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'j^'J; ^C-x ' ,v* ■?^ .'-^o^Vv. BY --?* ..,/• -:^ .-.-'■■-"■■;■". -i-*'?- *?;■■ ^f' i6^-' •f t- -^-^'l^ft'^- JAMES P. TAYLOR; M^-^AJf"^ ^i'^- '•'■.■♦ &«. liV-' ;-%'^' i»?vJ;*;.-»>^ Non est pudor ad meliora tranaire.—St. Ambrose. t^ RENFREW: PUBLISHED BY ARTHUR URAV^EJLLfi, JOURXALOPMCE, i8«a *4' <',■• ^ ' NOTICE. • - The following letters, which first appeared in the Catholic ' Kecord,' I have been persuaded, after having made several though immaterial alterations, to otter in book shape ; and the persuasions of friends is the only ^poW8y*''I*'*»»«fc*> Ipr re-presenting them. Written ut snatch chances, they carry all the marks of desultory work ; but I have taken the greatest care in testing the accuracy of the quotations, which, unless specially indi- cated, are taken directly from the works named. - ;. J^indsay, Xmas., 1888, J. P. X ^1 ;>■' ■■^s,»- ,. :M^ 118526 '■•*,.. '■/ •ciluvve»l with the tears of •Saints, eouseerated hy their laliors. antl still oontainin;,' preeions monuments of tlitiir relij^ion. that I was tau^'ht to believe in John Wesley ! Very early I was nstrnetetl in his eateehism, »n<\ jealously eonlinetl to \lelief in ChriKtianity that I have never been able to stiHe. They did for me what they believed the Itest : if I have partly diHapi)ointeoy might be lost." The i>oy uaH taken to the woodn, to learn the handicraft of bushwhacking. 'Twas a hard life. All day long throughout the winterw, I choppeil ; l>ut dui'ing the long uights I read every t)ook I could come across in the settlement. The only mental excitement in the place to be witnessed was the an- nual f>rotracted meeting in the E. M. C. Kvery year the same batch "got convertee recognized ; the P>iiptists of all shades held opinions that had no Jjlcriptiiral warrant ; while the Presbyterians with their stern Preilestinariunism sadly needed light. Of couitie, they thoroughly understood the craftiness and falseness of the Catholic Church, and had a pious abhorrence of her pretensions. While I Silt at the feet of these men, I heard the most extrava- gant laudations of Protestantism. It was e\'erything good : tolerant, humane, the diffuser of light, the asserter of nian's nights, the sole dispenser of (Jod's Holy Word, and the sure directoi- of man to heaven. But all this was simply emphasiz- ing what I already knew. For years not a sign of distrust dii- ^^mmm -vf' • »» : •• 6 HOW A 80IIOOLMASTRR HKl^AMK A rATIIOIilO. ' , ./••* w. •■•^>' '■=■-' tuiKctl me about my PioteMtautiHin. I wtm m Moiiml a Protest- ant as a lleltiist Oimigeman : ami hs far aw a kiiowlmlge of Chris- tianity \h concernetl. jiiat ainmt as ignorant. But 1 was to be u more intciligunt PiotcMtant. ■• A few yearw aftui' I Itcgaii to teach scliool. the mistre«» of tlie h; aiid. what is worwe, he also gives quotations from Protestants, that woujd t^tugger a common Protestant. My oounolation was in tlu^ hope that, as a I'apist, he had tampered with tlie quotations. I would test his work. As far as I could I did so, and found him correct m every particular. The reading «f this book detoiiuined mc to be a real Protestant, or as a Proi-estant i.s often duscriV)ed, <.ine who i& not afraid to examine all things, to get at the truth, and who has a perfect right to judge and to decide for himself. I iHjlieved that religion is everything or nothing : and if every- thing, too much troubh' cannot be taken in learning its true form. The thought ocourr-od t.^^^elin's Pai)al Power in the Middle Ages. To many Protest- ant hooks I added Bonltbee'a XXXIX Articles ; Pearson on the Creed; ami Palmer on the Church, "ivols.. Rivington's, 1S;^S. The chief Catholic hooks on controversy that I i)rociired were Milnei 's Knd : liossuet's Variations ; Balme/'s Protestantism ami Catholicity ; Mo'hler's Symholisni ; Fredet's Kuchaiistie Mystery : ivenrick's Primacy ; and Wilherforce on Church Aidhority. Before I proceed to give the results of my five years' study, 1 will notice that I received no advice from preacher or priest. As foi" a priest. I had not evep spoken to one. 1 worked alone and pri\atel\'. Only he who has engaged in a lahor of the kind can form the faintest idea of the hard mental strain inclJent to such an undertaking -the collation of authorities to prove a dis- puted fact*; the l)ulk of reading necessary to m«W speak the truth. To discredit his statements, however extravagant or \ indictive they may be. would be rank blasphemy. But the time oame wlien I concluded 1 would study for my- self the subject of religious persecution. Perljapt., though, I took the wnmg books? There may be something in 4iis. Had 1 confined myself to books issued In- a society whose existence depends upon the maintenance of Protestantism, or to (ii<' pon- derous lucubi'ations of some superannuated Sunday wcho(>l . tea,cher, or splay-footed colporteur, 1 might be still one -.'f those that " love ti-uth for truth's sake." IJnt even in selecting books of histoiy, I gave fidl play to my wayward nature, by taking standard, and mostly Protestant, authors. I had two questioiis to solve : Has the Catholic (■hurch been the. persecutoi- that her enemies declare her to have been? And have Piotestauts been the charitable, tolerant saints, that so many of their .ulmiiers so roundly assert? ■ > ' . ^* When the C'hureh rii-st appeared in histoi-y, she ap])eared as ' a helpless sufferer. The world arrayed itself against lici', to de- stroy her. For century after century, she gave to nuirvyid'/ni the ablest aiul best oi iier childien. I'utlier,^, .Saiiits. ;ind xVifjcs, submissively, but triumphautiy, endui*ed the most excruciaiing tortures and agonizing deaths ; and. instead of resisting or lovil- ing, they pi-ayed foi- the conversion of their persecutors. Exile *■ A^ •£ '^-'X^i-iii, ^X'i ' .^^'i^-- m ^ ■■ e 10 HOW X •(■■OOLWASTKR BKCAMK A •ATHOLI*. I f-li/.'-' '^. *^tr 1. 4i.: was tlic niil(l«Kt punisliHieut for th« fltjfeiicl«i» of the faith, ttgainnt AiianiMU ; in Africa the CircumoellioiJK vittited with tleuth all the Ciitliolics beyond the protection of the imperial jjuaids. iujd Milnian Huyt- that even Nefe.toriU8 in C'tjiistantinople "when in power, wcinpled not to persecute. '" In short, history when carefully exmnined, shows that almont the first move of those that go out of the Church is, when they are strong enough, to wage against her actual warfare. 1 he early heretics did so ; the Manichtan hereticK of the Middle Age« did no ; and it will \>9 su^n whether the Prot^^stantH have done .. If the ('hurch haH been a persecutor, where is the firist proof wf it tf) l>e found ? Tortullian's saying , "It does not belong to religion to force religion "' {Nov e.-*f reUgioni^ roijert rdigiottein.), wan foi- ccnturiep and centuries, and iw to-duy. the maxim of the Church, fn.stoiul of claimijig the right to persecute, she express- ly dirtclaims it. If she has persecuted, she has acted contrary to her solenui profession. Again, I ask where is the plain pr>8- itive proof that .she has l.tcen a persecutor? I have searched for it in vain. Milnian. in his Latin Christianity, says: "The blood of the .Spanish Vnsliop, Priscillian, the firbt mai-tyr of her- esy, as usual had flowed in vain. He had l>een put to death by the usurpei', Maximus, at the instigation of two other Spanish prelates, Ithacius and Valens ; V)ut t<» the undisguised horror of such Churchmen as And)rf)se. and Martin of Tours. " ( B. ii. C. I v. ) It can hardly V)e said that the Church approved of this, unless it can be shown that all the transgressions of C'atholics are countenanced by her, Whenevei- Catholics have persecuted, they have acted in direct contravention to the lessons of Christ- ian forbearance and mercy, taught by the Church. If the fJhurch has so thirsted for the V)lood of heretics, how did Gott- eschalcus and I3erengarius, both arch heretics, escape at a time when her authority in temporal n^atters was at its highest pitch 't When her ablest enemies attempt to fix upon her the stigma of having been a inthless persecutor, they pitch upon the third canon of the fomth Lateran Council ; but Collier, in Vol. ii. p. 421 , says : ■ • But here it must be said, that this chapter or canon is not to be found in the Mazerine copy, coeval with the council, but is transcribed from a later record. " . , It will be impossible to include in a letter particular notieet «f the luquisitiui:, St. Bartholomew's day,»tc., b«cauH« th«r« ia ■■■jtifC;' MOW A JICHOOLMASTKR BRCAME A CAfhOLTC. 11 considerable to he said on another subject. But I have rend •verything within my reach that bears on them, and I have not been able to see that the Church has been a persecutor. Cath- olics have p«rsecuted, I know ; but the Church, never. But how do Protestants appear in histoiy ? It will be useless for me to w».y that they have been persecutors ; nor do I need to say so. Protestants themselves shall give testimony in the case. (iibbi^n, whose inveterate hostility to the Church is well known, Sfiys, in his History : " The patriot reformers were am- bitious of succeeding the tyrants whom they had dethroned. They imposed with equal rigor their creeds and confessions ; they asserted the right of the magistrate to punish heretics with death. The pious or personal animosity of Calvin proscribed in Servetus the guilt of his own rebellion ; and the flames of Smith- iieUl, in which he was afterwards consumed, had been kindle«l f«»i' the Anabaptists, by the zeal of Cranmer. "'( Vol. v., p. 401. ) " The difference in this respect ( Toleration ) between the Cath- olics and Protestants was only in degree, and in degree there was nmch less difference than we are apt to believe. Ftrnecti- fioii ?»s the deadti/ original sin of the r'fforme^l. dmrchea ; that which cools every honest man's zeal for their cause, in propoi- fion as his reading bec/)mes more extensive. "( Hallani's C!'»n. Hist, of Eng. , Vol. i., p. 130. ) "What are tlie repioache^; con- stantly applied to the Reformation by its enemies ? Which of its results are thrown in its face, as it wei'e, unanswerable ? The wo principal reproaches are, first, the multiplicity of sects, the excessive license of thought, the destruction of all spiritual au- thority, and the entire dissolution of religious .society i; secondly, tyranny and persecution. ' You provoke licentiousness,' it has V>cen said to the Reformers : ' You produced it ; and, after hav- i]ig been the cause of it, you wish to restiain and repi-es8 it, by the most harsh and violent means. Y^ou take upon yourselves, t?>o, to punish heresy, and that by ,'irtue of an illegitimate au- thority." If we tike a review of all the principal charges which have been made ai^ainst the Rrsformation, we shall find, if wo set aside all questions purely doctrinal, that the ab;)vc are the two fundamental reproaches to which they may be all reduced. Thesf, cli.-irges gave great em'oari'assmeut t.) the i-efoi-m party. When they were taxed with the multiplicity of their sects, in- stead of advocating the freedon> of religious opinion and main >Ki '('- ' \.i ■m^ ■"\ w,-.'' ^■^'-■':L'-'^. '■■•■ ■ t . Iir.iv \ srHOOlilAHtKR BECAMK A <^.\Ttt(>Llc'. •T^*- tainiii.ir tlu- ri^^'ht of ov(n*y sotrt to entire toleration, they denonn (•o«l sfituiiunism. li'Diented it. iind ondeavonrud to Knd exciiNeti f<:r its c'\ist«Mu('. \V(M-e tiicy aeciiHed of persei-ntiou ? They were ti'/'il>Icd lo (h'tVnd tlioniKplves : tlioy used the ))lea f»f neecHsity : tlit'v had. lliey soid, the ri,uht to repress and punish error, l)e- caiiMf tlu'V \^ t^i'c ill poH«es8ion of the truth. Their articles of-be- lief, lli.'v coiitriidt'd, and their institutions, were the only Jegit- iuijttf one.s ; and if the- clnnrh of Rome had not the right to pnn- ish the reform ]iarty, it was because she was in the wrong and they in thr rji^dit. And when the oharge'of })er.secution was a]»- plied to the I'ulin*,' party in the refoiinntion, n(»t V>y its enemies, hut !iy its bseivei' of the rise and pi'ogress of the Reformation will ingenuously acknowledgti, that wisdom and prudence did not ahvays attend the tiansactions of those that were concerned in this glorious cau.He (!); that many things were done with vio- leiu^c, temerity, and precipitation ; and, what is still \A'orse, vhid several of the piincipal agents in this great revolution were actuated more by the impulse of passions, and views of interest, than by zeal for the advancement of true religion. " (Vol. ii., p. ('(i. ). " Far from evincing a tolerant spirit toward the Ro- man Catholics, when it was in their power, they ( Lutherans ) even oppi-essed the Calviniets : who indeed just as little deserved toleration, since they were unwilling to practice it." ( Schiller'a Thirty Years' War, p. 14. ). " We cannot but remember that libels scarcely less scandalous thaji those of Herbert, mummerieH .'icarcx^ly less absiird than those of Clootz, and crimes scarcely less atrocious than those of Marat, disgrace the early history of Protestantism. "( Macaulay's Essays, Vol. i,, p. 227. ). Speak- ing of the principle of persecution, held by the Reformers, Pal- mer, in his Treatise on the Church, ( Vol. i., p. '{80. ), says; "'Ac- cordingly they nrted on this principle. The Lutherans rejected tho Zuinglians from all communion, because they were heretical in the doctrine of the eucharist. The Calvinistf:. in the Synod t u*;:r, ■:•(.- ''-. y how A S<'HOOl,lVo well knoM'ii ; not to s))eal< of the impris- onment and banishment < f a ,L;i*cat number of others." luVol. I.. j». 5(M). he says : "Mn fact the writ. ' de' Hieretico combnren- do," was in force till .the twenty-ninth year of Charles II., and not urfreijueiitly acted »ipon. '" Lecky in his Rationalism in Enroy)e, Vol. ii., p. 01, says: "^Persecution among the early FVotestants Avas a distinct and definite doctrine, digested into elal>orate treatises, indissolnbly connected with a large portion of the received theology. develoy)ed by tlie most enlightened and far seeing theologians and enforced against the most inof- fensive as against the most formiilable saects. It was the doc- trine of the palmiest days of I'rotestajitism." ■ ^i:i>- If the I'rotestants had one dogma., then, common to theinsel- vcf. it was that heietii^s must be put to death ; and it was i»i Khgland, pai ticularly, that they gave practical etlect to it. Protestantism had no hold uj)on the people of England before Klizabcth's time ; a few had toyed with it, as M'ith an odd nov- elty, and others had used it to enrich themselves, but it is Welt . known that at Elizabeth's accession the nation w'as Catholic. She, however, had a prudential reason foi- not being one ; and «he was determined that the natioi) should be with her. In Burleigh, and his like, she had good tools. The people were commanded to take for their belief the articles outlined bj' her- self and her ministers. Obedience was revsardod ; recusancy was not overh)oked. Those that would be neither cajoled nor bribe«l to accept her form of faith, she subjected to a persecution that makes the most disgustingly brutal page of English hist- tory. Hallam shall tell what she did : " But they, ( Eliz. and her minieters ), established a persecution which fell not at all ;''-f^-'--vW-''.'^'^'^^'^:^'f^ 14 now A SCHOOLMASTBR BKOAME A CATHOLIC. I sVjort in ]>rin«iple ot tliat for which the iiuiuisition had boooiu« HO odious." ( Vol. i., p. HWi. ) Priests were hei- choice g.im.' ; all that fell in hei' pnwer she brutally murdered. But iiow ? The form of their deaths can be surmised from the following : ** Ln-d Bacon, in his observations on a libel written against Lord Burleigh, in 1592, does not deny the 'bowellings ' of Ciith- wlios ; bnt makes a sort of apology for it, as leas cruel than the wheel or forcipation. or even simple burning." { Hallam C. H., Vol. 1., p. 221. ) Catholicism in England was trampled out in blood ; and Protestantism eiitablished by the pjwer of a court famous for falsity, inti'igue and cruelty. How could I read all these statements and many others, fuUy as strong, made by Protestants of acknowledged ability and learning, and made often witli every appearance of regret and ^hain'.', without coming to the onclnsion that, whatever C.-itli- olics may have l»ecn as })cfse«.utors. the Protestants have in principle and action surpas.sed thcni ? 1 saw that the common Protestant cry, that peisciuition is the singular disgrace «)f tho Catholic Church, is a matchless instatice of cool, brazen-cheeked impudence. [ also saw that if I were to object to Catholicism for my old reason. 1 should have to decline Pi-otestantism on the same aoco\mt. But I might have been told, perhaps, that by this time Protestantism has been thoroughly purified from every trace of bigotry, while the Catholics are as they have always heeH. This way of putting it might have forced mc to Look in- to the matter a little somo time ag >. but ii')W I know bottcr ; and if any Protestant would liivc tt test this little faiicy, lot him .show in his religious m-^tvements anything like absolute iiuh;- pcndonoe. Proofs of some kind will soon rea.'jh him. LETTER III. LEARNIN(4. While investigating sections of history, for the purpose of learning something about persecutifui, I came across several scraps that have a bearing on another charge, often made against the church ; namely, that it has always been her steady care ancj ■• :.'*«■ -ti. ...:■: ■ ,--i' MOW A SCHOOLMAHTKK BKrAMK A r'ATHOt.rc. If r Heiisililu intoi-etit t<« check ewty uMpiratton of het- jieople towai-dii. intollcctual cultiue. The mildest fonn of the statement gener- ally made, is that, if she Imw not actually exeited her authority to keep Christendom comfortably ignorant, she has studiously refrained from encouraging any eflbrt put forth foi- the ditl'usion of knowledge. This opinion, it is safe to say, is firmly rooted in the IVotestant mind. What ordinal y Protestant is not cer- Uiin (){ it? But how Hxtra^^rdinary it is that peopK* passably in- telligent c»n entertain such a contradiction of »\\ respectable histoiy. Of course, I was once full of it; but after a. moderate course of reading, I was forced to dissent from the popular view of the nuittei-. And Protestants themselves turnetecting shadow of the Church, as her temporal infiuence and power became more ex- tensive and generally acknowledged. This I gathered from such (.'arefuUy weighed statements as the following, taken from Protest int writers : — "The amount of education (11th century ) must have difter- ed with the circumstances of the country, diocese, or parish^ still we ai"e assured that efforts were continually made to organ* ize both town and village schools. The richest institutions of this class were the conventual seminaries of the French and (xerman Benedictines ; and although they often shared in tl»e deteri'^M-ation of the order ( certainly ), and were Itroken up by the invasions of the Magyars and Northmen, we must view tliem as the greatest boon to all succeeding ages ; since in them especially the copies of the Sacred V(tlume, of the Fathers, and of other books were hoarded and transcribed.'' (Hardwick's' Middle Ages, p. 193. ) "The example of Sylvester ii. ( Pope i)99 — 1003 ) might be sufficient to rouse the jealous emulation of Italy ; and Sylvester left to that country not his example only, but the fruit of his active zeal in encouraging the learned of his own time, and in establishing schools and collecting libra- ries for the u.se of other generations. Some of the Popes, his i\icceBsorS; followed his traces with more or less earuestnesa, %- 16 1' flow A KCIfHiir.HASTRri HKOAMK A CATiror.IC. i and anvm- tl>e ri'st, iitef soiith- v,v\i ruly. Milman. i»i his I.. ('.. UU. N. Cli. in.. »ays : "(ffwk wiv; the ."-p )ktMi 1 »ii;ii.v;X' of t!u' p ">uK' in iiiiiiy frirfcs of tlic kingdom ; tin; laws of FioiUmmi- w.'w t^;ulsla.t^.Ml into (iidt'k for popular iis«' : (Iiv t(|)it;ipli of the Ai-'lilnsliop of Myssina, in tl>o y.Jif II7.">. WIS (}i-*n''<. 'V\\",yc weiT (Jcc.ck priests and st n land of ,sch lols : evory cathedral, a'm )st t'vuiy miuastvry, iiad its own. Vmt youths of in hi; atoUitiou, sislf uoiilidciioe. Mipp')sod capicity. and of hcttor opp.'rtunities. thronged to Oxford and (/ambrid.!,'e, now in tln'ir highest repute. In Knglaiid. ii-s thrrmghout Christendom, tluit wondtufnl rush. ;is it were of a va.st yiart of the pnpulntiou towards knowledge, thronged the universities with thonsaiuls of stmlents. instead of the few hnn- di'eds who have now the piivilege of entering those seats of in- struction.' ( Mihnan's |j. (!., Bk. \ni.. Ch. \i. ) 'I'he same writei- says of AUiert of Cologne ; "' His title to fame is not that lie inti'odueed and interpreted the .\Jetaphy.sics and Physics of Aristotle, and the works of the Aiahiau philosophers liiiuiti(»ii of tlieii writings." ( Id. Bk. XIV., ("h. m. ) " 'I'lierr is a wide .s plead notion tliat the Mid- dle Ages were aKso • Dark Ages,' full of ignorance and .sujiorMti- tion, with hardly a i-ay of knowleIe em- ulation and ardor, and all the various branches of science were studied with the greatest application and industry. This lit- erary enthusiasm was encouraged and supportey the pontitl's iiud otluT bishops, of the neglect and de- cline of the lilu'uil arts and sciences : and hence also tlu' zealous, but unsuccessful cH'oits they used to turn the youth from "fpiris- jirudence and philosophy, to the study of humanity anil philos- ophy.'" ( Itl. Cent. xm.. p. ir>4. ) ' In all the Latin provinces, .schemes were laid and carjieil into execution with considerable success, for pr-omoting the study of letters, improving taste, aiul dispelling the pcdanfic spirit of the times. 'I'his laudable tlisposition gave rise to the erection of nuuiy .schools and acatl- emies. at ('ologne, Orleans, (Aihors. Perugia. Kloreneo.^ind Pisa, in which a.ll the liberal arts and sciences, distributed into the .same c.hisses that still subsist in those phu^es. were taught with a.s8iduity and zeal. Opul«Mit per,sons7oundcd and aniply endow- ed pai'ticular colleges in the public universities, in which, be- sides the TiK'uks. young men of narrow circumstances, were eil- ucated in all the branches of litei-ature. '" ( Id. CJeut. XI v., p. ,s<)r>. ) Oominenting <»u the [>eriod sulwcijuent to (fregory VII., the (hitholic hist4 ; Valencia, 1410 ; Siguen/a, 1471 ; Saiago-ssa, 1474; Avila, 1482; Alcala, 14^) (1508); Seville, 1304. 4. In A'y/j/A/W -Oxford, 1249; Cam))ii«lge. 1257. 5. In ,S'revalence of education in the Middle Ages, and many others that I couhl transcribe, if .«<|)ace pei-mitted, convinced nie that during Catholic times there were schools and teachers in abundance ; anil besides that the Itest education of the lime, and no age can givt; a better, was th 'Mi HOW A HI<'. '> only twrlvi" ymis oM. Cohimmiv. this with the vulgar ii-port that th»! gicnt aiin of th«< CulliolicH hH8 hevu to keep poor people in i^noianrr. Ono thing I know well, that, if liUthei had been .1 CorniHli ininor'H mm, in the beginning of tiie M)th century, in- stead of a (Jeinian n>iner'B son, at the beginning of the Utth een- tury, hiH nan\e would never be ween in history. Sin«'e the "glo- rious Kefoiniation," few nunern' souh, ill (!orr»wall. have Heeu nuK^h of the sclioolniaHterH face ; they have leained nioie about washing tin. than construing Latin. True enough, a few favor- ed one8 have .sonietinieH managed to pick up, in .sun«lry wayM and divers forin.s, a little rtuiding, some writing, and le8« aritli- nietie ; Imt tin,- inajoiity have had to Imj contented with uaieh leHM. It wuhi lucky for Luther that he wu« not Inirn in a Prot- e.stant count ly. TheHe fact8 and conHi(> error is propagated and preserved. ■ y :i: /:■. T . now A HCHOOLMAHTKR BFCAMF. A CATH(»r,rc. 91 '".''3 LKTTKK IV. » MONASTU'ISM. Few iiiKtitutioiiK <'«uim!('U!i.',' ilum up toder-isioii an*! eontempt. They wei*e hizy, hesotted IiiiMj^.'.. ••rrrnhorx'rs of the ground, haviirg their- hellies always fidl and ihriir bodies always lilthy. (hi the stagts in novels, in ;iiavi'r- hooks eallcd history, in every picture! into which h'' ennld 1" • di'H^ired, the rfionk has lasen ear'ieatured. liut if the monks werx- so (,'oiitemptihle, have not unni.c»'.s.sary ]);iiMs heen Uikt ii iir ilishonoring them "' After' heiirg rohhed of their pro])e)'ty aird thrown upon the chai-ity of a woi-ld whose passions hud lieen infl irned against them, would it not have heeii simply deociit to have let the |)oor- rironks die in peace ? Hut to(» much eHluimiy rn-ide men suspicious. Honester- men ar'ose. who cHrvfully and tenrpei'ately loowed iirto ttieir histor-y, and then .sonre justice was done to the monks. Henci^ for a long time it has l)een uonsrih^r-ed a sign of enlight- enni'Mit to, affect a contempt for- everything relating to monasli- cism, but I am proml to .say that, although I had no specific reasoir for it, T always had a lur-king I'eveience for- a monk. A Catho- lic no doubt he was, arrd a good one ; but for all that, therv \\ii.s an indefinable something in him that I .secretly admiieonaKtici.Hin. It is a noble work, an ornament to any library. It deficribc? the origin of monasticism, traces its his- tory untU it became a settled systiMn, fully analyTses its aims, rtnoded brothers, and that, through their unweaiied diligence and happy methods of generalization, the sciences were materially advanced, and let- ters not only cultivated and taught in thoiisands of schools, but , collected and preserved, to be handed on for, too often, ungrate- ful generations of the future ; but more especially it points out that it is to the undying honor of the monks that, during the turbulent periods of the Middle Ages, they always gave an asy- Inm to the helpless and destitute, succored the needy, relieved J the poor, gave the warmest hospitality to the stranger, nourish- V ed the sick, braved every form of infection and plague, to soothe ihe pillow of the dying, and, by their earnest, gentle de- meanor and sympathizing conduct, communicated to the op- V ^4 ■■".ts;. • HOW A SCHOOLMASTER BECAME A CATHOf-IC. , 2l pressed and wronged that sustaining hope of future laappiness that turns the trials of this world into disciplinary blessings. And nearly all this can be gathered from the following Pro- testant admissions : — " It is quite impossible to touch the subject of Monastliism without rubbing off some of the dirt which has been heaped Hpoa it. It is impossible to get even a superficial knowledge of the medieval history of Europe, without seeing how greatly the world of that period was indebted to the Monaiitlc (Orders ;- and feeling that, whether they were good or bad in other mat- tera, monasteries were beyond all price in those days of misrule and turbulence, as places where ( it may be imperfectly, yet better than elsewhere, ) God was worshipped - as a quiet and religious refuge for helpless infancy and old a;^e, a shelter of respectful sympathy for the orphan, maiden, ami the tlesolatc widow — as central points whence agriculture was to sprccul over bleak hills, and barren downs, and marshy plains, and deal its bread to millions perishing with hunger and its pesti- lential train — as repositories of the learning which then Mas, and well-springs for the learning which was to be- as nurseries of art and science, giving the stimulus, the moans, and the re- ward to invention, and aggregating around them every head that could devise, and every hand that could execute — as the nubleus of the city Miiich in after days of pride should crown its palaces and bulwarks with the towering cross of its cathe- dral. "This I think no man can deny. I believe itis true, and I love to think of it. I hope that I see the good hand of (Jod in it, and the visible trace of Mis mercy that is over all His works. Bat if it is only a dream, however grateful, I shall be glad to .b^ awakened from it ; not indeed by the yelling of illiterate ag- itators, but by a quiet and sober proof that I have misunder- stood the matter. In the meantime, let ma thankfully believe thit thousands of the persons at whom Robertson, and Jortin, and other such very miserable second-hand writers, have sneer- ed at, were man of enlargf»d minds, puritied affections, and holy live^ — ^lii,t they were ju3tly reverenced by m3n— and, above ill, /avorably accepted by God, and distinguishad by th'i highe:«t honor which He vouchsafes to those who:n He ha» called into (»xistenv'3 that of being the channels of Ht^ love ;u»l insrcy to *i ^ » Y""^'^*?.;;'''!/^'! '^<^ »•- 1-;' •->4 iifivN .V s<'no(>i.iiiAsTKH ni-NArji: a ouksj were permanent mediatoi'S between thH rich and poor, between the strong tuid the weak : and it must . be said to their eternal honor that they understood and ful- .--■«.> '^*^-- wm m^m HOW A SOHOOtif AMt^K bECAilE A t^AtHOLlC 85 filled, in a marvellout way, the duties of this noble missiou. They alone had the right and the means of arresting the rough hand of power, of mitigating the just severity of the iaW, of showing a gleam of hope to the eye of the slave, and of findibg, even in this world, a pl&ce and means of existence for all those forsaken ones whose existence was ighorlid by the State. " ( Kem- ble's Saxons ib England, Vol. ii/, p; 375; ) " But it would equally be UnjUst to asseH) that establishments of pious men, associated for religious pUr|>oees, were without their use in exciting respect in the enettiy ( Pagans ), and confi- dence in the Christian. Still less can we hesitate to believe, that they were the means of relieving much individual misery ; that during the overthrow of justice and humanity, they derived power, &s well as protection, from the name of God, and from the tnist which they reposed in Him ; that their power wa« generally exerted for good purposes ; and that their gates wen thrown open to multitudes, who, in those days of universai des-\ ulation, could hope for no other refuge." ( Waddington's E. H.,i p. 305. ) ■ ; • ■ / - ^^■:• - -■.-.,:l-:; ^v':r;vi^;--. The Christianity of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, whether from Rome or lona, was alike monastic. That form of the religion already prevailed in Britain, when invaded by the Saxons, with them retreated into Wales, or found a refuge in Ireland. It landed with Augustine on the shores of Kent ; and came back again, on the invitation of the Northumbrian king, from the Scottish isles. And no form of Christianity could be so well suited for its high purposes at that time, or tend so powerfully to promote ci^'ilization as well as religion. >: '' The calm example of the domestic virtues in a more polish- ed, but often as regards sexual intercourse more corrupt state of morals, is of inestimable value, as spreading around the par- sonage an atmosphere of peace and happinesb ( al))eit under the shade of a parasol ), and oftbriug a living lesson on the blessings of conjugal fidelity. But such Christianity would have made no impression, even if it could have existed, on a people who still retained something of their Teutonic severity of manuers, and required therefore something more imposing — a sterner and more manifest self-denial — to keep up their i-eligious veneration. The- detachment of the clergy from all earthly ties left them at onoe more unremittingly deviated to their unsettled Hfe as 26 HOW A SCHOOLMASTER BECAME A CATfiOLlO. missionaries, more ready to encounter the perils of this wild age ; u hile ( at the same time ) the rude minds of the people M'ere more stiuck by thtir unusual habits, by the strength of character shown in their labors, their mortifications, their fast- ings, and perpetual religious services." ( Miiman's L. C, Bk. IV., C 111. ) If an anti-celibate should happen to read this, let him give it a pccond perusal and then digest it at his leieute. ■ " The advantnges accruing to the public from these religious houses V ere coiisidcraljle, upon several accounts. To mention some of tht m : the tt mporal nobility and gentry had a credit- able M'ay of providing for their younger* children. Those who were disponed to v ithdraw from the world, or not likely to niak'o their fortunes in it, had a bandsc me retreat to the cloister. Here they were furnished with conveniences for life and study, with opportunities for thought and recollection, and over and above passed their time in a condition not unbecoming their q^uality. The charge of the family being thus lessened, there Mas no temptation for racking of tf nants ; no occasion for break- ing the bulk of the estate to provide for the younger children. Thus figure and good house-keeping were maintained with greater ease, the en tireness of the estate, and by consequence the lasting of the family better secured. It is true, there were somitimefi small sums given to the monasteries for admitting persons to be pvof( s&cd ; but, generally speaking, they received them gratis. This they thought most advisable, to cultivate an interest with people of condition. By this means they en- gaged great fumilies to appear for them, upon occasion, both at court and in parliament. " The abbeys were very serviceable places for the education of young people ; every convent had one person or more assign- ed for this business. Thus the children of the neighborhood were taught grammar and music without any charge to their parents : and in the nunneries those of the other sex learned to work, and read English, with some advan<'es in Latin; and particularly the nunnery at Godstow, in Oxfordshire, was fa- mous upon this account, and for breeding young gentle-women and others to improvtments proper to their condition. " Further, it is to the abbeys we are obliged for most of our historians, both of Church and State ; these places of retirement Jiad both moat learning and leisure for such undertakings ; n«i- 'LV*I ■ V Ji'iS-.^^jiiiK "l^i.^ mmmmm HOW A SOBOOLBfASTCR BBOAMB A OATUOLIO. ther did they want information for such employment ; for not to mention several episoopal sees were founded for the cloister, the mitred abbocs, as we h:ive seen, s it in parliament, ami not a few of the religious had a share in the convocation. It is not denied but that they were some of the best landlords. Their reserved rents were low, and their fines easy ; and sometimes the product of the farms, without paying money, discharged the tenants in a great measure. T!iey were particularly remark- able for their hospitality. The monasteries were, as it were, houses of public entertainment for the gentry that travelled ; arid as for their distributions of charity, it may be guessod from one instance. . While t.i , j religious houses were standing, tliere were no provisions of p irliamjnt to relieve the poor : no assess- ment upon the parish for that 'purpose. But now this charge upon the kingdom amounts at a moderate computation, to , £800,000 per «nnum." ( Collier's Hist., Vol. v., p. 28. ) On page 30, of the same volume' he say? : "The founders had the benefit of corrodies ; that is, they had the privilege of quarter- ing a certain number of poor servants upon the abbeys. Thus people that were worn out with age and labor and in no con- dition to support themselves, were not left to starving or parish collections, but had a comfortable retreat to the abbeys, where they were maintained without hardship or marks of indigence, during lite." , ;-, . : ^ But on the supposition, nothing more mind, that the monas- teries had become lax in discipline, or their inmates addictc^d to occasional immoralities, were these justifiable reasons for their plunder? Let Collier answer : " If degeneracy and misbehav- iour were tha grand motive of }. ^'r r Hrw--. ^.• "»s:-' ^V^_'!*^-'- :'.' ■OW A SCnOOLMASTKa BMOAMS ▲ OATUOLIO. 99 fallen into serfdom, while the favored few that have been rent- era, have hardly been able, by practicing every species of nig- gardliness, to scrape enough together to satisfy the inexorable landlord. In what way, now, has the worldly condition of th« people been improved? " Yes, yes," says the zealous Protes- tant, "the worldly condition is what most concerns you ; relig- ion is the great consideration with me." And very often, in a moment of fo'getfulness or through ignorance, he refers you to the grand old churches and cathedrals, that are the ornament and pride of England, as monuments to the honor and glory of his religion ! In one of these glorious etlifices, that hm been in- ternally vandalized, he can sit and worship, and join in the chorus of invective, launched against the memory of the very men that put over him the covering from the weather — the monks. When I think of the monasteries and the monks, I think of England, and of the time when Milman says, " England was al- most a land of schools," and when, as Collier says, " the child- ren of the neighborhood were taught .grammar and music with- out any charge to their parents," and I frankly confess that, when the subject comes into my mind, I am troubled with vex- atious reflections. I entertain the peculiar crotchet that had the early reformers been more taken up with " the gospel " and kept a little more in abeyance their craving for plunder, in one at least of the old monasteries that used to be in Cornwall, I might have been well drilled, when a boy, in the elements of a good education. In the matter of an education how has the " Reformation " .benefited mo? I ask my relations. How have the common people of England been so greatly benefited ? I ask everybody. And when I see an old-country man whose whole school course was worked out, in three months or less, under the supervision of some bankrupt tinker or illiterate dame that followed the double occupation of teacher and mid- wife, and whom a distant dread of the poor-house drove from the land of his birth, and hear him contribute his share towards the defamation of the monks, and perhaps glory in the suppres- sion of the monasteries, I pity that poor old man. Before closing this letter, I thought I would see what the Methodist Watson, in his Theological Dictionary, says about the monks. Under Monk his offering can be found ; it is well ";*.. vr» .;«<.,- 30 HOW A SOHOOLHASTIB BBOAMB A OATIIOj^IO. seasoned and is fife for instant use, done up in mouthfuls for the preacher. According to him the solitary life was proper e- nough during the early persecutions, when men, to .escape death for their faith, had to retire into deserts and lonely places ; but he condemns them for continuing such a mode of life after the danger was past. Now, is it not barely possible that those men would know how to shape their manner of life to their own times and circumstances, about as well as Mr. Watson ? Though if they were driven hard they could allege for an excuse that there were not any Methodist preachers, in those times, to give them sage counsel and to fill them with wisdom and understanding. But Watson is no authority on these matters. His expression, " Capuchins and Franciscans," settles him down into his proper place. Home blotch of mis- erable ignorance generally disfigures the performances of such men. / i LETTER V. V ^ FRAGMENTS . I intended to devote a letter to a subject, at the Ihu'c mention of which the Protestant swells with indignation — the Jesuits. But I forbear for two reasons : I shall have enough to say with- out it, and, to l>e plain, my historical knowledge of the Order is not what it ought to ))e. I know, though, from siuih men as Ranke, Maoaulay, Parkman and others, that as theologians, phiIosopher.s, scientists, explorers, educators, and missionaries, the Jesuits have always been in the front rank ; and when we consider what forms of heresy they have headed off, doubled up, or choked to suffocation ; and what doughty champions of the re- form they have driven from comer to crack, we can easily un» derstand how it is that the teachers of Protestantism have not much to say in commendation of the Jesuits. But, if J have not read as much about them as I ought to have read, I have heard a good deal about them. One evening when I was unconsciously working my way into t^e Church, I was called on by a clergyman, He was the mas- '1 UOVr A 9GtI00LMA»TKK BKOAUIC A OATHOLIU. 31 ,/♦;' tur divine, and OLStileslastioal sjU >lar, of tha iiisighbirli > >'l. It^ had had a regular training in oolloge, uould min'-'.ga thy i^atin and the (ireek to great satiafaotion ; and, as hu gave rue tf) un- derstand, was powerful in Hohrevv. As H'»'>n as ha cinii. f di- vined tlie object of his visit. There was, [ knew, a su"}piijion abroad that I was wonderfully faacinated with Catholic reading ; and he had come to ascertain for himself the correctness of the report. A glance at my books confirmed his worst feai's. His disapproval of my conduct was expressed V)y coiulemnatory shakes of the head, hard drawn sighs, and sundry ejaculations of contempt. After making a few common place remarks, he opened out on the Jesuits. What he said I will not pi'cteml to repeat ; but it would be speaking softly to call his iitterances ti- rades. He spoke with all the dfecision of one who is thoroughly conversant with his subject. While he was having his own way with the absent enemy, he picked up, at a venture, DeMon- tor's Lives of the Popes. As lie l)ec:ime interested in looking at the portraits in the book, his rancour gradually abated. At last he came to a picture, and looking below it, he drawled out, " Tg na tins fjoy o la ! " Turning his eyes to the headline of the opposite page, he saw Pius VII. "T suppose," said he, looking at me and pDinting with his finger to Loyola, "this was Pius VIL, before he was Pope?" "No," said I, " it is Ignatius Loyola." - ' ' ' '^ "Oh, ah, yes, a Catholic q/ some kind, I dare say." :/*^ If this has no point, it is strictly true ; and somehow or other, it begot in me the suspicion that it is possible for a man t-> be great even in Hebrew and yet be a little o9f in " Jesuitical matters ! " In slander the man was well up. But for the par- ticular benefit of such men, I will give a quotation from Mob- heim, to show that it is possible to be too malignant, even in speaking of the Jesuits : " As this order has produced- men of learning and genius, so neither has it been destitute of men of probity and candour ; nor would it be a difficult task to compile from the' writings of the Jesuits a much more just and proper representation of the duties of religion, and the obligations of morality, than that hideous and unseemly exhibition of both which Paschal and his followers have drawn from the Jesuitical Casuists, Summists and Moralists. . »'i-;'i The candour and im-. partiality .that become an historian, oblige us to acknowledge at II '*'v't ■'-•'*. , :i.-5-j/i^.' -t ■ ^x;c'^3S^: ',\ s; ■if^' 82 HUW A SOHOOLMASTliR BBOAMK A OATHOLIO. ! ! i I I t { i ( ■if;- •V ■ '*::■■ the same time, that in domoustrating the tuipitude and enor- mity of certain maxims of the Jeauits, their adversaries have gone too far, and permitted their elociuence and zeal to run into exaggeration." (Vol. ii., p. 34M. ) "This, drawn from such a partisan as Moaheim, should recall to a sense of common fairneaH all justly diapoaed men, before launching out into ruthless invo-tive against an Order which for learning, intelligence, self-denial, zoal for the propagation of the (iospel and the p. -motion of civili/atioii, have no compeei-s, as their enemies admit ; hut men of my clergyman's stamp will no doubt persevere in carrying on the usual campaign against a body of men, in which they would not, on grounds of scholastic qualifications, be accepted as simple postulants. When, how- ever, men just as hardy, but better (jualifiod, enter the lists a- gainst the Jesuits, they always find that they have to contend with living men, who are fully competent to take care of them- selves and to shake the conceit out of an unscrupulous adver- sary. Perhaps nothing keeps up the steady aversion of Protestants from Catholicism, more than those oft repeated miscellaneous charges against the Church, which were originally nothing ex- cept gratuitious assertions, ))ut seemingly expected to be battei-- ed into truth by bold and frequent repetition. Each and every one of them has been I'ofuted time and again ; but tlu-ough in- terest or ignorance they are ofte*i rehabilitated in all their old factitious garljs. ^ Ahnost every Protestant, for instance, is aure that, before Martin Luther lived, no one knew anything of the Bible. The world is indebted to Martin for its general circulation, at least. But how did Martin find out that such a bock was in existence ? Any common Protestant historian will tell us. Here is the Life of Luther, by Martyn, published by the American Tract .Society. On page 3S, he says : " One day— he { Luther ) was then in hie twentieth year, and had been at the university two years — while engaged as uaual in glancing over the library manuscripts he chanced to open an old volume mouldy and cob webbed. At- tracted by its antique aspect, Luther read its title, and found it to be a Latin Rible, the first he had ever seen. This he read and re-read svith inexpressible and never-ceasing delight, min- gled with Mome astonishment, for until then he had Imagined lil if- ■■■ 'jU^ -■.1..V'.; L,,'*;.r.:>^i..-i.'t:. ..riJ'^wfw^' HOW A »0IIO()IiMA«TElV BKOAME A OATHULIC. 33 that the fragmentd of scripture contained in the various collentH of the Roman ritual embraced the whole word of Clod." This is the way it is generally put : and, of course, that l>at for this providential discovery we should now know notliing of the Bi- ble. The story carries an absurdity on its very face ; and its utter falsity is easily demonstrated. Eclitions upon editions of tliu whole Bible, botli in Latin and in several vernaculars, luid been printed and circulated before Luthei* wa« Ixyrn. anil who will believe that Fjuther had not seen souie of them '! " Before the year 12()0, the Englisii had translated into their own dia- lect, in prose, the Psaltei- and the Canticles of the Cluuch ; and towards the middle of the thirteenth century they seem to have possessed a prose version of the entire Bible," ( Hardwick's Mid- >y the Reformers, or even that earlier version to which Wicklift'e gave his name, were by any means the first efforts made to prrwluce the Holy Bible in the veinacular. From Anglo-Saxon times downwards, we have traces of bibles translated for the use of those who preferred such versions : and to the truth of this statement may be quoted the testimony of John Fox, the " Alnr- ' tyn»logi8t," who says, ' If histories be well examined, we shall tind, both before the conquest and after, as well before John WicklifFe was born as since, the whole body of the Scriptures by sundry men translated into this our country tongue.'" r -.. > I f M r 3i HOW A HOauuLMAHTBR BRCAME A OATHOLIC. ( IJlunt'8 Key to C. H., p. 117. ) "TIum it WiW th;it the Apoc- rypha! Kpintlu ( to the L uxlicoiius ) pwsed into the early vornuc- ular translations of tUu Now TeHtaiu ;nt. It is Haiti that four- teen editions of one or n»'>re (Jorinan versions were printed bo- f(H-e Luther's time : and it occuis in the Hist Bohemian Bi- ble ( 1488)." ( Westoott'H CaUK.n of New Test., p. 4«1. ; The »ame story of liuthor's finding the Bible, is told by Milner in his Church History, and Dr. Maitlaud, in referring to it, sayg : '•Really one hardly knows how t«) meet such stjitements . . To say nothing of parts of the Bible, or of books whose place is un- certain, we know of at least twenty different editions of the whole Latin Bible printed in (Icrmany only, before Luther was born. ... No • feared that, without the hook, niuny of thcni would nut have much left ; hecuuRe I heliove that if one half of the preacheru ( I except the AnglicunH and the PreahyteriunH ) were suddenly culled on to repeat in order the ten comnjundmenta, their fail- ure would he a8 signal art disgraceful. HenideH, do they in ur out <»f their Sunday Schoolw trouble thenjselves about teaching the commandments tu their children ':* They do nothing of the sort. All their pretentious concern about the commandments goes for nothing but superfluous twaddle. Jf they value them at all, they would teach them to the young. Then again, during the Middle Ages "nothing was done to- wards giving the people scriptural instruction." Speaking of the ninth century, Hardwick says : " Many of the councils have, however, laid special stress on the necessity of ])reaching in th« native dialects. They urge that opportunity should be afforded, both in town and country parishes, of gaining a complete ac- quaintance with the precious word of God. The doctrines of the Saviour's incarnation, death and final triumph in behalf of man, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the value of the sacraments, the blessedness of joining in the act of public prayer, the need of pure and upright living, and the certainty of future judgment in accordance with men's works, are recommended as the heal- ing topics for the expositions of the priest. "( Middle Ages, p. 192. ) On page 44, he says : "The Benedictines and their off- shoots were peculiarly devoted to the study of the Bible." " There are also good grounds for believing that the provision made by the Church for the spiritual necessities of the people was not, at any rate, less abundant than is the case at the pres- ent day. Indeed, there is no doubt that both churches and clergy, and consequently opportunities for worship and instruc- tion, were fai* more in proportion to the number and needs of the population, than they can be said to be now in our own country ( England ), even after the persevering and liberal ef- forts of late years," ( Blunt's Key to C. H., p. 116. ) ^ ' The prominent reformers and troops of their followers used to lay it down as an incontrovertible truth that the Pope is anti- Christ ; and the obst^ure, country preacher, and very often the baffled disputant, even now-a-days, solemnly declare the sam* , ,-„■ * ,.•,■ »-, , ;- J' . ,. '.-^ ■ . ■'5*.. ■' I een the custodians, and conveyancers to us, of the Holy Scriptures. Anti-Christ had unrestricted control of the Bible, for one thousand years. Now, let me ask, with what semblance of propriety can the Pope A. t«^s^ ^■...to -i:- ■^*^'s. ^r\, .r-*: !.'*■ HOW A SCliOptMiiBTKB BECAME A CATHOtlC. 3t be called anti- Christ, unless he did his utmoHt to turn the books that show foith Christ, into niuisensical fables or false narra- tives ? What other work could he do to maintain his character ? If the anti-Christ theory be true, the Bible will hardly be the Word of God ; if it is the Word of God, the Pope is not Anti- Christ. If the Protestants wish to exalt the authority of the Bible, they should ftj>eak truthfully and reverently of the Cath- olic Church, from which they took it. The occasional declaration that Catholics are allowed, or en- couraged, to violate '* promises made to heretics," when their interests are bettej-ed l)y doing so, is another calunmy that the ' evangelicai.s ' will no doubt continue to repeat. I understand, though, that s Alexander III. and Barbarossa. To me it was for a long time a sample ijistance of papal haugh- tiness. In the arrogant and bitter look of the Pope there was enough to create in anyone an abiding hatred of all Popes. The picture, without words, was expressive enough. Now, an inci- dent, offered as a sober historical fact and illustrated with a ■ woodcut, ought to be true. But I was disgusted to find out, when reading Milman's L. C, that the whole affair is what del- icate people call a figment. ( See Bk. viii. , Ch. ix. ) Can it be possible, I thought, that all those terrible stories, so derogatory to the Papacy, will also be found upon examination to have been ' construiited for effect or to have originated in hatred ? I can- not stay < o specify them ; but I soon satisfied myself that the weightiest tf them were originally without the slightest foun- dation on fact ; and whoever will take the trouble to discover their origin and trace their growth, will comu to the conclusion, that they are more disgracefid to their retailers than to the Popes. Again I found myself confronting a new task, an ex- amination of the Papacy, as regards temporal matters. Have I mastered the history of the Papacy ? I have studied enough about it to know better than to make any such a lidiculous pre- tension ; but enough, I believe, to know that the ordinary de- claimer against " papal usurpations " and " papal tyi-anny " is a man that generally charges a very low fee for his show. There is nothing in history that deserves a more careful and dispassionate study than the history of the Papacy ; nor is there any other historical subject that will retjuire so nnich time, pa- tience, or assiduous application. When we l)ear in mind that during the first three Christian centuries the external organiza- ' tion of the Church was frequently broken up, or apparently fsruahed, by the attacks of Paganism, that most of the Popes ,!•. ■ '-^v;- '0-% W'^'^ ■■>* ■.. ^\ :fe "■■i 7! r,?i- .^_.''V:, ,«'. . ■*.: UUW A SOUOOLBCASTBR BBOAMB A OATHULIO. 41 were martyrs for the faith, and that all Christians lived in ex- pectation of a speedy death, there should be no marvel that th« history of the period may seem to be somewhat fragmentary or obscure. The wonder should be, that the accounts of the vir- tues and sufferings of every Pope that ruled throughout the pe- riod, were chronicled and have been preserved for us. But sev- eral writers flourished within that time, and, if they did not ac- cumulate the particulars with which a consecutive and full his- tory of ecclesiastical niitters might be constructed, they have provided sutfioietit ^o show that, although the Church was fiercely assailed, she was steadily expanding her sphere and en- closing in her fold multiplying uumbars ; and that nothing ap- parently contributed as much to her progress, nothing so much attracted converts or recomniendeil her to the respect of her en- emies, as the mortified lives, the self-denying labors, and the eminent virtues of the clergy. The sterling characters of the bishops conti-asted so sharply with the profligate lives of the Flamens. that in authority and influence the former were stead- ily, if slowly, gaining the asceudaut. Like all ancient nations, the Romans regarded religion as an invaluable aid to the govern- ment, in fostering in the people a respect for the law, and in- culcating the maxims of morality ; and naturally enough, from the beneficial nature of their functions, the ministers of religion were held in high consideration, and accorded a high standing in the state. They received ample revenues and were exempt from municipal and other civil duties and obligations ; and so extensive were the pawer and privileges of the sovereign Flamen that it is hard to discover in what respect he was inferior to tiia highest civil magistrate. Bui, all theii- authority and emolu- ments were to V)e transferred to the clergy t)f the Christian re- ligion. The conversion of Constantine was the turning point in the change. ' ■ :* As the Roman laws peremptorily frrbade the introduction or the practice of a new religion, the Church, although in the state, had been considered and treated by the Emperors as an alien to the state. She had been an outlaw ; and as an institu- tion had had no legal rights. But Constantino shortly after his conversion, in conjunction with Licinius, passed the Edict of Milan, A. D. 313, which gave the Chiistian religion full tolera- lioa aud a legal status ; so thai what proparty the Church ka4 •5? im ^m .-^*:- 43 UUW X >iOHOULM[A4TBK BBUASIli A CATUULIO. held before by suffranue, she could henceforth hold by law. Constantlne also conferred upon the clergy special tokens of his confidence and esteem ; and by granting that cases (jf appeal from secular judges might be referred to the arbitration of Bish- ops for a definitive sentence, he raised to commanding influence the Episcopal order. But as the bishops were raised to author- ity, the Pope, the Bishop of bishops, was raised with them, and above them. To these pledges of his respect and reverence for the Christian clergy, he added several munificent donations, and settled grants, that placed them in a pctsition of worldly respect- ability, which among people such as the Romans were, greatly enhanced in popular estimation the religion of which they were the professors and teachers. Against all this there have been two objections strongly urged : that temporal power is incom- patible with spiritual power, and that the miuister.4 uf religion are disqualified from holding property. The first objection is easily confuted by Scriptural examples. Both temporal and spiritual power were (jxercised by Moses and by the holiest characters of the Old Testament times ; and they all derived their powers from the institution of the Almighty. And where in the New Testament has Christ forbidden His ministers to wield temporal power? Where has He declared that they are, or must be, incapacitated for the duties of intelligent and useful civil rulers? Do the notions of morality, justice, and human- ity, which they leiirned fro!u Hitn, disqualify them V The sec- ond objection is paltrier still, as it cannot be sustained by any- thing, positive or inferential, from Scripture. The motives that prevailed with Constantiue to bestow such lavish endowments on the Church and to make the clergy ad- ministrators of civil affairs, are neither deep nor liidden. He well knew with what a high sense of justice the clergy were im- bued ; with what satisfaction their impartial decisions had been received, when their jurisdiction had been limited to the ditfer- ences of Christians, before the Church had had Imperial recog- ' nition ; and that their disengagement from the world would be a good guarantee that they would be proof against the seduc- tions of bribery. But a motive no less probable is that, having detected the germs of dissolution that had even then taken deep root ip the heart of the Empire, he saw in a firmly erected -?; #i •'^ *■ ii :fc^': 'm.^^ifc-'^^-^^- UUVV A 40UUOLafA!n>RR BKOA.MK A OATHOUU. 43 C'-^' ;•-. ^ Christian Church a powerful agent for making moral and loyal subjects, and so a prop and stay to the State. On a superficial view it may seem that Constantine's confi- dence was sadly misplaced, since the Church was powerless to prevent the downfall of the Empire. But Constantine himself broke it up by partitioning it amongst his sons : and if the Church did not then save it, she eased its fall. It should be borne in mind, tliough, that after Constantino's death she was beset with difficulties that greatly embarrassed her concerted action. Arianism, the paganism of Julian, and the jealous, not to say vicious, intermeddling with dogmatic questions, by suc- cessive emperors, were disheartening hindrances to the pi-opaga- tion of true Christianity. When the saints were in exile, how could the uonnnon clergy, harassed and thwarted, pursue pros- perous courses ? But it was during these very times that, by enfranchising slaves, redeeming captives, erecting hospitals, in- stituting the right of sanctuai^, relieving the poor, and exhibit- ing in the persons of their greatest confessors a sturdy zeal for truth and principle, the clergy secured the gratitude and admi- ration of a despondent people. And in the clergy they found their only protectors. Pope Leo turned back from Rome the barbarians, Attila and Genseric ; Pope Zachary saved Rome from the ruthless swords of Liutprand and Rachis. >- "k Now, what could be more natural than a gradual increase of the Pope's temporal power? Beginning with an authority de- rived through Constantino, constitutionally enlarged by Houo- rius and other emperors, and increased at the pressing requests of the people who sheltered themselves under its beneficent pro- tection, it appeared in Gregoi-y the Great almost equal to inde- pendent sovei-eignty. And Milman will tell us whether it was the fruit of long calculating ambition, or Jiot : "In the person of Gregory the Bishop of Rome first became, in act and in in- . fluonce, if ix'tt in avowed authority, a temporal sovereign. Nor were his aots the ambitious encroachments of ecclesiastical usur- pation on the civil power. They were forced upon him by the purest motives, if not by absolute necessity. The virtual sov- ereignty fell to him as abdicated by the neglect or powerless- ness of its rightful owners ; he must assume it or leave the city and the people to anarchy. He alone could protect Rome and the remnant of her* citizens from barbaric servitude ; bis authoc- ;P-: 'V: £■ ■'' '<':■' -'^^f ■^■.' ; ' ■■>.t^^' ■-•':^,^ 44 HOW ▲ SOHOOLMASTBR BBOAMK A OATHOLia. ! ity rested on the universal feeling of its beneficence ; hii titlt was the security afforded by his government." ( L. C, Bk. m., Ch. VII. ) "The merits of Gregory were treated by the Byzantine court with reproach and insult ; but in the attachment of a grateful people, he found the purest reward of a citizen, and the best right of a sovereign." ( Gibbon's Hist., Vol. IV., p. 425. ) Milnian, in the same book and chapter, says also : " Now was the crisis in which 'the Papacy must re-awaken its obscured and suspended life. It was the only power which lay not entirely and absolutely prostrate before the disasters of the times — a power which had an inherent strength, and might resume its majesty. It was this power which was most imperatively re- quired to preserve all which was to survive out of the crumbl- ing wreck of Roman civilization. To Western Christianity was absolutely necessary a centre, standing alone, strong in traditionary reverence, and in acknowledged claims to suprema- cy. Even the perfect organization of the Christian hierarchy might in all human probability have fallen to pieces in perpetu- al conflict : it might have degenerated into a half secular feudal caste with liereditary benefices more and more entirely subser- vient to the civil authority, a priesthood of each nation or each tribe, gradually sinking to ihe intellectual religious level of the n ition Of tribe. On the rise of a power both controlling and conservative, hung, humanly speaking the life and death of Christianity. . . . Proviilence might have otherwise ordained, but it is impossible for man to imagine by what other organis- ing or consolidating force the common-wealth of the Western na- tions could have grown up to a discordant, indeed, and conflict- ing league, but still to a league, with that unity and conformity of manners, usages, laws, religion, which have made their rival- ries, oppiignancies, tnd even their long ceaseless wars, on the whole to issue in the noblest, highest, most intellectual forni of civilization known to man." From the time of Gregory the Great to Gregory III., the Po- pes were the defenders of Rome and many other Italian cities, against the unceasing attacks of the Lombards. In all their measures for the general safety, they were cheerfully obeyed by the citizens. During the pontificate of Gregory III. , Luit- praud laid aloso si«g« to Roma ; tha uity was raduoad to tha I'f.iJA^i ■'■- H:, ■ t. .a. »= t HOW A HGUOOLMASTBU BKOAMJ£ A CATHOLIC. 4fi last extvetnity ; Leo the Isaurian would not, or could not, come to its relief. The Pope implored aid from Charles ^tartel. No other uonrsc was open. Abandoned to fate by the Kmpfffor, the Pope, to avert the destruction of the city and to save his people from slavery or death, called the French into Italy. Martel's immediate outset for Rome was preventrd liy his sud- den death. Pope Zachary, the successor of Gregory, not only managed to tranquilize Italy for a time but prevailed on the Lombard to restore to the Holy 8ee several cities that he had taken from it. After the death (»f Pope Zachary, the Lotnhard king, Astolphus, besieged Rome in regular form. The new Pope, Stephen II. , arrested the progress of the >ji(.'g guaidedly : " It may have ■erved indeed us a ct ntraliziiig agent, to facilituto the fusion of discordent races ; it may have pr<;v< d itself in times of anarchy and ignorance a poMiitul inetiuml. IV., p. 108.) '• " We must not pass sentence on an institution without exam- ining the opinion on which it is founded ; before we judge of the opinion, we must estimate the circumstances by which it was engendered. The disorganized state of Europe produced » strong opinion that some power for appeal and protection should be constituted ; a power with intelligence to guide its decisions, and sanctity to enforce respect for them : the revived papacy seemed an institution suited to these conditions, and under the circumstances itwas capable cf being rendered the great instru- ment for reforming civil society. " ( Taylor's Modern History, p. 402.) -:, rM. The following is by the Cathe)lic De Maiatre, as reported by Gosselin : " The authority of the popes was the power chosen and established during the middle ages as a counterpoise for the temporal power, to make it fupportable to men. In this theie was certainly nothing contrary to the nature cf things, which ;-, ;^'>ff' r: :p- -h. 4s MoW A BCUOOLAlAStRR BKCAifR A CATHOLIC. admits of evei-y form of political association. If this power ik not established, I do not mean to say that it ought to be establ- ished or re-established ; I have repeatedly made this solemn disclaimer. I merely assert with reference to ancient times, that being established, it was as legitimate as any other ; the sole foundation of all powers being possession. The authority of popes over kings was disputed by none except those whom it judged. There never, therefore, was a more legitimate author- ity, because there never was one less disputed. What is there certain among men, if usage, especially when undisputed, is not the mother of legitimaiiy ? It is the greatest of all sophisms to transport a modern system to ancient times, and to judge by that rule tlie men and affairs of ages more or less remote. Such a principle wuuld upset the world ; all possible est^iblished in- stitutions could be subverted by that means, by judging them according to abstract theories ; once admit that kings and peoples agreed in recognizing the authority of the popes, > and all modern objections are refuted. During the course of my life, I have often heard the question asked, by what right the popes deposed emperors ? The answer is easy : by the same right on which all legitimate authority reposes ; possession on one side, and assent on the other." The contents of these quotations, taken from authors of the highest intellectual authority, ought to convince the man with an equitable mind that after all there may not be so muc^ >om for exultant condemnation in the Temporal Power of the s, as some people may fancy. .'j't. lit i I " LETTER VII. M. ' ♦' REFORMERS " AND THE " REFORMATION. " In this letter I intend to say a little about the " Reformers," and the '• Reformation." Everybody knows that Luther, Zwiu- gle, Calvin, Knox, and Cranmer, were the heroes of the much belauded reform ; and that for the placid piety of their lives, for their judicious labors, for their intrepid zeal in denouncing error, and for their enlightened teachings, their successive disciples '.^. :-^.'"S. ii ! .( * ■OW A MBOOLMAtTBK BIOAMI A OATHOUO. 1, y\. 49 have lavished on their namea the moHt extravagant oncomiumH. No one knows better than I, how offensive, how abhorrent, it is to the orthodox Protestant to hear repeated, much less to see anything entertained, that reflects upon the motives or the do- ings of these men ; but, although I should be sorry to offend any- one, I shall here expose to view a little of what I found out a- bout them, after I strayed from the histories of Fox and of some others of the same animus. ' . . . ^ The honor of originating the reform, was disputed by the ad- herents of Luther and by those of Zwiugle, for their respective masters ; the Lutherans contending that the latter was at best but a sorry expounder of Lutheranism, while the Hwitzors as stoutly maintained that the only good Luther ever tnught he learned from Zwinglu. ilut posterity has unauiini>u8ly, and no doubt fairly, conceded to the German the credit for which he so ardently craved and so lK}ldly struggled. Luther's first move- ments appeared little like those of a man with a settled purpose or a firm conscience. Sometimes he was all for reform, then he would declare himself a submissive member of the Church : sometimes he was throwing down the gauntlet against the world, and as often he shrank into the most abject servility ; he often gave away to fits of violent passion, and just as often he vowed to amend his conduct ; but, by the nicest arts of dissimulation and the meanest hypocrisy, he at ..iched partisans to his side and warped circumstances to his own advantage. He tried to win the favor of the common people, by magnifying their grievances * and exciting them to sedition : on their defeat he deserted them, and then stormed for their destruction. But his new doctrines were very acceptuble to the nobles, when they discovered that sacrilege and robbery* were elevated into virtues. ;;|Seeing the success of his tactics, the powerful effect of his coarse harangues, and the numbers of his foUowera, he gave full scope to the sug- gestions of his ambition. The idea of forming a separate church, that had gradually taken shape in his mind, now so thoroughly engrossed and enchanted him, that he repelled with pious scodi every overture of peace and reconciliation. Fancy oi- invent whatever you like in his favor, it is undeniable and is admitted by many Protestants, that Luther was moved by ambition to form iui independent church, and was extremely jealous lept anyone else might share the glory with him. His chief reason lu. t ■ - yum ■.'.-*;,■,,■-'. *'*'./>..;■ 50 MOW A IK'flOOLMASTKK IIJ>.<;aI4K A OATHoLlO. for lejectijig the dogiiiaB of the Church was, that they are i»o= thing but human opinions ; and hin reconmiending his own opinions instead gives us a fair idea of hifc unruffled cheek. But his new bundle of doctrinoR involved hini in a t>erplexity of labors. At best ).)ut a farrago of cj ude conceits, it required for its suppoi't, first a re-judgment of the canon of Scripture, then a lifit of the broks gjadnated accor^'ing to the authority of eacii, and finally a w])ecial translation. Luthoiani>ni needed a Luthvi- un Bible ' IJut it is litronge that, if Luther was, as he had the hardihood to ansert, divinely coniinit^sicned to announce the whole .scriptural tiuth, be cotild b )ievailed on ir any way to change or even modify what he hao .litftinetly asserted. The Catholics fire sometimes sneered at for using the "stock argu- ment/" that truth is unchangeable. Catholics ai-e not the only one.s tbyt Uhe it. Caiizot .•jiy.'< : "Jt is nicrerver peinument, and alv ays the same, Un- truth >.•< inirhovf/enh/f." Nor will any- one <|uarrel with him ii>v raying so. It is an axiom that no sober man v ill dispute. IJut Luther changed and changed ; wid his followers have changed and re-cluutgcjl. I do not purpose to »iay much about the })artic\dar tenf is of Lutheranifni : I merely ol)seive that, either owing io the argnments of Catholic* or to the whimsical niccds of the Lutherans, they have l:een re- peatedly changed. Ai'd this ought to convince any man that the Holy CIk .'^t. the Spirit « f 1 inlb. 1 i.s hjid little to do with Lutheranifni. Hut then Luther was nuh a pure minded s< n of righteousness and so exemplary in bis habits and strictness • of life, that his teachings might be accepted out of respect to the person ! Seme such an idea must surely be entertained by the people that admit his contradictions, but yet invoke hie name. Was Luther, however, a pattern of morality and a reflection of all the virtues ? Alzog quotes the Protestant Ancillon for this : " Hi6( Luther's ) acts were the result of passion, lathei- than the outgrowth of fixed principles ; and if, on the one hand, his character was not soiled by degrading vices, on the'other, it was not ennobled bf distinguished virtue. On the whole, admitting that he was gifted with genius, it cannot be denized that he was destittits of meral qualities of a high rider." Alzcgalso quotes Count Hoy- •r of Mansfield for this : " I have been all along, as I was at Worms, a good Lutheran ; but I have loarnoA that Luthor is a ■.i«^- .r.\iN-i^^>3|»"~ IPP ■OW A •dkboIiMAHTlll IICAMV A OAlTBOIiIC. XI >ilaekgaard, and aa good a drunkard as there is in Mansfitld, delighting to be in the company of beautiful women and to play npon his flute. His conduct . is unbecoming, and he seems ir- retrievably fallen. " 'Wiat he could not get along without 'Kati«' is no great proof that his affections were purely spiritual.; nor is it a testimonial to his saintliness that he violated a solemn vow of celibacy, to embrace her. His native tendencies are easily detected in his famous sermon on matrimony ; some speci - men sentences of which I would quote but for the consciousness that they are too filthy to repeat. When I first read Bossuet's '.Variations, I noticed what he says about Luther's giving Philip of Hesse permission to take a second wife, while his first was still living ; but at that time I looked upon it as an opposition calumny. It is true enough however ; and the Lutherans were distinctly reminded of it, by Cranmer, when they took a virtu- ous stand against the divorce desired by Henry VIII. " But that Melancthon, and other (German divines, we're not very or- thodox in this, and some other matters, appears from Cranmer's letter to Osiander. In this letter, he complains of the loose cas- uistry and mistaken opinions of the (lerman divines, and what scandal they gave to the Reformation. For the purpose he tells us they allowed the younger «ons of noblemen to entertain strumpets, to prevent the parcelling out their estates, and less- eniag the figure of the elder family : that divines who allow^this liberty, were altogether micpialified to make invectives'against any indulgence, in the Church of Rome. Furtlier, I desire, says he, to know whatjexcuse can be made for your permission of a second marriage after divorce, while both the parties were liv- ing ; and, which is still worse, you allow a man a plurality of wives without the ceremony of a divorce. That this is njatter of fact, you acquainted me, as I remember, in aome()f your let- ters, adding withal, that Melancthon himself was present at one of these second weddings, and gav i countenance to it.'" ( Collier, Vol. IV., p. 15(5. ) (See also Imperial Biog. Diet., Art., Philip of Hesse; or Cates's Hi Jg. Diet. ) Of it Luther said : " A'j/o ■ 4 .^a 'm '5'' 52 HOW A 80HOOLMA8TEB BXOAinE A OATROUC. lam, in Hist, of Lit., says : " But from the Latin works of Ln- ther, few readers, I believe, will rise without disappointment. Their intemperance, their coarseness, their inelegance, their> , scurillity, tlieir wild paradoxes, that menace the foundations of :; religious morality, are not compensated, so far at least as my '>' slight acquaintance with them extends, by much strength or • acuteness, and still less by any impressive eloquence. Some of his treatises, and we may instance his reply to Henry VIII., \ or the book against 'the falsely named order of bishops,' can be described as little else than bellowing in bad Latiii. Neither " of these books display, as far as I can judge, any striking abil- ity."! Vol. L, p. 192. ) Elsewhere Hallam has: " The Luth«r- an divines, a narrow minded, intolerant faction." Luther pro- • phesied, too ; but one of his vaticinal ventures has not so far been wholly fulfilled. In one of his transports, he said, refer- ring to the Pope: '' FentiM erom tnru^, mmietis ero mora tua, papa ! " But he made a luckier hit when he declared of his follower.s : " Advro,bv7)f sffrrora nostra ef pro halsamo hahe- hunt." The " Pope of Geneva " has had a train of sturdy admirers, who would place his InstituteH side by side with anything that St. Paul ever wrote ; and who think that his sour, cold-blooded piety invested his manual with ^halo of sanctity, that enhances it beyond all earthly vahic. A.s I am not concerning myself with particular matters of faith, I shall not give here any of his" revolting tenets. It is sufficient to notice that, according to Calvin, neither Luther nor Zwingle had understood what the reform ought to be, nor what are the essential tiniths of Christ- . ianity. The apostolic truths had to be discovered and thrown into a scientitic form, by Calvin. Behold the work finally ac- comj>lished, then, in the Institutes, Yet there are diversities of o])inions ( ' human ' ) as to the woith of the Institutes. Col- lier, in the preface to the fourth volume of his History, makes < this impious assertion : " In my humble opinion. Coke's Insti- tutes would be better furniture ( for the Anglican clergy ) than Calvin's Institutions ; and the reading of the Statute-book much more serviceable than some systems of Dutch divinity. " to Calvin, who also took a wife, a widow ( most of the Helvetic lights took to widows ), we are indebted for one expression that well explains, in most cases, the cause of clerical apostasy ; and 'T ;'?c;^ V ^^ ■•W A tOHdOLMAtTIR BBQAMI A •ATBOLt*. A!» othet' rsforuier but Calvin \Yould have gratified his viudi«- tircnoss, by puttiug the upiniou iu winds. For some leanoii, he oherished, as only Calvin could cherish, u bitter hatred of one Bernard, a FranciBcau, and ^'hen this Bernard came intt> the reform and oonlirmed his sincerity, by breaking his vows iu taking a wife, Calvin, instead of proffering the hand of reeou- oiliatiou, indulged his malice by saying : " He ( Bernard ) was always hostile to it ( reform ) till he beheld Christ in a handsome wife." { Dyer's Life of C, p. 104. ) By reading the history of his rule in Geneva, anyone can easily diecuvei- the true charac- ter of Calviu. His treatment of Castellio, Bolsec, Ameaux, Gruet, Gentilis, Berthelier, and his nuupant savagery in burn- ing Servetus, plainly show that he was destitute of pity, mei'cy, and humanity. His disciple, John Knox, whom Dr. Johnstm calle«l " The Ruf- fian of the Reformation," is entitled to civil consideration only in comparison with his master. Spalding repeats Whittaker, the Protestant, who speaks of Knox, as " a fanatical incendiary, a holy savage, the sow of violence and barbarism, the leligious Sachem of religious Mohawks." Perhaps Collier Hatters him a little : " To deal plainly with his memory, he was a flaming in- cendiary, maintained desperate principles, and maeli«vM, haa given us a flaming picture of England's great *' Re- fWMMrt" bwBiiig at Ike slake. Sure enough, it was a cruel V s m m mmtm ■Vfi 54' HOW A aOIIOOLMASTRR BK<1AMK A CATHOLIC death ; but if any man ever deserved to be burned, that man wfiH Cranmer. The Lutherans, who called those who suffered in Mary's reign " The Devil's Martyrs," gave him a place. The partii'ulars of his life show that he was practically a common pimp, H perjured ecclesiastic, a dissimulator of his faith, a bloody persecutor, a pliant tool for anyone that could command him, and a treasonable subject. Macaulay, in his review of Hallam's C. H., says all that is necessary to know Cranmer. I can give only a few extracts ; " Cranmer rose into favor by serv- ing Henry in a disgraceful att'air of his first divorce. He pro- moted the marriage of Anne Boloyn with the king. On a frivo- lous pretence he pronounced it null and void. On a pretence, if possible, still more frivolous, he dissolved the ties which bound the shameless tyrant to Anne of Cleves. He attached liimself to Cromwell, while the fortunes of Cromwell flourished. He voted for cutting off his head, without a trial, when the tide of royal favor turned. He conformed back wards and forwards as the king changed his mind. While Henry lived, he assisted in condemning to the flames those who denied the doctrine of Trajisubstantiation. When Henry died, he found out that the '■■ ■ hever retracted his recantation, till he found he had made it in vain. . . If Mary had sutfered him to live, we suspect that he would have hoard mass afld received , absolution, like a good Catholic, till the accession of Elizabeth ; and that he would then have purchased, by another apostasy, the power of burning men better and braver than himself. " Hallam says that Cran- nier recanted no le^s than six timet). Yet between his recanta- tions, he found time to concoct out of his own head a catechism, to collect from Catholic books the matter for a new liturgy, and to draw up articles of faith. And although he declared, when he was engaged in these labors, that he was " under the inspir- ation of the Holy Ghost," like all the other " Reformers " he was continually making radical changes in his work. But it may be in his favor that he was only a subordinate. Henry, while he lived, was the ruling mind of the ' ' glorious Reform- ation," and after his death others nearly as imperious overawed poor Cranmer. Macaulay says : ' ' The work ( reform ) which had been begun by Henry, the murderer of his wives, was con- tinued by Somerset, the murderer of his brother, and completed by Elizabeth, the murderer of her guest." ' v 'sij^i Queen Bess, the "Occidental Star," is the Protestant Virgin. Green, in his History of the English People, speaks of her : '* Her levity, her frivolous laughter, her unwomanly jests, gave colour to a thousand scandals. Her character, in fact, like her por- traits, wa,s utterly without shade. Of womanly reserve or self- restraint she knew notliing. No instinct of delicacy veiled the voluptuous temper which had broken out in the romps of her girlhood, and, showed itself almost ostentatiously throughout her later life. Personal lieauty in a man was a sure passport to her liking. She patted handsome young squires on the neck when they knelt to kiss her hand, and fondled her " Sweet Robin," Ijord Leicester, in the face of the court. " ( p. 370. ) Again : "Nothing is more revolting in the queen, but nothing is more characteristic, than her shameless mendacity. It was an age of political lying, but in the profusion and recklessness of her lies Elizabeth stood without a peer in Christendom. " ( p. 378. ) Her suspicions virtue she probably inherited from her mother, her iimate cruelty from her father, but her duplicity and con- stant lying seem to have been acquired habits. Now, then, look at the sanctified scoundrels that pretended i?> jy -r-«.,-Y., p>' ....■li,„»V;., i^ ^Wi: /:K^'^' ■"■■•:^:* , (J J> . ' ""v ' •■ '■ *^'- r-^^':-^ M M«Vr A SOBOOLMASTMR BBOAMB ▲ CATHOLIO to effect a reformation in religion ; the canting gospellerB tliat revelled in plunder, sacrilege, and luat, and practised every form of hypocrisy, cruelty, and vice, that is loathsome and i-e- volting. The sins of any onu of them were sufficient to sink to perdition the whole reform tribe, and how anyone but half con- versant with their characters and doings can honor their names or respect their memories is more than I can understand. The reform appeai'ed in five parties, and each party iii the fulness of its enlightened piety and charity, coudennied and hated the other four. Aiid this, mind, was in the very begin- ning of the reform. Trace any one of these parties down to the present, and what is its history V — bitter upbraidings from mem- bers of its own bosom, because it had never leained the gospel truths ; and the quarrel invariably terminated in a split. The first party had a split ; each of the splits had its own split ; and so on. The result is that not one of the original parties can be found ts, that, according to the latest reports, it has actually battled its way into ' ' Catholicism. " Protestantism in history is a picture of contemptible wraug- lings, of implacable feuds, of beastly scandals, of stalwart lying, of rough jostlings for first place, to snatch plunder, and of heart- less indifference to the cares and the necessities of the indigent and the helpless. But the climax of utter nonsense h reached when the words Protestantism and Truth are coupled together. What men have ever handled the truth as the Protestants have handled religion ? And what is Protestantism to-day ? If the man in the moon were to drop down amongst the Protestants, to learn the religion of Christ, what would be his experience ? Everyone of the hundred and more sects would tell him a story^ ■ different from that of any other sect, and append to it the salu- tary caution that he must be on his guard against the represen- ■-, tations of any other denomination. I think that before the old man would be half through with his enquiries, he would b« made, by the varied ooutradictions, what thousands upon thou- , ;*vj.^ 'ii-^:':J^ir.,: mmm m ko^' A lOHooiifAinitit bxcume a cathoLic. 57 sands of to-day have been made, a doubter ; he would regret that he ever ventured on such a useless trip, and would heartily wish himself back home again. I once heard a preacher say that this multiplicity of denominations and creeds is conducive to — I forget what ; but his explanation, I thought, would have been briefer, more open to comprehension, and more in agree- ment with facts, had he simply repeated the commercial maxim that competition is the life of trade. But 8t. Paul condemned Protefltantism long ago. He said : " Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. " Palmer, in his Treatise on the Church, has : " The divisions of modern sects calling themselves Pi'otestant, afford a strong argument for the necessity of sub- mission to the judgment of the universal church ; for, surely, it is impossible that Christ could have designed his disciples to break into a hundred different sects, contending with each other on every point of religion. It is impossible, I say, that this system of endless division can be Christian. It cannot but be the result of some deep-rooted, some universal error, some rad- ically false principle which is common to all these sects. And what principle do they hold in common, except the right of each individual to oppose his judgment to that of all the Church ? This principle, then, must Vje utterly false and unfounded^" (Vol. II., p. 113. ) And the working and results of the " Reformation " have not always -been viewed with unmixed satisfaction by many of its greatest advocates. Collier ( Vol. viii. , p. 338. ) in noticing the Presbyterian rule in England ( 1642 — 1646 ), says : " And thus the Presbyterians having embroiled the kingdoms, kindled and carried on a calamitous war, during which, more seats were plundered and burnt, more churches robbed and profaned, more blood spilt, within the compass of four years ; and, in short, more frightful scenes opened of ravage, of slaughter and confu- sion, than had been acted in the long contest between the houses of York and Lancaster ; the Presbyterians, I say, after having thro^rn their country into all this misery and convulsion, met with nothing but infamy and disappointment. For after having wrested the sword out of the king's hands, and brought the re- ■;^ 'i ''^''•i .\... Hi .. ''■ M ■OW A lOBOOLMAfifilt ftlOAMI A OATflOLIO. '•- t* bullion to their wiHhes, when they thought of nothing Imw than dividing the prey, and raieing vast fortunes out of crown and church lands, their hopes were suddenly scattered, they were turned out of their scandalous acquisitions, and publicly exposed to contempt and scorn. For now the Independents forced them to retire from Westminster, seized their posts, and made them- selves masters, upon the matter, both in Church and State. . . As for religion, it was in no better condition than civil interest : the Presbyterians preached up the purity and the power, till they left neither. I shall make a report uf this matter from an eminent champion for the cause : it is Edwards, who wrote the "Gangrfiena," a book in which the errors, heresies, blasphemies, and lewd practice, which broke out in the last four yeais, are recited. ... A man thus well affected, we may V>e sure would not make things worse than they were, nor paint the new re- formatioi\ in the hardest (x>mplexion. Let us hear then what account the gentleman gives of this matter." Collier then gives Edwards's lamentation, as follows : "Things every day grow worse and worse ; you can hardly imagine theni so bad as they arc. No kind of blasphemy, heresy, disorder, and confusion, but it is found amdng us, or coming in upon us. For we, in- stead of reformation, are grown from one extreme to another ; fallen from Scylla to Charybdis ; from popish innovations, su- perstitions, and prelatical tyranny, to damnable heresies, horrid blasphemies, libertinism, and fearful anarchy. Our evils are not removed and cured, but only changed : one disease and devil hath left us, and another as bad is come in the room. Yea, this lost extremity into which we are fallen, is far more high, violent, and dangerous, in many respects, Ac. Have we not a ileformation, and worse things come in upon us than ever we had before ? Were any of those monsters heard of heretofoi'e, which are now couunou amongst us, as denying the Scriptiires, Ac. ? You have broken down the images of the Trinity, Virgin Mary, Apostles ; and we have those who overthrow the doctrine of the Trinity, oppose the divinity of Christ, speak evil of the Virgin Mary, iiud slight the Apostles. You have cast out the bishops and their olficers, and we have many that cast down to the ground all ministers in all the reformed churches. You hive cast out oeiemonies in the sacraments, as the cross, kneel- ittg at the Lord's Supper ; and wp Imve many who cast out tU# VlH^ VBim movr A BC}lfH)t.]iASTKR BKCAMK A rATHOLIC. tk SAcrameiitH of baptit>ni uiid the Lord's Supper. You have put down saints' days, and we have many who make nothing at all of the Lord's-day, and fast-days. You have taken away the superfluous, excessive maintenance of bishops and deans, and we have many that take away and cry down the necessary main- tenance of ministers. In the bishops' days we had singing of psalms taken away in some places, conceived prayer and preach- ing, and, in their rooni, anthems, stinted forms, and reading brought in : and now we have singing of psalms spoken against, and cast out of some churches : yea, all public prayer questioned, and all ministerial preaching denied. In the bishops' titue po- pish innovations were introduced, as bowing at altars, &c. : and now we have anointing the sick with oil. Then we had bishop- ing of children, now we have bishoping of men and women, b3^ strijiuge laying on of hands. In the bishops' days we had many unlearned ministers ; and have we not now a company of Jero- lioam's priests ? In the bishops' days we had the fourth com- mandment taken away ; but noM' we have all the ten command- ments at once, by the Antinomians ; yea, all faith and the Gos- pel denied. The worst of the prelates, in the midst of many popish, Arminian tenets, and popish innovations, held many sound doctrines, and had many commendable piactices : yea., the very Papists hold and keep to many articles of faith and truths of God, have some order amongst them, encouiagtf learn- ing, have certain fixed principles of tTuth, with practices of de- votion and good works ; but many of the sects and sectaries in our days deny all principle of religion, are enemies to all holy duties, order, learning, overthrowing all ; being ' vertigintm «piritU8,' whirligig spirits. And the great opinion of an univer- sal toleration tends to the laying all waste, and dissolution of all religion and good manners, &c. What swarms are there of all sorts of illiterate mechanic preachers ; yea, of women and boy preachers : what liberty of preaching, printing of all errors, or for a toleration of all, and against the Directory, Covenant, monthly fast, Presbyterial government, and all ordinances of pairliament in reference to religion ?— These sectaries have be«n growing upon us, ever since the first year of our sitting, and hare every year increased more and more. " If, in this sweeping fondemnation of the seits, he included the sainted Furitan« he mim^ have been more ceaiova than ju«t ; since t4)e Fpritant^ moat ,:?,..'ri(-v-!it..'. .V i" 60 HOW A nOHOOLMASTER BKOAMV A OATHOLIO. hiive boon of all men the must severely conscientiouN. In the " Book of Discipline " was this : " Let persuasions be used, that nuch names that do savor of either paganism or popery be not given to children at their baptism, but principally those where- of there are examples in the Scriptures." Collier ( Vol. viii., p. 138. ) says : " The Puritans were very strict in keeping close to this rule, as may be collected from the odd names they gave their children: such as, " The Lord is near," •' More Trial," "Reformation," "Discipline," "Joy Again," "Sufficient," "From Above," "Free Gifts," " More Fruit," "Dust," Ac. And here Snape was remarkably scrupulous : for this minister refused to baptise one Christopher Hodkinson's child, because he would have it christened Richard. Snape acquainted Hod- kinson with his opinion beforehand : he told him he must change the name, and look out for one in the Scripture. But the father, not thinking this fancy would be so strongly insisted on, brought his son to church. Snape proceeded in the solemnity till he came to naming the child, but, not being able to prevail for any other name than Richard, refused to administer the sacrament ; and thus the child was carried away, and after- wards baptized by a conforming clergyman." But the man whose horizon is limited to the boundaries of his own township, and whose knowledge of the past runs no farther back than the revel at his grand-father's silver wedding, may carry about with him the magnificent idea that, whether true or false, Protestantism in its career has been steadily increasing, and is rapidly becoming the dominant institution, of the uni- verse. His idea would be countenanced only by some miserable seetarian weekly. It is granted all around that Protestantism, since its first violent out-burst, has made no conquests. Greene, in Hist, of English People, says : " But at the very instant of its seeming triumph, the advance of the new religion was sud- denly arrested. The first twenty years of Elizabeth's reign was a period of suspense. The progress of Protestantism gradually ceased. It wasted its strength in theological controversies and persecutions, above all in the bitter and venomous discussions between the churches which followed Luther and the churches which followed Calvin, It was degraded and weakened by the prostitution of the Reformation to political ends, by the greed and worthleissness of the German princes who espoused its cause ^'; ?i. i-._ 5 ;■•-,;. :3rv:i'.i ■nW A 90HO0LMA9TSR BBOAMB A OATHOLIO. 61 by the factious lawleasnesM of the nobles in Poland, and of the Huguenots in France." ( p. 468. ) On page 469, there is : " Even learning passed gradually over to the side of the older faith. Bellarmine, the greatest of uontroversalists at this time ; Bare* nius, the most erudite of church historians, were both CathoUea. " For additional confirmation of the same fact, Macaulay's critique of Ranke's Popes may be examined. What good has Protestantism achieved ? Within two hun- dred years it has not converted a single tribe ; it has never made a move towards helping those that have not been able to help themselves ; it has erected no institutions ; it has never dream- ed of anything like the Truce of God ; and, instead of impressing a people with the obligations of charity and forbearance towards each other, it has more generally succeeded in sowing the seeds of dissension and strife. It has been a success only, first as a devastator, and afterwards, as an obstacle. The general cry, that to Protestantism we owe all our liberty, is arrant nonsense. Guizot,'in his History of Civilization, says: "In Germany there was no political liberty ; the Reformation did not intro- duce it ; it rather strengthened than enfeebled the power of princes ; it was leather opposed to the free institutions of the Middle Ages than favorable to their progress. " ( p. 227. ) The '* Reformers " allied themselves with princes to crush the com- ■ mon people ; and as for religious liberty, every page of the re- form history shows that the "Reformers" broughir into use every power and plan to force into the people the new doctrines. A quotation from Hallam will be in order here : " Whatever may be the bias of our minds as to the truth of Luther's doc- trines, we should be careful in considering the Reformation as a part of the history of mankind not to be misled by the superfi- cial and ungrounded representations which we sometimes find in modem writers ( D'Aubigne for example ). Such as this, ^hat Luther, struck by the absurdity of the prevailing superstitions, was desirous of introducing a more rational system of religion ; or, that he contended for freedom of enquiry, and the boundless privileges of individual judgment ; or, what others have been pleased to suggest, that his zeal for learning and ancient philos' ophy led him to attack the ignorance of the monks and the crafty- policy of the Church, which withstood all liberal studies^ These notions are merely falla-iious refinematits, as every m*ii ^i HOW A Mni(H»LMA8TKK ItKOAMK A OATHOlJf. '\ uf plftiii undei-Btttiuliiig, ( except, perhaps, D'Aubigue ) , who i« acquainted with the writiiiga of the early reformers, or has oou- sidered their history, must aoknowiedge. " ( Hist, of Lit., Vol. I., p. 166. ) Balnie/. shows plainly that Protestantism istheoff- spriiig, and not the cause, of private judgment. In his own masterly way, he says truly : " The essential principle of Pro' testantism \h one of destruction ; this is the cause of its incessant variations, of ItH dissolution and annihilation. As a ]>artioular religion it no UAtger existn, for it has no peculiar faith, no pos- itive character, no government, nothing that is essential to form an oKistenoe; Protestantism is only a negative. Tf there is any tiling to l)e found in it of a {lositive nature, it is nothing more than vestiges and ruins : all is without force, without action, without the spirit of life. It cannot show an edifice raised hy its own hands, it cannot, like Catholicity, stand in the midst of its vast workH and say, ' These are mine.' Protes- tantism can only sit down on a heap of ruins, and say with truth, ' T have made this pile.' " ( Protestantism and Catholioity Ooinpared. p. HO. ) :^ LETTER VIII. ^ . REVIKW AND ADVANCE. $r> far. I have in a cursory manner looked at Catholioity and protestantism, as they appear in history ; and have, at nearly ^ as I have been able, strictly adhered, up to this, to my first rambling course of study. From this point I took a retroopect of both. But when I could, with a clear eye, look back upon them and see them, as they have been, Catholicism as it haa mo\'ed, with a steadfast aim and undiverted steps, from the very beginning of Christianity down through the centuriea to the present ; often opposed, often assailed, but with the ehouie of victory always on its lips ; alluring to its side the wisest, and, after making them the best and noblest, sending them back : into the world to spend the remainder of their lives in doini; dteda of mercy and benevolence ; ever extending its empire aitd tfifin«Bce amongst the nations and infusing into theob a tpkit of . ^o mm i^ii^ T^^-.rwvp-: ■OW A MVOOLMASVIE BHCAME A CATHOLI*. M •ultiir* and prbgref s that raiae<1 them from harbariini ' to th« higheflt state of civilization ; bearing on its fostering bosom th« weak and the decrepit and giving to friend and foe alike, in th« hour of distress, a generous welcome and the tunderest care ; and holding aloft for the lienetit and enuouragemunt of all the torch of learning and the ensigns of true liberty : and Frot««t- tantism, a name that designates nothings that will outlast a day ; that has 1>een a cloak for every theological phantasy and a shelter for every imaginary for ui*of fanaticism ; that has lam- entably failed to exhibit in its principles and pn^lcsHions consis- tency or order, and has signally miscarried in all itH Hurioub un- dertakings ; and whose short but turbulent history shows to a demonstration that, whatever else it may l>e, it is a contusion of tongues and a kingdom divided against itself — when, I say, I looked back upon both and saw all this, the blind reverence for Protestantism, to which I had been so carefully trained, left me altogether ; and for Catholicism, a word which for the greater part of my life I had delighted to ridicule, I had something* above common respect. And this made a C'atholic of me ? No- thing of the sort, my friend. I was too heavily handicap)jed with inveterate prejudices to surrender so readily. I could not very well have read many eccletniastical books witliout coming across, and paying some tiligjit attention to, occasional discus- sions of doctrine ; but further tlian the general opinion that the Catholics, being always and everywhere the same, have all the probabilities in their favor, against the Protestants with their ever-changing opinions, 1 had not advanced. I hatl adopted no tenet nor dogma peculiarly Catholic. For the tirst time I halted. It was high time to do so ; for [ saw well enough that I was on the high-road to " Popery. " And when I plainly realized the fact, I shrank within myself. This revulsion I can impute to nothing but an uprising of ingrained prejudices. On every side I looked for an excuse to make a halt. I had often heard it said that the principles and the representations of the Catholics are wonderfully seductive to those that are not specially trained to meet them. But this, the best I could lay my hands on, could not apply to me, since 1 had examiued hardly anything t^j iM' but dry historical facts. A better one came at last : the rapid change in my knowledge of church affairs had produceil too gi'Mit artaotiou ; a little en^hnsiasm, or something like it^ had, f.'i m^ pp^pp •4 HOW A ttmodtMAsnti nmoAun a oathouo. ''psrhaps, overlaid my judgment. No doubt I had been going too faat and too incongiderately ; I would take a rest. But rest I oould not ; all day long and a good part of the night, I wab ro- ving into the past and looking into the condition of the present. Satisfied though, as I was, that the Protestants are no safe guides in CKristianity, I had not the courage to examine the teachings of the Church. I dreaded the possible result. What would be said, if I should turn " Papist ? " Could I not admire the Catholic Church, in secret though, if I liked ; and give Pro- testantism a civil gO'by ? For a time I was completely non- plussed. One day while I was in this halting state, I was told by a per- son, with whom I was having a talk on the subject of churches, that it makes no difference whatever to what church a man be- longs, provided he lives a virtuous life. As I was not prepared to dispute it on the spot I took it honie, to look at it. At that time I was, from lack of information, altogether unqualified to consider the subject ; but I did not fail to see that it is a re- markable staltement for a solifidian to make, and that, even if it can be maintained, it tells as much for the Catholic Church as for any other. A Doctor of Medicine told me that the difBculty about the 'churches has its root in tlie theologies ! Hie idea was to abolish theology and take the Word of God in its purity and simplicity ; then there will be peace and concord. But, I asked myself, is it possible for a Christian to be without a theology ? To be a Chris- tian a man must have faith ; he must believe something ; and this scnnething, always an aggregation of truths, when con- fessed in A full and systematic manner, makes a theology. A small one it may be, but a theology nevertheless. His idea was no good to me. Shortly after this I chanced to read, in the Westminister lie- vietOf a critique of Butler's Analogy, written, I suspected, by one that was neither a Catholic nor a Protestant. He seemed to be a clear headed neutral. He told me this : "In the first chapter of the second part we have a long paragraph on the im- i>ortanceofa ' visible Church. ' Without such visible Church, the ' repository of the oracles of God,' the author tells us that Christianity must ' in a great degree have been sunk and forgot ifk a vwy few ages. ' Some observations might be made upon ■''M ' , V '• ~t ^, ■-,_,■ VI. ;.f-' >» > .^ thi« Btateiuaut, if takeu in uuujunctiou vtritli otiieri coutaiu«d ia the book ; however, the chief point to notice here iA thttt Butti»r ioaists up^Q the necei^sity and importance of a vitibie Church. Thia being bo, where are we to look for this ' city upon a hill/ thig ' standing memorial to the world uf the duty^ which we uwa to our maker.' Of courae, it might Vie argued, on the prin- ciples of tlie uuaLogy, that the Church may be the Church of England an by law established. That is to say, objections to its being the Church of England might be shoWu to be inconclu- sive, aii similar objections to Christianity have been shown to be. Or the Society of Friends, or the Unitarian body, may each be shown to be jMsmbly this Chuich, on like principles. No# we think the claim of the Roman Catholic Ciiurch to occupy this position is one which at least merits attentiou ; and Wf should be curious to know what objections can be raised agatniit this claim, while we are of opinion that many positive argu- ments of great streagth might be adduced in its favor. Whftt is the principal objection which Protestants make to the Catho- lic Churcli ? That some of its doctrines aie not mentioned in ihi New Testament. Granting this — though it can only be granted with the reservation that all its chief doctrines, for instance, the foundation of the Church on Peter, transubstoiitiation, purgatory, extreme unction, are either expressly contained in or implied in the New Testament : or at l«ast mentioned in sttoh a way that if they are not held to be implied, so neither can many of the chief dogmas retained by Protestantism, h« held to be sanctioned— -yet, granting this, what does the omis- sion amount to ? We are nowhere informed that the New T«a- feament contains the whole body of Christian doctrine. And it is clear that it does not : that it consista-of a series of narratives and letters, the latter in particular referring to a body of doe- tirines entrusted to the keeping of a visible Church. What is required to be shown is that these Roman Catholic doctrines are contrary to Scripture ; and this cannot be shown. Grant- ing even that they were not fully developed at the time when most or all of the New ^Testament books had been written, this, on the supposition of a visible Church having been constitntdd, would offer no sort of difficulty. This gradual development of doctrine is strictly in accordance with what we gather from the Mftalogir of Katwe. ^e are ii| ih( respect judges of the way in p^^p^pp^lffp^^^^ IPPP ^^ mumm mmm 64 UOVr k ■dllOOLMASTBB BBCJAMB A OATUOLid. > -k-i'S,.! .,-.-4..--.v which it might have pleased God Almighty to communicate his revelation to maokind : ;it any rate, this is Butler's own argu- ment. It might have been — judging from analogy, we should infer that it would be likely to be — communicated in a gradual way. Thus the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, in no respect opposed to the text of Scripture, might very well have been left to be brought to the light, after a long process of incubation, by this same visible church. And with regard to other doctrines formulated at an earlier period, such for example as the invocation of saints, it is absolutely ludicrous to contend that they are unscriptural, or that they substitute another kind of mediation for that of Christ, for, if Paul prayed for his converts, if the prayer of faitli saves the sick, if the prayer of a righteous man avails, it is idle and indeed wholly without warrant from scripture to athrm positively that prayers and supplications offered up by those who have put off this temporary garb of flesh can do nothing. " Now, the Church of Rome presents herself to us not only with many of the signs and appearances which we should expect to find in a visible Church, these signs and appearances being noted in her alone, but with the positive assurance that she and she alone is the visible Church. She informs us as a consequence of this, that only for those within her pale is there a reasonable hope of salvation. *' If thb claim can be absolutely disproved or shown to be ri- diculous, there is an end to it, as under similar circumstances there would be an enfr;-;>i- ""' '■■?>^Mi^ the Safer side to take. It is safer to act as though it were true» even although the judgment may bo unconvinced. ' A mistake on one side may be in its consequences much more dangerous than oue on the other. And what course is niost safe, and Uhat most dangerous is a consideration thought very material, when we deliberate not concerning e\'ents, but concerning conduct, in our temporal affairs. ' ' For supposing it doubtful, what would be the consequence of acting in this, or in a contraiy manner ; still that taking one side could be attended with little or no bad consequence and taking the other might be attended with the greatest, must appear to unprejudiced reason of the highest moment towards determining how we are to act. ' Now surely, if this be so, prudence requires us to embrace not only Christi- anity in general, but Roman Catholicism in particular. It is not held by Protestants that all Roman Catholics will be damn- ed ; at any rate the system of Protestantism does not require this ; whereas the Roman Catholic system does certainly include the converse. It is therefore by for the safest course to con- form to Rome. Nor do we see any way out of this except on the supposition that the claims of the latter can be confuted with a directness of proof which, as we have just said, is not forthcoming. "( No. cci. ) ^ . * . ..'«-.*•; If I remember well, this had considerable effect in determin- ing me to return to renewed work. What am I, I thought, if the privilege of thinking and acting for myself be not mine t Whose business is i^ but my own ? If I should finally be convinced that Catholicism is what the Catholics say, the only true form of Christianity, am I a craven that I should be deter- red from adopting it, by the sneers and t>aunts of those who put '* religious liberty " on their banners ? Besides, I had to go forward ; or worse, back. i - r?:' In beginning to study the Catholic belief I pitched on what I considered the hardest subject, transubstantiation. Fredet'S Eucharistic Mystery was the little book that I first read on this dogma. How often wf> hear it said that the Catholic faith is not scriptural ! Fredet's book surprised me : in it I saw what 1 had nevei expected to see, that Scripture, and Scripture alone, ( «oundl.v a ablishes the truth of the Catholic teaching on this ''^'•ubjeot. When I had finished with this book, I was thoroughly ."''« 'V .-; 'v.* ' ^'-i> ■i'^^l - '^ '^f'.Tv'w''- ^'-'^■?' -^ip mmm ^^'^^•PT^ ^t*. . v . I c M ■•W ▲ fOHaOLMAnaR BBOAMI ▲ •▲TIf«LI«. •- 4-. aonyinoed tbat outside of the Catholic Church there can be ne Holy Communion. Were I to trace the " succesaive steps, " »s I intimated *t tirst, I should here present souiv of the proofs that sustain this dogma ; but they v^ill be more in place hereafter. In reading Fredet'8 book and other books, I was for a long time puzzled to understand how it is that Catholics attach so much importance to the authority of the Church. "It is the teaching of the Church," and "approved by the Church," were constantly oc- eurring expressions that I did not understand. I had to leara the Catholic conception of the Church. In the uext letter eau be seen what I collected on the subject. ''■ << LETTER IX. THE CHURCH. " Art Thou a King then ^ " Pilate asked Jesus. The reply was : " For this cause came I into the world." Tlie mission of Christ was to organize, to instruct, and to delegate divine power and authority to, a .society of uieu, who should preach salvation to the whole human i-ace. They were His disciples : He was their King. He likened His Kingdom to a tield produc- ing wheat and tar 's together, to a net that gathers of every kind, Co a floor on which ai*e wheat and chaff, to a marriage feast at which !K>tne have wedding garments and some have them not. The Scriptures show that this Kingdom is the Church. The word wdtna { church ) , which signifies what is called forth, is used in the Testament, in different senses ( Cat. Trent, p> 71. ) ; but Christians generally use it to designate " The congregation of all the faithful, who, being baptised, pro- fess the same doctrine, partake of the same sacraments, and are governed by their lawful pastors, under one visible head on eterth." The Church is also *i«,\\^ the body of Ghriat, and ^^ pillar and ffroand of the truth. It is the congregation to whom 9t Peter addressed the words : "But ye are a ohosen geuerft- iiou, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people ; that ye •bookl skoVf fortk the praiees «f Him who hni^h ealltd you ■- -r- ".•v<~ '.i^i'd:.-'. fc'te'' aC .' pp mm ^^m^ frnm ^TT- HOW A ■OBOOUf A8TBR BCOAIfB A OATSOUO. eo out of dftrkneu into His marvellous light." The Church of \ Christ, then, is not a voluntary association ; it is a divine ore- ': atibn. It was built by Christ Himself : .« Upon this rook I will build my Church." Are more words necessary to establish the fact that the Church of Christ was built by Christ Himself | I, The Ood-Man, who had a full, clear prevision of the whole future, established an institution to do His work, against which, He solemnly declared, the gates of hell shall not pre* vail. And, if we carefully consult the Testament, we can se« that He made the perfection of HitrC/hurch almost His sole ocNn* oerii. Of this society, before His ascension, He was the visible ^ ruler and teacher. But He promised His disoiplee that, after His departure, another Person like Himself, another Paraclete, should take up His abode with them. " I will pray the Father, and he sb^ll give you another Comforter ( Paraclet^i ) , that he may abide with you /or«ver; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive* because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him : but yc know him; for he dwelleth with you,, and shall l>e in yow." (Jno. xvi. 16, 17.) "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth : for he shall not speak of himself ; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak : and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me : for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." (Jno. xvr , 13-14.) On the day of Pentecost, ten days after the Ascension, the Holy Ghost made His visible de- scent, to dwell in the Church, until the end of time. Then the Church, the body of Christ, having received her Spirit, was com- pleted. That the Church, the mystical body of Christ, is per- vaded and animated by the Holy Ghost, ia fully drawn out by St. Paul, in i. Cor. xii. The Apostles instilled into their dis- ciples the same truth. " Where the Church is," said St. Iren., " there is also the spirit of '''*v\^ '■■; ■V- r^^ ^^ SIWJIB! *«■- 70 ■OW A MAiOOLMAem SBOAMI A OAVS^Llt. Churoh. What the Holy Ghost do«* in the whole Chureh, thut the soul does in all the members of one body." (Quod auitifst anima corpori homintH, hoc etf SpirUus Sancti corpori Christi, quod est Ecclesia : hoc agii SpirituH Sanctua in tota Ecclesia, quod agit anima in omnibwt membris unim corporvi.) Also : "What oar spirit — that is, our soul — is to our members, that tne Holy Ghost is to the members of Chrint, to the bodjLof Christ, which is the Church." (Quod est xpirituA noster, id est anima nostra, ad membra nostra ; hoc Spirit us 'Sanctutt ad membra Christi, ad cor- pUH Christi, quod tut Eccteda.) He said, besides: "Therefore of two is made oiio persou, of the Head and the body, of the bridegroom and the bride If there are two in one flesh, how iu>t two in one voice i Therefore let Christ speak, because in Christ the Church apeaks, and in the Church Christ speaks, both the body in the Head and the Head in the body."^ Fit ergo famquam ex dw)buii una qumdam perm-na, ex capite etcorpore, f/x aponso et tponfta Si duo in came una, cur non dub in voce una ': Loquitur ergo ChrintuA, quia in Christo loquitur Ecclesia, fi in Eccleftia loquitur GhriHtus ; et corpus in capite, et caput in f'orpore.) " But now the Holy Clhost," said St. Greg. Naz., " is given more, perfectly, for He is no longer present by His operation, as of old, but is present with us, so to speak, and converses with us in a substantial manner." (I have taken these from Cardinal Manning's Temporal Mission of H. G.) To people that hardly ever hear any refK hfCAMF. A ('AlMoLJf 71 . '* . . -.,* ktaiid for evti." ( D»ij. u. 44. ) "(jod will establisii it forever." ( P». XLViii. 8. ) It WHS uIho fxpreRsly affirmed by our Lord Himself : " Ou thifi rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." " Lo, I am with you alwayn, oven unto the end of the world." These ulear proofs from Scripture should be sufficient fur the perpetuity of th» Church. The Church i« e removed in a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers." ( Is. XXX. 20. ) " Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot Im* hid." ( Matt. v. 14. ) "I have set thee to Ite a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvatioti unto the ends of the earth." (Acts, xiii. 47.) Unless the Church is perceptible, how can the injunction, "Hfar the Church," be obeyed ? In the 17th chapter of St. John's Oos- pel, Jesus prays for the unity of His disciples, " that the world may believe that thou, Fathej, hnpt sent me." Hom could the world discern their unity, if it be not visible? The visibility of the Church has been believed in, and taught, V>y the great majority of Christians. Copious patristic quotations in con- firmation of this might be given ; but space and time can be saved by making one from the Protestant Palmer, He says : " It would be superfluous to prove that those of the Roman obedience and the Eastern Churches maintain the visibility of the Church : none of them have ever denied it. But the per- petual visibility of the Church has also been acknowledged by Aa Lutherans, the Reformed, and by various sects." (Church, Vol. I., p. 33.) Butler, in his Analogy, has: "Miraeulotis powers were given to the first preachers of Christianity, in order to their introducing it into the world : at visible Church , %M eat«blished, in order to continue it on successively through- . ^tmt iXX ftgeii. Bad Moses and the Prophets, Christ and his ; ▲{)Ostles> only taught, and by n:iracl(s proved, teligioh to thtir t.'f-^-i^-^:- "■(■ 72 HOW A SOBOOLM ASTIR MOANS A 0AVi<9U0. ' \ '%'m\ >. "f fe*- t Qontemporaries, the benefitR of their iastructions would have reached but to a ainall part of mankind. Christianity mutt have been in a ^(reat degree sunk and forgot in a very few ages. To. prevent this, appears to have been one reason why a viHbU Church want instituted ; to be, like a city upon a hill, a standing memorial to the world of the duty we owe our Maker ; to call BUto continually, both by precept and instruction, to attend to it, and, by the form of religion ever before their eyes, remind them of the reality ; to be the repository of the oracles of God ; to hold up the light of revelation in aid of that of nature, and propagate It throughout all genopations to the end of the world. " ( p. 140.) The Protestant Kurtz ( Sacred Hist., p. 416.) says : "The invisible Church has no existence without the visible Church, and that it i« not separato from, or above the latter, but exists in it, and in it aioiie. For the means of grace have been granted, not to the invisible but to the visible Church, and the believer can have part in the grace of God in so far only as he is a member of the visiVjle Church, and by virtue of that connection alone. " '* The ultimate reason of the visibility of the Church is to be found in the incarnation of the Divine Word. Had that Word descended into the hearts of men, without taking the form of a servant, and accordingly without appear- ing in a corporeal shape, then only an internal, invisible Church would have been established. But since the Word became ,fiesh, it expressed itself in an outward, perceptible, and human manner; it spoke as man to man, and suifered, and worked after the fashion of men, in order to win thum to the kingdom of God ; so that the means selected for the attainment of this object, fully corresponded to the general method of instruction and education determined by the nature and the wants of man. This decided the nature of those means, whereby the Son of God, even after He had withdrawn himself from the eyes of the world, wished still to work in the world, and for the world. The Deity having manifested its action in Christ according to an ordinavy human fashion, the form also in which His work Was to be continued, was thereby tmeed out." ( Moehler's Sym- bolism, p. '253.) The Church has for her recognition the four notes of Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, aud Apostalicity. . . The Church is one. In organizing a society, to preach the .,* iiiiiiiiiil .rr' BOW A SOHOOLMASTEIl BECAME A CATHOLIC. 78 --1*/: . . "'X- Gotpel for all time, the antecedent probability would be that onr Saviour designed its continual integrity ; that its members should always be in harmonious accord on all matters that af- fect the efficiency of their labors. The wisdom of man is suffi- cient to know the advantages and the power of unanimity. If, however, the Scriptures be consulted, we shall find that the unity of the Church was foretold, and that it was for her uiiity that Jesus prayed especially : " My dove, my undefiled is hut one ; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her." (S. S. VI. 9.) "They shall call thee, the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel." ( Is. i.x. 14. ) " And there shall be one fold and one shepherd." ( Jno. x. 16.) " And (that Jesus should die ) not for that nation only, but that also He sho«ld gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. "( Jno. XI. 52. ) "So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." ( Rom. XII. 5.) •• There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism." ( Eph. iv. 4, 5.) " For His Body's sake, which is the Church." (Col. i. 24.) " And gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. " ( Eph. i. 22, 23. ) And that this unity would always subsist is evident ( provided that His prayer would be of any avail ) from : " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word ; that they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us : that the world may be- lieve that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them ; that they may be one, even as we are one. " ( Jno. xvii. 20-22. ) On this passage Moehler re- marks : " What fulness of thoughts we find here ! The Lord putteth up a prayer for the gift of unity, and the union of all who shall believe ; and for an unity, too, which finds its model only in the relation existing between the Father and the Son of Man." ( Sym. p. 266.) To finish this note : as the Holy Ghost abides forever in the mystical Body of Christ, so the Church of Christ, which is His mystical Body, can never be other than ■%■ on9. "f-y ■421:4 -Sfc-l-j'^^ "*•. ■ Lv;--?':-fei.'^u'v >■ iniiiir " mammimmmm 74 HOW A flOiroOLMAITBR BIOAMB A OATHOLfO. TiThe Chuioh 18 hofy. She (lerive« her holiness from the char- acter of her Founder : she is holy, trK>, because she is the source of purity and sanctity. "And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord." ( Is. LXii. 12.) "That he might present it to himself a j;!oriou8 church, not having spot, oT wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish. "( Eph. V. 27. ) "Who hath saved us, and called us with au holy calling." ( n- Tim. i. 9.) The holiness of the Church i^ assured by the abiding presence within it of the Holy Qhost, the Sanctitier. ■ The Church is catho/ir. By the catholicity of the Church is meant tliat the Church is not au institution, designed for a lo- cality alone, nor for even any particular nation, but for the whole world. The Church of Christ was to be universal. " In the last (lays the mountain of the Lord's house shall l)e estab- liHhed in the top of the mountains, and- shall be exalted above the hills ; and aj/ nation^ shall flow unto it." ( Is. ii. 2. k "For fnjm the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name ishall be great among the (lentiles : and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering ; for my uame .sliall be great antong the heathen, saith the Lord of ho8ts." (Mai. I. II.) As. also, Christ died for all men, instituted but one Church, and commanded his disciples to preach the gos- pel to all natioii9, so it is perfectly manifest that His Church was to be (.'atholic, or Universul. The Church of Christ was to teach all the truth ; teach ii irayt* ; and teach it everytrhere. { Maibt. xxviii. 2().) . The Church is upoxfotirxU. This attribute of the Church sig- nifies that her accredited ministers are only those who derive their order, mission, and jurisdiction by an uninterrupted suc- cession from the Apostles. Under the ohl law no man conld usurp the priests' office. ' ' No man taketh this honor unto hini- .self but he that is called of (irod, as was Aaron." (Heb. v. 4.) For foisting themselves into the priestluMxl Korah, J3athan, and Abiram, were swallowed up ; and. if the dignity of the old priesthtKKl was not to l>e assumed by merely human power, how can the ministry of the gospel, so much highsr in dignity than that of the law, be an heritage jnu-ely human 't Christ said to His Apostles, " As my Father hath .sent Me, even so send I you." fly these words He empowered them to give mission to T'^'-A- ' ;- >."' ->->;. -V.J '-' .\ ^ ■■■" *fV'^ * " ■ 1 ■OW A HTHOOLMAtTRR BBCAM R A OATrfOMC. . 7* «*therM, and that this inivNion wa« transferahU, '\h shown by His t/onferring it on them. Thone that received mlHsion fr-om the ApoctloB received with it the power of its transniiwiion, and in this way alone a valid ministi-y must hav« b«en continued. Even Paul, after he was miraculously called, was «ul)jected t-<> the laying on of hands, hy "certain prophetH and teacliers." This was doubtless done t^ serve a* a warning example against the assumption of ministerial functions l)y a self-constituted prophet. An *' inward call," without an external ?■ ■^Vf '-.-.j^y i- vrf" ~::r .i' Sjii^^Mi'"'-'.;, '.'■< ;.'-i..iJ«:i/it:Lr,f, "ii^.'itat ;&.*f: p^ wm^ 7« ROW A 80HOOLMA8TIR BBOAMI A OATHOUO. I I li " As in the Inournution there is a cominunioation of the Di- vine perfections to the humanity, so in the Churoh the perfeo- tionii of the Holy Spirit Income the endowments of the body. It is imperisha1>l<: because He in (i^ud ; indivisibly one, because He is numerically one ; holy, because He is the fountain of holi- ness ; infallible both in believing and in teaching, because His illumination and His voice are immutable, and therefore, being not an individual depending upon the fidelity of a human will, but a body depending only on the Divine will, it is not on trial or probation but is itself the instrument of probation to man- kind. What the Church was in the beginning it is now and ev- er shall be in all the plenitude of its divine endowments, be- cause the union between the body and the Spirit is indissoluble and all the operations of the Spirit in the body are perpetual and absolute. "( p- 78.) '■^V %\ LETTER X. THE CHURCH ( CONTINUED ). Besides being one, holy, catholic, and apostolical, the Church, endowed with immortality, designed for the regeneration of all nations, and directed in all her movements and solemn utter- ances, by the presiding guidance of the Holy Ghost, must seem, in her bearing and voice towards the world, to be invidiously ex- i'lusive and unflinchingly positive. To the world she must al- ways have appeared singular in her constancy to herself, the pillar and ground of the truth : and this supeiior isolation would be a sure warrant that she is not a kingdom of this world. As she was instituted to teach the world and would fully under- stand herself and her mission, she must always have refused to be instructed by the world ; she must have rejected with the firmest decision every proposal of compromise with sentiment or doctrine alien to her own spirit and teaching, and so to the world must always have been an object of envy and hatred. " If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."( Jno. xv. 19.) In 1^ ^:. . ^*-l■• ■' t'-'i ' " ■ - .. ■ - ' ■■ - ■ ■ ■ ■ VP ■•"^gp;: 1. • " .■•■,'. 'si'" ' r ROW A MOHOOLMASTBR BEOAMR A (!ATUOLIC. 11 history, then, a continuoiiM utruggle betweon the Churnh a'l'l the worhi irmy be expected t<> have been, innHt have been ; de- traction and hatred waging continual warfare againHt winning clemency, but ntubborn perHistence in the truth. Since, too, rthe would likely, in conformity with Scriptural teaching, reject " a man that in an heretic after the first an have clamored against her too. fn short her enemies would l>e of every kind, of every strii)e. Should not all this be care- fully }x>rne in mind, when we set out to discoxer the Church of ( Jhrist ? Has there been, from the time of the Apostles to the ))resent, a visible society of Christians, unbroken in its continuity, that has unremittingly striven to keep itself one in faith and govern- ment, that has been holy, universal, and apostolical, and which has been branded by the world and empirical Christians with the stigma ( glory ) of intolerance ''. Consult ecclesiastical his- tory, it matters not whose, and you will find that the C/atholiu Church, and she alone, has l>een " the city that is set on a hill ;" that has preserved from the first her entirety, her faith, and even discipline ; that has been the constant dispenser of Divine graces ; that has ramified to every corner ()f the known world and converted the nations ; that has alone dared to use the word apostolical ; and that has been envied and hated by all outside of her fold. The Catholic ('hurch has been a public witness to the trutli ever since the time of the Apostles. Can any other body of professing Christians boast of such a long visible existence ? It seems surprising that am(mg Protestants, who rejoice in Luther for a father, there can be fo\u»d those who asseitthat they have a chain of ancestors, that connected Luther to the Apostles I It is one of those absurd statements, begotten entirely of desper- ation. Even Waddingtpn. to whom every Piotestant ought to pay humble homage, destroys it. " In the meantime, we must admit, that he ( Bossuet ) has, in our opinion, established his two leading positions, viz. , that tl»e Protestants fail in their at- tempt* to prove an uninterrupted succession ; and that thos* Mj:%. j J» t l.J^l .. Ml U Jul' f , J' ^^ I t: 1 t II ■'"^ I. i^'':"'^-: 5>-'>- 78 HOW A SCHOOLMASTER BECAMl A OATHOLIO whom they olaim a* their ancestors differed from them in nu- merous points of doctrine. " (E. H., p. 563.) Show this to a Protestant and he will say : " Ah, but herein is your error ; you assume that the true Church is visible ; we contend that the church is the congregation of the saints, the elect, who are known to God alone ; and such were our ancestors, pious souls, who within the recesses of their hallowed breasts treasured the pure faith and bemoaned in silence the dissemination of corrupt doctrines, which they dared not denounce and combat. " Sub- stantially this is what he will say ; it is all he can say. But, let me ask, how oould such men be Christians ? Men that are ashamed or afraid to declare their faith are no soldiers of Christ. Christians were to be " watchmen who should never hold their peace;" the ancient Pre stants were seemingly "watchmen who held their peace." Nor were they hardy imitators of St. Paul, who said to the Thessalonians : ** We were bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God with much contention. " '• He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it : and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." ( Matt. x. 38, 39.) ( For accommodation 1 quote King James's Bible. ) An invis- ible, independent of a visible, Church, besides being flatly in contradiction with her Scriptural description, is, as a promul- gator of the Gospel, an impossibility. To evangelize the world, the faith must be publicly taught by authorized teachers ; there must be rites and ceremonies ; the sacraments must be admin- istered ; and if all these things be done " decently and in order," there must be rules and laws to which all must submit. The true Church, therefore, wannot but be visible. If those Protest- ants would read the fifth chapter of Moehler's Symbolism and ponder it well, they would never again speak of an invisible, without a vihiljle, Church. They would then see that Luther spoke rightly, when he said, " At first I stood alone." Only the Catholic Church has been successful in heeding the behest, "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," and her constant text has been *' one body and one'Spirit :" her unity has been the reproach cast against her by her enemies ; her unchangeableness has passed into a proverb. From the first, detachments have deserted from her fold, to set up rival insti- tutions ( I. Cor. X' 19. II. Pejer, ii. 1.) ; but their suooeas has i ^- mm wm ^;:t■<;l ■- « ,>■ ■ -.^ ... ■ ^f- '- , Hew A SCHOOLMASTBR BEOAMB A OATHOLIO. 7« always been thwarted by divisions upon divisions : she alone has preserved herself in every age and in every place. If his- tory shows anything, it shows this. The holiness of the Church may not be so plain to every his- torical reader. He so often encounters bad characters, too often churchmen, that when he hears holiness applied to the Church, he gets confused. But on this subject Pearson, in his Creed, says: " I conclude, therefore, as the ancient Catholics did against the Donatists, that within the Church, in the pub- lic profession and external communion thereof, are contained persons trulf good and sanctified, and hereafter saved ; and to- gether with them other persons void of all saving giace, and hereafter to be damned : and that C/hurch, containing these of both kinds may well be called hoi}/, as 8t. Matthew called Jern-talem, the holy city, even at that time when our Saviour, did but begin to preach, when we know there was in that city a general corruption in manners and worship. " ( p. 523. ) In the Church there were to be wheat and tares together ; and. the tares will not only have been vnultiplied and exaggerated, per- haps, by the enemies of the Chusi-h, hat must always* have been the concern and trouble of the Church herself. But in reading history we should mind this : " 8iu, in sonie shape or other, is the great staple of history, and the sole object of law ; and he ( historical reader ) must expect, from both the historian and the legislator, to heai- more of one turluilent prelate, or one set of factious or licentious monks, than of a hundred societies, or a thousand scattered clergy, living in the quiet decency suited to their profession." ( Maitland's Dark Ages, p. 34.) Westcott says pretty much the same : " Exceptional phenomena naturally occupy a chief place in history. No one thinks it necessary to chronicle what is the normal state of things. " ( Canon, p. 33. ) If, however, abundant historical evidence would be acceptable, to show that the Church has never been witiiout the most illus- trious characters, who by their virtues have shed a lustre on their times, and who stand out in glorious contrast with the few objectionable ones that figure in the annals of common history, let me recommend ( hold your breath ) for careful reading But- ler's Lives of the Saints. You cannot come down to it ? Pos- sibly not, but Gibbon managed to go through it ; called it " a work of merit," and was not above consulting it for information. .V .•M.-, ■■.'*it: ..'^■^-^^i :*.. i- r?) M ,*f5r /r ■ 1 , fVf HOW A ftO«<>(>r,M\«»tKa BKOAMR A OATHOfcIO t i The Imperial Dictionary of Biography says the work "earned the praise of Bishop Lowth, and even of Gibbon." But if you would prefer Du Pin's History of Ecclesiastical Writers, trans- lated by a Protestant, try that ; or read the Lives of the Saints, as recently written by the Protestant, Baring Gould. Then you will find, upon honest consideration, that the Catholie Church is the only church that has reared, to any approximation of perfection, men that can be strictly called saints. As, there- fore, the Church has always produced Saints, has instilled holi- ness of doctrine, has possessed the means of sanctity, and has enforced the obligation of good works, so has she always been holy. Catholicity, or Universality, has by the world been applied to onl}' one Church, and only one Church has constantly called herself Catholic. Only one Church has taught the same faith, administered the same sacraments, and enforced the same dis- cipline, during nearly nineteen hundred years, in every part of the known world ; only one Church has been a mother to all the nations ; and the same Church is the same to-day. She is the one, holy. Catholic Church. The word Catholic has its attrac- ti ona. It has been arrogated by various schismatical bodies ; but none of them have ever been able to give it more extension than something national or insignificantly local. St. Augustine observed, in his day, that "all heretics wish to be called Cath- olics, yet if a stranger ask them. Where •':. the Catholic Church "i not a heretic of tliem all will dare show you his own church." Those robust upstarts, self -called Catholics, dub Catholics, " Romanists." It is an old Arian trick. St. Gregory of Tours says that the Arians, long ago, pointed out the "Romanists." " liomavoinim vmnineroriiant nostrcp. religioni.s homines.^' But, what CImrch is to-day in evei-y country of North America, in er&ry state of South America, in every nation of Europe, in every part of Asia where a European dare put his foot, and in the great islands ? There is one and only one ; she is the Cath- olic Ciiuroh. The Church that has been one, holy, and catholic, has also lieen apostolical. There was but one Church built by Christ and established by the Apostles, and the same Church has been throughout controlled and instructed by men that lineally de- rived their authority from th« Apo«tl««. Ami. ihe huitory of ;il i|.-.- mm f>:^- j-'-i* 'y. tfOW A SOROOLHf 4STER BKCAMB A OATfiTOLtC. 81 the Church shows that the most scrupulous care has always been observed by her in the selecting of suitable men for the priesthood, and the valid transmission of orders. St. Irenseus said : " We can enumerate those who were by the Apostles instituted bishops in the churches, and their successors even to us." ( Hahemm annumerare eon qui ah apoHtolis ivMituU .mnf episcopi in eedesiia, et »ucce/tnoreH eorum usqiie ad non. ) And : *' Wherefore it is necessary to obey those presbyters who are in the Church, those who have succession from the Apostles.'' (Quiprop'er eln qitl in er/ieda •<(iiU, preihyf.erix obaiidire oportet, hifi qui Huccemionem habent ab apostolis. ) This has been the practice of the Church ever since. In the Church, l^esides an " inward call," a man must produce to veterans in the ministry evident tokens of moral fitness and intellectual qualifications, and betray some slight diffidence in his own unaided sufficiency, before he can be enrolled with the teachers of Christianity. Elsewhere matters are managed a little different. "The Re formed held the call of the people the only thing essential to the validity of the ministry ; and teach, that ordination is only a ceremony, which renders the call more august and authentic." ( Watson's Diet. Ordination. ) This would seem to be a mxiblc call, at any rate ; but, to be serious, why, according to this, could no' a gang of gipsies give mission to a preacher? And when the new lights declared that " ordination is oidy a cere- mony " they avowed a marked diflFereiice of belief with the Church. The Church says, as St. Paul told Timothy, that at ordination " a gift " ( the grace of order ) is bestowed " with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." Though after all, it is exceedingly probable that, with the " Reformed," "ordina- tion is ow/y a ceremony." But what must be patent to every one, who brings but a modicum of common sense to bear on the subject, is the utter senselessness of setting apart in Protestant- ism a body of men for Christian teachers. The Bible, which everybody can read and perfectly understand, contains all things necessary for Salvation. Who, then, wants a teacher ? In the conditions he can be nothing l)ut an expensive intruder. ■ As the sacraments are only empty signs, essential or non-essential, according to the rise or fall of popular taste, and as the preacher himself, having been thfr victim of ''only& ceremony," can have uo peculiar power, the <|uestioii nuturallv Imres itself, wh^' in i«'=.^.,-. ^^WWpi^ppp^P^»*iW!^^^PI|^!lPi!l ■r - _ ■ ^ • ■ •_■-■ -■ ,' ■■•■ ' ■;■' ._\ ;-• /•; v'; , '" - ; HOW A SOHOOLMASTEK BBOAMZ A OATB«lrIC. 'i Is i3i 1' >' '' 'A- r . ruin amputatum non »equitur Spiritus.) He alBO aays : " If you wish to live by the Spirit of Christ, be in the Body of Chrl«t. " ( &i via invert de apiritu Chriati, eato in €orpoft Ohti^.) And Peaiion, in the Creed, has: "The ne- oeflsity df beliiBvixi^ the Hx>ly OathoHc Churchy appeareth first in this, th«t ChH«t hath api^inted it •;,■■ i/:''.V-J .. rt' -<>■ -. •« MOW A •OBOOLMASflll Bik»Altt A OATHOLfO. of » bootrines. The Unitarian lavishes his pity upon tiiu Trinitarian, who claims to be a^s sincere, and just as discriinfnative as him- self ; the Episcopalian strives to no pui[)ose against the Presby- terian, to show that episcopacy is a literal injunction ; the Cal- vinist sees all things clustering around grace, and wreaks his indignation upon the simple minded Arniiiiian, who wishes to find room somewhere for free- will ; the Baptist makes every thing right by plunging ileep into the water, while the Quaker is 8';kfer and happier by keeping as far from the water as possible ; and the Methodist, who presents himself as a well bleached ex- iunple of sinless perfection, as little dreads the fire of hell, as the Universalist, who is certain that a merciful God would on no account consign a man to everlasting tortures. But what a Utbor it would be to notice all the ditfereuces that divide the hundreds of the Protestant secti I Yet they all declare that it is from the Bible alone that G^d expect:!) a luiu to learu th« IL.^ ... • f IMW A MOHOOLMASTIIK mCAWK A OATROLM. •7 Chriotian religion. They lay in great ntore for themselrM, too, for preserving the Scriptures in their first purity ! To hear theni talk one might suppose that sometime in the misty past * 12mo copy of the Testament was published and bound in heaven, and handed down for Protestant guardianship and interpretatipn ; but there is no positive evidence that Almighty Ood ever eoo- ferred upon Protestantism such a substantial acknowledgmont of His countenance ; or ever intended, what is contrary " to fact and to faith," that Christianity must be takea frovu the Bible alone. If history' teaches anything it is tlmt God l>ecame man, that He founded a Church and gave the membem of it or«J inatmc tion, and commanded them to teach others, orally, "and He commanded us t.^V'..^-*' M ■OW A SOHOOLMASTRR BBOAUB A OATHOLIO. >'■ claim of his own to still higher pi'utensioiis. In A. D. 41, he could have used against them 8t.f Matthew's Gospel, provided he could read Hebrew (8yro-Chaldaic), though five or six years afterwards it would have l)een easier for him in his favorite Greek. In A. D. 65, he could have reinforced himself with 8t. Mark's Gof>pel, and a little afterwards with 8t. Luke's. And from that time onward he would have found himself over- whelmed with Gospels. Besides the (xospels and Epistles that now make the Testivment, he would have encountered, (8ee DuPin ) , The Letter of Jesus Christ to Agbarus ; the Letters of the Virgin Mary ; The Gospel according to the Egyptians ; The Go8i>el according to the Hebrews ; The Proto-Evani/etion of 8t. Jamen ; The Epistle to the Laodiceans ; The Letters of 8t. Paul to 8tineca ; The Epistle of St. Barnabas (the Apostle) ; The Liturgies of 8t. Peter, of St. Mark, of St. James, and of St. M>ttthew ; The Canons and Constitutions of the Apostles ; The Book of Phochorus ; The Ancient Acts of the Passion of 8t. Andrew ; and many, miny other writings, tliat were put afloat by the early heretics. How could he have discriminated from such a host of writings the books that were inspired 't Who did so t And when was it done V Westcott, in his Canon of the New Testament, says : " The formation of the canon was an act of the intuition of the Church. "( p. 57. ) "It is then to the Church, as a witness and keeper of ' holy writ,' that we must look, both for the formation and the proof of the Canon. " ( Id. p. 12.) The Lutheran Kurtz, in his Sacred History, says : " The Canon of the New Testament, as it is now recognized, was set- tled and received the sanction of the Churcli at the Council of Hippo Regius, A. D. 393." (p. 405.) (And Westcott, in his Canon, speaking of this (youncil, says, on page 440, that Tobit, and " two books of the Maccabees " were included with " the Ciinonical Scriptures. " ) Mosheim has : ' ' For, not long after Christ's ascension into heaven, several histories of his life and doctrines, full of pious frauds and fabulous wonders, were com- posed by persons M'hose intentions, periiaps, were not bad, but whose writings discover the greatest supeistition and ignorance. Nor was this all : productions appeareil vn hich were imposed npon the world by fraudulent men, as the w ritings of the holy Apostles. These apocryphal and spurious writings must have produced a sad confusion, and rendered both the history and ^h !!<-: HOW A WrtOOrjM\STRR BrOAHtR i OATWOMO. «# the doctrine of Christ uncortaiu, hac*- trine . . . ) It is plain, now, that the Church was doing perfect work, be- fore a word of the Testament was written ; that the books of the Testament were written, as occasion or necessity required them, })y members of the Church, and inspired by the Holy (Ihost, the Spirit of the Church. The TtHfamenl, then, (van made by the Church. So, only in the Church where the Spirit presiiles, that inspired and dictated the Scriptures, can their use and import be surely known. From the first, too, the Church has carefully preserved. the Scriptures. Who, tlieii, but the Church can vouch for the inspiration of the Written Wt)rd ? And, be it observed, unless a I*rote«tant concede » divine judgment to the Church," he cannot know that the Testa- ment is inspired ; since nothing less than a divine judgment, even in forming the canon, could have distinguished the divine from the hunian. Hence, by the Church the Scriptures are proved. And by the Scriptures the Church is prove» W ti>« IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ■50 "^^ HlSi U2 Ui2 |2.2 1.8 125 1 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREFT WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 d % \ % 6^ ■<• :. 90 .HOW A SOUOObMASTBH BKOAMK A CATHOLIC. Word of God that he uses Scripture. By other, and quite in- dependent, proofs he can recommend the Church. He can show, for instance, by authentic history that the Church was established by miracles, that )he miracles prove the divine com- mission, and the divine commission proves the infallibility. (Brownson.) And to prove her unbroken coatinuity and the divine aid always given her, by which alone she could have maintained herself, he can produce au unbroken chain of evi- '',-.-%^';-V'"-;4ft' HOW A SOHOOLMASTKB BSOAME A OATUUUa 01 by ** the mother of my Lord," but Protestants are too scriptur* ally enlightened to use either expression. " It is a shame for women to speak in the church," has been practically denied. The benefit of fasting, so often enforced by counsel and example, has been more scientifically evaded : fasting has been swelled into feasting, an orthographical touch. "This is my body," provokes general indignation. The bitter word, heresy^ although catalogued with the most heinous sins, is seldom if ever defined ; nor are the bulk of Protestants regularly cautioned against the wiles of those who are " tossed about by every wind of doctrine." LETTER XII. PRIMACY OF ST. PETER. ^ It would be superfluous to point out, what no one will deny, that for every society there must be a government. " No so- ciety," says Guizot, "can exist a week, no, not even an hour, without a government. " And I think that the great bulk of professing Christians are perfectly agreed that our Lawgiver, for the government of His Kingdom, created offices and ap- pointed officers. But concerning the number and nature of these offices, there have been interminable discussions. The Presbyterians, comparatively few and quite modern, but sturdy sticklers for their own narrow sense of Scripture, hold up against the hierarchy composed of the three orders of the e(M8- oopate, the priesthood, and the diaconate, the novel system that all the ministers of the Gospel were originally, and should be now, equ>ils ; that the two words in the Testament, transla- ted bishop and presbyter, are interchangeable names for the same commissioned teacher and ruler, and that a deacon stands no.higher than a lay official, to be used for a few menial duties. To support their assertion, they draw their shaky proofs exclu- sively from Scripture, innocently oblivious of the simple facts, that the whole matter must have been settled before a word of the Testament was written, and that the Testament neither professes, nor can be reasonably expected, to contain express %ad decided proofs of the question ; they calmly igipiore tl^e ;^;.* mi- '.^ flf2 HOW A S0t{OOt»KtiVatRIV nftOAMK A OAtHOUd. tiarliest historical evidence that stands against tliein, and bare to view the inference that the Kingdom of Christ had been ig- norant of its proper government, before they themselves sprang into existence, in the sixteenth century ! St. Ignatius, without doubt a disciple of St. John, and bishop of Antioch, in his epistles, reiterates the command to obey the bishop, the pres- byter, and the deacon : " And again, I cried, therefore, with a voice, being among you, and I spake with a loud voice, with the voice of (lod — attend to the bishop, and the presbyters, aiid the deacons. And there are some who imagine respecting me, that I have said these tilings as though I know the divis- ions of some — but He in whom I am bound is Witness to us that I have not learned these things from men ; but the spirit cried and said these things : ' Without the bishop do nothing. '"( £p. to Phil. Ch. VIII. Cureton's Ig. ) His epistles bristle with the names of the three orders. The Presbyterians can do nothing with these memorials but pronounce them forgeries. Professor Calvin £. Stowe, whom any Presbyterian might take for a bdcker, says, in his Origin and History of the Books of the Bible: "These seven epistles (of St. Ignatius) have been known and read in the Christian churches from the very earli- est period. There is an edition of them of about the sixtlt century, which undoubtedly contains many interpolations ; but the earlier and briefer rescensions, of which Archbishop Usher ha/1 a Latin tiansla'iion, and J. Voss the Greek original, may safely be received as genuine throitghout." ( p. 122.) If Bishops and Presbyters were in all things identical, how is it that Euse- hiua lias preserved catalogues of the successive Bishops of Rome, of Alexandiiii, of Antioch, of Jerusalem, etc.? W'hy, if all were equal, should a succession of individuals, from the vei-y iM'ginning of these churches, stand out so prominently ? On no supposition, except of official authority can it be accounted for. 1, once rend a Presbyterian effusion, in which it was gravely as- sej'ted that episcopacy was invented by St. Cyprian ! Cruicot could hardly be expected to make a full episcopal declaration, but what he says is dead against the Presbyterian theory : '* But the moment this society ( Church ) began to advance, and almost at its birth, tor we find traces of them in its earliest document*, there gradually became moulded a form of doctrine, rules of ditoipline, a body of Uiugietrates : of niagiitti ates called jirtttu- J^fv'J^.r. ■m''^ ■ i ^^lCd^.i. jj^-yi ■. ^-^ :.i.- :;^^5^ ' -.T. •:' ''" - ■':■/'■ ', ROW A SOHOOLMASTER BBOAMK A CATHOLIC. 03 teroi, or elders, who afterwards became priests i of tfAncopi^ in- spectors or overseers, who became bishops : and of diakonoi, or deacons, whose office was the care of the poor and the distribu- tion of alms." (Civ. p. 37.) Mosheim also, and Gibbon, testify to the existence of the three orders, at the commenusment of the second century. Palmer very rightly observes : '*How is it possible indeed to suppose that such a pre-eminence could have prevailed universally in the second century without any objection, if it had not been instituted by the Apostles ? We know the disturbances which arose in the Church on the time of keeping Blaster ; how improbable is it, that episcopacy could have been introduced into ail churches by merely human au- thority, without exciting opposition in some quarter." ( Church, Vol. , II. p. 383. ) This will always stand against Presbyterian- ism. If Christ, or the Apostles, instituted Presbyterian ism, which was so soon and so suddenly subverted, where can the history of the subversioa be found ? The ambitious would have struggled for the highest offices ; the disappointed Would have vented their mortification. It would have been one of the greatest disturbances connected with th^ history of the Church ; and yet, in all the ancient records, there is not a wcrd about a disturbance of the kind. The common sense inference would be, then, that Presbyterian ism was born, to be known, in the sixteenth century ; and that the Anglicans, Greeks and Cath- olics, who believe and teach the Apostolic institution of bishops, priests and deacons, are, iti this respect and so far, in wtfU in- f ormed^agreem ent. But here the Anglicans strangely rest themselves ; they hold that in the Apostolic college every apostle was in all things equal to each of the others ; that in jurisdiction all were equals. Accordingly, the Church seems to have been provided, for hsr highest grade of rulers, with an exalted body of Presbyters ! The Catechism of Trent ( p. 74. ) says : •' The Church has also, but one ruler and one governor, the Invisible One, Christ, whom the Eternal Father ' hath made head over all the Church, which is His body ; ' the visible one, him, who, as legitimate successor of Peter, the prince of the Apostles, fills the apostolic chair." Catholics teach that, to ensure the unity of the Church and her harmonious action, Christ clothed one of the Apostles with supreme authority, which authority was to be npd has beep ex-> A'-- ■^■4:.:.-'-%.,.^.:,,::m. ■.■ >., .; :. -»►. ■ r , M.: f.- "J'j »4 lf#W A SOflOnLMASTBlt BCOAMC A •ATfl«LtC. eroised by his sucecMors. In a general way, they observe that unity tlnda its complement in onA, and that the Church, a m- ihle hody^ must have, for her perfect realisation, a imibie head. They say, too, that for a sheep-fold there must be a shepherd ; and for a kingdom a king. To this Mr. Palmer objects that '"many States have subsisted without a monarchy." This is to forget that the Church is a kingdom : and the rulor of a king- dom, or a part of it, is alwayn a king, or a vic«roy. They say, besides, that, since under the old law the authority of the High Priest was supreme over the Priests and the Levites and that the synagogue was fche type ( l Cor. x. U.) of the Christian Ghurdi, the Church, if modelled after the M«)saic disp<-n.sation, cannot be without a visible ruler. And that the polity of the synagogue was transferred to the Church is pretty plain from " But this i.s not all : for the times of the ' offerings and services ' of ('hristia>rk8 are referrtnl to the authority of the Lord Himself, who ' commanded that they should not be made at random, or in a disorderly manner, but at fixed seasons and hour?.' It is possible that this is only a. transference of the laws of the Jew- ish synagogue, which ifp.re .sanctioned hy the ohmrifi.nr.f of our Savicttr, to the Christian Church ; as is indeed made probable by the parallel which Clement ( RonmnuM ) institutes between the Lcvitical and Christian Priesthood." ( Westcotts Cnnon, p. 27.) If, too, a« Kurtz says, the Church is "a school in which men are divinely c^flucated for salvation, " it must, like every other educational institution, be directed and governed by a single head. But for the pre-eminence of one Aj)0stle there are clear vScrip- ttiral proofs. Scripture may, or may not, make episcopacy plain : it makes nothing plainer than the primacy of St. Peter. However the names of the Apostles are given. Peter, " the first," always has, by its position, a marked prominence. He i« most emphatically "the. first." It has been accounted fw on the choice of suppo(>itions, that he was the eldest of the Apostles, or that he was the first called. Both conjectures are meet certainly at variance with facte. If precedence of name h» observed to designate the oldest, then was Andrew older tbui Peter, for we read ( Jn6. i. 44,) " the city of Andrew and Pet«r ; " and we are told in the same chapter that Andrew *^int fladeth hi* own brother Simon, and saith unto him. We /J * r K«W ▲ S0HO0LMA.STIK 1B0AMI ▲ OATROLTO. fS have found the Moasias." " And he brought him t« Jeaua. And when Jesus beheld him, He said, Thou art Simon the ton of Jona : thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. " ( Rock ) Here, our Lord, for a reason not yet declared, so distinguished one tht.t He promised him a new naiue by which he was henceforth to be known. It was no mere epithet, like the " sons of thunder," but a special appellation. And when He ordained the twelve, He formally conferred the name, •' And Simon He surname^/ Peter." ( Mark, iii. 16.) To Simon alone was a new name given. It had been usual with the Al- mighty, in ushering in a new dispensation, to confer upon it« chief a new name, indicative of the office he. was to fill : Abrani became Abraham, and Jacob, Israel. Hence, Simon's now name, Peter, A Kock, must have foretokened something impor- tant. Foretokened ! Its significance is all but open and de- clared. Simon received a name that belonged to Christ Him- self. Christ Himself was the Rock, but, as if to adopt Simon com- pletely and to mark him for His own representative. He gdvt him His own name,. - ' But Jesus made everything plain ( Matt. xvi. ltt-19.) by publicly divulging the reason why He had called Peter, The Rock. When He asked His Apostles, " Whom say ye that I am?" Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." For this prompt confessiou, Jesus said to him, " Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. " With Peter's reply Jesus was evidently well pleased ; and what could be more natural than a gt'eat and special instance of re- warding such a confession. Jesus said : '* I say also unto thee, that thov, art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church ; and the gates of hell shalt not prevail against it. And I will give unto th^e the keys of the kingdom of her.oen ; and whatso- ever thou shalt bind on earth shall be ))ound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." This is as the Protestant Testament gives it, and as it stands, k ought to be plain enough. But some of those exegetlbts who have broken their way so triumphantly through most of the prophecies, read it thus : "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock (Myself ) I will build my Church." Such a reading, though, ^a^e«t Joans use the mixed metaphor. He would not in the *m: -»■-•;-..■ r- IM HOW A SCHOOLMASTER BECAME A CATHOLIC, f same breath call Himself both the builder and the foundation. But the text can be put into a form so sharp that it will defy all carping. The language used by Christ was the Syro-Chaldaic, at that time the vernacular of Judea. He said : " Thou art Kipha, and on thin Kipha I xcUl build my Church " How is this gainsaid ? Some thrust it aside by denying that Syro-Chaldaic was the language used. If, as it seems, this is their only chance to evade it, they are in a bad dilemma. The Methodist Benson, in Introduction to St. Matthew's Gospel, says : " But it ( lan- guage ) was what Jerome very properly calls Syro-Chaldaic, having an affinity to both the Syrian and Chaldean languages, though much more to the latter than the former. " Westcott says : " There can be no doubt that the so called Syro-Chaldaic V Aramean ) was the vernacular language of the Jews of Pales- tine in the time of our Lord, however much it may have been superseded by Greek in the common business of life. It was in this dialect, the ' Hebrew ' of the New Testament, that the Gospel of St. Matthew was originally written. " ( Canon, p. 236. ) " It is exact in Syro-Chaldaic, the language in which it was spoken by Jesus Christ. ( Matt. xxi. 17.) Peter was called Cephas, and the word Cepha signifies base, foundation, rock." ( Guizot's note on p. 561, Vol. i., of Gibbon's Hist.) Hence, by ■•ying. *' Thou art Kipha, and on thin Kipha I mil build my Churchy*^ our Lord, beyond all dispute, made St. Peter the Foundation of the Church. No declaration in the Testament is mora emphatic. When He would build it. He did not say : it would be " known hereafter. " But He declared that against the Church so built the gates of hell should not prevail. It was to withstand all future assaults. Is it purely '* Papistical " to say that the Church was built on St. Peter ? Hear the Protest- ant Pearson : "Then was there a Church (and that built upon Peter, according to our Saviour's promise )"( Creed, p. 511.) Bishop Kenrick, on The Primacy, cites several eminent Pro- testants, who have made the same flat admission. To St. Peter were also given the keys, and the commission " to bind and to loose : " and although the power, " to bind and to kcee," was afterwards given to the other Apostles, there was surely seme detp impel t in the fact that it was fht^.f given to him who was to be the only bearer of the keys. The keys were given to St. Peter alone, to him who was alone the foundation of the Church. -<^^Sr^. .^.^ f-i ■'■'.yf>.-.-Wt^.^^£- "v ■.; . r-^ ■OW A ICnoOLMAfmilt BMAm ▲ CUTHOLia V7 The holder of the keys must have a pre-eminent power of bind- ing and loosing. Could greater or more enduring offices be eonferred v.pon him ? As in the Church tlie duties of bind- ing and loosing must always exist, so long must exist the bearer of the keys, St. Peter ; and as no superstructure can outlast its foundation, so the sChurch must always rest on St. Peter. St. Peter, then, always lives in his successor. Was Christ a true Prophet ? The question obtrudes itself. Was Christ a true Prophet, or not? If he was, there must be to-day a Church that claims St. Peter for her foundation, and the wield- «r of her keys must be St. Peter's successor. Unless these things be, the Testament is no better than a romance. More- over, that St. Peter was the representative of the collective ApoBtolate is quite manifest from ( Luke, xxii. .31.) : " Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you ( vos ) , that lie may sift you as wheat ; but I have prayed for fhee { piv (e ) that thy strength fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. " A prayer oflTered for St. Peter sufficed for all ; on him all the others depended. He was the foundation of the Church. In the last chapter of St. John's Gospel, we can read that Jesus committed to the care of St. Peter the lambs and the sheep — the laity and the clergy — and he was strictly charged to " feed " all. The whole sheepfold was put under his rule and cure. So, St. Peter, " the first,'' was tiiade the foundation of the Church ; he was the sole recipient of the keys ; for him alone Jesus prayed ; i^d to his guardianship Jesus entrusted Mis entire flock. And yet there are some men, scholars and believers by profession, who can see nothing in all this but a little personal honor, of no consequence whatever, that was shown to St. Peter. Mr. Palmer, when arguing against the Presbyterians, very well says : "Indeed offices chiefly honorary, wonid have been inconsistent with the characters and views of Christians in those times." ( Church, Vol. ii., p. 391.) On page 479, Vol. II., he cannot learn from Catholic tradition, "the reasons for which St. Peter had a pergonal preeminence of honor among the Apostles. " So must a principle be forgotten, and blindness be confessed, to distort the palpable truth. After the Ascension, St. Peter acted on his commission, as Primate : he led the other Apostles ; they followed him. It is okBitfly narrated io the Aets of th« Apostles. Watson, in his M y^'^'-^y'r' -.r^pr',;'^'' _.J^'JfX 08 HOW A S(!|lad, you M'ill lin ':-^ HOW A AOHOOLMAATKU HKOAMK A OATK*»»iU'. lot 1« to open all the prisoiiH of jleuth ! happy Porter of Ifravcii. to whom are entrusted the KoyH of iuiniiHMion into it and whoH<; judgment on earth, ih a fore- judging of what jh dont? in heaven, aince whatsoever he hinds or ItioHew upon earth, shall I»e hound or loofled in heaven." "There he (St. (^yril of Jerumilcni, ()1». A. D., ;«6.) calls St. Peter the Prince or Chief of the A|M>stle« and the Sovereign Preacher of the Church." iSt. Anihnme of Milan (Ob. A. 1). , ;^9«. ) said : "Where Peter is, there is the Church." ( Uhi Petriiti, ihi ecdemi. J The next two are from DuPin. "St. Chrysostom (Ob. A. I)., 4()-2. ) speaking of ^V. /Vf.r in that Homily, calleth him the Head of the Body of the Apos- tles, the Mouth of the Disciples, the Firiuanient of the Kaith, the Foundation of Confession, and the Fisherman of the whole earth." In a letter to Pope Damasus, St. Jerome (Ob. A. I)., 420.) said : " I am tied to your Holiness' conununion, that is to St. Peter's chair ; I know that the Church is founded upon that Rock. Whosoever eateth the Lamb «)ut of that House, \n a profane man. Whosoever is not found in that Hou.se shall per- ish by the Flood. But forasnnich as being retired in the desert of Syria, I cannot receive the Sacrament at your hands, I follow your colleague, the bishop of Kgypt : 1 do not know Vitalis ; I do not communicate with Meletius ; Panlinus is a stranger to me. Ho that gathereth not with us scattereth." St. Jerome also said ; " Si quiM Cathedrw. Petri jaHififur. mf^/t-s «>*/." St. Augustine (Ob. A. D., 420.) said to the Donatists : "Come, Bi'ethren, if you wish to be engrafterl in the vine ; We grieve to see you lie thus <'ut off from it, N^umber your Bishops from the very chair of I^eter. ( Numerate Sacerdotes vel ab iiifta Petri Scde,) And in that list of Fathers trace the succession. This is the Rock ( Ipsa est Potra ) ajfainst which the proud Gates of hell do not prevail." And Dr. Ives, in Trials of a Min■',•■ -^'- ■.■:.. r,r.-.,i ■'■•' ,?■;•■''-.'"?■"■' ■.^v^..:* ^v> y^;^';>-i^.«;^_^:.i,s. •T)'^-rt3ir;y ■^^^r^^^.c^- • */^^ ,v \ ■.(■.. r ^•m mm „;■>:: f-./j;--;>^ 102 HOW A SOHOOLMA4TBK BROAMC A 'OATHOMO you, most honored brother, to submit U> what has been written by the Bishop of Rome, because St. Peter, who lived and pre- sided in his See, teaches the true faith to those that enquire after it. As for us we dare not, for the love we have to peace and truth, com-ern ourselves either to hear or judge causes with- out the consent of the Bishop of Rome. " For more than these few promiscuous citations I have nut room. In any work on the subject enough can be found, ( classi- fied, too ) to satisfy anyone, not bitterly and blindly biassed against the Church, that from the works of the early Church writers, an unbroken cafena of the most express statements can be collected, which show that from the first the Primacy of St. Peter has been " a fundamental " dogma of the Church. Mr. Palmer ( Church, Vol. ii., p. 491.) says : "I allow that St. Leo ( Ob. A. D. 461 . ) and other Roman Pontiffs were occasionally led to magnify the privileges of St. Peter, etc. " But how was ' it that none of the thousands of bishops that lived remote from ' Rome, and liad xio apparent interest in the aggrandizement of the Roman See, did not arise in opposition to the " towering pretens'ons " of the Popes ? No acuter churchmen have ever lived than were those who flourished in the fourth and fifth centu' ^, at the very time, according to Messrs. Palmer & Co., when the Popes, publicly and defiantly, imposed upon th« Church their oppressive rule. It is a great pity that some of the modern " Catholics " did not live earlier ; had one of them, in Pope Leo's time, stirred up the bishops to a sense of their common rights, and dispelled the illusion of St. Peter's Primacy, he would have been hailed as a liberator, or have been hissed ■ into obscurity. If I understand Mr. Palmer aright, there was a time when the Church was free of " Papalism ; " there was in early times * non-Papal Chuvch, which became Papal. The first was good, very good ; the last has been l>ad, essentially l>ad. Where was the division ? He does not give it. The change coulu not have been effected without a stormy opposition from some quju-ter/ Like the change from Presbyterianism to Episcopacy, ther* must be a history of it. By partly re-quoting Mr. Palmer, it can be said : " How improbable iA it, that Papalism could have >''ou introduced into all churches, by merely human authority, without eji citing opposition in some quart«r." Th« Re^. B. I. m. h v.;.^ 't^-\.. .;-rv mmmm .■.:-.'"■ ■r Z%. HOW. A SOHOOLMASTRR BROAMB A OATUOLIO. 108 .&-i-. > ■ ^> J! Wilberforce's opinion is more consonant to reason, and just as reverent. He 8iiy-< : " Now, if it was a divine power, and not any worldly wisdom, which directed the Christian community in its doctrinal determinations, it must have been the same principle which moulded its Hieiaichy, and wliich fixed the position of its chief. " But if pvery thing else fails, the Sciipturea are .sutticient for 8t. Peter. I shall finish this letter with an extract from Dr. Stone's In- vitation Heeded, a solid, elegant book. " The Primacy of the See of 8t. Peter is the most prominent fact in the history of Christianity. .Vnd it is a fact which is inseparably associated with a a8t at all, it is perfectly plain that, if it wei-e not foi: the divine .sentences .so often quoted, the Pontifical claims would be wholly without sanction, and the Papacy would fall to pieces in an hour. Such being the case, I affirm that the admission of Christ's divinity compels also the admission that the connection between the prediction and the event is of divine intention, and exhibits the most liberal illus- tration of the saying of the Apostle that the Son of God up- holdeth all things by the word of His power. The fact must be either the fulfihneut of the prophecy or its misuiterpretation. But the la tt(}r- supposition is an absurdity. P'acta are never misinterpretations of Cod's prcnnises. Men may misinterpret a prophecy in their own minds, but God never misinterprets Him- self in history. It is no answer to this whatsoever to say that men may l)e mistaken in supposing that there is any essential relation between the words of our Lord and the fact of the Suprwmacy ; for I have already shown that the association can- not be a mere subjective misapprehexision, since it is an object- ive reality. It would be, indeed, sufficiently incredible that God should have uttered a promise which He eternally foresaw ■ii"^ mmti »[►. V;-'' lat 'i^' V-i HUW A .SOHUOLM ASTER BEOAMK A UATUOLIO would be nu8uiidei-8tood by the great boSy of Christians in all ages ; but that God should have so ordered events in the de- velopment of His Chuioh as to make His own words the very prop and corner-stone of a system which opposes itself to His gracious purposes and perverts the truth which He has revealed, this is inconceivable. " This may bo worth a second reading. :>-*> ;S'_ T.ETTER XIIT. ANGLICANISM. All along, in npeaking of the Catholic Chur«;h, 1 have, in de- Hance of the propriety expected by "Catholics," applied the , single word Ca/Ao//r to the Church, whose viMiMe head is St. ; Peter's successor, without qualifying it with Houiaa. This may "! be called cither a pitiablt^ crroi, t)r a piece of studied inipt^rti- nence. Had 1 carefully studitid facts, I .should have recognized - that thei'c is bufc one Catholic Chinch, and that this one Catholic Church exists in three segregated and distinctly independent parts, the "('athoUc " ( Anglican ) Church, the (xreek Church, ; antl the Roman Churcli. The problem may be easy enough, b\it it has been altogether too hard for me. And that three dis- associated and unc(»nn«*cted units n>ake one solid unit, is thor- oughly undeistoo*!, 1 have found out, l»y m»ne but a sniall body of m»)dern Anglicans. These men say that the English ('huich, as by law establishe<, i. e., to the converted Scots in Ireland. This author, in his book, Contra CoUatorem, mentioning the care Celestine had to drive Pelagi- anism out of Britain, adds, that ' the Pope by sending the Scots a bishop, not only secured a Roman island in its orthodoxy, but likewise brought a barbarous one to Christianity. ' Upon the death of Palladius, Celestine is said to have sent St, Patrick to succeed him, who is supposed to have been the .second arch- bishop in that island. This St. Patrick was furnished with ex- traordinary qualifications, to make him big enough for his un- dertaking . . . When he came to his charge in Ireland, he was wonderfully successful there, and made, as it were, a thorough conversion of the country. " ( In the Canons of St. Patrick, which Usher admits to be genuine, appeal in the last resort is commanded to be made to '^ sedem Apostolicam . . . ; id est ad Petri Af>ostoli Cathedram, mKtoritatem Ronup urbif hah- entem." ) The British Churches, then, were established in the faith by Roman agency ; and it is historically certain that they acknow- ledged the Primacy of St. Peter. At the Council of Aries, 314, the British bishops of York, London, and Lincoln, who concur^ , red with the others " that the feast of Easter should be cel- ebrated on the same Sunday in all the churches of the world," ( DuPiu ) must have heard at the same time, " that according to custom the Bishop of Home should give notice of the day to ^'t.'J^'-'^i'^. ■'^nVis ■ ■^^■■':7x^ - ■ 1 .-, * ' < • * v. ig of very truc- well Jouth fine ►und- he Were yj 1^i ■ '"" „;^>vjr- _''♦ ftO^ A SCROOLli ASTER BECAMK A OATH OLIO. 107 the ohurohes." DuPin says, too : " At last, the bishops of this ('Oiincil wrote t<» .St. Sylvester, Kishop of Ron.e, as /Ae <•/»*>/ binhop oftht imrldi an account of everything that they luid or- dained, tiiat he might publish these canons throughout tiie CAtholic Church." This is f>u Phi's abatratit, a uiild one, no doubt. Dr. Ives, in Trials of a Mind, quotes Kleury, at length, far the conclusion and in it there is "since you ( Sylvester ) have the greatest |rart in the goveiuuicut of tlie Church." And the same is in " the chief bishop of the world;" the chief bi.<)hop must wield the chief authority. British bishops were also at the (/ouncil of .SArdi»;a, A. 1). H47, at which the famous decrees were issued, respecting appeals to the Bishop of Rome. In their report to Po|>e Julius, th«' l)ishops of this Council said j "Thi." will seem to be excellent and very suitable, if to the head, that is, to the seat of the Apostle Peter, the priests of the Lord from the several provinces leport.*' ( Hov enim opthninn ef ra/de conffmenfiaminum esse rideJnfnr, >»' nd rapiit, id tsf., nd /*«• f.ri Apoiif.o/i (ledc.m, de sinyuilis qutsque pronncis Domi m rej'eranf Httcerdofes.) In 423, when Pelagianisnt whs rampant in Britain, Pope Celestine, according to St. Prosper, interfere«l to suppress it. " At the instance of the deacon Palladiiis, Po|>e Celestine sends Gennanus, Bishop of Auxerre, in his own stead (n'ces-na), that he may ver^ to get their Christianity from Rome. And the director of ■ jthe great work was Gregory the Great, a monk, a popk ! The deputed agent was the monk, St. Augustine, aided by u train -of monks. "Unless,'' says Milman, "he had been a monk, Augustine would hardly have attempted, or have succeeded in the conversion of Britain." " The missiomtries landed in att?," says Greene, "on tlie very spot where Hengist had landed more than a century before in the Isle of Thanet. ... It is sti*ange that the spot which witnessed the landing of Hengist sltould be yet better known as the landing place of Augustine. " - ^x:yi The conversion of Kthelbert and liis nation soon followed. ^ And right here I must obsei-ve that St. Augustine was a' " Romanist : " he and his attendants invoked the saints, prayed for the dead, performed miracles, purified with holy water, made the sigii of the cross, and made processions with a " cnicitix of silver "and "a picture of the Redeemer borne aloft. " Augustine tried hard to obtain the aid of the British in his mission labors : but they met him oidy to quickly withdraw .: *S*:tV-,.-^ ^k. ''r& ■■■!■■ V J -i:^:- I ^ ^ " '>'L* Jvi Hew A 80HOOLMA8TKR BBOAMl A OATHOblV^ 109 • ■ i / " ■ ■ ', . *. •v, '•?. themselves on the pretence of an affront, ridiculously frivoloua, and at the very, utmost but three points of difference. They were out of the correct reckoning in keeping Easter ; had a pe- culiar rite of baptism ; and used the tonsure of St. John, by " which the front of the head was shaved so « to resemble a ci'escent, or semi-circle, and the haii' allowed to fall down upon the back. " On nothing else was the sign of a difference started. But on the supposition that the British church was the imnwctt* late original of the modern Anglican, the Britons ought to have drawn up a pretty long list of " superstitious " that they indig* nantly abhorred ; while the Anglicans, to be true representa- tives of the old stock, should agree with them in keeping Easter, in their baptismal ceremony, and especially in the " primitive " timsorial style. Had the Britons differed much from the " Romanists," Augustine would scarcely have sought* their aid. It is generally said that the Britons took umbrage at the arrogant bearing of St. Augustine and so refused to co> operate with him ; the mure plausible probability is that their hatred of the Saxons blinded them to their duty, and disposed them to attach importance to differences which in other con- ilitions they would ttubmissively have given up. However this may be, they sulked off ; but to say that they, expressly or by inference, objected to 8t. Augustine in liis deputed capacity is a gratuitous venture. Not otie of them denied the Pope^n authaf' Hffi.:Ae far as can be known, the subject was not mooted. But Augustine's mission, which opened with such fair promises, and really brought into the Chui*ch vast multitudes, owing to internecine strife, became contracted in its limits. About this time missionaries from Ii-eland entered the north of England, to propagatie the Gospel. And this was Rome working through Ireland. In 664, King Oswi convoked a council at Whitby, at which Colman and Wilf rith, the leaders of the British and the Roman paHies respectively, fully discussed their ecclesiastical differences. Greene says ( p. 64.) : " The points actually con- tested were trivial enough. Colman, Aidan's successor at Holy Isle, pleaded for the Irish fashion of the tonsure, and for the Irish tiii^e of keeping Easter ; Wilfrith pleaded for the Roman. The one disputant appealed to the authority of Columba, the other to that of St. Peter. ' You own,' cried the puzzled king fkt last to Coln^an, ' that Christ gave to Peter the keys of thf T^WP ppiM mmi mmmi no HOl^ k MK00l.MA8't>J< liKCAMK A CATHOLlt, kingdom of heaven ; Ims he given 8ueh power tc» Cohnnhu ? ' The Bishop could but answer, ' No. ' ' Then will I rather obey the porter of heaven,' said Oswi, ' leat when I reach its gates he who has the keys in his keeping turn his back on me, and there be none to open. ' The importance of Oswi's judgment was never doubted at Lindisfarne, where Colman, followed by the whole of the Irish tiorn brethren, and thirty of their Knglish fellows, forsook the See of St. Aiden, and sailed away to lona. " Read the rest to, '' It was from such a chaos as this that Eng- land was saved by the victory f>f Kome in the Synod of Whitby. " By 669, when Pope Vitalian sent Theodore into England, the succession from Augustine b"^ vanished. The "Apostolic succession " of the Anglican church, if demonstrable at all, m'i.st pass back thrcnigh Th(M)dore. Anglicans can never touch the British Church by ' ' succession. " Read this deliberate statement of England's gieatest ecclesiastical historian : " Those who drew these letters patent seem not to have been aware that the orders in the Church of England are derived from the Church of Rome : if, therefore, the Church of Rome is an anti- Christian society, her authority is gone, and her privileges for- feited ; by consequence, the next inference is, that th^ benefit of tlie priesthood and the force of holy administrations must be lost in the English Church. "( Collier, Vol. vm., 101.) Now, it is plain to me that the Anglican (*iiurch, imth ethnically and by the claim of order, is a stranger t<) the British Church ; and if a descent could be made out, the work would show that the present " Catholic " Church is recreant to its first love. It was from Theodore's time to Henry VIII. , that, according to the Homily against Peril of Idolatry, '* not only the unlearn- ed and simple, but the learned and wise ; not the people only, but the bishops ; not the sheep only, but also the shepherds themselves, . . . fell both into the pit of danmable idolatry. In the which all the world, as it were drowned, continued until our age, by the space of above eight hundred years. . . So that laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children, of whole Christendom ( pretty well distributed ) have been at once drowned in abom- inable idolatry, of all other vices most detested of God, and most damnable to man, and that by the space of eight hundred yeara and more. " This is plain, vigorous talk, for an object ; *■ t SJ n ■■■p .r '-«■ •«■ ■^.^ > ■. RO^ A ^cnrOOLMA^TBR BROANC A CATROLIO. Ill bufc it betrays a sublime forgetfulness of the continuous British church. And Mr. Palmer, seemingly conscious that careless people might not perceive its true meaning, has singled it out for a special explanation. Hu says, ( as if there were anything obscure in it ) : " The meaning is, that mine, peinons in every class were guilty of idolatry, which is very certain : but not that the whole Church, literally speaking, fell into damnable idolatry, for if so, it must have entirely failed, which would be contrary to the belief of the Church of England. "( Vol. i.. p. 308.) This, of course, is based on the fact that '• nfl aije«, neots, and degrees of men, women, and children," is eijuivalent to " some persons," just a very few. Mr. Pahner abounds in such clever strokes. The whole Church in England before the six- teenth century, whether addicted to idolatry or not, was al>ove all other things " Roman ; " and she was not only believed in, and trusted to, by kings, statesmen, warriors, ai i writers, whom all Englishmen might well honor for laying the founda- tions of England's greatness, framing her laws, opening her re- sources, filling the country with the grandest architectural mon- uments in the world, and raising to the highest pitch her mili- tary prowess among the nations ; but she was also revered by all within the realm. From " all " one or two enterprising spirits of Wycliffe's type may be excluded. Signs of the nation's wish to free itself from "Romanism," nowhere crop out in history. Now, let the substantial facts of the beginning of the '* Re- formation " be briefly but narrowly noticed. And the facts shall be given in the words of highly respectable historians, ap- provers of the " Reformation." Henry VIII. had been mnrried to his brother's 'nominal widow, for more than twenty years', when, fascinated by the salacious charms of Anne Boleyn, he began to gather doubts as to the validity of his marriage. He could ease his conscience and gratify his lust only by obtaining a divorce. But in those times it was hard for even a king to get a divorce. It could not be had at Rome, and Greene says, " the iniquity of the proposal jarred against the public consci- ence." ( Hist. p. 343.) ( A " public conscience " then ! ) Cran- iner's ingenuity suggested that the judgment of the European universities should be obtained. " But," says Greene (p, 343.), M the appeal to the learned opinion of Christendom ended in mmKfmmm <.:\r^v- lis HOW A aOHOOLMASTRR BHOAMB A OATBOUa >> -- utter defeat. In France the profuse bribery of the English agents would have failed with the university of Paris but for the interference of Francis himself. As shameless an exercise of Henry's own authority was required to wring an approval of his cause from Oxford and Cambridge. In Germany the very Protestants, in the fervor of their moral revival, were dead against the king. 80 far as could be seen from Craumer's test, every learned man in Christendom condemned Henry's cause. It was at the moment when every expedient had been exhaust- ed by Norfolk and his fellow ministers that Cromwell came again to the front. Despair of other means drove Henry at last to adopt the bold plan from which he had shrunk at Wolsey's fall. The plan was simply that the King should disavow the Papal jurisdiction, declare himself head of the Church within his realm, and obtain a divorce from his own ecclesiastical courts." Collier ( Vol. iv., p. 163.) cites this : " That the seals as well of certain universities in Italy and France, were gotten ( as it were for a testimony ) by the corruption of money with a few light persons, scholars of the same universities ; as also the seals of the universities of this realm, were obtained with great travail, sinister working, secret threatenings and entreatings of some men of authority, specially sent at that time thither for the same purpose. " And the Church was overcome in this way : ** It was pretended that Wolsey's exercise of authority as papal legate contravened a statute of Richard II. , and that both him- self and the whole body of the clergy, by their submission to him, had incun'ed the penalties of a praemunire, that is, the for* feiture of their movable estates, besides imprisonment at dis> oreUou.« 4 . The clergy, however, now felt themselves to be the weaker party. In convocation they implored the king's clemency, and obtained it by pacing a large sum of money. In their petition he was styled the protector and supreme head of the Church and clergy of England. Many of that Iwdy were staggered at the unexpected introduction of a title that seemed to strike at the supremacy they had always acknowledged in the Roman see. " ( Hallam's C. H. , Vol. l , p. 87. ) Greene says : •• They ( clergy ) wore told that forgiveness could be bought at no less a price than the payment of a fine amounting to a mil- lion of our~present niDney, and the acknoM'ledgment of the King »M * Protector and only supreme head of the Church and clergy ■■■*'^. . ^,sf. HHHH ^??' ^M WiVr A SOIIOOLMASTKH BVUAMK A CATUOLIO. To the 113 of England. ' To the Arflt deinaud tliey at once Hubinitted ; against tho second denuind they ntrugglod hard, but their ap- peals to Henry and to C'roniwell met only with demands for instant ol>e'ter of the Church was defined." This was the Act of Supremacy. On page 'M', he says : '* It was only when all possibility of resistance was at an end, when the Church was gagged and its pulpits turned into mere echoes of Henry's M'ill, that Cromwell ventured on his last and crown- ing change, that (»f claiming for the cr '' V 114 HOW A AOHOOLMAiTlR BRCAMR A OATHOLIOv perhaps m<» ^uutiially fouiitled upon inotiveH of justictt and coin- |NiHi4ion, as on th^ olivioiu tendency which its pioMecution lat- terly manifuHted to hrin^^ uhout a Heparation from Rome. . . Hut the common peoph;, eHpucially in remote counties, ha8i- tion to the reformation they abhorred." ( Id. p. W.) " By an act of 1584, . . it was made high treason to deny that ecclesi- astical supremacy of the crown, which, till about two years he- fore, no one hatl ever ventured to assort. Bishop Fisher, al- most the only inflexibly honest churchman of that ago, was be- headed for this denial. .Sir Thomas Moore, whose name can ask no epithet, underwent a similar fate. ... A considerable numlter of less distinguished persons, chieHy ecclesiastical, were afterwards executed by virtue of this law." ( Id. p. 37.) Knight ( Hist. Kng., Ch. liii., ) shows too that some rigor was neces- sary to make this supremacy of the crown palatable to the people. He says: "The prior of the London Charter-house, John Haughton, after a short imprisonment, in 1534, had sworn to the Act of Succession, and ao had his brethren. But they wei-e with difficulty brought ' to good conformity. * It was not the policy of the government to let them alone. They were respected by the people of London. They were hospitable and charitable. The new statute of treason was to be tested upon them. JJ they yielded and acknowledged the supremacy, their example would reconcile others of lower reputation. If they refused, their punishment would terrify the boldest into sub- missiou. They had committed no outward offence. They were to be slaughtered for an opinion. There were two houses con- nected with iV.e London priory ; and their priors came to Crom- well, and h Haughton entreated to be excused answering the questio. :« which they expected to be addressed to them. They were sent to the tower. They refused to accept the Act of Supremacy when brought liefore Cromwell and others. They w«re tried by a jury, upon this refusal, of course found guilty, ' '■'li . .-K. T''Ajti :;^^ :«- wmfmmm W^' ''\ HOW A >HlH(>OLMA!4TRH nrOAMIi, A (JATHOLfO. lift ■-■*'; ami condemned on the 'JJth of April. From the tower to Tylmni was a weariHoniu und foul road for thettu {kmh men to travel on hurdles, in their ecoleHiaHticul i-ol)eH, on a May morning, It watt the first time that oler|;a law of the king and the parlia- ment, which they held to be cf>ntrjiry to the superior law of the Church." Greene ( p. 350.) says : " If he struck at the Church, it was through the (Jarthusians, tlie holieHt and most renowned of English Churchmen." From all thi» it is abundantly manifest that, because the Pope would not grant Henry the divorce that was condemned by every just man of the time, he broke off all intercourse with the Apostolic See, and, by the meanest trickery and the stertieet exercise of brutal tyranny, put the Church under his feet and trod it to a shape to suit himsolf. The Churcii had no thought of a rtformation ; " the king," as Strype says, ''made them ( the clergy ) buckle to at last." Nor can I discover from any of the above extracts, nor infer from the stern enforcement of ♦joercive statutes, that the people were so suddenly overjoyed at *' their liberation from Rome," as men of Mr. Palmer's stamp would have us to believe. --:'''> Mr. Palmer says the papal power "was suppressed, not transferred to the king." However this may l)e, Henry was more officious and absolute in his church, than any Pope had been in Christendom, ^y Act of Pftrliament the king's eccle- siastical power was clearly defined : "The king, his heirs, and successors, kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only supreme head on earth of the (Church of Eng- land, cf^lled Anglicana Ecclesia ; and shall hare and enjoy, an- nexed and united to the in >erial crown of this realni, as well the title and style thereof, wt> all honors, dignities, pre-eminen< ues, juriadictiom, privileges, authorities, immunities, promts, and commodities to the said dignity of supreme head of the same Chnrfh, Indouging and appertaining; and that he, his heirs aod successors, kings of this lealni, shall have full power m^K' 'T w^^f^^^^^^mffm^m^Sffifii^'m wmfimmimfmim 116 HOW A SOHOObRIAaTBa BBOAMB A gATUaMC. 7:^ c »nd authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, re- form, order, oorrect, re^itrain, and amend ail such errors, hemsies, abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities, whatso- ever they be, which by any manner of spiritual authority or jurisdiction, ought or may lawfully be reformed, repressed, or- dered, redressed, collected, restrained, or amended." (Quoted by Dr. Ives. ) It is hard tu see how his power could be enlarged. Of this Act Knight says : " This is a short statute, but of hiji^h significance. There t^/as no power now to stand between the people of England and the exercise of unbridbed despotism. The most arbitrary that had ever wielded the lar^e prerogatives of snvereignty had now united in his own person the temporal and spiritual supremacy. The ecclesiastical authority which had regulated the Knglish Church for eight hundred years was gone. The feudal organization which had held the sovereign in some submission to ancient laws and usages of freedom was gone. The crown had f>ecome all in all. The whole system of human intercourse in England was to be subordinated to one supreme head — kiaq and jwpe in one. . . . The higher clergy were terrified into the most abject prostration before this spiritual lord." ( Ch. \a\\.) Most writ9"i9«aB4P«i ^- -. ^vKL,;: ••■■^^^v,- V'-'-v- HOW ▲ (lOHOOLIfASTSB BBOAlCl A OATHOUa U7 J''"- ^■. Protestant. Yet both is done by all writers, great and small, who are without the Anglican communion. For instance, Ran- ke, in Hist, of Popes, very coolly and deliberately throughont calls Anglicanism, Protestantism ; and "Romanism," Catholi* cism. Knight says that Elizabeth "and her wise advisers had taken their resolution to abide by Protestantism." Hallam has : " Nor could the Protestant religion have easily been es- tablished by legal methods under Edward and Elizabeth with- out this previous destruction of the monasteries." ( Vcl. i., p. 99.) On page 127, he says : " But an historian ( Burnet ) whose bias was certainly not unfavorable to Protestantism, confesses that all endeavors were too M'eak to overcome the aversion of the people towards reformation, and even intimates that Geraian troops were sent for from Calais on account of the bigotry with which the hulk of the nation adhered to the old superstition. This is somewhat an humiliating admission that the ProttHtan4 faith was imposed upon our ancestors by a foreign army." And on page 257, he has : " And after the Council of Trent had effected such considerable reforms in t;he Catholic discipline, it seemed a sort of reproach to the ProtestaiU church of EnglaQ4, that she retained all the dispensations, the exemptions, the pluralities, which had been deemed the peculiar corruptions of the worst times of popery. " Greene ( p. 408.) has : " The quiet decay of the traditionary Catholicism which formed, the religion of three-fourths of the people at £li?abeth's accession is shown by the steady diminution in the number of recusants through- out her reign. . . . The n.ain cause of the change lay undoubt- edly in the gradual dying out of the Catholic priesthood, and the growth of a new Protestant clergy who supplied their place." "This Article (VI)," says Boultbee, "is the fniMia- mental one which stamps the Church of England as essentially Pbotestant." The double emphasis is his own. It is remark- ably curious that the Anglicans can neither cajole their ac- quaintances nor 8 ibsidize strangers to call them names. Some of the Anglicans, too, preach up the absurdity, thai their " continuous British church " has been a constant " wit> ness to the truth." Dr. Ives tears the very bottom out of th« pretension. He says : " Waiving, for the time, thequeslion of England'^ independeni authority iu matters of faith, I was hera aonstraittt ' to ask at what period in the history of thai author- ^ : ■'<^* '• ;-*^j:-,'''-' ( ^ :^h. V :*^ < ?^. ^>> ' *, ,.' •vi .- 118 sow A iOSOOLMASiTBR BEOAMB A OATHOLIO. ity are wh bo trust it as a autfi ;if her most eminent - ^. ■ ■■ - ;v;i-)?:^ .,n.i:::.. 0- '\ ^ J s i ' _ . ,s ■-i»'" ■:% J..r ,■■-:,?> % ■'^■■ ■X ■'' ■ ':v ■ J ii- y!ii<^ w ''^ - .■«);*',■ •.;• '..■-' ■*.;, ^,f\ ":■ HOM' A KC'H()ULMA8TEK l:CAMK A CATHOLIC. 114) K - , I ':-,-**. ■ft^x^-j^; ahni-nl. At Holy Coitiininiioii t.li« C!athoHf» distVilmte ** the Hrivff l)rea(l M'hith cfime dcwu frcm lieuven ; ' the Pi'oteeitaiits, common bread. C-atholics say that the elements, before they are conaecruted, are simply bread and wine ; but that, by their eonsetration, they become the bof the word repels many from even considering it ; but one that professes a belief of the Incarnation, or of the H«>ly Trinity, cannot con- sistently reject tranHubt$tantiatioii, because it is contrary to his senses, or above his reason. As the truths of Christianit} are revelations of Almighty Ood to man, fo he accepted hy/q,ifh, and not placed before liim, to be tried by his limited knowledge and feeble logie, this great mystery, if it is a clear revelation, must also be admitteil and believed bj' prr»fessing Christians. The Catholic believes it, because he knows it is, and has been, the teaching of the Church, in which the Spirit of Truth forever abides ; so short and sharp is the proof that suffices for him. But his wonder is that Protestants, who take the Bible for their creed, do no* believe with him. • • /" ' ' • . "*^ •i^--.' Abundant testimonies from the gieut ecclesiastical writers can be produced tf» show that the ('hurch has tUwayn taught the corporeal Presence in the Kucharist. *' He ( St. Ignatius ) af- firms that those heretics »epurated themselves from tlie Euchar- ist, because they did not believe that it was the body of Jesus Chi-ist. " ( DuPin. ) ' ' Where he ( St. Irenseus ) proves the Resur- rection of the body against the Valentinians, because it is not credible, that being nourished with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, it should remain in corruption." ( DuPin.) " ( He ) is fed on the ricluiess of the Body of the Lord, the Eucharist to wit." (Tertullian de Pudicia.) "To give them ( the lapsed ) the Eucharist, that is to profane the Holy Body of the Lord ^ ( EuchariMiam dare^ id est^ sanctum Domim corpus profawiTt. ) " (St. Gj'prian, Ep. x., Martyr et Confess. ) DuPin says of the f§'^f Eighth Book of St. Hilary on the Trinity : " Therfr is in this book an excellent passage for the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, where he says, that ' hy thin nobcramf.iU *«» h'uly receive the Jtesh and blood of Jetnis Christy u>ho remaim ccrpottaliy in w*.' " St. Optatub ( Bk, \i., Ch. i.)ftek8: **Wca 'M? ^ ""P 190 HOW A SOHQOLHASTKR BBQAMS A OATHOLIO. HS'.V what is the altar, bnt the resting place of the Body and Blood of Christ '( Quid eat enim of fare, um mdea et corporin et nanffuinM Christi ) !' " From the first of those Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalom, which are called MyHtagogical, DuPin quotes this : " For as the bread and wine of the Eucharist, which are nothing before the Invocation of the Most Holy Trinity but bread and wine, become after this Invocation the Body :vnd Blood of Jesus Christ. " From the fourth Lecture DuPin has translated this : ** Wherefore I conjure you, my brethren, not to consider them any more as common bread and wine, since they are the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ acconling to His Word. For though your sense inform you, that 'tis not so, yet faith should per- suade and assure you that 'tis so ; judge not, therefore, of this truth by your taste, but let faith make yon believe with an en- tire certainty, that you have been uuwle worthy to partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Clnist. " ' ' Because the just as well as sinners eat the living lx}dy which is upon the altar. " (St. Ephnem of Syria.) ( What ue not otherwise indicated are taken from Faith of Catholics by Water worth. ) "It is good and very profitable to communicate even daily, and to partake of the holy Body and Blood of ( (irist, who clearly says. He that eateth myjlenh and drinkefh rm/ blood hath tmrloHting ttfe." (8t. Basil.) '• Rightly, therefore, do I believe that now also the bread that is sanctitied by the Word of God is transmuted into, the Bf>dy of the (iod-Word." ( JSt. Gregory of Nyssa.) Speaking of St. Athanasius, St. Gregory of Nazianzen, said : ** As being thus nurtured and tutored, it beseems men who are now about to be set over the people, and to handle the mighty Body of Christ . . ." St. Ambrose, in his Book of Mysteries, says :*' Afterwards you run to the heavenly feast and see the altar prepared, where you receive a nourishment infinitely ex- ceeding that of Manila, a bread more excellent than that of angels. 'Tis the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Body of Life ; 'tis the incorruptible Manna, 'tis the Truth whereof the Manna was only the Figure. Perhaps you will tell me, but I see another thing ? How do you assure me that it is the Body of Jes»8 Christ which I receive ? That we must prove. We must show that it is not the body which nature hath formed, but that which the benediction hath consecrated ... A Virgin brought forth. Th^ is against the order of nature. The body whi^h ■^^ -^*:>^vk4.k- ■^^^1^ Pi mmmm m HOW A SOHOOLMASTKK BEOAME A OATIIOLIO. 121 ood inin of lia: ing ftnd Sttt is : em tdy »gh >er- his en- of ire bke He Iso ed i.) 1; re fcy 18, le ic- [)f le IS sr IS i we consecrate came forth of a virgin. Why do you seek fcr the order of nature in the body of Jesus Christ, since .lesus Christ was born of a Virgin contrary to the order of nature? Jesus Christ had real flesh, which was fastened to the iiu«s, and laid ' in the sepulchre. Ho the Eucharist is the true sueruuient of this flesh ; Jesus Christ Himself assures us of it : This m, says He, mi/ Body ; liefore tht^bencdiction of these lieavenly words, it is of another nature, after tlie oonseiaation it is the liefore the consecration it is called ]>y another name, after consecration, it is tallc*;-- ^^^^Ifi'pfpiilpIP'^ ^'■■■•■,'..<>'^' ■l.» 122 HOW A A0HOOLMA^4T«K BROAMK A OAT| txloi U8, St. Jerome, speaking of priest*, said : " They make the J>()»iy of Jesus Christ, with their sacred mouth ( Qui Christi cor- piLsiacro ort ooiifivinnf.)" *' He has sanctified His own flesh y adoring, but sin by not adoring ( ^/ quia in ipsa ravHc hie (tmhithirif, et ipxam carnein vohi.-< manducandam ad HaJii/em dedii ; iit-.tno antfm illam earuem manducat, nisi, fvriui* adorm-r)')! . . . :f non sofnm non percemiis adorando, sed perce-' mi('< iioii (idoraudo.)" ( St. Augustine, Ps. xcviii.) *' The bread which you see on the altar, after being sanctified by the word ol (J od, is the body of Christ. That chalice, yea rather that whicli the chalice contains, after being sanctified by the word of < I od, is the blood of Christ. Hy means of these things, it was the will ui Christ our Lord to bestow upon us His own body aiul blood which He poured forth for us for the remission of sins { Panis itl(. quern ridetix in altari, sancfifiratus per lyerbnm D^i, corpuH e.-^t Chrinti. Calix il/e, immo quod, habet ccdix, sancti- ^firnfum per rerhuni Dei, Hamfuinis est Chritti. Per ista i^luit Dominvs f'hri'^fn.'f eommendare corpvn et xanipiinem auvm, qtiem pro nobis fudit in remissionetn peeraforum.) " ( St. Aug., Sermon COXXVTl.) Further, all the ancient Liturgies proclaim that the Real Presence was the uniform belief of the early Church. In the Roman Liturgy, " which is believed to come originally from St. }*eter " ( Fredet ) , the priest .says : " We l)eseech thee, O God ! to cause that this oblation may be in all things blessed, admit- ted, ratified, reasonable and acceptable; that it may become for us the Hody and Blood of thy beloved vSon, our Lord Jesus Christ." In the Liturgy of Jerusalem are : "That comingt he ( H . S. ) may make this bread the life-giving body . . . And may make what is mixed in this chalice, the blood of the New Testament." The Liturgy of St. Mark has: "0 Lord, our Cod, semi down upon us, and this bread and this chalice, Thy Holy Spii'it ; that he may sanctify and consecrate them, as ....^^^■" ? i ip^ s^i'. mm wm- ROW A 80HOOLMASTER BKOAMV A OATHOLIO. 123 I. '^!!*fS*\'i''-^ <>:'<^:Z r God Almighty ; and may make the bread indeed the body, and the chalice the blood of the very Lord, and God, and .Saviour Jesus Christ." In the Liturgy of St. Basil are : " O Lord ! may thy Holy Spirit come down upon us . . *. and may he sanctify them, and make this bread the glorious body ; and this chalice the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ." In the Liturgies of St. Ambrose and St. John Chrysostem the words are almost exactly the same. " In a word," says Dr. Fredet, *• let all the Liturgies — Cxreek, Arabic, Latin, Galilean, and others— Ije perused ; in all of them will be found prayers addressed to the Almighty, that He would consecrate, by His Holy Spirit, the gifts offered, and make them the body and blood of Hif Son ; which is exactly the Catholic dogma of the real presence and Transubstantiation. " See appendix to Moehler's Symbolism. • I have surely given extracts numerous enough, and full enough, to show that during the first five centuiies the Real Presence was the doctrine of the Church. All the great writers are witnesses to the fact, and if the word ttxiiPtubfitantialioH has not so far been used, the complete change of one substance into another, which transubstantiation expresses, has ^been clearly illusf rated. All that dilate on the subject say that the bread and wine are, by the ))enediction, converted into different sub- stances, into the body and blood of Christ, and tlie proper word to express such a radical change is tratu^uhftfaufiation. This was the belief of the Church in ancient times, in medi?pval times, and is her teaching to-day. And what i« moie, and should confound tliuse who assert that the real presence was in- vented in the Middle Ages, Transubstantiation is to-day thw doctrine of the heretical bodies that broke off from the Church, in the fifth century, the Nestorians, and the varying paities of the Eutychians : it is also the doctrine of the (^reek Church. If the Church changed from something to Transubstantiation, by what influence did she prevail on these off-shoots, hei- envi- ous opposers, to adopt it? I have not seen any Protestant ex- planation of the matter. Alzog quotes the view of the famous Lessing, as follows : " If it be true, as Zwingle asserts, that the doctrine of inerely exteruai si;/ihs was the primitive and original doctrine of the Chtirch, how was it possible that it should sud- denly have given rise to the doctrine of Transubstantiation ? Would not this have been a dangerous leap in the dark, such as 1 1 M pill vntm wf»«y!«'^^^^^»^p ■iMPinpwiPm .'%v ]24 HOW A SCHOOLMASTER BKOAMK A OATHOLIO. ■'•i', -I" „^''.>'^* \r I 'A-^ the huiimii reason never takes, even in its most unaccountable wanderings from the traith ? And, in order to avoid taking it, should we not in our own uuse have approached the doctrine of Transuhstaiitiation by a more consistent, if less direct course? Should we not have gone on from merely external signs to preg- nant Hi(jn-<, as we will call them for the sake of brevity, or to such as ai-<; full of meaning and hidden virtue ? And, having assumed this nuu;h, we should then have passed from signs to reality. The process would then lie this : First came the belief in vneraly external sigUM ; next, the belief in nignn jtosHtudng a rirtife ; and finally, a xnhstit nting for any sign whatever the real- ity or the Iking itxe.lf. Now the question arises, how did it come about that the tranHition was made from the first to the second Ktage without exciting comment or )>eing the occasion of a con- troversy, while the transition from the second to the third, ef- fected, as we lire told, by I'asehasius, was the occasion of much trouble and ((uarreling ? This is the more remarkable, since the former wouhl liavc been more offensive than the latter to the faith and religicms feelings of the i>eople. Now, as it is abso- lutely certain that the first leap in this supposed course of intel- lectual gymnastics was not the occasion of either protest w controversy, it is but natural to infer that no such course ever took place at all, and that the doctrine of the Church Was from the beginning what it is to-day." Mosheim ( E. H., Cent. ix. Ch. IT(.) sayfi : " It had l^een hitherto the unanimous opinion of the Church that the Body and Blood of Christ were administer- ed to those who received the Sacrament of tiie Lord's supper, and that they were consequently preset at that holy institu- tion . . ." What I have already put together on this subject fully per- suades me that the great majority of Protestant theologians either wilfully, or, perhaps, more charitably, very ignorantly nvisrepresent the history of this great doctrine. I see plainly enough that the Church htis, contrary to their assertions, taught the substantial presence, from the very first. Like every other dogma, owing to ccmtroversy and heretical cavilling, it may have gradually been more sharply defined {^nd accentuated, but the d«ictrine itself has always been the same. But what signi- fie.s all this ? Although it has always been held by the body of Chriist, whose spirit is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, or •,^■• v-\^-4- ^■pPBi«PHipP«3Pn««IMppMi HOW A SOHOOLMASTE& BIOAMK A OATHOLIO. 125 .^-^- the Church against which the gates of hell shiill never prevail, ; the Protestant will naturally turn away from all, to tin»l relief ''• in the New Testament. It is well remarked by Dr. Fredet, in his Kucharistic Mystery, that : "Of all the actions and discourses of our Lord, during the time He was seen upon earth and conversed with men ( Itaruch III. 38. ) , we find but few unanimously recorded by the four Evangelists. His public life, His preaching and His miracles at ■i large, His passion. His death and His resurrection ; these arc ' nearly all the facts that we read alike in the four gospels. His '; genealogy, His ascension, etc. , are mentioned in only two of ^ them ; many other important events are recorded only by one ; "for instance, the Annunciation, by 8t. Luke; the flight into Egypt, together with the circumstances which i;>reoeded and followed ft, bj' 8t. Matthew ; the cure of the blind man of IJoth saida, by 8t. Mark ; the mivacle of Cana in (lalilee, the resur- ''^rection of Lazarus, and Christ's discourse to His disciples after the last Supper, by St. John. It wiis not, undoubtedly, with- out a just cause that the Holy (ihost so guided the pen of the sacred writers, as to cause certain words or actions of our Lord ^' to be thus related, sometimes by one oidy, and sometimes by ^ .two or three of the Evangelists. With still greater reason may ■/^' we believe that there was an especial and a strong motive foi* it inducing them all to mention the same fact, particularly when '.rthis fact was not necessarily connected with the other parts of t our Saviour's life and passion. Let us apply this to the Holy i;- Eucharist. Its institution is expressly recorded by St. Mat- "^thew, St. Mark, and St. Luke. St. John, according to his well ^^. known intent to omit in his gospel many things sufficiently _f^ mentioned by the other Evangelists, and Mce versa, to mention **:"maliy others not spoken of by them, does not descrilie the insti- ^ tntion itself, but relates at full length the solemn promise which Christ had made, two years before, of that admirable and divine blessing. Nor is this all ; St. Paul, who, in his Epistles, docs not commonly refer in an historical manner to any part of our Saviour's life, makes an exception for the Eucharist, and relates the manner, the time and other circumstances in which it Imil been instituted, declaring at the same time that he hud received the doctrine which he taught from our Lord Himself." As the ■vsan^ writer points out, in continuation, this careful relation of ii. "■• ■ ;',, ' *■' . I , , , mipipip^i^ r ^/'>''-; 126 HOW A tiOHOOLMABTEk ttEtlAUti A OAtHOilC. :f-. • the Knnharist must l>e so often i-epeated for some good purpose. " It WHS proper that a mystery which is so much above the dic- tates of our senses, a mystery to be daily renewed in the Church, and which Christ foresaw would be so violently attacked in the course of ages, should l)e repeatedly inculcated, not only by the uiiauimou8 voice of tradition, but also by the inspired words of all the Flvaugelists. "' The vaguest hint would do for the doc- trine, as exjwunded by most of the Protestants. After the prefatory evidence of his divine power in the niulti> < plication of five loaves, Jesus was followed to Capernaum, by the [)eople. Telling them that their concern was more for the loaves than the miracles. He said, " Labor not for the meat that peiisheth, but for that meat which endureth tmto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you." ( John vi. 27.) " T am the liviwj hreaH which came down from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever ; and TIIR bread THAT r WILL «ivK IS MY FLKSH, which I will givc for the life of the world." Now, if any expressicm in the Testament has intelligibility, the emphatic declaration, " the bread that I mil I fire is my flesh, might very well be selected as a singularly good specimen : the words are easy, ane something far different. The question often asked by Protestants^, was first propounded by the Jews, " How can this man give us his flesh to eat ? What was His reply to the Jews ? Did He say " you have misunderstood me," and, as was His constant cus- tom, correct the people in their misapprehension ? His answer was full and emphatic, ' ' Verily verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat thefle-ih of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in yo«." And even this is repeated. "Whoso eateth my fiesh and drinkefh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink »?»//«'«(/. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dvi'elleth in me, and I in Iiim." "This is that bread which came down from heaven ; not as your fathers did eat man* :^. '■'i •*^ mymmmmmm'^mmmmmmm mmmm yr* HOW A HOHOOLMASTBR BKOAMR A OATHOLIO. 127 lose. 1 dic- 1 rch, 1 '!*^:^ ,v the 4 1 ^ the ■ B of doc- iltiv,jf;g i>y *i.' "' the *'» .' that ■ \':';y^ tiug 27.) any ' . ■■•^f v' RA^DuM^ ,'• ^ 0-i life ■■V. has ^ ^ X',/?- imf/ -Si-^ arly 3Uld -••' "^i^^ say 'I'i:^^ you , - 'M-^- 1 t6-:yx^.. .. ' om- ^'^:iiJd ews ■■",.:'*;■■ ling was ,. .■J>)>» hia'^f^ '*i! aay T-^^^ ms- wrer , -'^^^^ ;«/>/ J 4^ 'I no ■'. / N my kise my my \ ead tau- .' na, and are dead : he that eateth of this bread siiull live fur- ever." Here the in' eriority of manna, which was hh good uh common ))read, to the " living bread " iw fully discloHed. But the Jewfj could not stand thiw talk ; they aaid : " This in a hard Haying ; who can hear it ? " .ie.sus asked them, " Does this of- fend you ? " He softened nothing. " From that tinui many of His disi'iples went back, und walked no more with Him." Ac- cording to the common Protestiuit theory that bread and wine are mere connnemorutive articlcH, bread an inanimate sul*8tunce in no way resendding a " body," a living organism, is not all this gross nonsense ? Is it not positively misleading ? But did He mean the eating of connnon bread and the drinking of com- m«m wine, when lie said : " Kxiikpt yk kat thk h'LKsn ov tuk Son ok Man, and drink Hrs clood, yk havk no iavk in yi>u"? J3e candi» »^ my body, this is 7ny hlood,' which are the words of a testa- r^y"";" ' "'w^^.'' *• "" "I n ii|ijp^^^^f^PTP^^^^iPi^i^F*"'P¥ i^^p 128 HOW A SOHOOL^IASTRR BEOANP. A OATHOLIO. ntent, and niuHMhereforc ])v iindtii'Mtood in a Htrict and literal Hunao, (!ontr;idiet Zwin^lr's view ( tlio oorninon I'roioHiani one ). It \H furtliur contradictud by tliu wohIh of thu ApoHtle in I Cor. \i. *27, "'ii), uocording to wliich ho who eatH an i V: LETTEEXV. A MLSCELLANY. In this letter, I will look at some of those practices and be- liefs of the Church, which are particularly obnoxious to Chris- tians of the perfect "evangelical " type. Most of them are, I think, those "monstrous superstitions," which, during the " Dark Ages," were got up by an ignorant but designing priest- hood, and which for so many centuries kept all (Christendom in mental and spiritual debasement. Exactly what those " mon- strous superstitions " are, I have not been able to find out ; but some of them may possibly be encountered, if a if-.w Catholic customs and tenets be noticed, tliat are ridicul hi Jy Protest- iMltS. ~ , . "' >- . All l.'atholics make the Sign of the Cross, and at the same time invoke the blessed Trinity, It is called the Si* L>. ^^•: >• , t "f; .,!?.^:^' 1/ V i:~ '^, r*^ l"-**. to continue in tlio practice of Holy Clujicli, from lief foundution, niUHt make the Sign uf the CnjHH. 'rcrtullian. at the end of the Hecond century, Haid : " VVc often nign ourMelvcM with the sign of the croBH ; if you deniund a law for them; practiccB, taken from the Scripture, we cannot lind one there ; hut we Uiust an- Bwer, tha: 'tis fratiifion Hial has fi/ah/is/ictf fhent, cuHtoni that haH authorized them, and faith tluvt Iih8 made them to be ob- served." ( l>»t*in.) " Let um not be ashamed of the (Vobs of (/hrist," Hai»T■• ■ ■"•^s■^r■ • •^s^^wr^TW^^T" 130 HOW A SOrrODLMASTKR BKOAMB A CATttOLIO. ■^;-'i. crosH, when saying our prayers, «»r when tempted to sin, to re- mind ourselves of the Hufterings and h)ve of Christ, of our union with Him, and of oiu- duties as (JFuistians and bearers of the Cross." By this t(»ken the primitive Christians were known :'<' *H-' by it their descendants are known to-(hiy. . ---u •■ "-^^''^%/- Pruyer for the dead is not a metlianal addition to the practice .'7^!^^' of the Chui(rh. Christians have prayee Ob. Val. n. 5K. ) " The universal Church has had the custom to pray for the <)ead. ( Unlrarsa pro (hj'nnctis erdt-sia Kupplicart ronwcrif.) " ( vSt. Augustine.) " Supplications for the spirits of the departed are not to be omitted. ( N'ou suuf pneferniiffeiukti ■supp/icationei pro spir,'h'hi(s morfttoriim.)^' (U.) On this sub- ject Collier hani Vol. v. , p. 284. ) : " But the argument ( Bucer's ) seems to proceed sti'onger the other way : for since prayer for the dead is noAvliere condemned in Scriptui-e, the authority of the Church appears a very good reason to i-emove scruples, and settle the persuasion of the lawfulness of the thing ; which is the meaning of that ])lace iu St. Paul's Kpistle to the Romans ( xiv. 23.) To this ymrpose, St. Augustine tells us, 'Quod unit'eriti tenet ecc/ena ntc couci/iis instifvtnni, se'' ■I -■ •^''..^- , X",' .^<^^> «" i - ■ ^.'■'-^ -f.- ^r'-Ki «p wm ROW A SCHOOLMASTER BEOAME A OATHOLIO. ISl k'\.-'' . •«>' ■ ■ .- . '■r i.: 98^ "N ' t~ ^"S ••* ^• '^'>- ">,>':'• ^ >■ . ■»• ' •,h\ . « .,-*>^ 1" m ' .: '^**'. -j ' • " " ' ■A' ■ a. ^ -''':> ■ '■ ■ ■ ^' .1. ■ -■ fi ,^:;.:p%.-i y-m: ^ j:*'. , /*v*A.;_>':_ ^».- ► ■ ■ '■. ,1— ■ *-f^',i..-' V ■"■ ■ " • ' - T ■ ' ^n^m.- ' •^ 's- " ■' . „y^;\M: : .^ if- ■ "* ' *^«^k-*' :■ . ■■;l: ' -■'ip-A - f', ' ■" .>.■"■<', ■ -;''.'V\^ - , y /€ -V,'|^1^, .:?f^-^ 1 ■T^^^r-^'r served without being settled by any counciliary decree, is right- ly l)elieved an apobtolioal tradition. ' And when we have Bucer, Luther, and Calvin, on one side of the question, and St. Augus- tine and the universal Churuh on the other, it is no great dif- ficulty to discover the casting of the balance." In the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ, by Avancini, which is adapted for the use of the Anglican clergy, and published by Rivingtons, there is on page 491, "rfa/'i/'is veuiam et (jrafinm : //w mei-H ad salutem meA el omnium tarn rirorum qiiam de- JitHctorwni, ( for my salvation and of all others both the living anil the dead.)" Dr. Smith, a Presbyterian, as quoted in Con- teuiporary Review, July 1S82, says : " The passages ( scriptural) relating to the intermediate state are obscure, but they seem to ceaking of the Christians of the first three centuries, says : " They prayed for the dead, and made oblations for then), in d celebrated the sacrifice of the mass in commemoration of theni : the Christians gave one another a kiss of peace ; they called one another by the name of brethren, and continually made the sign of the cross. They prayed to Saints and Mar- tyrs, and solemnized the day of their death with joy, and were persuaded that they inte»cede with Cod in behalf of the living." Mr. Palmer (Church, Vol. i., p. 318.) has : " lu the same inm- I'.-- .'^lA '.a V* 'i^^r %^ ■ j^l'^y*. .7* '-•^' .»t*^,* HOW A 8CUOOLMASTSR BECAMK A CATHOLIC. 133 V ^^ • J * '3^^:V . V a ' ,i.H^^ V;v, J > .'.y'-":' /■ ■V ''..'"r . 1 ■.«v-.-.- t: ■•.■ ■ rJ:^ ^;s^-: ::»■;. >r H,. ^ l^^. ■ ^ v.i -■■■*■ ■^ >-^--' e ■;•?-■: «^ ■v." A : W -4 h^ .. ,- --- ■ ■■ V • / ■~-.>- '* ;■ ?5^s»--l"' '. "^l- ':X,'^" .1 ^ ''>^b- : ■ m^: -. ■4: ^ } ■ H'i.^-^',-:' >-> V ; 24'*' ' *^ \ Mp: >*-* ner she ( E. C. ) leii^oved luvocatiuu of Sainto as leading too frequently to superstition, and even to idolatry." Quite re- cently the .Spiritual Combat has been translated into English. Its Advertisement says : " This book forms one of a series of works provided for the answered, he is omnipotent too, and therefore, has no need of the ministry of angels to assist Him in His gov- . ernment, and protect His Church, and yet the Scripture ac- quaints us that He is pleased to ujake use of them for this last purpose. It is hard for us to pronounce upon the extent of ai.i angel's commission or to what charitable offices their own benev- olence may carry then^. It is true St. Paul mentions * one me- diator between God ani man, the man Christ .Jesus.' But then, by the next verse it is plain, he means a mediator of redemption, and not a mediator of intercession, so far as to exclude all others. For every one who solicits his neighbor's happiness, and I'ecommends him to God in his devotions, may be said to be a mediator in a lower sense. Nom- such instances of charity are not only lawful ; but are the duty of one Christian towards another. And that an angel is barred the liberty of such friendly application, is more than Kii'^'er has proved." "It is a sul>linie and l»eautiful doctrine, incidcated by the early fa- thiTS, that there are guardian angels appointed to watch over cities and nations ; to take care of the welfare of good men, and .to guard and guide the steps of helplevs infancy." ( Washington Irving's St. Mark's Eve, in Bracebridge Hall. ) .Many people consider "confession to a priest" as a very humiliating and unnecessary ordeal, and the "priestly abso- lution " that follows it, a scandalous assumption of divine ^ power l)y a man. Are we not told, though, in the Testament, to confess our sins ? And, as it stands, it is a positive com- mand, subject to no conditions of taste or fancy. " And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." ( Matt. Tii. 6.) "And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds." ( Acts, XIX*. 18.) "Confess your faults (me to another. "( Jas. v. 16.) From these texts it is quite manifest that a confession is a recital of specific transgressions, and not a statement made by a penitent, in a general way, that he is a sinner, just as a saint might put it. To come up to the tenpr of the texts, a full confession of particular sins must be made. ' But to wliom must it be made ? Some say it must be made be- fore the congregation ; in the Church it has always been made privately to a priest. And this confession to a priest is a par- ticular degradation, as contrasted with a confession before an ^1 -.2-:i '« ■■!■■,■ .1 ■-'<•'■ i. "s: HOW A SOHOOLHA^TKR BVOAME A OATHOLIO. 135 1*"] "kP'. •"■'IT- "a^v :^t^K ".',*' .V. '" '"'-' i - assembly of "saints" and sinners! Were it a matter purely of choice, I would greatly prefer to disclose my secrets to one, , who would part with iiis head before he would Ijetray to any one else a syllable, than to a crowd of scandal-mongers who would magnify every peccadillo and gloat over my acknoM ledg- ed frailties, for weeks afterwards. If there be anything de- grading in a confession, it will be seen, if carefully looked into, ' that the Church, by enforcing "auricular confession," has it in a form as agreeable and safe as possible. Couf'^nsion to a [>rie8t has always been the practice of the Church. "In his ( Origin's ) time ( 185 — 254.) sins were coufcsse*! to the priests." ( DuPin.) " The practice of private confession, and absolution, she ( K. Ch.) never abolished." ( Palmer, Church Vol. r., p. 5l«.) " Now since private confession was thus oiistouiary in the /ancient Church, since there was a person particularly appointed for this purpose. We n»nst conclude it was then thought a very serviceable expedient." ( ('oilier, V^ol. v., p. 258.) For the power of absolution tliis should be sufticient : '^ At My Fafhf-r hath Kent Me, et^en so xend [ yon. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said unto them. Receive ye the Holy Ghost : Whose^oerer «jn.<< ye rem if, they are remitted unto them ; and whosexower sin-t ye retain, they are retained." (']uo. xx. 21 — 23.) Read also Matt. xvm. 18. If now, we turn to Matt. IX. 6, we can see that Jesus, as the Sou of man, forgave sins, And that the multitude "glorified God, which had given such power unto nien." .Jtisixa, rh the Son o/man, forgave sins ; and this power which He received of the Father, He transferred to His Apostles, Mhen He said, " As my Father hath sent me, even so send I. you." And this power is invested in every lineal descendant of the Apostles. A priest forgives sins, not as a mere man, but as a minister of Christ, and as He acts by His commission, so he forgives sins in His name. By what in- genious (juirk the above text from ( Jno. xx. ) can be contorted to a meaning at variance with its clear, literal significance, I cannot discover : all the "evangelical" commentators, whose works I have consulted, either skip over it as if it were some- thing of no conacciuence whatever, or ^ive it an explication . that reduces it to an absurdity. • - f J'^fr^^i? ' * Whoever confesses a belief in post -apostolic miracles adver- tises At once his grovelling credulity • The miracles of the Old '■m m ii|ifi pii ii|i. - J V ^^W ^^m^ 136 HOW A SCHOOLMASTER 1K0AHK A CATHOLIC. Testament and those of the New may, with certain qualifica- tions, merit our credence ; but after the death of the Apostles, ''\^ir or shortly after, God Almighty suddenly ceased to be Himself. From the Creation to the advent of Christ He had directly, and through His servants, displayed to the world His omnip- otence, in many ways and on various occasions ; and during the Apostolic age many of those who believed in Him wrought ., miracles in His name : but without any warning, without the " ' %; slightest intimation. He ceused to interest Himself in the af- „-: fairs of mankind, and no special tokens of His approbation or , . ti displeasure have throughout the (^'hristiun period been signal- ;• , ized ! Where is the philosophy or the Scripture for such an / . opinion? Were the vords of Christ, 'And theSe signs shall ..'/^ foUo^ them that hdievt ; In my name shall they cast out devils ; .^Ci they shall speak with new tongues ; They shall take up ser- .v if^ penii;<) ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt *£■' ^f them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." .''''-V (Mark, xvi.), or ( I Cor. xii. 8 — 10.), haphazard promises '^?vv>> ceive the strongest reasons for embracing the opinion of those who attribute this event to the almighty interposition of the Supreme Being ; nor do the arguments offered by some, to prove it the effect of natural causes, or those alleged by others to persuade us that it was the result of artifice and imposture, contain anything that may not be refuted with the utmost facility." Take another from Gibbon: "Yet the historian, who views thi religious conflict with an impartial eye, may condescend tp mention one preternatural event, which will edify the devout, and surprise the incredulous. Tipasa, a mari- time colony of Mauritania, sixteen miles to the east of Csesarea, had been distinguished, in every age, by the orthodox zeal of ;."',;■ ■^^,-\'^l' ■ , A :. V^- ■ ■■ :^r ' ^mmmmrngmmmmmmmmmfi ■>->'■■ . •■•4- ■ ■ .x;.^ . 1 . ' ' -'"<'S *. 's,H -■'1 'm i . :^c-.. • «. . ■■■♦ .* .'■ ■ ■■.--?* ■'■- «' " - , ''4 , ■ ';-^", ■ -' -m [ .^i>': ; %*, .A- '^?,^ K ..» .Jr.-: HOW A SCHOOLMASTER RBOAME A CATHOLIC. 137 its inhabitants. They had braved th« fuiy of the Bonatists ; they resisted, or oludcd, the tyranny of the AriaiiH. The town was deserted on the approach of an heretical bishop : most of the inhabitants who could procure ships passed over to the coast of Spain ; and the unhappy remnant, refusing all commuH' ion with the usurper, still presumed to hold their pious, but illegal assemblies. Their disobedience exasperated the cruelty of Hunneric. A military count was despatched from Carthage to Tipasa : he collected the Catholics in the Forum, and, in the presence of the whole province, deprived the guilty of their right hands and their tongues. But the holy confessors con- tinued to speak without tongues : and this miracle is attested by Victor, an African bisiiop, who published a history of the' persecution within two years after the event. ' If anyone,' says Victor, 'should doubt of the truth, let him repair to Constan- tinople, and listen to the cU.ar and perfect language of Resti- tutus, the sub-deacon, one of the glorious sufferers, who is now lodged in the palace of the emperor Zeno, and is respected by the devout empress.' At Constantinople we are astonished to find a cool, a learned, and unexceptional witness, without in- terest, and without passion, i^neas of Gaza, a Platonic phi- losopher, has accurately described his own observations on these African sufferers. ' I saw them myself : I heard them speak : I diligently enquired by what means such an articulate voice could be formed without any organ of speech : I used my eyes to examine the report of my ears : I opened their mouths, and saw that the wliole tongue had been completely torn away by the roots ; an operation which the physicians generally sup- pose to be mortal.' . . . They,( other witnesses) all lived with- in the compass of a century ; and they all appeal to their per- sonal knowledge, or the public notoriety, for the truth of a miracle, which was repeated in several instances, displayed on the greatest theatre of the world, and submitted, during a series of years, to the caim examination of the senses." ( Hist. Vol. III., p. 557.) "As for St. Alban's miracles, being attested by authors of such antiquity and credit, I do not see why they should be questioned. That miracles were wrought in the Church, at this time of day, is clear from the writings of the ancients. To suppose there are no miracles but those in the JJible, is to believe top little. To imagine that fyod shoulc) ex- ^^ mm wm W ^ 136 HOW A SOUOOLMASTRR BKOAMlt A OATHOtfO. '•f- ert his omnipotence, and appear siipefnaturally, for his serv* ants in no place but Jewry, and in no age since the Apostles, is an unreasonable fancy : for since the world was not all con- verted in the apostles' times, and (xod designed the further en- largement of His Church, why should we not l>elieve He would give the pagans the highest proof of the truth of Christianity, and honor his servants with the most undisputed credentials ? Now if this is very reasona))le to suppose, why should St. Alban's miracles be disbelieved, the occasion being great enough ' for such an extraordinary interposition ? For, by this means, the martyr must be mightily supported, the British Christians fortified against the persecution, and the pagans surprised into a conversion." (Collier, Vol. i., p. 52. ) Baring Gould, in pref- ace of Lives of the Saints, speaking of mediieval times, says : "The evidence for miraculous cures by living Saints, or by their relics, is overwhelming." And the Calviuist Shedd, in his History of Doctrine ( Vol. i., p. Hi6. ) , quotes the Protestant Quenstedt as admitting that the Jesuits have performed mir- acles in India and Japan. Queustedt's words are : " N'olim wgare Jennitan in Iwiia et Japonira vera qnk every column of Latin has a parallel column in English, making the Office perfectly intelligible to everyone that can read at all. But the Protestant that neither understands Latin, nor can conceive any excuse for its use by the Church, feeling his utter helplessness in its presence, and compassionating, in the ex- uberance of his charity, the condition of those Catholics that are no better qualified for it than himself, cries piteously for its total disuse. Latin is to him an ' ' unknown tongue. " This is astonishing. How is it that a single Protestant can be found, who is ignorant of Latin, which has l>een for centuries upon centuries the language of scholars and the schools "i One would think that the "glorious reformation," that great dis- seminator of learning, would liy this time have so managed matters as to make the most important of the classics the pioperty of the multitude. In times gone by, every l)oy that *i \T V* i«^' >'fj> l.^fe; ,;j,'Si^v, my-'-:' *'>^ hJ-^ '■^•v. ^^^- koW A SOkOOLMAStKR blECAHlt A OAtHOtlO. 139 had any knowledge of letters whatever, had Latin ail right': he had I^tin and his mother tongue. To be sure, from the superstitious tastes of his teachers, lie may have been tied down to indifferent models of the langiuige ; instead of being allowed to gloat over, the fascinating pages of Ovid or Martial, he may have been forced to content himself with extracts from S. Severu-s, or Optatus, or St. .\ugiistinc, or Lactantius ; but how- ever imperfect his courao of reading may have been, he would hot detect any " unknown tongue " in the Office of the Mafts.' After the suppression of the monasteries, only a few privileged ones could ac(iuire a knowledge of Latin : the agencies, encour- aged by the Church for its general ditfusion, have been over- thrown, and now it has to be called an ^'unknown tongue." Vet its acquisition is possible to-day, tuieen the indirect instrument of all her victories ; because in it are embodied all her history-, her laws, the papal utter- , ances, her theology, and every kind of record worthy of preser- :ij^ vation ; and because, as the Latin in its flexions and idioms-is *' fixed, it is an unchangeable language ami consequently the most appropriate for an unchangeable Church. The Church, then, will continue to keep her own language. But why does she celebrate the Mass in Latin ? Because, as the Mass is a sacri- fice and must necessarily be offered by a priest and as it can- not signify anything to the congregation in what language he recites the sacramental words of intercession, which are always too low for them to hear, there can be no reason why the very woi-ds should not be constantly and universally used, that have wm^^ "'■'WlWiPPP lip HOW A 80KOOL1IA9TIB BBOAWI A CATHOLIC. be«n conBt«ntly and universally nsed, nor why the priest should not use the words for which he must have a reverential prefer- ence. And what can be suhlimer than one office conducted throughout the world, in one exact form of words? It matters not where a Catholic goes he everywhere finds the Mass the same : and he everywhere understands it, and can join In the worship. This difficulty of an "unknown tongue" will not disturb his religious convictions. He knows that in the "meet- ing house " there are singing, preaching, and praying, in English ; but he knows also that in the Catholic service there are singing, preaching, and praying, in English, and one aooD KXTRA in the language of the Church. : .\ ' //*^ Now that I have shown the principal reasons that prevailed with me in adopting Catholicism, I cannot fairly be accused of having acted by a sudden impulse, or a fanciful freak. So far was I from either, that I had fully made up my mind to be a Catholic for more than a year, before I offered myself for bap- tism. At midsummer of 1886, I was duly instructed and pre- pared by the Rev. Father AUain, then parish priest of Uxbridge, Ont., who baptized me and received me into the Church. And, as I have, been a Catholic for more than two years, and have consequently well tided over the probationary period of six months, which is usually allowed for giddy-headed converts to tire of the " tinsel trumperies " of Catholicism, I now consider myself irrevocably established in the faith of my fore-fathers. A Catholic I am proud to declare myself ; a Catholic I intend to be ; and in the Catholic Church I hope to die, ' , *- .''?>..i^ X h. m- \, •'< . '--y f „■:■ .*-u.v :;^i ;\;'v ^:^; V''. F wmmmmm '.%-■■- ■ ^ ' ''•-•V-' .■ . ■'■,.' ■ ^> - ■t .■^^r V: - ; ^> •■•s^v. V ^ •^:n-:.. I . - r. \' '^i