerogative of infallibility lies in matters 
 speculative, and his prerogative of authority is no in- 
 fallibility, in laws, commands, or measures. His infal- 
 libility bears upon the domain of thought, not directly of 
 action, and while it may fairly exercise the theologian, philo- 
 sopher, or man of science, it scarcely concerns the politician. 
 Moreover, whether the recognition of his infallibility in 
 doctrine will increase his actual power over the faith of 
 Catholics, remains to be seen, and must be determined 
 by the event ; for there are gifts too large and too fearful 
 to be handled freely. Mr. Gladstone seems to feel this, 
 and therefore insists upon the increase made by the Vati- 
 
128 CONCLUSION. 
 
 can definition in the Pope's authority. But there is no 
 real increase ; he has for centuries upon centuries had and 
 used that authority, which the Definition now declares 
 ever to have belonged to him. Before the Council there 
 was the rule of obedience, and there were exceptions to 
 the rule ; and since the Council the rule remains, and with 
 it the possibility of exceptions. 
 
 — , It may be objected that a representation such as this, 
 is negatived by the universal sentiment, which testifies 
 to the formidable efi'ectiveness of the Vatican decrees, 
 and to the Pope's intention that they should be effective ; 
 that it is the boast of some Catholics and the reproach 
 levelled against us by all Protestants, that the Catholic 
 Church has now become beyond mistake a despotic aggres- 
 sive Papacy, in which freedom of thought and action is 
 utterly extinguished. But I do not allow this alleged 
 unanimous testimony to exist. Of course Prince Bismarck 
 and other statesmen such as Mr. Gladstone, rest their oppo- 
 sition to Pope Pius on the political ground ; but the Old- 
 CathoHc movement is based, not upon politics, but upon 
 theology, and Dr. DoUinger has more than once, I believe, 
 declared his disapprobation of the Prussian acts against the 
 Pope, while Father Hyacinth has quarrelled with the anti- 
 Catholic politics of G-eneva. The French indeed have shown 
 their sense of the political support which the Holy Father's 
 name and influence would bring to their country ; but does 
 any one suppose that they expect , to derive support defi- 
 nitely from the Vatican decrees, and not rather from the 
 prestige of that venerable Authority, which those decrees 
 have rather lowered than otherwise in the eyes of the world ? 
 So again the Legitimists and Carlists in France and Spain 
 doubtless wish to associate themselves with Rome ; bat 
 where and how have they signified that they can turn to 
 profit the special dogma of the Pope's infallibility, and 
 would not have been better pleased to be rid of the con- 
 troversy which it has occasioned 1 In fact, instead of there 
 being a universal impression that the proclamation of his 
 infallibility and supreme authority has strengthened the 
 Pope's secular position in Europe, there is room for sus- 
 
CONCLUSIOK. 129 
 
 pecting that some of the politicians of the day, (I do not 
 mean Mr. Gladstone) were not sorry that the Ultramontane 
 party was successful at the Council in their prosecu- 
 tion of an object which those politicians considered to be 
 favourable to the interests of the Civil Power. There is 
 certainly some plausibility in the view, that it is not the 
 " Curia Eomana," as Mr. Gladstone considers, or the 
 * Jesuits," who are the " astute " party, but that rather 
 they are themselves victims of the astuteness of secular 
 statesmen. 
 
 The recognition, which I am here implying, of the exist- 
 ence of parties in the Church reminds me of what, while I 
 have been writing these pages, I have all along felt would be 
 at once the primd facie and also the most telling criticism 
 upon me. It will be said that there are very consider- 
 able differences in argument and opinion between me and 
 others who have replied to Mr. Gladstone, and I shall be 
 taunted with the evident break-down, thereby made mani- 
 fest, of that topic of glorification so commonly in the 
 mouths of Catholics, that they are all of one way of think- 
 ing, while Protestants are all at variance with each other, 
 and by that very variation of opinion can have no ground 
 of certainty severally in their own. 
 
 This is a showy and serviceable retort in controversy ; 
 but it is nothing more. First, as regards the arguments 
 which Catholics use, it has to be considered whether they 
 are really incompatible with each other ; if they are not, 
 then surely it is generally granted by Protestants as well 
 as Catholics, that two distinct arguments for the same 
 conclusion, instead of invalidating that conclusion, ac- 
 tually strengthen it. And next, supposing the difference 
 to be one of conclusions themselves, then it must be con- 
 sidered whether the difference relates to a matter of faith 
 or to a matter of opinion. If a matter of faith is in ques- 
 tion I grant there ought to be absolute agreement, or 
 rather I maintain that there is ; I mean to say that only 
 one out of the statements put forth can be true, and that 
 the other statements will be at once withdrawn by their 
 authors, by virtue of their being Catholics, tiK soon as they 
 
 j: 
 
130 CONCLUSION. 
 
 learn on good authority that they are erroneous. But if 
 the differences which I have supposed are only in theolo- 
 gical opinion, they do but show that after all private judg- 
 ment is not so utterly unknown among Catholics and in 
 Catholic Schools, as Protestants are desirous to establish. 
 
 I have written on this subject at some length in Lec- 
 tures which I published many years ago, but, it would 
 appear, with little practical effect upon those for whom 
 they were intended. " Left to himself," I say, " each Ca- 
 tholic likes and would maintain his own opinion and his 
 private judgment just as much as a Protestant ; and he 
 has it and he maintains it, just so far as the Church does 
 not, by the authority of Eevelation, supersede it. The 
 very moment the Church ceases to speak, at the very point 
 at which she, that is, God who speaks by her, circumscribes 
 her range of teaching, then private judgment of necessity 
 starts up ; there is nothing to hinder it. ... A Catholic 
 sacrifices his opinion to the Word of God, declared through 
 His Church ; but from the nature of the case, there is no- 
 thing to hinder him having his own opinion and express- 
 ing it, whenever, and so far as, the Church, the oracle of 
 Revelation, does not speak.* 
 
 . In saying this, it must not be supposed that I am de- 
 nying what is called the pietas Jidei, that is, a sense of the 
 great probability of the truth of enunciations made by the 
 Church, which are not formally and actually to be considered 
 as the " Word of God. " Doubtless it is our duty to check many 
 a speculation, or at least many an utterance, even though 
 we are not bound to condemn it as contrary to religious 
 truth. But, after all, the field of religious thought which 
 the duty of faith occupies, is small indeed compared with 
 that which is open to our free, though of course to our reve- 
 rent and conscientious, speculation. 
 
 I draw from these remarks two conclusions ; first as 
 regards Protestants, — Mr. Gladstone should not on the one 
 hand declaim against us as having " no mental freedom," 
 if the periodical press on the other hand is to mock us 
 as admitting a liberty of private judgment, purely Pro- 
 
 * ^'icZe " Difficulties felt by Anglicans.'' Lecture X. 
 
COKCLTJSIOK 131 
 
 testant. We surely are not open to contradictory imputa- 
 tions. Every note of triumph ■ over the differences which 
 mark our answers to Mr. Gladstone is a distinct admis- 
 sion that we do not deserve his injurious reproach that 
 we are captives and slaves of the Pope. 
 
 Secondly, for the benefit of some Catholics, I would 
 observe that, while I acknowledge one Pope, jure divino, I 
 acknowledge no other, and that I think it a usurpation, 
 too wicked to be comfortably dwelt upon, when in- 
 dividuals use their own private judgment, in the discussion 
 of religious questions, not simply " abundare in suo sensu," 
 but for the purpose of anathematizing the private" judgment 
 of others. 
 
 I say there is only one Oracle of God, the Holy Ca- 
 tholic Church and the Pope as her head. To her teaching 
 I have ever desired all my thoughts, all my words to be 
 conformed ; to her judgment I submit what I have now 
 written, what I have ever written, not only as regards its 
 truth, but as to its prudence, its suitableness, and its ex- 
 pedience. I think I have not pursued any end of my own 
 in anything that I have published, but I know well, that, 
 in matters not of faith, I may have spoken, when I ought 
 to have been sUent. 
 
 And now, my dear Duke, I release you from this long 
 discussion, and, in concluding, beg you to accept the best 
 Christmas wishes and prayers for your present and future 
 from 
 
 Your affectionate Friend and Servant, 
 
 JOHN HENRY NEWMAN. 
 
 The Oeatoey, 
 
 Dec. 27, 1874. 
 
 Cornell Catholic 
 Union Library.