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CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY 
 
 OR 
 
 THE REASONABLENESS 
 OF OUR RELIGION 
 
Permissu Superiorum C.SS.R, 
 
 F. THOMAS BERGH, O.S.B., 
 
 Censor Deputatus. 
 
 Emprtmatur. 
 
 EDM. CAN. SURMONT, 
 
 ViCARius Generalis. 
 
 Westmonasterii, 
 
 Die 12 Julii, 1916. 
 
CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY 
 
 OR 
 
 THE REASONABLENESS 
 OF OUR RELIGION 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. O. R. VASSALL-PHILLIPS, C.SS.R. 
 
 ' AUTHOR OF 
 
 'the mustard tree: an argument on behalf of the divinity of CHRIST,' 
 
 "the work of ST. optatus against the donatists," 
 
 "MARY, MOTHER OF CHRIST, IN CATHOLIC TRADITION AND DEVOTION," 
 
 ETC. 
 
 " L'homme est visiblement fait pour penser," — Pascal: Pensees. 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 BURNS GATES & WASHBOURNE LTD. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 28, ORCHARD STREET, 8-10. PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 W.I E.C. 4 
 
 AND AT MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND GLASGOW 
 I Q 2 O ^^^ rights reserved 
 

 "EGO HOMO SUM. CHRISTIANUS, FIDELIS, 
 QUOD DEO TESTE LOQUOR, CATHOLICUS."— 
 
 S. Augustine, Coll, Carthag. inter Cathol. ei 
 DONATIST. DiEI III., CCXLVII. 
 
 
-r 
 
 To 
 MY NEPHEWS AND NIECES 
 
 " La conduite de Dieu, qui dispose toutes les 
 choses avec douceur, est de mettre la religion 
 dans 1' esprit par les raisons, et dans le coeur 
 par sa grace."— Pascal : Pensees. 
 
 781255 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 IS THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION TRUE? - - i 
 
 PART II 
 
 IS CATHOLICISM TRUE ? - • • - 217 
 
 PART III 
 
 WHAT DOES CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY GIVE? 353 
 
 APPENDIX 51^ 
 
 INDEX 520 
 
 vl 
 
PREFACE 
 
 It has been said — I think by some Nonconformist 
 Divine — that it was never meant by God that it 
 should be easy to believe. With this statement I 
 profoundly agree — so far, at least, as it applies to 
 those of us whose probation involves the rendering 
 of "the obedience of Faith "^ under stress of mental 
 difficulties. Indeed, with this limitation, it is hardly 
 more than a truism, though a truism of which often- 
 times we strangely lose sight. The limitation is 
 necessary, since it is certain that millions of Chris- 
 tians find faith most easy. 
 
 A Catholic agricultural population, for example, is 
 required by God to exercise "faith working by 
 charity." ^ Catholic peasants, like all others, whether 
 faith be hard or faith be easy, are required to 
 prove the existence of their faith by works. ^ They 
 are called upon to exercise faith — a faith that is 
 Living, not Dead — but the Faith itself to such folk 
 is as a second nature. To their minds it presents 
 
 1 Rom. i. 5 ; xvi. 26. 2 Qal. v. 6. ^ j-^s. ii. 17, 18. 
 
 vii 
 
viii Preface 
 
 no difficulty. The submission of the intellect to 
 the Faith forms no part of their spiritual conflict. 
 But with people who are termed '' educated," especi- 
 ally in the case of those who are accustomed to think 
 much on questions of religion, things are very 
 different. For them to become '' as little children," 
 intellectually as well as morally, that thus they may 
 enter the Kingdom of Heaven, is of the very essence 
 of their probation, involving constantly struggles far 
 more arduous than are required to resist the severest 
 temptations of the flesh. And there are men and 
 women to whom the exercise of faith is a veritable 
 martyrdom — who shall therefore surely receive if not 
 the martyr's aureole, at least the martyr's crown. 
 
 But if faith often is not intended to be "easy"' — 
 otherwise the joy as well as the merit of the conflict 
 and of the effort would be lost — faith is always in- 
 tended to be reasonable. 
 
 The faith of the Catholic peasant is essentially 
 reasonable. He " knows in whom he has believed,"^ 
 though probably he is quite unable to formulate the 
 grounds of his belief. For him it is enough to know 
 that he knows without knowing why he knows. But 
 the faith of the man who can read and weigh evidence 
 is in most cases, I think, intended by his Maker to 
 be reasonable in quite another sense. It certainly 
 will be enormously to his advantage spiritually that 
 it should be so. It may, conceivably, be even neces- 
 
 ^ 2 Tim. i. 12. 
 
Preface ix 
 
 sary for his spiritual life that he should be able tc 
 state on paper — in black and white — why he believes 
 in Christ. 
 
 My chief purpose in printing this book is to help 
 those who find faith difficult, and consequently may 
 feel the need of such help, but have no leisure and 
 perhaps no inclination for the reading of long w^orks. 
 It is intended for busy, but intelligent, men and 
 women. 
 
 " Your book," I may be told, " Is worthless for the 
 object you have in view, as indeed must be the work 
 of any Catholic priest on such a subject, for you go 
 to the evidence biassed in one direction — determined 
 to accept it. You start with a presupposition. You 
 have what you call 'the Gift of Faith.' " 
 
 To any such objection I should reply somewhat 
 in this fashion : 
 
 '* Yes, it is true, thank God, that I do non' beheve in 
 Christianity, independently of any external evidence, 
 and I trust that I should continue to believe, even 
 were all such evidence suddenly to vanish from my 
 sight, or were it to appear to my mind to be inade- 
 quate. Still, though this is the case, it is also true 
 that I am, as a matter of fact, convinced of the truth 
 of Christianity by the force of the evidence, altogether 
 independently of my faith." 
 
 And if it be further urged against me : '' When you 
 became a Catholic, you were too young to be able in 
 
X Preface 
 
 any way to judge the evidence for Christianity," 
 I should answer : 
 
 " When I became a CathoHc I did not attempt to 
 judge the evidence for Christianity at all. I became 
 a Catholic, knowing at the time practically nothing 
 about that evidence, simply because I knew in my con- 
 science that it would be a sin for me to turn my back 
 on Christ, and because I was absolutely convinced 
 in my mind that loyalty to Christ involved for me 
 submission to the Catholic Church." 
 
 I found myself unable to go on saying : Thou art 
 the Christ, unless I was prepared unreservedly to 
 believe Christ when in His turn He said to His 
 disciple : Thou art the Rock, I saw as clearly as 
 I saw the sun in the heavens that Christ was com- 
 mitted to the plain consequence of His words, to 
 their fulfilment in history which He foresaw, and to 
 the indefectibility of the Church which He founded 
 on a foundation of His own choosing. If Catholicism 
 failed, Christianity had failed also. That much at 
 any rate was then, and always has been since, per- 
 fectly clear to my intellect. 
 
 It is strange, but it is true, that on the day when 
 as a' boy I became a Catholic I w as little alive to the 
 intellectual difficulties that concern the doctrines 
 which are specifically Catholic, and as such are ordi- 
 narily rejected by Protestants, but was very fairly 
 versed in the arguments for their truth ; whereas, 
 whilst I was fully aware of most of the difficulties 
 
Preface xi 
 
 brought by Rationalists against Revelation as a 
 whole, I was entirely ignorant of the way in which 
 those difficulties may be met. It is also strange, 
 but it is also true, that I could have passed satis- 
 factorily an examination in the arguments for the 
 Real Presence, but should have failed hopelessly if I 
 had been called upon to place on paper the argu- 
 ments for the Resurrection of Christ. Strange 
 indeed, considering that as a child I had been taught 
 emphatically that the doctrine of the Real Presence 
 was false and that the fact of the Resurrection was 
 true. It simply chanced that I had never come 
 across the evidences for the latter, but had found out 
 for myself the evidences for the former. Against 
 assaults upon my faith in Christ I was in my mind 
 defenceless, for I was unarmed. My religious educa- 
 tion, which had mainly consisted in learning the 
 Old Testament history in English and reading 
 several times the Gospels and Acts in the Greek 
 Testament (excellent and useful though it was for 
 other purposes), in no way enabled me to answer the 
 Rationalist adversary of Christianity, nor did it 
 equip me with proofs of the truth of my religion 
 which would render me intellectually impervious to 
 any critics or difficulties whatsoever. 
 
 So it was that whilst my head, conspired with my 
 heart to make me a Catholic, if I were to remain 
 a Christian, I feared that it was merely my heart, 
 in opposition to my head, which prevented me from 
 
xii Preface 
 
 denying Christ. When the workings of my brain 
 told me that, believing in Christ, I should accept the 
 definite teaching of Catholicism, I knew that here 
 was guidance which I might safely follow, for here 
 was constructive work. Provided the foundations 
 are sure and safe, to build is always good. On 
 the other hand, I saw clearly that to give up the 
 Christian heritage was merely to pull down and 
 make a waste— something purely destructive — always 
 the counsel of despair. Moreover, and above all, 
 my sense of right and wrong told me that to deny 
 Christ would be the greatest of crimes. Therefore, 
 when my head seemed not altogether to correspond 
 with my conscience, I concluded (rightly enough) 
 that something was somehow or other wrong with 
 my head, and that sooner or later, if not in this life, 
 then in the next, I should discover wherein lay my 
 mistake. I have found out long since. In trusting the 
 Character of Christ, I always knew that there could 
 be no risk. In His Character there was nothing that 
 could deceive me or lead me astray. In His majesty 
 and the sublimity of His doctrine, He transcends all 
 that is merely human, yet in the perfection of His 
 sweet Humanity, He was, to the end, gentle and 
 pathetic as a child. But Christ vouches for Chris- 
 tianity. I discovered years ago that what was once 
 wrong with my head was, simply, that I had not taken 
 the trouble to learn. To my shame I confess it — I 
 knew nothing of the positive Christian evidences. 
 
Preface xiii 
 
 It was not really that head gave the lie to heart — 
 any more than that truth can contradict truth. It 
 was sheer ignorance. 
 
 But since I have been a Catholic I have been 
 taught not to be afraid to face the \vhole question ; 
 above all, I have been encouraged to study the posi- 
 tive evidences of Christianity — and having done so, 
 I am convinced that they are abundantly, and more 
 than abundantly, sufficient to produce intellectual 
 conviction of the claims of Christ, and this indepen- 
 dently of the pres^ip positions of belief. 
 
 Not only have these evidences served wonderfully 
 to strengthen my faith, and to protect it against the 
 onslaught of difficulties which I still feel acutely 
 and believe in many cases to be of their nature 
 insoluble, but also I know that, were I at this 
 moment without the Gift of Faith, but conversant 
 with the strength of its evidences, I should be 
 clear in my mind that my only reasonable course 
 would be to kneel down and, in spite of all diffi- 
 culties, pray God to enable me to submit my will to 
 the Obedience of Christ and to His Revelation.^ 
 
 Consequently, it seems to me that the fact that 
 I believe myself to possess evidence of a higher kind 
 than that which is merely intellectual (as may all 
 
 1 It is never reasonable to refuse to accept evidence, in itself 
 convincing, because difficulties remain without solution. In 
 everv science— even in such an exact science as that of mathe- 
 matics—there are residual difficulties, which are and, ad- 
 mittedly, always must be insoluble. This fact in no way 
 lessens the certainty of scientific conclusions. 
 
xiv Preface 
 
 men who will pray for it), rather streniE^thens, than 
 otherwise, my conviction that intellectual evidence 
 exists, of which I personally at present, through the 
 undeserved Mercy of God, stand in no particular 
 need. 
 
 I believed in Christianity when I knew nothing of 
 its evidence, so I am never tempted to say to 
 myself, and no one can fairly say to me, that I have 
 manufactured this evidence, or manipulated it, or 
 hoodwinked myself about it, or forced myself to 
 accept its validity. Why should I do any of these 
 things, when I believe that Christianity has proofs 
 of a higher order than those which can be reduced 
 to rule or set down on paper? But enough of the 
 personal element. I have made this little bit of self- 
 revelation solely in the hope that I may perhaps be 
 of use to some other soul, and that no one may be 
 able justly to say of me after reading this book, " He is 
 a special pleader. He is a priest. He has to write to 
 order ; only thus can he keep himself in his ' system.' " 
 
 I do not believe in Christianity because I am a 
 priest. I became a priest — I now live as a priest — 
 because I believe in Christianity. Ordination to the 
 Priesthood is, for those to whom God has given the 
 sacerdotal vocation, a consequence — it is never the 
 Q2nise — of faith. Belief in Christianity is the under- 
 lying secret — it is never the result—of the activities 
 of a Christian priest. It is not only their hidden 
 motive, but also their sustaining force. 
 
Preface 
 
 XV 
 
 Belief in Christianity does not, it is true, depend, 
 in the last analysis of faith, upon any arguments or 
 evidences whatsoever, but is the Gift of God. None 
 the less, the arguments and evidences exist, and 
 prove that a man who refuses to believe is, to the 
 great peril of his soul, closing his eyes to cogent and 
 certain facts. All my experience assures me that 
 when men or women are so unhappy as to give 
 up Christianity on what they term " intellectual 
 grounds," they have never faced its evidences. In 
 numberless cases, at least outside the Catholic 
 Church, they are unaware of their existence. 
 
 For the rest, my dear reader, follow I beg of you 
 the wise old rule. Do not think of the writer, but 
 think of what he has written. My one object is to 
 help you also to know that which I know to be true. 
 My hope is to put in your way something which 
 I should have been very glad to have had put in my 
 way when I was a young man. You will agree that, if 
 the Christian Religion indeed be true, it is of the 
 greatest importance for you to know it. 
 
 I shall regard it as the greatest kindness if you 
 will say a little prayer for me that I may not break 
 the pitcher at the well, but may keep the Faith to 
 the end — lest, after I have preached to others, I may 
 myself become a castaway. 
 
 O. R. Vassall-Phillips, C.SS.R. 
 
Tills hook consists of three parts, the first two of 'which 
 are Apologetic in character, the third Didactic rather than 
 Apologetic. It is hoped, however, that there is continuity in 
 the work as a whole. One of the difficulties ivhich beset the 
 author in its composition arose from his sense that he was 
 writing for a variety of persons, whose mental attitude and 
 requirements were so different. He could only endeavour to 
 hear in mind the questions which, as experience has taught 
 him, are generally canvassed in the world to-day — whether by 
 Catholics, A nglicans (of one type or another^. Nonconformists, 
 professed Agnostics, or men and women without as yet any 
 definite creed, hut sincerely desirous to find religious Truth — 
 if religious Truth there he. This necessity — the necessity of 
 his scope — leads him, now, to say that each chapter in this 
 hook really stands by itself. If, then, any reader finds that he 
 is not interested in any particular subject (a subject which, he 
 should remember, may he of special interest to someone else) — 
 for example, if he he not interested in the argument from 
 Reason for the Existence of God, or in the Development of 
 Christian Doctrine, or in the bearing of the New Testament 
 upon the Monarchical Episcopate — he may safely leave that 
 subject alone, and pass on, without any detriment to his com- 
 prehension of what has gone before or of that which is to 
 come after. 
 
 XVI 
 
CONTENTS 
 PART I 
 
 IS THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION TRUE? 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The Appeal of Christianity to Reasox - - 1-13 
 
 The Faculty of Memory testifies to the reaHtj' of our 
 past experiences and to the reality of the external 
 world. The Existence of God caft be certainly known 
 through the natural light of human Reason. The 
 Credibility of Christianity. Faith in Christianity is to 
 be exercised freely. The Truth of Christianity is not 
 self-evident. There is an evidence for Christianity 
 which transcends all proofs addressed to the mind, 
 yet those proofs should not be despised nor disre- 
 garded. Their due place. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Theism -----.. 14-35 
 The Existence of God may be proved in manv wavs. 
 For example, by the arguments from Causality, from 
 Order and Design, from the Law and Fact of Motion, 
 and from Conscience. God exists, and there is a 
 Moral Law. 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 Faith ..--._. 36-46 
 The Natural and the Supernatural Order. The 
 Sources of cur Knowledge are (i) Abstract Reason. 
 (2) The Report of our bodily senses, and (3) Faith. 
 
 xvii b 
 
xviii Contents 
 
 Human Faith. Divine Faith. The Grounds of Divine 
 Faith. Their Variet}^ Their cumulative force. They 
 are external to man, and afford a preparation for the 
 Grace of Christ. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 pa(;es 
 
 The Argument from Prophecy - - . 47-74 
 
 The General Prophecies of the Jewish Prophets. The 
 distinctive Messianic Prophecies. The Prophecies of 
 Christ. A Prophecy of Our Lady. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The Evidence from Miracles— their Possibility 75-9^ 
 
 Miracles and the Modern Mind. Christ appealed to 
 His Miracles. The Apostles made the same appeal. 
 The Modern Apocalyptic School. Mr. J. M. Thompson 
 and Miracles. The Law of the Uniformity of Nature. 
 Meaning of the word Miracle. Miracles a proof of 
 the Truth of Christianity most suited to the needs of 
 men. Wonders worked by evil spirits. Non-eviden- 
 tial Miracles. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Actuality of Miracles. Those Worked by 
 
 Christ .-.--- 99-121 
 
 The Miracles of Christ depend mainly for their credi- 
 bility upon the credibility of the Gospels. The Myth 
 Theory. The Authenticity of the Gospels. Their date. 
 St. Peter in a sermon appealed to eyewitnesses who 
 had witnessed some of Christ's Miracles. St. Quadra- 
 tus early in second century makes the same appeal. 
 Christ's Miracles were not denied during the lifetime 
 of eyewitnesses, but were attributed to Satan or to 
 Magic. Some theories in vogue at present amongst 
 Modern Tliinkers to account for these Miracles, 
 Mr. Thompson's Theory. The American Professor 
 Smith's theory. Strength of the Orthodox position 
 
Contents xix 
 
 in contradiction to all rationalistic theories whatso- 
 ever. List and classification of the miracles of Christ 
 recorded in the Gospels. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PAGBS 
 
 Evidence from the Resurrection of Christ - 122-146 
 
 The Apostles the chief witnesses to the Resurrection. 
 Evidence from the Gospels and from the sermons of 
 St. Peter recorded in the Acts. St. Paul's appeal to 
 the fact of the Resurrection. In their witness to 
 the Resurrection the Apostles were neither deceivers 
 of others nor themselves deceived. The Swoon 
 Theory. The Hallucination Theory. The Empty 
 Tomb. Mr. Streeter's Theor}'. The Fact of the 
 Ascension corroborative of the Fact of the Resur- 
 rection. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Evidence from Modern Mir.\cles - - 147-169 
 
 Colonel Turton on Modern Miracles. The promise of 
 Christ. Its fulfilment in the Catholic Church. The 
 existence and value of Miracles in every age. No 
 Catholic is bound to believe in any particular miracle, 
 excepting those which are recorded in the Scriptures. 
 Modern miracles can be, and have been, tested scien- 
 tifically, and have in numberless cases survived the 
 ordeal. Zola and Lourdes. Pierre de Rudder. The 
 very existence of Lourdes is a Monument um Fidel. 
 A true story. " If they believe not Moses and the 
 Prophets, neither will they believe should one rise 
 from the dead." 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Argument from Experience - - - 170-183 
 
 Verification of the Promises of Christ is to be found 
 in Christian Experience in all ages of Christianity. 
 
XX Contents 
 
 The personal Love of Christians for Christ is a unique 
 fact. Individual and Collective Experience on our 
 various religious needs. All such needs are satisfied 
 to the full in Catholic Christianity. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The Evidence of the Catholic Church - 184-193 
 
 The Catholic Church is, in the language of the 
 Vatican Council, a Divine Fad, and as such is a 
 standing witness to her Founder. The supernatural 
 spread of Christianity in the beginning. The Sanctity 
 of the Church. Her world-wide unity. Her persis- 
 tence. The Papacy. The Tu es Petrus witnesses to 
 the Truth of the Tu es Christus. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Belief in Christianity involves Belief in the 
 Divinity of Christ, and also Belief in All that 
 Christ taught ----- 194-213 
 
 What is to be understood by Christianity. Historic 
 Christianity. Christ claimed to be God. Evidence 
 of the Synoptic Gospels and of St. John to this fact. 
 The Doctrines of St. Paul. Christ the Divine 
 Teacher. 
 
 PART II 
 IS CATHOLICISM TRUE? 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 The Rule of Faith .... 217-248 
 
 Christ's Method of Teaching — oral and authoritative. 
 The Catholic Rule of P^aith. The Protestant Rule of 
 Faith. A new Rule — " The Church to teach and the 
 JSibl^ to prove." The Remote Rule of Faith, The 
 
Contents xxi 
 
 Proximate Rule of Faith. Necessary Qualities of the 
 true Rule of Faith. It must be the same in every age, 
 and be adapted to its purpose, and have credentials. 
 Breakdown on all these points of the Protestant Rule 
 of Faith, whilst the Catholic Rule possesses them all. 
 Questions as to the Canon of Scripture. The pro- 
 hibition to eat things strangled. The Washing of the 
 Feet. Mr. Lloyd George's Budget. Mistranslations 
 of the Bible. The Pharisees and the Beroeans. 
 Faith comes by Hearing. 
 
 CHAPTER Xni 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The Word of God ... - - 249-267 
 
 The Deposit of the Faith. Divine Tradition. Holy 
 Scripture. The Canon of the Old Testament. The 
 Canon of the New Testament. IMeaning of the words 
 Heresy and Heterodoxy. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The Development of Doctrine - - • 268-287 
 
 No new public revelation after the death of St. John. 
 The Council of the Vatican and the Deposit of the 
 Faith. The Evolution of Dogma. True and false 
 developments. Cardinal Newman and development. 
 Three stages in developments. Validity of heretical 
 Baptism. The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 The One Catholic Church of God - - 288-307 
 
 Where is the One True Church to be found? Is 
 there One True Church at all ? The Unity of Truth. 
 The True Church is both One and World-wide. St. 
 Augustine and the Catholic Church. St. Paul and 
 the Editor of the Spectator. St. Ignatius of Antioch, 
 St. Polycarp, St. Irenasus, and St. Clement of Alex- 
 andria on the Church, 
 
xxii Contents 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The Apostolic Church - - - - 308-325 
 
 Examples of Apostolic Churches. ]\Ialta and Rome. 
 A Church can cease to be Apostolic even whilst pos- 
 sessing Valid Orders. St. Irenasus on the Apostolic 
 Succession. Tertullian and the nature of heresy. St. 
 Optatus and St. Augustine on the Cathedra Petri. 
 
 CHAPTER XVn 
 The Voice of the Church - - - 326-350 
 
 The Ecclesia Docens in the New Testament. Catholic 
 Bishops are the successors of the College of the 
 Apostles. The position of St. Peter. The Bishop of 
 Rome the Successor of St. Peter. Definition of Re- 
 vealed Dogma by an CEcumenical Council, and by 
 the Pope teaching Ex Cathedra. The purpose of the 
 Creeds. The Apostles' Creed. The Nicene Creed. 
 The Athanasian Creed. The Creed of Pope Pius IV. 
 Professions of Faith prescribed for Orientals. The 
 Ordinary Magisterium of the Church. The Fathers. 
 The Liturgies. Vox Populi, Vox Dei. The Security 
 of Catholicism. 
 
 PART III 
 WHAT DOES CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY GIVE? 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 The Gospel of Christ . - - . 353-365 
 
 Faith and Works. The gift of Christianity. Free- 
 dom for the intellect and the will. Spiritual Emanci- 
 pation for slaves and for sinners. Christianity gives 
 not only freedom, but also life. The natural and 
 supernatural needs of man. 
 
Contents xxiii 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The Sacramental System . - - - 366-378 
 
 Habitual and Actual Grace. Sacramental Grace. 
 The connexion between soul and body. The meaning 
 of Matter and Form in the Sacraments. The Sacra- 
 ments instituted by Christ. Sacraments of the Dead 
 and of the Living. The Sacraments not bare signs, 
 but convey Grace. Analogies from Nature. Mean- 
 ing of the word Sacrament. The Number of the 
 Sacraments. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Baptism and Confirmation- - - - 379-392 
 
 The Matter of Baptism. The mode of its adminis- 
 tration. The Form of Baptism. Infant Baptism. 
 Baptism of Desire. Baptism of Blood. The Minister 
 of Baptism. Conditional Baptism. The Matter of 
 Confirmation. Its Form. Its Minister. The Church 
 of England and Confirmation. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 The Sacrament of Penance - - - 393-413 
 
 Mortal and Venial Sin. The Forgiveness of Sin in 
 the Sacrament of Penance. Necessary Confession. 
 Voluntary Confession. The Witness of Holy Scrip- 
 ture to the power of Absolution bestowed upon the 
 Church. The Witness of Tradition. Lutheranism 
 and Confession. Jansenism and Confession. The 
 three parts of the Sacrament of Penance. Perfect 
 Contrition. Attrition. The Act of Contrition. Oral 
 Confession. Satisfaction. The Matter of the Sacra- 
 ment of Penance. Its Form. Its Minister. Its 
 Subject. 
 
xxiv Contents 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The Blessed Sacr.\ment of the Altar - - 414-434 
 
 The Food of the Soul. The Real Presence. The 
 Manna. Transubstantiation. Substance and Acci- 
 dents. Our Lord's Presence Sacramental in its 
 character. Matter of this Sacrament. Its Form. 
 Its Minister. Communion under One Kind. Its 
 Subject. Its Effects. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - - 435-453 
 
 The idea of Sacrifice. The Sacrifice offered by 
 Christ. Christ a priest after the order of Melchise- 
 dech. The Prophecy of Malachaias. St. Paul and the 
 Eucharistic Sacrifice. The Essence of this Sacrifice. 
 The principal parts of the Mass. Mass in Latin. 
 The Four ends of Sacrifice. The three-fold Fruit of 
 the Mass. The Mass a Banquet. The Laity and the 
 Mass. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 The Sacraments of Order and Matrimony - 454-478 
 
 The Two Social Sacraments. St. Clement of Rome 
 and the Hierarchy. The Minor Orders. The Sub- 
 diaconate. The Diaconate. The Priesthood. The 
 Episcopate. The Episcopate in the Acts of the 
 ApostleS; in the Pastoral Epistles, and in St. Ignatius 
 of Antioch. The Matter of the Sacrament of Order. 
 Its Form. Its Minister. The Catholic Doctrine con- 
 cerning Matrimony. The Matter and Form of the 
 Sacrament of Matrimony. Objection to the Catholic 
 Doctrine on Matrimony. St. Augustine and the 
 Sacrament of Matrimony. The Teaching of St. Paul 
 on this subject. The Ne Tcmcre Decree. The indis- 
 solubility of Christian Marriage, 
 
Contents xxv 
 
 CHAPTER xxv 
 
 PAG 
 
 The Sacrament of Extreme Unction - - 479- 
 
 The Reformers and the Sacrament of Extreme 
 Unction. The Sacrament promulgated by St. James. 
 Its Matter and Form. Its Minister. Its Effects. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 The Communion of Saints - - - 489-512 
 
 The corporate and the individual side of religion. 
 The Mother of our Lord. The One Mediator. The 
 Communion of Saints. The Jews and prayer for the 
 Dead. Purgatory. The Early Fathers and Mass for 
 the dead. Spiritualism and its dangers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 Conclusion .-..-- 513-517 
 
 What shall I do to be saved ? Believe in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Jesus Christ — 
 the Church of Jesus Christ — the Grace of Jesus 
 Christ. Either critics or disciples. The Holy 
 Apostles. 
 
 Appendix .--... 518 
 
 Index - • - • - - - 520-524 
 
IS THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 TRUE? 
 
*'// est impossible d'envisager toutes les 
 preuves de la religion chretienne ramassees 
 ensemble sans en ressentir la force, a laqiielle 
 nnl liomme raisonnable ne pent resister.'' 
 
 Pascal : Pensees 
 
PART I 
 IS THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION TRUE ? 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIANITY TO REASON 
 
 When a man begins to ponder concerning the 
 mysteries of life, he will, at least in most cases, 
 The Faculty Start his ponderings with the absorbing 
 cf Memory subject of himself. Perhaps a child 
 may see his own reflection in a large looking-glass, 
 and suddenly will ask himself, with wonder, and 
 not seldom with much fear : " Who am I ? To all 
 appearance I am here now — I see myself in a mirror 
 —but where did I come from ? What does it all 
 mean ? What does it portend ? Who am I V 
 
 He may perhaps have been taught the Catholic 
 Catechism, and have already learned the sublime 
 truth that he has been created by God after the divine 
 Image and Likeness ; or, on the other hand, he may 
 have assimilated little, or no, religious knowledge. 
 In either case it is quite possible (it occurred to my- 
 self in very early childhood) that he may feel that he 
 
2 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 urgently needs, and therefore must seek, some veri- . 
 fication of the fact of his own actual existence — which 
 to him will always remain his familiar mystery — in 
 some source outside both of his own consciousness 
 and of the statements of his parents and teachers. 
 A child, though of course as yet utterly incapable of 
 any analysis of his mental operations, will reach out 
 for something that he can himself lay hold of — 
 something which he may not merely be told or feel, 
 but may also test. Now, he can only satisfy this 
 need by an appeal to his memory. For example, he 
 may remember that he left his brothers and sisters in 
 a certain room, and may go in search of them (again 
 I am drawing upon very early recollections), for the 
 sake of verifying — as far as a child may — reality. 
 If he finds his relatives, according to his ex- 
 pectation, where he remembers to have left them, 
 and if he is able to see and touch things in the 
 room to which he betakes himself, just as he recalled 
 them to his mind before entering that room, he will 
 undoubtedly knoiiJ for the rest of his life that existence 
 is real — that he himself exists, and that other beings 
 likewise exist — altogether independently of his own 
 existence. 
 
 There are plenty of men and women who, though 
 their days of childhood have receded into the dim 
 distance, still from time to time repeat this experi- 
 m-ent of their long ago ; they will, for example, 
 search in a drawer where they remember to have 
 
The Appeal of Christianity to Reason 3 
 
 placed a letter received from a friend in India, that 
 they may find it and reassure themselves as to the 
 reality both of their own being and of the external 
 world that encompasses us all — thus again to prove 
 by actual demonstration that life is not merely a 
 glamour nor a mirage, nor one strange, long-drawn- 
 out dream. 
 
 We know, then, and can, if we wish, by experiment 
 continually reassure ourselves as to the fact, that 
 proves the ^^ch one of us enjoys a separate life, 
 reality of possessing a memory with which he may 
 
 our own ex- n • , i . . , , ^ 
 
 istence and ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ certamty some at least of the 
 of the exter- incidents of his past experiences, an under- 
 nal world, standing with which he may reflect upon 
 the present and draw conclusions from premises 
 and a will with which he may, within certain deter- 
 minate Hmits, fix his own future and control his 
 own actions. Also, we know, and can prove, that we 
 are surrounded by other beings — many of them 
 possessing the same nature as ourselves. 
 
 In some such fashion as this, our own existence 
 may be made certain to ourselves not only by con- 
 sciousness and thought, but also — especially —by 
 summoning the memory of the past, and then 
 verifying our recollections. In this manner we shall 
 be able also to satisfy our minds as to the reality of 
 our relations with the other beings who are around 
 us. ** That I am a real being, subsisting in myself 
 , . . that I am distinct from other beings ; that 
 
4 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 there is in me a self ... is forced upon me by 
 constant, intimate, immediate self-experience with 
 the most irresistible evidence."^ 
 
 {a) I exist. There can be no doubt in my mind as 
 to the Ego. 
 
 (b) A number of sentient and also of inanimate objects 
 are to be found outside of myself. There can be no 
 doubt in my mind as to the objectivity (that is of the 
 reality — independently of my consciousness) of the- 
 external world. 
 
 Thus, apart from any teaching and from all 
 authority, I arrive at two great truths, which, once 
 apprehended, can hardly be dislodged from my mind 
 without violence to all my past experience, and take 
 their place permanently as part of my stock-in- 
 trade — as a great asset in my intellectual life. 
 
 But having established these primary certainties, 
 we may go a step further, and we shall find that 
 in England, and generally in English- 
 speaking lands, almost all children are 
 taught to believe in the existence of One Supreme 
 Being, the Maker not only of all men and women, 
 but also of the heavens and the earth and of all that 
 they contain — furthermore to believe that this 
 Supreme Being, though Invisible, is Omnipresent 
 and All-seeing — and that to Him as the Author of 
 their life they will one day be required to render 
 a strict account of all the actions done in the days 
 1 Fr. Maher, S.J., Psychology, p. 463, 
 
The Appeal of Christianity to Reason 5 
 
 of their mortality. English children are taught to 
 believe in God and in human responsibility. 
 
 Now, religion is that which binds a man to God ; 
 and the Christian reIigio7t claims specifically to bind 
 Religion. ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ through Jesus Christ. 
 
 ^, ** This is life eternal," said the Founder 
 
 The 
 
 Christian of Christianity, '* to know Thee the one 
 
 Religion, true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou 
 hast sent."^ And again, " I am the Door."^ " I am 
 the Way, the Truth and the Life."^ Such state- 
 ments, made by Jesus of Nazareth, are to be found 
 scattered throughout the four books which record 
 the story of His Life. My present object is merely 
 to state a fact about Christianity — a fact that will 
 not seriously be denied by anyone who is conversant 
 with its history from its beginning, but which is too 
 often strangely obscured and even ignored. Chris- 
 tianity is not merely a sentiment. It is a belief in a 
 Person, with whom His followers should be mystic- 
 ally, yet most truly, incorporated. '' He is the Head 
 of His Body, which is the Church."* Christianity 
 is this, or it is less than nothing. If it be anything 
 short of this, it can only be reckoned as a snare and 
 as the cruellest of delusions. 
 
 It is happily the case that in England at the 
 present day not only do almost all children learn, 
 even in infancy, to believe in their own responsi- 
 
 1 John xvii. 3. ^ John x. 9. 
 
 3 John xiv. 6. * Col. i. 18, 24. 
 
6 Is the Christian ReHgion True ? 
 
 bility and in God, but also — at least in some vague 
 sense — in Christ. The proof of this statement, if 
 „ , , proof be desired, may be found in the 
 
 Belief in ^ . . 
 
 God and Striking and in one sense awe-inspiring 
 
 in Chris- fact, that no Enghshman — or practically 
 
 no Englishman — will be able to recall 
 
 the moment when he first heard the Name of Jesus 
 
 Christ. Here we have something which lies behind 
 
 the earliest memories of every one of us, and is 
 
 interwoven with the very beginnings of our life story. 
 
 We may be able to remember when we began the 
 
 Latin primer, or were first initiated in the mysteries 
 
 of the multiplication table, or w^ere first taught our 
 
 letters ; we shall hardly remember when we were 
 
 first told the story of Bethlehem and Nazareth and 
 
 Calvary. 
 
 That we exist — that the world exists — that God 
 
 exists — that Jesus Christ is in some sense different 
 
 from other men — here we find firm cer- 
 
 alwavs to be tainties possessed by almost every English 
 
 found in boy and girl. Our own existence and 
 
 , cf /^ that of the world may, as we have seen, 
 
 children, 
 
 'be verified. The fact of God's Existence 
 and the truth of Christianity must at first be accepted 
 simply on authority, and cannot, in the days of early 
 childhood, be verified by an appeal to any faculty 
 of the mind. 
 
 As our English boys and girls grow up into 
 maturity, too often does their belief in Jesus Christ, 
 
The Appeal ot Christianity to Reason 7 
 
 sometimes even their belief in God, become vague 
 and hesitating, so that whilst they still wish to 
 believe, they hardly know how they may do so with 
 self-respect, and ask themselves in vain whether 
 there be in fact any proof — independently of au- 
 thority and tradition — of the truth of the Christian 
 religion. The inevitable result can scarcely cause 
 surprise. Receiving no answer to their queries, 
 whilst hesitating and generally refusing to call 
 themselves Atheists, large numbers fall back with a 
 sigh of relief upon that strange word 
 
 but too ^ . ' ' . r ^ ' -. J 
 
 often slips Agnostic, strivmg to tind m its very sound 
 from them some comfort for their aching hearts and 
 
 ^^ * ^^ weary minds. Yet, if they would but 
 grow up. - . 
 
 reflect. Agnostic is merely K^ww -nothing 
 in a Greek dress, and it is a sorry thing to know 
 nothing concerning matters of the deepest moment, 
 if knowledge be attainable. 
 
 But is knowledge on these sublime subjects — 
 
 concerning God and Christ and Christ's rehgion — 
 
 knowledge whether Christ's religion be 
 
 iedge^cTn- true or false— knowledge as to the true 
 
 cerning God import of Christ's religion — attainable 
 and Christ ^j^-^ ^^^^^^ o ^j^-^ ^^^^j j^ ^ 
 
 attainable? 
 
 question of paramount m-terest, tran- 
 scending in importance any other matter that can 
 conceivably be discussed amongst intelligent human 
 
 beings. 
 
 It is difficult to write, without danger of undue 
 
8 Is the Christian ReHgion True ? 
 
 generalisation, on the subject of the answers, given 
 by current English Protestantism, to the legitimate 
 Unsatisfac' inquiries of honest men for reasonable 
 tory nature proofs of the truth of Theism and Chris- 
 of Protcs' tianity. On the one hand there is no 
 
 tant answer ... 
 
 to this doubt that great works of Apologetics 
 
 question. have been produced in the past by English 
 Protestants ; and at the present day several English 
 Protestants — notably Colonel Turton and Mr. Draw- 
 bridge — are doing yeoman service in defence of 
 Revelation. But, on the other hand, we fear it is 
 too true that the evil tradition inaugurated by 
 Luther, when he declared that faith is necessarily 
 opposed to reason, has been widely accepted, until 
 it has come to be regarded by great numbers of 
 English people as axiomatic to state that, for them, 
 there is but the cruel alternative — religious faith 
 exercised against reason, or the exercise of reason 
 without religious faith. To many an English child, 
 who has asked with all reverence and keen anxiety, 
 why he should believe in the religion that has been 
 taught him, it has been answered: "That question 
 is wicked. We must have faith." Little does the 
 mother who answers thus imagine for a moment 
 that by her well-meant reply she has sounded the 
 death-knell of faith within the soul of the child she 
 loves more than her very life. Well perhaps is it for 
 her that she does not pause to consider how weak 
 are the intellectual foundations of her own beliefs. 
 
The Appeal of Christianity to Reason 9 
 
 However it may be with Protestantism theoreti- 
 cally or practically, the attitude of the Catholic 
 
 _, Church on this subject is perfectly clear 
 
 The ■' . 
 
 Catholic and well-defined. It is true that much 
 
 answer. strange misunderstanding as to the 
 
 Catholic position with regard to the exercise of the 
 
 reason exists amongst those who are not Catholics ; 
 
 yet it is hard to see how the misconception has 
 
 arisen. 
 
 " I thought," a lady said to me the other day in 
 
 obviously good faith, and without the slightest 
 
 suspicion that her words were in themselves both 
 
 ridiculous and offensive : " I thought that Catholics 
 
 were never allowed to reason." Yet the Catholic 
 
 Church has been consistently, and in every age, the 
 
 great champion of the rights of the human reason, 
 
 and (as we shall see in the next chapter) has taught, 
 
 from the days of St. Paul to the present time, that 
 
 the Existence of the Invisible Creator can be proved 
 
 from the visible creation, and that the normal man 
 
 in possession of unimpaired powers of reasoning 
 
 who fails to recognise this truth, is without excuse. 
 
 He has perversely refused to draw the conclusion 
 
 which, when the facts are faced and considered, 
 
 should be seen to be inevitable.^ 
 
 It is interesting to observe that the condemnation 
 
 1 It is not our business to consider here how far a man is 
 guilty before God who accepts, without reflection, the per- 
 verse conchisions of an atheist society in which he has been 
 brought up and educated. 
 
lo Is the Christian Rehgion True? 
 
 by Pope Pius X. of the heresy or synthesis of heresies 
 technically known as Modernism was an explicit 
 vindication of the rights of the human reason. 
 " Modernists," differing from one another in most 
 things, agreed in asserting that religion is a matter 
 of sentiment, and as such stands apart from reason 
 — even with reference to the knowledge of the 
 Supreme Being. The Catholic Church, on the 
 contrary, solemnly teaches that the Existence of 
 God can be proved by the simple and trustworthy 
 operations of human reason — the guide whose lead- 
 ing, as our conscience tells us, we are ethically bound 
 to follow. 
 
 With regard to the truth of Christianity, Catholic 
 theologians hold that whilst its evidences are not of 
 such a nature as to compel the adherence of the 
 intellect (in the same way that one is compelled to 
 accept a demonstration in Euclid), they are of such 
 a nature as to make Christianity essentially credible. 
 Therefore, a prudent man, when he has duly con- 
 sidered these evidences, or even some of them, will see 
 that it is his duty to believe in Christ. By believing 
 in Christ we mean submitting our minds without 
 reserve to the Person and Teaching of Christ,^ 
 on the ground that He is the Divine Teacher, and 
 that therefore His Word — all that He has taught — 
 comes to us on the authority of God who can neither 
 deceive us nor be Himself deceived. Nor should the 
 
 1 Cf. 2 Cor. X. 5. 
 
The Appeal of Christianity to Reason 1 1 
 
 fact that the arguments for the truth of Christianity 
 do not compel assent occasion us any surprise. Long 
 ago Aristotle pointed out that a different kind of proof 
 is, in consequence of the different subject-matter 
 under discussion, required for different conclusions. 
 And in this matter of religion, it is plain that if the 
 evidence either as to God's Existence or as to the 
 truth of Christianity, were of such a nature as to 
 force conviction, there would be no supernatural 
 merit in faith. For merit, of necessity, involves 
 some difficulty and some exercise of free will. We 
 should also bear in mind that the reason is by no 
 means the whole of man's complex being. Christ 
 when on earth did not make His appeal, and 
 Christianity to-day does not appeal, to the reason 
 alone, nor even to the reason chiefly and in the 
 first place. '' For with the heart we believe unto 
 justice."^ It abundantly suffices if it can be shown 
 that the evidences for Christianity are such as a 
 prudent man would accept in the ordinary conduct 
 of life, if they were offered in support of any other 
 claim — evidence which he would regard it as essen- 
 tially hazardous to reject. 
 
 I have endeavoured in this book to set forth as 
 plainly as I was able some of these evidences, first for 
 Object of the Fact of God's Existence, then for the 
 this Book. Truth of Catholic Christianity. In such a 
 task it is, of course, quite impossible to be original, 
 nor would I, in this matter, be original if I could. 
 
 ^ Rom. X. lo. 
 
1 2 Is the Christian ReHoion True ? 
 
 I wish to make one other preliminary observation. 
 Catholics at least, and, I doubt not, devout Protes- 
 tants as well, w'ho use their religion, find in its very 
 practice abundant proofs of its truth. For them, 
 Christianity (as I have already suggested in my 
 Preface) is its own Evidence, and oftentimes they 
 ask for no other. Christianity supplies all their 
 spiritual needs. It does all and far more than all 
 that it set out and claimed to do. For them, to deny 
 that the Christian Sacraments and prayer to Christ 
 sustain the life of their souls would be as irrational 
 — because as much opposed to daily experience — as 
 to deny that the bread they eat and the air they 
 breathe sustain the life of their bodies. They could 
 no more deny Jesus Christ and His teaching than 
 they could deny their own existence. For them, no 
 other proof is necessary than that which is furnished 
 by their own hearts. Sometimes, indeed, they 
 shrink sensitively from proofs, as might the Mag- 
 dalen have shrunk within herself, had needless proofs 
 been proffered her whilst she yet knelt beneath the 
 Cross of her dying Saviour ; and if in this temper 
 they examine the Christian Evidences, they need 
 not be surprised or disappointed should they be left 
 with the feeling that their faith has been in no way 
 strengthened. For such as these, whilst they are in 
 this state of contented peace ^ this book is not intended. 
 They in no way require it. To give it them might 
 very likely be to do them an actual disservice. It 
 
The Appeal of Christianity to Reason 1 3 
 
 is offered to all those who though they believe with 
 the certainty of supernatural faith, are well aware 
 that on its intellectual side their faith needs strength- 
 ening. Especially it is offered to any who may have 
 been made unhappy by the confident and reckless 
 talk against religion that is to be heard all around 
 us at the present day ; above all it is submitted to 
 the consideration of English men and women (their 
 name is legion) who, through no fault of their own, 
 are really unaware that there are any proofs of 
 Christianity at all. Such readers may be sure that 
 the author has above all things tried to be fair and 
 honest with himself as well as with others, and has 
 set down nothing, for their reflection, as to the rele- 
 vance of which he hesitates, or concerning the truth 
 of which he is not absolutely convinced. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THEISM 
 
 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 
 
 In the Book of Wisdom we read these words : ** By 
 the greatness of the beauty of creatures the Creator 
 The Creator of them may be seen, so as to be known 
 should be thereby." 1 We cannot yet see God in 
 through His Himself. But, even m this life, we may, 
 creatures. if we will, see Him in His works and in 
 their beauty. And not only may the Creator be 
 recognised in His creation, but greatly do they 
 deceive themselves who refuse to draw the con- 
 clusion which, unless violence be done to reason, is 
 perceived to be inevitable. " All men are vain in 
 whom there is not the knowledge of God, who by 
 the good things that are seen would not learn to 
 know Him that is, and who have not, through 
 attending to the works, acknowledged Him that 
 made them."^ 
 
 Such was the teaching and the belief of Israel 
 
 * Wisd. xiii. 5, * Wisd. xiii. i. 
 
 14 
 
Theism 15 
 
 before the coming of Christ. It remains the teaching 
 and the behef of Israel at this hour. 
 
 These statements of the Old Testament we find 
 reaffirmed in the New : ** For the invisible things of 
 Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, 
 being understood by the things that are made ; His 
 Eternal Power also and Divinity — so that they are 
 inexcusable . . . who changed the Truth of God 
 into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature 
 rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever."^ 
 
 Such has been the teaching and the belief of 
 Christianity from the beginning. It remains the 
 teaching and the belief of Catholic Christianity at 
 the present moment. 
 
 In the first chapter of The Dogmatic Constitution 
 Concerning the Catholic Faith, the Fathers of the 
 Vatican Council taught as follows : 
 
 "The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church 
 believes and confesses that there is One God, the 
 Living and the True, the Creator and the Lord of 
 Heaven and earth, All-powerful, Eternal, Immeasur- 
 able, Illimitable, Infinite in Understanding and Will 
 and in every perfection ; " and in the second chapter 
 we read the solemn Decree : " The same Holy 
 Mother Church holds and teaches that God, the 
 Beginning and the End of all things, can be cer- 
 tainly known by the natural light of human reason, 
 from the things that have been created." Nor need 
 
 ^ Rom. i. 20-23. 
 
1 6 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 we be surprised to find the ''sanction" for these 
 verities in the Canons that follow. " If any man 
 shall deny that there is One True God the Creator 
 and the Lord of the things that are seen and of 
 those which are unseen, let him be Anathema."^ 
 " If any man shall say that the One and True God, 
 our Creator and Lord, cannot, through the things 
 that have been made, be certainly known by the 
 natural light of the human reason, let him be 
 Anathema." 2 
 
 Of course one whose mind is so abnormal in its 
 operations that by no fault of his own he stands 
 outside the category of sane and balanced men and 
 women — so that he is not really open to conviction — 
 will not be held responsible by God for his mental 
 limitations.^ 
 
 " How," said an unlettered Arab to me in the 
 desert not long ago, reaching his hands out towards 
 the sky above us, " How can any man see that and 
 not believe in God ?" How indeed ? His words 
 were but the echo of those of the Jewish Psalmist : 
 *'The Heavens are telling the glory of God." Those 
 
 1 De Deo, rertmi omnium Creatore (Canon I.). 
 . 2 Be Rcvelatione (Canon L). 
 
 2 The Church, we must remember, never judges the indi- 
 vidual conscience. " De intcrnis Ecclesia non iudicai." A man of 
 great intellectual power may, conceivably, not be responsible, 
 in consequence of habits of thinking induced by long familiarity 
 with false systems of philosophy, for his failure to see truths 
 — even the most obvious — in their due proportion and reality. 
 
Theism 17 
 
 same Heavens will tell that glory to all those who 
 have eyes wherewith to see, even as long as the sun 
 shall shine upon the earth, as long as the stars 
 revolve in their courses. 
 
 My object in this chapter is merely to set out 
 Obicct of some of the great arguments (especially 
 this chapter, those drawn from Causality, Design and 
 Conscience) which prove the existence of an invisible 
 Creator. 
 
 I. Causality. — The principle of causality may bi 
 expressed by the formula : '' Every being that now 
 exists, but does not exist necessarily y is the 
 effect of a cause." To deny the truth of 
 this proposition would be not only to deny the truth 
 of religion, but also to make all science impossible. 
 Once call in question the principle of causality, and 
 it is clear that we are reduced to a condition of 
 intellectual chaos. Nor is it possible to restrict the 
 relation of cause and its effect to that of a mere now 
 and after. I may be looking idly out of my window 
 and see one passer-by follow another ; in London I 
 may observe one automobile come after its fellow ; 
 in the East I may perhaps watch a long procession 
 of camels. Here I have '' consequents " and ''ante- 
 cedents." Yet I am perfectly aware that it is quite 
 possible, and often very probable, that the men and 
 the motors and the camels who pass so steadily, 
 each following a predecessor, have no connection 
 
 2 
 
I 8 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 one with another. It is a mere ''sequence.'" But 
 no man will persuade me that the direction of the 
 motors is not the effect of the action of the 
 chauffeurs, or that the route of the camels is not 
 controlled by the will of their driver. Here we are 
 face to face with something which is no longer mere 
 sequence. We see the effect ; we see, at least par- 
 tially, the cause. The Law of Causality is established 
 before our eyes. Everything, then, which does not 
 exist necessarily (that is to say, everything which 
 iniglii not exist but which as a matter of fact does 
 exist) is the effect of a cause. If anyone is to be 
 found who will deny this principle, we can no more 
 argue with him than one can argue with a man who 
 should refuse to admit that w^ood in fit condition for 
 burning is sure to burn when brought into connec- 
 tion with fire. It is idle to admit the principle, as 
 everyone is forced to admit it, in everyday life, and 
 to reject it in a philosophical discussion. 
 
 Now, to apply this certain principle of causality to 
 the external world in general. Let me think for a 
 moment of myself and my own being. I clearly am 
 not uncaused, for I am, yet I need not be. I do not 
 exist necessarily. But, as we have just seen, no 
 being that does not exist necessarily can be without 
 a cause. I did not, I am sure, cause myself. If 
 then, I am neither uncaused, nor self-caused, it 
 follows that I have been caused. 
 
 Again, that w-hich is true of myself holds good of 
 
Theism 19 
 
 my parents and of their parents. It holds good as 
 far back as I can go in thought of those who have 
 gone before me in the line of my ancestors. It holds 
 good of. all beings upon the earth. Whenever I look 
 at them, whenever I think of them, I am forced by 
 an imperative first principle of my reason to know 
 that each one of them had a cause. Its existence 
 was not necessary. It might not have been. There- 
 fore it was produced by the action of another out- 
 side of it. But this other was only what we call 
 a secondary cause, for it was itself caused by another. 
 I watch a child with its mother. *'Yes," I say to 
 myself, " that child came from that mother. But 
 its mother is only the secondary cause of the child's 
 being, since she was herself once a child and came 
 from her mother, and so on until we come to the 
 first mother of our race. Who caused her — who 
 unlike all other women, had no earthly mother ?" 
 
 No one can admit the existence of an infinite 
 series of secondary causes without involving himself 
 in a manifest absurdity and contradiction, since a 
 secondary cause is of its very nature finite ; in other 
 words, it had a beginning. So we are driven by 
 our reason (if we would save it) to a primary or 
 First Cause, which exists necessarily, and is therefore 
 Uncaused, but is the ultimate cause of all. In other 
 words, from the finite, visible creation, which is 
 undeniably an effect, we rise to the conception of 
 the Creator, who is the First Cause. We call Him 
 
20 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 God. He is Essential Being. As such in the Bible 
 He is represented by the two solemn words : / AM} 
 We do well to listen to the noble words of the 
 Mother of the Maccabees spoken long centuries 
 ago to her glorious sons : " I know not how you 
 were formed in my womb, for I gave you neither 
 breath, nor soul, nor life, neither did I frame the 
 limbs of any one of you . . . look upon heaven and 
 earth and all that is in them and consider that God 
 made them out of nothing and mankind also." ^ 
 
 Order and Moreover, the world around us not only 
 Design. points US to her Maker, but also cries 
 aloud to Design in her making. 
 
 II. The argument from Order and Design has some- 
 times been idly sneered at as "the watchmaker's 
 argument." But surely no argument can be dis- 
 posed of by an inept sneer void of sense or meaning. 
 
 This great argument remains as forceful in itself 
 as when Paley stated it. After I have, however 
 cursoril}', examined the works of a watch, I know — 
 and must know — that those works were designed — that 
 they involve a plan. If any man were to tell me 
 that they came together at haphazard, I could not 
 imagine that he was serious. Yet we are sometimes 
 gravely assured by those who would impugn the 
 
 1 Ex. iii. 14 ; Neh. vi. 11 ; Isa. xliv. 6 ; Zeph. ii. 15 ; John 
 viii. 58, etc. 
 
 2 2 Mace. vii. 22, 28 
 
Theism 21 
 
 Existence of a wise Creator, that the wonderful 
 universe in which we dwell was brought into being 
 by the " fortuitous concourse of atoms," that is to 
 say in plain English by "the chance meeting 
 together of tiny particles." Now, if it would be 
 ludicrous to assert that tiny atoms could so meet 
 by chance as to make the works of a watch, how 
 infinitely more ludicrous is it not to assert that little 
 molecules could by chance, without the ultimate 
 action of a directive intelligence, meet together in 
 such a manner as to form say the eye or any other 
 member of the marvellous body of a man ? The 
 whole of nature, when examined, however super- 
 ficially, calls upon us to recognise, in its Maker, 
 Mind, far transcending— in its power of adapting 
 means to ends, and also in its power of adapting 
 organisms to environment — anything of which we 
 know on earth. But this is not true merely of a 
 first glance at Nature. The more carefully we 
 pursue our investigations, the more decisively are 
 our first impressions confirmed. 
 To quote from Mgr. Moyes :— 
 
 *' Force is one thing, but the purpose or purposive 
 action which characterises force is another. It is 
 An illustra- the latter which is so plain in nature 
 tion, and which cries out for an explanation. 
 
 Herein is the ulterior strength of the Argument of 
 Desi^yn. I see a heron wading in the shallows, 
 fishing for its prey. As I watch it at its work, I 
 may observe that it presents all the evidences of 
 
2 2 Is the Cliristian Religion True ? 
 
 having been designed by an intelligent Creator. 
 There is the long beak, so admirably fitted to reach 
 down far into the water for the food it seeks ; the 
 supple neck, which allows it to deliver the stroke 
 with unerring precision ; the long legs, enabling it 
 to wade far out into the water where its food may 
 be found. I might conclude that surely an intelli- 
 gent Creator had given it such a beak, neck and 
 legs, precisely with the design that it should be able 
 to live and to find its sustenance. But here I may 
 stand corrected. A naturalist may point out to me 
 that the bird has a history, and it was not always 
 shaped as I now see it. He may proceed to tell 
 Evolutionist rne what he .believes to be the tale of its 
 Explanation, evolution. It was once very much like 
 other birds. To begin with, its material organ- 
 ism was more or less plastic, and likely to be shaped 
 by internal and external conditions. Then energy 
 flows miore fully into a member the more it is used, 
 and the member is thus developed in size and 
 strength. The bird, obliged to use its legs in 
 walking and wading after its prey, and its beak 
 in seizing it, gradually strengthened these members 
 rather than others. Moreover, it would, by the law 
 of heredity, transmit these characteristics to its off- 
 spring. The farther it Vs-ould have to wade out into 
 the water for a supply of food, the better chance its 
 long legs and strong beak would give it of finding 
 what it wanted. Those of its offspring which had 
 the longest legs and strongest beaks would have 
 more plentiful food, and would be the more likely 
 to survive, to be strong and vigorous, and to have 
 numerous progeny. Those which had not these 
 advantages would be handicapped in the struggle 
 for existence, and would become weak, would die 
 
Theism 2 7 
 
 out, and fail to have offspring. Thus, by the mere 
 self-shaping process of energy moulding the organ- 
 ism from within, and environment moulding it from 
 without, and weeding out the unfit(ted), we may 
 come to have the heron very much as we now 
 find it. All that is but a very crude outline of 
 the working of a theory with which we all are 
 familiar. 
 
 " Let us, then, for the moment accept the theory, 
 
 and examine the process. There is at the very 
 
 How the beginning a law of nutrition or self-preserva- 
 
 Explanation ^ion, by which the animal seeks to sustain 
 
 Enforces the the life within it by the quest of food which 
 
 Original is outside of it. That is law number one. 
 Argument, -pj^gQ ^j^e^-g ^^ ^^^g j^^^. ^r ^i^^^—^.y ^f 
 
 organism, by which its members can be moulded 
 more or less by inward forces or outward environ- 
 ment. That is law number two. There is the lav/ 
 of invigoration, which sends most of the vital energy 
 into a member that is most used, and least into 
 that which is least used, so that the one becomes 
 strengthened and developed, while the other becomes 
 weakened or atrophied. That is law number three. 
 There is the law of heredity, which transmits to the 
 offspring even in a pronounced degree the character 
 thus given to the organism of the parents. That is 
 law number four. There is the law of the survival 
 of the fiitest, which enables those who are adapted 
 to the food-finding and environment to live and 
 thrive and multiply, and weeds out and cuts off 
 the succession of those who are not. That is law 
 number five. We have thus five laws, each with its 
 own specific drift and operation ; lav^s which we 
 may roughly name food-quest, member-mouldiog, 
 energy-fiovv, heredity, and elimination of the weakest. 
 
24 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 And these five laws are not at all separate, isolated, 
 or independent. On the contrary, they are adju'Sted 
 so as to fit into one another, all moving together 
 by a marvellous interadaptation and interaction to 
 achieve one definite purpose — the production of a 
 well -developed heron. Now that in itself — this 
 Mechanism mechanism of laws — is a combination far 
 of Parts and more wonderful, more eloquent in its need 
 Mechanism of a constructive intelligence, than any 
 of Laws. machine which has ever come under our 
 observation.' If I had under m.y hands a machine 
 consisting of five main parts, which when put 
 together worked harmoniously to effect a given 
 object, I might admire indeed the skill of the 
 inventor. But if I have before miy eyes a con- 
 struction in which it is no longer five dead parts, 
 but five active laws of nature that are so deftly 
 handled, interwoven, and combined, that by their 
 interplay they are perpetually turning out a multi- 
 tude of living types, with the ages for their working- 
 day and the universe for their workshop, I may 
 justly feel that here indeed is Design in the most 
 telling and sublime sense of the word. Any mere 
 adjustment of parts can never equal in ingenuity 
 and skill that adjustment of laws which must ever 
 be a higher and subtler form of mechanism. If an 
 ordinary machine requires an intelligent constructor 
 to adapt its parts and fit them together, how much 
 more this higher mechanism of laws cries out for 
 the need of an intelligent Maker to set them in 
 motion, to combine their action, to direct their 
 operation to the definite purpose for which w^e see 
 them so wonderfully working. The earthly mechanic 
 plods with his material, which he shapes in such a 
 way tl;at the laws of nature may help him to 
 
Theism 25 
 
 achieve his object. The laws themselves are beyond 
 his control, and he can only apply them. But the 
 Mechanic who can handle the laws themselves 
 and fit them to work together, even as the earthly 
 mechanic fits his wheels and levers, must transcend 
 in power and intelligence all human genius. 
 
 " The argument of Design is not impaired, but 
 rather strengthened and enhanced, by all that the 
 naturalist can tell us of evolution. It means that 
 the universe is a vast and complex mechanism, and 
 that, not only for the marvellous adjustment of its 
 parts, but above all, for the still more marvellous 
 adjustment of its laws, it requires an Intelligent 
 Adjuster. 
 
 " The need is one which we may see more clearly 
 
 when we reflect on the connection that exists 
 
 Adjustment between construction and preconception. 
 
 and Precon' For things have to exist mentally before 
 
 ception. they exist really, whenever they have to be 
 
 put into any kind of order. 
 
 '' Let us suppose that we have before us a 
 mechanism of a given number of pieces. It is clear 
 that we have not merely these pieces, but a special 
 quality attaching to each, by which they fit into one 
 another in order to work for a definite object. It 
 is equally clear that the pieces have received this 
 quality, their special make and shape, in view of 
 the object to be attained. That implies that they 
 must have been seen and adjusted before they were 
 actually made, else there is no guiding principle on 
 which the adjustment could have been directed. 
 The only medium in which things can be seen or 
 shaped before they come into real existence, is an 
 intelligent mind. It alone can foresee the object 
 and mentally picture the pieces and their adjust- 
 
26 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 ment, and thus give to them the shape which is 
 required for the purpose in view. 
 
 " To construct something is something more than 
 to know something. If it is certain that it requires 
 intelligence, and a high degree of it, to know the 
 solar system, or the organism of a plant or an insect, 
 much more must intelligence have been needed to 
 produce it and to give knowledge so much to work 
 upon. What mind alone can study, mind alone can 
 have constructed to be studied. Men of science, 
 astronomers and physicists, by the very measure of 
 their genius, which we gratefully admire, are them- 
 selves the best refutation of the conclusions of some 
 amongst their number, w^ho ascribe the existence of 
 the world to a cause immeasurably less intelligent 
 than themselves. Hence we have to choose between 
 belief in an Intelligent Creator — the most simple 
 and rational solution, and the one most in harmony 
 with the workings of our own intelligent nature — or 
 to descend to the bathos of putting at the origin 
 and in supreme control of all things a force which 
 can neither see, nor hear, nor understand— an alter- 
 native which, as we have said, seems to us the 
 apotheosis of blindness and ignorance. That which 
 is at the beginning of all things, and which contains 
 the reason of all things, is God, by whatever name 
 we may choose to call it. If we are to have a 
 God — and by the force of the definition we must 
 .have one — it is neither good nor reasonable, nor in 
 keeping with our nature or with His handiwork, 
 that we should have a blind one."^ 
 
 It may be further noted that two considerations 
 
 greatly strengthen our first conclusion. 
 
 ^ The Existence of God. (Westminster Series. Sands and 
 Co. Price sixpence.) 
 
Theism 27 
 
 (i) The various organs of the body are what is 
 called prospective. They were formed before birth 
 
 Organs of ^^^ ^^^^ °^ ^° "^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ birth. In 
 the body are some cases they fall away when they 
 prospective. ^^^^ .^^^^^^ ^j^^i^ purpose. Thus, a 
 
 little chicken has bestowed upon it, whilst still in 
 its shell, a hard, sharp-pointed excrescence on the 
 top of the point of its beak with which it may pierce 
 the shell and emerge safely. This feat accomplished, 
 it will soon shed the weapon which has served its 
 purpose and is no longer necessary. Examples of 
 this kind might be multiplied indefinitely. 
 
 (2) If on examining a watch we were to find that 
 it could reproduce other watches for long centuries, 
 our certainty that it was designed would 
 fromTeTro' be at once enhanced. We were already 
 duction of sure, yet now, were it possible, we should 
 species. ^^ more sure. Such a power of repro- 
 duction of species we see on all sides in animate 
 beings around us. 
 
 The First From nature, then, we learn that the 
 Cause First Cause is not a Blind Cause, but that 
 
 and*TraL ^^ ^^^ made the world designedly. In 
 scendental, other words He is a Personal God. 
 
 Now, there can be nothing in an effect which did 
 not exist first of all, and in a higher degree— 
 transcendentally— in its cause. We know, there- 
 fore, with certainty that there is nothing of Being- 
 nothing real and positive (evil is not positive ; it is 
 
28 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 only a negation of good) in the world that is not to 
 be found most of all — in the highest way — in the 
 First Cause from which it originated. 
 
 " He that planted the ear, shall He not hear, 
 and He that formed the eye, doth He not consider."^ 
 
 But men have not only eyes and ears. They have 
 
 also minds. If I can argue to a designer from a 
 
 watch, with at least equal force can I 
 
 Argument 
 
 from the argue to a designer from a book. Take 
 human any one of Shakespeare's plays. When 
 we see the various characters so developed 
 that each has its own individuality, we know at 
 once that the man who wrote that play had a con- 
 summate knowledge of human nature. Take any 
 one speech, or even one sentence in any speech, 
 so admirably adapted to the character in whose 
 mouth it is put — directly we read it, we know 
 at once that the speech was designed. If any- 
 one were to tell us that " a fortuitous concatena- 
 tion " of talkers, without directive intelligence, had 
 formed that speech, we should laugh in his face. 
 The works of Shakespeare, one play of Shakespeare's, 
 one speech in one play tell us that there was a 
 Shakespeare — point to their creator — to the mind 
 of Shakespeare. But did Shakespeare's mind itself 
 come into existence fortuitously ? If Shakespeare 
 created Hamlet, God created Shakespeare. 
 
 All this is very obvious. But the arguments for 
 * Ps. xciii. 9. 
 
Theism 29 
 
 the existence of God are very obvious. Otherwise 
 they would not be peremptory. It is only necessary 
 to state them once again, because we had to begin 
 at the beginning, and because men are to be found 
 at the present day who, by a singular misuse of 
 reasoning, act and even sometimes write and speak 
 as though there were no God. 
 
 It mav, however, be well here to sound a note 
 of warning. Although the Church teaches that the 
 existence of God the Creator can, and should, be 
 reached by the human reason, through the visible 
 creation, she nowhere teaches that knowledge of the 
 Divine Being need be reached by every individual, 
 through this or that argument. The Church is 
 anxious about the conchisions to be drawn from 
 visible facts, not about the processes of our ratiocina- 
 tion. She is not concerned with the mere mechanism 
 of our thought. That often may be very imperfect. 
 
 " The way to the knowledge of God by the natural 
 
 light of reason, from effects to their cause, from 
 
 the things which have been made to their 
 
 Cardinal Author and Creator, leads us by reasoning 
 
 Billot s -^yhich is called a posteriori— not however only 
 
 ^^^ by reasoning which is strictly scientific, but 
 
 also by the reasoning that precedes all the rules of 
 
 logic, and the reasoning which is employed by the 
 
 illiterate and by uneducated people generally. For 
 
 all men, when they come to the use of reason, 
 
 possess the power of using spontaneous reasoning of 
 
 this kind. . «. . The knowledge which it gives is 
 
30 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 indeed of a confused character, but is certain and 
 dwells in the soul as a ' habit.' The elaborated and 
 explicit knowledge of God, which, as the result of 
 study, does not spring so immediately from the fount 
 of Nature, can be weakened by various kinds of 
 sophisms. So the end of a strictly scientific demon- 
 stration is to meet and confute fallacies by showing 
 clearly and distinctly the motives of this judgment 
 of the intellect : God exists. All people, however, do 
 not apprehend the force of proof of this character. 
 Consequently, the knowledge derived from reason 
 concerning the Existence of God, is imperfect ; it is 
 however amply sufficient to induce us, as prudent 
 persons, to embrace faith [in God], and to know 
 that we are bound to believe." ^ 
 
 It is, therefore, v/ell for mankind that, as there 
 
 are many men and many minds, so there are 
 
 many proofs of God's existence — besides those 
 
 derived from Causality and Design; such for 
 
 example are the arguments from the 
 The Afgu' . 
 
 ment from ubiquitous Law and Fact of Motion 
 
 Motion, (^this is held by many living scientists 
 
 ^? '* to be the strong^est of all the proofs 
 Necessity, i-w t, r 
 
 and from of the Divine Existence, and is the 
 
 Perfection, ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ -^^j^ ^ 5^^ Thomas 
 
 and from 
 
 General Aquinas) — the argument from Necessity 
 
 Consent. (that is to say, from the Contingent to the 
 
 Absolute) — the argument from Perfection (that is 
 
 from the ordered gradations to be found in Nature), 
 
 Billot, Dc Deo Uno, pp. 51, 52. 
 
Theism 31 
 
 and the argument from the General Consent of Man- 
 kind. For all these I would refer those of my readers 
 who can read Latin to the Summa,^ and all my readers 
 to Mgr. Moyes.^ 
 
 But there remains one great evidence of the Divine 
 
 The Argti' Existence which I cannot pass over 
 
 ment from without some development. I refer to 
 
 that Argument from Conscience, to which 
 
 Cardinal Newman ascribed such weight. 
 
 This Moral Argument deserves the special atten- 
 tion of all those, who attempt to escape the force 
 of the arguments from Causality and Design, by 
 the adoption of a Pantheism which professes to 
 regard the Universe as an Absolute Entity and its 
 own Architect. 
 
 The experience of a Priest drawn from the Con- 
 fessional makes it perfectly safe for him to assert, 
 without fear that any man from his own personal 
 experience will contradict the statemxent, that every 
 rational being comes into this world with a sense of 
 right and wrong. This sense may no doubt be 
 almiOst obliterated, if its promptings be persistently 
 ignored, but it is there, and its voice is heard, at 
 least in the beginning of life. If wisely cultivated, it 
 becomes more sensitive and more sure as life goes on. 
 It is intended to be our guide to the end. Now this 
 sense of right and wrong — the idea of ougJit — our con- 
 viction that certain things are good and that certain 
 1 L, Qu. I, Art. 3, 2 Oj\ cit. 
 
32 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 things are evil— carries with it a sense of responsi- 
 bility — of accountabih'ty to the Author of our being. 
 It is idle to attempt to dispose of this fact either 
 by saying that right is the same as useful and wrong 
 the same as painful, or by an appeal to heredity. 
 Few signs of the times are more heartening than the 
 total collapse of Herbert Spencer's reputation, and 
 that of the school which identified the unique sense 
 of conscience with the craving for "prolonged 
 utility," and reduced the Moral Law to a mere 
 dictate of selfish prudence. Nor does heredity dis- 
 pose of the matter. For if it be argued that we 
 have inherited our moral sense, we may fairly ask, 
 who gave it to those who have preceded us — who 
 implanted its first origin in the hearts of our fathers ? 
 In any case it is there now. 
 
 This argument may be stated in a general form 
 somewhat as follows : 
 
 The Existence of a Moral Law, that is, of a Law 
 commanding right and forbidding wrong, is an evi- 
 dent fact which cannot be explained away. But the 
 existence of a Law of right and wrong carries with it 
 the existence of an absolutely holy Being, who is the 
 Foundation and Sanction of that Law. Therefore, 
 such a Being exists. 
 
 By the Moral Law we here mean a definite com- 
 mand, unconditional, necessary, absolute, and in- 
 cumbent on all conceivable free and intelligent 
 creatures. Now, it is only a Being of supreme 
 
Theism 33 
 
 authority who can impose an unconditional Law 
 such as all men acknowledge in their hearts as 
 binding on their consciences. 
 
 Similarly, we see at once that a Being who imposes 
 His Law on all mankind without exception — and such 
 a Lawgiver is the author of the Moral Law — is of 
 Infinite Intelligence, for no other can have authority 
 to command men universally. 
 
 Finally, this Lawgiver is infinitely holy, for if He 
 were to deflect from Holiness, the obligation of His 
 Law would cease. 
 
 Nor can it be maintained that the existence of the 
 Law and Lawgiver whom we here presuppose is due 
 to imagination, for imagination has not the binding 
 force which normal men and women agree in ascrib- 
 ing to the Moral Law. 
 
 ** Conscience," writes Kant, " by making Morality 
 consist in conformity to a Law places its very essence 
 in submission. In submission then to whom ? Con- 
 science points to an authority above the mind alto- 
 gether. It does not claim for itself that it is in- 
 fallible, that it is sufficient, or that it is independent, 
 but bows to some authority beyond. It acknowledges 
 a standard that is, and must be, right. It looks 
 up for sanction and guidance. There might be a 
 moral Idea without a moral Law. Imagination 
 might construct an ideal of excellence, but imagina- 
 tion could not bind me to attain it. But I am bound 
 
 3 
 
34 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 to obey this Law. Who is it that can thus command 
 me and all other beings ?"^ 
 
 When I have done wrong, no mortal eye may 
 have seen the evil action. There may, perchance, be 
 no possibility that any human being can ever know 
 of my wickedness, otherwise than by my voluntary 
 confession. But I know that I shall have one day 
 to give an account of this deed of mine. I know 
 that I have broken a Law of God. For a Law 
 written in my heart involves a Lawgiver. 
 
 If the First Cause and Ultimate Reality were not 
 a Holy God, the human conscience would be superior 
 to, and in revolt against, its Cause and Source. If, 
 however, the Cause came short of the Effect, the 
 axiom of causality would be violated. Moreover, 
 such an opposition between the Created Effect 
 (the human conscience) and the First Cause of 
 creation is excluded by the Unity of Being as a 
 whole. Therefore, human morality must exist '* emi- 
 nently " (that is in a higher degree) in the First 
 Cause, who is God. 
 
 Furthermore, I have a deeply-rooted conviction 
 that good ought to be rewarded and evil punished. 
 Consequently, if there were no means of punishing 
 moral evil, God in creating men would have over- 
 leapt Himself, providing His creatures with a sense 
 without its corresponding sanction. But this is 
 
 * Epitome of an argument of Kant's, Dublin Review^ 1872, 
 p. 2S0. 
 
Theism ^r 
 
 impossible. We know well that there is some deeper 
 punishment for evil and some richer reward for virtue 
 than anything we can receive here. 
 
 In other words : 
 
 "Those who will come to God must believe that 
 God is, and that He is the Rewarder of them that 
 search after Him."i 
 
 Having, then, arrived in our first chapter at the 
 recognition of the two great elementary Truths, 
 (i) I am, (2) The world outside of me exists, we have 
 now by the use of Reason and Conscience, come to 
 acknowledge further that (3) God is, and (4) that not 
 only does He exist, but also that there is a Moral Law, 
 and that God is my Judge, 
 
 i Heb. xi. 6. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 FAITH 
 
 In the two preceding chapters we have shown that 
 
 every normal man may arrive at certainty concerning 
 
 his own existence and that of the external world, 
 
 _ , especially through experience, and by the 
 
 exercise of the Faculty of Memory. More- 
 Memory. , , , r ^ • 
 
 over, through the use oi his reasonmg 
 eason. power he can arrive at knowledge con- 
 cerning the Existence of God and the binding 
 force of certain moral precepts of the Natural 
 The Law of Law, which have been written by the 
 Nature. Creator upon the hearts of all His 
 responsible creatures. Now the question arises : 
 Is further knowledge possible, outside the sphere ot 
 physical observation — in other words, can we arrive 
 Super- ^^ supernatural Truth derived, through 
 
 natttral Faith, from Revelation, as well as at natural 
 Truth. certainty derived, through Reason, from 
 experience and the exercise of the faculties of our 
 mind ? 
 
 To this question the Catholic Church answers 
 
 36 
 
Faith 37 
 
 with an emphatic ** Y^s." The Creator has given 
 
 us Reason as the divinely appointed means of 
 
 ^. . arrivinsr at natural knowlede^e (including^ 
 
 The natural ^ . . 
 
 and supef' the natural knowledge of Himself). Faith 
 
 natural jg equally His Gift — by means of which 
 
 Of dci* 
 
 we may arrive at knowledge of the 
 Revelation which He has deigned to bestow upon 
 mankind. 
 
 As the Vatican Council teaches us:^ "Since man 
 absolutely depends upon God as His Creator and 
 Lord, and created reason is altogether 
 subject to Uncreated Truth, we are bound 
 to render by Faith full submission of the intellect and 
 will to God in His Revelation. Now, the Catholic 
 Church professes that this Faith, which is the be- 
 ginning of man's salvation, is a supernatural virtue, 
 by which, under the influence, and with the aid, of 
 the Grace of God, we believe those things which 
 He has revealed to be true, not on account of their 
 intrinsic truth as perceived by the natural light of 
 reason, but on account of the Revelation of God, 
 who can neither deceive nor be deceived." 
 
 It is, then, through Divine Faith — that is by 
 believing the Word of God — that we acquire a know- 
 ledge of supernatural truths to which we could never 
 attain by means of the human reason. 
 
 Faith is either '* divine'' or '' htimaji,'' By divine 
 
 1 Constiiuiio Dogmatica dc Fide Catholica, Cap. III., De 
 Fide,S. 
 
38 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 faith I believe the Word of God ; by human faith I 
 beheve the word of some human being or beings. 
 
 Outside the Catholic Church there is the widest 
 misconception as to what Catholics mean by the 
 word Faith. It is often imagined, even by men of 
 the greatest intelligence and highest scientific attain- 
 ments, that by Faith we understand a blind Faculty, 
 which leads us to make unreasonable assumptions 
 and causes us to believe, without being able to give 
 any reasonable explanation as to why we believe. 
 
 Thus, Professor Huxley wrote that science asks 
 of her disciples one and one only Act of Faith — an 
 Professor ^^^ of Faith in the Uniformity of Nature. 
 Huxley's By this statement it is evidently meant that 
 ^ ^^"^^ we should accept the Fact of the Uniformity 
 
 of Nature as a first principle, for which we can give 
 no proof, and which we have to assume as the basis 
 of all further argument. But, the instructed Catholic 
 will assume nothing, excepting those metaphysical 
 and mathematical axioms which are immediately 
 seen by any sane man to be true — such, for example, 
 as the statement that a thing cannot be and not be 
 in the same manner at the same time, or that a 
 straight line cannot enclose a space. The Uniformity 
 of Nature (subject to occasional exceptions due to 
 the direct action of the Creator) a Catholic does not 
 assumCf but knows to be a fact in consequence of a 
 wide induction, such as is made by every man who 
 has in any degree exercised his faculty of observation. 
 
Faith 
 
 39 
 
 The dogmas of Christianity a CathoUc does not 
 assiune, but knows to be true in consequence of the 
 Word of God. 
 
 Faith Faith, whether human or divine, is 
 
 opposed not opposed to sight. It is '-'the proof of 
 
 to knoW' . , 
 
 ledge but to thmgs ttiat do not appear."^ So far, 
 sight. however, from being opposed to know- 
 
 ledge, it is one of the chief sources of knowledge. 
 
 This becomes quite clear directly we analyse the 
 source of our knowledge of all those things which we 
 
 rri. can possibly know. We shall then find 
 
 The source ^ -^ 
 
 of human that knowledge can only come to the 
 knowledge, ^m-^an mind in one of three ways. 
 
 (i) Some facts are made known to us by mathe- 
 Abstract matical reasonings, such for example are 
 reasoning, ^he conclusions of Euclid. 
 
 (2) Many things we know through our senses. Thus 
 do we know the faces of our friends, the features ot 
 The Bodily a country landscape with which we are 
 Senses. familiar, the aspect of a street in which 
 we live. But 
 
 (3) The vast bulk of our knowledge we have 
 
 acquired neither by mathematical reasoning, nor 
 
 through the evidence of our senses, but 
 Testimony. r i 1 
 
 solely on the testimony 01 other people, 
 
 that is to say by faith. In this way we have become 
 
 'acquainted with the great facts of history, with much 
 
 1 Heb. xi. 
 
40 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 of our geographical knowledge, with a thousand 
 truths (scientific and other) which day by day, on 
 the word of other men, we store in our minds, 
 without any possibility of personal verification. Nor 
 is the thought of possible verification present to our 
 minds as a motive of belief. 
 
 I am as certain that the battle of Waterloo was 
 fought in the month of June in the year 1815, as I 
 am that I am writing at this moment with a fountain- 
 pen. The first fact I know on faith ; the second by 
 the testimony of my eyes and hand. 
 
 I no more doubt the positive statement of a friend 
 whom I know that I can trust, even though he may 
 Validity of perhaps be under a cloud, and may assure 
 Testimony, ^xie of things in themselves most unlikely 
 to have occurred, than 1 doubt the evidence of my 
 own senses. 
 
 No man can conduct the business of life for a 
 single day excepting on the principle that he must 
 believe — on subjects within their own powers of 
 observation — simply upon their word — and believe 
 implicitly — those of his fellows who, he has reason 
 to. think, are worthy of credence. I can reasonably 
 ground my certainty on tneir certainty. 
 
 We must, however, always remember 
 
 Human and , , , • • c 1 
 
 that, when there is question or human 
 
 faithy very often our certainty is no more than 
 
 a greater or less high degree of probability. Very 
 
Faith 
 
 41 
 
 often we know that the man on whose word we 
 beHeve may have been himself mistaken, whilst 
 sometimes we may have a lurking fear that he may 
 be deceiving us. 
 
 But when, by the exercise of divine Faith, we 
 believe a truth on the Word of God, we know that 
 Divine our certainty should be absolute. Once I 
 Faith. am convinced that Christ is what He 
 
 claimed to be — God, I can no longer hesitate. God 
 can neither deceive nor be deceived. When He has 
 spoken, I dare no longer doubt. This is the meaning 
 of the Apostle when he wrote : *' If the testimony of 
 man be great, the testimony of God is greater."' 
 If it is often reasonable to believe our fellow-man, 
 even when he may state something that, on other 
 grounds, seems highly improbable, it is still more 
 reasonable always to believe God, and this quite 
 independently of any intrinsic likelihood of that 
 which God may teach. 
 
 The only question that a man may fairly ask 
 before he submits his mind and will to a Religion 
 which claims to be God's Revelation — if he would 
 act according to the right exercise of his reason— is 
 The ^^^^ • " ^^ ^^ indeed God's Revelation ? 
 
 Grounds of Has God actually taught this fact ? Has 
 faith. Q^^ spoken ?" And so we come to 
 
 what are knovv'n to Theologians as the Prceamhida 
 Fideij or the Grounds of the Truth of Christianity. 
 
 * I John V. 9. 
 
42 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 Concerning these PrcBamhiila Fidei the Vatican 
 Council teaches as follows:-^ "In order that the 
 obedience of our Faith should be in accordance with 
 Reason, God has- willed to join to the interior help 
 of His Holy vSpirit, external proofs of His Revelation 
 — namely, divine Facts, — and especially miracles and 
 prophecies, which, inasmuch as they luminously 
 manifest the Omnipotence and Infinite Knowledge 
 of God, are most certain proofs of His Revelation, 
 and are suited to the intelligence of all men. On 
 this account both Moses and the Prophets, and also 
 above all Christ our Lord, have performed quite 
 undoubted miracles and given us prophecies. More- 
 over of the Apostles we read : * They went forth and 
 preached everywhere, the Lord working with them 
 and confirming their word by the marvels which 
 followed it.'^ . . . Moreover, the Church herself is, 
 of herself, by reason of her wonderful growth, her 
 conspicuous Holiness, and ceaseless fruitfulness in 
 all good works, by reason of her world-wide unity 
 and unconquerable persistence, both a perpetual 
 motive of credibility and an unanswerable witness 
 to her embassy from God." 
 
 In the next chapter of this great Dogmatic Con- 
 stitution concerning Faith, the Vatican Council 
 added these words :^ "And when Reason, aided by 
 
 1 Constitutio Dogmatica de Fide CaiJiolica, Cap. III., De 
 Fide, 9-12, 
 
 2 Mark xvi. 20. ^ Cap. IV,, De Fide et Ratione, 15. 
 
Faith 
 
 43 
 
 Faith, earnestly, devoutly and soberly seeks from 
 God a certain understanding of [the Christian] 
 Mysteries, she obtains this both from an analogy 
 between them and the things which she learns by 
 use of the natural faculties, and from the interde- 
 pendence of [the Christian] Mysteries upon one 
 another, and their connection with the last end of 
 Man." 
 
 It should, however, be observed that these 
 "Grounds of Faith," though all in themselves 
 Their valid, will not all carry the same measure 
 
 Variety. of conviction to various minds. One man 
 will be more impressed by the Gospel accounts of 
 the Miracles of Christ, and of His Resurrection at 
 the beginning of Christianity ; another by the 
 Miracles of Lourdes, or by the spectacle of the 
 Catholic Church at the present day. One man will 
 be more moved by the thought of the marvellous 
 propagation of Catholicism in the first centuries of 
 Christianity ; another by the thought of her unity 
 throughout the world, as he may now see it in any 
 quarter of the globe. 
 
 Moreover, we must always remember that these 
 proofs are essentially cumulative in their force. 
 Their ^^^ lends strength to its fellow, until the 
 
 cumulative whole result, when viewed not in isolation 
 but in conjunction, becomes almost over- 
 whelming in its appeal to the intellect. 
 
44 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 Above all, it should never be forgotten that they 
 
 are all external evidences. They are not meant by 
 
 ^, God, even when viewed together, to stand 
 
 They are . 
 
 addressed alone. They are intended to give intel- 
 
 to the lectual corroboration and support to that 
 
 internal evidence which (as may be learned 
 from experience) God gives to the heart and con- 
 science — to the soul of every man who will come to 
 the Problem of Christianity — in other words, to the 
 Problem of Christ — with an unbiassed mind, and an 
 honest desire to know the truth at all costs — evidence 
 bestowed in fullest measure upon all, who having 
 already received the grace to believe in Christ, 
 tise the religion which Christ has left upon this 
 earth. 
 
 To sum up the conclusions at which we have 
 arrived so far in our investigation. By the use of 
 natural reason we have learned to believe 
 in the Existence of God, and have also 
 come to see that it is reasonable for man, relying 
 upon God's Wisdom and Faithfulness, to believe by 
 Faith (which is the link between natural and super- 
 natural religion) whatever Truths God may have 
 revealed to His responsible creatures.'^ 
 Yhe Christianity claims to have received 
 
 Christian such a Revelation from God through 
 Revelation, q^^'^^^^ ^is Ambassador to men. '* What 
 
 1 Faith may also give us knowledge of truths which we have 
 already learned in a different manner. 
 
Faith 45 
 
 is Truth ?"^ asked Pilate. "For this have I come 
 into the world," answered Jesus of Nazareth, " to bear 
 witness to the Truth." ^ He also said, "I am the 
 Truth," and St. John declares that " Grace and 
 Truth" (supernatural strength for the will and super- 
 natural light for the mind) "have come through 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 The Catholic Church assures her children that 
 this claim can be shown to be trustworthy — that 
 Christ came into the world to appeal to every man 
 and to every side of man — consequently to man's 
 intellect as well as to his heart — to give mental 
 satisfaction as well as pardon for sin— that He bore 
 His title-deeds to our Faith in Him in His Hands — 
 that we can examine them at this hour, and shall 
 not be disappointed — that thus to examine does not 
 argue any want of confidence in His Word, for in 
 so acting we are only acting in accordance with His 
 Will, who desires that we should render unto Him 
 "a. reasonable service." Only let no man shirk or 
 obscure the issue. If Christ be what He claimed 
 to be, it is the height of unreason to refuse to believe 
 in Christ — the height of unreason to refuse to 
 believe what Christ has taught. When once we 
 know that Christ is the Divine Teacher of Truths 
 which, apart from His teaching, we could never 
 know, it follows inevitably that Christianity — the 
 Christianity left by Christ on earth, to which He 
 1 John xviii. 38. ^ Jolin xviii. 37. 
 
46 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 guaranteed the assistance of His Spirit to the end 
 of time — is true, absolutely, in the whole content of 
 its message to mankind. 
 
 Here there can be no question of degree. It is 
 nothing, or it is all. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE ARGUMENT FROM PROPHECY TO THE 
 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 We have seen that the normal use of the human 
 
 reason suffices to prove the existence of the Supreme 
 
 Creator ; whilst the human conscience 
 
 warns each individual who will heed its 
 
 warnings that it is his duty, as the rational creature 
 
 of God, to render Him service by observing the Law 
 
 which He has written on the tablets of men's hearts. 
 
 This is natural religion. 
 
 We now approach the question of religion which 
 
 claims to be supernatural, teaching us truths, to 
 
 c which unaided reason could never attain. 
 
 Supef' 
 
 natural We shall confine our investigation to 
 religion. Christianity, since anyone born and edu- 
 cated in a Christian country, who rejects the 
 authority of Christ, will hardly turn elsewhere with 
 satisfaction for his intellect ; moreover if the Chris- 
 tian Religion be proved to be true, rival religions, 
 so far as they contradict the Christian Revelation, are 
 thereby proved to be false. 
 
 47 
 
48 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 " Discussi, fateor, sectas Antonius omnes. 
 Plurima quassivi, per singula quaeque cucurri. 
 Sed nihil inveni melius quam credere Christo."^ 
 
 These words written in the third or fourth century 
 after Christ express the experience of an increasing 
 number of souls to-day in our restless age, who 
 search and search — only, thank God, in the end to 
 confess their unshaken belief in Christ. 
 
 The Catholic Church teaches, not that we can 
 prove the truth of Christian doctrines separately, 
 since they depend for their ultimate verification 
 simply upon the word and authority of Christ, but 
 that it can be shown by plain and adequate proofs 
 that Christ is a divine Messenger, to whose teaching 
 it is reasonable to render the assent of the mind and 
 the obedience of the will. 
 
 Our next step, therefore, is to examine these 
 proofs or external evidences of the Truth of Chris- 
 tianity. The first which we have to consider is 
 Prophecy. 
 
 By Prophecy we understand the prediction of a future 
 
 event which cannot he known by any created intelligence 
 
 through any natural cause. If even one 
 Prophecy, , .... , , . 
 
 such prediction has ever been made, it 
 
 is manifest, from the very terms of our definition, 
 
 that this prediction comes from the Creator. It is, 
 
 therefore, a sign of Divine intervention, one of those 
 
 ways in which God, granted the fact and truth of 
 
 ^ Migne, P. L., vol. v., p. 261. 
 
The Argument from Prophecy 49 
 
 the prophecy, is pleased to communicate with His 
 creatures. The predictions of future events, which 
 are held by Christians to be true Prophecies, and as 
 such to have a real apologetic value, may be divided 
 into three classes. 
 
 I. The General Prophecies of the Jewish Prophets. 
 So far as these can be shown to have been verified, 
 Thfe ^^^y ^^^^ witness to the Law and the 
 classes of Prophets — to the truth of that Jewish 
 Prophecies. RgUgjon which was intended to be "the 
 schoolmaster to lead men to Christ." ^ 
 
 II. The Special Prophecies concerning the Messias 
 and, signally, concerning His Passion. These Prophe- 
 cies bear witness directly to Jesus Christ. 
 
 III. The Prophecies of Christ recorded in the 
 New Testament — to which may be added a great 
 Prophecy of His Blessed Mother. 
 
 With regard to I. and II. the space at my disposal 
 and the plan of this book will only enable me to deal 
 with them in the most summary manner. Anyone 
 who wishes to see them examined in detail may find 
 this work done admirably by Colonel Turton.^ 
 
 I. The General Prophecies of the Jewish Prophets. 
 
 General It is undeniable that the Jewish Prophets 
 
 Prophecies, predicted unequivocally (amongst other 
 facts of history) : 
 
 ^ Gal. iii. 24. 
 
 2 Thi Truth of Christianiiy , pp. 227-244; 467-494. 
 
50 Is the Christian Rehgion True ? 
 
 (a) The desolation of Assyria and Babylonia.^ 
 
 (6) The degradation of Egypt.^ 
 
 (c) The dispersion of the Jews, who when scattered 
 amongst the various nations of the world, were still 
 to preserve their distinctive racial characteristics.^ 
 
 It is also undeniable and matter of common know- 
 ledge that these predictions have been fulfilled with 
 extraordinary accuracy, often even in the most 
 minute particulars.* 
 
 Moreover, so exact is the correspondence between 
 the event and the prediction in at least eight other 
 definite prophecies of specific events^ to be found in 
 the Old Testament, that those who disbelieve in the 
 reality and truth of the Jewish Prophecies have no 
 alternative but to assert that they were all written 
 after the event. I shall venture here to quote the 
 words of Colonel Turton. which express the matter 
 far more forcibly than any which I could substitute : 
 
 " At this lapse of time it is difficult to prove 
 or disprove such a statement [that the Jewish 
 Prophecies were written after the event which they 
 claim to foretell]. But it must be remembered that 
 to say that any apparent prophecies were written 
 
 1 Isa. viii. 19-22 ; Jer. 1. 13, 39, 40 ; li. 26, 37, 43 ; Xah. iii. 7 ; 
 Zeph. ii. 13-15. 
 
 2 Ezek. xxix. 11-13 ; xxix. 15; xxx. 7, 13-16,23, 26; Jer. xlvi. 19. 
 
 3 Deut. iv. 27 ; xxviii. 25, 37, 46, 48, 64 ; Lev. xxvi. 33 ; 
 Ezek. xxii. 15 ; Jer. ix. 16 ; xxiv. 9 ; xxix. 18 ; Hos. ix. 17 ; 
 Neh. i. 8. 
 
 * Cf. Turton, op. cit., pp. 227-238. 
 s Id., pp. 238-240. 
 
The Arguiiicnt from Prophecy 51 
 
 after the event is not merely to destroy their super- 
 human character, and bring them down to the level 
 of ordinary writings, but far below it. For ordinary 
 writings do not contain wilful misstatements, and 
 yet every pretended prophecy written after the event 
 cannot possibly be regarded in any other light. The 
 choice then lies between real prophecies and -unljul 
 forgeries. There is no other alternative. And bear- 
 ing this in mind, we must ask, is it likely that men of 
 such high moral character as the Hebrew Prophets 
 — men who declared that they spoke in the Name 
 of God — should have been guilty of such gross im- 
 posture ? Is it likely that, if guilty of it, they should 
 have been able to pass it off successfully on the 
 whole Jewish nation ? And is it likely that they 
 should have had any sufficient motive to induce 
 them to make the attempt. 
 
 " Moreover, many of these prophecies are stated 
 to have been made in ptihlic, and to have been 
 notorious and well known long before their fulfil- 
 ment. And it is hard to see how this could ha\e 
 been asserted unless it was the case, or how it could 
 have been the case unless they (i.e., these prophecies) 
 were superhuman. 
 
 " It should also be noticed that in Deuteronomy 
 the occurrence of some definite and specific event is 
 given as the test of a Prophet, and the later Prophets 
 appeal to this very test. Thus Isaiah challenges 
 the false Prophets to foretell future events, and 
 repeatedly declares that this was the mark of a true 
 Prophet.^ And it seems inconceivable that men 
 should thus court defeat by themselves proposing a 
 
 * Deut. xviii. 22 ; I?a. xli. 22 ; xliv. 8 ; xlviii. 3-5. See also 
 Dcut. xiii. I 3. 
 
52 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 test which would have shown that they were nothing 
 more than impostors. And yet this would have 
 been the case if all their so-called prophecies had 
 been uttered after the events."^ 
 
 II. The distinctive Messianic Prophecies. 
 
 With regard to these, at any rate, there can 
 be no suggestion that they were written after the 
 jj^g Birth and Death of Christ, for they were 
 
 Messianic treasured in their Hebrew form by the 
 Prophecies, jg^^g^ ^^^^q ^^ere their Librarians. Now 
 it is quite certain that these enemies of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ would never have permitted any inter- 
 polation in favour of His Claims which they were 
 at the very moment engaged in bitterly opposing. 
 Moreover we know that the Old Testament was 
 translated into Greek, and that in this form (the 
 Septuagint) it was spread through a great part of 
 the world more than a hundred years before the 
 coming of Christ. 
 
 Between these Prophecies and what we know of 
 the Life — and particularly of the Passion — of Christ 
 there is a correspondence which it is, to say the 
 least, exceedingly difficult to ascribe to mere coinci- 
 dence at least in every case. Once again we can 
 only summarise. 
 
 Father Devivier, S.J., gives us twenty-two predic- 
 tions of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah 
 
 1 Turton, op. cit., pp. 241-242. 
 
The Argument from Prophecy 53 
 
 which were fulfilled in the Person of Christ.^ I will 
 content myself with calling the attention of my 
 readers to eleven of the most notable. 
 
 It was predicted of the Messiah that He should be 
 
 (i) A son of Abraham- — and 
 
 (2) of David ;^ 
 
 (3) of the tribe of Judah ;* 
 
 (4) born of a Virgin,^ 
 
 (5) in the town of Bethlehem ;^ 
 
 (6) and that He should honour the Temple with 
 His Presence ;' 
 
 (7) that He should be in name and fact Jesus or 
 the Saviour ;^ 
 
 (8) Emmanuel or God with us ; ^ 
 
 (9) Christ or the Anointed ;'^'^ 
 
 (10) A priest according to the Order of Melchise- 
 dech;ii 
 
 (11) The Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty 
 God, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of 
 Peace.^^ 
 
 These predictions vary in their clearness and 
 therefore in their force, but they were all fulfilled in 
 Christ, as we read of Him in the Gospels, and their 
 
 1 Chrislian Apologetics, vol. i., pp. 212, 213 
 
 * Gen. xxii. 3. 
 
 3 Isa. xi. 10 ; Jer. xxiii. 5 ; xxxiii. 15 ; Ps. Ixxxviii., etc. 
 
 * Gen. xlix. 10. ^ Isa. vii. 14 ; Ezek. xliv. 2. 
 « Mic. V. 2. ^ Hag. ii. 8 ; Mai. iii. i. 
 
 8 Isa. li. 14 ; Hab. iii. 18. ^ Isa. vii. 14. 
 
 10 Lev. iv. 20, etc. ^^ Ps. cix. 4. ^' Isa. ix. 6. 
 
54 Is the Christian ReHglon True ? 
 
 concentrated force is — it will be generally admitted 
 — very great. 
 
 " If only one man," writes Pascal, "had made a 
 book of predictions concerning the time and manner 
 of the coming of Jesus Christ, and if Jesus Christ 
 had come in conformity with his prophecies — this 
 would be of very great weight. But we have much 
 more than this. There is a succession of men, who, 
 during four thousand years, come, one after another, 
 predicting this same event. A whole people announce 
 Him, and subsist for four thousand years, in order to 
 render as a body testimony of the certainties which 
 they possess concerning Him, from which they can 
 be turned by no menaces and by no persecution. 
 This is something of far higher importance [than the 
 predictions of any single individual].^ 
 
 Two of these ^^^ ^^^^ ^*^^^ consider five of the 
 Prophecies Messianic predictions in some detail. But 
 speak of the ^^^^ J ^^^^j^ observe that it is a very 
 
 coming ^ ^ "^ 
 
 Messiah remarkable fact that, notwithstanding 
 
 as God, their consistent Monotheism, two, at 
 
 least, of the great Messianic prophets speak of the 
 
 coming Saviour in terms that can only rightly be 
 
 applied to God : 
 
 (i) " For unto us a Child is horny unto us a Son is 
 
 T.I. c R'iven : and the Government shall be upon His 
 Isaiah IX* 6* ^ ^ 
 
 Shoulder ; and His Name shall he called 
 Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Father 
 of the World to come, the Prince of Peace,'' 
 
 * Pcns^es de Pascal, p. 220, French Edition (Paris, 1861). 
 
The i\rgument from Prophecy 55 
 
 I cannot do better than quote Colonel Turton's 
 comment on these familiar and yet most wonderful 
 words : ^ 
 
 " Here we have a plain statement of the Divinity 
 of One who should be born a Child. The two 
 words translated Mighty God are incapable of any 
 other translation, and no other is suggested for them 
 in the margin of either the Authorised or Revised 
 Version ; while the same two words occur in the 
 next chapter where they plainly mean Mighty God 
 and nothing else. Moreover the term Everlasting 
 Father is literally Father of Eternity and means The 
 Eternal One. This is another Divine Title, and does 
 not conflict with the Christian doctrine that it was 
 the Son, and not the Father, who became Incarnate. 
 While the following words that ' of the increase of 
 His Government tliere shall he no end'; and that it 
 should be established for ever also point to a Divine 
 Ruler, in spite of the reference to David's Throne. 
 And it is significant that a few verses before it is 
 implied that the Ministry of this future IMessiah 
 should commence in the land of Zabulon and Naph- 
 thali, by the Sea of GaHlee ; where as a matter of 
 fact Christ's Ministry did commence."^ 
 
 (2) " But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little 
 to be among the thousands of Judah, out of 
 
 ^^^ ^* * thee shall One come forth unto me that is to 
 he ruler in Israel ; and His goings forth are from the 
 beginning, from everlasting," 
 
 In these words of the Prophet Micah we have a 
 
 1 The Truth o' Christianity, p. 488. ^ j^a. ix. i, 2. 
 
56 Is the Christian Rehgion True ? 
 
 prophecy of the birth of One who had existed from 
 everlasting; thus showing the Pre-existence and 
 Divinity of the Messiah, who as Man was to be born 
 at Bethlehem, who as God was from everlasting — 
 from the days oj Eternity. 
 
 (3) The Prophecy of the Passion of the Messiah to 
 
 be found in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is so 
 
 marvellous in its detailed accomplishment 
 
 in the Sufferings of Jesus Christ, that I 
 
 need hardly do more than copy it out and let it 
 
 speak for itself: 
 
 " Behold My Servant shall deal wisely. He shall 
 be exalted and lifted up and shall be very high . . . 
 He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we see 
 Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 
 He was despised and rejected of men, a Man of Sorrows 
 and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom 
 men hide their face was He despised, and we 
 esteemed Him not. Surety He hath home our griefs 
 and carried onr sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him 
 stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was 
 wonnded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our 
 iniquities ; the chastisement of our Peace was upon Him, 
 and with His Stripes we are healed. All we like sheep 
 have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his 
 own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the 
 iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet He 
 humbled Himself and opened not His Mouth ; as a 
 
The Argument from Prophecy 57 
 
 lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep 
 that before her shearers is dumb ; yea He opened 
 not His Mouth. . . . And they made His Grave 
 with the wicked [Christ was appointed to die, 
 between two thieves, and doubtless it was intended 
 that He should be buried with ordinary criminals^], 
 and with the rich in His Death [for Joseph of 
 Arimathea intervened, when in striking contrast 
 with the circumstances of His Death and the 
 designs of His enemies, He was buried by the 
 *rich' Joseph and Nicodemus with costly spices 
 and in a rich man's tomb]. Yet it pleased the Lord 
 to bruise Him ; He hath put Him to grief; when 
 Thou shalt make His Soul an offering for sin, He 
 shall see His Seed; He shall see of the travail of 
 His Soul and shall be satisfied . . . He was num- 
 bered with the transgressors ; yet He bore the sin 
 of many and made intercession for the transgressors." 
 
 (4) There are many prophecies in Zechariah which 
 Christians believe on the authority of the Evan- 
 TheProphc' g^^ists, and even of our Lord Himself, to 
 
 cics of apply to the Messiah, such as : '* They 
 
 Zechariah. ^j^^jj j^^^ ^^^^ p^-^ ^^j^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 pierted,"^ or again: "smite the Shepherd and the 
 sheep shall be scattered."^ The Christian applica- 
 
 ^ Douay Version has " He was reputed with the wicked." 
 
 2 Zech. xii. lo ; cf. John xix. 37. 
 
 3 Zech. xiii. 7 ; c/. Matt. xxvi. 31 ; Mark xiv. 27. 
 
58 Is the Christian ReHgion True? 
 
 tion of some of these predictions may be disputed 
 by an enquirer who is without the Christian 
 Faith, and is destitute of behef in the inspiration 
 of the New Testament. But there is one passage in 
 Zechariah, which does seem to me to be of the 
 greatest significance from whatever point of view it 
 may be regarded: " Rejoice greatty, O daughter of 
 Zion ; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem : Behold thy 
 King cometh unto thee. He is just and having 
 salvation ; and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt 
 the foal of an ass."^ Now, our Lord's entry into 
 Jerusalem, riding upon a colt of an ass, when He was 
 hailed as King, is recorded by all the Evangelists.^ 
 So it will hardly be objected that either St. Mark or 
 St. Luke invented this incident in order to corre- 
 spond with the prophecy, since neither of them quotes 
 the prophecy at all in connection with the incident. 
 They merely state the regal entry upon the foal 
 of an ass as a fact. It must, therefore, be acknow- 
 ledged to be an historical occurrence, supported by 
 as strong evidence as any fact in our Lord's life, that 
 He did enter the Holy City in the manner described 
 in the Gospels. When this has once been recog- 
 nised — and it will not, I think, be disputed — the sig- 
 nificance and importance of the passage in Zechariah 
 will be obvious. Its fulfilment can hardly be a 
 coincidence. 
 
 ^ Zech. ix. 9. 
 
 2 Matt. xxi. ; Mark xi. ; Luke xix. ; John xii. 
 
The Argument from Prophecy 59 
 
 (5) When we remember that in the great Messianic 
 
 Psalm ^ the very words used by the Jews in mockery 
 
 of Christ — *' He trusted in the Lord that 
 
 Psalm xxi, -^g ^^^j^ dehver Him— let Him save 
 
 Him " — were predicted ; that it was declared that 
 His enemies should " dig His Hands and Feet," 
 that they should " number (stretch out) all His 
 Bones," "look and stare" upon Him, "part" His 
 "garments amongst" them and that upon His 
 "vesture they should cast lots," we pause in awe 
 before this marvellous foretelling of the indignities 
 heaped upon our Lord. The Jews themselves always 
 regarded this Psalm as Messianic. Consequently, 
 when it was quoted against them by the early 
 Apologists of Christianity, they w^ere driven to the 
 desperate device of inventing a theory of two Mes- 
 siahs, one suffering, the other triumphant. 
 
 I would here venture to urge once more that it 
 is most important always to bear in mind that the 
 Cumulative Strongest force of the Argument from 
 force of Prophecy is cumulative. This argument 
 
 Prophecies* -^ impressive in proportion as it is re- 
 garded as a whole and not in detail. More or less 
 plausible objections are urged against individual 
 prophecies — indeed it is hardly too much to say that 
 criticism rages over each separate text, but the whole 
 phenomenon is unique in history. 
 
 1 Ps. xxii. (Douay Version, Ps. xxi.). 
 
6o Is the Christian Reh'gion True ? 
 
 It is quite impossible to deny that the general 
 effect of the Old Testament writings on the Jewish 
 people was expectation of a Messiah. A proof of 
 this statement — if proof be needed of that which 
 will hardly be controverted — may be found in the 
 apocalyptic literature round about the time of the 
 Birth of Christ. No critic has attempted to question 
 Book of the fact that the writer of the Book 
 Enochs of Enoch, for example, looked forward to 
 the appearance on earth of a Messiah already 
 existing in Heaven. 
 
 *' Doubtless it is possible," writes Dr. Liddon, 
 •' to bid defiance alike to Jewish and to Christian 
 interpreters, and to resolve upon seeing in the 
 prophets only such a sense as may be consistent 
 with the theoretical exigencies of Naturalism. It is 
 possible to suggest that what looks like supernatural 
 prediction is only a clever or chance farsightedness, 
 and that expressions which literally anticipate a 
 distant history are but the exuberance of poetry, 
 which, from its very vagueness, happens to coincide 
 with some feature, real or imagined^ of the remote 
 future. It is possible to avoid any frank acknow- 
 ledgment of the imposing spectacle presented by 
 converging and consentient lines of prophecy, and to 
 refuse to consider the prophetic utterances, except 
 in detail and one by one ; as if forsooth Messianic 
 prophecy were an intelle:tual enemy whose forces 
 must be divided by the criticism that would conquer 
 it. It is possible, alas ! even for accomplished 
 scholarship so fretfully to carp at each instance of 
 
The xA.rgument from Prophecy 6i 
 
 pure prediction in the Bible, to nibble away the 
 beauty and dim the lustre of each leading utterance 
 with such persevering industry, as at length to per- 
 suade itself that the predictive element in Scripture 
 is insignificantly small, or even that it does not exist 
 at all. That modern criticism of this temper should 
 refuse to accept the prophetic witness to the Divinity 
 of the ]\Iessiah, is more to be regretted than to be 
 wondered at. And yet, if it were seriously supposed 
 that such criticism had succeeded in blotting out all 
 reference to the Godhead of Christ from the pages 
 of the Old Testament, we should still have to 
 encounter and to explain that massive testimony to 
 the Messianic belief which lives on in the Rabbinical 
 literature ; since that literature, whatever be the 
 date of particular existing treatises, contains tradi- 
 tions, neither few nor indistinct, of indisputable 
 antiquity. In that literature nothing is plainer than 
 that the ancient Jews believed the expected Messiah 
 to be Divine. It cannot be pretended that this 
 belief came from without, from the schools of 
 Alexandria, or from the teaching of Zoroaster. It 
 was notoriously based upon the language of the 
 Prophets and Psalmists. And we of to-day, even 
 with our improved but strictly mechanical apparatus 
 of grammar and dictionary, can scarcely pretend to 
 correct the early unprejudiced interpretation of men 
 who read the Old Testament with at least as much 
 instinctive insight into the meaning of its archaic 
 language, and of its older forms of thought and of 
 feeling, as an Englishman in this generation can 
 command when he appUes himself to the study of 
 Shakespeare or of Milton." ^ 
 
 1 Bampton Lectures, p. 89. 
 
62 Is the Christian Rehgion True ? 
 
 The entire dispensation of the Old Law, in itself 
 so strikingly incomplete, is a type of a perfect dis- 
 pensation to come, and is pervaded throughout by 
 an ever-increasing expectancy. 
 
 *'To Him," said St. Peter to the Jews, ''all the 
 Prophets bear their testimony. Of a truth this Man 
 is the Son of God." ^ 
 
 Christ Himself appealed to the Jewish prophecies 
 in support of His claims. *' Ought not Christ to 
 have suffered these things," He once asked His 
 Disciples, ''and so to enter into His Glory? And 
 beginning from Moses and all the Prophets, He 
 expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things 
 that were concerning Him."^ Previously He had 
 said to the Jews : " Search the Scriptures, for these 
 are they that give testimony of Me."^ 
 
 The general expectation of the Messiah on the 
 part of the Jews is taken for granted by the New 
 Testament writers. This expectation rested on the 
 prophetic passages in the Old Testament. Nothing 
 can be more untrue than to imagine that the 
 Messianic nature of these passages is a discovery 
 after their fulfilment. 
 
 * Acts X. 43. ^ Luke xxiv. 26. 27. 
 
 2 John V. 39. 
 
The Argument from Prophecy 63 
 
 III. 
 
 Our Lord appealed also to the fulfilment of Hi? 
 own predictions : 
 
 ^, " At present I tell you before it come 
 
 Prophecies to pass, that when it shall come to pass 
 of Christ* yQ^ j^g^y believe that I am the Messiah/^ ^ 
 
 We will therefore glance at some of the prophecies 
 recorded in the Gospels to have been made by Him 
 whom Christians beheve to have been not only 
 the Term of all Messianic Prophecy, but also Him- 
 self the King and Master and Chief of all the 
 Prophets, whom His Spirit had inspired from the 
 beginning. 
 
 I will set down the words in which some of 
 our Lord's predictions are recorded by the Evan- 
 gelist in juxtaposition with those in which their 
 fulfilment is narrated. 
 
 (i) Christ foretold with regard to Himself: 
 
 His Passion and Death. 
 
 On three separate occasions — after the 
 Prophesied confession of Peter,2 ^f^^j. ^he cure of 
 His Passion ^he possessed man,^ after the parable of 
 and Death, ^^^ labourers who were sent into the 
 
 vineyard^ — 
 
 1 John xiii. 19. 
 
 2 Matt. xvi. 20, 23 ; Mark vii. 30-33 ; Luke ix. 21-22. 
 
 3 Matt, xviii. 21-22 ; Mark ix. 29-31 ; Luke ix. 44-45. 
 
 4 Matt. XX. 17-19 ; Mark x. 32-34; Luke xviii. 31-34. 
 
64 Is the Christian Rehglon True ? 
 
 " The Son of Man shall be 
 given up b}* the Chief Priests 
 and by the Scribes and Elders, 
 and they shall condemn Him 
 to death, and shall deliver 
 Him up to the Gentiles, and 
 shall mock Him, and spit 
 upon Him, and shall scourge 
 Him, and shall slay Him, and 
 on the third day He shall rise 
 again." Thus St. Mark.i St. 
 Matthew adds a specific pro- 
 phecy of the Crucifixion.^ 
 
 " Holding Jesus they 
 brought Him to Caiaphas the 
 Chief Priest, where the 
 Scribes and Elders had miet 
 together . . . who all con- 
 demned Him as guilty of 
 death . . . they brought Him 
 bound and delivered Him up 
 to Pontius Pilate . . . who 
 scourged Jesus and gave Him 
 back to them that they might 
 crucify Him . . . and spitting 
 upon Him thev took a reed 
 and struck His Head."^ 
 
 (2) Christ foretold with regard to His Disciples : 
 
 {a) TJieir Flight. 
 
 "You shall be scandalised 
 
 in that night. It has been 
 
 _, ,,, , written : I will 
 The flight ., ,, cu 
 
 , ,T. smite the Shep- 
 
 of His , , J i-il 
 
 T^. . , herd and the 
 Disciples. fi-t n 1 
 
 sheep of the flock 
 
 shall be scattered. But after 
 
 I have risen I will go before 
 
 3-ou into Galilee."* 
 
 " Then all the Disciples left 
 Him and fled. ... But the 
 Eleven Disciples went into 
 GaHlee to the mountain where 
 Jesus had appointed unto 
 them." 5 
 
 (b) The triple denial by Simon Peter. 
 
 "Amen I say 
 unto thee that 
 this night, before 
 
 the cock crow, thou wilt deny 
 
 Me thrice." « 
 
 The Denial 
 by Peter* 
 
 " But he began to curse and 
 to swear. ' I know not this 
 Man of whom you speak.' 
 And at once the cock crew a 
 second time." ' 
 
 1 Mark x. 33. 
 
 3 Matt. xxvi. 57 
 
 4 ^latt. xxvi. 31. 
 e Matt. xxvi. 34 
 ' Mark xiv. 71. 
 
 2 Matt, XX. 17-19. 
 xxvii. 2, 26, 30 ; Mark xiv. 64. 
 
 ' Matt. xxvi. 56 ; xxviii. 26. 
 Mark xiv. 30 ; Luke xxii. 34 ; John xiii. 38. 
 
The Argument from Propliecy 65 
 
 {c) The betrayal by Judas I sea riot. 
 
 "Amen I say to 3'ou that 
 one of you will betray Me. . . . 
 And Judas who 
 betrayed Him, 
 answered : ' Is it 
 I, Lord ?• And 
 ' Thou hast said 
 
 The 
 
 Betrayal 
 by Judas, 
 
 " Whilst He was yet speak- 
 ing, there came Judas, one of 
 the Twelve, and with him a 
 great band with swords and 
 staves." 2 
 
 He replied 
 it."'i 
 
 {d) The Persecution of the Apostles. 
 " They shall deliver you up " And they laid hands upon 
 
 The Perse' 
 
 cution of the 
 Apostles, 
 
 in their Councils, and in theii 
 Synagogues 
 they shall 
 scourge you, 
 and you shall be 
 brought before Rulers and 
 Kings for My sake to witness 
 to them and to the Gentiles."^ 
 
 (3) Christ foretold with 
 
 Chiirch : 
 
 (a) The Descent of 
 '' You shall receive the 
 
 stiength of the Holy Spirit 
 upon you, and 
 you shall be wit- 
 nesses unto Me 
 in all Judaea and 
 Samaria, and to 
 the uttermost 
 
 bounds of the earth." ^ 
 
 The Descent 
 01 the Holy 
 Spirit on 
 the Day of 
 Pentecost, 
 
 them and cast them into 
 
 prison. . . . And, summon- 
 ng the Apostles they scourged 
 hem and forbade them alto- 
 
 ge-ther to speak in the Name 
 
 of Jesus."* 
 
 regard to the Apostolic 
 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 " They were filled with the 
 Holy Spirit, and began to 
 speak in various tongues, as 
 the Holy Spirit gave them 
 utterance."^ 
 
 We know that subsequently 
 the Apostles dispersed and 
 bore witness to Christ not 
 only in Judcea and Samaria, 
 but also in various distant 
 parts of the world. 
 
 ^ Matt. xxvi. 21, 25 ; Mark xiv. 20 ; Luke xiii. 18 ; John xxii. 21 
 2 Matt. xxvi. 47-49. ^ Matt. x. 17-18. 
 
 * Acts iv. 1-8 ; v. 17-41, etc. 
 ^ Acts i. 8. • Acts ii. 4. 
 
66 Is the Christian ReUgion True ? 
 
 (b) Its future Destiny, Mat 
 
 (a) "Thou art Peter and 
 upon this Rock I will build My 
 Church, and the 
 
 The Life of 
 
 His Church. 
 
 ks, and Heavcnty Food. 
 
 These predictions were ful- 
 filled in the (a) Indefectibility, 
 0) World-wide Character, 
 (7) Development and (5) Unity 
 cf the Catholic Church, and 
 in (e) The Blessed Sacrament 
 of the Altar. 
 
 Gates of Hell 
 
 shall not prevail 
 against it " ; (j3) " Go, teach all 
 nations, and I am with you 
 all days even to the consum- 
 mation of the world " ; (7) " The 
 Kingdom of Heaven is like 
 to a grain of mustard seed, 
 which a man took and cast 
 into his garden » ; (S) " That 
 they all may be One, as Thou 
 Father in Me, and I in Thee ; 
 that they also may be One in 
 Us " ; (e) " The Bread which 
 I will give is My flesh for the 
 Life of the world." ^ 
 
 It has been suggested by some sceptics that the 
 prophecies recorded in the Gospels as having been 
 uttered by Christ with regard to such 
 incidents as the Denial by Peter and the 
 Betrayal by Judas w^ere invented by the 
 Evangelists and inserted in their narra- 
 Evangelists* ^ive after the events had actually hap- 
 pened. The futility of this suggestion will be 
 manifest directly we remember whom it involves in 
 the charge of wicked and purposeless fraud. The 
 
 1 Matt. xvi. 18 ; xxviii. 19, 24 ; Luke xiii. 19 ; John vi. 52 ; 
 xviii. 21. The fulfilment of the prophetic promises of Christ 
 with regard to His Church is discussed in the tenth chapter of 
 this book. 
 
 These 
 
 Prophecies 
 were not 
 invented 
 by the 
 
Tlie Argument from Prophecy ()^ 
 
 Apostles were all present when Jesus Christ — so we 
 read in each of the four Gospels — declared that one 
 of them would deny and that another would betray 
 Him. The statement that He thus spoke emanated 
 from them, and for it they are all responsible, since 
 none of them repudiated it when it was recorded by 
 the Evangelists. They all, save Judas Iscariot, gave 
 their hves for Christ, remembering how His Words 
 had been accomplished. If anyone is prepared to 
 maintain that such men as these lent themselves as 
 accompHces to deliberate misstatements concerning 
 the sayings of their Master, whom they believed to 
 be also their Judge, he shows himself singularly 
 ignorant of the characters of men. A martyr, with 
 nothing to gain for himself by his self-sacrifice, will 
 no more lie about the Lord for whom he sheds his 
 blood, than will a debauchee, yet in his sins, sacrifice 
 himself for the honour of his victim. '' Our testi- 
 mony," wrote one of these first Apostles of Christ, 
 *' is true."^ Hardly will anyone be found to gainsay 
 this statement, at least with regard to the Apostle's 
 own personal belief in its truth. 
 
 Christ's Christ also predicted in most emphatic 
 
 Prophecy and Solemn w^ords, the fate of Jerusalem. 
 
 the Destruc- "^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^* ^^^* whilst Titus was still 
 tion of besieging the city — three years before its 
 
 Jerusalem, actual destruction — the Christians in 
 Jerusalem, mindful of the prophecy of Christ, fled 
 ^ John xix. 35 ; xxi. 24. 
 
68 Is the Christian ReHgion True ? 
 
 across the Jordan into the town of Pella,^ precludes 
 the possibihty of maintaining that in this case the 
 record of the prediction is posterior to its fulfilment. 
 We may, therefore, without hesitation point out the 
 marvellous correspondence between the words of 
 Christ and the facts of history. At a period when 
 no man would have contemplated the destruction of 
 Jerusalem or of its Temple as within the range of 
 probability, Christ spoke thus : 
 
 **And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed 
 about with an army, then know that the desolation 
 thereof is at hand. Then let those who are in Judaea 
 flee to the mountains ; and those who are in the 
 midst thereof depart out . . . and they shall fall by 
 the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captives 
 into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down 
 by the Gentiles." 2 
 
 And again : *' When He drew near, seeing the 
 city, He wept over it, saying : * If thou also hadst 
 known, and that in this thy day, the things that are 
 to thy peace, but now they are hidden from thine 
 eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thine 
 enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass 
 thee round and straiten thee on every side, and beat 
 thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in 
 thee, and they shall not leave a stone upon a stone, 
 
 1 C/. Eusebius iii. 5 ; St. Epiphanius, Hccns., xxix. 7. 
 
 2 Luke xxi. 20-24. 
 
The Argument from Prophecy 69 
 
 because thou hast not known the time of thy 
 visitation.' "^ 
 
 And specifically of the Temple : *' As He was 
 going out of the Temple, one of His Disciples said 
 to Him : * Master, what manner of stones and what 
 buildings are here !' And Jesus answering said to 
 him : ' Seest thou all these great buildings ? There 
 shall not be left a stone upon a stone that shall not 
 be thrown down.' "^ 
 
 The Jewish historian Josephus tells us how these 
 predictions were fulfilled to the letter. The Jews, 
 Fulfilment instigated by false prophets, rose against 
 cf this the Roman power. Vespasian invaded 
 
 fop ecy, Galilee, but on his accession to the Im- 
 perial Throne left the conduct of the campaign in 
 Palestine to his son Titus. Titus pitched his camp 
 upon Mount Olivet, and '* cast a trench " about 
 Jerusalem. Finally the Holy City was taken by 
 storm, and razed to the ground. We read that 
 Titus had given the strictest orders that the Temple 
 where, after the capture of the City, the surviving 
 combatants still defended themselves, should be 
 saved from the general destruction. Notwithstanding 
 this command, a soldier seized a torch and threw it 
 into the Temple, of which soon there remained only 
 a mass of ashes. Thus were the Words of Jesus 
 Christ fulfilled. " Not a stone remained upon a 
 stone." The Temple, the sacrifices, the legal priest- 
 Luke xix. 41-44. 2 Mark xiii. i, 2. 
 
70 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 hood, the distinction of tribes all disappeared before 
 the Roman sword. Jerusalem had perished, for she 
 knew not the day of her visitation. 
 
 Centuries passed, and Julian the Apostate deter- 
 mined to stultify the words of Christ. With this 
 end in view, he ordered the rebuilding of the Temple. 
 Ammianus Marcellinus, himself a Pagan, a friend of 
 Julian, and an officer in the Imperial Army, has left 
 us the following account : 
 
 " Whilst Alipinus, assisted by the Governor of the 
 Province, was urging on the work with tireless 
 energy, formidable globes of fire arose from the 
 midst of the foundations ; they frequently exploded 
 over the workmen, wounding many of them. Some- 
 times they made the ground unapproachable. Finally 
 this conquering fire, continuing to hurl itself with 
 fierceness upon the workmen as if resolved to dis- 
 perse them, compelled them to abandon the under- 
 taking." 
 
 Once again the Galilean had conquered His foes. 
 
 There is one other prophecy of Christ to which we 
 
 will call attention. We read in St. Mark's Gospel that 
 
 T-, . p " when He was in Bethania, in the house 
 Prophecy of ' 
 
 Christ with of Sinion the leper, and was at meat, 
 
 regard to the ^^gj-g came a woman having an alabaster 
 
 woman that . . . 
 
 was a t)ox of omtment of precious spikenard ; 
 
 sinner. and, breaking the alabaster box, she 
 
 poured it upon His head . . . but Jesus said . . . 
 
 Amen I say to you, wheresoever this Gospel shall 
 
The Argument from Prophecy 71 
 
 be preached in the whole world, this also which 
 she hath done shall be told as a memorial of her." ^ 
 What could have seemed more unlikely of fulfilment 
 at that time ? Yet it is a simple fact that where- 
 soever the Gospel of Christ is preached, the deed 
 of Mary Magdalene is held in loving veneration. 
 There can be no doubt that it will be told "as a 
 memorial of her " even to the end of time. 
 
 Moreover, as God gave the gift of Prophecy to 
 His servants before the coming of Christ, so 
 Prophecy of Catholics believe that from time to time 
 Our Lady, the same gift has been bestowed upon 
 the Saints of the New Law. And pre-eminent 
 amongst all the Saints is the Virgin Most Holy 
 whom all generations salute as Blessed amongst 
 women — the Queen of all the Prophets. 
 
 We are, therefore, in no way surprised to find 
 in the New Testament an astounding prophecy 
 attributed to Mary the Mother of Jesus— astounding 
 in its scope, in the circumstances of its utterance, 
 above all in its accomplishment. St. Luke tells us that 
 the Maid of Nazareth, to whom Gabriel had declared 
 that " the Holy Ghost should come upon her, and 
 that the power of the Most High should overshadow 
 her, and that the Holy One who should be born 
 of her should be the Son of God, went up with haste 
 into the hill-country, into a city of Juda. And she 
 entered into the house of Zachary and saluted her 
 1 Mark xiv. 3-9 ; cf. Matt. xxvi. 13. 
 
Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 cousin Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when 
 Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant 
 [the unborn Baptist] leaped in her womb. And 
 Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. And she 
 cried out with a loud voice and said : ' Blessed art 
 thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of 
 thy womb. And whence is this unto me that the 
 Mother of my Lord should come unto me? For 
 behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded 
 in mine ears, the infant in my womb leaped for 
 joy. And blessed art thou that hast beHeved, because 
 those things shall be accomplished which were 
 spoken to thee by the Lord.' And Mary said : . . . 
 'Behold from henceforth all generations shall call me 
 Blessed:''' 
 
 Now liere is a most definite prophecy. It was 
 recorded in the very first " generation "—long before 
 it could be fulfilled. If Christianity be not true, who 
 was Mary of Nazareth ? Be it written with all rever- 
 ence — written for her greater honour: If she be 
 not that w^hich she is— the Great Mother of the 
 Incarnate God— she was but a village maiden, sub- 
 ject to an extraordinary delusion — in this delusion, 
 moreover, encouraged by her aged cousin — in that 
 case herself subject to delusions, if possible more 
 extraordinary still. Under these circumstances, Mary 
 makes her wondrous prophecy. All generations 
 were to call her Blessed. Is there anything in all 
 
 - Luke i. 39-46. 
 
The Argument from Prophecy 73 
 
 history comparable to this ? Has any other maiden 
 spoken thus of herself? Were any other young 
 woman thus to speak, she would be rightly put under 
 some sort of restraint. Nothing justifies such a 
 prophecy, save its fulfilment. But that this pro- 
 phecy has been absolutely fulfilled, no man will 
 deny. All generations — each generation as it has 
 come and gone — has called her Blessed — Blessed 
 pre-eminently — the Blessed amongst women — "the 
 Blessed Virgin Mary." And this not amongst 
 Christians only. The very Mohammedans, who are 
 ignorant of the name of the mother of their own 
 Prophet, have told me that they venerate '' Mary, 
 the Blessed Mother of Christ." And (putting to 
 shame some so-called Christians) they know and 
 declare that she, alone amongst women, was a 
 Virgin-Mother — thus ascribing to her a miraculous 
 privilege which they have never claimed for the 
 mother of Mohammed. 
 
 If Mary's prophecy — fulfilled as it is to-day the 
 world wide over — stood alone, it would suffice to 
 prove, by itself, the truth of Christianity. 
 
 If Christianity be not true, it is impossible to 
 account for the veneration given to Mary the Virgin. 
 She stands in a category and place apart. No other 
 woman in the world's long history has ever been 
 placed near to her in the esteem and love of men. 
 A.nd this through long ages. Her prophecy is ful- 
 filled before our eyes to-day in every Catholic Church, 
 
74 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 as the Hail Mary is repeated by priest and people — 
 in almost every Christian home, as mothers teach 
 their little children to call the Mother of Jesus 
 Blessed above all women— repeating after twenty 
 centuries the words of Gabriel, and of Elizabeth, 
 and words that are Mary's own. And that which is 
 taught to our children at this hour will still be 
 taught to the generations yet unborn. All genera 
 tions shall arise in their turn and call Her Blessed. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE EVIDENXE FROM AIIRACLES— THEIR 
 POSSIBILITY 
 
 *' Of course it is unfashionable to treat miracles as 
 evidence nowadays. We believe Christianity in 
 Modern spite of the miracles which it involves, 
 Thinkers not because of the miracles which involve 
 
 and the -^ ,,i j^^^ ^^^^ -^^^^ j^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ 
 
 evidential . . ^ 
 
 force of attitude of a handful of '' modern thinkers " 
 
 Miracles, towards the Miraculous, and specifically 
 
 towards the miracles recorded in the Gospels. Now, 
 
 whatever may be considered by some people to be 
 
 the advantages of a belief in Christianity in spite of 
 
 the miracles of Christ, most certainly this is not the 
 
 belief demanded by Christ Himself. 
 
 Christ For not only did Christ work miracles 
 
 appealed throue^hout the whole course of His 
 to His . . . . 
 
 Miracles as Public Ministry, but also He msisted on 
 
 evidence for their evidential force ; again and again 
 
 f His appealing to His " Works " — Works 
 
 Mission. which were evidently above the power 
 
 of man to perform — as proofs of His divine 
 
 ^ Some Loose Sfojies, p. 63. 
 75 
 
76 Is the Christian Reh'glon True ? 
 
 Mission:^ ''The blind see, the lame walk, the dumb 
 speak, the dead rise again."- On hearing of the 
 illness of Lazarus, He deliberately stayed away for 
 the moment, and on hearing of his death, said to 
 the disciples : " For your sakes I am glad that I 
 was not there, that you may believe," whilst, 
 addressing His Heavenly Father, He expressly 
 declared that He had raised Lazarus from the dead 
 in order that those who witnessed that wonder 
 might believe that "Thou hast sent Me."^ On 
 several occasions He promised that He would give 
 a final proof of His right to claim faith from men 
 by raising His Body from the grave. ^ 
 
 In like manner the Apostles, from the very begin- 
 ning of the Christian Dispensation, claimed to work 
 The miracles in proof of the Revelation which 
 
 Apostles ^^ asserted that they had received 
 made the -^ • 1 1 
 
 same appeal from God. Of such miracles the whole 
 
 to Miracles. Book of the Acts is one long record. 
 
 The very shadow of Peter cured the sick^ — as did 
 " handkerchiefs and aprons brought from the body 
 of Paul. And, by the hand of Paul, God wrought 
 more than common miracles."^ The Prince of the 
 Apostles, like his Master — but in his Master's Name 
 
 * Matt. ix. 6 ; xi. 5 ; xiii. 8 ; John x. 38 ; xiv. 12, etc. 
 
 2 Luke vii. 22. 
 
 3 John xi. 42. Witli regard to the authority of St. John's 
 Gospel, cf. p. loi. 
 
 * Matt. xii. 40. ® Acts v. 15. 
 ^ Acts xix. 11-12. 
 
Evidence from Miracles 
 
 71 
 
 — raised the dead to life. '* And it was made 
 known through Joppa and many beheved in the 
 Lord."i 
 
 Above all, our first fathers in the Faith constantly 
 appealed to the Resurrection of Christ from the 
 Above all dead, as the very foundation of the hopes 
 *°*^^ inspired by Christianity.^ "If Christ 
 
 tion of hath not been raised," cried the Apostle 
 
 Christ, of the Gentiles, '' then is our preaching 
 in vain."^ 
 
 All this is so indisputable, that at first sight it 
 
 seems hard to understand how men — and men of 
 
 Inconsist- great ability and undoubted singleness 
 
 ence of ^^ purpose — should make the attempt not 
 some . . f 
 
 Modern merely to dispense with that evidence 
 
 Thinkers, from miracles upon which, as they well 
 know, the Founder of Christianity and His Apostles 
 laid such stress, but even to substitute what is 
 termed a non-miraculous Christianity for the his- 
 toric Faith in the Miraculous until now accepted 
 by all believers in Christ, without hesitation, as an 
 integral part of their religion. 
 
 Its explana- '^^^ explanation of this perplexing in- 
 tion. consistency appears to lie in the fact that, 
 
 outside the borders of the Catholic Church, men 
 
 ^ Acts ix. 36-42. 
 
 2 Acts ii. 24 ; iii. 15 ; iv. 10 ; v. 30 ; x. 40 ; xiii. 30 ; xvii, 31 ; 
 xxvi. 6, 23. 
 
 2 Actsi. 22 ; I Cor. ix. i ; xv. 12-19 
 
78 Is the Christian Rehgion True? 
 
 are in these days to be found whose conscience and 
 spiritual experience simply will not allow them 
 altogether to abandon Jesus Christ and His Teach- 
 ing, but who are enshackled mentally by a rigid 
 dogma to which they have bound themselves hand 
 and foot. This dogma runs thus: ^^ Miracles an 
 impossible.'" From which state of mind it follows 
 that the only modus vivendi which seems to offer any 
 hope of escape — the only way, that is to say, by 
 which it seems to them to be possible to reconcile 
 their rationalistic shibboleth on the one hand with 
 the claims of our Lord on the other — is to discover 
 a compromise. They will — these thinkers — they 
 aver it loudly, and no doubt with all sincerity — 
 continue to believe in Christianity, but it must be 
 Christianity with a difference. They will believe in 
 Christ — no longer, however, in consequence of His 
 miracles, but rather in their despite. 
 
 Like so many of those compromises which are 
 really nothing but surrenders, this new theory is 
 seen to be more unsatisfactory the more closely it 
 is scrutinised. 
 
 A non- ^^ ^^ ^^ hopeless, even when judged — on 
 
 miraculous what is supposed to be its strong ground 
 
 Christ not • i. n ^ i -j.- a 
 
 th Ch ' t — ^^ ^^ mtellectual position. A non- 
 of the miraculous Christ is certainly not the 
 
 Gospels. Qj^j-jgt Qf ^hg Gospels. As the author of 
 
 Ecce Homo well says : '* Miracles play so important 
 a part in Christ's scheme that any theory which 
 
Evidence from Miracles 79 
 
 would represent them as due either to the imagina- 
 tion of His followers or of a later age destroys 
 the credibility of the documents not partially but 
 wholly."-^ To contemplate the Christ of the Gospels 
 apart from His miracles is as impossible as to 
 regard Demosthenes apart from oratory, or to divorce 
 Herodotus from the writing of history. In such a 
 merely human Christ, the needs of mankind, whether 
 spiritual or intellectual, can find no lasting satisfac- 
 tion. But a Christ who is other than the Christ 
 of the Gospels is not the Christ who once lived 
 on earth. He is the invention of " The Modern 
 Mind." 
 
 The most '' advanced " — and the most modern — 
 School of German Higher Criticism — the Apoca- 
 „. iyptic School, of which Schweitzer is 
 
 Apocalyptic the leading representative — has finally 
 School. demolished the non - miraculous Moral 
 Teacher — a sort of Liberal Rabbi, whom Liberal 
 Protestantism had substituted for the Christ of the 
 Gospels. Though not themselves accepting the 
 claim of our Lord, these new critics lay stress on 
 the fact that His Ministry largely consisted in the 
 performance of works believed at the time to be of 
 a miraculous nature, and wrought in support of His 
 Mission, as the superhuman Messiah who was to 
 introduce the Apocalyptic Kingdom of God. The 
 work of this school forces us to face the dilemma : 
 
 * Ecce Homo, p. 51. 
 
8o Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 Either Christ's Mission was divine, or He was a 
 
 deluded fanatic. (It is not irreverent, for it is 
 
 necessary in the interests of Christianity, to state the 
 
 alternative baldly.) When the problem is reduced 
 
 to these simple terms, the solution should be easy. 
 
 Could the victim of a gigantic delusion have played 
 
 the part in the religious experience of men which 
 
 in fact has been that of our Lord Jesus Christ ? 
 
 Moreover, the fact is, I think, becoming every day 
 
 more and more widely recognised that to cast aside 
 
 . , the miracles of Christ and to repudiate the 
 No philo- , ... 
 
 sophical argument derived from those miracles is 
 
 necessity ^ retreat uncalled for by sane philosophy, 
 surrender As I have already pointed out, the sole 
 belief in justification for such an abandonment is 
 irac es. ^^ ^^ found in the modern dogma which 
 asserts that the uniformity of the laws of nature is 
 of such a character as under no circumstances to 
 admit of the possibility of miracle. But thus to 
 argue — or rather without any argument or attempt 
 at argument to make this assumption — is merely 
 to set up a fetish, and then to call upon all who 
 listen to bow down and worship the tiresome idol. 
 The penalty of refusal is to be branded as men 
 without " culture," " intellectual suicides," and 
 generally persons of no account. 
 Rcnan. Thus Renan has written : 
 
 " The denial of the supernatural has become an 
 indisputable dogma for every cultivated mind. The 
 
Evidence from Miracles 81 
 
 history alike of the physical and the moral world 
 appears to us as a development whose causes are 
 internal and altogether exclude the Miraculous, that 
 is the intervention of conscious agents acting Vv'ith 
 deliberate purpose."^ 
 
 And Mr. J. M. Thompson (unhappily a clergyman 
 of the Church of England) gravely informs us that : 
 Mr* J. M. '' To admit a miracle is to commit intel- 
 Thompson. lectual suicide." ^ In which case we can 
 only deplore the fact that many of the greatest in- 
 tellects the world has ever known have, by their 
 deliberate and confident admission of the Miraculous, 
 committed the crime of self-murder with alarming 
 frequency — and yet have shown remarkable signs of 
 mental vigour, health, and activity after the process. 
 Does Mr. Thompson believe that Cardinal Newman, 
 for example, was dead " intellectually " during the 
 many years that he lived, thought, and wrote after he 
 had, in a well-known section of the Apologia^ made 
 his signal confession of belief in certain specified 
 miracles ? If so, many a man will say, without any 
 intention to be rude to Mr. Thompson : *' Let me 
 ' die intellectually ' with Newman, even though I am 
 to be termed 'a suicide,' rather than live with his 
 critic in a wilderness of negation." 
 
 But (to make an end of quotations, which of 
 course could be multiplied indefinitely) Professor 
 
 ^ Marc AurelCy p. 37. 
 
 2 Miracles of ihs New Testament, p. 6. 
 
 6 
 
82 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 Harnack warns us that he is '' firmly convinced 
 
 that what happens in space and time is subject 
 
 to the laws of matter and motion, and 
 
 Harnack. , . , . . , ^- c 
 
 that m this sense, as an mterruption ot 
 
 the order of nature, there can be no such thing as 
 
 miracles." ^ 
 
 Of course Professor Harnack's '' conviction " is 
 purely a prion in its origin. It does not pretend 
 to furnish proof. Stripped of all verbiage it comes 
 back to this : " Miracles do not happen, because I 
 am hrmly convinced that they are impossible ?" 
 
 But why should they be held to be impossible ? 
 
 It is so obvious that " the laws of matter and 
 
 motion" as well as the law of the uniformity of 
 
 nature, like all other laws, necessarily 
 The Law . , , • •- • 
 
 ^l the mvolve a lawgiver ; moreover, it is un- 
 
 Uniformity deniable that a human lawgiver always 
 cf Nature. ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ reason on occa- 
 sion should, derogate from his own lavv's. And, 
 as Mr. Knox asks wnth reason: ''Why should v;e 
 suppose that God is bound by His own laws, when 
 the King of England is not bound -by his? When 
 we have an uneasy conscience about some piece of 
 judicial severity, we excuse ourselves by sa3ing : 
 ' The Law must take its course.' But is it not 
 ludicrous to suppose that God hides Himself behind 
 His own legislation, and says: 'The Law of the 
 Uniformity of Nature must take its course.' " ^ 
 1 117/(7/ is CJirislianJty f p. 27. 2 5:^;;;^ r.oosc Stones, pp. 55, 56. 
 
Evidence from Miracles 83 
 
 Besides, it is only by analogy and in a somewhat 
 loose sense that the laws of nature are called laws at 
 all. As is manifest, they are not laws in the ordinary 
 sense of the word— that is to say, they are not 
 decrees made by legitimate authority which the 
 subjects of that authority are forbidden to trans- 
 gress. Such are the injunctions of Natural Law 
 (to transfer the phrase— Law of Nature — to quite 
 another connotation in the moral sphere) imprinted 
 by the Creator upon the hearts of all men, to which 
 all men are required by Him under all circumstances 
 to conform their lives; such again are the enact- 
 ments of a Civil State, which the citizens of that 
 State are bound to obey (unless they should in any 
 instance come in conflict with a law that belongs 
 to a higher Order) ; such are (within certain limits) 
 the regulations of the Cathohc Church, binding her 
 children to obedience, on such subjects as fasting or 
 abstinence, or the observance of Sunday, or the 
 reception of the Sacraments. 
 
 By the Law of the Uniformity of Nature we mean 
 simply that the phenomena of Nature follow a regular 
 sequence. For this reason, as Fr. Joyce has observed, 
 " a Law of Nature is commonly defined as ' a uni- 
 form mode of acting which a natural agent observes 
 when under the same circumstances. The universe, 
 as daily experience bears witness, is not a chaos of 
 objects unrelated one to another, but is organised in 
 a series of types. Each individual belonging to any 
 
84 Is the Christian Rehgion True ? 
 
 one of these possesses properties similar to those 
 of all other examples of that type. In the same 
 circumstances they all act in the same way. It is 
 scarcely necessary to give instances of a fact so 
 familiar. Water, wherever found, will freeze at 
 32 deg. F., and given the due atmospheric pressure, 
 will boil at 212 deg. F. Nitric acid, when applied 
 to a normal human skin, will always exercise a 
 cauterising effect. So too in regard to objects 
 imbued with life, whether vegetable or animal. 
 Trees of the same species will always produce fruit 
 of the same sort and wood of similar texture. 
 Caterpillars of the same kind pass into the same 
 butterfly. These uniformities we call ' Laws of 
 Nature.'" 1 
 
 The late Professor Stanley Jevons has argued with 
 reason that the Law of Continuity is a valuable 
 truth, but that it must not be supposed to hold 
 universally. It must, he maintains, be used with 
 great care. The only qualities which we can prove 
 to be uniform to all matter are the Laws of Motion 
 and Gravity .2 
 
 God has no doubt rigidly determined the action 
 of those natural agents, which do not possess free- 
 will, as by a Law. But here two considerations 
 should at once occur to the mind. 
 
 1 The Question of Miracles (in The Catholic Library, xiii.), by 
 Fr. Joyce, S.J., pp. 2, 3. 
 
 2 Cf. The Principles of Science, by Stanley Jevons, Book V., 
 chap, xxvii. 
 
Evidence from Miracles 85 
 
 (a) No created cause can operate apart from the 
 concurrence of the Creator. Therefore the principle of 
 Uniformity, since it is in itself in no way " necessary," 
 but contingent on the will of God, and is concerned 
 solely with secondary causes, always requires God's 
 concurrence as a condition for its application. In 
 the case of a miracle this condition is not verified.-^ 
 
 {h) The action of natural forces may be checked 
 by the action of some extraneous force proceeding 
 from a being who possesses free-will. Men, there is 
 no doubt, can thus interfere with the course of 
 nature. As Christians believe, unseen beings, whom 
 we call angels — good and bad — have the same power. 
 A Law of Nature in the physical order (in this unlike 
 a Natural Law which concerns Morals) is far from 
 being something sacrosanct, the free course of which 
 it is a sort of impiety to impede. We are all of 
 us able if it so pleases us, to prevent a ripe apple 
 falling from its tree to the ground by catching it 
 in one hand. Nor will anyone reproach us with 
 " breaking a Law." The greatest and most bene- 
 ficent of achievements of mechanical skill would have 
 been impossible without much interference with the 
 course of nature. Moreover, from the point of view 
 of physical science, no reason can be alleged why 
 an evil spirit should not be able, for example at a 
 spiritualistic seance, to lift a table from the ground 
 towards the ceiling, or why a good spirit should 
 
 ^ Cf The Question of Miracles, p. 24. 
 
86 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 not, as in the case of the. Prophet Habbakuk, carry 
 a man through the air. Proof of such events may, 
 or may not, be lacking. To say that they cannot 
 happen is to be content with bare assertion. 
 At all events, human creatures — as is obvious — 
 interfere w^ith the course of nature every day, acting 
 no doubt within the Order of Nature according 
 to its fixed laws. The Creator alone can alter — or, 
 if you prefer, can act alongside and independently of 
 — the Order which He has Himself established 
 potentially ; when He does so, we have a miracle. 
 
 The late Mr. Hawker, of Morwenstowe, brought 
 together the action of God in Nature and Miracle 
 in poetic words to be found in one of his published 
 letters : 
 
 " I had no greater pleasure than in this season 
 when the anxiety of a whole year is requited by the 
 ripe sheaves and the groaning waggon. . . . Men 
 go out pompously with the seed-drip on their arms 
 and scatter the seed on the soil and cover it with 
 earth, and go their way. Their work is over and 
 their part is done. They can fulfil no more. But 
 God and His angels then enter the field — a mighty 
 power broods over the grain and descends beneath 
 the furrow, and the life below begins to move . . . 
 beneath the silent touch of God. All is miracle 
 [not strictly] and wonder and majesty, and thou- 
 sands are fed, as they were on Mount Tabor from 
 the few grains that increase and multiply in the 
 Fingers of One who is more than Man."^ 
 
 ^ Life and Letters of R. S. Hawker (Poyle), pp. iii, 112. 
 
Evidence froin Miracles 87 
 
 A miracle, then, is an event which exhibits direct 
 control over the Laws of Nature, and as such can 
 Meaning of ^^^Y ^^ ascribed to the intervention of 
 the word God.""- Such an event is by no means 
 
 ^^^^ ^* a violation or even, strictly, a suspension of 
 the Laws of Nature. It is a special divine inter- 
 position by which an effect is produced independ- 
 ently of those Laws." 
 
 Nor can it be legitimately objected 'hat any 
 miraculous intervention involves "a change of Mind 
 in God," since such miraculous intervention was 
 present to the Divine Mind, and determined, from 
 all eternity. 
 
 God may intervene miraculously in Nature either 
 moved thereto by His own Wisdom and Goodness, 
 independently of any human supplication ; or at 
 the prayer of His Blessed Mother (as at Cana in 
 Galilee) ; or at that of His Saints in Heaven ; or 
 by endowing one of His servants yet living on earth 
 with miraculous gifts. (Thus, St. Paul declared to 
 
 ^ Cf. the definition of St. Thomas (I. Q. no, a. 4 ad 2) 
 " Miraculum est factum sensibile a Deo prater Ordinem totius 
 naturae productum." 
 
 ^ Cf. St. Thomas (I. i, 105, i. 6) " Sic Deus potest facere 
 prceter Ordinem rerum, quia Ordini secundarum caussarum 
 Ipse non est subiectus ; sed tahs Ordo Ei subiicitur, quasi ab 
 Ec procedens, non per necessitatem natura?, sed per arbitrium 
 Voluntatis. Potuisset enim et ahum Ordinem rerum instituere. 
 Unde et potest prreter hunc Ordinem institutum agere, cum 
 voluerit ; puta, agendo effectus secundarum caussarum sine 
 ipsis, vel producendo aliquos effectus, ad quos caussas secundae 
 non se extendunt." 
 
88 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 the Romans, Greeks and Asiatics that in order that 
 the Gentiles should ''obey" the Faith, the Holy 
 Ghost had conferred upon him the power to work 
 "signs and wonders and miracles.")^ 
 
 " In a word," writes Mr. Knox, *' God is not 
 governed by His Laws, but He does, normally, 
 govern the world according to Laws." ^ 
 
 " We have," writes Fr. Joyce, " when we are 
 considering the course of the w^orld as guided by 
 Divine Providence, to consider a twofold course of 
 events ; those which take place in accordance with 
 God's ordinary disposition of things, and those which 
 involve extraordinary intervention."^ 
 
 We learn what is God's ordinary disposition of 
 
 things by scientific observation and by experience. 
 
 J , ,, The " Laws " that g^overn this ordinary 
 
 Induction ... . 
 
 and the disposition — which we speak of as " The 
 Laws cf Law^s of Nature " — we know to be uni- 
 form, through the process of arrivmg at a 
 general conclusion from numerous particular cases 
 which logicians term Induction. No other way is 
 open to any man, unless he is prepared with Pro- 
 fessor Huxley to base his belief in the Uniformity 
 of Nature simply on what Huxley terms "an Act 
 of Faith." 4 
 
 ^ Rom. XV. i8 ; 2 Cor. xii. 12 ; Gal. iii. 5 ; cf.\ Cor. xii. 28. 
 
 2 Loose Stones, p. 60. 
 
 3 The Question of Miracles, p. 9. 
 
 * Cf. p. 38. Somewhat similarly Mr. Knox calls belief in the 
 Uniformity ol Nature a " frfsupposilioii"' {Looze Stones, p. 24). 
 
Evidence from Miracles 89 
 
 The events which exhibit extraordinary interven- 
 tion on the part of God — miracles — are known to 
 rj,, , US also by experience — either by our own 
 cnce of experience, or by that of other men, who f 
 
 Miracles present us with testimony as to their truth ' 
 also .... ... 
 
 known which m numerous cases the simplest 
 
 through amongst us is as fully qualified to test for 
 xperience. j^jj^g^jf ^^ jg ^}^g most erudite. In other 
 
 words, the evidence for the exception to the " Law " 
 is of the same character as that for the " Law " 
 itself. The induction from observed facts that con- 
 vinces us that Miracles are possible is of the same 
 character as the induction that leads us to be certain 
 that the course of Nature is uniform. 
 
 Indeed this is to understate the matter. Whilst 
 the fact of the Unformity of Nature depends entirely 
 upon induction (that is upon an inference drawn 
 from many instances), certainty as to the possibility 
 of miracles, strictly speaking, needs no induction at 
 all. One instance is enough. If I know that I have 
 witnessed a miracle for myself, I need no other 
 example. I then know^ without need of corrobora- 
 tion, that Miracles are possible. 
 
 Of course miracles are (relatively speaking) very 
 rare. Otherwise they would not be extraordinary. 
 Were miracles to be a matter of everyday occur- 
 
 I do not agree with him here, but, if he is right, the argu- 
 ment for the existence of miracles (founded as it is upon 
 observation) is proportionately strengthened. 
 
90 Is the Christian Rehgion True ? 
 
 rence, they would hardly fulfil their purpose, which 
 depends upon their being exceptional} 
 
 But miracles are by no means so rare that the 
 evidence for their occurrence may not, in certain 
 cases (for example in that of some of the Lourdes 
 miracles), be examined by all men who are capable 
 of reading; moreover, in the beginning of Chris- 
 tianity (as is only to be expected), and in the lives of 
 certain of the Saints of all ages they were exceed- 
 ingly numerous. 
 
 Miracles are in themselves, as the 
 Miracles are 
 a peculiarly Vatican Council teaches us, a peculiarly 
 
 suitable suitable proof of the Truth of Revelation. ^ 
 
 Truthl/^' The fact that Christ Himself appealed 
 Christi- to the evidence of His miracles will of 
 ^"^*^* course settle this question for anyone 
 
 who already believes in His Divinity. It is impos- 
 sible that God should have chosen a means of mani- 
 festing His Incarnation which in any way fell short 
 of being perfectly adapted to the end for which 
 
 1 This consideration may perhaps afford a partial explana- 
 tion of the fact that the Laws of Nature are so often allowed 
 to take their course, without divine intervention, when their 
 doing so involves some gigantic temporal calamity, as in the 
 case of a terrible earthquake or volcanic eruption. But here 
 of course many other factors (such as God's purposes in 
 the salvation of mankind) are involved, which are in no way 
 relevant to our present subject. 
 
 2 " Miracula . . . qu^e, cum Dei Omnipotentiam . . . com- 
 monstrent, divinai Revelationis signa sunt certissima et omnium 
 intelligentia3 accommodata."— Co/2s//7i///c» Dogmaiica de Fide 
 Catholica, Cap. III. 9. 
 
Evidence from Miracles 91 
 
 He chose it. But, altogether apart from our Lord's 
 Authority, there can be no doubt that such miracles 
 as those of which we read in the New Testament, 
 if not absolutely necessary, are at least most appro- 
 priate as *' signs" that Christ was in very truth that 
 which He claimed to be. Christ taught a doctrine 
 concerning man's relations with God, and concern- 
 ing man's relations with his fellow-men, the sub- 
 limity of which is generally recognised. To this 
 doctrine He bore witness by the spotless sanctity 
 of His Life. But He also claimed to be God. This 
 is the most stupendous claim that has ever been 
 seriously made since men first held converse together 
 upon this earth. If He had not worked undeniable 
 miracles in support of this claim, it might have been 
 open for those who listened to Him — nor can we 
 assert that, had He worked no miracles, it would 
 have been unreasonable — to say : " This Man is a 
 good man evidently. He speaks indeed as we have 
 never heard any man speak before Him. But like 
 other good men, like other eloquent men in all 
 ages, whose minds are richly stored with beautiful 
 thoughts. He may be the victim of a sad delusion. 
 Unless God bears witness to Him beyond a doubt, 
 we are driven to hold that in fact thus deluded He 
 actually is, when to our amazement we hear the 
 words fall from His lips : * Before Abraham was 
 I am: " 
 
 Some external proof besides Christ's own Word 
 
92 Is the Christian Rehgion True ? 
 
 would seem to have been almost necessary. He Him- 
 self said : " I bear witness to Myself, and also the 
 Father who sent Me bears witness to Me."^ Now, 
 it was especially by the working of miracles that the 
 Father " bore witness " to Christ. It is hard to see 
 what proofs could at the time have been adequate, 
 excepting those which, as the Gospels assure us, were 
 given by God to mankind on behalf of Christ — the 
 fulfilment of the ancient prophecies in His regard, 
 and the working of miracles. Certainly, the miracles 
 of Christ were admirably adapted to inspire the 
 faith which He demanded of those who witnessed 
 them. For no man who believes in God could 
 believe that God would work such miracles, or allow 
 such miracles to be worked, as those which Christ 
 worked, on behalf of a claim that was false, and if 
 false, most blasphemous and highly injurious to the 
 welfare of mankind. 
 
 Christ, as we have seen, expressly appealed to God, 
 to bear Him witness by the working of miracles, 
 that so men might be led to believe in His divine 
 Mission.^ The evidence of miracles would. He 
 knew, be " admirably adapted to the understanding 
 of all men,"^ since it is a proof before which the 
 most highly educated of mankind must bow their 
 head in adoration of the Omnipotence of God, and 
 also a proof that is clear to the simplest mind — 
 
 I John viii. i8. * John xi. 42, etc. 
 
 3 Cone. Vatic, iv. 9. 
 
Evidence from Miracles 93 
 
 to those poor to whom Christ tells us that His 
 *' Gospel " was in a special manner to be preached. 
 When men, whether learned or illiterate, saw five 
 thousand of their fellows fed with a few loaves, the 
 remnants of the feast filling seven baskets ; or when 
 they observed one who had been, to their knowledge, 
 blind from his youth upwards, suddenly, without 
 the appHcation of any medical skill or surgical ap- 
 pliances, seeing as well as they did themselves ; or 
 when they beheld Lazarus who had been four days 
 in the tomb, rising from the dead and resuming as 
 before his normal human life — here, and in many 
 other cases just as striking, was evidence ready to 
 their hands, which it required much stubbornness to 
 gainsay. To withstand its effect upon the people 
 Christ was crucified. But after His Death came 
 His Resurrection, which was to make the spread of 
 Christianity possible, and thereby to create that 
 which we know as Christendom. 
 
 Before we pass to the consideration of the evidence 
 for the reality of the miracles of Christ, perhaps we 
 ^ ought to glance at a specious argument 
 
 worked by that is sometimes brought against the 
 evil spirits, evidential force of any miracles whatso- 
 ever. *' You Cathohcs," it is often objected, ** admit 
 that evil spirits can work if not miracles in the strict 
 sense {i.e. events that require the intervention of 
 God, independently of the Laws of Nature), at any 
 rate * marvels,' which interfere with the ordinary 
 
94 Is the Christian ReUgion True ? 
 
 course of nature in such a way that it is exceedingly 
 difficult to see how these ' lying wonders ' as you call 
 them (your Bible is full of such) can be distinguished 
 from the * wonders ' to which the Apostles made 
 their appeal. How are we able to discern the false 
 miracles from the genuine, so that the false may be 
 duly discredited, leaving the field free for those which 
 are genuine, that they may bear convincing witness 
 to Truth ?" 
 
 The force of this objection, when we come to 
 examine it, will be found to be apparent rather than 
 real. If indeed it be the case that any "wonder," 
 which at first sight seemed to be miraculous, has 
 been worked by a false Teacher, after an appeal to 
 God to enable him to work such a wonder in confirmation 
 of his claim to have received a divine Revelation, it will 
 soon become clear, when we look into the matter, 
 that it was not a true miracle — that it did not 
 emanate from God.^ 
 
 It is certain that No verifiable miracle has ever 
 been adduced as evidence of the truth of any religion 
 save that of Christ. No proofs, which could be 
 tested, have at any time been submitted on behalf 
 of the miracles supposed to have been worked, for 
 instance, by Mohammed — directly we examine them 
 
 1 Thus St. Thomas writes (Ouodlibet II. a. 6, ad 4) : " Con- 
 iingcre non potest quod aliquis falsam doctrinam annuntians 
 vera miracula faciat, qu?c noniiisi virtute divina fieri possunt, 
 sic enim esset falsitatis Testis, quod est impossibilc." 
 
Evidence from Miracles 95 
 
 we recognise their futility and falseness — or for those 
 attributed to Gautama, or to Joseph Smith, or to 
 Mrs. Eddy. To compare the legendary wonders con- 
 nected with the names of such people as these with 
 the miracles of Christ, concerning the truth of w^hich 
 evidence exists in abundance, is to be guilty of a 
 controversial device, which, assuming conversance 
 with the facts (to some of which we shall refer in 
 our next chapter), is unworthy of honourable men. 
 
 Christians are convinced that, as no miracles 
 have been worked by God in the past, so no miracles 
 will be worked by God in the future in support of 
 any false religion, or to supersede that which they 
 know to have been the complete and final Revelation 
 given to men through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 The challenge thrown out to the adversaries of 
 Christianity early in the fourth century, may be 
 repeated with a force that has gathered strength 
 v>'ith the passing of each successive generation of 
 mankind : 
 
 " Are you able to point out, among the great men 
 that have ever lived through all the ages, anyone 
 who has done anything one thousandth part equal 
 to what Christ has done ?" ^ 
 
 1.1 For the rest, with regard to miracles 
 
 evidential that are not put forward as strictly 
 Miracles, evidential, but which may either come 
 from God and thus bear witness to His Power, or 
 1 Arnobius, Ad~c\ Gt7ifcs, i. 43. 
 
96 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 perhaps proceed from a source which is evil, we 
 have (as the Apostle exhorts us) in each case *' to 
 test the spirits."^ 
 
 If a wonder has been worked by a canonized Saint, 
 a Catholic has a presumption that it came from the 
 direct intervention of God — though he remembers 
 that it may after all be due to some natural cause. A 
 Catholic knows that the miracles of the Saints cannot, 
 in any event, be due to the intervention of the Powers 
 of Darkness. But if — to state the contrary case — 
 a marvel be worked by a man who has departed 
 from the Faith, and is preaching " another Gospel, 
 which is not another " ^ (which, being new, is not 
 the Gospel of Christ at all), to such a one we will 
 not listen, though he may have the appearance of 
 an angel of light. For example, I have had no 
 opportunity of examining the *' miracles " which are 
 alleged to have been worked by a certain Jansenist 
 Deacon in the eighteenth century, but, since I know 
 that Jansenism, which appealed to these miracles 
 against the Church, is opposed to God's truth, I 
 know also that these " wonders " (if they really took 
 place) cannot have proceeded from the God of Truth. 
 The same judgement we pass without an instant's 
 hesitation upon the ** wonders " (so far as they are 
 not conjuring tricks) of the Spiritualists — or upon 
 the cures (so far as they are not merely due to 
 
 1 I Jolin iv. J. 2 Gal. i. 6-7. 
 
Evidence from MiracLs 97 
 
 natural causes) of the votaries of ''Christian 
 Science." 
 
 It is not that, as has sometimes been objected, we 
 here argue in a circle — first testing the claims of him 
 who works the miracle by the miracle itself, and sub- 
 sequently testing the miracle by the character of him 
 who works it. Rather, our position is this. 
 
 (I.) If any doctrine be to my knowledge false, I know 
 at once that any miracles which may be alleged in its 
 support are either (a) inventions, or (6) explicable by 
 natural causes, or (c) false, that is to say worked by 
 evil spirits. In this last case, as the old Fathers of 
 the Church, and especially the early Apologists, 
 always replied to those who adduced such wonders 
 in derogation of the claims of Christianity, we must 
 bear in mind that Satan is not only the enemy, but 
 also ** the ape " or imitator of God. And on exami- 
 nation we shall find that these false miracles bear 
 signs of their origin on their front. Of the possi- 
 bility of such lying wonders Christ warned His 
 Disciples.^ 
 
 (II.) If, on the other hand, a supernatural claim be 
 made by one who asserts that He has been sent by 
 God to teach Truth, if His sanctity be far beyond 
 what has ever been seen on earth before or since, 
 if His teaching be in accordance with all that I 
 already know to be true, and if, moreover, He works 
 great miracles in support of His demands upon my 
 1 Matt. xxiv. 24 ; Mark xiii. 22. 
 
 7 
 
98 Is the Christian Rehgion True ? 
 
 faith — having asked from God such miracles to prove 
 His divine Mission — then, for me, all question is at 
 an end. Once this proof be given, doubt becomes 
 irrational, for God will not bear witness to a lie. 
 
 Such miraculous proof of the truth of their religion 
 has been given to Christians in rich abundance. It 
 is no more invalidated by its counterfeit, than is the 
 value of true coin invalidated by the existence of 
 base metal. 
 
 The ground is now clear for us to examine the 
 evidence for the Reality of the Miracles of Christ, 
 as we find them recorded in the Gospels. If they 
 m fact be real, I trust that I have shown that there 
 can hardly be reasonable hesitation as to theii 
 evidential value. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE EVIDENCE OF MIRACLES— THEIR ACTUALITY 
 
 The credibility of the Miracles of Christ depends in 
 the first place upon the credibility of the Evan- 
 Credibility gelists. No one suggests that we possess 
 of the any means of gaining authentic in- 
 
 Miracles formation, as to the life of Jesus Christ, 
 
 of Christ and . 
 
 of the outside the contents of the canonical 
 
 Evangelists. Gospels. It was freely acknowledged by 
 the Rationalist writers of the last century that it 
 we can safely trust these four Books as the works 
 of truthful narrators, bearing witness to facts within 
 their own knowledge, no room is left for discussion 
 as to the reality and significance of the miracles 
 which they record. Therefore, Rationalists have 
 made every effort in the past to discredit the testi- 
 mony of the Evangelists by assigning their work 
 not to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but to 
 unknown sources, and boldly laid it down that the 
 Synoptics did not see the light until the end of 
 the second century, and the fourth Gospel much 
 later. When this had been assumed, the next step 
 
 99 
 
loo Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 was simple. Nothing could be easier than to build 
 The Myth ^p on this foundation what is known as 
 Theory. the " Myth " theory and to assert that 
 the miracles ascribed to Christ were nothing more 
 than legends which had gradually grown up around 
 His Name. But unfortunately for this theory, 
 which, as its advocates are forced to admit, depends 
 entirely upon the hypothesis of the late date of the 
 Gospels, it has been discovered to be itself nothing 
 better than a myth. The insecurity of a building is 
 proportionate to the insecurity of the foundation 
 upon which it rests. The edifice reared with 
 much labour by Strauss and his disciples is based 
 upon a "mythical" support — the myth of baseless 
 incredulity. In other words the argument for the 
 late date of the Gospels is an a priori one. Baur 
 admitted this when he wrote as follows : " The 
 main argument for the later date of our Gospels is 
 after all this that they — one by one and still more 
 collectively — exhibit so much of the Life of Jesus in 
 a way which is impossible."^ The argument for 
 their early date, on the contrary, far from being 
 a priorif is critical and based on evidence,^ 
 \ , After the most exhaustive and critical 
 
 Autheri' 
 
 ticity of the enquiry possible, the traditional view as 
 Gospels ^Q the authorship and early origin of the 
 Gospels remains, at the present day, in triumphant 
 
 1 Critical Enquiry as to the Gospels, 1847, p. 530. 
 
 2 Cf. Turton, The Truth of Christianity, pp. 305-377. 
 
Evidence of Miiades loi 
 
 possession of the field. In other words it is 
 now generally admitted that the second 
 of St. Mark, Gospel was written by St. Mark under 
 the immediate direction of St. Peter, 
 of Sti Luke Nor is it denied that both the third 
 and the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles 
 were written by St. Luke. Discussion is 
 now practically restricted to the first and last 
 Gospels. It is true that, as Fr. Joyce writes, " In 
 of St. its present form the Liberal Critics deny 
 
 Matthew, the authenticity of St. Matthew's Gospel. 
 They hold, however, that it embodies an earlier 
 work, a collection of the discourses of our Lord 
 written in the Aramaic language, and this they are 
 prepared to acknowledge as in all probability the 
 composition of St. Matthew."^ With re- 
 gard to the fourth Gospel, it would be 
 too much to say that Rationalists nowadays admit 
 its Johannine authorship, but it is by no means 
 too much to say that the internal evidence, which 
 proves that it was written by an eyewitness, 
 taken in conjunction with the fact that St. Irenaeus 
 expressly ascribes it to St. John, leaves those who 
 still persist in denying that authorship in a position 
 which they find it increasingly difficult to defend. 
 It will be seen at once that, on this subject, the 
 testimony of St. Irenaeus, a disciple of St. Poly- 
 
 ^ The Question- of Miracles, p. 78. 
 
102 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 carp, himself a disciple of St. John, must be of 
 exceptional importance.-^ 
 
 As for the dates of the publication of the Gospels, 
 the agreement has become so close as to deprive the 
 Date of the discussion of other than purely academic 
 Gospels* interest. Catholic writers as a rule place 
 the three first Gospels between a.d. 6o and 70. No 
 Rationalist will now venture to place any of them 
 later than 85, and almost all Rationalists admit 
 that at least two were written considerably earlier. 
 Thus Harnack places St. Mark before 60, St. Luke 
 between 60 and 70, St. Matthew between 70 and 
 85. It is also generally recognised that the last 
 Gospel was published if not in the first century, at 
 any rate not later than no a.d. 
 
 Here, then, we have an established fact. These 
 early records of the Life of Christ were written " by 
 eyewitnesses " or at least by persons nearly con- 
 nected with the events narrated. 
 
 Now Strauss is the author of the Myth theory, and 
 Strauss has written as follows : ^' It would indeed 
 most unquestionably be an argument of decisive 
 weight in favour of the credibility of the biblical 
 history, could it indeed be shown that it was written 
 by eyewitnesses or even by persons nearly con- 
 nected with the events narrated."^ 
 
 ^ St, Irenaius, Adv. Hcer., iii. i ; xi. 16 ; cf. Origen, P"G. xx 
 581 ; Tertullian, Conir. Marc. iv. 5 ; St. Jerome, Ad Hcdib. Ep 
 cxx., etc. 
 
 2 Strauss's Life oj Jesus (English Tiansiation), p. 55. 
 
Evidence of Miracles 103 
 
 But there is more to be said on this subject. Not 
 only are we in possession of accounts of miracles 
 The worked by Christ written down by con- 
 
 Apostles temporaries, but also it is certain that 
 appealed to 
 
 the know contemporaries appealed to the first- 
 ledge of hand knowledge of those miracles 
 those whom . , , 
 they possessed by the persons to whom 
 
 addressed* they spoke. For instance, St. Peter 
 thus addressed the Jews : 
 
 "Jesus of Nazareth, a Man to whom God bore 
 His witness amongst you by wonders and prodigies 
 and signs, which God worked through Him in your 
 midst, as you know."'^ The confident ring of this 
 Mf^Thomp' cannot be surpassed, yet Mr. Thompson 
 son and permits himself to discredit the testimony 
 
 St. Mark q£ 5^^ ^^^y. (Petrine though his gospel is 
 in source) to the miracles of Christ, by writing these 
 words : 
 
 *' Many of the stories that Mark sets down he may 
 have heard years before as part of the gossip of his 
 mother's friends." ^ 
 
 Mr. Thompson finds other means by which to 
 sneer at the witness of the three other Evangelists, 
 and the ^^^ example, the assertions of St. Matthew- 
 
 other as to the vast number of miracles worked 
 
 Evangelists. ^^ ^^^ ^ord are " mere bits of literary 
 
 joinery designed to round off the narrative."^ 
 
 1 Acts ii. 22 ; cf. Rom. xv. 19 ; i Cor. xv. 13-21. 
 
 2 Miracles of the New Testament, p. 30. ^ Id., p. 72, 
 
I04 Is the Christian Rehgion True? 
 
 Would St. Peter, we may well ask, have dared to 
 appeal to the miracles of Christ, had they been 
 merely " stories " which furnished part of the gossip 
 of the friends of Mark's mother, and would those to 
 whom St. Peter preached have listened to him with 
 patience, had they known that those miracles had 
 never taken place, but that their affirmation was a 
 mere bit of ** rhetorical joinery " ? For after all, it 
 is only reasonable to mete out the same measure to 
 St. Peter in his speeches as to the author of the 
 First Gospel in his writings. 
 
 It is amazing that Mr. Thom.pson (a Fellow 
 
 of Magdalen and Dean of Divinity) should have 
 
 any respect for a religion, which, on his theorj^, 
 
 gained acceptance through " stories " based upon 
 
 gossip, and by means of ^'literary joinery." It 
 
 possible, it is still more amazing that he does not 
 
 himself see how gratuitous are his own hypotheses — 
 
 and how opposed to the facts. If the miracles 
 
 recorded by the Evangelists were capable of the 
 
 kind of explanation hazarded by Mr. Thompson, it 
 
 The letter of is inconceivable that (for example) St. 
 
 Quadratus, Quadratus, a Bishop of Athens at the 
 
 very beginning of the second century, would have 
 
 ventured to write as follows to the Emperor 
 
 Hadrian, and to have made, in support of the 
 
 Divinity of Christ, this confident appeal to His 
 
 miracles ; 
 
 *' The works of our Saviour were always conspicu- 
 
Evidence of Miracles 105 
 
 ous, for they were real. Both they that were healed 
 and they that were raised from the dead were seen 
 by all men (amongst whom they lived), not only 
 when they were healed or raised, but for some time 
 afterwards; not only whilst our Saviour lingered 
 upon the earth, but also after His departure, and for 
 a long time after, so that some of them have come down 
 to our own times.'^^ 
 
 If then some of the men whom our Saviour 
 healed were, as Ouadratus asserts, still living in 
 his own times, they could have been questioned, 
 and would have said whether the report of their 
 cures was based on fact or merely the outcome of 
 idle gossip. 
 
 When we turn away from imaginative hypotheses 
 to dry facts, we discover that in those early days, 
 whilst the witnesses of Christ's miracles were alive, 
 no attempt was made to deny their reality. The 
 evidence was too strong for such a course to be 
 possible. When the enemies of Christianity at- 
 tempted to deal with the miracles of Christ during 
 the lifetime of those who had witnessed them, they 
 invariably attributed them to magic, as the enemies 
 of Christ had during His own lifetime attributed 
 them to Beelzebub. We may be at least thankful 
 that this is a view which does not find favour at 
 the present day. But the fact that it ii\is, in the 
 beginning, the view of those who refused to accept 
 ^ In Eus.bius, Hist. Eccl, iv. 3 (P. G. xx. 307). 
 
io6 Is the Christian ReH'^ion True ? 
 
 our Lord as their Master, shows how pubhc and 
 certain and notorious the fact of His miracles was at 
 the time, and shortly after the time, when they were 
 worked. 
 
 What then is the latest theory now prevalent 
 amongst those who do not set down Christ's miracles 
 View of to magic or to Satan, but yet deny their 
 most modern reality ? Well, at the moment of writing 
 The"^ it seems to be generally held by *' Liberal 
 
 logians. Theologians'* (to give them the titlt 
 which they affect) that Christ worked cures by 
 some process analogous to '* Faith Healing," but 
 that *' the Nature miracles," as they are called 
 (the miracles, that is, which are not in accord- 
 ance with the Uniformity of the Laws of Nature) 
 were due to some misunderstanding on the part of 
 those who narrated them. Fashions change, and 
 " the restatements " of Liberal Theologians change 
 with them. It is not therefore worth while to devote 
 much space to theories which are hardly likely long 
 to outlive the year after next. Yet as such " views " 
 are often advanced it may be worth while to point 
 out shortly both their futility and their extravagance. 
 
 It is futile to accept one set of miracles and arbi- 
 trarily to reject another when both rest on the evi- 
 dence of the same witnesses. Men who would be 
 capable of mistake when they asserted that Christ 
 walked on the water as on dry land, are hardly to be 
 trusted when they aftirm that He gave sight to 
 
Evidence of Miracles 107 
 
 Bartimseus. Moreover, it should be borne in mind 
 that some of the most striking of the Nature Miracles 
 are to be found in what is called the Triple Record— 
 that is to say where the three first Evangelists 
 coincide. It is, even from the point of view of the 
 ** Liberal Theologians," wanton to break in upon this 
 Triple Record, which they themselves admit to be 
 authentic. 
 
 As for the allegation that Christ's miracles can be 
 paralleled by the results of modern Faith-healing, 
 or ** Christian Science," we may be excused from 
 considering it, until we are confronted with any 
 instances in which a Faith-healer or ** Christian 
 Scientist " has instantaneously and completely cured 
 a leper, a withered hand, a woman who has suffered 
 from an issue of blood of twelve years' duration, 
 or a man who was blind from his youth up. Yet 
 these cures are, amongst many others, recorded in 
 St. Mark's Gospel, to have been worked by Christ.^ 
 
 It is quite clear that the miracles of heaUng stand 
 or fall with the rest. But it is when we come to 
 examine the explanations offered for the *' Nature 
 miracles " that not only the futility but also the 
 extravagance of these " explanations " becomes so 
 striking. For example, we are assured that when 
 the Apostles thought that our Lord was walk- 
 ing on the sea. He v/as really walking on a sunken 
 ridge in the sea. Surely this is the height of extrava- 
 ^ Mark i. 41 ; iii. i ; v. 25 ; x. 52^ 
 
io8 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 gance. (There is no attempt to explain what we 
 are told about St. Peter's leaping into the sea, first 
 walking, then sinking, and then being sustained 
 by the word of Christ.) It is useless to multiply 
 instances of such evasions indefinitely, but it may be 
 of interest to glance at the works of two living 
 writers. Mr. Thompson may stand for the Eng- 
 lish and Professor William Benjamin Smith for the 
 American "Liberals." Both in their own country 
 are considered to give us the results of the most 
 modern " up - to - date " scholarship. In quoting 
 them, therefore, we shall not be assailing positions 
 that have, like those of the i8th and 19th century 
 Rationalists, been long since abandoned, as hope- 
 less, by their friends. 
 
 ]yj^^ We will avail ourselves of Fr. Joyce's 
 
 Thompson's Summary of Mr. Thompson's views.-^ 
 Views* j^g accuracy will not be disputed. 
 
 " It is next the turn of the ' wonders ': the calming 
 of the wind and sea, the raising of Jairus' daughter, 
 the feeding of the five thousand, the feeding of the 
 four thousand, etc. 
 
 ** The storm, it is suggested, doubtless sub- 
 sided naturally, and the disciples mistakenly 
 attributed the subsidence to something that 
 Jesus had said. Jairus' daughter was not dead. 
 Jesus, who really thought that she was so, by a 
 supreme act of Faith, sought to recall her to life, 
 and she recovered at the appropriate moment. The 
 ^ The Qucslion of Miracles, pp. 96, 97. 
 
Evidence of Miracles 109 
 
 feeding of the five thousand is more difficult of ex- 
 planation. Mr. Thompson seems to hesitate as to 
 the adequacy of the old Rationalist ' explanation ' 
 that Christ, by His generosity in sharing His bread 
 with the hungry, led others in the company who 
 were themselves amply provided to do the same, 
 that thus all were fed, and so the legend grew that 
 there had been a miracle, for he assures us that ' in 
 all probability ' there was * some event the exact 
 nature of which we cannot now determine,' which 
 the disciples really took for a miracle. This was 
 altered and modified into its present form to serve 
 as a symbol of the Eucharist. The feeding of the 
 four thousand was a pure invention, since it was 
 natural to suppose that if Christ had done this once 
 in Jewish territory, He must have done it also 
 amongst the Gentiles." 
 
 From the Christian point of view it would not be 
 one whit more blasphemous, and considerably less 
 irritating to one's common sense, to be told that the 
 Gospel narrative is a pure concoction. 
 
 Professor Smith, whose book of 422 large pages, 
 
 rr, T7-. entitled Ecce Dens, was first given to the 
 
 The Views ° 
 
 of Professor world in Germany, and was subse- 
 Smith. quently published in Chicago in an 
 
 English dress, has a view^ of his own. 
 But let him speak for himself. 
 
 "Now at last the truth hidden for so many 
 centuries, dimly divined here and there (but 
 never demonstrated) by many superior spirits 
 from time to time both in and out of the Church 
 
110 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 — now at last this irrepressible truth shines 
 more and more clearly upon the critical intel- 
 ligence [through Professor Smith's book], and 
 illumines in streaks the New Testament from 
 Matthew to Revelation. But its broad, diffuse light 
 has yet to be poured over the whole of these Scrip- 
 tures, especially the Synoptics. In the case of the 
 Fourth Gospel, demonstration is easier. Especially 
 the Miracles, like the Resurrection of Lazarus, the 
 healing of the blind man, the restoration of the 
 cripple at the pool, the feeding of the thousands, 
 the first sign at Cana — all these and others are 
 such obvious symbolisms that it seems well-nigh 
 impossibleyfor any enlightened understanding ' in a 
 cool hour' to hesitate concerning them. Never- 
 theless, though there can be no question as to the 
 general sense (however much variance as to details), 
 yet the question still presses : ' Where and when 
 did the misunderstanding begin ?' It is here that 
 Schmiedel seems, perhaps, to have expressed him- 
 self too forcibly. He declares in spread-type, 
 that * John believed in all his accounts of miracles, 
 that it was real events with which he was deal- 
 ing ; only by way of supplement* did they become 
 for him symbols or mere thoughts.' It appears by 
 no means certain — nay, not even probable — that 
 John, being such a one, deluded himself in any such 
 measure. On the contrary, the whole artistic 
 scheme and method of his Gospel seems to be 
 almost the opposite. The Evangelist had inherited 
 a certain body of symbolism, of obviously pictorial 
 doctrine. . . . These notions he proceeded to work tip into 
 elaborate narrative. [The italics are Professor Smith's.] 
 He sought to make them more vivid and impressive 
 by giving them historic setting and dramatic colour- 
 
Evidence of Miracles 1 1 1 
 
 ing. This it is that constitutes his main contribution to 
 the representation. [The italics here are mine. One 
 would have thought it so much more satisfactory, 
 if less polite, to write that St. John was a pure 
 romancer.] . . . Consider the resurrection of Lazarus. 
 No one needs to be told that the material event is 
 entirely unhistorical. But whence comes Lazarus ? 
 Clearly from the parable in Luke (xvi. 19-31). Here 
 he seems to symbolise the poor pauper world, wait- 
 ing for the crumbs to fall from the table of the Jew, 
 rich in the Law, the Prophets, the Promises, and 
 the Oracles of God. The parable goes on to say 
 that they who had Moses and the Prophets would 
 not believe though one (Lazarus) should rise from 
 the dead. On this hint the Evangelist speaks. He 
 recognises this signal truth of history, this stiff- 
 necked rejection of the Jesus by the Semites, and 
 he thinks that it deserves to be thrown upon a 
 livid and highly-illumined dramatic canvass. [By 
 the ** Jesus " throughout his book Professor Smith 
 understands " the monotheistic idea."] Hence the 
 whole story. Not for an instant does he deceive 
 himself, or intend to deceive others [! ! !]. He is 
 simply obeying a certain artistic instinct; he is press- 
 ing a metaphor and indeed pressing it rather far." ^ 
 
 Contrast all this with the solemn words of St. 
 John himself, " This is that disciple who giveth tes- 
 timony of these things and hath written these things 
 and we know that his testimony is true."- 
 
 Professor Smith informs us with much elabora- 
 tion that at the wedding at Cana — 
 
 * Ecce Deus, p, 28. 2 John xix. 24. 
 
I J 2 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 " This Mother of Jesus is none other than the 
 Jewish Church, whilst this great marriage feast at 
 Cana is nothing less than the introduction of the 
 Jesus-cult into the world, the wedding of the Greek 
 and Jewish religions into the new doctrine destined 
 to rejuvenate the earth. Most appropriately it is 
 called ' the beginning of the signs ' where we may 
 almost translate o-7;/i.et'wv by ' symbols,* ... in 
 comparison wdth the wine of ' the new doctrine ' 
 the old formalism of the Jews was mere water in 
 the jars ' of stone set there after the Jews' manner 
 of purifying.' At His command the wine gushes 
 forth in abundance, such wine as the guests had 
 never drunk before. What wine do you ask ? The 
 same wine contemplated in the Synoptics — the wine 
 of the ' New Doctrine.' "^ 
 
 And so on, and so on, and so on for many para- 
 graphs. 
 
 Professor Smith seems very pleased with this 
 explanation of " the Beginning of Miracles," for he 
 writes : " The foregoing exegesis of this passage 
 seems so very obvious that little honour can attach 
 to originality, or even to priority. It may not, how- 
 ever, be amiss to remark that it was worked out 
 fully by the present writer in a paper written some 
 -years ago on Numerical Symbolism in the Fourth 
 Gospel (not published but circulated privately) and 
 was with him original."^ 
 
 We fear that a sense of humour can hardly be 
 reckoned amongst our Professor's endov.-ments. So 
 1 Eccc Deiis, pp. 121, 122. 2 /^/.^ pp 122, 123. 
 
Evidence of Miracles 113 
 
 cogent does he deem his " illustrations " that he 
 gravely tells us : ** It would seem to be almost a 
 gratuitous offence to the intelligence of the reader 
 to pursue such illustrations further." ^ He also 
 writes that in many cases it seems " as clear as the 
 sun" that ''the Evangelist invented the investiture, 
 the historic-dramatic garb in which he has clothed the 
 ideas and meanings which he found ready at hand/'^ 
 
 We fully agree with Dr. Smith as to the need- 
 lessness of pursuing such illustrations further, 
 We have only pursued them at all because, as 
 recently as igi2 — so we learn from the title-page of 
 his book — they were issued to the British pubhc by 
 the Rationalist Press Association, and no doubt have 
 by this time been widely spread in our country. 
 We venture, however, to disagree with him as to 
 the cogency of his arguments. To us it is " as clear 
 as the sun " that the overwhelming majority of 
 straightforward people, after they have carefully 
 considered the matter, will say bluntly, " Either 
 these Miracles are false — they never occurred ; or, 
 they are true — they happened as they are narrated 
 in the Gospels." 
 
 In fairness to the leading English " Liberal 
 
 Thinkers" it should be stated that they would one 
 
 and all disown Dr. Smith, who disagrees with them 
 
 in this — that (of course in the teeth of all evidence) 
 
 he actually denies " the historicity," i.e., the exist- 
 
 1 Ecce Detis, p. 28. ^ Id., p. 27. 
 
 8 
 
114 ^s ^^^^ Christian Religion True?' 
 
 ence as a real Person, of Jesus Christ. To him our 
 Lord is merely the Personification of Monotheism 
 in the minds of the Apostles, as its S3^mbol. To 
 such extravagant lengths will the spirit of *' criti- 
 cism," when unchecked either by Faith or common 
 sense, sometimes lead even able and learned men. 
 The fact that Dr. Smith would be laughed at at 
 Oxford does not prevent his being regarded as a 
 great authority in America and elsewhere. His book 
 was lent me by a barrister in extensive practice v/ho 
 assured me gravely that it had destroyed his faith 
 in Christianity. 
 
 Truth of the ^^^ "^^y ^°^^ ^^"^ ^P ^^^ main con- 
 Miracles of siderations which place beyond question 
 Christ. ^j^^ ^j.^^j^ ^£ ^^^ miracles of Christ— 
 
 (a) They were performed in public and were 
 notorious. 
 
 {b) They were narrated and appealed to by eye- 
 witnesscs. 
 
 (c) They were never denied at the time when 
 these eyewitnesses were still living. 
 
 We should bear in mind, further, with regard to 
 {a) the extent of their publicity, that they were all worked 
 during the three years of the Public Ministry, and 
 that many of them took place in the presence of large 
 numbers of people, e.g,, the multiplication of the 
 loaves — others in the presence of men of position 
 and education, such as Nicodemus, Jairus, the cen- 
 turion, Zachceus, Scribes, Pharisees, Priests, and 
 
Evidence of Miracles 1 1 ^ 
 
 members of the Sanhedrin, who certainly cannot 
 justly be considered to have been unduly credulous, 
 or biassed in favour of the claims of Christ ; with 
 regard to (b) the fact that the chief witnesses to the 
 reality of these miracles — the Apostles — claimed to be 
 eyewitnesses, that they also gladly shed their blood 
 in testimony to the truth of the events they attested, 
 and with regard to (c) the fact that they were not denied 
 at the time, that the enemies of Christ, who were 
 certainly not all of them over-scrupulous, had every- 
 thing to gain by denial of their reality, had denial 
 been practicable. In view of such facts as these it 
 is not merely difficult, but it becomes a moral im- 
 possibility to doubt these miracles, unless we are pre- 
 pared to turn our back on all the Laws of Evidence. 
 It is interesting to contemplate the grotesque 
 straits to which the ablest men are reduced when 
 they attempt to explain away the Gospel narrative. 
 They can no longer deny the competence of the 
 witnesses, for the early date of the Gospels has been 
 established ; they dare not, and would not, if they 
 dared, attribute the works of Christ to Magic ; the 
 Myth theory did not endure long, for it was soon re- 
 cognised that the Gospels were not mythical and that 
 the faith of the Apostles was not based upon myths. 
 Nothing then remained but to fall back upon such 
 extravagances as those of Mr. Thompson and Pro- 
 fessor Smith. The fact is that when men hesitate to 
 believe in the Miracles of Christ, it is not that they 
 
ii6 Is the Christian ReUgion True? 
 
 are satisfied with the "explanations" of "Liberal 
 Thinkers," but that they are obsessed by the theory 
 with v/hich we dealt in our last chapter, that 
 " Miracles are impossible." So long as a man per- 
 sists in holding this presupposition, however strong 
 be the evidence to the opposite with which he is 
 confronted, it is clear that for him conviction is 
 barred by his own volition. On a priori grounds, he 
 has ruled out conviction before looking impartially 
 at the state of the case. 
 
 If anyone says : " Whatever else I may believe, 
 I will not believe in Miracles," with such a man 
 it is, obviously, impossible to argue at all. He 
 has rendered himself impervious to facts — and this 
 in the name of Reason ! But for those who are 
 ready to examine for themselves with open minds, 
 we may point out that, far from its being the case 
 that the miracles of Christ were believed eagerly 
 and at once without any examination, such examina- 
 tion was (at least in one instance, and therefore 
 probably in many others) made on the spot, and 
 made by His enemies. 
 
 The cure o£ Immediately after the cure of the man 
 the man who had been blind throughout his life,^ 
 r ° bli d ^^^ neighbours, many of whom had prob- 
 from his ably known him all his life — certainly for 
 birth. years — closely questioned him as to the 
 
 way in which he had received sight. They then 
 
 * John ix. I •34. 
 
Evidence of Miracles 117 
 
 brought him to the Pharisees who first cross- 
 examined the man himself and did their utmost to 
 induce him to deny the reahty of the miracle. 
 When they failed in this endeavour, they summoned 
 his parents and procured their evidence. As it corre- 
 sponded with that of their son, they recalled him, 
 and tried to catch him in his speech. When all 
 else failed, they could only abuse him. His evidence 
 and that of his parents remained unshaken. He had 
 been born blind, and had been cured instantaneously 
 by Christ. 
 
 Similarly, the case of the lame man who was 
 cured by St. Peter " at the Gate of the Temple 
 which is called Beautiful,"^ was investigated by "the 
 Priests and the officers of the Temple and the Sad- 
 ducees," but they discovered sadly that they ** could 
 say nothing against it.''^ They could "threaten" 
 and imprison Peter and John. That was within 
 their power. But in the end they could not prevail 
 against the Miracle. The evidence was too strong. 
 " And they said : What shall we do to these men ? 
 For indeed a miracle hath been done by them 
 which is known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 
 and we cannot deny it . . . and all men glorified 
 what had been done in that which had come to pass, 
 for the man was above forty years old in whom 
 that miraculous cure had been wrought."^ 
 
 We may now give a summary account of the 
 ^ Acts iii. 1-9. ^ Acts iv. 14. ^ Acts iv. 16-22. 
 
ii8 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 Gospel Miracles. In the first place it should be 
 Summafy observed that in each of the Gospels we 
 
 account of ^^^ jgj ^^ believe that the healing of the 
 the Gospel ^ _ " 
 
 Miracles, sick by our Lord v^as continuous through- 
 out His Public Ministry, so that St. Matthew tells 
 us that ** His fame went throughout all Syria," ^ 
 and that " coming forth He saw a great multitude, 
 and had compassion on them and healed their 
 sick,"^ and that when the men of Gennesareth had 
 knowledge of Him, they sent into all that country, 
 and brought to Him all that were diseased. And 
 they besought Him that they might touch but the 
 hem of His garment. And as many as touched 
 were made whole." ^ And St. Luke tells us that 
 after the healing of a leper " the fame of Him went 
 abroad the more,"* and St. Mark that at Caper- 
 naum " all the city was gathered together at the 
 door," ^ and St. John that the people of Jerusalem 
 exclaimed : ** When the Christ cometh, shall He do 
 more miracles than this Man doth ?" ^ 
 
 Now, of these miracles the Evangelists have only 
 recorded thirty-four^ (w^e are not reckoning those 
 .worked after the Resurrection), which as to their 
 character are distributed as follows : 
 
 1 Matt. iv. 24. ^ Matt. xiv. 14. 
 
 3 Matt. xiv. 35, 36. * Luke v. 15. 
 
 «^ Mark i. 33. *' John vii. 31. 
 
 7 Sometimes other incidents in our Lord's Life are 
 deemed to be miraculous, such as the escape froir. Nazareth 
 (Luke iv. 30). 
 
Evidence of Miracles 119 
 
 (a) There are seven cases of the cure of the possessed} 
 
 (b) There are seventeen cures of disease — those of — 
 (i) a man ''full of leprosy,"^ (2) St. Peter's mother- 
 in-law of a fever,3 (3) the ruler's son,^ (4) a bed- 
 ridden man,^ (5) the centurion's servant,® (6) a man 
 with a withered hand/ (7) the paralytic of thirty- 
 eight years' standing,^ (8) a woman with the issue 
 of blood,^ (9) two blind men/° (10) a deaf mute,^^ 
 (11) a blind man at Bethsaida/^ (12) a man suffering 
 from dropsy/^ (13) ten lepers,^^(i4) a blind man named 
 Bartimseus/^ (15), two blind men in presence of a 
 great multitude/® (16) a man born blind/"^ (17) the 
 High Priest's servant ^^ — a variety of diseases/^ but in 
 all of which there could be no question as to their 
 diagnosis — all cured instantaneously and completely, 
 not merely without the use of any natural means that 
 could be in any way proportionate to the result, 
 
 1 Matt. viii. 28-35 > ix. 32-33 ; xii. 22-45 T^v. 21-28 ; xvii. 14- 
 20 ; Mark i. 23-27 ; Luke xi. 37-43 ; Mark i. 40. 
 
 2 Luke v. 12 ; Mark i. 40. ^ Matt. viii. 14-151 
 * John iv. 46-54. 
 
 s Matt. ix. 1-7 ; Mark ii. 3 ; Luke v. 18. 
 ^ Matt. viii. 5-13 ; Luke vii. 6. 
 "^ Matt. xii. 9-13 ; Mark iii. i ; Luke vi. 6. 
 ^ John v. 1-15. 
 
 9 Matt. ix. 20-22 ; Mark v. 25 ; Luke viii. 43. 
 10 Matt. ix. 27-31. ^^ Mark vii. 32-37. 
 
 12 Mark viii. 22-26. ^^ Luke xiv. 2-6. 
 
 1* Luke xvii. 12-19. 
 i> Mark x. 46, 52. 
 
 16 Matt. XX. 30-34. ^' John ix. 1-7. 
 
 18 Luke xxii. 51. ^^ Mark i. 34. 
 
I20 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 but without the use of any natural means what- 
 soever. 
 
 {c) There are seven ^* Nature Miracles " — 
 
 (i) Christ changed water into wine/ (2) stayed 
 the tempest by His word, so that the winds and 
 waves obeyed Him,^ (3) walked upon the sea,^ 
 (4) enabled Peter to do the same/ (5) obtained for 
 Peter the tribute money miraculously,^ (6) and (7) 
 on two occasions fed large crowds with a few loaves 
 and fishes.® 
 
 (d) There are three Raisings from the dead — those 
 of (i) the son of the widow of Nain,'' (2) the daughter 
 of Jairus,® (3) Lazarus.® 
 
 Here we have every kind of miracle that can well 
 be imagined. If such miracles stood alone, their 
 evidential force would be irresistible, but they do 
 not stand alone. They are intended to lead up to 
 the crowning Miracles of the Resurrection and 
 Ascension. Those whom Christ raised from the 
 dead, after their resuscitation lived on earth, but 
 eventually died to rise no more until the Last Day. 
 Christ died, but (if the Gospel record be true), He 
 
 1 John ii. i-ii. 
 
 2 Matt. viii. 23-27 ; Mark iv. 36 ; Luke viii. 23 26. 
 8 Matt. xiv. 25 ; Mark vi. 48 ; John vi. 19. 
 
 * Matt. xiv. 30, 31. ^ Matt. xvii. 26. 
 
 « Matt. xiv. 15-21 ; Mark vi. 31-44 ; Luke ix. 10-17 ; 
 John vi. 9-13 ; Matt. xv. 32-38 ; Mark viii. 1-9. 
 
 7 Matt. ix. 18-26 ; Mark v. 22-42 ; Luke viii. 49-55* 
 
 8 Luke vii. 11-17. * John xi. 1-45. 
 
Evidence of Miracles 121 
 
 raised His Body from the grave to die no more. 
 For forty days He appeared from time to time to 
 His disciples, and then left this earth, lifting Himself 
 to the very side of God. This has always been held 
 to be the very culminating proof of the truth of 
 Christianity. And of this great fact, if evidence is 
 to be trusted at all, there can be no doubt. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 EVIDE\XE DERIVED FROM THE RESURRECTION 
 
 OF CHRIST 
 
 The objection has often been brought against the 
 
 evidence for the Resurrection of Christ that we find 
 
 Alleged dis' certain discrepancies with regard to the 
 
 crepancies occurrences immediately subsequent to 
 
 in the , ^ ^^ . . 
 
 Gospel that great Event. Of course it is certain 
 
 accounts of that no single Gospel either gives us, or 
 rection of' professes to give us, a full account of all 
 '".hrist, that passed between our Lord and His 
 
 Disciples during the forty days which intervened 
 between the Resurrection and Ascension. It is 
 equally certain that this full account will be sought 
 in vain in all the Gospels combined. St. John 
 Chrysostom tells us that St. John's Gospel was 
 supplementary to the three first, especially with 
 regard to special favours bestowed upon St. Peter, 
 which in his humility Peter had not allowed 
 St. Mark to record,^ and St. John himself disclaims 
 the idea that the Gospel narratives were complete 
 
 *■ CJ. Horn. 58 {al 59) tn Mailhcvum. 
 122 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 123 
 
 with the magnificent rhetorical hyperbole, that were 
 this to be attempted, the whole world would not 
 contain all the books that would have to be written.^ 
 In every one of the Gospels gaps in the sacred 
 story are, manifestly, taken for granted. 
 
 The fact, then, that it is difficult, 'if not impos- 
 sible, for us with our incomplete knowledge of all 
 that took place, to reconcile in details the narrative 
 of the Evangelists, with complete satisfaction to our 
 own minds, at any rate places this beyond dispute — 
 that these four accounts are not four versions of one 
 concocted tale; otherwise who will fail to see that 
 care would have been taken to make these versions 
 agree together minutely and on the surface ? Fraudu- 
 lent conspirators never needlessly add to their diffi- 
 culties — and to palm off successfully on a sceptical 
 w..ld the false story of a Resurrection from the 
 dead would have had difficulties of its own to which 
 no liar would have added wilfully. Knaves will 
 Full agree- always make their tale as plausible, and 
 ment of the therefore as outwardly consistent, as they 
 
 Evaogelists ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ Therefore, that the Evan- 
 
 as to the 
 
 important gelists wrote without comparing notes 
 
 Facts* proves that they are, in this matter at 
 
 least, witnesses independent of one another, and so 
 
 far goes to strengthen the weight of their evidence 
 
 where they are in perfect agreement — for example 
 
 with regard to the main issue — that Christ died, 
 
 1 John xxi. 25. 
 
124 Is ^^^ Christian Religion True? 
 
 rose from His Tomb, conversed with His disciples 
 as of old and proved to them, through the testimony 
 of their senses, that He was true Man, possessing 
 the same Human Body, now glorified, which but a 
 few days previously had been nailed to the Cross on 
 Calvary. 
 
 Again, we must remember that no thoughtful man 
 will rest the historical evidence for the Resurrection 
 The Gospels ^^ Christ mainly on the evidence of the 
 not the sole Gospels — important though this evidence 
 
 evidence for undoubtedly is in itself— still less will he 
 the Resur' "^ . , ^ 
 
 rection of rest it on the evidence of the Gospels 
 
 Christ. alone. The chief historical proof of our 
 
 jljg Lord's Resurrection is to be found in the 
 
 Apostles fact, which we learn from the Acts of 
 
 the chief ^^^^ Apostles, the Epistles of St. Paul 
 
 witnesses to ^ ' ^ 
 
 the Resur' and other historical sources, that shortly 
 
 rection* ^^^^^ ^^iq death of Christ a large number 
 
 of those who had known Him intimately during His 
 Life, declared that they were "witnesses" of His 
 Resurrection, that their statements were never dis- 
 proved or even contradicted, that they gave up 
 everything, suffering cruel torments and finally 
 - death itself for their faith that Christ had risen from 
 the dead, that no corrupt motive ever has been 
 assigned, or can possibly be assigned, in explanation 
 of their conviction that Christ had lived upon the 
 earth for forty days after His Crucifixion, and that 
 they convinced other men of this stupendous event 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 125 
 
 to such an extent that, in the end, through this teach- 
 ing, the Roman world became Christian. Had the 
 Apostles been deceivers, or had they been deluded, 
 never could they have succeeded in imposing either 
 their fraud or their delusion upon mankind with 
 such success as literally to transform the very face 
 of society. Now, this successful preaching of the 
 Resurrection of Christ took place possibly for thirty 
 years or more, certainly for many years, before the 
 first of the Gospels was written. So that it becomes 
 clear that the evidence for the fact of the Resur- 
 rection does not depend exclusively upon the Gos- 
 pels, since that fact had been widely accepted before 
 any Gospel saw the light. 
 
 It is obvious that for us, who live now, the 
 evidence derived from the unchallenged preaching 
 
 of this fact, that Christ had risen from 
 Corrcbora- , , , , i -.i tt- t^- 
 
 tive evidence ^^^ dead and conversed with His Dis- 
 
 of the ciples, is greatly strengthened, when we 
 
 ospe s. learn that four competent authorities — 
 two of them eyewitnesses of what they chronicled, 
 another writing under the immiediate supervision of 
 the Chief of the Apostles, and yet another the 
 amanuensis of St. Paul — have left, in writing, 
 accounts of some of the marvellous happenings that 
 surrounded the Resurrection. But the evidence itself 
 was there before a line of the Gospels was penned. 
 
 The result of the evidence borne by the first wit- 
 nesses to the Risen Christ may be seen to-day in 
 
126 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 Christianity Christianity. Christianity cannot be ac- 
 owes its counted for in any way to give satisfac- 
 
 sxiststics to • « • 
 
 . ,. r . ^u tion to the mind, unless the Resurrection 
 beiiet in tne ' 
 
 Resurrec' was a fact. There can be no greater 
 *^°"* mistake than to imagine that human 
 
 nature was essentially different in the first age 
 after Christ than it is at the present time. Hard- 
 headed men of the world, cultivated and highly- 
 trained intelligences, for example in Rome, Athens 
 or Corinth, would no more have lightly accepted the 
 report of the Apostles concerning Christ's Resurrec- 
 tion, had that report been capable of disproof, than 
 men of similar calibre would lightly accept a similar 
 report in London or New York to-day. And, as we 
 shall soon see, had the Apostles' statements not 
 been in accordance with what had really happened, 
 nothing could have been easier, under the circum- 
 stances, than to disprove them. 
 
 It will always remain the fact that Mohammedan- 
 ism was established in the main by the sword, 
 Moham- whereas Christianity was established by 
 medanism belief that Christ had risen from the 
 by the dead — a very rock on which to build the 
 
 sword. Church, if it be true ; a support useless 
 as sand — could it once be overthrown. 
 
 After these general observations, we may look 
 more closely into the value of the evidence afforded 
 by the belief of the Apostles in the Resurrection of 
 their Lord. 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 127 
 
 There are five short speeches of St. Peter recorded 
 in the first five Chapters of the Acts, which the 
 The first most advanced critics admit to belong 
 recorded ^^ ^^le first century. We will give an 
 
 speeches and 
 
 sermons of extract from each of them. 
 St« Peter* (i) Before the day of Pentecost, the 
 
 Apostles thought well to choose one of the disciples 
 to take the place of the traitor Judas. 
 
 " And Peter rising up in the midst of the Brethren 
 said. ... Of these men who have companied with 
 us all the time that the Lord Jesus came in and 
 went out amongst us . . . one of these must be 
 made a witness with us of His Resurrection,"^ 
 
 This was the first great work of the Apostolate 
 " to bear witness " to the Resurrection of Christ. 
 
 (2) The first Christian sermon was preached by 
 St. Peter on the Day of Pentecost. This was its 
 gist : 
 
 "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of 
 Nazareth . . . you have crucified and slain, whojn 
 God hath raised up. . . . For David said concerning 
 Him. . . . Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell, nor 
 suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. ... He 
 spoke of the Resurrection of Christ. For neither 
 was He left in Hell, neither did His Flesh see 
 corruption. This Jesus hath God raised again, 
 whereof we all are witnesses.''^ 
 
 (3) After St. Peter had, in the Name of Jesus of 
 
 1 Acts i. 15-22. 2 Acts ii. 22-23. 
 
128 Is the Christian RelIo;ion True? 
 
 Nazareth, cured the lame man by the Gate Beau- 
 tiful of the Temple at Jerusalem, he thus spoke to 
 the people, who had beheld the miracle : " The 
 Author of Life you killed, whom God hath raised 
 from the dead, of which we [himself and St. John] are 
 witnesses.''^ 
 
 (4) ''And as they were speaking to the people, 
 the priests . . . came upon them, being vexed that 
 they taught the people and preached in Jesus the 
 resurrection from the dead. . . . Then Peter filled 
 with the Holy Ghost said to them. ... Be it 
 known to you all and to all the people of Israel, 
 that by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ of 
 Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God hath raised 
 from the dead . . . and calling them, they charged 
 them not to speak at all, nor teach in the Name of 
 Jesus. But Peter and John answering, said to them. 
 . . . We cannot hut speak the things which we have 
 seen and heard. . . . And with great power did the 
 Apostles give testimony of the Resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ our Lord."^ 
 
 (5) "And the High Priest asked them, saying: 
 Commanding we commanded you that you should 
 
 . not teach in this name, and behold you have filled 
 Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you have a 
 mind to bring the Blood of th's Man upon us. But 
 Peter and the Apostles answering said : We ought 
 to obey God rather than men. The God of our 
 1 Acts iii. 15. 2 Acts iv. 1-33. 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 129 
 
 fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to 
 death, hanging Him upon a tree. Him hath God 
 exalted with His Right Hand . , . and we are 
 witnesses of these things.'''^ 
 
 St. Peter seems anxious in these, his first five, 
 discourses always to say the same thing— so great 
 was its importance. A little later we shall find him 
 addressing Cornelius, still to the same effect : 
 
 " Jesus of Nazareth . . . God raised up the third 
 day and gave Him to be made manifest, not to all 
 the people, but to witnesses preordained by God, even 
 to us who did eat and dine with Him after He arose 
 again from the dead,''^ 
 
 Thus we see clearly that the Apostles of Christ — 
 St. Peter was their spokesman — from the beginning 
 put the Resurrection of their Lord in the very fore- 
 front of their testimony, and appealed to what they 
 themselves had heard with their own ears and seen 
 with their own eyes — facts concerning which they 
 could not possibly be mistaken. 
 
 Nor was there any dearth of witnesses. St. Luke 
 writes : *' Pie showed Himself, after His Passion, to 
 No dearth of the Apostles whom He had chosen, by 
 witnesses* many proofs, for forty days appearing to 
 them and speaking of the Kingdom of God."^ But 
 not only to the Apostles. 
 
 For example St. Paul who, "as one born out of 
 
 1 Acts V. 27-32. * Acts X. 38-43. 
 
 ^ Acts i. 2, 3. 
 
130 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 due time,"^ had seen our Lord, not on earth but in 
 a heavenly vision, 2 wrote (as is universally admitted, 
 St Paurs "^^ more than twenty years after the 
 appe.itothe Death of Christ), to the Corinthians, 
 certain fact appeaHng to Five Apparitions of the 
 Resurrec' Risen Christ, concerning which he evi- 
 
 ti°" dently thought that no doubt could be 
 
 of Christ, . ^^^. . , f 1 1 
 
 raised. With regard to two ot them he 
 
 had, we may be certain, been directly assured by 
 
 St. Peter with whom he abode for fifteen days 
 
 shortly after his conversion, and by St. James whom 
 
 he saw at about the same time.^ 
 
 ''He was seen (i) by Cephas, and after that (2) 
 by the Eleven."* Then he was seen (3) by more 
 than five hundred brethren at once, of whom many 
 remain unto this present, and some are fallen asleep. 
 After that, He was seen (4) by James. Then (5) by 
 all the Apostles."'' 
 
 And in the synagogue at Antloch in Pisidia, St. 
 Paul, as one referring to an indubitable fact, said 
 boldly : 
 
 "They laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised 
 Him up from the dead the third day, who was seen 
 for many days by them who came up with Him 
 
 1 I Cor. XV. 9. * Acts ix. 1-8. 
 
 3 Gal i. 18, 19. 
 
 4 So the Vulgate. The Greek MSS. have By the Tivdvc. We 
 must remember that St. Matthias was with the Eleven at the 
 time (Acts i. 22). 
 
 ^ I Cor. XV. 5-7. 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 131 
 
 from Galilee to Jerusalem who to this present are 
 His witnesses to the people.''^ 
 
 One would have thought that statements as cate- 
 gorical as these could meet with but one of two 
 The state' fates. Either they would be accepted 
 
 mentsofthe frankly as truthful, or they would be 
 
 Apostles -^ . -^ 
 
 concerning rejected as wilfully false. St. Paul 
 
 the Resur- evidently thought that there was no 
 rectiont , , . , , a tt 
 
 either true other alternative, w^nen he wrote : It 
 
 or false. Christ be not risen again, then we are 
 found false witnesses."^ And so it fell out in the 
 beginning. The Jews said at first that the Apostles 
 were rogues. There was the clumsy attempt to 
 make men believe that they had bribed the guards 
 and stolen our Lord's Body. When this failed, there 
 was nothing left but persecution. The Apostles 
 were scourged and imprisoned and threatened. 
 Their enemies said nothing in refutation of state- 
 ments which it was hopeless to upset. The his- 
 torical result of the first struggle between Judaism 
 and Christianity is known to all men. Christianity 
 spread, together with that belief in Christ's Resur- 
 rection which guaranteed the truth of its Creed and 
 Mysteries. Until recent times all men have agreed 
 that, if the Apostles were true witnesses, Christ has 
 indeed risen from the dead. Their testimony was 
 accepted, and the fact of Christ's Resurrection was 
 believed throughout Christendom without doubt or 
 1 Acte xiii. 29-31. * i Cor. xv. 14, 15. 
 
132 Is the Christian ReHgion True? 
 
 cavil for more than eighteen hundred years. A long 
 series of Easters, in unbroken succession, year after 
 year, linked the minds of men to the witness borne 
 by the Apostles of Christ to the fundamental proof 
 of the verity of their religion. But when in these 
 last centuries men began to question the truth of 
 our Lord's Resurrection — for they would fain reject 
 the Christianity (which could not be rejected if 
 Christ in truth had risen from the dead) — the chal- 
 lenge came too late to be effective, nor did they any 
 longer venture to assert that the Apostles deliber- 
 ately deceived. For (so Strauss freely admitted) 
 mere deceivers never have succeeded in imposing 
 their deceptions upon the world, as the Apostles 
 succeeded in imposing Faith in Christ and in His 
 Resurrection ; above all, mere deceivers do not give 
 up all things and gladly shed their blood on behalf 
 of a fraud, as the Apostles gladly died for Christ. 
 It was, therefore, necessary to find some other 
 theory, that might be a halfway house between the 
 theory of deception and the belief that Christ had 
 risen. Two such theories have in fact been imag- 
 ined. We may call them the Swoon Theory and 
 the Hallucination Theory. 
 
 The Swoon Theory need not detain us long, for it 
 has gone the way of the Deception Theory, and is 
 The Swoon ^o^ advanced by hardly anyone. Suffice 
 Theory. it to say that it is 
 
 {a) Historically false. Renan reminds us that the 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 133 
 
 Jews never would have been satisfied without cer- 
 tainty as to the actual death of Christ : 
 
 " The best guarantee which the historian possesses 
 on a point of this nature [the death of Christ] is the 
 suspicious hatred of the enemies of Jesus. We 
 cannot believe that those who were interested did 
 not take some precaution in this regard."^ 
 
 And we know that in fact every care was taken by 
 Pilate to see that Christ was dead before His Body 
 was handed over to Joseph of Arimathea and Nico- 
 demus. 
 
 (6) Above all, ^f orally incredible. For it involves 
 as a consequence that Christ Himself, after having 
 succeeded in making His Disciples believe that He 
 had risen from the dead, and having ascended into 
 Heaven before their eyes, retired into an unknown 
 spot where He allowed those who believed in Him to 
 suffer cruel torments for their faith, whilst He Him- 
 self remained in tranquillity. We know that this is 
 morally impossible. The Christ of whom we read in 
 the Gospels would never have acted thus. This is 
 certain, if anythmg in the world is certain. But it 
 is not only morally, but also 
 
 (c) Physically impossible. For how could Christ, 
 even if He had survived crucifixion and the soldier's 
 spear, have recovered in the Tomb from His sup- 
 posed Swoon, freed Himself from His Grave-clothes, 
 rolled back the heavy stone and escaped ? And if 
 Cf, Vie de Jesus, chap. xxvi. 
 
134 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 He had thus escaped the soldiers at the time, how 
 could He afterwards have lived ? Jesus of Nazareth 
 was far too well known to have succeeded in com- 
 pletely disappearing from men's sight in the little 
 country of Palestine. If He did not die on the 
 Cross, and was but human, He must have died 
 somewhere, and it must have been known. Yet no 
 man has ever suggested any place for the death of 
 Jesus Christ excepting Mount Calvary, or any other 
 place for His Sepulchre save the Tomb of Joseph. 
 
 (d) Inconsistent with the subsequent facts, especially 
 with the behaviour of the Apostles. This is admitted 
 by Strauss, who writes as follows : 
 
 ** It is impossible that a Being who had stolen 
 half-dead out of the Sepulchre, who crept about 
 weak and ill, wanting medical treatment . . . could 
 have given to the Disciples the impression that He 
 was a Conqueror over death and the grave, the 
 King of Life — an impression which lay at the 
 bottom of their future resuscitation — thus He could 
 but have weakened the impression which He had 
 made upon them in life and in death ; at the most 
 could only have given it an elegiac voice, but could 
 by no possibility have changed their sorrow into 
 enthusiasm and have elevated their reverence into 
 worship." 1 
 
 Th Hallu- ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ clear that the Swoon 
 cinaticn Theory has followed the Deception Theory 
 Theory, -^^^^ complete disrepute, and those who 
 
 ' New Life, i., p. 412. 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 135 
 
 deny the reality of the Bodily Resurrection of Christ 
 now fall back upon the Hallucination Theory. This, 
 under one form or another, is advocated at the 
 present by all " Liberal Thinkers." 
 
 We are reminded that people who wish to see a 
 ghost may easily persuade themselves, without any 
 foundation in fact, that they actually have seen one. 
 And this under certain circumstances is undeniable. 
 That is to say, hallucination under certain circum- 
 stances certainly takes place. But hallucination 
 either passes away, or continues. If it continues it 
 is madness. A man who expects to see a dead 
 friend may sometimes, without reason, fancy that he 
 sees him for a few moments. This is hallucination. 
 But if, without reason, he fancied that this friend 
 talked to him, ate with him, forgave him his 
 offences, gave him power in his turn to forgive the 
 sins of other men, thrice commissioned him to take 
 care of those whom he was leaving on earth (under 
 the figure of feeding his sheep and lambs) — this 
 would not be hallucination, it would prove a state of 
 diseased imagination, barely if at all, distinguishable 
 from madness. St. Peter believed that all these 
 communications passed between himself and Christ 
 after the death of Christ. It will hardly be main- 
 tained that Peter was mad, but if he v/as mad, this 
 madness of his was shared by all the other witnesses 
 to the Resurrection, who all believed that they had 
 similar relations with our Lord, and — these madmen 
 
136 Is the Christian Rdigion True ? 
 
 succeeded in establishing Christianity. Men who 
 deny the Resurrection of Christ content themselves 
 too often with discoursing about the possibility of 
 hallucination in general, without for a moment 
 facing the fact that in the particnlar case of the evi- 
 dence for the Resurrection hallucination is impos- 
 sible because of the character of the witnesses, because 
 the evidence is too detailed, and because there are too 
 many of them for hallucination to have been possible 
 for all. 
 
 One man, or perhaps two or three, may conceiv- 
 ably be subject to such hallucinations as must 
 according to "modern thinkers" have possessed 
 Peter and James and John and the other Apostles, 
 but hardly the five hundred to whom St. Paul 
 appealed, many of whom were living at the time. 
 The theory of ** collective hallucination " to which 
 German Professors used to treat us on this subject, 
 alleging that men see what they want to see or 
 expect to see, is delightfully discredited — at least 
 in Belgium— where these same Professors are found 
 assuring the world that Belgium deluded herself 
 ** collectively " into " seeing " German atrocities. 
 - Excitable and credulous women of a certain tem- 
 perament may sometimes allow their imagination to 
 lead them very far astray from accuracy ot statement, 
 but only a madwoman or an impostor could have 
 narrated the conversation between Mary Magdalene 
 and Him whom she thought to be a gardener, unless 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 137 
 
 it really took place. There are, no doubt, foolish 
 men to be found who will fancy anything, but such 
 a man was not Thomas the Apostle in the presence 
 of his risen Lord. Paul no doubt, as " one born 
 out of due time,"^ saw a vision of One who was no 
 longer on earth but now in heaven — still, though the 
 evidence of this vision was enough for himself, when 
 dealing with others he appealed not only to that 
 which he had himself seen when he was stricken on 
 the road to Damascus, but also to the evidence of 
 Peter and James, to each of whom had been granted 
 a separate appearance of our Lord.* 
 
 It has been suggested to me that in the summer 
 of 1914 a large number of people in England were 
 convinced that they had seen, or had seen persons 
 who had seen, Russian soldiers passing through the 
 country. Yet we know now that this w^as a delu- 
 sion. But, whatever may be the explanation of this 
 strange mistake, no one so far as I am aware (not 
 even the Daii}' Niws correspondent in Belgium, who 
 wrote that he had actually seen these Russians and 
 therefore knew that they had come) ever asserted 
 that he had talked to them and that they had said 
 that they were Russians from Archangel. After all, 
 the people who thought mistakenly that they had 
 seen Russians were not mistaken in the fact that 
 they had seen men. No one wall assert that the 
 ordinary Englishman is as well acquainted with the 
 ^ I Cor. XV. 8. 2 I Cor. xv. 5-7. 
 
138 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 appearance of Russians, as Peter and John and 
 Thomas and the Holy Women and the other wit- 
 nesses were as to the appearance and voice and (if I 
 may dare to use the expression) ways of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Mistake in the one instance, though 
 strange, is not incredible. It is simply incredible 
 that the Apostles should have been mistaken as to 
 their Lord. Englishmen on the look-out for Rus- 
 sians (and after the first rumours spread many 
 Englishmen were on the look-out) might easily take 
 other soldiers, ''wrapped up in great coats," for 
 Russian soldiers, who were not Russians at all. But 
 the two Disciples, for example, on the way to 
 Emmaus were so far from being on the look-out for 
 Christ that they did not recognise Him until He 
 unexpectedly revealed Himself to them in the 
 Breaking of Bread. If Englishmen, however, had 
 stated not merely that they had seen Russians, but 
 that they had held elaborate conversations with 
 them, establishing their identity, in any way similar 
 to those conversations which are recorded in the 
 Gospels, as having established the identity of the 
 Risen Christ with Him who had been crucified, vv'e 
 should be driven to say that the English witnesses to 
 the Russians were not hallucinated but that they were 
 either madmen or liars. Now, this is exactly what 
 "modern thinkers" (most rightly and reasonably) 
 shrink from saying about the Apostles and other 
 witnesses to the Resurrection. So they are driven to 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 139 
 
 parallels which on examination are found not to 
 be parallels at all, and to generalisations con- 
 cerning "subjective visions" and the like which 
 break down the moment we attempt to apply them 
 to the specific case of the evidence for the bodily 
 Resurrection of Christ. 
 
 I have left almost to the last any consideration of 
 the great outstanding fact which, even if it stood 
 The Empty alone, would deal the death-blow to the 
 Tomb« hallucination theory. Tht Tomb where 
 Christ's Body had been laid was empty. It would have 
 been useless to provide witnesses to the Resurrection, 
 if the Body of Christ could have been produced. 
 But the Tomb was empty. When for example Peter 
 said to the Jews : '' The Author of Life you killed, 
 whom God hath raised from the dead, of which we 
 are witnesses," ^ does anyone imagine that his hearers 
 would have tolerated such cutting words could they 
 have shown that they were false by the simple 
 expedient of proving that Christ was dead by asking 
 all who willed to see His Body in the Tomb ? Had 
 they done so, they would have attained their end at 
 once, and the whole fabric of Christianity would 
 have fallen down like a pack of cards, which a child 
 may without an effort throw to the ground. That 
 the Body of Jesus was never found by His enemies 
 will always be the irrefutable proof of the truth of 
 the statements of His Apostles, and of His glorious 
 Resurrection from the dead. 
 
 1 Acts iii. 15. 
 
140 Is the Christian Rehgion True ? 
 
 Quite recently a modification of the hallucination 
 
 theory has been put forward by Mr. Streeter and 
 
 other " modern thinkers." According to 
 Mr. . 
 
 Strectcf's this theory the Apostles did see something' 
 
 Theory* ^g ^q what exactly they saw there is dis- 
 agreement, but whatever they saw, they did not see 
 the Body of Christ which had been placed in the 
 Tomb on the Good Friday night. Still— it is argued 
 — they were not subject to hallucination as to the fact. 
 Mr. Streeter, for instance, who admits that he can find 
 no satisfactory explanation of the Empty Tomb, but 
 considers himself driven by a priori arguments at all 
 costs to deny the bodily Resurrection of Christ, 
 assures us that the appearances were directly caused 
 by the Spirit of the Risen Christ, and that the 
 Apostles were subject to hallucination as to the con- 
 clusions that they drew from what they saw. 
 
 But this theory 
 
 (a) would make God responsible for the Apostles' 
 mistake, since God is supposed to have caused the 
 apparitions, and Christ spoke words that directly 
 led the Apostles into error. It therefore seems (to 
 use the mildest term possible) to be irreverent — 
 
 (6) and quite needlessly irreverent, since it is only 
 recommended by an a priori assumption [apart from 
 all evidence) that a bodily resurrection, such as 
 the Apostles believed that they had witnessed, is 
 impossible. 
 
 {c) It is also against the evidence, which assures 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 141 
 
 us that Christ took pains to show that it was His 
 true Body which the Apostles saw. 
 
 {d) Moreover, it is confuted by the fact of the 
 Empty Tomb. Once again we ask, if God did not 
 (as Christians beHeve) raise the Body of Christ from 
 the Sepulchre, where was it when, after the stone had 
 been rolled back (by whatever agency you please), 
 that Sepulchre was seen to be empty ? 
 
 No, the more we consider the matter in all its 
 bearings, the more we recognise the fact that there 
 is no tenable third supposition. Either the Apostles 
 were false witnesses and had in some extraordinary 
 manner stolen the Body of Christ and concealed all 
 traces of their crime — either they wilfully deceived 
 the people — or their witness is true and Christ really 
 rose, in His Body, from the Tomb. 
 
 Before we leave the subject of the Resurrection, 
 we should like to observe that if the Apostles had 
 suffered from hallucination with regard to supposed 
 visions of the Body of Christ, they most certainly 
 would not have all ceased to be hallucinated in this 
 particular manner at precisely the same time — at the 
 end, that is, of the Forty Days, when, exactly at the 
 same moment, they all believed that, whilst they 
 looked on, they beheld Jesus going up to Heaven.* 
 Experience shows that when once a diseased imagina- 
 tion begins to run riot in hallucinations, it is lavish 
 with these supposed experiences, nor are they easily 
 
 ^ Acts i. 9. 
 
142 Is the Christian Rehgion True ? 
 
 held in abeyance, much less altogether suspended. 
 The case of those persons whose minds suffer from 
 such delusions is known to be pathologically in- 
 curable. Anyone who suffers in this manner will so 
 suffer to the end of his days. Yet from the particular 
 moment of the Ascension not one of the Disciples of 
 Christ imagined that he saw Christ upon the earth — 
 from this particular moment not one of the holy 
 women fancied that there was granted to her a vision 
 of her Lord. The supposed hallucinations stopped 
 abruptly. After a given date no man ever even 
 imagined that he had seen, conversed with, eaten 
 with our Lord, who was risen from the dead, but was 
 still a denizen upon this earth. Surely, this fact by 
 itself ought to suffice to dispose of the hallucination 
 theory.-^ 
 
 Mr. Knox writes as follows : 
 
 " Of course the Resurrection involves a corollary, 
 
 and I think it is largely the corollary the modern 
 
 critics boggle at. It involves the Ascension. 
 
 The Ascen- tQ^rist did truly rise again from death, and 
 
 took again His Body with flesh, bones, and 
 
 all things appertaining to the perfection of man's 
 
 nature; wherewith He ascended into Heaven.' Mr. 
 
 Streeter says he knows of no living theologian who 
 
 i If anyone persists in making Ahnighty God responsible for 
 the hallucination, this consideration will not affect his position, 
 since I imagine that he would hold that God caused the 
 hallucinations to cease after the Ascension — that is, after they 
 had achieved their purpose of leading the Apostles to grasp 
 the fact of the persistence of the hfe of the soul after death. 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 143 
 
 would maintain a physical Ascension in this crude 
 form. [When one reads this, one can only wonder 
 what Mr. Streeter means by " a theologian," and who 
 are the "theologians" whom he has chanced to 
 meet.] I have no claim to be a theologian, I can 
 only say that as a person of ordinary education 
 I believe, as I hope for salvation, in this literal 
 doctrine."^ 
 
 Mr. Knox is known to be not only " a person of 
 ordinary education," but a brilliant scholar. How- 
 ever, mere scholarship, when we are dealing with 
 such matters as those which, now occupy us, is 
 neither here nor there. What is of importance is 
 that, as Mr. Knox may remember to his comfort, 
 within the world-wide commiunion that finds its 
 centre of Unity in the See of Rome, there is no one 
 living, be he theologian, or scholar, or person of 
 ordinary education, or simple peasant, who will not 
 echo his words to-day, or hesitate for one moment 
 to make them his own. As we '' hope for salvation," 
 we Catholics all believe not only in the literal 
 Resurrection, but also in the literal Ascension of 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, exactly as we read the account 
 in the Holy Scriptures. This fact, for it is a fact, 
 should surely be faced by modern thinkers ; it might 
 perhaps miake them more modest and even perhaps 
 more hesitating in their multiplied denials. The 
 testimony of the Faith of the Catholic Church cannot 
 
 * Some Loose Stones, pp. 84, 85. 
 
144 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 be altogether ignored with safety. It is surely a 
 factor that should have some weight in the final 
 summing-up. 
 
 Mr. Knox no doubt is correct in thinking that the 
 Ascension, as the corollar>' of the Resurrection— by 
 which indeed it is involved — is an additional diffi- 
 culty to " modern critics." Yet the reason for this 
 can only be that once again on purely a priori 
 grounds they hold it to be "impossible." The fact 
 that modern science has undoubtedly modified our 
 views concerning the local motion involved in the 
 Ascension does not affect the central Truth that 
 the Body of Christ did actually leave the earth the 
 fortieth day after His Resurrection. 
 
 When we have come to understand that God is 
 the author of ''the laws of Nature," and can act 
 independently of these laws, the Scriptural state- 
 ments concerning the Ascension are actually a cor- 
 roboration of those concerning the Resurrection. 
 Indeed St. John, far from thinking that the Ascension 
 was in his time a difficulty, tells us that our Lord 
 appealed to what He knew would be one day the 
 certain fact, which the Apostles would have wit- 
 nessed, of His Ascension, in support of His mys- 
 terious teaching concerning the Real Presence. 
 
 " He said to them : Does this scandalize you ? 
 If then you shall see the Son of Man ascend where 
 He was before?"^ 
 
 ^ John vi. 62, 63. 
 
Evidence from the Resurrection 145 
 
 The statements of Scripture as to this wondrous 
 fact are so clear as to leave no room for hallucina- 
 tion, yet so simple and so obviously sincere as to 
 leave no room for the only other hypothesis open to 
 the unbehever — that of invention. 
 
 Take the summary at the end of St. Luke's 
 Gospel. He tells us that (i) Christ suddenly ''stood 
 in the midst " of the Disciples, as they were dis- 
 coursing about His appearance to Simon Peter, and 
 telling how He had been ** known in the Breaking of 
 Bread," ^ (2) and assured them that He was not "a 
 spirit, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you 
 see Me to have,"^ (3) that He ''ate before them,"^ 
 (4) that He " opened their understanding" that they 
 might understand the Scriptures — the prophecies — 
 concerning His Passion and Resurrection,^ (5) that 
 He told them that they were to be " the witnesses 
 of these things,"^ (6) that He declared that He 
 would "send the promise of His Father upon them,"^ 
 that He then " led them out as far as Bethania and 
 lifting up His Hands He blessed them ; and it came 
 to pass that whilst He blessed them, He departed 
 from them and was carried up to Heaven. And 
 they departing went back to Jerusalem with great 
 joy.'" 
 
 It all must stand or fall together. Hallucinated 
 
 1 Luke xxiv. 34, 35, 36. 2 /^^ ^^^ ^q. 3 7^,^ ^2. 
 
 * lb., 44, 46. 6 7^,^ ^8_ 6 11,^ ^^^ 
 
 ' lb., 50-52. 
 
 10 
 
146 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 the Disciples certainly were not — wilful deceivers no 
 one now ventures to call them. It follows that they 
 spoke the truth, as those who first heard their 
 testimony so largely recognised. 
 
 Christ has risen from the dead, in His Human 
 Body, and ascended into Heaven, even as the Church 
 has always believed, even as the Apostles taught in 
 the beginning, accordingly as they had seen with 
 their eyes, and heard with their ears and felt with 
 their hands. "These things," said Paul to Festus, 
 " were not done in a corner." 
 
 Christ has risen and ascended in the same Body 
 as that in which He suffered on the Cross — the 
 same Body as that v/hich was buried in the Tomb. 
 He rose from the dead to be the first-fruits of them 
 that sleep in Him. He ascended on high to plead 
 for us sinners with God His Father. He was 
 crucified, He died. He was buried, He rose again, 
 He ascended into Heaven. These are facts all borne 
 witness to by overv/helming human evidence as well 
 as by our Faith. 
 
 And this is the Christian Creed. If the Resur- 
 rection of Christ be a fact, no one can honestly 
 doubt that the Christian Creed is true. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 THE EVIDENCE FROM MODERN MIRACLES 
 
 '' Why are there no miracles now, when they might 
 be properl}^ tested ? If they were really employed 
 ^ by God as helps to the spread of His 
 
 Colonel -r, 1- • 
 
 Ttirton and Religion, why should they not have 
 
 Modern accompanied it all along, as it is said 
 
 they did the Jewish religion ?"^ It seems 
 
 to me that Colonel Turton displays much less 
 
 than his usual acumen in answering this question 
 
 which he proposes as an obvious objection to the 
 
 reality of the Miraculous. He dismisses the question 
 
 of non-evidential miracles, " such as those which are 
 
 said to have occurred at various periods of Church 
 
 History, and which were, as a rule, for the benefit 
 
 of persons already Christians," with the remark that 
 
 " they need not be considered here," although he 
 
 proceeds to admit that *' if true, they would of course 
 
 tend to prove the New Testament ones." 
 
 Strangely enough the subject does not seem to be 
 
 of much interest to Colonel Turton, and his phrase 
 
 ''which are said to have occurred" shows that he 
 
 * The Truth of Chrtsiiauity, ch. xvii., p. 442. 
 
 147 
 
148 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 has never examined the matter carefully. Evidential 
 miracles he believes to have ceased with the days of 
 the Apostles and argues that " as there is to be no 
 fresh Revelation — the Christian Revelation, in this 
 unlike the Jewish, was made once for all by Christ 
 and His Apostles^ — there can be no fresh miracles to 
 attest it." But one is irresistibly forced to ask why 
 not ? Surely the Christian religion preached to-day 
 for the first time by the banks, say, of the Zambesi, is 
 as new there as it was new when first preached in 
 Jerusalem by Peter or Paul. 
 
 No doubt an instructed Christian does not need 
 fresh miracles in evidence of the Faith. As we have 
 already pointed out, the practice of their religion 
 is its own evidence for all who use it, and if a 
 Christian be a man of education, and desire external 
 testimony for his faith, he can consider the evidence 
 adduced from the miracles recorded in Holy Scrip- 
 ture. But even the instructed Christian can be 
 strengthened in his faith, whilst the untutored 
 savage has no Christian experience behind him, and 
 is certainly unable in any way to test the Gospel 
 narrative. It would seem, then, that miracles — 
 evidential miracles — if God see fit to grant them, 
 are a highly appropriate means on the Zambesi now, 
 just as they were of old in Jerusalem, in order that 
 
 * Of course Catholics would express this differently. We 
 should saytliat " the Christian Revelation was given once for all 
 by God to His Apostles." It was not " made by the Apostles." 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles 149 
 
 the stranger may be more easily brought to believe 
 in Christ. 
 
 Now a Catholic will answer the objection brought 
 forward by Colonel Turton — why are there no miracles 
 flow f — in exactly the opposite manner from that 
 employed by Colonel Turton himself. A Catholic 
 will frankly deny the assumption underlying Colonel 
 Turton's argument — the assumption that miracles 
 have ceased. 
 
 " We affirm," writes Cardinal Newman, " that the 
 Supreme Being has worked miracles on earth ever 
 since the time of the Apostles ; Protestants deny it. 
 Why do we affirm, why do they deny ? We affirm it 
 as a first principle, they deny it as a first principle ; 
 on either side the first principle is made to be deci- 
 sive of the question. . . . Both they and we start 
 with the miracles of the Apostles, and then their 
 first principle or presumption against our miracles is 
 this: 'What God did once He is not likely to do 
 again.' While our first principle or presumption 
 for our miracles is this : What God did once He 
 is likely to do again. They say : * It cannot be 
 supposed He will work many miracles ;' we : 'It 
 cannot be supposed that He will work few.' "i 
 
 Catholics believe that miracles have not ceased 
 and never will cease — that they are worked every 
 
 Miracles ^^^^ ^^^ ^'^^^' much oftener, that often 
 have not they may be, and have been (as at 
 ceased. Lourdes) " properly tested," and that 
 
 most certainly if they (as we are told in the Bible) 
 * Present Position of Caiholics, ch. vii., p. 301, 
 
150 Is the Christian Relii^ion True? 
 
 •'accompanied the Jewish rehgion all along," it is 
 antecedently highly probable that they would have 
 similarly all along accompanied the Christian 
 religion, since the dispensation of the New Testa- 
 ment is far more "glorious" than that of the 
 Old.-"- This antecedent probability becomes a cer- 
 tainty when we examine the prophecies of our 
 Lord as to the future of His Church — so that *' the 
 important objection," as Colonel Turton (not un- 
 naturally from his point of view) terms it, ceases 
 to be an objection at all, and is, when the facts 
 are known, converted into a new and most powerful 
 argument for the Faith. 
 
 We will first glance at the words of Christ : 
 **And these signs shall follow them that believe : 
 In My Name they shall cast out devils ; they shall 
 The speak with nev/ tongues. They shall take 
 
 Promise of up serpen's, and if they drink any deadly 
 Christ, 4|^-^g -^ g^^ll ^Q^ YiuTt them ; they shall 
 
 lay their hands upon the sick and they shall 
 
 recover." ^ 
 
 There is certainly no suggestion or hint here which 
 would lead us to suppose that these miraculous 
 powers were to cease with the lives of the Apostles. 
 '* These signs " (that is to say these miracles) are '' to 
 follow them that believe " — presumably in every age. 
 They are to be one of the endowments of that Church 
 which in every succeeding age is still Apostolic, still 
 i 2 Cor, iii. 7, 8. ^ Mark xvi. 17, 18. 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles 151 
 
 the Temple of the Holy Ghost, still, the abiding- 
 place on earth of Christ Himself — to be exhibited 
 not indeed by each one of the Faithful, but according 
 to the gift and disposition of God, on behalf of the 
 whole Body, by certain chosen souls : 
 
 ''And the manifestation of the spirit is given unto 
 every man unto profit. To one indeed by the Spirit 
 Words of is given the word of wisdom ... to 
 St. PauU another the grace of healing in one Spirit, 
 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, 
 to another the discerning of spirits ; to another 
 divers gifts of tongues . . . but all these things one 
 and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to everyone 
 according as He will." ^ 
 
 And our Lord even declared that '' greater 
 And of our works" (miracles) should be worked in His 
 Lord* Church in His Name than He had Him- 
 
 self deigned to work when He was on this 
 earth.2 
 
 This was the forecast, and if we care to look we 
 may find the fulfilment. To quote the words of Car- 
 Their dinal Newman : " The Catholic Church 
 
 fulfilment, from East to West, from North to South, 
 is hung with miracles"^ — and indeed, were this not 
 so, the Catholic Church could hardly claim to be iden- 
 tical with the Church of the New Testam.ent, which 
 was miraculous from beginning to end. 
 
 ^ I Cor. xii. 4-1 1. 2 John xiv. 12. 
 
 3 Present Position of CalhoUcs, ch. vii., p. 299. 
 
152 Is the Christian Rehgion True? 
 
 Strictly ^^^ ^^Y' ^^ doubt, freely grant that 
 
 evidential evidential miracles were worked with very 
 
 Miracles niuch greater frequency in the first few 
 abounded o ~i ^ 
 
 especially in years after the Day of Pentecost than in 
 the first subsequent times, for in those first years, 
 
 years of the . . 1 ri -ij- ^u 
 
 Christian when the gigantic task of building up the 
 
 Church, House of God on the foundation stones 
 
 of a handful of poor men was only commencing, such 
 
 miracles were most necessary. 
 
 We may further grant that miracles which are 
 
 strictly evidential — that is to say, whose primary 
 
 purpose is to bear witness to the truth of 
 A.nd have ... i-, 1 1 1 j 
 
 ceased in Christianity— are not likely to be worked 
 
 Christian g^^ a.ny period in countries which are 
 lands, already Christian, for such countries have 
 
 already evidences in abundance, and it is "an evil 
 and adulterous generation that seeketh a sign,"^ 
 when conscience and reason witness together to the 
 duty of belief. 
 
 All miracles, however, are not strictly evidential 
 to the Faith. The primary purpose of many miracles 
 A ji is to witness in an extraordinary manner 
 
 Miracles not to the goodness and mercy of God, and 
 
 evidential ^^ confer extraordinary benefits upon 
 in their •" 1 • 1 
 
 primary God's creatures. Yet, even such miracles 
 
 purpose, ^s these become secondarily evidential, 
 
 for when worked by the Saints on earth they bear 
 
 witness to the truth of the religion which those 
 
 1 Matt. xii. 39 ; xvi. 4. 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles 153 
 
 Saints professed ; when worked in answer to prayer 
 addressed to those Saints in Heaven, or to the 
 Blessed IMother of our Lord, they are an evidence 
 that such prayers are heard, and are pleasing to 
 the Creator — in other words that the Catholic 
 Doctrine concerning the Invocation of the Saints 
 is true. 
 
 Urging this point of view, Fr. Joyce writes with 
 reason : 
 
 *' Whatever view be taken on miracles in Church 
 History, there can be little doubt that they have 
 been a potent force, both in converting the heathen, 
 and in confirming the faith of believers. This is 
 sufficiently exemplified by the case of Lourdes. 
 During the last half-century each year has seen the 
 spot visited by many thousands of pilgrims. These 
 have themselves witnessed or at least have heard 
 from others of the marvellous occurrences at the 
 grotto. They have gone home with their faith in 
 God and in His Presence in the Church rendered 
 proof against all the fallacies of unbelief, and their 
 influence in turn has been felt by many others who 
 have never visited the place in person. Throughout 
 this period these pilgrimages have been to the 
 Catholic Church a veritable bulwark against that 
 tendency to rationalism and to the rejection of the 
 supernatural which has done so much to sap the 
 foundations of religion in every non-Catholic body."i 
 
 There has been no period in the Church's history 
 when Catholics have not known that miracles were 
 ^ The Question of Miracles, pp. 105, 106. 
 
154 I^ t'"^^ Christian Religion True? 
 
 being worked by God round about them — miracles 
 to which they have always pointed as showing that 
 Miracles in ^^^ ^^'^^ ^^ their midst. It was so in 
 the patristic the days immediately after the Apostles; 
 ^^^* it was so in patristic times ; it was so in 
 
 the Ages of Faith ; it is so at the present time. A 
 contem.porary letter from the Church of Smyrna tells 
 us of the miracles which m.arked the martyrdom of 
 Polycarp, the disciple of St. John. This letter gives 
 us the testimxony of eyewitnesses and speaks of the 
 astonishmaent of the pagan onlookers. The Fathers 
 one after the other from Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and 
 Tertullian in the second century to Bernard in the 
 tv/elfth, through a long succession of illustrious 
 names, give their testimony to the frequency of 
 miracles, many of which they had themselves 
 observed. Nor can this be set aside as the evidence 
 of fanatics and credulous fools. Such were not 
 Origen and Cyprian, Jerome and Augustine, Ambrose 
 and the Venerable Bede. When we pass from the 
 
 , . ,u time of the Fathers to that of the School- 
 arsd in the 
 
 Ages of men, we know that the ignorant have 
 Faitht characterised the period in which those 
 
 great Schoolmen flourished — one of the most en- 
 lightened intellectually the world has known — as 
 " Dark Ages," principall}' because in^hose days men 
 believed so confidently in the constant exhibition of 
 the miraculous Power of God, to which their senses 
 bore them witness. For example, the evidence for 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles 155 
 
 the Stigmata of St. F^rancis of Assisi is generally 
 
 recognised by all those who have investigated it 
 
 J , to be overwhelming:. And Catholics knov/ 
 
 and in ° 
 
 modern that God's Hand is not shortened in 
 times* these latter days. At the very close of 
 
 the eighteenth century — the time of Voltairism and 
 " the Age of Reason " — Gerard Maiella, an unlettered 
 lay-brother, worked miracles as numerous and as 
 astounding as any ascribed to Antony of Padua in 
 the thirteenth.^ And St. Antony and St. Gerard 
 and other Saints in Heaven work miracles to-day on 
 behalf of those who seek their intercession as mar- 
 vellous as any they ever worked whilst still on earth. 
 God never ceased to work miracles at St. Winifred's 
 Well even when the Faithful in England and Wales 
 were but a handful. In this century hardly a year has 
 passed without wonders being worked at the shrine 
 of Holywell, which it is impossible to explain in 
 uniformity with ''the Laws of Nature." Above all 
 is it the case that at no period of the Church's 
 history have wonders more wonderful been worked 
 by the Blessed Mother of God than those which in 
 her goodness she works to-day before the eyes of 
 living men. The miracles granted to our generation 
 at Pompeii and Lourdes and many another hallowed 
 spot, are at least as numerous and marvellous — and 
 
 1 No one who reads the most interesting Acta Bdaiificaiionis 
 of St. Gerard will call this statement in question. The evidence 
 for his miracles is simply overwhelming. 
 
156 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 of course far more verifiable — than those worked 
 by our Lady for our fathers at Glastonbury and 
 Walsingham of old. 
 
 When we read the lives of the Saints, we find 
 that our Lord has indeed been true to His 
 Various Promises. There is no " work," which 
 kinds of Hq worked on earth, that has not been 
 
 miracles 
 
 worked by worked by one or other — often by many — 
 the Saints, of His servants, and (as He predicted) 
 His servants have even worked miracles, which 
 their divine Master is not recorded to have worked 
 Himself. 
 
 The Saints, in all the ages, have cast out evil 
 spirits from the bodies of their victims. To this 
 fact the early Apologists in the first centuries bear 
 witness, and though in Christian lands Satan has 
 been " cast out and bound " and therefore Possession 
 is comparatively rare, the exorcisms of the Church 
 still have their effect in the exceptional cases where 
 they need to be employed. Peter and Paul and 
 Dominic and Philip Neri and other Saints, in their 
 Lord's Name and by His Power, have raised the 
 dead to life, as did His Prophets before He came. 
 St. Dominic, St. John Joseph of the Cross, St. 
 Clement Hofbauer, St. Gerard Maiella are amongst 
 the many Saints who have miraculously multiplied 
 food ; the seraphic St. Francis received on his body 
 the impression of his Saviour's Wounds ; the Apostle 
 of the Gentiles drank poison and it harmed him 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles 157 
 
 not. Since the Ascension of our Lord to the present 
 time His Saints have continually cured the sick. 
 They have read the secret thoughts of men, and 
 appeared in different places at the same time, and 
 prophesied the future. Since the fourth century — 
 so they will tell you at Naples — since the fourteenth 
 century beyond doubt (for since that time the official 
 records have been preserved), the blood of St. 
 Januarius liquefies on his Feast. It liquified last 
 year and no doubt will do so this. 
 
 Nothing can be easier than to dismiss these 
 things, and such as these, with a wave of the hand — 
 with an ignorant sneer or scoff. But nothing is 
 harder, nothing less possible, than to disprove the 
 mass of evidence upon which they rest. Now do 
 not let me be misunderstood. Since Catholics are 
 not entirely bereft of common sense, of course 
 they are fully aware that there are numberless 
 f^^ay cases of mistake, where events are attrib- 
 
 supposed uted to miracle which are really due to 
 mirac es natural causes. Very probably there may 
 natural have been cases of actual fraud, though 
 causes* ]-^g^(j there been such available in the 
 i6th century, the enemies of the Miraculous in 
 England would have produced them, instead of, as 
 
 Fraud and ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ Rood of Boxley, pre- 
 the Rood of tending that people were deceived, who 
 Boxley. g^g g^ matter of fact were just as well 
 aware that they were witnessing the result of 
 
158 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 mechanism, as are we when we observe anything of 
 the same sort at the present day.^ 
 All Miracles Moreover, all miracles do not rest on 
 are not the same evidence. For some the evi- 
 
 suppof e Jence is overwhelming, for others less in 
 
 by the same ^ o' 
 
 strength of various descending degrees of proba- 
 Tcstimony^ bility. 
 
 It ought to be far more widely known than it is 
 that, although no Catholic may lawfully doubt the 
 possibility at any period of the Church's history of 
 the Miraculous in general, no Catholic may lawfully 
 claim divine Faith for the miraculous nature of any 
 particular fact, outside of those which are narrated 
 in the Holy Scriptures. For this reason Pope 
 Urban VIII. has expressly commanded that any 
 Catholic writer, who may allege supposed miracles 
 in the lives of holy persons, should preface his book 
 with the declaration that he only gives to these 
 events human faith. That is to say every miracle 
 depends for its acceptance upon the human evidence 
 that may be brought forward in its support. It 
 stands or falls by its own proofs. It may be tested 
 by the same tests that are applied to any other 
 event in the secular history of men One position 
 alone is ruled out — the a priori assumption that 
 every miracle is impossible, notwithstanding any 
 evidence (however overwhelmingly strong), that may 
 be offered as to its miraculous character. Such an 
 1 Cy. Fr. Bridgett, BitincUrs and Forgeries, pp. 159-208, 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles 159 
 
 assumption (which of course peremptorily closes all 
 discussion on the subject) I have already shown to 
 be in itself devoid of all evidence and to be purely 
 arbitrary. 
 
 Now, the available evidence for many of the 
 miracles, which Catholics believe to have con- 
 Evidence ^°' tinuously occurred in the history of the 
 modern Church, can be tested and, as a matter of 
 
 often ^ ^^^*' ^^ often most rigorously tested. This 
 
 rigorously is always the case, when there is ques- 
 tested. ^JQj^ q£ Beatification or Canonisation of 
 
 Saints. It is perfectly true that often we may 
 be unable at the present day to examine the evidence 
 for specific miracles that are alleged to have been 
 worked by Saints of '* Primitive Times " or of the 
 Middle Ages. But such miracles could be tested by 
 those who witnessed them as they occurred. 
 
 Of course when all men really believed in the super- 
 natural, their minds would be open to conviction as 
 to its recurring phenomena ; but it is a mere sup- 
 position that men of the 4th or the 13th or any other 
 century were more superstitious than are those of 
 the 20th. Human nature was the same then as it is 
 now. Indeed, there is no proof that the Faithful in 
 the Middle Ages yielded to the gross superstitions 
 which fill so large a place in the lives of many 
 fashionable people in London and Paris to-day. The 
 soothsayers of Bond Street would have had few 
 clients in the Ages of Faith, and those clients 
 
i6o Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 would have been debarred from the use of the 
 Sacraments. 
 
 Besides, we need not for the moment concern 
 ourselves with the evidence for the miracles of 
 the 13th or the 4th century. It will abundantly 
 suffice for our purpose to examine some of those of 
 the 19th and 20th. Just as the miracles of the 
 Middle Ages disposed men to believe in those of 
 which they read in the Gospels and the Acts, so do 
 miracles of our own time incline us the more readily 
 to accept those of the past. " God is not as man that 
 He should change, nor as the Son of man that He 
 should be changed." In His workings '' He is the 
 same yesterday to-day and for ever." That which 
 He does to-day, we are not surprised to hear that 
 He did yesterday, and we are quite confident that 
 He will do to-morrow. 
 
 Any man to-day, who cares to take a little trouble, 
 may find overwhelming evidence, which he can easily 
 test, for the presence of the Miraculous in his midst 
 — in the Catholic Church — for the working, that is 
 to say, of miracles quite as wonderful, and as clearly 
 surpassing the powers of nature — miracles therefore 
 to the non-Christian quite as surprising as any of 
 which he may read in the Bible or in the lives of 
 mediaeval Saints. 
 
 I think it hardly probable that a Catholic priest 
 will be engaged for ten years of active ministry in 
 England without coming across such "/onderfiil 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles i6i 
 
 works of God within his own experience. I myself 
 have known several such. In any case it is open to 
 any man, be he priest, or layman, Cathohc, Protes- 
 tant, or unbeliever, who is able to read Latin, to 
 peruse the Acta Beatificationis or C anonisationis pub- 
 lished in Rome of any Saint who is raised to our 
 Altars, and there he will see for himself that the 
 evidence required for the miracles which are ac- 
 cepted in the case, is such as would be accepted 
 without a moment's hesitation in any court of 
 justice in the world. 
 
 And, above all, for those who know no Latin and 
 have no leisure for long examination, there is easily 
 accessible the overwhelming evidence of 
 Lourdes. Many books have been written 
 in well-nigh every modern tongue, providing por- 
 tions of that evidence. No book has been written 
 in any tongue attempting to disprove that evidence. 
 
 Zola— it is perfectly true — declared that 
 Zola. "^ 
 
 he would undertake the task, and every 
 facility was given him at the Grotto (at the Bureiui 
 des Constatations and elsewhere) that he might 
 examine all the evidence available. Nothing was 
 kept back from him. All his questions were answered. 
 In the result he published a book, falsifying the 
 evidence, and, when he was reproached, contented 
 himself with the remark that, since what he had 
 written was a romance, accuracy of statement was 
 not to be expected at his hand — fur in a work of 
 
 II 
 
1 62 Is the Christian ReHgion True ? 
 
 fiction no one looks for facts. The one attempt 
 that has been made to discredit the miracles of 
 Lourdes is admittedly fiction : that the miracles 
 are not fiction but facts no one who has examined 
 the evidence has dared, at least publicty, to 
 question. Lourdes, therefore, in its miraculous 
 character, as giving constant supernatural evi- 
 dence to the goodness of God and to the pow^erful 
 intercession of His Immaculate Mother, remains 
 unassailed and unassailable. 
 
 It is the story of the Empty Tomb over again. If 
 the Jews could have produced the Body of our 
 Lord how glad they would have been. It would 
 have settled the whole matter once for all. Similarly 
 to-day there is nothing that would rejoice the French 
 anti-Christian more than to be able to prove that 
 Lourdes is due either to fraud or hallucination. But 
 in the presence of the facts he can but remain dumb. 
 Before the phenomena of Lourdes, only two atti- 
 tudes are possible. It must be either — Glory to God 
 in His wonderful works — or silence. For no one novv'- 
 adays is likely to attribute the Lourdes miracles, as 
 those worked by our Lord in Palestine were 
 attributed by His enemies, to an Evil Spirit. Nor 
 can m.any of these miracles, involving the instan- 
 taneous cure of such organic diseases as tuberculosis, 
 cancer, lupus, blindness, and deafness, be due to any 
 natural law. No natural law can possibly pro- 
 duce instantaneously the regeneration of tissues 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles 163 
 
 affected with lesion. For such a result, if due to 
 a natural cause, would show the destruction of 
 nature as we know it, and its reconstruction on 
 another and a different plan. Once grant the reality 
 of many of the cures of Lourdes, concerning the 
 reality of which there is no room for doubt — after 
 having observed their connection with prayer to 
 Christ and His Immaculate Mother— and they 
 become a striking evidence to Christianity — above 
 all to the great truth of the Incarnation of God, 
 born, in time, of Mary the Virgin, herself conceived, 
 through the merits of her Son, without original sin. 
 
 If anyone wishes to satisfy himself that these 
 words are by no means words of exaggeration, he 
 has only to turn to the literature of Lourdes. If 
 he possess any medical knowledge, we can refer 
 him to the work of Dr. Boissarie {Les Grandes 
 Gnerisons de Lourdes, Paris, 1901), or to Lourdes 
 Histoire Medicale, 1858-1891 (Paris, 1891), or to 
 Dr. Georges Bertrin's article on Lourdes in the 
 Catholic Encyclopaedia, or to the same writer's 
 Histoire Critique des evenements de Lourdes, Appari- 
 tions et Gnerisons (translated into English by Mrs. 
 Philip Gibbs, London, 1909) ; whilst for a non- 
 scientific reader it will be sufficient to consult Mgr. 
 Benson's Lourdes (in The Catholic Library). Let 
 a candid enquirer read any of these books, and he 
 will certainly be content. Or if he desire the evi- 
 dence clearly given for one miracle he ma}- turn to 
 
164 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 Fr. Joyce's account of the cure of Pierre de Rudder ;^ 
 In this case, at the moment of prayer before an image 
 of our Lady of Lourdes, bones which had been 
 broken for seven years (de Rudder was a farm 
 labourer and his left leg had been crushed in an 
 accident) were suddenly united, the lost piece of hone 
 was restored and a suppurating wound was gone. 
 After Pierre's death casts of the bones, showing where 
 the new bone liad been formed, were made and exhibited ; 
 and amongst other medical men, sixty-five doctors 
 (it is right to say that they were all Catholics) who 
 met at Paris to discuss the subject, were unanimously 
 of opinion that it was an evident miracle. 
 
 But I am inclined to think that, however over- 
 whelming the evidence as to the miracles of Lourdes 
 The Fact of undoubtedly is, the very fact of Lourdes 
 Lourdes, even more unhesitatingly carries convic- 
 tion to my mind. Scientific men may dispute con- 
 cerning the exact nature of the miracles. The fact 
 itself is incontestable. 
 
 Let me shortly explain my meaning. We can all 
 of us give some account of the gradual manner in 
 which Rome, London, Paris, Oxford — any of the 
 famous cities of the world-^have arrived at their 
 present state of development. \\e are acquainted 
 with their history. Now what is the history of 
 Lourdes ? 
 
 Here are the salient facts brielly summarised. At 
 ^ The Question of Miracles, pp. 112 116. 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles 165 
 
 the present moment Lourdes is a most flourishing 
 little French town in the Pyrenees, possessing two 
 great churches, hung with the flags of all nations 
 (coming not only from Europe, but from America 
 and from the Antipodes), and noted for its well, 
 which is visited from the ends of the earth. There 
 are men living at Lourdes now who will tell you that 
 they remember a time when there was no Lourdes. 
 How did it all grow up ? 
 
 Only one answer to this question is possible. In 
 the year 1854 an unlettered child named Bernadette 
 Soubirous declared that a Lady had appeared to 
 her in the rocks, had made herself known as the 
 Virgin conceived without sin, had, after several 
 apparitions, at last ordered her to stoop and scratch 
 the ground, and had prophesied that where she 
 scratched a well should spring up, which would 
 be miraculous, that people should come from the 
 ends of the world to honour her, and should be 
 cured of all diseases. These v/ords were repeated 
 by Bernadette in the presence of thousands ; in 
 all simplicity she did as she was commanded ; the 
 waters gushed forth ; all has been accomplished as 
 the Lady predicted. 
 
 About these facts there is no doubt. They are 
 admitted. What conclusion but one is it possible to 
 draw ? 
 
 Lourdes is a city truly created in the igth century 
 by the Immaculate Mother of Jesus Christ. It is 
 
1 66 Is the Christian Religion I'riie ? 
 
 the Blessed Virgin's work and remains a Standing 
 Monument to the Truth of Christianity, the existence 
 of which none who have dispassionately examined 
 the evidence have been able to gainsay, even though 
 they would. 
 
 Perhaps I may be permitted to close this chapter 
 with a personal experience. Some years ago I was 
 A Lourdes asked to meet an eminent medical man, 
 Miracle, ^yho had told his Catholic wife that he 
 had been obliged by his " reason " to give up the 
 belief in Christianity in which he had been nurtured, 
 that he greatly regretted this as a misfortune, that he 
 recognised that Catholicism was the only consistent 
 form of Christianity, and that if a priest or anybody 
 else could give him adequate grounds for faith, he 
 would most gladly submit his mind to God's Revela- 
 tion. Well, we had our interview. I commenced with 
 submitting to him the evidence of Christ's Resur- 
 rection. He admitted that if this was true, every- 
 thing else followed of necessity. He was quite 
 unable to put forward any hypothesis which would 
 account for the facts, excepting on the supposition 
 that the Apostles were neither deceivers nor dupes, 
 but simply spoke the truth and testified to what 
 they had seen.. 
 
 " But," he said at last, '* this most wonderful 
 event, unique as you state in the history of the 
 world, is supposed to have happened two thousand 
 years ago. Though I grant that I cannot account 
 
Evidence trom Modern Miracles 167 
 
 for the facts, you must in your turn grant that we 
 cannot now cross-examine the witnesses, and that 
 Christianity is a tremendous superstructure to build 
 upon evidence so far back in the world's history." 
 
 I replied that I should, I confessed, have some 
 sympathy with this feeling, if the Resurrection stood 
 alone, but pointed out that, far from standing alone, 
 it had led up to a long succession of miracles worked 
 by the power of the Risen and Ascended Lord. 
 
 "Modern miracles!" he answered, "who believes 
 in them ?" 
 
 Instead of replying, as I might have done, " All 
 
 who have examined them dispassionately " — I said, 
 
 " Well, I will give you one case," and I told him of 
 
 a young woman who, until the age of fifteen, had 
 
 been unable to read any but the largest print, or to 
 
 do any sewing but the plainest. The doctors said 
 
 that she suffered from double astigmatism of one eye, 
 
 and from shortsightedness of the other ; she was also 
 
 born colour blind and with a very bad squint, which 
 
 was cured by an operation at the age of twelve. 
 
 This operation was by itself sufficient to render 
 
 any natural amelioration of her sight impossible. 
 
 When she was fifteen years old she went to Lourdes 
 
 to pray for somebody else, and there, after a Procession 
 
 of the Blessed Sacrament, obtained the perfect use 
 
 of her own sight. Seventeen years have passed 
 
 since then, during all of which time she has been 
 
 able to do the finest sewing and read the finest print. 
 
1 68 Is the Christian Religion Truer 
 
 She now often occupies herself with embroidery 
 such as Venetian point lace, which is extraordinarily 
 trying for the best eyes, and in painting miniatures, 
 which requires a minute power of detecting varying 
 shades — so completely has her colour blindness been 
 cured — an affection which is in itself absolutely in- 
 curable by natural agency. Before her cure she was a 
 martyr to headaches, due to her defective eyesight ; 
 since her visit to Lourdes these have completely 
 disappeared. 
 
 My medical friend smiiled contemptuously : " Wrong 
 diagnosis," he exclaimed. *' No one with double 
 astigmatism can see to read, any more than you can 
 see through a brick wall." 
 
 ** She is in the house," I said, " at this moment. 
 She has waited in on purpose. You can examine, if 
 you will, now at once, both the state of her eyes and 
 the power of her eyesight. Here is a test case." 
 
 My doctor looked startled. He took up his hat 
 and gloves, with the remark, " Good afternoon. 
 Many thanks for your trouble. As for your case, I 
 should be only wasting her time and mine, if I were 
 to examine it. What you tell me is impossible.'' ^ 
 
 * The young lady to whom this happened has read this. 
 She lives in London. Should any of my readers wish me to do 
 so I will gladly put them into communication with her, and 
 she will as gladly give them any detailed information concern- 
 ing the facts of her case for which they may ask. I have heard 
 those facts myself, not only from her own hps, but also from 
 her father and mother, as well as from an aunt who was with 
 her at Lourdes at the time of the miracle. 
 
Evidence from Modern Miracles 169 
 
 I could only repeat to myself the Words of our 
 Lord : " If they will not believe Moses and the 
 Prophets, neither will they believe, should one rise 
 from the dead." 
 
 Some few months before his death, I heard Mgr. 
 Benson say at the close of a triumphant lecture on 
 Lourdes : 
 
 " They tell us that miracles do not happen, because 
 they cannot. We reply that we know that miracles 
 can happen, because they do." 
 
 Truer words than these were never uttered. 
 
 Miracles are an irrefragable proof of the truth of 
 the Christian religion, to which, explicitly or im- 
 plicitly, they bear unshaken witness. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE 
 
 It may be well at this point to say something as 
 to the argument for the truth of Christianity derived 
 The argu' ^^^"^ Experience. The fact that all over 
 
 ment from the world, as far back as we possess the 
 Experience j r ^ i i ,. 
 
 to the Exist' ^^^ords ot our race, we find men believ- 
 
 ence of God ing in a Supreme Being, together with 
 
 ^° the fact that the same belief is so 
 
 general to-day that the exception only serves to 
 
 confirm the rule, is quite fairly taken in itself to 
 
 create a presumption of the Existence of God. 
 
 All experience proves that a contest waged against 
 any universal and fundamental conviction of man- 
 kind is foredoomed to ultimate failure. " Naturam 
 expellas furca, tamen usque recurret." 
 
 Men drunk with passion may pitchfork God out of 
 the church of Notre Dame — human nature, human 
 needs, human sorrows before many years are past, 
 will beseech Him to return. Such is the result of 
 all experience. A state of society, which is atheist, 
 never has persisted, nor can such a state be conceived 
 as of lon^ duration. 
 
 170 
 
The Argument from Experience 171 
 
 Now, it may be fearlessly asserted that as men 
 need God, so, if the necessities of their souls are 
 to the Truth ^° ^^ ^^^^^ satisfied, do they need Christ, 
 of Christi' He did not fear to say : " You believe 
 anity. ^^ q^^^ believe also in Me." ^ And, as 
 
 experience proves — so all will tell you who have made 
 the venture — Christ always keeps His promises and 
 never fails those who trust Him and take Him at 
 His Word. 
 
 " My peace I give unto you ; My peace I leave 
 with you." " He that cometh to Me shall not 
 hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never 
 thirst." " Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no 
 wise cast out." ^ " Come unto Me, all ye who are 
 weary and heavy laden and find rest for your souls, 
 for My Yoke is easy and My Burden is light." ^ How 
 many millions since these sweet and prophetic words 
 first were uttered have gone to our Lord, to take 
 up His Yoke and to shoulder His Burden, and thus 
 find rest for their souls ! Of them all, not one has, 
 save through his own turning away, been dis- 
 appointed. This is a mighty fact. Moreover, it 
 is an isolated fact, for no Founder of any other 
 religion has made any such appeal. It is no doubt 
 a fact, of which the appeal is limited. Those who 
 have never seriously attempted to go to Christ as 
 their Lord and Master and Friend will not appre- 
 
 ^ John xiv. I. 2 John vi, 35, 37 ; Malt. xi. 29, 30. 
 
 3 Acts iv. 5, 13. 
 
172 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 ciate it by any personal experience, but the}^ too 
 
 may awake to its significance if they will observe 
 
 it in the history of Christianity. 
 
 We may begin at the very beginning. Jesus of 
 
 Nazareth gathered round Him a handful of disciples. 
 
 The Experi' When first they knew Him, they were 
 
 ence ot evidently (as with their antecedents was 
 
 the first . . , 
 
 Disciples of inevitable) men of narrow views, slow to 
 
 Christ. learn, without the advantage of a liberal 
 
 education — we read that " the princes and ancients 
 
 and scribes understood that they were illiterate and 
 
 ignorant men "^ — unpromising material with which 
 
 to move the world. But " they had been with Jesus 
 
 Christ,'"^ and little by little had fallen under His 
 
 Divine influence. One by one they were drawn 
 
 closer and closer to His Side. They began to learn 
 
 the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God. He fashioned 
 
 their lives and controlled their thoughts and directed 
 
 their aspirations. More and more they felt the need 
 
 of Him ; more and more they submitted their lives 
 
 to One who assured them that they had not chosen 
 
 Him, but that He had chosen them, lovingly, for 
 
 His mysterious and fruitful purposes. 
 
 Nor had long time passed, as men count time, 
 
 when He taught a sublime Truth, which scandalised 
 
 the crowd of Jews, who had been drawn by the fame 
 
 of His miracles idly to question Him. They said : 
 
 " It is a hard saying, and who can hear it ?" ^ and — 
 
 ^ Acts iv. 13. 2 John xv. 16. ^ John vi. 61. 
 
The Argument from Experience 173 
 
 we should remember that they had not, Hke the 
 
 Apostles, lived with Him — they turned aside and 
 
 "walked no more with Him." ^ But to His intimate 
 
 disciples, to those who had listened day by day to His 
 
 Words, and begun to know and to love Him — to them 
 
 He said: "Will you also go away?" Peter the leader 
 
 of the Ape -jtolic Band, answered at once : " Lord, 
 
 to whom shall we go ?" ^ To leave Him were 
 
 impossible. He and He only had the Words of 
 
 Eternal Life. To desert Him for another were 
 
 treason not to be imagined. Indeed there is no other 
 
 to whom any man can turn, with aught but despair 
 
 in his heart, who has once known Christ. Shall we 
 
 leave Him for gold, as Judas was to leave Him ? 
 
 Or shall we leave Him for the pleasures of sense 
 
 to wallow with the swine ? Or shall we harden our 
 
 hearts and leave Him because we will not make the 
 
 venture and strive, relying upon His grace, to take 
 
 up our cross and follow in His footsteps? To leave 
 
 Him is to fare forth into the outer darkness, the 
 
 darkness that can be felt, the darkness of despair. 
 
 The effect produced on Peter and the Apostles by 
 
 Jesus Christ, leading them gladly for His sake to 
 
 give up all things — even to die a cruel 
 And that of , , _ , r tt- i 
 
 those who death for love 01 Him — cannot have 
 
 have never been merely (as men talk nowadays) the 
 
 im. j-gsult of the fascination of a magnetic 
 
 human personalit}'. For, effects the same in kind 
 
 1 John vi. 67. ^ John vi. 68, 69. 
 
174 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 (sometimes, as in the case of the great Saints, the same 
 even in degree) as were produced upon those who 
 hved with Jesus Christ, are still produced by His 
 grace in the hearts and lives of those who have never 
 heard His Voice nor seen His Face. So St. Peter 
 was able to write to the first Christians of our 
 Blessed Lord : " That the trial of your faith may 
 be found unto praise and glor}^ and honour at the 
 appearance of Jesus Christ, whom not having seen you 
 love:' ^ 
 
 Nor can it be argued that the prize in this world 
 offered by Christ to His followers is attractive to 
 human nature, apart from the love of Him. What 
 other religious teacher has succeeded in inducing 
 men through long centuries to take up their cross 
 and deny themselves? What other religion save the 
 religion of the Crucified, is able without fear to say 
 to those who would embrace it : Remember whom 
 God loveth He chasteneth and He scourgeth every 
 son whom He receiveth ? 
 
 Such is the experience of Christians in every age. 
 We have not seen Him. Yet not only do we believe 
 in Him ; we also love Him, and we wish and strive 
 to love Him with all our hearts. His influence upon 
 the souls of men stands as a thing apart. 
 
 It is 2, fact, which cannot be questioned, that in the 
 history of the world no man, excepting one Man 
 alone, has excited that unique love in the hearts 
 
 1 I Pet. i. 7, 8. 
 
The Argument from Experience 175 
 
 of other men which in all the succeeding centuries 
 men have given, and which men now give, to Jesus 
 Christ. No one now living loves Napoleon or Florence 
 Nightingale. And this is true of false gods. No 
 one has, or ever had, any personal feeling towards 
 Isis or Minerva. But the world is full of people 
 surrendering things for which they care, and con- 
 quering themselves, out of personal love for Christ. 
 How can this be explained unless our Lord be that 
 which He claimed to be, God as well as Man ? 
 In the whole story of humanity there is nothing 
 to which we may liken men's love for Christ. And 
 it has been so from the beginning since Christ 
 walked upon the earth ; it is a phenomenon which 
 has not admitted of variation during the Christian 
 ages. Catholics know that, for them at least, it 
 is an evidence of the work of divine grace within the 
 souls of men. 
 
 Take the story of St. Paul. A Pharisee of the 
 Pharisees, strict beyond his peers in the observance 
 St* Paul's °^ ^^^ Law. " I made progress," he him- 
 love for self tells us, " in the Jews' religion above 
 Christ, many of my equals in my own nation, 
 
 being more abundantly zealous for the traditions 
 of my fathers." ^ Suddenly he came to know our 
 Lord. From that moment he gave himself with- 
 out reserve to serve and to love, and soon to preach, 
 Christ and Him crucified.^ To this he devoted his 
 ^ Gal. i, 14. 2 I (^Qj-^ i 23. 
 
176 Is the Christian ReUgion True ? 
 
 whole life and all his splendid energies, " conde- 
 scending not to flesh and blood," ^ suffering all 
 things, enduring all things, hoping all things, '' bear- 
 ing in his bodythe marks of the Lord Jesus," ^ able 
 to pour forth his whole heart in burning words which 
 find an echo in every other heart that has ever yielded 
 itself to our Lord Jesus Christ: "I am sure that 
 neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 
 nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
 nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
 creature shall be able to separate us from the Love 
 of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ^ 
 
 This, we repeat, is not the experience merely of an 
 individual (though when that individual is one who 
 was such as was Saul of Tarsus, and such as Paul, the 
 prisoner of Christ, became — even as an isolated ex- 
 perience — it would be sufficiently remarkable in itself) ; 
 it is, in due measure and degree, the experience of 
 every Christian. We find it, predominant, stamping 
 the whole life with its distinctive mark, so that no 
 man may mistake it, in the lives of great Saints such 
 as Augustine and Francis of Assisi and Ignatius 
 Loyola and Margaret of Cortona, some of whom, as 
 we learn the story of their lives and read their 
 vi'ritings, seem to us to reproduce before men in 
 their own generation the conversion and the love 
 of St. Paul. But we find it also, often jealously 
 guarded and hidden away — " my secret is my own," 
 1 Gal. i. 16. 2 Gal. vi. 17. ^ t^q^-, y^ ^8. 
 
The Argument from Experience 177 
 
 says the faithful soul to her Lord — in the souls of all 
 those who strive to follow Christ. He will not suffer 
 those who love Him to be alone, but teaches them to 
 find His Presence close to them in all their ways. 
 He is ever by their side and never abandons those 
 who seek Him. 
 
 jy. Words to be found in a poem called 
 
 Benson's Christian Evidences, written by one, whose 
 witness. jQgg |.|^g Church is mourning as I write, 
 will serve to illustrate my meaning. 
 
 Nay, but with Faith I sought my Lord last night ; 
 
 And found Him shining where the lamp was dim ; 
 The shadowy altar glimm.ered, height on height, 
 
 A Throne for Him, 
 Seen, as through lattice work, His gracious Face 
 Looked forth on me and filled the dark with grace. 
 
 Nay then, if proof and tortured argument 
 
 Content thee — teach thee that the Lord is there, 
 Or risen again ; I pray thee be content, 
 
 But leave me here 
 With eye unsealed by any proof of thine. 
 With eye unsealed to know the Lord is mine. 
 
 Prove if thou wilt, my friend, that Paul is Paul, 
 
 And Peter Peter ; talk till crack of doom ; 
 Marshal thy facts; yes, yes, I know them all; 
 
 And, spite of gloom, 
 Of all the dust and science raised by thee, 
 I saw my Lord was there who smiled on me. 
 
 12 
 
1 78 Is the Christian ReHgion True? 
 
 Thou dost believe that, ah, so long ago 
 
 He'lived, wrought marvels and was crucified, 
 Because that Holy Matthew tells thee so ? 
 
 I, on my side, 
 Know Him as Love ; and Love could not pass by 
 And leave men sinning — therefore Love must die. 
 
 Thou dost believe, because He rose again 
 
 That Christ is very God ? Yet I believe 
 He rose, because I see Him walk with me, 
 
 Sinners receive, 
 Loose stammering tongues, open the blindest eyes. 
 And none but God doth so ; and God must rise 1 
 
 Of course no man who ever lived was more keen 
 and alert than Monsignor Benson on urging the 
 Christian Evidences in their proper place. The 
 beautiful lines, which I have quoted, seem to me to 
 represent in a certain sense his own protest against 
 one side of himself. He would remind himself and 
 others too of that which he had deeply experienced 
 — that there is something which transcends all argu- 
 ment — the Love of Christ. 
 
 As Mr. Meynell says admirably in his Preface to 
 Father Benson's Poems : 
 
 *< In Christian Evidences he gets back to his in- 
 tuitions ; to that which made him, ardent investi- 
 gator though he was, ever in closer touch with the 
 simple than with the scientific — back to that witmss 
 within himself which Christ promises and gives to all 
 His Own." 
 
The Argument from Experience 179 
 
 Such is the Argument from Experience. 
 
 An investigator into the phenomena of Chris- 
 tianity can hardly ignore it safely, when he finds 
 itself reproducing itself for close on two thousand 
 years in millions of souls, of all degrees of intelli- 
 gence and culture, scattered over the face of the 
 world. 
 
 So far we have referred only to individual ex- 
 Collective perience. But there is, besides, such a 
 experience thing as collective experience. Not only 
 
 the N^eTdT ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ always felt the 
 of the SouU need of God, but also the religious in- 
 stinct, if it is given fair play has certain spiritual 
 wants and aspirations. 
 
 For example : 
 
 (a) The yearning for God as our Father to which 
 Philip the Apostle gave utterance, when he ex- 
 claimed : " Lord, show us the Father, and it i.v 
 enough for us," 
 
 (6) And for such knowledge of God, as may enable 
 us to beheve in Him, to hope in Him and to love 
 Him. 
 
 (c) The sense of the need of forgiveness, springing 
 from a sense of sin. 
 
 (d) The desire for knowledge concerning the Life 
 beyond the grave and the way to God, 
 
 (e) And for an ethical code, supplementary to the 
 rudimentary Moral Law given to all ; 
 
i8o Is the Christian Rehgion True? 
 
 (/) And for a way to worship God by sacrifice, 
 {g) And for an Incarnation, a Mother, Sacraments 
 (especially Communion), inspired Books or Persons, 
 {h) And for communion with those who have gone 
 before us to the world that is beyond sight. * 
 
 Now. when we examine the great 
 all satisfied religions of the world, we shall fini that 
 by Chris- each of them supplies some of these 
 tianity. ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ Catholic Christianity 
 
 alone supplies them all. 
 
 Thusjudaism and ^Mohammedanism teach strongly 
 the Unity of God, though they hardly make known 
 His Fatherhood— at least in the sense understood by 
 Christians. All religions lay stress on a moral code 
 of some kind. The religions of ancient Egypt and 
 Assyria and Babylon all insisted on the sense of sin; 
 Buddhism dwells on the importance of striving for a 
 goal beyond the limits of the things of sense, and 
 upon the need of purification. Mohammedanism 
 impresses on its adherents Faith and Trust in God, 
 Judaism requires also that He should be served and 
 loved. The duty of sacrifice is insisted upon by 
 Judaism, Brahmanism, the ancient religions of Greece 
 and Rome, of Egypt and of Mexico and Peru. 
 Comtism is mainly concerned with honouring the 
 great examples of virtue given by our race and 
 Shintoism with honouring the dead. This list might 
 be indefinitely extended. For example various 
 forms of paganism witnessed to that desire for the 
 
The Argument from Experience i8i 
 
 Divine Incarnation, for a Heavenly Mother, for 
 Sacramental Rites, which we believe to have been 
 divinely implanted in the souls of men. Every 
 religion supplies some spiritual need of humanity, 
 but Catholic Christianity supplies them all and in 
 the most perfect form that can be imagined. 
 
 Christianity points (a) to God as our Father and 
 our Friend. It teaches us (b) how and why we 
 should believe in His Word and trust in His 
 Promises — above all why and how we should love 
 Him, who is our First Beginning, and our Last End, 
 who is our Saviour and our Brother, who became 
 one of us for love of us, died for us upon the Cross, 
 and has poured His Spirit into our hearts. It 
 forces us (c) to acknowledge our sinfulness, but 
 never allows us to forget that there is pardon for 
 the repentant sinner, for whom it [d) opens the gates 
 of Heaven, through Him who is the Way to our 
 Father and His. 
 
 Christianity has given us {e) the most perfect 
 moral code the world has ever known. What so 
 sublime as the Sermon on the Mount ? Who can 
 surpass in sublimity the precepts of charity and for- 
 ;;iveness left us by Christ ? What more perfect than 
 the exhortation : '' Learn of Me, for I am meek and 
 humble of heart"? 
 
 Christianity — at least Catholic Christianity — has 
 given us (/) a daily Sacrifice, whereby we can 
 worship God in spirit and in truth, uniting our poor 
 
1 82 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 offerings, our weak wills and sometimes our broken 
 hearts, with the sublime Offering, the all-holy yet 
 Human Will, the Sacred Heart of His Son made 
 Man. 
 
 Christianity — at least Catholic Christianity — gives 
 us (g) not only inspired Books to guide our path to 
 God, but also a sacred Hierarchy to teach us, and 
 God's Mother to be our Mother. 
 
 Catholic Christianity (h) supplies the craving 
 common to us all, teaching us how, without super- 
 stition, we may help the dead and enter into com- 
 munion with those who have already gone to God. 
 
 In a word, there is no legitimate craving of the 
 human soul, which will not find its full satisfaction 
 in the religion of Christ. 
 
 Now, everything which satisfies the vital needs of 
 men, the air we breathe, the food with which we 
 nourish our bodies, the water we drink, comes from 
 God — and, as it is in the natural order, so also is it in 
 the supernatural. The religion which when we test 
 it never fails us, which provides for all our necessities, 
 which teaches us how to rise from sin, which directs 
 us to the perfect worship of God, which sets before 
 us an ideal to be aimed at in all the stages of life, 
 which, in proportion as we use it, leads us on from 
 strength to strength, from grace to grace, which 
 teaches us, whilst disciplining our own character, to 
 help our fellow-beings in this world and in the next, 
 which teaches us, whilst we live on earth, to " have 
 
The Argument from Experience 183 
 
 our conversation in Heaven " with those separated 
 from us now only by the boundaries of sense — this 
 rehgion manifestly is divine 
 
 Such is the evidence from experience. As is 
 clear, it must be employed with caution, since when 
 This argu' we talk of our experiences we have to be 
 
 mcnt to be ^j^ ^^^ guard against the possibilities of 
 
 employed i 
 
 v/ith delusion, or of persuading ourselves that 
 
 caution. things are as we would have them to be, 
 
 to be supple- irierely because we so wish it. In other 
 
 mented by words, it is always well, and sometimes 
 
 the externa i|- j^^ybe necessary, to check the subjective 
 
 grounds o£ -^ . 
 
 faith. argument from experience — however con- 
 
 vincing to the individual — by the objective argument 
 from visible facts. When thus supplemented and 
 verified it is at least of considerable weight, not only 
 to the individual who experiences it himself, but also 
 to the observer who watches it in others and knows 
 that their conviction as to the truth of Christianity 
 arising from their personal experiences is not an 
 idiosyncrasy. If he will but take the necessary steps, 
 that conviction shall be his also. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 THE EVIDENCE FROM THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 The Fathers of the Vatican Council, having laid it 
 down that God has deigned to give external proofs 
 Yhe of His Revelation, which it terms " divine 
 
 Catholic facts," and having specified especially 
 Church. Prophecies and Miracles, proceed as 
 follows : 
 
 " And the Catholic Church herself, through herself, 
 by reason that is of her wondrous growth, her match- 
 less sanctity, her inexhaustible fruitfulness in all 
 good works, her unity throughout the world and her 
 unconquerable persistence, is both a great and ever- 
 present motive of credibility and an irrefragable 
 testimony to her own divine commission." 
 
 In other words, the Catholic Church is, also, like 
 Prophecies and Miracles, a " Divine Fact." 
 
 Limits of space render it impossible to do more 
 than glance at this great argument. 
 
 We all know the stress that Christian Apologists 
 have always laid both upon the supernatural growth 
 of Christianity in its first ages in face of manifold 
 
 184 
 
Evidence from the Catholic Church 185 
 
 persecutions and difficulties of all kinds, and upon 
 
 the spiritual regeneration which it effected in all 
 
 grades of society. In proportion as men 
 The growth i ■ -i i 
 and spread submitted themselves wholeheartedly to 
 
 of the the influence of Christianity, in that pro- 
 
 portion did they become better men. In 
 numberless cases they became visibly and vitally 
 new men. The Christian Life was a new creation — 
 a creation in the supernatural order, a reality to 
 which that Life bore witness. We are probably 
 aware of the attempt made by Gibbon to dispose 
 of this argument, and to account for the spread of 
 Christianity by merely natural causes, and are also 
 aware of Newman's answer to Gibbon. Suffice it to 
 say here that the growth of the religion of Christ, 
 under the adverse circumstances which confronted 
 it, is undeniably an event without a parallel in 
 history. 
 
 When the Vatican Council appealed, as an evidence 
 of the truth of Christianity not only to the growth 
 ^, of the Church, but also to her *' matchless 
 
 Church's sanctity and her inexhaustible fruitfulness 
 Sanctity. ^^ g^|| good works," it was not meant — as 
 is manifest — that every Catholic is holy, or that every 
 Catholic is fruitful in good works. The opposite is 
 alas ! all too clear. We were warned from the 
 beginning that tares must — of necessity, for man's 
 will is free — grow up alongside of the wheat in the 
 Field of the Lord, and that bad fish will always be 
 
1 86 Is the Christian ReHgion True? 
 
 found with good in Peter's net. What the Vatican 
 Council did mean was that certain members of the 
 Church — St. Francis of Assisi, St. Theresa, St. 
 Francis of Sales, St. Francis Xavier, an innumerable 
 number of her children besides her Canonised 
 Saints, have reached such heights of sanctity as are 
 plainly above the powers of nature, and can only be 
 accounted for by divine assistance. It was meant 
 further that the sacramental system, of the Church, 
 which provides all men who will avail themselves of 
 it, with every grace that they require for their life's 
 journey — to strengthen the will in its struggle against 
 sin, and to provide for the manifold needs of the 
 soul — is so harmonious in its component parts and so 
 extraordinarily in accordance with human necessities 
 and the most essential cravings and needs of our 
 nature, as to point, for those who have eyes to see, 
 to a divine origin. This argument, in the very 
 nature of the case, will appeal with special force to 
 Catholics. All my readers, however, if they are at 
 all conversant with the ascetical and mystical litera- 
 ture produced by Catholicism, will be able without 
 difficulty to pursue it for themselves. 
 
 Again, the Vatican Council claims that " the in- 
 exhaustible fruitfulness in good works," as evidenced 
 The fruiN (for example in the spiritual and chant- 
 fulness of ^-^Iq activities of the various Religious 
 the Catholic ^ , s . , . , i a i 
 
 Church in Orders) is plainly supernatural. And once 
 
 good works, more I do not think that anyone who is 
 
Evidence from the Catholic Church 187 
 
 acquainted with the facts, even in broad outhne, 
 
 will lightly permit himself to say " nay " to this 
 
 claim. 
 
 But it is through her visible " unity throughout 
 
 the world and her unconquerable persistence " that 
 
 Her unity the Catholic Church appears to me above 
 
 throughout ^11 to bear witness, that cannot be shaken, 
 
 the world , , ._,... ^, 
 
 and persist' ^^ ^he truth oi Christianity. She is one 
 
 ence. in her government, in her worship and in 
 
 her faith— and this "throughout the world"; not 
 
 only in title but in fact she is Catliolic ; and she 
 
 persists, for *she is founded upon an indestructible 
 
 Rock. 
 
 St. Augus' Early in the fifth century, the fact that 
 
 tine and the ^^^ Church was World-wide, yet One, ap- 
 
 Catholic 
 
 Church as a pealed to St. Augustine, as being already 
 proof of the the most striking and the most easily veri- 
 Christi' fi^^ °^ ^^^ various proofs of the truth of 
 anity. Christianity.-^ Thus in several passages 
 
 in his writings, he makes this statement : 
 
 ''The Apostles believed in the Promises of Christ 
 about His Church that they did not see, because 
 they saw the Head [and His Miracles] . We believe 
 now in the Head, whom we do not see, because of 
 His Body, the Church, which we do see." He 
 has kept His promises concerning the Church and 
 has effected that which was humanly unattainable — 
 
 ^ Cf. DeFide rerum quce non videiitur, iii. S; Sermo ccxxxvii. ; 
 In diebus Paschaliius, ix. 3, etc. 
 
1 88 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 therefore seeing His Mystical Body before our eyes, 
 we the more easily beheve in Him who is the Head. 
 
 St. Augustine indeed, as is well known, went so 
 far as to declare that he could not believe the 
 Gospels, were it not for the authority of the Catholic 
 Church."^ For unless the Church existed. One and 
 yet World-wide, there would be no living continuous 
 witness to the Gospels, handing down its testimony 
 to their truth in unbroken succession from apostolic 
 times ; and the predictions in the Gospel — for 
 example, that Christ would gather the hitherto 
 ''dispersed" people of God into a unity,^ and 
 that the gates of Hell should not prevail against 
 His Church^ — would not have been verified. But, 
 they have been verified. 
 
 It was beyond the power of mere man to verify 
 such predictions as these. Therefore, Christ was not 
 mere Man. He was that which He claimed to be — 
 God — and Christianity is true. This is the argument. 
 It is an argument which, strong in the fifth century 
 after Christ, is far stronger in the twentieth. Every 
 generation that has passed since then has increased 
 its strength, making it increasingly difficult to explain, 
 on any human grounds whatsoever, the fact of the 
 Church, and especially that she is at the same time 
 World-wide (or Catholic) and One, and that she persists 
 in the face of an environment so hostile to all fixed 
 
 * Contra Ep. Fuudani, v. ^ John xi. 52. 
 
 3 Matt. xvi. 18. 
 
Evidence from the Catholic Church 189 
 
 doctrine as that of a great part of Europe during the 
 past two centuries. In human things it is impossible 
 to maintain unity amongst the rivalries of nations, 
 the diversities of races and the clash of tongues; 
 moreover, all human institutions sooner or later 
 dissolve and their place knows them no more. The 
 Church, however, persists, and the Church main- 
 tains her world-wide unity. Therefore, the force 
 which sustains her is not hum.an but divine. 
 
 Now, let us look for a moment at these two great 
 phenomena — the Unity of Catholicism all over the 
 
 world, and the persistence of Catholicism 
 The Papacy , , ,, , , , 
 
 and the — ^^^ we shall see that, whether men are 
 
 Promises of pleased to admit it or not, they depend 
 
 under God upon the Papacy. Common 
 
 sense will tell us, and experience has abundantly 
 
 proved, that you cannot have a world-wide Visible 
 
 Unity without a visible centre of that Unity. Let 
 
 men depend for visible unity upon a centre that is 
 
 invisible, and the result has always been nationalism 
 
 in religion and endless divisions in religious opinion. 
 
 It is absolutely certain that if, by an impossible 
 
 supposition, you were to abolish the authority of 
 
 the Pope to-morrow, Catholicism would split the day 
 
 after, just as Protestantism has spHt from the days 
 
 of its first beginnings, and throughout the whole 
 
 course of its history. And not only the unity, but 
 
 also the persistence, of Catholicism depends upon 
 
 the Papacy. Without the Pope, all sailors in the 
 
190 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 Church's Barque would be at sea, at the mercy 
 of the waves and storms. Without the Pope, the 
 house of the Cathohc Church would crumble to 
 pieces. Nothing could stay its disintegration. 
 
 Such are the facts before our eyes, which will be 
 challenged by none. Men admit them when they call 
 Catholicism — meaning the only Church which is at 
 once One and World-wide — Roman Catholicism — a 
 clumsy method of expressing the visible fact that 
 the only Church which is world-wide in her circum- 
 ference is Roman in her centre. 
 
 Now, if we ask ourselves how this fact is to be 
 accounted for, we shall at once see that there would 
 be no Papacy to-day had not Jesus Christ lived of 
 old in Palestine. This again will not be denied, for 
 what are sometimes called the " Roman claims " are 
 based — we are at the moment not discussing whether 
 they are rightly or wrongly based, but they are based 
 — upon certain words spoken long ago by Jesus 
 Christ and recorded in the Gospels. Those words 
 are there for all men to read. They were written 
 before the Popes had even reached the Catacombs, 
 when Christians in Rome were still but a small pro- 
 portion of the inhabitants of the City. 
 
 If we recall one — the most famous — of these 
 sayings of Christ, I think that my meaning will be 
 clear. It is recorded by St. Matthew that one day 
 Jesus of Nazareth asked His disciples whom men 
 said that He was. They replied variously accord- 
 
Evidence from the Catholic Church 191 
 
 ing to the various current talk of the hour. But, 
 He said to them, '* Whom do you say that I am ?" to 
 which one of their number, Simon the fisherman, 
 to whom Christ had already declared that He would 
 give the new name of Peter (in Hebrew Cephas), 
 which means a rock, replied : " Thou art the Christ, 
 the Son of the Livmg God." And Jesus accepted it, 
 and said to him in His turn : " Blessed art thou 
 Simon, son of John, for flesh and blood hath not 
 revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in 
 Heaven, and I say unto thee that thou art Cephas 
 [this in reply to Simon's * Thou art the Christ '] and 
 upon this Cephas I will build My Church, and I will 
 give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven 
 and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against 
 it." 
 
 Now, if by these words Christ looked forward into 
 the future, and thus provided (as Catholics believe), 
 for His Church which was to come, so that she 
 should be built upon a Rock and the Gates of Hell 
 should not prevail against her — then He was God, 
 and the Christian rehgion is true. Manifestly, no 
 mere man could have the foreknowledge and power 
 to make such provision through the centuries. 
 
 If Christ be not God, He was merely the son of a 
 Jewish carpenter, and Simon Peter was but a Jewish 
 fisherman. Has any other carpenter spoken to any 
 other fisherman words similar to those which Jesus 
 spoke to Simon Peter, and if so, have they been 
 
192 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 verified in history ? Once more we are in the pre- 
 sence of that which is without parallel. 
 
 This argument is of course another form of that 
 derived from Prophecy — only, when considering it, in- 
 stead of looking first at the prediction and then recog- 
 nising its accomplishment, we look first at the fact 
 and then at its intimate connection with the predic- 
 tion. The Unity of Faith amongst Catholics the wide 
 world over depends upon their belief in the fulfilment 
 of certain promises of Christ. To the pastoral care 
 of one man He committed all His sheep; for that man 
 He prayed that his faith might not fail so that he 
 should be able to strengthen or confirm his brethren; 
 to that man alone He gave the keys of the kingdom of 
 Heaven ; on that one man and on his faith He built 
 His Church as upon a Rock. Now, at this moment 
 we are not discussing the question as to whether 
 Catholics are correct in their traditional interpreta- 
 tion of these words of Christ — which for them has 
 been settled bej^ond all doubt by the authoritative 
 teaching of the Church — but we do say to all men 
 of good-will : Look at the result. So great an effect 
 as Catholicism could not have arisen from the 
 mysterious words of a mere carpenter. This seems 
 to me a truism. Look then at the Catholic Church, 
 look well at the Rock on which she has been 
 built, and you will surely see that He who knew 
 by such simple means how to produce such vast 
 results is what He claimed to be — the Son of the 
 
Evidence from the Catholic Church 193 
 
 Living God. The fulfilment of the Tliou art Peter 
 before our eyes proves the truth of the words of 
 Peter : Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God. 
 
 To judge of the force of this argument we must 
 stand far back from our present point of view and 
 place ourselves by the side of Jesus of Nazareth 
 and His disciples. Then let us look, from the shores 
 of the Lake of Galilee to St. Peter's in Rome, and 
 read the words blazoned on its dome: "Thou art 
 Peter, and upon this Peter I will build My 
 Church " — and remember what has been the out- 
 come of those words spoken not in the West but 
 in the East, not in Rome but in Palestine. 
 
 This at least is certain. Those who first heard 
 Christ make His promises to Peter, would have 
 believed in Him could they have seen the actual 
 accomplishment of these great promises. 
 
 It as clearly requires divine power and divine 
 wisdom to have evolved the Catholic Church through- 
 out the world from her beginnings in Palestine as to 
 produce the spreading oak from the tiny acorn. 
 
 The Catholic Church depends upon the Word of 
 Christ, as the effect depends upon its cause. His 
 Word is operative. It effects that which it says, 
 because He is the Very Word of God Incarnate. 
 
 Now, if this be the case, Christianity is true.^ 
 
 ^ I have worked this argument out in detail, with reference 
 to various phenomena of CathoHcism, in Th& Mustard Tree 
 (Messrs. Washbourne). 
 
 13 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 BELIEF IN CHRISTIANITY INVOLVES BELIEF IN 
 
 THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST, AND ALSO BELIEF 
 
 IN ALL THAT CHRIST TAUGHT 
 
 We may now proceed on the supposition that not 
 What is to only beHef in God — Theism — but also that 
 be tinder- behef in Jesus Christ — in Christianity — 
 
 stood by . . , 1 1 -r* r ^ 
 
 Chfisti' ^^ emmently reasonable. But a lurther 
 anity* question arises, at least in England — 
 
 " What exactly ought we to understand by Chris- 
 tianity?" If we would answer this question to 
 our own satisfaction, it is obviously worse than use- 
 less to reply: ''Christianity means belief in Jesus 
 Christ." For then the further questions imme- 
 diately arise : " What do you mean by behef in 
 Jesus Christ ?" or, " What does belief in Jesus Christ 
 precisely involve ?" Who is Jesus Christ ? Is He 
 -God ? Is it necessary, if you would be a Christian to 
 believe in Him as God? Or is it enough to believe 
 in Him (with modern Unitarians) as "a good man," 
 or as " a perfect man," or (in the manner in which 
 the Mohammedans will assure you that they believe 
 in Him) as a Great Prophet, or, (like the old Arians) 
 
 194 
 
The Divine Teacher 195 
 
 as a mysterious Being in a category apart from other 
 men, rightly called the Son of God, yet not One 
 with His Father from eternity ? These are ascend- 
 ing steps of dignity, yet the highest of them all 
 is infinitely below the belief of the Catholic Church 
 — for the distance between the belief which one can 
 repose in the highest of creatures and in the Creator 
 of all creatures is plainly infinite. 
 
 And, if it is necessary for belief in Jesus Christ to 
 believe that He is the Creator of heaven and earth, 
 is it necessary to believe also that He became true 
 Man, assuming a perfect Human Nature? Or am I 
 free to believe (with the old Eutychians and the 
 " Orthodox " Copts in Egypt of the present time) 
 that His Human Nature was absorbed in His Divinity 
 and therein merged, as a drop of water is merged in 
 a cup of strong wine ? 
 
 Again, does belief in Him rightly involve belief in 
 the Catholic Church, and in all that the Catholic 
 Church teaches that He has revealed ? Or am I free to 
 exercise my private judgement as to the precise import 
 of His teaching and to believe what seems to me right 
 after my private study of the Bible — or is it possible 
 that belief in Him does not carry with it the obliga- 
 tion of believing that He made any supernatural 
 Revelation at all ? Am I perhaps free merely to 
 attempt to follow His high ethical teaching as I find 
 it in the Gospels, regarding Him as my supreme 
 moral example, but not troubling about " dogmas " 
 
196 Is the Cliristian Religion True ? 
 
 and " mysteries " ? May I in a word, content myself 
 with trying to be ** good," say happily that we are 
 all " making for the same place," that it does not 
 matter what we believe, that ''one religion is as 
 good as another," and yet at the same time be able 
 honestly to say that I believe in Christ ? Or does 
 belief in Christ carry with it, of necessity, submission 
 of the intellect to definite Truths as well as submis- 
 sion of the heart and will to the Moral Law ? 
 
 It is evident, if we would think clearly, that 
 questions such as these — and of course similar ques- 
 tions might be added by the score — must be answered 
 before we know what is meant by Christianity. It 
 is not enough to say : " I beheve in Jesus Christ 
 and therefore I am a Christian." You must know 
 what you mean precisely by the belief of which you 
 speak. 
 
 A Catholic will find no difficulty in answering 
 such questions as those which I have just suggested. 
 A Catholic knows that his religion is historic, in 
 this, resembling that of the Jews before the coming 
 of Christ — and we must always remember that the 
 Old Testament prefigured and was typical of the 
 -New. Belief in Christ involves for the Catholic, of 
 necessary consequence, belief in the Church of Christ, 
 and in the various doctrines and principles which, 
 as the Church solemnly assures him, God has re- 
 vealed to men by Christ and Christ has committed 
 to her guardianship. The Catholic knows that you 
 
The Divine Teacher 197 
 
 cannot, if you would, start everything afresh and 
 reconstruct Christianity according either to your own 
 prepossessions or to those of the passing moment. 
 Such a Christianity would be built upon shifting 
 sand. 
 
 In all questions as to what belief in Christ in- 
 volves the Catholic will hsten to that Church which, 
 in the person of the Virgin Mother, knelt before 
 our Lord at Bethlehem and dwelt with Him at 
 Nazareth, to that Church which, with Peter and the 
 other Apostles by our Lady's side, was assembled 
 in the Upper Room when the Pentecostal flames 
 descended, to that Church which, according to the 
 promises of Christ, is to be ever guided *' into all 
 Truth "by His Holy Spirit.^ Her growth and her 
 history have been continuous and normal — normal, 
 that is, according to laws proper to her organisation, 
 as is the growth of a body, and continuous as is the 
 history of one persisting personality. 
 
 But, in this country Catholics are in a very small 
 minority. It would be obviously unreasonable to 
 call upon men and women who are not Catholics to 
 accept the teaching of the Catholic Church as to 
 what Christianity really means — merely on her testi- 
 mony. To those who are not Catholics the teaching 
 of the Catholic Church is indeed far from being 
 authoritative or decisive. They will, (by no means 
 unreasonably from their point of view), call it ''un- 
 
 * John xvi. 13. 
 
198 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 supported," unless it be supported by their own 
 private views, or by their private interpretation of 
 Scripture, or by their private reading of history. 
 They do not see that it is — often they have no idea 
 even that it may be — supported by the Promises of 
 Christ. If, then, Christians who are not Catholics, 
 should be, for any reason, disturbed in their con- 
 sciences concerning the character of the religion 
 revealed by Christ, and as to what He would wish 
 them, as His disciples and servants, exactly to believe 
 and to do, the only safe course for them is to go 
 back (as far as they are in a position to do so) to the 
 beginnings of Christianity, that they may learn — 
 and that they may learn especially from the Gospels 
 (considered for the moment merely as historical 
 records) — what Christ Himself intended us to under- 
 stand by the religion which He introduced into the 
 world. If they are wise, this will not lead them to 
 attempt a hopeless reconstruction, taking no account 
 of the intervening centuries — for in all the works of 
 God essential identity remains unimpaired, however 
 great may be the external changes necessitated by 
 fresh external conditions, as well as by God's own 
 law of growth. But it may well lead them to see in 
 what manner Christ Himself intended us to learn 
 His religion, and what exactly, according to His 
 Will, Christianity was to mean, and what it was to 
 do for men. And, though CathoHcs stand in no need 
 of any such investigation, since for them in countless 
 
The Divine Teacher 199 
 
 ways the Church is her own evidence — still for them 
 too this enquiry may be full of interest, and may 
 serve as well to strengthen their faith. 
 
 Now the one great outstanding fact that emerges 
 from a study of the Gospels is that Jesus, the Son of 
 Christ Man, as He was wont to term Himself, 
 
 claimed to claimed to be also the Son of God — and 
 be God, ^i^-g ^y. j^Q means in the sense in which all 
 
 the sons of men may rightly be called sons of God, 
 but in an unique signification. For He claimed to be 
 one with the Father, to have existed before Abra- 
 ham, to have come from the Bosom of the Father, 
 and gave to Himself the incommunicable name 
 of God — / AM. His enemies clearly understood 
 that He was in fact claiming to be God, and took up 
 stones to cast at Him as blaspheming. Had He not 
 just said to His disciple Philip, who cried to Him : 
 ** Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 
 *' Have I been so long with you, and, Philip, hast 
 thou not known Me ? He that hath seen Me hath seen 
 also the Father."^ Than these words no words can 
 be plainer. It may be objected that they are taken 
 from the Fourth Gospel. There is no doubt that 
 our Lord's claim to be God is exposed in more cate- 
 gorical terms by the fourth Evangelist than by the 
 three first. Now, the reason of this is not far to 
 seek. It is well known th»at St. John wrote expressly 
 against heretics who were denying the Divinity of 
 
 ' John xiv. 9. 
 
200 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 Jesus Christ. Besides, we may bear in mind the fact 
 that the last Gospel was written when the generation 
 which received the Books of Matthew, Mark, and 
 Luke had well-nigh passed away. 
 
 We, who are the heirs of the Christian Tradition 
 concerning the Divinity of Christ, that has come 
 down to us through more than nineteen centuries, 
 can hardly realise what a shock it must have been in 
 the beginning for men to hear that One who under 
 one aspect most certainly was their fellow-man, who 
 lived under the same conditions as themselves, grew 
 up amongst them, ate, drank, slept, was fatigued, 
 lived a common human life, and then died in agony 
 upon the gibbet of a criminal, had claimed to be, and 
 was believed by His disciples to be, the Eternal 
 God. The Mystery of two perfect Natures belonging 
 to one Person — and that Person the Lord God 
 Almighty — had never been imagined until it was 
 taught by the Church of Christ. 
 
 Thus we see at once that it was necessary for our 
 Lord to prepare the minds of men to receive this 
 wonderful Dogma. He taught it gradually and only 
 towards the end of His Ministr>' in express terms. 
 We need not therefore be surprised to find that 
 the early Gospels teach not only by direct affirma- 
 tion but even more by implication. 
 
 St. Peter it is true did not hesitate in his first 
 sermon to speak of his Crucified Lord as " the Lord 
 of Life." Still, the early Gospels might possibly fall 
 
The Divine Teacher 2ci 
 
 into the hands of men who were not so well prepared 
 for this simple Truth as were those to whom St. 
 Peter spoke, and who required to be led to that Truth, 
 step by step, as the Apostles themselves were led by 
 Christ. 
 
 However this may be, there can be no doubt that 
 although the first three Evangelists did not commit 
 to writing the express words in which St. John 
 assures us that Christ claimed to have existed before 
 Abraham in the Bosom of the Father, they ascribed 
 to Him, just as clearly as St. John, many words 
 which claim Divine Power and Divine Prerogatives 
 — words which unless He be in truth God, un- 
 doubtedly would reach the very height of profanity. 
 Having fallen from the lips of God made Man, these 
 w^ords fill our souls with awe and thanksgiving. 
 
 It is not difficult to imagine how we should be 
 forced to characterise them, had they been spoken 
 by any merely human teacher. For example, St. Luke 
 records that Christ spoke thus : " No one knoweth 
 who the Son is but the Father ; and who the Father 
 is but the Son, and to whom the Son will reveal 
 Him." ^ This passage has been termed " an aerolite 
 from the skies of John." 
 
 Christ is represented by Matthew, Mark, and Luke 
 as speaking to the Jews of the Commandments of 
 God which they so highly and so rightly cherished 
 in such terms as these : '* It was said [by God] of old 
 
 ^ Luke X. 22. 
 
202 Is the Christian ReHgion True ? 
 
 time, but /say to you." Our Lord by speaking thus 
 not only interpreted but enlarged the Commandment 
 of God. We also read in the first three Gospels 
 that He declared — and this not once only, but 
 throughout the whole of His Public Ministry, from 
 the Sermon on the Mount to the trial before Caiaphas 
 — that He v/ould judge the world, and explained 
 that the nature of men's future judgement would 
 depend in great measure upon their attitude towards 
 Himself. He had already claimed to be the Ruler 
 of the world, declaring that all things had been 
 delivered unto Him, and that He possessed all 
 authority both in Heaven and on earth. Moreover, 
 His Dominion was not only to be universal, but was 
 to last for ever, since after this world had come to an 
 end the future kingdom of Heaven was still to be His 
 Kingdom, its Angels were to be His Angels, and its 
 citizens His Elect.^ 
 
 Again and again He insisted upon the necessity 
 of repentance ; never once did He ever suggest that 
 there was anything faulty in Himself, anything of 
 which He could repent. Even our Lady, whom 
 Catholics believe to be sinless through the grace and 
 merits of her Son, doubtless prayed that she might 
 in no way displease her Lord. Christ never thus 
 prayed. Sin for Him was impossible. Sin is an 
 offence against God. He is God. This is the atti- 
 
 * See Turton's Truth ofChrislianity, p. 502. Cf. Matt. xiii. 41 ; 
 xxiv. 31. 
 
The Divine Teacher 203 
 
 tude which is taken for granted throughout all the 
 Gospels. We have become so accustomed to it that 
 perhaps we may have failed to apprehend its signifi- 
 cance. But, if we carefully read through any one of 
 the four Gospels from this point of view, we can hardly 
 fail to recognise that it is impossible honestly to 
 believe in Christ unless we are prepared to believe 
 His plain statements about Himself. In other words 
 we must believe in Him as being that which He 
 claimed to be, and be ready to make our own the 
 words with which St. Thomas greeted Him after 
 His Resurrection from the dead, as his Lord and 
 his God. 
 
 He declared Himself to be the Light of the world, 
 and St. John says of Him that He ''was the true 
 Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh 
 into the world. He was in the world, and the world 
 was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." 
 He is the Word, and in the beginning of the world 
 (as from all Eternity) "the Word was God." 
 
 Should any further proof be needed that Christians 
 
 regarded Christ from the first as their Lord and God, 
 
 „, it will be furnished by the writings of St. 
 
 The -^ 
 
 Witness Paul. Now, St. Paul tells us three things 
 of St* PauU Q^Qui the doctrine that he preached : — 
 
 (a) That he received it not from man — not that is 
 from St. Peter or from any other Apostle — but 
 supernaturally, direct from Christ.^ 
 
 ^ Gal. i. I. 
 
204 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 (6) That when he visited St. Peter and St. James 
 he^ laid before them the Gospel (or Faith) which he 
 had received and that it corresponded with that 
 which they preached.-^ 
 
 (c) That it was the same Faith which before his 
 conversion he had persecuted.^ 
 
 Now this Faith as declared by St. Paul involves 
 amongst other truths : 
 
 (a) The pre-existence of Christ.* 
 
 (6) That " being rich He became poor for our 
 sake."^ 
 
 (c) That " being in the form of God, He emptied 
 Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made 
 in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a 
 man." ^ 
 
 (d) That in Him dwells the fulness of the Godhead 
 bodily.® 
 
 (e) That He is over all.^ 
 
 (/) That we shall all stand before His judgement 
 seat. ^ 
 
 (g) That ** He is our great God and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ." » 
 
 1 Gal. ii. 2, 9. ' Gal. i. 23. 
 
 '3 Rom. viii. 3 ; Gal. iv. 4. * 2 Cor. viii. 9. 
 
 « Phil. ii. 6. ® Col. ii. 9. 
 
 ' Rom. ix. 5 : " Who is over all, God blessed for ever." 
 These last words, however, perhaps, should be translated 
 " May God be blessed for ever." For this reason I have not 
 quoted them in the text. 
 
 8 Rom. xiv. 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 10. ^ Titus ii. 13. 
 
The Divine Teacher 
 
 205 
 
 One of the most striking testimonies to the beHef 
 of the early Christians on this subject is to be found 
 in the opening of the Epistle to the Hebrews. We 
 have here an antithetical balancing of phrases — the 
 one set referring to the Divine, the second to the 
 Human, Nature in Jesus Christ. In order to make 
 this clear I will print the references to our Lord's 
 Divinity in larger type. The passage runs as 
 follows : — 
 
 "God ... in these days 
 has spoken to us 
 whom He hath appointed 
 heir of all things, 
 
 making purgation for sins, 
 sitteth on the Right Hand of 
 the Majesty on High : 
 
 BY HIS SON, 
 
 BY WHOM ALSO HE MADE 
 THE WORLD ; WHO BEING 
 THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS GLORY, 
 AND THE FIGURE OF HIS SUB- 
 STANCE, AND UPHOLDING ALL 
 THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS 
 POWER, 
 
 BEING SO MUCH BETTER 
 THAN THE ANGELS, AS HE HATH 
 INHERITED A MORE EXCEL- 
 LENT NAME THAN THEY. FOR 
 TO WHICH OF THE ANGELS 
 HATH HE SAID AT ANY TIME, 
 'THOU ART MY SON, THIS 
 DAY HAVE I BEGOTTEN THEE ?'^ 
 AND AGAIN, * I WILL BE TO 
 HIM A FATHER AND HE SHALL 
 BE TO ME A SON.' 
 
 1 Cf. Acts xiii. 33 ; Ps. ii. 7. 
 
2o6 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 And again when He bring- 
 eth in the first begotten 
 into this world He saith : 
 
 And to the Angels indeed 
 He saith : 'He that maketh 
 His angels Spirits, and His 
 ministers a flame of fire. 
 
 Thou hast loved justice and 
 hated iniquity : therefore, God, 
 Thy God hath anointed Thee 
 with the oil of gladness above 
 Thy fellows. 
 
 But to which of the Angels 
 saith He at any time : Sit on 
 My right hand until I make 
 Thine enemies Thy foot- 
 stool ? . . . Thou hast made 
 Him a little lower than the 
 angels; Thou hast crowned 
 Him with glory and honour, 
 and hast set Him over the 
 
 AND let all the ANGELS OF 
 GOD ADORE HIM. 
 
 BUT TO THE SON • THY 
 THRONE, O GOD, IS FOR EVER 
 AND EVER : A SCEPTRE OF JUS- 
 TICE IS THE SCEPTRE OF THY 
 KINGDOM. 
 
 AND : THOU IN THE BEGIN- 
 NING, O LORD, DIDST FOUND 
 THE EARTH : AND THE WORKS 
 OF THINE HANDS ARE THE 
 HEAVENS. THEYSHALL PERISH, 
 BUT THOU SHALT CONTINUE : 
 AND THEY SHALL ALL GROW 
 OLD AS A GARMENT. AND AS A 
 VESTURE SHALT THOU CHANGE 
 THEM, AND THEY SHALL BE 
 CHANGED : BUT THOU ART THE 
 SELFSAME, AND THY YEARS 
 SHALL NOT FAIL. 
 
The Divine Teacher 
 
 ,o 
 
 7 
 
 work of Thine hand, and hast 
 subjected all things under His 
 feet. . . . For no where 
 doth He take hold of the 
 angels : but of the seed of 
 Abraham he taketh hold. 
 Wherefore it behoved Him 
 in all things, to be made like 
 unto His brethren, that He 
 might become a faithful and 
 merciful High Priest before 
 God, that He might be a pro- 
 pitiation for the sins of the 
 people. . . . Who is faithful to 
 Him that made Him, as was 
 also Moses in all his house. 
 For this Man was counted 
 worthy of greater glory than 
 Moses, 
 
 For every house is built b}' 
 some man : 
 
 And Moses indeed was 
 faithful in all his house as a 
 servant, 
 
 BY so MUCH AS HE THAT 
 HATH BUILT THE HOUSE, HATH 
 GREATER HONOUR THAN THE 
 HOUSE. 
 
 RUT HE THAT CREATED ALL 
 THINGS, IS GOD. 
 
 BUT CHRIST AS THE SON IN 
 HIS OWN HOUSE : WHOSE 
 HOUSE ARE WE."1 
 
 From internal evidence it is certain that the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews was written before the 
 taking of Jerusalem, that is to say before a.d. 70. 
 Consequently we have in the above sonorous passage 
 a sample of the theological teaching given authorita- 
 
 * Heb. i. 1-13 ; ii. 16, 17 ; iii. 2-6. 
 
2o8 Is the Christian Religion True ? 
 
 tively to the Christians of the first generation. It is 
 the theological teaching of the CathoHc Creeds. 
 Surely then it is abundantly clear that whether we 
 confine ourselves to the words of Christ as recorded 
 in the Gospels, or consider the witness of the 
 New Testament as a whole, the conclusion is the 
 same. If we really are to believe in Christ we must 
 believe that he is God and Man in One Person. 
 This is Christianity as He delivered it to the world, 
 and as His Church has delivered it from the begin- 
 ning — the Mystery hidden in God from endless ages, 
 the Mystery of the Incarnation of Mary's Son — The 
 Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us.^ 
 
 But not only is it necessary, if we would believe in 
 Christ, to believe that He is God, it is also necessary 
 Christ came to believe that He came to teach super- 
 to teach natural Truth — to make a Revelation to 
 
 natural mankind. We read that " at Antioch the 
 
 Truths^ disciples were first called Christians " 
 
 because in that city Paul and Barnabas " taught a 
 great multitude." ^ We see that the word Christian 
 from the very first use of the name was employed to 
 denote a man who was taught. Christianity denotes 
 definite behef, the outcome of definite teaching. 
 
 Christians, like other men, can be taught human 
 knowledge — for example, the natural sciences — by 
 human teachers, but in supernatural knowledge 
 Christians beheve that they are ''taught by God." 
 
 1 CJ. I Tim. iii. i6; i Cor. ii. 7; John i. 14. ^ ^cts xi. 26. 
 
The Divine Teacher 209 
 
 And, manifestly, in the sphere of the supernatural 
 no merely human teacher can be of any avail. It 
 is, therefore, of the essence of Christianity to believe 
 that a Christian is taught supernatural truth by 
 Christ— truths which otherwise it would be im- 
 possible for him to acquire. Moreover, with regard 
 to the certainty of this supernatural knowledge a 
 Christian may not doubt, for Christ is God. A 
 human teacher may fail us even in a science in which 
 he is most expert. After all, a human teacher, how- 
 ever learned, is always liable to error, and it is always 
 conceivable that he may wilfully lead us astray for 
 his own purposes. God can fail us never. 
 
 So it is that the Apostle declares that '' the Word 
 was full of Truth, and of His fulness we have all 
 [that is all members of the Apostolic Church] 
 received." ^ 
 
 And, Christ Himself declared that He was the 
 Truth,2 and sent His Apostles to teach all nations,^ 
 promising to send His Holy Spirit " to guide them 
 into all Truth."* He promised also ** to abide with 
 them unto the consummation of the world." ^ More- 
 ever. He demanded obedience to His teaching under 
 the most terrible penalty : ** He that hearkeneth not 
 shall be condemned," and enjoined upon them that 
 
 1 John i. 16. ^ John xiv. 6. 
 
 3 Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Mark xvi. 15. 
 
 * John xiv. 16-26 ; xvi. 13. * Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 
2IO Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 they should teach " all things whatsoever He had 
 commanded them." 
 
 Before the coming of Christ the great civilised 
 nations of the v^orld had yearned for the possession 
 of truth beyond that which can be acquired through 
 the senses. On the banks of the Ganges and the 
 Nile ancient Indian and Egyptian sages had eagerly 
 discussed the spirituality and meaning of life. Most of 
 us have heard of the subtlety of the discussions that 
 were constantly being conducted by the meta- 
 physicians of Athens in the days of her intellectual 
 splendour. Even the great material success of im- 
 perial Rome did not altogether quench the cravings 
 for the divine. To this the introduction into Rome 
 of Greek philosophy and oriental forms of worship 
 bear ample witness. 
 
 Catholics believe that God had left traces of His 
 primaeval Revelation everywhere ; still the light shone 
 but dimly in the midst of a darkness that could be 
 felt. Thus, Plato, himself the greatest of idealists, 
 sadly declared that there were questions of the 
 supremest interest to mankind which no man could 
 hope to answer with certainty unless God Himself 
 should come first to answer them. 
 
 Pontius Pilate was by no means alone when he 
 asked the great question — not surely then "jesting " 
 — **What is Truth ?"i But if he would but have 
 listened, he had already received the answer ; " For 
 
 * Johnixviii. 38. 
 
The Divine Teacher 2 1 1 
 
 this was I born, and for this came I into the world, 
 that I should give testimony to the Truth." ^ 
 
 This, then, was one of the great purposes of the 
 Incarnation of the Word of God, whose name is 
 above every Name, to give testimony to the Truth. 
 To Him we can listen with security, for Himself 
 He is the truth — He is God. 
 
 I have come to the end of the task I set myself. 
 Summing Starting with a tabula rasa, I showed how 
 "P* we could verify and place beyond doubt 
 
 our own existence and the reality of the world around 
 us. From our own life we rise to the Life of God. 
 
 The Contingent, of necessity, involves the Absolute. 
 Natural reason suffices to prove the Being of a 
 Supreme Creator, who, as our conscience warns us, 
 is the Judge of men. 
 
 Our next, and last, step has been to show how 
 strong and varied is the evidence for the Truth of 
 the Christian Revelation — evidence derived from 
 Prophecy and Miracle and Experience and from 
 that wondrous religious Unity which is known as the 
 Catholic Church — the work of Jesus Christ, who 
 lived on earth as the reputed son of Joseph a 
 carpenter, but claimed to be the Son of the Living 
 God, and the Divine Teacher of all mankind. 
 
 Many men of commanding intellectual power have 
 held that each of these evidences, considered alone. 
 
 ' John xviii. 37. 
 
212 Is the Christian Religion True? 
 
 is enough to establish the Truth of Christianity. 
 How great then must be their force in conjunction 
 with each other. 
 
 Other arguments, such as that drawn from the 
 analogy between nature and grace (as understood by 
 the teachings of CathoHcism), for the present at 
 least, I have laid aside. 
 
 But there is 07te argument, which is in a category 
 by itself, and can hardly be called an argument, for 
 it transcends all argument — it is derived from the 
 Character of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 On this theme I dared not permit myself to write. 
 It is enough to say that writers who do not believe in 
 jjjg Christianity have again and again ac- 
 
 Character of knowledged that the Portrait of our 
 Lord as drawn in the Gospels is that of 
 a perfect Man. In this connection I deemed it of 
 great importance to remind my readers that, unlike 
 other men, who may be considered good, never once 
 did Christ accuse Himself of sin. Nay, He declared 
 Himself to be without sin, and demanded all who 
 heard His Voice, under tremendous penalties, to 
 submit themselves to Him. *' It was said by God 
 to them of old time, but / say to you " — " a new 
 commandment do / give unto you." *' If any man 
 deny Me before men, I will deny him before My 
 Father in Heaven." Moreover He has declared that 
 He will judge the world. If then Christ be in truth 
 ^he most perfect Man the world has known — and 
 
The Divine Teacher 213 
 
 this is freely admitted — He is that which He claimed 
 to be, our Lord and our Judge, as well as our Divine 
 Exemplar, who commands us to "learn of" Him. 
 
 The choice has to be made by those who will face 
 the facts. Christ must be either rejected or accepted 
 absolutely and without reserve. And for those who 
 have come at last to say to Him with St. Thomas: 
 " My Lord and my God," proofs will soon be no 
 longer needed — needed far less than proofs are needed 
 by a devoted wife for her husband's good name, or 
 than elaborate arguments are needed by a friend to 
 build up his belief in the integrity of one whom he 
 has loved for many years. We know, and our know- 
 ledge transcends the proofs, upon which, perhaps, in 
 the beginning it may have rested. For Faith, we do 
 well often to remind ourselves, emphatically is know- 
 ledge^ — knowledge oftentimes far more sure than any 
 which depends upon the mere testimony of the senses. 
 And the knowledge which surpasses all knowledge is 
 the knowledge of Christ and of His Love — know- 
 ledge which bears within itself the seeds of our future 
 Life. This is Life Eternal to know the True God 
 and Jesus Christ whom God has sent. 
 
 1 C/. p. 39 '".q. 
 
IS GATHOLIGISM TRUE? 
 
"7/ J' a phiisir d'etre dans un vaisseau hattu 
 de Voyage lorsqii'on est assure qu'il ne perira 
 points" — Pascal: Pensces, 
 
PART II 
 IS CATHOLICISM TRUE? 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE RULE OF FAITH 
 
 Jesus Christ came into the world to teach. This 
 He has placed beyond a doubt. The question still 
 Christ the remains to be discussed : By what Medium 
 Divine does He teach each generation as it 
 
 passes ? How am I at the present day to 
 learn the supernatural truths which He has revealed ? 
 How am I to be certain as to what I am rightly to 
 believe ? 
 
 Christ's Now, it is undeniable that Christ 
 
 Method of when He lived upon this earth had only 
 Teaching. ^^^ method of teaching. He taught 
 orally, by word of mouth — and He taught with 
 authority. 
 
 Our Lord taught orally. Not once do we read 
 of His teaching by writing. Indeed, so far as 
 
 217 
 
21 8 Is Catholicism True? 
 
 we can learn from the records of His life, He wrote 
 His Teach' only once — the sins of the Pharisees, 
 ing oral. He then wrote on the sand, and His 
 writing was soon obliterated. 
 
 Our Lord '* taught with authority, and not as the 
 Scribes," and, though He was meek and humble 
 His Teach' ^^ heart, never did He brook opposition 
 ing authofi' to His teaching. He suffered indeed 
 tative. patiently, as a lamb led to the slaughter, 
 
 at the hands of those who treated Him despitefully 
 in His sacred Passion. He was spat upon and 
 mocked and scourged and crowned with the Crown 
 of Thorns, and clothed in the purple robe of derision, 
 and cruelly crucified between two thieves. Nor did 
 one word of reproach fall from His lips. But on the 
 other hand, never did He permit His Apostles to 
 contradict Him in His teaching. His was the Word 
 of God. " I say unto you " was a mode of speech 
 habitual with Him. It was the duty of men to 
 receive His words as little children — otherwise they 
 could not be His disciples. 
 
 We see then that not only did Christ teach orally, 
 but also that He demanded submission of the intellect 
 from those who listened to His voice. 
 
 ' But Christ no longer teaches us in His own Person. 
 We can no longer hear His living voice. And thus 
 the question arises — a question of the very highest 
 importance for those who believe in Christ : How 
 does Christ wish to teach me now ? What provision 
 
The Rule of Faith 219 
 
 has He made for the continuance of His teaching, so 
 
 that men may still be taught by Him, though His 
 
 visible Presence be withdrawn ? 
 
 The presumption is, unquestionably, that, as He 
 
 Presump- taught when He was on earth, in the 
 
 tion that the same manner w^ll He teach now — that 
 
 J?^ , ° ° His teaching will still be oral and 
 Divine ° 
 
 Teaching authoritative. Therefore it will in no 
 
 has not ^y^y surprise us that for more than 
 
 changed 
 
 since the nfteen hundred years all Christians be- 
 
 Ascension lieved that Christ had provided for the 
 preservation of His Revelation, intact 
 from error, through the institution of a teaching 
 yj^jg Church, guided by His Holy Spirit '* into 
 
 consistency all truth " — of a Church whose teaching 
 institution should be mainly and normally oral, 
 of the a Church which should teach authorita- 
 
 Church. ^jygiy -j^ Pl'g ]^ame, and in virtue of 
 
 His promises. 
 
 In the sixteenth century a theory hitherto un- 
 known in Christendom was for the first time 
 New Theory ^^^oached. It was asserted by certain 
 of Private innovators that no man was bound to 
 
 Judgement ^isien to the Teaching Church of Christ, 
 exercised ^ ° ' 
 
 upon the but that it was the right of every man 
 
 Bible* (nay, that it was his duty) to judge for 
 
 himself as to what He was to believe, by reading 
 
 and interpreting the Bible according to his own 
 
 private view of itj' meaning, through the exercise of 
 
220 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 what these innovators termed '' the sacred right 
 
 of private judgement." 
 
 Thus we have, in clear-cut opposition, on the one 
 
 side the ancient Catholic belief that Christ has left 
 
 Contrast ^^^ Church authoritatively to decide 
 
 between religious Controversies, and on the other 
 
 Catholic and ^^^ modern Protestant opinion that 
 
 Protestant ^ 
 
 Rule of Christ has left for this same purpose the 
 
 Faith. Bible as privately interpreted by each 
 
 individual. 
 
 All Catholics beheve in the Bible, and I suppose 
 that all Protestants believe (in some sense or other, 
 for here, as elsewhere, they differ amongst them- 
 selves) in a Church of Christ. But no Catholic 
 believes that he is to be taught by his private in- 
 terpretation of the Bible, in contradiction to the 
 official teaching of the Church. He does not believe 
 that the books of the Bible were given for this 
 purpose. And no Protestant (so long as he is true 
 to Protestant principles) will accept the teaching 
 of the Church, when it runs counter to his private 
 interpretation of the Bible. 
 
 It is true that in these latter years a new formula 
 
 has been discovered, " The Church to teach and the 
 
 Bible to prove." Some people think that 
 
 The Church r ^ ^ ^r i 
 
 to teach and here they have lound a halt- way house 
 
 the Bible between Catholic and Protestant ex- 
 
 o prove. tremes, but if we examine this formula 
 
 closely we shall see at once that it comes back to 
 
The Rule of Faith 221 
 
 the old Protestant principle, for, if I am to use the 
 Bible to ** prove'' the teaching of the Church, I 
 must, in the end, fall back upon my own private 
 interpretation of the Bible. (Obviously in this con- 
 text ^* to prove " can only mean to test). 
 
 After all, then, we have here nothing more than a 
 hesitating nineteenth-twentieth-century variant of the 
 old sixteenth-century trumpet note : '* The Bible and 
 the Bible only is the Religion of Protestants." 
 If a man is to '* prove " (or test) the Church's teach- 
 ing before accepting it, his ultimate authority is that 
 by which he " proves," so that if he is to '' prove" by 
 his private interpretation — then private interpreta- 
 tion necessarily remains for him where the first 
 Protestants placed it, at the very basis of his belief. 
 It is his Rule of Faith. 
 
 The Truths revealed by Christ constitute God's 
 Word to men. In itself, this Word of God — Divine 
 The "Word Revelation, whatever it may be — is, in the 
 of God the gygg Qf a.11 Christians, the ultimate, or (to 
 Rule of employ the terminology of Catholic 
 
 Faith. Theology) the Remote Rule of Faith. 
 
 This will be disputed by none. 
 
 Still, the question remains unanswered : How are 
 y, we, at the present moment, to discover 
 
 Proximate the contents and nature of this Remote 
 Rule of Rule of Faith — which is Divine Reve- 
 
 lation ? We require to know in what, pre- 
 cisely. Divine Relevation consists. By the Rule of 
 
222 Is Catholicism True? 
 
 Faith, therefore, is ordinarily understood not the 
 Remote, but the Proximate Rule of Faith — that is to 
 say the channel through which the Word of God is 
 communicated to us. Understanding the Rule of 
 Faith in this latter sense, the Catholic Rule is 
 simply: The Teaching of the Church, the Protestant 
 Rule is : The Bible as interpreted by each individual for 
 himself. 
 
 It should be clearly understood, on the one hand, 
 that the Catholic Church claims to teach, as matter 
 of Divine Faith, only those truths which have been 
 revealed by God and consequently rest on His Word, 
 and, on the other hand, that the Protestant Rule of 
 Faith assumes that each individual may count on 
 the assistance of the Holy Spirit in his private 
 interpretation of the Scriptures. It is alleged that a 
 Protestant does not rest his interpretation of the 
 Bible on his own private authority, though he does 
 rest it on his own private judgement, enlightened 
 by God. This, however, is merely a matter of phras- 
 ing, since in this case a Protestant rests his inter- 
 pretation on a private revelation supposed to have 
 been made to himself, of the truth of which he has 
 no guarantee whatsoever outside of himself. 
 
 Catholics in this country hardly realise 
 Protestants •' 
 
 generally that their fellow-citizens — at least those 
 take their ^mongst them who still continue to be- 
 
 Rule of .... 11 1 .!_ 
 
 Faith for Heve in Christianity — generally take the 
 granted. Protestant Rule of Faith for granted — 
 
The Rule of Faith 223 
 
 much in the same way that they take for granted 
 the multiplication table. This statement will appear 
 to many persons to be an exaggeration, but I know 
 that it in no way overshoots the mark. Again and 
 again I have asked people who are not Catholics, 
 but who beheve in Christ, by what means they think 
 that they are intended by God to find out what are 
 the Truths which Christ has revealed. I have never 
 received any but one answer, always given with the 
 utmost assurance: "By reading the Bible." No 
 other method seems ever to have occurred to them, 
 even though they may, Sunday after Sunday, have 
 placidly recited the words : " I believe the Holy 
 Catholic Church." They have no suspicion that 
 they have been using the Bible for a purpose for 
 which the Bible was never intended, when interpret- 
 ing its pages in opposition to the Teaching of that 
 Church to which the Bible throughout bears witness. 
 For this reason our work in England has too often 
 to be destructive before it can be constructive. We 
 are forced to pull down before we may hope to build 
 up. Men of good-will have to be shown how un- 
 reasonable and hopeless it is for them to imagine 
 that they can find out for themselves from the 
 Bible what Christ has revealed — at least in matters 
 disputed amongst Christians — before they are likely 
 to see how necessary it is for them to be taught by 
 the Church. 
 
 Since, then we live in a Protestant country, it is 
 
224 ^^ Catholicism True ? 
 
 an inevitable portion of our enquiry to examine this 
 Necessity of Protestant Rule of Faith : " I am to 
 examining believe what I find for myself in the 
 tcstant Rule Bible, nothing more and nothing less. 
 of Faith. Thus only may I hope to learn what is in 
 accordance with God's Revelation. ' Yes, the Bible, 
 the Bible alone, is the Religion of Protestants.' "^ 
 
 It will hardly be disputed by any one that, whatever 
 medium is asserted to have been left by Christ, 
 whereby Christians may be able to learn the Truths 
 which He has revealed, it must, if it is to be 
 accepted as such by reasonable men, comply with 
 the following conditions : — 
 
 {a) It must be the same in every age. It 
 
 would be a gratuitous assumption to assert that 
 
 K7T L r .u Christians were required by Christ to 
 Marks of the ^ -^ 
 
 true Rule learn what they were to believe in one 
 of Faith. manner in the first century, and in quite 
 another manner in the twentieth. 
 
 (6) It must be adapted to its purpose. To 
 think otherwise would be to deny the Wisdom of 
 God. 
 
 1 C/. Chillingworth's famous work The ReIii;ion of Proiesianls 
 a sure road to Salvation (vi. 56). " In order to know the 
 Reliction of Protestants neither the doctrine of Luther, nor that 
 of Calvin, or Melancthon is to be taken, nor the confession of 
 Augsburg or Geneva, nor the Articles of the Anglican Church, 
 nor even the harmonv of all the Protestant Confessions, but 
 that which they all subscribe to as the Perfect Rule of their 
 Faith and actions, that is to say, the Bible. Yes, the Bible, the 
 Bible alone, is the Religion of Protestants." 
 
The Rule of Faith 
 
 225 
 
 (c) It must have credentials. In other words 
 it must prove that it is what it claims to be. Some- 
 thing is needed in this matter beyond bare assertion. 
 
 (a) Now directly we consider the matter, we shall 
 
 see that the Protestant Rule of Faith is not the 
 
 „ ^ ^ ^ same Rule as that which was in existence 
 Protestant 
 
 Rule of in the early ages of Christianity. The 
 Faith not ^^.g^ Christians most certainly did not 
 
 that of the -^ 
 
 Church ^^^ out for themselves by the private 
 in the interpretation of the Bible what they were 
 
 eginning. ^^ believe, for the New Testament was 
 not yet in existence. (No one will maintain that 
 the Religion revealed by Christ is to be discovered 
 in the Old Testament, which, before His coming, 
 foreshadowed Christianity.) 
 
 As we learn from the Acts of the Apostles, the 
 oral and authoritative method of teaching employed 
 by Christ was continued after His Ascension, and 
 we re^d that the first Christians were taught orally 
 and authoritatively by the Church. For example, 
 we are told that, when a controversy arose in very 
 early days indeed, St. Peter and the other Apostles 
 settled it, not by reference to any books, but by the 
 words " It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and 
 to us."^ This is the Catholic method, not the Pro- 
 testant. It is the method of authority. When 
 employed by the Catholic Church to-day, her 
 enemies are accustomed to characterise it as 
 
 * Acts XV. 28. 
 
 IS 
 
2 26 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 '' arrogant in the extreme," or *' arrogant beyond 
 measure." There can be no arrogance if the Church 
 has authority and commission from God thus to 
 speak — if it is her duty thus to speak. 
 
 A Protestant may possibly imagine that when the 
 actual contemporaries of our Lord, who had Hstened 
 to His Words, had passed away, oral teaching was 
 superseded by the Bible as a Rule of Faith. Were 
 this the case, some evidence of so striking a change 
 would be found in the early Christian literature of 
 the sub-apostolic age. Of any such change no trace 
 whatever is to be found. 
 
 The New Testament as a whole has been so 
 familiar to us all since our childhood, that some- 
 times we do not remember how gradually it came 
 into being. Had our Lord intended Christians to 
 learn what they were to believe directly from a book, 
 who can doubt that He would have ordered such a 
 book to be composed ? There is no record of His 
 having done anything of the sort. Many belonging 
 to the first generation of Christians had already 
 passed away before a line of the New Testament 
 v/as written. Two generations, full of faith, had left 
 this world before the New Testament was completed. 
 
 - , St. Clement, Bishop of Rome, sent his 
 
 Epistle of Epistle to the Corinthians before the 
 Clement. Gospel of St. John had been given to the 
 Church. Yet no one who has read that Roman Epistle 
 will have failed to recognise its note of authority 
 
The Rule of Faith 
 
 227 
 
 and of certainty. There is no more suggestion that 
 those to whom it was addressed were free to " prove " 
 its commands and teaching by appeal to any other 
 writings (however sacred), than can be found in a 
 doctrinal letter of the Pope to-day. And, indeed, 
 Christians in Rome and Corinth could not have 
 appealed to the Sacred Scriptures as a final authority 
 on all religious subjects at a time when the fourth 
 Gospel was not in existence. 
 
 Again, even after the last book of Holy Scripture 
 
 had been written, it was by no means certain 
 
 ^ , amongst Christians which, amone^st the 
 
 Questions . . ° 
 
 as to the various religious writings then in exist- 
 Canon of ence, were Holy Scripture and which were 
 not. This question was only decided by 
 the authority of the Catholic Church under Damasus 
 Bishop of Rome.^ Apart from this authority, it is 
 impossible for any man to settle the Canon of Scrip- 
 ture with any finality or certainty. Apart from this 
 authority, there is no reason to maintain that the 
 Epistle of Jude, for example, is inspired and that 
 the Epistle of Barnabas is not. It reaches the height 
 of unreason first to accept Holy Scripture and 
 forthwith to reject the authority on which Holy 
 Scripture rests. Luther seems to have felt this, 
 when he ascribed various degrees of value to various 
 books of the New Testament, in proportion to the 
 
 ^ Cf. p. 264. 
 
228 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 degree in which he thought that they supported his 
 pecuhar opinions on justification, going so far as to 
 repudiate the Epistle of James altogether as an 
 " Epistle of straw." We find here private judgement 
 exercising itself (quite consistently, if the principle 
 be once admitted) not only on the meaning of the 
 Bible, but also on the preliminary question of what 
 the Bible is. 
 
 It is, then, quite evident that for the first four 
 centuries (that is, until the Church first taught 
 which Books constituted the Bible) the Protestant 
 Rule of Faith — the private interpretation of the 
 Bible — was impossible — and that even after it has 
 been settled for Catholics what is the Bible, many 
 difficult questions as to the canonicity of various 
 books remain to be settled by Protestants before 
 they are free to apply their private interpretation to 
 the contents of the Books which, in the exercise of 
 their private judgement, they may select. 
 
 Moreover, even after the various Books of the 
 
 New Testament had all been written and their 
 
 ^ rr. 1 t inspiration had been recognised by the 
 Difficulty of ^ . 
 
 general Church, for many centuries the com- 
 
 access to the parative rarity and cost of their manu- 
 
 Bible before ^ . -, j •. • -ui ^u ^ ^u 
 
 the DiS' scripts rendered it impossible that they 
 
 covery of should be widely distributed amongst 
 
 Printing. ^^^ Faithful.^ At least before the inven- 
 
 1 There is no doubt, hov.-ever, that, especially in the fourth 
 and filth centuries, the educated laity sought eagerly after 
 
The Rule of Faith 229 
 
 tion of printing, no way was open by which the 
 great mass of men could learn the truths of Chris- 
 tianity, excepting, through oral teaching, from the 
 Church. I say, at least before the invention of printing y 
 for even now, when close on five centuries have 
 passed since Caxton set up his printing press, great 
 numbers of Christ's disciples all over the world are 
 still unable to decipher printed characters. Not many 
 years ago I was told in an English post office, that 
 about one third of the applicants for Old Age 
 Pensions can neither read nor write. How are these 
 poor and aged folk to apply the Protestant Rule 
 of Faith, and exercise that sacred right of Private 
 Judgement which, as we are so often assured, is 
 " inalienably " theirs ? 
 
 these handwritten copies of portions of the Holy Scriptures 
 and regarded them as amongst their greatest treasures. To 
 *' betray " them in time of persecution to the enemies of the 
 Faith, was considered one of the most terrible crimes. In 
 this connection we may note that Professor Harnack writes 
 {Bible Reading in the Early Church, Eng. Trans., p. 97) : 
 " Optatus (VII.) speaks thus of the complete Bible. . . . 
 * Manus omnium codicibus plenae sunt.' " But it is certain that, 
 as Harnack has himself pointed out in the same book (p. 82}, 
 these codices were not * the complete Bible.' For the most 
 part, at least, they were separate Books. Moreover, it is held 
 by the best critical authorities that the passage quoted by Har- 
 nack as from Optatus is in fact the work of a forger, who was 
 anxious for his own purpose to minimise the effects of the 
 betrayal of Sacred Books during the persecution under 
 Domitian (C/. Optatus of Milevis Translated into English (Long- 
 mans), pp. 272, 305). In any case, the words Manns omnium 
 plence sunt are manifestly a rhetorical exaggeration, and as 
 such should ftot be pressed unduly. 
 
230 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 It is, then, plain, that the theory which calls upon 
 each individual Christian to discover for himself the 
 Teaching of Christ, by his private study and inter- 
 pretation of the Bible, far from having been employed 
 in every age, was absolutely impossible for four 
 hundred years (until the Canon of Scripture was 
 fixed), was unheard of in Christendom for more 
 than fifteen hundred years (until the invention of 
 printing), and is impracticable even to-day, except- 
 ing for those men and women who are more or less 
 educated (able to read) and more or less leisured 
 (with time to read). For the poor — for those very 
 poor whom one may see crowding Catholic Churches 
 all over the Vv^orld — its exercise is clearly out of the 
 question. Yet we read that it was especially to the 
 Poor that the Gospel of Christ was to be preached^ 
 
 On the other hand we find the Catholic principle 
 
 that we are to be taught by the Church '* in 
 
 possession " — with prescription from the 
 
 Catholic ... 1 r n r • i. ^u 
 
 Rule of begmnmg, and full of vigour at the 
 
 Faith that of present day. We find too that this 
 the Church pj-jnciple is wonderfully adapted to the 
 beginning needs of all men in every age, to the 
 and in needs of the lowly and simple, who still 
 
 cvOT age. ,^ ^j^^^^ receive "^ the Word of God, and 
 to the highest needs of those who are " wise in their 
 own conceits,"^ but who— so at least we are warned 
 by the Founder of Christianity, unless they "become 
 1 Luke iv. 18. 2 Acts ii. 41. ^ Rom. xi. 25 ; xii. 16. 
 
The Rule of Faith 231 
 
 as little children " — that is to say, (amongst other 
 things) unless they arc ready to be taught — shall never 
 enter His Kingdom.^ 
 
 Now this last consideration is of the greatest 
 possible importance — for 
 
 (6) The Rule of Faith given by our Lord must 
 
 not only be the same in every age of Christianity, 
 
 The True it must also be adapted to the purpose for 
 
 Rule cf which He s'ave it, since in His Divine 
 
 Faith is . , , ' 
 
 adapted to Wisdom God always proportions means 
 
 its end, to their ends. In this case the end 
 is to enable Christians to know simply, easily and 
 with certainty the truths which Christ revealed. 
 The means provided must therefore enable us to 
 know simply and easily, since it is to be used by 
 the poor and the uneducated as well as by the 
 learned ; it must also enable us to know with cer- 
 tainty, otherwise we should have no security in our 
 Faith, and should be liable to be *' tossed to and fro 
 and carried about with every wind of doctrine"^ — 
 we should be in the condition of those of whom the 
 Apostle wrote that they were " ever learning and 
 never coming to the knowledge of the Truth "^ 
 (knowledge involves certainty), and should be without 
 stability in our religion/ 
 1 Now it would seem to be impossible to maintain 
 
 1 Matt, xviii. 3. * Eph. iv. 14. 
 
 3 2 Tim. iii. 7. ^ Cf. 2 Pet. ii. 14 ; iii. 16. 
 
232 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 that the Protestant Rule of Faith is simple and 
 , easy or that it provides certainty — in 
 Protestant the teeth (i) of the express statement 
 Rule. ijj |-hg Bible itself to the contrary, and 
 
 (2) of experience. 
 
 (i) It cannot be said that the Scriptures are all 
 easily to be understood, when in these Scriptures 
 The themselves we read that they " contain 
 
 Scriptures things hard to be understood, which they 
 things hard ^^^^ ^^^ unlearned and unstable wrest to 
 to be under' their own destruction." ^ It may here be 
 ^ ' pointed out that though a man may well 
 
 to this of be condemned for self-sufficiency in re- 
 St. Peter, fusing to recognise his limitations, God 
 will neither blame nor " destroy" any man for mere 
 want of " learning," or for mere mistakes in inter- 
 preting that which is '* hard to be understood." It 
 follows that the *' destruction " which we are told is 
 to be the lot of those who wrest the Scriptures is the 
 consequence of their being *' unstable." But stability 
 presupposes something to which we have to be fixed 
 or (to change the metaphor) moored. In this case, 
 evidently, some Rule anterior to the reading of the 
 Scriptures themselves is assumed to be of supreme 
 authority. This Rule can only be the oral teaching 
 of the Church. No other has even been suggested. 
 And of (2) Experience has amply borne out St. 
 
 experience, Peter's warning concerning the difficulties 
 
 ^ 2 Pet. iii. 16. 
 
The Rule of Faith 233 
 
 in tlie interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. The 
 first example of this we may find once more in 
 these Scriptures themselves. 
 
 We read in the Acts of the Apostles that when 
 Philip the Deacon found an Ethiopian, " a man of 
 great authority under Queen Candace, 
 the Deacon sitting in his chariot and reading Isaiah 
 and the the Prophet, he said to him : " Thinkest 
 
 Ethiopian. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ understandest what thou 
 
 readest ?" And he answered : " How can I, unless 
 
 some man show me ?" Then St. Philip, we are told, 
 
 "opened his mouth," and proceeded to ''preach 
 
 unto him Jesus " — to explain and to teach.^ 
 
 But if the Old Testament requires an interpreter 
 
 of its meaning, this is certainly no less the case with 
 
 regard to the New. Should proof be 
 Variations ^ ^ , . . , r j 
 
 of Pro' asked for this statement, it may be found 
 
 testants in [^ ^he notorious fact that no sooner had 
 *^.!!!f^ol\'" the Protestant Rule of Faith been estab- 
 
 pf ctations 
 
 of the Scrip- lished by the Reformers, than we find 
 turcs. these same Reformers violently quarrelling 
 
 amongst themselves as to the true meaning of pas- 
 sage after passage in the Sacred Text. We may 
 observe the same phenomenon in our own country 
 at the present day. Men thoroughly competent in 
 other branches of scholarship prove themselves 
 incompetent in the business of interpreting the Scrip- 
 tures, for they cannot agree for a moment amongst 
 
 ^ Acts viii. 26-31. 
 
234 ^s Catholicism True ? 
 
 themselves as to their interpretation. And this 
 not merely where the grammatical construction 
 may be difficult, but also with reference to such 
 short sentences as " This is My Body," or 
 " Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven 
 them." 
 
 Nor is it possible to escape from this difficulty by 
 alleging that there is agreement about " Funda- 
 And this mentals," for in the first place there is 
 even with nothing in the Bible itself about agree- 
 rcgar o e jj^g^it being: necessary in *' Fundamentals" 
 mental only — on the contrary our Lord demands 
 
 Truths* Faith in all whatsoever that He has re- 
 
 vealed,^ and in the second place, no such agreement 
 can in fact be attained by the method of private 
 interpretation, even with regard to the most Funda- 
 mental doctrines. For example, Arians had much 
 to say with regard to the texts quoted by Catholics 
 to prove the Consubstantiality of the Son, and it is 
 difficult to prove from the Bible alone the Person- 
 ality and Divinity of the Holy Spirit, and exceed- 
 ingly hard to prove the efficacy of Infant Baptism, 
 or to justify the substitution of the Christian Sunday 
 for the Jewish Sabbath. These truths and practices 
 can only be proved and justified by the authority of 
 the Living Church. Yet, happily, all Protestants 
 to-day (excepting the Unitarians) accept the Doc- 
 trine of the Consubstantiality of the Son, and the 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 
The Rule of Faith 235 
 
 Godhead of the Holy Ghost, and also (excepting the 
 Baptists, Quakers, and Salvationists) baptise their 
 children, and all (excepting the Seventh-day Advent- 
 ists) keep the Lord's Day not on Saturday, but on 
 Sunday. How can these things be justified by 
 Protestants, if the private interpretation of Scripture 
 is their sole Rule of Faith, and if "the Bible and 
 the Bible only " is their " religion " ? 
 
 Moreover, how on Protestant principles is it pos- 
 sible to justify *'the eating of things strangled" or 
 with blood still in them, so plainly for- 
 tion^reat *' bidden — and apparently forbidden for all 
 things time — not only in Leviticus but also in the 
 
 strangled. New Testament ? ^ No private interpreta- 
 tion can suffice to satisfy us that this prohibition 
 was temporary in its character. Here we depend 
 absolutely on the practice of the Church, which, in 
 its turn, depends upon the authority of the Church 
 to change merely disciplinary regulations (even 
 though they be of Apostolic origin), in accordance 
 with the needs of changing times and circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Similarly, with regard to the Washing of the 
 Feet apparently commanded by our Lord,^ it is im- 
 Thc Wash' possible to prove by private interpretation 
 ing of the that this Rite is not a Sacrament. 
 ^^^^* Let me on this point quote at some 
 
 little length from the late Fr. Bridgett's most excel- 
 ^ Acts XV. 20, 29. 2 John xiii. 8-15. 
 
236 
 
 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 lent, but I fear little known, book The Ritual of the 
 New Testament : 
 
 ** It is not my wish to suggest a new heresy to 
 any lover of novelties, yet I will state my own con- 
 viction that a perfectly impartial, unprejudiced 
 reader, confining himself strictly to the New Testa- 
 ment, would select the " Washing of the Feet " as 
 one of the principal rites or Sacraments of Chris- 
 tian observance, and that he would probably rank 
 it with Baptism and Communion. ... St. John 
 records the history of the washing of feet in the 
 most circumstantial detail. It is performed in a 
 very striking and emphatic manner by Jesus Christ, 
 on the very eve of His death. He seems to make 
 it essential to fellowship with Himself. " If I wash 
 thee not, thou shalt have no part with Me." He 
 seems to impose a formal precept of its repetition. 
 *' You ought to wash one another's feet, for I have 
 given you an example, that as I have done to you, 
 so you do also." He seems to insinuate some mys- 
 terious meaning or virtue in it beyond what lies on 
 the surface : " What I do, thou knowest not now, 
 but thou shalt know hereafter." Anyone consider- 
 ing these things with a mind unprepossessed, and 
 with no further knowledge of the subject, would 
 assuredly assign to this rite an important place, 
 if not the very first place, among the observances of 
 Christianity. 
 
 " It is evident, at least, that not from Scripture 
 alone did Protestants derive their neglect of the 
 ceremony so impressively performed by our Blessed 
 Lord. No passage of Scripture is alleged to prove 
 that His apparent precept imposes no real obligation. 
 
The Rule of Faith 237 
 
 This is decided on conjecture alone. Washing of 
 the feet, it is said, was an oriental custom, a token 
 of hospitality and kindness in our Lord's time and 
 country. Therefore His action must be considered 
 merely as an oriental mode of teaching a lesson of 
 charity and humility. The lesson must be always 
 taught, but not in the same symbolic form. But 
 surely there is great rashness in such processes of 
 reasoning. Could not our Lord have adopted a 
 natural or oriental rite, and have elevated it to a 
 supernatural dignity, and made it of universal obli- 
 gation ? Was not a supper on bread and wine a 
 natural repast before our Lord's institution of Holy 
 Communion ? W^as not Baptism an oriental usage 
 when it was adopted and raised to new meaning 
 and dignity, and promulgated for all nations, by 
 Jesus Christ ? Those, then, must have a great 
 reliance on the certainty of their own reasoning, 
 who, with no other foundation than conjecture, 
 persuade themselves that our Lord's command 
 entails no literal obedience on themselves. Can 
 it be that they are emboldened to take this view 
 from observing that the Catholic Church has never 
 counted the washing of feet among the list of grace- 
 conferring Sacraments ? This is indeed the case ; 
 but then Catholics do not support their view by 
 appeal to Scripture only. The words that our 
 Blessed Lord spoke to St. Peter after washing his 
 feet — * What I do,' thou knowest not now; hut fJwu 
 skalt know hereafter — point to a subsequent and sup- 
 plemental information which was to be the key to 
 what is recorded by St. John. We believe that 
 that key was given to St. Peter and the Apostles, 
 and by them traditionally given to the Churches 
 which they founded, end by it we know that the 
 
238 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 washing of feet, though an important rite for all 
 ages, is not an eighth Sacrament."^ 
 
 No written document can possibly interpret itself. 
 Of this truth we have had a striking example in our 
 M LI d ^^^^^^ political history. During the sum- 
 George's mer of 1906 Mr. Lloyd George's Budget 
 great -was discussed in the House of Commons 
 
 for many months with much fulness and 
 extreme acrimony. It became one of the main issues 
 at a hotly contested General Election, and finally 
 passed into law. That same year the Courts of the 
 Realm decided that, in a matter of considerable 
 importance, the Government had misunderstood the 
 wording of their own measure, and that a certain 
 impost made under that measure was illegal because 
 contrary to its true meaning. But, if an Act of 
 Parliament passed in England with the greatest delib- 
 eration in the twentieth century needs an authentic 
 interpreter, how much more do not difficult books 
 written nearly 1,800 years ago in Greek and Hebrew 
 stand in need of authoritative explanations of their 
 meaning ? 
 
 No man can Nor is it possible to urge with any 
 without pre- effect that the Holy Spirit of God will 
 sump lon^^ enable the believer rightly to interpret 
 own inter- the Sacred Writings for himself, since in 
 pretation to ^j^^^^ ^g^g^ g^jj believers would interpret 
 the Holy , . 1 , , 
 
 Spirit of them m the same sense. As we have 
 
 God, seen, the very opposite is the case. 
 
 1 The Ritual of the Xew Testament, pp. 22^, 224. 
 
The Rule of Faith 239 
 
 If once we surrender the authority of the Church, 
 how, for example, can we Catholics be certain that 
 we are aided by the Spirit of God when we interpret 
 the passages concerning Baptism in the Catholic 
 sense, and that the Baptists are not aided by the 
 Holy Spirit, when they interpret those same passages 
 in a manner precisely opposite ? Or, how can the 
 Baptists be certain that they are right, and that 
 Catholics are wrong? No man dare, without in- 
 credible presumption, claim the aid of the Holy 
 Spirit for his own private conclusion against that of 
 his neighbour. But it is not an act of pride to 
 believe that the Holy Spirit was promised to the 
 Church ; there is no self-presumption in submitting 
 to her public and official decisions. 
 
 "The Gospel," remarks St. Jerome, '* consists 
 not in the words, but in the sense; a wrong ex- 
 planation turns the Word of God into the word of 
 man."i 
 
 This is undeniable. But to be sure that we have 
 
 the Word of God, and not the word of man, we 
 
 need a living interpreter. " When," 
 
 of a living writes St. Augustine, " you think that 
 
 interpreter yQ^ have been sufficiently tossed about 
 of the Bible* , . , , 
 
 and wish to see an end to your anxieties, 
 
 follow the Rule of Catholic Discipline, which has 
 
 come down to us through the Apostles from Christ 
 
 Himself, and which shall descend from us to the 
 
 latest posterity." 2 
 
 * In Episi. ad Galat. a j)^ Utilit. Creci., viii. 
 
240 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 This *' Rule of Catholic Discipline" is the Catholic 
 Rule of Faith, which is perfectly adapted to the end 
 for which it has been given. The longer I live the 
 more clearly do I see how hopeless it must always be 
 for me (or for anyone) to succeed in puzzling out by 
 private study the true meaning of Scripture, amidst a 
 multitude of conflicting interpretations — a very Babel 
 of voices — and to be sure that I am right, and that 
 others with whom I happen to disagree are wrong — 
 (for if one interprets privately one must disagree with 
 someone), and the longer I live the more manifest is 
 it to my mind that, since God wills that men should 
 believe His Revelation, He has provided a simple 
 way of knowing with certainty what precisely that 
 Revelation is. Thus and thus only, can we exercise 
 the Faith, which reposes on the Word of God, and 
 therefore shuts out wilful doubt. Thus and thus 
 only can be fulfilled the ancient prophecy that 
 " there shall be a straight way so that fools may 
 find it, and that the wayfaring man may not 
 stumble." ^ 
 
 The Protestant Rule of Faith requires much learn- 
 ing, and (if there is to be any consistency) even the 
 Extreme knowledge of ancient languages, for how 
 difficulty else can the reader of the Bible in a trans- 
 Sf *^^ lation be sure that the translation he is 
 
 Protestant 
 
 Rule of using is correct ? In other words it in- 
 
 Faith* volves the use of apparatus and equipment. 
 
 1 Isa. XXXV. 8. 
 
The Rule of Faith 241 
 
 The Catholic way requires none of these things as 
 necessary. Even ''the fool," the man of little in- 
 telligence, and " the wayfaring man " with no books 
 in his wallet — if he be but humble and obedient, may 
 find it and walk therein securely with great joy and 
 much contentment. 
 
 It is well known that at the time of the Reforma- 
 tion Catholics loudly complained that the first Pro- 
 Protestant testant translations of the Bible were full 
 miitraDsU' of gross mistranslations of the Sacred 
 tions. Text, made to support the new religion.^ 
 
 It is perhaps not so well known as it should be that 
 at the present day it is generally acknowledged 
 by scholars that such complaints were justified. 
 Almost all these mistranslations were removed from 
 the Authorised Version of King James, though one 
 glaring one remained to be set right by the Revised 
 Version of Queen Victoria.^ It is of course clear 
 that private interpretation exercised upon a mis- 
 translation of the Bible is not exercised upon the 
 Bible at all. 
 
 It will be generally admitted that a modern steve- 
 dore is hardly competent to interpret St. Paul's 
 epistles for himself. Yet I believe that a stevedore, 
 were he to attempt such interpretation would be 
 in the main more likely to be right — because more 
 likely to be in sympathy with the mind of the great 
 Apostle — than a modern German professor. How- 
 ever this may be, both stevedore and Professor may 
 1 Cf. Ward's Errata « i Cor. xii. 27. 
 
 16 
 
242 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 be sure that they are right, if when the Church has 
 spoken they accept her interpretation with submis- 
 sion of the intellect, for, since the Church is, as St. 
 Paul himself assures us, ** The Pillar and the Ground 
 of the Truth " ^ to the Church it belongs to interpret 
 the hard sayings of God. 
 
 (c) Moreover, not only is it necessary that the true 
 Rule of Faith for Christians be the same in every age 
 of Christianity i and he adapted to its purpose, 
 Ruk of ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ credentials — that is to say, 
 
 Faith has it must be able to show some reason for 
 credentials. .^^^^^^ beyond the bare, unsupported 
 
 statement of its advocates. 
 
 If anv man comes to me and says : 
 The Pro- , ,, • .1 t^-ui r 
 
 tcstant Rule " You should interpret the Bible tor 
 
 has none< yourself," I am clearly justified in answer- 
 ing : *'Why?" 
 
 We are told : " Nothing is to be believed as of 
 Faith unless it can be proved from the Bible." ^ This 
 is a clear-cut proposition. More, it is a definite 
 dogma. How, then, can this dogma, itself, be proved 
 from the Bible ? To this obvious question no reply 
 can be given. There is not one word in the Bible itself 
 to suggest anything of the sort. On the contrary, 
 in the Bible we read: "No prophecy is of private 
 interpretation."^ 
 
 1 I Tim. iii. 15. 
 
 a The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion— AtHcIq VI. 
 
 3 2 Pet. i. 20. 
 
The Rule of Faith 243 
 
 Sometimes, in mitigation of this striking fact, appeal 
 
 is made to two places in the New Testament ; the 
 
 _ first, in which Christ may have exhorted 
 
 The ... 11. 
 
 Pharisees the Pharisees to ''search the Scrip- 
 
 and the tures " ; ^ the second, in which the Jews 
 
 Beroeans. . ^^ . , ^ • ^ 
 
 of Beroea are praised as being " more 
 
 noble than those of Thessalonica, because they daily 
 
 searched the Scriptures." ^ But directly we examine 
 
 these passages in their context we see that in both 
 
 cases the reference is not to the Scriptures of the 
 
 New Testament but to the Scriptures of the Old 
 
 Law. Moreover, neither the Pharisees nor the 
 
 Beroeans were enjoined to search the Scriptures 
 
 to find out whether the Teaching of Christ, or the 
 
 Teaching of the Church, was in conformity with 
 
 what the Scriptures contained. The exact opposite 
 
 is in fact the case. The Pharisees were blamed 
 
 because, though " thmking in the Scriptures to have 
 
 life everlasting," they did not recognise the claims 
 
 of Him to whom those Scriptures "gave testimony," 
 
 and the Beroeans were praised because, unlike the 
 
 men of Thessalonica, they *' received the Word," 
 
 ^ John V. 39. The Greek original epeware very possibly is 
 not an exhortation (the imperative) at all, but an affirmation 
 (the indicative) — not '' search " but " you search." In the 
 Revised Version " you search " is placed in the text, vdth 
 "search" only in the margin. St. Cyril thinks that it is in- 
 dicative, St. John Chrysostom that it is imperative. In either 
 case the words of Christ carry with them a reproach, 
 
 2 Acts xvii. 10, II. 
 
244 ^^ Catholicism True ? 
 
 which was preached to them orally, " with eager- 
 ness " and searched the Scriptures, neither to criticise 
 that Word, nor to compare it with the Bible for 
 themselves, but to find out " whether these things 
 were so." The " things " concerning which they 
 searched " whether they were so " were the state- 
 ments that *' the Christ was to suffer, and to rise 
 again from the dead" and that the Lord Jesus 
 whom Paul ^'preached'' was the Christ of Jewish 
 prophecy.^ They searched the Scriptures for the 
 purpose of finding a living authority to whom they 
 might submit their minds and hearts. 
 
 Now this is precisely the Catholic method in deal- 
 ing with those Christians who, happily, believe in 
 the New Testament, though, unhappily, they are 
 not Catholics, as the Jews, happily, believed in the 
 Old Testament, though, unhappily, they did not 
 believe in Christ. To such Christians the Church 
 says to-day, just as our Lord once said to the Jews, 
 "Search the Scriptures" [or, perhaps : " You search 
 the Scriptures "], " for in themyou think to have eternal 
 life, and the same are they which give testimony of 
 Me."^ The Old Testament gives testimony to Christ, 
 the New Testament gives testimony to His Church. 
 
 1 Acts xvii. 3. 
 
 2 In the large edition of Cruden's Concordance this passage 
 is quoted under the word eternal, but the governing verb you 
 ihink is omitted, and " you have " is substituted for "you think 
 to have." 
 
The Rule of Faith 245 
 
 St. Paul tells us that " even until this day, when 
 Moses is read, the veil is upon the heart of the 
 St. Paul Jews."^ I trust that I shall not be 
 and Moses, wanting in charity if I write that it seems 
 to me that "even until this day," when the Gospels 
 and when Paul himself are read, a veil is over the 
 eyes of Protestants. 
 
 Those men are far " more noble " who, like the 
 men of Beroea, having searched '* the Scriptures to 
 see whether these things be so," submit to Christ 
 and to the Church of Christ whose authority they 
 have recognised, through that which they have read 
 therein, than are others who, like the men of Thes- 
 salonica, take no trouble to read anything, but are 
 content to shrug their shoulders with indifference, or 
 with unreasoning hostility. 
 
 Whilst, then, no support can be obtained from the 
 New Testament for the theory that Christians 
 Credentials should discover what Christ has revealed, 
 of the by searching its passages for themselves. 
 
 Rule of ^^^ New Testament clearly points out the 
 Faith. fact that Christians are to be taught 
 
 orally by the Church. Our Lord sent His Apostles 
 not primarily to write but to teach, and declared 
 solemnly that against His Church the Gates of Hell 
 should not prevail. He warned us that if we would 
 not "hear His Church" we were to be "as the 
 heathen and the publican."^ He promised the 
 
 ^ 2 Cor. iii. 15. 
 
246 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 assistance of His Spirit to guide His Church into 
 " all Truth." ^ And so, as we have seen, the iVpostles 
 relying on such promises as these, taught with 
 authority, claiming assent to their teaching from, 
 those who believed in Christ, without any appeal 
 being allowed to any written documents whatso- 
 ever. 
 
 I am not here arguing in a circle, first proving the 
 Bible from the Church, and then the Church from 
 the Bible. I am appealing to the Bible, when I am 
 waiting for Christians who already accept the Bible, 
 just as our Lord and St. Paul appealed to the Old 
 Testament, when they were dealing with Pharisees 
 and Jews of Beroea— all of whom accepted the Old 
 Testament. Moreover, those who are not Christians 
 will hardly refuse to accept the historical authority of 
 the Gospels as documents proving the manner in 
 which Christ intended that His Religion should be 
 propagated. 
 
 St. Paul assures us that " Faith cometh " not by 
 reading, but " by hearing." Here is the essential 
 Faith difference between the Protestant and the 
 
 cometh by Catholic Rule of Faith. " Faith," says 
 the Protestant controversialist, '' cometh 
 by reading — by reading the Bible." '' No," replies 
 the Catholic, "Faith cometh by hearing." And so 
 wrote the Apostle in the beginning : " Faith cometh 
 by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ."' 
 
 ^ Matt, xviii. 17. ^ Rom. x. ly. 
 
The Rale of Faith 24; 
 
 Nowhere in the Bible is the expression " Word of 
 Christ" or **Word of God" used for its own pages. 
 The Word The Word of God is the Revelation of 
 of Christ, God to mankind in Christ, who is Him- 
 self the Personal Word of God. 
 
 God's Revelation is the Absolute Rule of Faith, 
 and this Revelation comes to us, '* by hearing," 
 through the Church of God. " Faith cometh by hear- 
 ing, but how shall they hear without a preacher?"^ 
 Such a preacher of the Word of Christ Christians 
 have had from the beginning, and will have to the 
 end, in His Church. ** And how shall they preach 
 unless they be sent?"^ Christ sent His Church 
 with the great words : *' Go make disciples of all 
 nations, and I am with you all days even to the 
 consummation of the world." ^ The Church of 
 Christ can never become "corrupt," or teach false- 
 hood in the place of truth, for the Gates of Hell 
 shall not prevail, nor shall His Presence fail her. 
 
 To sum up the conclusions at which we have 
 arrived on this subject of supreme importance. It 
 is, surely, abundantly clear that the Protestant Rule 
 of Faith {a) was impossible of application until the 
 Scriptures had been written, and the Canon of 
 Scripture fixed, and printing invented, that (6) m 
 
 1 Rom. X. 14. * Rom. x. 15. 
 
 3 Matt, xxviii. 19. The Cambridge Bible for Schools {St. 
 Matthew's Gospel, p. 230) says that the word teach is a 
 "mistranslation" of the Greek word fiadr]T€va-aT€, which should 
 be translated make disciples of as in R.V. 
 
248 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 practice it is obscure, and has always led to endless 
 disputes which it is powerless to settle, and that 
 (c) it can derive no sanction from the authority to 
 which it appeals — Holy Scripture itself; whilst the 
 The conclu' Catholic Rule of Faith alone complies 
 sion of the with those conditions which we have 
 °^^""* seen to be essential, for it (a) alone is 
 
 unchangeable, having alone been the same in every 
 age; it (6) alone is adapted to its purpose, for it alone 
 is clear and suited to the needs of all, whether 
 educated or uneducated, it [c] alone possesses divine 
 Credentials, for it alone is armed with God's autho- 
 rity and dependent upon the Promises of Christ. 
 The true Rule of Faith is the authoritative teach- 
 ing of the Church of Christ. By this Rule alone is 
 it possible to know, with certainty, the full Revela- 
 tion of God. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 THE WORD OF GOD 
 
 So far the course of our investigation has shown us 
 our need of an authorised living teacher or Church 
 to promulgate and explain what the Holy Scriptures 
 sometimes term the Gospel, sometimes the Faith, 
 sometimes the Word of Christ, sometimes the Word 
 of God. 
 
 Two questions remain to be discussed. What 
 precisely is the Word of God ? Where is the 
 Church of Christ to be found ? 
 
 In this chapter, and in our next, we shall be con- 
 cerned with the first of these questions. 
 
 The Word of God is, as all Christians are 
 agreed, God's Revelation — a Mystery received by 
 The Word Faith on God's authority. On this sub- 
 of God. ject let us hear St. Paul : '* We adul- 
 terate not," he wrote to the Corinthians, " the 
 Word of God, but with sincerity, as from God, 
 before God, in Christ we speak." ^ And, again, to 
 
 ^ Cor. ii. 17. 
 249 
 
250 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 the Thessalonians : " We were approved by God 
 that the Gospel should be committed to us. . . . 
 We preached amongst you the Gospel of God. . . . 
 We also give thanks to God without ceasing that 
 when you had received of us the Word of God 
 which we taught you^ you received it not as the 
 word of men, but (as it is indeed) the Word of 
 God."^ Similarly, he tells the Romans that he had 
 received his apostolate " to bring about the obedience 
 of Faith,"* and again he thanks God that they had 
 '' obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which 
 had been delivered to them."^ Once more, to the 
 Colossians he writes "that they had been made 
 firm in the Faith, as they had been taught it."^ 
 
 And as St. Paul had received his apostolate to 
 teach not the word of men, but the Word of God, 
 so it is with the Church to-day, and so has it been 
 in every age. She receives no new Revelation. She 
 has no authority to teach human learning. Her 
 function is to teach the Gospel of Christ which has 
 been committed to her keeping by her Lord. 
 
 Now, the question arises what external means (if 
 any) does the Church possess — apart from the 
 hidden supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit 
 ' — to the end that she may recognise God's Revela- 
 tion and be able to discern and separate the word of 
 men with certainty from the Word of God ? 
 
 1 Literally " the Word of hearing from us of God." 
 
 2 I Thess. ii. 4, 9, 13. ^ Rom. i. 5. 
 * Rom. vi. 17 * Col. ii. 7. 
 
The Word of God 251 
 
 It may help us to answer this question if we 
 remember that we find in the New Testament two 
 The Deposit phrases which are synonymous with the 
 of the Faith. Word of God. The first of these is the 
 Greek expression ?; 7rapa6/]/cr] tt}? TnaTeo)^ which is 
 translated in the Vulgate DeposiUim Fidei, and in 
 English, The Deposit of the Faith, and the second 
 Tjjg r) TrapaSocTL^; or sometimes in the plural 
 
 Tradition, ac 7rapaS6aeL<;, the things which have been 
 handed down. {Res TraditcB.) 
 
 The Word of God is a treasure which has been 
 deposited with the Church. It was to be carefully 
 transmitted from generation to generation. This 
 was well understood in the Church from the begin- 
 ning. For example, we find St. Clement, Bishop of 
 Rome, writing as follows to the Corinthians : '* Let 
 us conform to the glorious and holy Rule (or Canon) 
 of our Tradition" (rov rrj^i irapaSoaeo)'^ rjficov /cdvopa).^ 
 In using these words — before, as we do well to 
 remember, the Canon of Scripture was completed — 
 St. Clement was but echoing those of St. Paul who 
 had written to these same Corinthians both of the 
 measure of the Rule (or Canon) ^ and of the Tradi- 
 tions. " Hold the Traditions (ra? 7rapa86a€i,<;) as I 
 have delivered them to you."^ 
 
 ^ Ep. Clem., viii. 2. 
 
 2 2 Cor, X. 13. St. Paul employs the word <avoiv again in 
 Gah vi. 16. 
 '^ I Cor. xi. 2. 
 
252 
 
 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 And to the Thessalonians : " Therefore, brethren, 
 
 stand fast, and hold the Traditions which you have 
 
 learned, whether by word or by our 
 The Word . , ,, i ^t-i -t- t • 
 
 of God epistle. ^ 1 hese 1 raditions were none 
 
 written other than the Word of God (St. Paul 
 
 would not either himself '' hand down," 
 
 or call upon his disciple to " stand fast ' in, merely 
 
 human teaching). We see then that, according to 
 
 the teaching of St. Paul, the Word of God (the 
 
 Deposit of the Faith) was to be handed down from 
 
 two great sources — firstly, the oral teaching of the 
 
 Apostles (that which they taught ''by word"), and, 
 
 secondly, that which they committed to writing 
 
 (" by our epistle ") in the Sacred Scriptures of the 
 
 New Testament. 
 
 Thus St. John Chrysostom, commenting on these 
 
 words (" whether by word or by our epistle "), writes 
 
 Function of as follows: "They [the Thessalonians] 
 
 the Church, ^iti not learn all things by letter, but 
 
 many things also without writing; nevertheless 
 
 both the one and the other are equally worthy of 
 
 belief (aftoTrto-ra) ; so then we also should consider 
 
 the Tradition of the Church worthy of belief 
 
 {a^io-ma-Tov). It is a Tradition, inquire no further." ^ 
 
 A Tradition— yes, but "a Tradition of the Church," 
 
 not a tradition of man. It belongs to the Church 
 
 not only to sift and separate false Scriptures from. 
 
 ti-Qe — a task accomplished when the Canon of 
 
 1 2 Thcss. ii. 14. ^ Horn. iv. on 2 Th?ss. 
 
The Word of God 253 
 
 Scripture was fixed — but also to sift and separate 
 heretical oral traditions, "the traditions of men "^ 
 from her own Tradition — from those sacred doctrines, 
 handed down by the Holy Apostles, which are truly 
 divine in their origin, coming from God. To hand 
 down the true and to reject the false traditions will 
 be part of the allotted task of the Church of God to 
 the end of time. 
 
 As we have just seen, St. Paul divides " the 
 [divine] Traditions " into those which were only 
 Divine spoken, and those which were written. 
 
 Tradition. However, for the sake of greater clearness, 
 another division has long been in vogue. We do 
 not now speak of Holy Scripture as part of " the 
 Traditions" (though of course Holy Scripture has 
 been handed down). By Divine Tradition we now 
 mean those truths of Revelation which are not to be 
 f^oly found (at least expressly) written in the 
 
 Scripture. Holy Scriptures. Using the word Tradition 
 in this last sense, (a) Divine Tradition, and (b) Holy 
 Scripture, are the twin sources of the Church's 
 teaching. 
 
 We must say something about each of these, and 
 will begin with Divine Tradition. 
 
 (I.) We say Divine Tradition, to distinguish it not 
 only from false (heretical) traditions, but also from 
 
 1 Col. ii. 8 : rj Trapddoo-is roav dvOpwrrcov ; cf. Matt. XV. g,[€vTd\- 
 fxara rn'OputTroiv. 
 
254 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 any tradition which is purely ecclesiastical and 
 
 j^. . . consequently liable to change. For, laws 
 
 Ecclesiastical and customs which the Church has in- 
 
 Traditioas, stituted, thesc (however venerable they 
 
 may be) the Church can modify, change, or abrogate 
 
 in accordance with the needs of various times and 
 
 places. Such ecclesiastical traditions (some of them 
 
 very possibly coming from the Apostles themselves) 
 
 concern, for instance, the observance of Lent, or the 
 
 Fast before Communion. But a Divine Tradition, 
 
 concerning some Truth of Faith, or some Moral 
 
 Principle, the Church can by no means change. 
 
 Such a Tradition did not emanate from the Apostles 
 
 as from its source. They received it either from 
 
 Christ before His Ascension or from His Holy Spirit 
 
 after the Day of Pentecost, and entrusted it as a 
 
 sacred Deposit to the keeping of the Church. The 
 
 function of the Church with regard to that which 
 
 she has received from the Apostles is limited to 
 
 handing it on in every age intact and uncorrupt. 
 
 I shall always henceforth use the word Tradition 
 
 in this sense — of the Divine Tradition. 
 
 It is quite clear that in the beginning the Church 
 
 depended for her teaching exclusively upon Tradition 
 
 communicated orally, since for many 
 Tradition . ^, . ,. ... 
 
 in the years there were no Christi?<n writmgs m 
 
 Apostolic existence, and when gradually the New 
 
 ^^^* Testament came, neither any one of its 
 
 books severally nor those books as a whole were 
 
The Word of God 255 
 
 intended to give a systematic account of the Christian 
 Doctrine. That Doctrine had been already com- 
 municated in the ordinary manner by word of 
 mouth. 
 
 Still, it is the case that in the Providence of God 
 most of the truths contained in Divine Revela- 
 Function of tion are witnessed to, at least, indirectly 
 
 Tradition in ^^ one or Other of the Sacred Writings. 
 
 interpreting , , 
 
 the Holy Consequently, at the present day perhaps 
 
 Scriptures. we feel the need of Tradition prin- 
 cipally, when there is a question either of determin- 
 ing authoritatively the meaning of the actual words 
 of Scripture or of bringing out the inner signifi- 
 cance of words whose verbal meaning is clear. An 
 example of the former necessity may be found in 
 the Divine Words : " This is My Body." Here it is 
 essential to be able to discern with certainty the 
 meaning of the Sacred Words themselves ; but this 
 would be impossible without a Divine Tradition 
 existing in the Church capable of assuring us with 
 certainty as to their true meaning. An example 
 of the second use of Tradition, in the interpretation 
 of Scripture, is to be found in the teaching of the 
 Church that the words of St- James, '* Is any man 
 sick amongst you," ^ etc., refer to the Sacrament 
 of the Last Anointing, not to a charisma that was 
 intended to be temporary and has passed away. 
 Moreover, there are some revealed Truths which 
 ^ Jas. V. 14. 
 
256 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 are either not taught at all in the Holy Scriptures, 
 or are taught only obscurely. An example of the 
 former is the Perpetual Virginity of our Blessed 
 Lady. An example of the second is the Personality 
 of the Holy Ghost. Yet both these truths have 
 certainly been revealed by God, and both have 
 been believed most firmly in the Church from the 
 beginning. We have received them by Divine 
 Tradition. 
 
 This then we understand by Divine Tradition — 
 any part of God's Revelation, whether it concern 
 the correct interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, 
 or some Truth to which there is no reference, or only 
 obscure reference, in Holy Writ. 
 
 It has often been pointed out by persons who reject 
 the authority of Tradition in religion that, whereas 
 Q, . . anything which has once been written 
 
 against remains the same — its characters do not 
 
 Tradition, change with the lapse of time— it is 
 notorious that a message which passes from lip to 
 lip will often change its meaning as it passes. For 
 this reason, so it is argued, no one would trust an 
 important message to oral delivery if he were in 
 a position to commit it to writing. The reply is 
 simple. It is not a question of what God might 
 be expected to do, but of what He has actually 
 done. It can be demonstrated that God did not 
 cause His message (as a connected message) to 
 be committed to writing, but that He did guarantee 
 
The Word of God 257 
 
 indefectibility to His Church in guarding His Word 
 and handing it down faithfully through the ages. 
 The whole analogy between human ways and divine 
 ways, between the wisdom of man and the wisdom 
 of God, fails when we remember that the very corner- 
 stone of the Catholic Faith is the belief that God 
 protects His Church — His Messenger — from the 
 possibility of error in delivering His Word (as He 
 protected His Prophets who prepared the way for 
 that Word) after a manner in which it would be 
 impossible for any civil state, or earthly institution, 
 to protect its envoys or delegates. A statesman or a 
 man of business quite reasonably and necessarily 
 takes precautions in the conduct of affairs, which are 
 in no way necessary for Almighty God. The Spirit 
 of God employs other methods than those employed 
 by the wisest of men. Moreover, in any case the 
 objection will not hold good. Written documents are 
 notoriously open to misconstruction, even when but 
 little time has elapsed. (We have already referred 
 to this in the case of Mr. Lloyd George's Budget.) 
 The guarantee of the reliability of an oral message 
 is far more sure. A business man will often trust 
 a representative in whom he has confidence for a 
 difficult negotiation or to give a clear undertaking 
 in preference to sending a letten How often do we 
 not say, " Don't write, go and see the man yourself." 
 It is, therefore, a matter of comparatively little 
 practical consequence that Tradition soon ceased to 
 
 17 
 
258 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 be purely oral. Without an indefectible interpreter 
 vyritten theological documents must be always 
 useless to after ages as a Rule of Faith. 
 
 The Divine Tradition was enshrined in the writings 
 
 of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, who 
 
 are witnesses to its continuity in each 
 
 Writings of i t u 
 
 the Fathers succeedmg age. ror example, I nave 
 enshrine already observed that the Perpetual Vir- 
 ginity of Mary cannot be proved directly 
 from the Holy Scriptures (certain types in the Old 
 Testament do not suffice to establish a proof without 
 the testimony of Tradition), but the Tradition on 
 which this truth is based has long since ceased to 
 be merely oral. We find it taught unhesitatingly in 
 the writings of Catholic Antiquity. Still, it remains 
 true that a Catholic does not believe that Mary was 
 ever a Virgin because the Fathers of the Church 
 have said so. He believes in our Lady's Virginity, 
 as he believes in every other doctrine of the Faith, 
 because the Church assures him that she has received 
 this truth from God Himself. It is part of God's 
 Revelation and of her Divine Tradition. We believe 
 it on the authority of God, as God's Holy Word. 
 Necessity of All must admit that from the nature 
 Traditional q( the case, and the express words of 
 every succes- St. Paul, which we have already quoted,^ 
 sivc age. Christians were in the beginning required 
 
 I Cf. p. 252, 
 
The Word of God 259 
 
 to accept the traditional teaching of the Church, 
 even though it had as yet been nowhere written. 
 If any man holds that this method was at some 
 later period changed by Divine authority, the 
 burden of proof lies upon him. He has to show 
 when and where this change was effected. It is 
 certain that of any such change there is no hint, 
 either in the Holy Scriptures or in Ecclesiastical 
 history, until the great upheaval of the sixteent 
 century. When Protestantism discarded Tradition, 
 the Scriptures were variously interpreted according 
 to the various views of individuals, with no check 
 from that which had been handed down. The 
 inevitable result was chaos. 
 
 (II.) Alongside of her Tradition, the Church has 
 received the Holy Scriptures as a great depository 
 The Holy o^ Revelation. Although Catholics know 
 Scriptures, that all revealed truth is not expressly 
 written down in the Holy Scriptures, they know 
 also that, since the Holy Scriptures are inspired by 
 God, whatever they do teach is true. 
 
 It may be well for us to consider briefly the 
 
 history of the Canon of Holy Scripture. Canon is a 
 
 jr» J f Greek word which means Rule or Measure. 
 
 tte Canon We have already considered its use in this 
 of Scripture. ^^^^^ ^^ g^^ p^^j ^^^ ^^ p^p^ 5^^ Clement 
 
 with regard to the Faith. It also means a catalogue. 
 In this sense we find it used by the Fathers of the 
 
26o Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 fourth century for a list of the books which they 
 regarded as complete Scripture. And from the fifth 
 century onward these books were called Canonicaly 
 because they are part of the Rule (or Canon) of 
 Faith. So, joining these two senses of the word 
 together, by the Canon of Scripture, we now mean the 
 list of books which the Church regards as con- 
 stituting the determinate written element in the 
 Revelation received by the Apostles from our Lord. 
 
 Other writings (as those of the great Fathers) 
 may bear their witness to the nature of Revelation : 
 but the Holy Scriptures are the only written docu- 
 ments which Catholics believe to have been inspired 
 by the Holy Spirit and therefore accept (apart from 
 any previous investigation of their contents), as hall- 
 marked by God Himself. The Bible is an essential 
 part of the Deposit committed to the keeping of the 
 Church. 
 
 It may be well at this point to furnish my readers 
 with a short account of the formation of 
 the Canon of Scripture. 
 
 A. With regard to the Old Testament. 
 
 The Jews had two Canons. We know from 
 
 ^, ^ij Tosephus^ that the Tews in Palestine did 
 The Old J r J 
 
 Testament, not accept as canonical, the books which 
 
 Ti. T-. . Catholics term Deutero-canonical and 
 TheDeuterO' 
 
 canonical Protestants call Apocryphal. It is, how- 
 Books, ever, equally certain that they are all 
 
 1 Contra Apioii., i. 8. 
 
The Word of God 261 
 
 contained in the Greek Septuagint, which was used 
 by the Jews at Alexandria. We find them inter- 
 spersed in the Septuagint with the other books, just 
 as in the Vulgate and our Catholic Bibles of to-day. 
 They were therefore, undoubtedly regarded as 
 canonical by the Alexandrian Jews. And — a fact 
 which is far more important — almost all the quota- 
 tions in the New Testament (more than 300 of the 
 350) are from the Septuagint. Moreover, our Lord 
 and His Apostles gave the sanction of their authority 
 to the Deutero-canonical Books by quoting from 
 them in the same manner as from the Books of the 
 Palestinian Canon. ^ We are not, therefore, surprised 
 to find the Fathers of the first three centuries treat- 
 ing these Books as Canonical. For example the 
 Didache quotes Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom, Pope 
 St. Clement quotes Judith, Tobias, Wisdom, Eccle- 
 siasticus and the second book of Machabees, St. 
 Polycarp quotes Tobias, and St. Irenseus Baruch and 
 Wisdom. 
 
 In the fourth century, however, some of the 
 greatest Fathers, such as St. Athanasius and St. 
 Jerome, expressed doubts as to the Canonicity of the 
 Deutero-canonical books. Notwithstanding this fact, 
 a Council held at Hippo in 393 and two Councils at 
 
 ^ Cf. Matt. vi. 14 and Eccli. xxviii. 2 ; Matt, xxvii. 39 and 
 Wisd. ii. 17 ; Rom. i. 20-32 and Wisd. xiii. xv. ; i Cor. ii. 19 
 and Judith viii. 14 ; i Pet. i. 6 and Wisd. iii. 3 ; Jas. i. 19 
 and Eccli. v. 13, etc. 
 
262 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 Carthage in 397 and 419 included them in lists of 
 the books of Holy Scripture. We find the same 
 decision in a Decree of Pope Innocent the First, 
 A.D. 405. A Council held at Constantinople at the 
 close of the seventh century, which the Greeks 
 recognise as a continuation of the fifth and sixth 
 (Ecumenical Councils, decided the matter in the 
 same sense. Finally, for Catholics the question was 
 closed (if indeed it was still open) by a formal Decree 
 of the Council of Trent. 
 
 I may perhaps be permitted to add that, apart from 
 the Inspiration of these Books, those who neglect 
 them suffer a very great spiritual loss. A man who 
 reads the Book of Wisdom for the first time will, 
 whether he believes it to be inspired or not, know at 
 any rate that he has been introduced to a prose-poem 
 of surpassing beauty and fascination, singularly 
 adapted to raise his mind and heart in grateful 
 thanks to God. 
 
 B. With regard to the Canon of the New Testament. 
 
 In the early ages of Christianity there was con- 
 siderable doubt. On the one hand many books 
 
 rj,. ^ had been written by Apostles to local 
 
 The Canon "^ 7 . . 
 
 of the New Churches, and even to individuals, and 
 Testament, ^j^ggg Q^ily gradually became known to the 
 Church Universal ; on the other hand, there were 
 books written and widely circulated by heretics 
 which claimed to be Apostolic in origin. The matter 
 was by no means easy and simple. 
 
The Word of God 263 
 
 From the year 130 to the year 220 we find various 
 lists of the Canonical books of the New Testament 
 drawn up in various Churches, but these hsts by no 
 means agreed amongst themselves. Especially were 
 questions raised concerning the canonicity of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of St. James, 
 the Second of St. Peter, the Second and Third of 
 St. John and the Apocalypse. Again, in certain 
 Churches the Epistle of Pope St. Clement to the 
 Corinthians and the Pastor of Hermas were admitted 
 as canonical, whilst heretics freely mingled their 
 apocryphal writings with the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 The rise of the Montanist heresy in the third 
 century indirectly contributed much to the solution 
 of vexed questions concerning the Canon. The 
 Montanists claimed that the writings of their ecstatic 
 Prophets had equal authority with those of the 
 Apostles. In answer to this pretension it was 
 generally recognised amongst Catholics that no 
 books could be regarded as inspired, excepting those 
 which had been written by Apostles, or (like the 
 Gospels of Mark and Luke) with their express 
 approbation. In accordance with this principle the 
 Epistle of Clement and the Pastor of Hermas dis- 
 appeared from the lists, as well as the Epistle which 
 had been attributed by some to St. Barnabas, and 
 henceforth the only question at issue was : Which 
 books were (directly or indirectly) of Apostolic 
 source ? 
 
264 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 We find St. Augustine^ and St. Jerome^ in the 
 fourth century accepting all the books contained in 
 our present Canon, though St. Augustine notes that 
 some still doubted the Epistle to the Hebrews, and 
 the Apocalypse, whilst St. Jerome observes that 
 many denied the authenticity of the Epistles of Jude 
 and James, the Second of Peter and the Second 
 and Third of John. In spite of such reserves and 
 hesitancies, Pope St. Damasus (St. Jerome was his 
 secretary) in the year 382 issued a decree in which 
 he expressly declared that the Holy Scriptures of the 
 New Testament consisted of the books which are 
 now to be found in our Bible. Henceforward the 
 question was settled for Catholics. We find a formal 
 decree to the same effect drawn up by the Council 
 of Trent against the Protestant innovators, several 
 of whom — notably Luther, who had succeeded in 
 expunging the Deutero-canonical books from the 
 Old Testament — were anxious also to exclude certain 
 books from the New. Happily, however, here they 
 failed. In this matter the force of Tradition was 
 too strong for them, and to-day Protestants every- 
 where — at least those amongst their number who 
 recognise any Scripture at all as Divine — accept with- 
 out question the list of the Books of the New Testa- 
 ment authorised as Canonical by Pope St. Damasus 
 
 It must be admitted that, apart from the eccle- 
 
 * De Doctrina Cliristian, 11, 12 ; Enchiridion, 8; Scrm. ccxcix. 
 2 Ep. ad Paul, viii ; Dc viris illustribiis, i, 2, 5, 9, 18, 69. 
 
The Word of God 265 
 
 siastical authority, the question of the Canon is 
 
 complex and difficult, and it is hard to see how 
 
 those Christians who reject the Catholic Rule of 
 
 Faith can have certainty as to the authenticity of 
 
 their Scriptures; yet for them certainty as to the 
 
 Bible is presupposed and is of the very essence and 
 
 groundwork of their belief. 
 
 To sum up — in the beginning the revealed Word 
 
 of God consisted of the oral teaching (which we call 
 
 Tradition) given by our Lord to His 
 Cdnclusion 
 
 of the Apostles; to this gradually were added 
 
 Matter. the Books of the New Testament, which 
 (together with the Sacred Books of the Jews) the 
 Church subsequently declared to be inspired by 
 God. 
 
 When we understand what is meant by the Word 
 
 of God, the meaning of heresy becomes clear. 
 
 -_ , , '* The word aLpccrif; is found," writes 
 Meaning of '^ 
 
 the word M. Batiffol, "both in the LXX and in 
 Heresy. classical Greek ; it means * choice,' and 
 by extension an " opinion freely chosen," and hence 
 in a sense which implies no depreciation — a 'school' 
 or a * party.' Thus Josephus speaks of the Phari- 
 sees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes as being three 
 Jewish heresies (aipecret?). This is also the mean- 
 ing of the word as employed by St. Luke in Acts 
 V. 17, XV. 5, xxiv. 5, 14, xxviii. 22. In St. Paul's 
 epistles it signifies a culpable descent, a schism 
 
266 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 (Gal. V. 20 ; i Cor. xi. 19), so that heresy, which 
 would be for a Greek philosopher a symptom of Hfe, 
 is for St. Paul a downright disorder."^ Choice, when 
 it involves the prudent use of the intelligence and 
 the will in matters rightly open to choice, is meri- 
 torious ; when used to reject God's Revelation — His 
 word committed to the Church — it becomes a crime. 
 To obey God's Word is our duty ; to revolt against 
 that Word — to choose something else in its stead — 
 in this sense to exercise Private Judgement is, in the 
 eyes of the Apostle, to revolt against God Himself — 
 a deadly sin. For this reason he wrote to Titus: 
 " A man that is a heretic^ after the first and second 
 admonition avoid ; knowing that he that is such a 
 one is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by 
 his own judgment."^ 
 
 We have no right to ''judge " against the Faith 
 that has been handed down, for in this matter we 
 have no means of judging. Therefore to judge 
 against the Faith involves setting up our judgement — 
 which is the word of man— against the Word of God. 
 Heresy is simply picking and choosing in religion. 
 In politics, in natural science, in literature, such 
 picking and choosing is highly desirable when exer- 
 cised by those who are competent ; in religion, from 
 
 ^ Primiiive Catholicism (English Edition), p. 114, n. 4. 
 
 * alpfTiKos. This derivative from atpfo-ts- appears here for the 
 first time, it is found neither in the LXX nor in classical 
 Greek. 
 
 3 Titus iii. 10. 
 
The Word of God 267 
 
 the very beginning of Christianity, it has been held 
 to be indefensible. 
 
 The word heterodoxy is regarded by St. Paul as a 
 synonym for heresy. '* If any man teacheth other- 
 And of wise {eTepo^LhaaKokel) and consent not 
 
 Heterodoxy, to the sound words of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, he is proud, knowing nothing."^ 
 
 It has been said as a gibe that " heterodoxy is 
 your doctrine, and orthodoxy is my doctrine." On 
 the contrary, orthodoxy consists in adhering to the 
 "sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ" committed 
 to the keeping of His Church, which is '' the pillar 
 and ground of the truth." ^ Heterodoxy is " to think 
 otherwise"® 
 
 We may fitly close this chapter with the closing 
 words of St. Paul's first Epistle to Timothy. 
 
 '* O Timothy, keep that which is committed to 
 thy trust, avoiding profane novelties of words, and 
 oppositions of knowledge falsely so called, which 
 some promising, have erred concerning the Faith." ^ 
 
 ' I Tim. vi. 3, 4, ^ I Tim. iii. 15. 
 
 ® Cf. I Tim. vi. 3 : ei tis irepodidaa-iiaXel. 
 * I Tim. vi, 20, 21, 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE 
 
 We have seen that the Word of Christ was made 
 known first to the Apostles, was entrusted by them 
 No New ^^ ^ Tradition (written and oral) to the 
 public custody of the Church, has been guarded 
 
 'ft th°" by the Church as a sacred Deposit, and 
 death of handed down, through the assistance of 
 St. John, ^i^g Holy Spirit, to last unimpaired to the 
 end of time. Catholics have always regarded it 
 as a first principle that, since the death of the last 
 Apostle, there can be no further public Revelation. 
 I have already called attention to the exhortation 
 of the Apostle. *' Hold the form of sound words 
 which thou hast heard from me. ... O Timothy, 
 guard the Deposit, avoiding profane novelties of 
 words." ^ 
 
 Let us now listen to the commentary in the sixth 
 The Deposit century of Vincent of Lerins upon this 
 to be apostolic exhortation : ** Guard," he says, 
 
 guarded. u ^^le Deposit. What is the Deposit? 
 
 * 2 Tim. i. 13 ; cf. 1 Tim. vi. 20, 21. 
 268 
 
Development of Doctrine 269 
 
 It is that which has been entrusted to thee, not 
 that which has been discovered by thee. It is that 
 which thou hast received, not that which thou 
 hast found out for thyself. It is a matter not of 
 cleverness, but something thou hast been taught. 
 It does not appertain to private usage, but to public 
 Tradition. It is something which has been brought 
 to thee, not something which has been brought 
 forth by thee — something in which thy place is 
 not that of an originator but of a guardian, not 
 •that of a master but of a disciple, not that of a 
 leader but of a follower." ^ In these words we 
 find the echo of the teaching of the Fathers of the 
 Church from the beginning, in complete harmony 
 with which the Vatican Council teaches us that " the 
 Holy Spirit was not promised to the Successors of 
 St. Peter, in order that from His Revelation they 
 might make known a new Doctrine, but that by His 
 Assistance they might religiously (sancie) guard and 
 faithfully expound the Revelation or Deposit of Faith 
 which has been handed down by the Apostles." ^ 
 
 Ours is no new religion. It is the ancient Faith 
 once delivered to the Saints. 
 
 As long as the world lasts there will be no fresh 
 Deposit of the Faith, no new Revelation of super- 
 natural truths made known to mankind. " In the 
 fulness of time God sent His Son."^ He is Himself 
 the Truth. He came to bear witness to the Truth. 
 1 Commonit., 22. 2 Sess.,iv., cap. 4. ^ pjcb. i. 
 
270 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 That witness once borne, nothing can be added to 
 what God has taught His Church. Nothing may 
 be taken away from the Divine Word. His Words 
 shall not pass away, but will endure to the end. 
 They suffice for all our needs. As Cardinal New- 
 man wrote in an essay which appeared in the 
 Atlantis of July, 1858: *' Every Catholic holds that 
 the Christian dogmas were in the Church from the 
 time of the Apostles, that they were ever in their 
 substance what they are now." 
 
 But the further question arises : Is it possible for 
 this Revelation once given to the Apostles to be made 
 — - p . clearer in the course of the ages as to its 
 tion of meaning and full significance ? Is any 
 
 Dogma. growth, evolution, development possible 
 
 of the Deposit of Faith, so that what it con- 
 tains only implicity may become explicit ? Is 
 there any development of the Church's worship and 
 of her organisation which is according to the mind 
 and will of Christ ? To these questions Catholic 
 theology answers emphatically in the affirmative. 
 
 Let me premise that Divine Revelation consists 
 
 partly of historical facts, partly of doctrinal 
 
 propositions. 
 
 R 1 ti n With regard to historical facts, it is 
 
 consists of obvious that no further clearness of ap- 
 
 histoncal prehension is possible. " Christ was born 
 
 facts and ^ 
 
 doctrinal of a Virgin at Bethlehem. ' This sentence 
 
 propositions, contains two assertions. "Christ was 
 
Development ot Doctrine 271 
 
 born of a Virgin " — " His birthplace was Bethlehem." 
 No amplification of either is possible without the 
 introduction of fresh and absolutely new material. 
 There is here nothing hidden under the surface, 
 nothing which may be drawn out by reflection. We 
 have definite statements as to matters of fact which 
 have to be either accepted or rejected. 
 
 Far otherwise is it with any doctrinal statement 
 whatsoever. Every such statement also contains a 
 fact, but it is a fact which, if it has direct reference 
 to God, can only be received by analogy, since it is 
 only by reference to human things that we can arrive 
 at any conception of those which are divine. For 
 example, I am taught that " God is infinitely wise." 
 This at once sets me thinking. What do I know of 
 wisdom ? I can only imagine a wise human being — 
 for I have had no experience of wisdom elsewhere. 
 But I have to avoid anthropomorphism, that is to 
 say conceiving of God, who is Himself a pure Spirit, 
 in terms of man. Still, when I say that God is 
 infinitely wise, I can only imagine that all the 
 wisdom which I see in men comes from God, as an 
 effect comes from its cause, and that God Himself 
 possesses in an infinite and transcendental manner 
 the Wisdom which He bestows upon His creatures 
 in limited measure. It is only from the analogy 
 of human wisdom that I can rise to the thought 
 of the essential wisdom which is an Attribute of the 
 Creator. And here I possess something which, if 
 
272 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 / 
 
 I will ponder it day by day, is capable of daily 
 growth in my mind. 
 
 A doctrinal Revelation, that is to say, a Revelation 
 which is concerned with anything beyond events, 
 must necessarily be clothed in words, if it is to pro- 
 cure a lodgment in the human intellect ; but words 
 are merely conventional symbols for ideas, and ideas, 
 as they become assimilated, provoke and stimulate 
 thought, which in its turn asks questions. Now 
 these questions must be answered, unless the ideas 
 are to remain sterile or at least practically inopera- 
 tive. And thus the doctrine itself grows. There is 
 first the period which we may term embryonic, 
 when the doctrine in question is, as it were, hidden 
 in the womb of Mother Church, where it is gradually 
 clothed with flesh, until at length it emerges, and is 
 plainly visible to all. 
 
 Let us take for example St. John's statement of 
 that which Catholics believe to be the primary truth 
 Th Word ^^ revealed religion — "The Word was 
 was made made Flesh." Here we have three ideas 
 Flesh. ^j^ j^g ^Yqj.^ ^2) was made (3) Flesh. 
 
 At once there are three ideas conveyed to the mind; 
 also at once three questions arise in the mind with 
 regard to these ideas. ** Who exactly is the Word ?" 
 " What precisely is here meant by Flesh ?" " How 
 did He become that which He was not previously?" 
 In the early ages of Christianity the result of reckless 
 speculation on such questions as these by men who 
 
Development of Doctrine 273 
 
 disregarded the teaching of the CathoHc Church was 
 multiform, and inevitably destructive, heresy ; on the 
 other hand the result of reverent, but none the less 
 keen and subtle analysis, under the guidance of the 
 Church (protected, as we believe, by the Holy Spirit 
 promised by our Lord) is seen in the sublime doc- 
 trine of the Incarnation of God, as we have it defined 
 in the Creeds and by the Councils of the Church. 
 
 The old heresies have lost their living interest. 
 As one reads in any minuteness of detail about 
 _, ,, Arius, or Macedonius, or Nestorius and 
 
 The old 
 
 heresies Eutyches and their fellows one feels dry as 
 
 dead. dust. These heretics are dead and have 
 
 left no vocal representatives. The Catholic Faith 
 
 which they resisted prevails — notwithstanding the rise 
 
 of new heresies — the strongest Christian 
 The 
 Catholic force in the world at this hour. But the 
 
 Faith Catholic Faith is in our time, as it was 
 
 iving. already in their time, a development — 
 a development of that which was from the beginning 
 contained in the Revelation made to the Apostles. 
 
 Development has taken place through the free 
 action of the faculties of the mind, and true 
 rj, development has, for the most part been 
 
 development recognised as such, by means of the con- 
 and ta se. demnation of a development which w^as 
 false. Heresies could not be condemned until they 
 had arisen. By their condemnation not only was 
 the false development declared to be false, but also, 
 
 18 
 
274 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 through the opportunity provided by the necessity 
 for the condemnation of a heresy, the truth of the 
 true development was positively asserted. 
 
 It is a development of certain passages in Holy 
 Scripture to assert that there are two Persons in 
 Nestorians Christ. Catholics know from the teach- 
 and the ing of the Church that this development 
 OS. .^ faise^ but when the false development 
 was condemned, at the same time the true develop- 
 ment was solemnly taught to be true — the true 
 development, that in Christ our Lord there is only 
 one Person, the Person of the Word, and that there- 
 fore the Mother of that Divine Person is rightly 
 called not only the Mother of Christ, but also the 
 Mother of God. For there are not (as Nestorius 
 and his followers falsely taught) two Christs, one 
 human (of whom alone Mary is the Mother) and one 
 divine. There is but one Christ. He is the Lord our 
 God, and Mary is His Mother — the Mother of the 
 Lord our God made Man. This is a true develop- 
 ment of the fifth century. 
 
 We may take another example from the sixteenth. 
 
 Luther from the consideration of certain passages in 
 
 St. Paul's epistles developed his false doc- 
 Luther and . r ' ,- r ,- 1 T--1 1 
 
 Justification trme 01 justihcation by Paith only. It 
 by Faith became necessary, as this new doctrine 
 °" ^* spread, for the Church to condemn it as 
 
 contrary to the Revelation made in the beginning. 
 The false development became a heresy. But it is 
 
Development of Doctrine 275 
 
 to the condemnation of this false development that 
 we owe the statement of the true development in 
 the luminous teaching of the Church concerning 
 the nature of justification, and the relation of Faith 
 to Good Works, contained in the definitions of the 
 Council of Trent. 
 
 Developments therefore are inevitable. It belongs 
 to the Catholic Church to condemn any develop- 
 Officeofthe ment of doctrine, which, though it claim 
 Catholic to be according to the Scriptures, is in 
 regard to De^ ^^^^ false, and contrary to the Revelation 
 vclopment. once given to the Apostles. It also belongs 
 to the Catholic Church to present more and more 
 clearly in each succeeding generation the fulness of 
 the Counsels of God committed to her keeping in 
 the beginning of Christianity. 
 
 Now, in thus acting — in allowing His Revelation 
 
 slowly to develop — Almighty God is acting in 
 
 A , accordance with the laws that He has 
 
 Analogy 
 
 from established throughout His creation, for 
 
 Nature. wherever there is life there is growth. It 
 is the Divine plan that every organisation should 
 develop according to the laws that are proper to 
 itself, nor does it thus lose identity with itself. The oak 
 is in a mysterious but true sense one with the acorn, 
 the grown-up man is one with himself as a babe. 
 Moreover, in providing for the development of 
 doctrine in His Church the Holy Spirit has been 
 mindful of the needs and Hmitations of the men 
 
276 
 
 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 who are its recipients. Let us listen to Cardinal 
 Newman : 
 
 " While Scripture nowhere recognises itself or 
 asserts the inspiration of those passages which are 
 Cardinal most essential, it distinctly anticipates the 
 Newman development of Christianity both as a polity 
 and Develop- and as a doctrine. In one of our Lord's 
 ment. parables, ' the Kingdom of Heaven ' is even 
 
 compared to ' a grain of mustard seed, which a man 
 took and hid in his field, which indeed is the least 
 of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest 
 amongst herbs, and becometh a tree,' and, as St. 
 Mark words it, ' shooteth out great branches, so 
 that the birds of the air come and lodge in the 
 branches thereof.' And again in the same chapter 
 of St. Mark, ' so is the Kingdom of God, as if a man 
 should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, 
 and rise night and day, and the seed should spring 
 and grow up he knoweth not how, for the earth 
 bringeth forth fruit of herself.' Here an internal 
 element of life, whether principle or doctrine, is 
 spoken of rather than any mere external manifesta- 
 tion, and it is observable that the spontaneous, as 
 well as the gradual character of the growth is 
 intimated. This description of the process corre- 
 sponds to what has been above [in the immediately 
 preceding sections] observed respecting development, 
 viz. : that it is not an effect of wishing and resolving, 
 or of forced enthusiasm, or of any mechanism or 
 reasoning, or of any mere subtlety of intellect, but 
 comes of its own innate power of expansion within 
 the mind in its season — though with the use of 
 reflection and argument and original thought — more 
 
Development of Doctrine 277 
 
 or less as it may happen, with a dependence on the 
 ethical growth of the mind itself, and with a reflex 
 influence upon it. Again, the parable of the leaven 
 describes the development of doctrine in another 
 respect — its active, engrossing and interpenetrating 
 power. From the necessity, then of the case . . . 
 and from the example of Scripture, we may fairly 
 conclude that Christian doctrine admits of formal, 
 legitimate, and true developments, that is, of 
 developments contemplated by its Divine Author." 1 
 
 Cardinal Newman proceeds to show that, as God 
 in nature not only creates but also conserves, (for 
 ** preservation is involved in the idea of creation "),2 
 so we may be certain that He has given us an 
 infallible authority to separate false development 
 from true. 
 
 " The circumstance that a work has begun makes 
 it more probable that it will proceed. We have no 
 reason to suppose that there is so great a distinction 
 of dispensation between ourselves and the first 
 generation of Christians, as that they had a living 
 infallible guidance and we have not. ... As creation 
 argues continual governance, so are Apostles harbingers 
 of Popesr^ 
 
 Once more : 
 
 " If Christianity be a social religion, as it certainly 
 is, and if it be based on certain ideas acknowledged 
 as divine, or a Creed (which shall here be assumed), 
 and if these ideas have various aspects, and make 
 distinct impressions on difl"erent minds, and issue in 
 
 ^ Development of Christian Doctrine, chap, ii., sections i6, 17. 
 2 Ibid., chap, ii., section 10 - 3 /^/^^ 
 
278 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 consequence in a multiplicity of developments, true 
 or false, or mixed, as has been shown, what power 
 will suffice to meet and to do justice to these con- 
 flicting conditions, but a supreme authority ruling 
 and reconciling individual judgments by a divine 
 right and a recognised wisdom ? In barbarous 
 times the will is reached through the senses, but 
 in an age in which reason, as it is called, is the 
 standard of truth and right, it is abundantly evident 
 to anyone, w'ho mixes ever so little with the world, 
 that, if things are left to themselves, every individual 
 will have his own view on them and take his own 
 course, that two or three agree to-day to part 
 company to-morrow, that Scripture will be read in 
 contrary Avays, and history according to the apologue, 
 will have to different comers its silver shield, and 
 its golden — that philosophy, taste, prejudice, passion, 
 party, caprice will find no common measure, unless 
 there be some supreme power to control the mind 
 and to compel agreement. There can be no com- 
 bination ou the basis of truth without an organ of 
 truth. ... If Christianity is both social and dog- 
 matic, and intended for all ages, it must, humanly 
 speaking, have an infallible expounder."^ 
 
 The same Church, One, Catholic, and Apostolic, 
 which has handed down to us, and now teaches us, 
 True De- the Tradition received from the Apostles, 
 velopments declares authoritatively and therefore (in 
 
 guaranteed 
 
 as such by virtue of the Promises of Christ) infallibly 
 the Church* — that certain developments, whether in 
 teaching or practice, are foreign to the Apostolic 
 
 * Development of Christian Doctrine, chap, ii., section 13. 
 
Development of Doctrine 279 
 
 Tradition, and, therefore, to be rejected— whilst 
 others are to be accepted as really contained from the 
 beginning (though it may be only implicitly and 
 obscurely) in that Tradition— to which consequently 
 they truly belong as an integral, component part. 
 
 For example, faith in the Most Holy Trinity was 
 first expressed in the Formula : " I believe in One 
 The God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 
 Trinity. Ghost." There was no attempt to define 
 in what respect God is One, or in what respect He 
 is Three. It was only under the pressure of heresy 
 that the Church defined that God is One in Sub- 
 stance, Three in Personality ; or that the Holy 
 Ghost is to be adored together with the Father and 
 the Son, and that He proceeds from Them Both. 
 
 Similarly, with regard to the one Person and two 
 
 Natures in our Lord Jesus Christ, at first there was 
 
 the single formula : '* I believe in Jesus 
 Chfistology. ^^^.^^ ^^^ g^^ ^^ ^^^„ j^ ^^g j^ ^^^_ 
 
 sequence of heretical misstatements that the Church 
 was led to investigate in what sense Christ is the Son 
 of God. Doubts were cleared up — errors avoided. 
 The exact meaning (so far as human words are 
 capable of conveying it) of what had always been 
 believed and was expressly taught in our Lord's own 
 saying, " I and the Father are One," was made clear 
 for all time and placed beyond the reach of contro- 
 versy, at least for Catholics. Often some convenient 
 word was found to stereotype the revealed doctrine, 
 
280 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 such as Trinity, or Consubstantial, and not only the 
 doctrine but the word itself which expressed the 
 doctrine was imposed upon the consciences of 
 Catholics as a hallmark and at the same time a 
 watchword of the Faith. 
 
 Or again, the fact of the Real Presence in the 
 Eucharist was held as firmly by all Catholics from 
 The Holy the beginning as it is to-day. From the 
 Eucharist. beginning it was known to all " initiated " 
 Christians that the Blessed Sacrament was the true 
 Body of Christ. It was only when this truth was 
 in very late times denied that the Church enshrined 
 the sacred Mystery in the word Transubstantiation, 
 thus to define and express the revealed dogma in 
 terms of scientific precision. Thus far we may find 
 a parallel in the process of development and theo- 
 logical statement which found its term in the words 
 Trinity and Consubstantial. 
 
 But we may go further. Let us pass from dogma 
 to devotional worship. It may be freely acknow- 
 ledged that in all probability early Chris- 
 tians would have been surprised at such a 
 rite as that which we know as Exposition and Bene- 
 diction of the Most Holy Sacrament. The fact that 
 the Divine Mystery is not only the Body of Christ, 
 and therefore to be adored, but also that It may 
 lawfully be raised high upon a Throne, that incense 
 may be offered to It, whilst Litanies are chanted, and 
 that finally It may be raised in solemn blessing by 
 
Development of Doctrine 281 
 
 a priest over the heads of the multitude bowed in 
 adoration — all this would have surprised them. It 
 would, I believe, have surprised them only for 
 a moment. There are certain parts of Ireland and 
 of the Scottish Highlands in which the Faith has 
 been always kept, where, within living memory, the 
 rite of Benediction was unknown. When those 
 simple Catholics were present at Benediction for 
 the first time they were surprised. The service was 
 unfamiliar to them. But when they understood its 
 meaning and saw the Sacred Host exposed above 
 the altar, in some cases they wept for joy. They, 
 like their fathers before them, believed in the Real 
 Presence, and recognised at once the legitimate de- 
 velopment. So would it be with the early Christians, 
 were they to " revisit this earth, and to come north- 
 ward, and to travel until they reached a fair city, 
 seated among groves, green meadows, and fair 
 streams, where they would turn from many a high 
 aisle and solemn cloister and ask the way to some 
 small chapel where Mass was said in the populous 
 alley or forlorn suburb."^ After Mass was over, were 
 Benediction to follow, they might indeed be surprised. 
 Benediction would not be familiar to them in all its 
 parts, as would be the Holy Mass. And when all 
 had been explained, we may be sure that they vv'ould 
 have but one question to ask : " But the Church — 
 does the Church allow, does the Church approve 
 * Development of Christian Doctrine, chap, ii., section 3, 
 
282 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 this most touching ceremony ?" Once satisfied on 
 
 this point, they would be at rest, for when Hving here 
 
 below they knew full well that, as to Mary the Virgin 
 
 was committed the ceremonial of the Divine Infancy 
 
 — Hers it was to swathe and to move and to adore 
 
 the Body of her Lord in His weakness, even as God 
 
 inspired her — so to the Church and to the Church 
 
 alone have been committed the custody and the 
 
 ceremonial of the Blessed Sacrament. What the 
 
 Church permits in the worship of her hidden Lord, 
 
 swathed beneath the sacramental bands, that all 
 
 Catholics know at once to have been permitted 
 
 under the guidance of the Spirit of God, though, of 
 
 themselves, without the permission of the Church, 
 
 never could they have ventured to make so free. It 
 
 is a legitimate development, in practice lawful and 
 
 pleasing to God, of that which is implicitly contained 
 
 in the explicit doctrine of the Real Presence handed 
 
 down by the Apostles to the Church — not as a 
 
 treasure to be wrapped in a napkin, but to be put out 
 
 to generous interest for the glory of God and the 
 
 profit of the souls of men. 
 
 It often has happened that three stages may be 
 
 distinguished in the process of the development of 
 
 ^- Catholic doctrine. In the first stae:e a 
 
 Three 1 • • 
 
 Stages in truth is in an amorphous state as regards 
 
 Develop' its expression, it was only held implicitly 
 
 as involved in some universal principle, or 
 
 perhaps we find it exhibited in the practice of the 
 
Development of Doctrine 283 
 
 Church rather than in distinct enunciation ; in the 
 second stage, the truth in question is often stated 
 imperfectly, has to run the gauntlet of controversy, 
 and thus becomes more obscure than in its first 
 stage when it was denied by no one ; in the third 
 stage, after careful inquiry by the Church, it is 
 stated clearly, its truth is solemnly and authoritatively 
 declared, it is publicly preached and becomes known 
 explicitly to all the Faithful. As two examples 
 where we can see this process at work — first thesis 
 — then antithesis — finally synthesis — we may con- 
 sider the history of the dissensions in the Church as 
 to the validity of Baptism conferred by heretics, and 
 the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the 
 Blessed Virgin. 
 
 No question was raised in the beginning as to the 
 validity of heretical Baptism. In Rome it was 
 Heretical never repeated. Here we have the first 
 Baptism. stage. There was no discussion. Baptism 
 by whomsoever conferred, if duly administered, was 
 treated as valid. Gradually, however, the question 
 was raised, especially in Africa in the third century. 
 It was argued that as no man can give what he has 
 not got, so a heretic cannot give by Baptism that 
 which is not his — participation in the Unity of the 
 Church. Great authorities like St. Cyprian took 
 this view and maintained it strongly. Here we 
 have the second stage — acute discussion amongst 
 CathoHcs, much doubt where no doubt had before 
 
284 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 existed, much obscurity. Indeed, as we read the 
 disputations (of the time) we see men groping their 
 way through darkness to Hght. And, as always, 
 light came from Rome. Pope St. Stephen settled 
 the question in accordance with the ancient Tradition, 
 but against the plausible views of the Bishops of the 
 most important Church of Africa. Here we have 
 the third stage. Once it became clear that Rome 
 had spoken authoritatively — at least so soon as it 
 was recognised that the dispute questioned the 
 Deposit of the Faith— for all Catholics controvers}/ 
 is at an end for ever. We know now that in the 
 original doctrine of Baptism handed to the Church 
 by the Apostles there is the implication that heretics 
 can lawfully baptize. Here we have a true develop- 
 ment. 
 
 Or with regard to the Conception of our Lady 
 without sin. In the Holy Scriptures she is shown us 
 
 as the Woman whose Seed should crush 
 The , , 1 1 A • 
 
 Immaculate the serpent s head. Agam, we recognise 
 
 Conception her as the Woman whose Child should 
 ut a. Y* ^^1^ ^^^ nations with a rod of iron — the 
 Woman clothed with the sun against whom that 
 ''old serpent" wages undying war. She has been 
 filled with grace. She is the Mother of our Lord, 
 and He is "separate from sinners."^ There is 
 nothing explicit concerning her sinlessness, but it 
 
 1 I Gen. iii. 15 ; Apoc. xii. 1-17 ; Luke i. 18 ; Heb. vii. 26 
 
Development of Doctrine 285 
 
 was always felt by Catholics,^ that sin could not 
 come nigh to her, who was so nearly allied with the 
 Redeemer and with the work of Redemption. " I 
 will place enmities between Thee and the Woman " 
 was the Divine prediction. She is the Woman of 
 Prophecy. Her enmity with Satan was established 
 by God. In accordance with this truth, we find the 
 earliest Fathers of the Church declaring that, as 
 our Lord was the second Adam, so was His Mother 
 the second Eve. But since this is the case, as the 
 first Eve was created without sin, so, if the parallel 
 really holds, was the second Eve. The antitype 
 will not yield to the type. Here is the first stage. 
 The doctrine of the sinless Conception of Mary is 
 not indeed taught explicitly, but it is clearly involved 
 in what was expressly taught. The second stage 
 arrived, when men began to use their intellects on 
 all the questions surrounding Original Sin, and 
 Redemption. Then it was for the first time sug- 
 gested that grace was conferred upon our Lady not 
 in the first moment of her existence (as upon Eve) 
 but in the second. There was discussion, doubt, a 
 certain amount of obscurity, until at length it was 
 time in the Providence of God for the third stage. 
 The Church solemnly closed all discussion amongst 
 Catholics by authoritatively teaching that the Mother 
 
 1 Cf. St. Augustine, " Excepta Virgine Matre, de qua, quum 
 de peccatis agimus, nullam prorsus habere volo quasstionem " 
 (De Natura et gratia, cap. xxxvi.) 
 
286 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 of our Lord, preserved through the Merits of her 
 Son and Saviour from the sin which is the conse- 
 quence of the Fall of man, received in the first 
 instant of her existence the gift v^hich had been 
 bestowed upon Eve at her creation — the gift of the 
 supernatural grace of God. That which was implicit 
 has become explicit. The Immaculate Conception 
 of Mary is no new doctrine. Growth there has 
 been ; change there has not been. 
 
 ** So there may be growth in the Faith not 
 change," wrote Vincent of Lerins. "Now the 
 growth belongs to itself; to advancement on lines 
 proper to change belongs transformation into some- 
 thing else."^ 
 
 Examples of this growth, which is not change, in 
 the doctrines of the Faith might be multiplied 
 indefinitely. We have, however, said enough to 
 exemplify the great principle that, under the assist- 
 ance of the Spirit of God, the full meanings of the 
 ancient truths of Revelation are being ever taught 
 more clearly to God's people in the Catholic Church 
 — to whose care they were committed. Truth is 
 always the same in its substance and essence. 
 Fossilised it cannot remain, for it cannot too often 
 be repeated that, wherever there is life, there we find 
 growth and progress. Thus is the wish of the 
 Fathers of the Vatican Council daily fulfilled : 
 
 "May the understanding, knowledge, wisdom of 
 
 1 Cotnmoniiorium, cap. xxiii. 
 
Development of Doctrine 287 
 
 individuals and of all, of each man and of the whole 
 Church, increase and mightily advance throughout 
 all ages and centuries."^ 
 
 ^ Constitutio de Fide, cap. iv. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE ONE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 The Christian Rule of Faith is God's Word 
 " proposed " to us — that is, made known to us — by 
 "Where is the His Church, to whose custody it was 
 One True entrusted by Christ. 
 
 Church of ^_, . • , 1 • 1 
 
 Christ to be The question remains to be examined 
 found? which, amongst the various bodies of 
 
 Christians that we see around us is the One True 
 Church of Christ — the Church which Christ founded 
 in the beginning upon a Rock, which He called His 
 Church — " My Church " — upon which He sent His 
 Holy Spirit on Pentecost — which is the heir of 
 His Promises, guided by Him into all Truth to the 
 consummation of the world, the Guardian of His 
 Mysteries ? 
 
 Up to the present point in our investigations I 
 have taken it for granted that the Church of Christ 
 is that Church which all over the world is known, 
 and (as we shall see) has been known from the 
 earliest Christian times, as the Catholic Church 
 — that Church whose members are in full communion 
 
 288 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 28 
 
 9 
 
 one with another, and in ecclesiastical submission 
 each of them to his own Bishop, and all of them to 
 the Bishop of Rome. 
 
 However, we will now look at the matter without 
 prepossession and consider whether it be possible to 
 regard any other Church as the One Church of 
 Christ. 
 
 But at the outset of this enquiry we are faced 
 with the fact that many people in England to-day 
 Is there One (^ho, inasmuch as they believe that 
 True Church Christ died for their sins, with right 
 call themselves Christians) deny that 
 there is One True Church of God at all. They 
 maintain that the various churches are all parts or 
 branches of the One Church, and that in their con- 
 tradictions they manifest ** various aspects of the 
 one truth," like, as we are often told, the various 
 facets of a diamond — so that, since there are many 
 men and many minds, each man may believe what 
 he pleases, according to the constitution and bent of 
 his mind. 
 
 Now, if there be any force in what I have already 
 urged in this book, it will be manifest at once that 
 The Unity this contention breaks down the moment 
 of Truth. |.]-^gLt we examine it. For Christ came to 
 teach Truth. The medium through which He teaches 
 is His Church. But Truth is one, even as God is 
 one. God cannot contradict Himself, nor can Truth 
 be in contradiction with Truth. It is therefore a 
 
 i9 
 
290 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 thing impossible — involving a contradiction in terms 
 — that the Church of Christ should be in discord 
 in her teaching in her various parts. God has sent 
 His Son to teach Truth. " For this v^as I born and 
 for this did I come into the world — to bear witness 
 to the Truth. "^ Such was "His good confession 
 under Pontius Pilate." ^ "As the Father sent Me, 
 so send I you"^ was His last commission to the 
 Apostles whom He had chosen. It is true that these 
 words in their first application had reference to the 
 forgiveness of sins, but they certainly can also be 
 legitimately referred to the teaching of Truth. Just 
 The Church ^s Christ taught "with authority,"'* so 
 teaches must His Church teach, just as Christ 
 
 Authority taught everywhere the same thing, so 
 and Unity, must His Church teach, for He Himself 
 has witnessed that " every kingdom or city or house 
 divided against itself shall not stand. "^ The House 
 of God, and City of God, and Kingdom of God, 
 which is His Church, cannot be divided, because, 
 were it to be divided, it would fail in its great function 
 of teaching the One Truth. 
 
 If I, or any other man, simply desiring knowledge 
 of the Truth, question the Church of Christ, being 
 ready to "hear the Church"® and to accept any 
 answer that I may receive, it is obvious that the 
 
 1 John xviii. 37. * i Tim. vi. 13. 
 
 3 John XX, 21. * Malt. vii. 29. 
 
 6 Matt. xii. 25. ^ Matt, xviij, 17. 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 291 
 
 answer must be consistent with itself, and that it 
 must be the same answer in every part of the world — 
 otherwise I should not know whom I am hearing 
 (for, since Christ does not contradict Himself, the 
 voice of a church which contradicts itself cannot be 
 the voice of Christ), nor should I know what I am to 
 believe. I should remain as I was before I ques- 
 tioned at all, in a position of doubt and uncertainty. 
 
 A divided Church will convince no man of any- 
 thing concerning which he was not convinced already. 
 Uselessncss ^^^ facets of the diamond show various 
 of a divided beauties of the precious stone. There can 
 however be no beauty in one teacher 
 assuring you that Christ is really present in the 
 Eucharist by the conversion of bread into His Body 
 and of wine into His Blood, and in another teacher 
 maintaining that such a belief is one of the grossest 
 of delusions. There can be no beauty in one teacher 
 assuring you that your sins will be forgiven you by 
 God after sorrowful confession of those sins to a 
 priest, whilst another maintains that such a con- 
 fession places man in the place of God, and, far 
 from bringing forgiveness, is in itself displeasing to 
 the Most High. No, if the Church is to teach— and 
 it was to teach that Christ sent her on her divine 
 Mission — she must be one in her teaching. More- 
 over it is obvious and certain that to produce unity 
 of teaching she must be one, visibly, in her external 
 constitution, for all experience shows that teachers 
 
292 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 who are externally divided will not long maintain 
 unity in their teaching. We know that the Apostle 
 writes of One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. As 
 our Lord is One, so is the Faith, and, (since we 
 receive the Faith through the Church) so is the 
 Church of Christ, into which we are baptised. Thus 
 our Lord spoke of '' My Church " not of *' My 
 Churches," and with reason the Creed alleges the 
 Unity of the Church of Christ as the first mark or 
 sign whereby she may be known. She is One, even 
 as God is One. The last prayer of her Divine 
 Founder has been heard by the Father who sent 
 Him into the World to found the Kingdom, which 
 is His Church. '* Holy Father keep them in Thy 
 Name, whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be 
 One, as We also are . . . that the world may believe 
 that Thou hast sent Me.''^ 
 
 It is often objected that this conception of the 
 unity of the Church " narrow?." Obviously, the 
 possession of any truth in a certain sense ''narrows," 
 but it also frees and elevates, and becomes often the 
 indispensable stepping stone to further truth. You 
 may say if you will, that knowledge of the multipli- 
 cation table '* narrows." Such knowledge certainly 
 precludes the possibility of anyone who possesses it 
 maintaining that seven times six make forty-three, 
 but it is also a knowledge which frees me from 
 ignorance, and upon this knowledge is secure!)' built 
 1 John xvii. ii-2i. 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 293 
 
 the whole science of mathematics. Similarly, know- 
 ledge of revealed truth frees me from an ignorance 
 which is far more baneful than could be any ignor- 
 ance of how to work sums correctly. Knowledge of 
 revealed truth elevates my soul to God, and upon 
 this knowledge is securely built the whole science of 
 His love, which is Eternal Life.^ But the knowledge 
 of revealed truth like every other knowledge is 
 impossible without definite teaching, and definite 
 teaching must be either one or worthless, because if it 
 is not one, but consists of two or three contradictories, 
 some of it must necessarily be false. And to teach 
 falsehood is worthless. From all this it is clear that 
 those persons who believe that Christianity gives 
 them a definite revelation from God through the 
 Church of Christ must also — unless they are altogether 
 to abandon consistency — believe that the Church 
 of Christ is one in her teaching — for, unless the 
 Church of Christ be one in her teaching, a definite 
 Revelation through the Church is impossible. In 
 so far, then, as any Christian religious body is one 
 in her teaching, that is, teaches the same truths 
 everywhere, not tolerating heresies or variations 
 from her teaching — from this point of view that 
 body has a right to be considered the Church of 
 Christ. 
 
 Unity of teaching, however, does not stand alone 
 and cannot be considered the sole mark of the 
 
 ^ John xvii. 3. 
 
294 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 Church of Christ, otherwise a body might be the One 
 The True Church of God which was to be found 
 
 Church of Qnly in one village in the whole world, pro- 
 Christ is also . 1 , , . 1 1 J 
 worldwide vided that Its members were taught and 
 
 in extension, believed alike. The Church of Christ is 
 not only one in her teaching ; she is also Catholic, 
 or world-wide. This is her second great mark. 
 
 We read in St. John's Gospel that our Lord came 
 to gather all the people of the world into a Unity.^ 
 Until the time of the coming of Christ, those who 
 served God according to their consciences depended 
 entirely, outside of Judaea, upon the Natural Law and 
 those remnants of the primitive Revelation, which 
 survived everywhere in more or less mutilated guise. 
 The Jews indeed had received a special Law from 
 God, but the great function of that Law was to lead 
 men to Christ, like the slave who led boys to school. 
 Judaism was essentially racial. When a proselyte 
 submitted to Israel he was thereby affiliated to the 
 Jewish people and had to submit to the ceremonial 
 law of Moses. When the Gospel of Christ super- 
 seded the Law, a world-wide religion, transcending 
 in its scope and appeal all national distinctions, was 
 to take the place of that which was purely local. 
 **Go," said our Lord, " Teach all nations. Preach 
 the Gospel to every creature." ^ 
 
 We have already seen that this Gospel was to be 
 
 i John xi. 52. ^ Gal. iii. 24. 
 
 3 Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Mark xv. 15. 
 
 2 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 295 
 
 One, we now see that it was also to be everywhere and 
 for all men who would accept it. "In Christ Jesus," 
 wrote the great Apostle, '' there is neither Jew nor 
 Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, but all are 
 one in Him." ^ National distinctions — the great dis- 
 tinction between Jew and Gentile; social distinc- 
 tions — the enormous line of cleavage between owner 
 and slave ; even, to a great extent, the fundamental 
 distinction of sex (women are, it is true, debarred 
 from the priesthood) — whilst keeping their own place 
 in the natural order, were in the supernatural order 
 to disappear in the world-wide Unity that had come 
 to birth — the Unity of CathoHcism. So from the 
 beginning the Catholic Church taught that neither cir- 
 cumcision nor uncircumcision profited anything — but 
 a new life; 2 raised women to their high estate in 
 Christendom ; and, before she was yet able to emanci- 
 pate the slave, succeeded in bringing slave and master 
 on a level before their common Lord. No Church can 
 be the One True Church of Christ which, in matters 
 of religion either takes count of social distinctions, 
 or is bounded by any boundaries of clime or tongue. 
 The True Church of God is One — the same in 
 every land. And in Catholicism this is not mere 
 theory ; it is realised before our eyes. As I write, a 
 terrible war is raging. It may be that some German 
 Catholic soldier, maddened by the fury of the fright- 
 fulness, to which he had been exhorted, and perhaps 
 ^ Gal. iii. 28 ; Col. iii. 11. 2 q^ q^i. vi. 15. 
 
296 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 on fire with strong drink, has committed unspeakable 
 deeds against some hapless Belgian village. If that 
 poor man repent of his crimes, he will remember, for 
 his soul's salvation, that his faith is the same as that 
 of the Belgian parish priest who has witnessed his 
 infamies, and may, without misgiving, confess those 
 infamies to that priest, who as the Minister of Christ, 
 will rejoice to bestow upon him not reproaches, but 
 consolation and forgiveness. This is something 
 without parallel on earth. It is the miracle of the 
 world-wide Church showing in our days more mani- 
 festly than even in those of St. Paul himself that in 
 Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither 
 Belgian nor German, nor French nor English, but 
 that the Catholic soldiers of all nations — even when 
 warring with one another — may be one in Him. 
 
 The True Church of God is One ; she is also scat- 
 tered over all the world. She is in every place — yet One. 
 
 It will be seen that these two marks of Unity and 
 Catholicism run into one another, so that they do 
 rj., y not admit of separation, and in fact are 
 
 Marks of one mark. Wherever they are conjoined. 
 Unity and ^^leve is the true Church. Wherever, that 
 
 Catholicism . , . . 
 
 make One is, you find a religious body at unity with 
 Mark, itself — all its members believing the same 
 
 \\i'n[ig — which is also in visible union with other bodies 
 all over the world, believing exactly as it believes — 
 there you know that you have, not only in name but 
 also in fact, a Catholic Church, On the other hand. 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 297 
 
 wherever we see a mere " National Church " in 
 isolation from the rest of Christendom — there it is 
 plain that we are beholding a church that has been 
 separated from the True Church of Christ, as a 
 bough may be separated from its tree, or as a limb 
 may be amputated from the body to which it once 
 belonged. 
 
 It is well known that this test as to where is the 
 true Church of Christ — the test of world-wide Unity 
 St. Augus' — is always applied with emphasis by 
 ^ir^^?"**^^ the great Fathers of the fourth and 
 
 Church 
 
 which is succeedmg centuries. For example, this 
 worldwdie. is the meaning of the Orbis Terrarum 
 to which St. Augustine perpetually appeals in his 
 controversies with heresy and schism — not ** the 
 world " as the phrase is often rendered, but, as the 
 context always shows, what he calls the Catholica, 
 that is to say, the Church which is dispersed every- 
 where, and everywhere is at Unity with herself 
 The Orhis Terranmi is " the Catholic world.'' 
 
 It is not so well-known or generally recognised 
 that the same principle underlies the teaching of St. 
 Paul, and of the Christian literature of the first and 
 second centuries. 
 
 I recently read in the Spectator that its Editor 
 believed, as against Catholics, not in a Church, 
 but in Churches. He added: ** So did St. Paul." 
 The excuse for this statement can only lie in the 
 fact that St. Paul often calls the Church of a city 
 
298 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 what of course it is — a Church, or the Church of that 
 city. But so do Catholics to-day. If 
 theEdhoT St. Paul spoke of ''The Church of God 
 of the that is at Corinth," we to-day speak 
 
 "Spectator.^ freely of "the Church of God that 
 is at Clifton," or "the Church of God that is at 
 Venice," and if St. Paul terms the Churches of any 
 region Churches, as "the Churches of Judsea" or 
 the " Churches of Macedonia," so we speak to-day 
 of the Churches of France or Italy (meaning thereby 
 the various episcopal sees of those countries). 
 But to make the statement of the Editor of the 
 Spectator more than verbally plausible, he should 
 be able to show that when the Apostle wrote of 
 Churches he was referring to religious bodies out of 
 communion with one another and varying in doctrine. Of 
 this, as we need hardly say, there is not the slightest 
 trace in the Epistles of St. Paul. On the contrary, 
 the Apostle throughout presupposes that the Churches 
 to which he writes are knit together in the closest 
 communion in the One Faith, having received One 
 " Tradition," and forming One visible Body — Jews 
 and Greeks becoming members of the same Body. 
 And this Body, which is not in one place only, but 
 is to be planted in every place, he calls, as Catholics 
 have ever done. The Church. Thus when he wrote to 
 the Galatians : " Beyond measure I persecuted the 
 Church of God and wasted it";^ or to the Corin- 
 
 i Gal. i. 13. 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 299 
 
 thians : " I am not worthy to be called an Apostle, 
 because I persecuted the Church of God ";^ or when 
 he assured the Ephesians that " Christ is the Head 
 of the Church, whose Saviour He is ";2 or again that 
 " Christ loved the Church and delivered Himself up 
 for it, that He might present it to Himself a glorious 
 Church, not having spot or mark or any such thing " ^ 
 —these words were not written of any merely local 
 body, but of the One Body of Christ which is every- 
 where. They were written of that Church which St. 
 Paul declares to be " the House of God " as well as 
 — the pillar and the ground of the Truth." * A house 
 built by men for the use of men can only have a 
 limited number of inhabitants; the House of God 
 which is His Church, will house all those, all over 
 the world, who will seek admittance within its open 
 doors. When it is a question of the House of God 
 there is no question of houses ; the reference is to 
 one House. This one House, it is true, consists of 
 many houses, but of many houses which are all so 
 united that there neither is, nor can there be, any 
 flaw in the Unity of the Building, whose Builder 
 is God Himself.^ 
 
 When we turn from the teaching of St. Paul to 
 consider that of the very early Fathers, we must 
 remember how scanty are the Christian writings 
 
 * I Cor, xvi. 9. 2 Eph. v. 23. 
 
 3 Eph. V. 25, 27. * I Tim. iii. 15. 
 
 6 C/. Heb. iii. 6. 
 
300 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 that have come down to us from the first two 
 centuries of our era. There is extant no treatise of 
 Th E I ^^^^ period which treats professedly on the 
 Fathers and Church. Still, enough remains to prove 
 the Church, |.]^^^ ^^le conception of a world-wide Church 
 whose members were closely united in One Faith 
 and Ecclesiastical Government existed from the 
 beginning. Within our limits we can only give the 
 shortest quotations and will take them from three 
 continents. St. Ignatius of Antioch and a letter 
 from the Church of Smyrna may represent Asia, 
 St. Irenaeus may stand for Europe, and St. Clement 
 of Alexandria for Africa. 
 
 St. Ignatius of Antioch is thought to have been 
 the child whom our Lord placed in the midst of His 
 St. Ignatius Apostles, with the words, " Unless you 
 of Antioch. become as this little child you shall not 
 enter the Kingdom of Heaven."^ He certainly was 
 a disciple of the Apostles. Now, we find him writing 
 as follows to the Philadelphians : " I did therefore my 
 part as a man who is on the side of Unity. Where 
 there is division and anger, there God abides not. 
 But the Lord forgives all men when they repent, 
 if repenting they return to the Unity of God and 
 to the communion of the Bishop."^ Again, he wrote 
 to the Church of Smyrna that the Lord in whom 
 we believe with " immovable faith " was born of Mary 
 the Virgin, baptized by John, nailed to the Cross 
 1 Matt, xviii. 2, 3. ^ Pliilad., viii. 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 301 
 
 under Pontius Pilate, and rose again '' in order that 
 He might set up a standard unto all the ages for His 
 saints and faithful people, whether amongst Jews 
 or Gentiles, in the One Body of the Church.'"'^ 
 
 St. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John, was Bishop 
 
 of Smyrna. He suffered death for the Faith and a 
 
 . letter was written efivine^ an account of 
 Letter from ^ ° 
 
 the Church his martyrdom from " the Church of God 
 of Smyrna. |.]^g^|. sojourneth at Smyrna to the Church 
 of God that sojourneth at Philomelium in Phrygia. 
 In this letter the writer tells us how St. Polycarp 
 before his death " at length brought his prayer to 
 an end, after remembering all who at any time had 
 lived near him, small and great, high and low, and 
 all the Catholic Church throughout the world. "^ He 
 prayed that in his last hour not merely for the local 
 church of which he was bishop and for his own 
 friends, but also for " the Catholic Church^ through- 
 out the world," regarded as a Unity. 
 
 St. Irenaeus as a youth lived at Smyrna, under the 
 
 eyes of St. Polycarp, in the midst of those who, with 
 
 „ , Polycarp himself, " had enjoyed inter- 
 
 St. Irenaeus. • , t i i • i i 
 
 course with John and with the others 
 
 who had seen the Lord."* 
 
 1 Smyrn., i. ^ Martyr. Polyc, viii. 
 
 3 It is interesting to remember that the phrase Catholic 
 Church had first been emplo3-ed by St. Ignatius writing to the 
 Smyrnians (Smyrn. viii. 2). 
 
 * Irenaeus apiid Euseb., H.E., v. 20, 24, 27. 
 
302 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 Consequently, the teaching of St. Irenseus, Hke 
 that of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp, is what is 
 called Sub-Apostolic. It comes from the disciples 
 of the Apostles. 
 
 Towards the years 155 we find St. Irenaeus at 
 Rome, and when the persecution under Marcus 
 AureUus broke out, he went again to the Eternal 
 City, this time as the bearer of a letter from the 
 Confessors of Lyons to Pope Eleutherius. Shortly 
 after his return from Rome he was made Bishop of 
 Lyons. It was at this period of his life that he 
 wrote his great work against the Gnostics, entitled 
 De HcBreticis. In the course of his work we read 
 that "A spiritual disciple will judge those who cause 
 division, who are destitute of the Love of God and 
 look to their own profit rather than to the Unity of 
 the Church, who for small reasons, and for any 
 reasons, cut and divide, and so far as is in their 
 power, destroy the great and glorious Body of 
 Christ, who speak peace and make war, who truly 
 strain out the gnat and swallow the camel ; for from 
 them can come no reformation so great as is the 
 harm of schism. He will judge also all those who 
 are outside the Truth, that is, those who are outside 
 the Church."^ 
 
 We are also told that each one of the Faithful 
 receives at Baptism " a fixed Rule of Faith." ^ Thus 
 » C. HcEr. IV. xxxiii. i, 7. 
 
 * Id., i. 9, 4 : Kavova rrjs oKrjSeias ukXivt}. 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 303 
 
 it is, he continues, that '* the Church having accepted 
 this teaching and this Faith, as we have said, diH- 
 gently guards it, and having been spread throughout 
 the world, is as though she dwelt in one house. She 
 believes what she has received as though she possessed 
 but one soul and one heart ; in like manner, she 
 preaches and teaches and hands down as though 
 she had one mouth. For though there are various 
 languages in the world, still the strength of the 
 Tradition is one and the same. Nor do the Churches 
 which have been founded in Germany believe other- 
 wise, or otherwise hand down, nor those which are 
 in Spain, nor those which are in Gaul, nor those 
 which are in the East, nor those which are in 
 Egypt, nor those which are in Lybia, nor those 
 which are in Judaea. Just as the sun, God's crea- 
 ture, is one and the same in the whole universe, so 
 too the preaching of the truth is a light which shines 
 everywhere and enlightens all men who wish to come 
 to know it. So that the most eloquent of Bishops 
 can teach nothing else . . . nor can he who is 
 weakest in speech diminish it in any way."^ For, 
 says St. Irenseus, " the universal Church is in every 
 place." ^ It would seem impossible to lay down 
 more categorically the Unity of the Catholic Church 
 and Faith — that the True Church is everywhere, 
 that she claims to go everywhere and that every- 
 
 1 Hcsret. i. to, 2 {cf. iii. 4, i ; iii. 11, 8 ; v. 20, 1,2). 
 
 2 M, ii. 31. 
 
304 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 where she is the same. " One Faith, one soul, one 
 heart, one mouth," is hers in every spot. 
 
 We pass from St. Iren?eus to his contemporary 
 
 St. Clement of Alexandria. The witness of St. 
 
 ^ ^. Clement is of special interest, since he is 
 
 St. Clement 
 
 of Alex- the one early Father whom Harnack and 
 
 andria, other "Liberal Theologians" venture 
 to claim as a mystic "without any conception of a 
 hierarchical anti-heretical Church."^ Yet we find 
 St. Clement himself writing as follows : 
 
 " As for us we are the children^ guarding ourselves 
 against the blasts of heresies that are filled with 
 infatuation."^ 
 
 And again, commenting on Proverbs x. 12 : " It 
 is written: He forsakes the ways of his own vine- 
 yard, and loses himself in the tracks of his own lands 
 —such are the heresies which desert the Church, 
 which is from the beginning."* 
 
 And again, " The serpent deceived Eve — Eve who 
 ' was called Life. We at least must not transgress 
 the commands by allowing ourselves to be deceived 
 by the active perfidy of heresies."^ 
 
 And once more, "There are three states of the 
 soul — ignorance, opinion, knowledge. Those who 
 
 1 Harnack, Dogmengescliichte, vol. i., p. 403. 
 
 2 Of the Church to which he has just alhicled. 
 
 3 Stromal., i. 5. ^ I^i^t, i- 19- 
 ^ Ibid., iii. 12. 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 305 
 
 are in ignorance are the Pagans, those in the know- 
 ledge {ev Tjj iTTLaTrj/jLT)) are the true Church, and those 
 in opinion (eV olrjcreL) are the heretics."^ 
 
 With regard to the unity of the Church, this 
 ancient Father who, we are told, had " no conception 
 of an anti-heretical Church " writes as follows : — 
 
 " The altar that is with us here — the earthly altar 
 
 —is the congregation of those who devote themselves 
 
 to prayer, having as it were one common voice and 
 
 one mind. . . . The Church truly draws but one 
 
 breath." 2 
 
 We will allow ourselves one final quotation : 
 
 " Not having the key of entrance, but a false and 
 counterfeit key, they do not enter in as we enter in, 
 by drawing aside the curtain, that is the Tradition of 
 the Lord, but by making an opening in the side, 
 piercing clandestinely through the wall of the 
 Church, and stepping over the truth, they constitute 
 themselves the mystagogues of the souls of the 
 impious. For it does not require many words to 
 show that the human assemblies which they hold 
 are posterior to the Catholic Church. . . . From 
 what has been said, I hold it to have been made 
 manifest that the True Church is One and that in 
 it those are enrolled who are truly good, since, for 
 this very reason that God is One, and the Lord is 
 One, that which is in the highest degree venerable 
 is praised because it is single, imitating in this its 
 * Stromal., vii. i6. ^ Pcedagog., ii. 8. 
 
 20 
 
3o6 Is Catholicism True? 
 
 source which is One. The Church then has her lot 
 with the nature of Unity which the heretics strive to 
 divide into many heresies. Therefore in substance, 
 in idea, in principle, in pre-eminence, we say that 
 the ancient and Catholic Church is alone {/jbovrjv 
 elvai (pa/JLev Tr}v ap^aiav koI KaOoKiKrjV iKKXrjcriav) 
 in the Unity of the One Faith. . . . The pre- 
 eminence of the Church as well as the principle of 
 its constitution consists in this oneness. It surpasses 
 all things else, and has nothing like or equal to 
 itself." ^ It is of no merely local Church that Clement 
 writes. He had travelled much, and before settling 
 in Alexandria had visited Italy, Greece, and the Holy 
 Land. It is of the Catholic Church, as he tells 
 us expressly, that he writes, the Church which he 
 had found everywhere, in three continents — " alone," 
 ''one," with a unity like to the unity of God, 
 ''according to the principle of her constitution," 
 exclusive of heresy, " with nothing like or equal to 
 herself." 
 
 If, then, the purposes of our Lord in coming, as 
 recorded in the Gospel, if the teaching of St. Paul, 
 if the words of the first Fathers of the 
 Church — some of them disciples of the 
 Apostles — are to be taken into account, it is surely 
 clear that the Church of Christ is by her very con- 
 stitution and of her very nature everywhere One — 
 One and dispersed throughout the world. If any 
 
 * Siromai., vii. 17. 
 
The One Catholic Church of God 307 
 
 religious body claim to be the Catholic Church, or 
 *' part of the Catholic Church," or the Church of 
 Christ, to that religious body the question should be 
 put " Are you at unity amongst yourselves — do you 
 all teach and believe the same thing — one heart, one 
 soul, one mouth, or are you divided amongst your- 
 selves in questions of Faith ; do you claim to be 
 Everywhere, have you many tongues amongst you, 
 but only one Faith, or are you as a matter of fact 
 local, racial, confined practically to men of one 
 speech ? By questions such as these must each 
 Church be judged, stand, or in the end fall. For, 
 but one Church alone is divine and imperishable, 
 the Church of "The Tradition," the heir of all the 
 ages, that Church which manifestly is One, not 
 divided, not merely national but Catholic. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH 
 
 We read in the Xicene Creed that the Church of 
 Christ is not only One and CathoHc, but also Holy 
 The Church ^^^ Apostolic. That the Church is holy 
 Holy. no Christian can doubt who reads the 
 
 noble words of St. Paul : " Christ loved the Church 
 and delivered Himself up for it, that He might 
 sanctify it, cleansing it by the layer of water in the 
 Word of Life, that He might present it to Himself 
 a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or 
 any such thing, that it should be holy and without 
 blemish."^ 
 
 But it always seems to me that it is difficult to 
 employ the Note of Sanctity as a means of identify- 
 ing the true Church, since, unhappily. Christians 
 disagree so seriously as to wherein precisely sanctity 
 consists. For example, the Catholic holds that the 
 Church is holy because she teaches true doctrine, 
 possesses and uses the seven Sacraments instituted 
 by Christ, offers the Sacrifice of His Body and Blood 
 for the living and the dead, provides those among 
 
 1 Eph. V. 25-27. 
 308 
 
The Apostolic Church 30; 
 
 her children who are called to the practice of the 
 *' Counsels of Perfection " with the means of following 
 their vocation, and is the mother of all the Saints. 
 A Catholic will know that no religious society is part 
 of the true Church which fails in any point to teach 
 the true doctrine — that is (as he believes) the Catholic 
 Faith in its entirety — which has allowed even one of 
 the seven Sacraments to fall into desuetude, which 
 does not offer regularly and continuously the Sacrifice 
 of the Mass, or which neglects to provide facilities 
 for the Religious Life. But on the other hand, 
 those who are not Catholics will (from their point 
 of view, naturally enough) say that this is begging 
 the whole question at issue. They will maintain 
 that Catholic doctrine and practice, far from testify- 
 ing to the sanctity of the Church are actually proof 
 of its corruption, and show to what a distance it has 
 departed from the Teaching of Christ. 
 
 Thus the previous question is raised, and I think 
 raised with reason, for, until previous questions 
 have been settled, I cannot see how the sanctity of 
 the Church can be a means of identifying her, in the 
 eyes of men who are not yet Catholics, as the true 
 Church of Christ. 
 
 A Catholic may perhaps say : " Here is St. Francis. 
 The Church which reared him in her bosom is 
 evidently the One Holy Church of Christ, for 
 Francis became all that he was, through being 
 nurtured on her heavenly food. He may, however. 
 
-^ I o Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 at once be met with the rejoinder that St. Francis 
 is not a type of heroic sanctity at all, and that if we 
 would see a perfect type of Christian we should 
 rather direct our attention to John Keble or to 
 John Bunyan or, perhaps, to that worthy citizen 
 St. Francis' father — a godfearing man who by no 
 means neglected his religion on Sundays, but spent 
 his week days for the most part in honest business, 
 amassing money for those he was to leave behind 
 him, when his place should know him no more — a 
 good man no doubt, but by no means a Saint in the 
 Catholic sense of that word. 
 
 Where, then, there exists a radical difference of 
 view as to what exactly constitutes a Saint, and as 
 to wherein Sanctity precisely consists, it seems hope- 
 less to appeal to Sanctity as a means of discovering 
 the True Church of Christ. Men differ among them- 
 selves as to the very definition of the term.^ 
 
 So we will turn our attention to the fact that the 
 True Church must be Apostolic. Here at least 
 The Church there is no ambiguity as to the meaning 
 Apostolic. of the word, as used in the Creed. Any 
 religious body that claims to be Apostolic must 
 either have been founded by one of the Apostles, or 
 must owe its existence to a Church that is itself of 
 Apostolic origin. Examples of the first kind are the 
 Churches of Rome and Malta, examples of the 
 ^ See, however, p. i86. 
 
The Apostolic Church 3 1 1 
 
 second are the Churches of Ireland and Germany. 
 The Church in Malta was founded by St. Paul during 
 The Church his three months' residence in that Island 
 of Maha. after his shipwreck. The local tradition 
 tells us that Publius who " entertained St. Paul and 
 St. Luke 'courteously'^ was its first Bishop. No one 
 can suggest any moment when a strange doctrine other 
 than that taught by St. Paul entered in — " another 
 Gospel which is not another." ^ Here then we have 
 an Apostolic Church. If you will learn the tradition 
 of the Apostles, go to Malta and there you may find 
 it and learn the Gospel which Paul preached.^ Or, 
 The Church ^^^^ ^^^^ greater reason you may go to 
 of Rome, Rome, for there is the See of the Apostle 
 Peter himself, on whom Christ built His Church — 
 Rome where Paul together with Peter died for 
 Christ — Rome whose Faith even from the beginning 
 was " spoken of in the whole world "* — Rome whose 
 list of Bishops was given by one Father after another 
 as sufficient proof that those in communion with her 
 belonged to the one True Church of Christ.^ The 
 See of Rome is The Apostolic See. 
 
 Rome and Malta are examples of churches founded 
 by the Holy Apostles. For examples of churches 
 founded indirectly by Apostles we may take the 
 Churches of Ireland, Germany, and England. Ire- 
 
 ^ Actsxxviii. i-ii. ^ Gal. i. 6, 7. 
 
 3 Gal. i. II. * Rom. i. 8. 
 
 8 C/. pp. 314, 319, 320, 321. 
 
312 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 land owes her faith to St. Patrick, sent to her shores 
 Of Ireland, by Pope St. Celestine. Germany owes 
 of Germany, j^^j. f^i^h to St. Winfrid Sent to her 
 people by Pope St. Gregory the Second from the 
 bosom of the Church in England which 
 
 of England. , . . . , , , • r 
 
 owed Its own faith to the lovmg care oi 
 Pope St. Gregory the First. Thus the Churches in 
 Ireland in Germany and in England were Apostolic 
 in this sense that in each case they were indebted 
 for their existence (like the Catholic Church in 
 England now) to the Apostolic Church of Rome. 
 
 Does it follow, we may ask, that a Church in Ire- 
 land, in Germany, in England to-day, which perhaps 
 A Church retains wholly or in part possession of 
 which has the venerable sacred buildings of the 
 Apostdic ^ ancient Church, and of its titles of 
 Succession honour, and of its endowments has per se 
 
 ^^ '^^^ ., still a risrht to the title Apostolic ? Not 
 necessarily <^ ^ 
 
 Apostolic. necessarily, by any means — even though 
 the Apostolic succession in the Ministry may have 
 been preserved, as, for example, it has been preserved 
 in Holland by the Dutch Jansenists. For, if any 
 such local Church, Apostolic in its origin, has broken 
 away from the great world-wide Church (as, alas ! 
 may too easily happen) then that local Church by 
 the very fact forfeits its right to its old name, and is 
 like a cuckoo in a nest that is not its own. If we 
 would preserve unimpaired our right to the name 
 Apostolic, we must persevere in " the Apostles' 
 
^i h^ Apostolic Church 313 
 
 doctrine and fellowship."^ We must, that is, con- 
 tinue to believe what the Apostles believed and 
 handed down, tolerating no novelties in religion, and 
 we must continue in communion with the Apostolic 
 Churches in other lands, making no schism. 
 
 Our origin will help us little, if we know in our 
 hearts that our Fathers who brought us the Apos- 
 tolic Faith from the Apostolic See would repudiate 
 us to-day. The " Apostolic Succession " is a succes- 
 sion in " doctrine and fellowship " far more than 
 a succession in officers. 
 
 No Church is Apostolic unless it was founded 
 (directly or indirectly) by one of the Apostles of 
 Christ, and unless it has maintained intact "the 
 deposit " which it received in its beginning. The 
 Apostolic heritage may be lost either by heresy — 
 departing from the Apostles doctrine — or by schism — 
 departing from the unity which they established — or 
 (as is generally the case) by both. 
 
 A Church, then, which either has changed the Apos- 
 toHc doctrine and left the Apostolic unity, deserting 
 its " first love," or which was never founded by the 
 Apostles at all, can have no right to the Apostolic 
 name. 
 
 Churches which have received their present 
 doctrine or form from men who were neither 
 Apostles of Christ themselves nor sent from any 
 Apostolic See, or who broke away from the Apostolic 
 
 * Acts ii. 42. 
 
314 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 See fronv which they had received their commission 
 — men such as Arius or Nestorius or Eutyches or 
 Luther or Cranmer — may be Arian or Nestorian or 
 Eutychian or Lutheran or Anglican. Apostolic they 
 cannot be, for their founders or "reformers" came 
 too late. They were later than the Apostles. 
 
 The early Fathers of the Church always met the 
 early heretics with this test, proving thus that they 
 had departed from the Apostolic Unity. 
 St. Ircnaeus ^^^ example, St. Irenaeus writes: 
 and the ** It is possible for all those who wish 
 
 Trrditton ^° ^^^ ^^^ ^'^^^^' ^° behold in every Church 
 and Succes' the Tradition of the Apostles, which was 
 ^^^^ manifested throughout the whole world, 
 
 and we are able to enumerate the Bishops who were 
 instituted by the Apostles and their successors to 
 our own time."^ 
 
 Having laid down this general principle, St. 
 Irenseus proceeds that it would be too long to give 
 
 the episcopal lists of all the Churches, 
 and on the ^ .,, , , hi 
 
 See of but that it will be enough to recall the 
 
 Rome. ligi- Qf the Church which is the greatest, 
 
 most ancient, and best known of all— that founded 
 by the two glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, the 
 Church of Rome. He tells us that the Blessed 
 Apostles, having founded and organised this Church, 
 left its Government in the hands of Linus who was 
 succeeded by Anacletus. He writes that the third 
 to receive the episcopate after the Apostles was 
 * De Har., iii. 3, i. 
 
The Apostolic Church 3 i 5 
 
 Clement, who had heard the Apostles and conversed 
 with them, who had heard the very sound of their 
 preaching, and himself beheld their tradition. He 
 continues his list until he comes to Eleutherius, 
 who at the time when he wrote, occupied the 
 Roman See.-^ 
 
 After this appeal to the witness of the Church of 
 Rome, Irenseus sends his readers to the Church 
 and the See o^ Smyrna, which had received the Apos- 
 of Smyrna, ^olic tradition from St. Polycarp who 
 had been taught directly by the Apostles. Polycarp 
 had handed down that which he had received to the 
 Bishops who had succeeded him in his See. From 
 the See of Smyrna — the Apostolic church of Asia — 
 Irenaeus tells us — those who dwell in Asia may learn 
 the truth. 
 
 From Irenaeus we may turn to Tertullian. Ter- 
 tullian was by birth a Carthaginian who wrote 
 Tertullian Greek and Latin fluently. Unhappily, 
 and Heresy, before his death he proved false to his 
 own principles, embraced the party of the New 
 Prophecy, rebelled against Rome, passed over to 
 the Montanist sect and ended his days in isolation 
 and obscurity. But whilst still a Catholic he v/rote, 
 at the very end of the second century, a Treatise 
 entitled De PrcFscriptionibtcs Hcsreticoriim which lays 
 down, with the greatest force and incisiveness, the 
 Apostolic character of the true Church. 
 
 Tertullian tells us that " very many persons are 
 ^ De Ha'r., iii. 2, 3. 
 
316 Is Catholicism True? 
 
 scandalised by the fact that heresies are flourishing 
 greatly," and asks the question : 
 
 " If then a bishop, if a deacon, if a widow, if a 
 virgin, if a doctor, if even a martyr shall have fallen 
 away from the Rule [of Faith], {lapsus a Regida 
 fuerit) does it follow that on this account heresies 
 are true?"^ Surely not, for we must not judge the 
 Faith by the persons who betray it. The wind 
 carries off the chaff. The corn that remains is all 
 the purer. " However, heretics may, and actually 
 do, object that, after all, the Rule of Faith is not 
 everything, since there are also Scriptures that are 
 sources of faith, and they base their disputations on 
 the Scriptures. But this is precisely what we must 
 not allow them to do, first because the x\postle Paul 
 forbids us to have any discussion with heretics, 
 secondly because with the heretics of to-day, no one 
 knows what Scriptures they accept, what text they 
 read or, what interpretation they give. You will gain 
 nothing at all from discussion, and the Faithful 
 whom you intend to enlighten by disputing before 
 them with the heretics, will go away more uncertain 
 than before. It is most unprofitable to discuss the 
 contents of the Scriptures, in which there lies no hope 
 of victory, or one that is doubtful or practically doubt- 
 ful {in qiiihns aid nulla, ant inccrta, vicloria est ant 
 par incertce). One question only must be asked : to 
 whom does the deposit of the Faith, to whom does the 
 
 ^ Prccscrip., iii. 
 
The Apostolic Church 317 
 
 deposit of the Scriptures belong ?" The answer to 
 this question must be an answer of fact. But w^hat is 
 alone of importance is the fact that, when here below, 
 our Lord taught, and that amongst His disciples he 
 chose twelve men, whom He destined to be the 
 Teachers of the Nations, and sent to the nations 
 with His authority.^ Now, these " Apostles preached 
 Faith in Jesus Christ first in Judaea, and there 
 founded Churches ; afterwards they went into the 
 world and promulgated to the nations the same 
 teaching of the same Faith. Struggling, they founded 
 Churches in every city, from which other Churches 
 borrowed and are still borrowing every day the germ 
 of faith and the seed of doctrine, so that they may 
 become Churches. And on this account are they 
 too called Apostolic because they are the offspring of 
 Apostolic Churches. Every kind of thing must be re- 
 ferred to its type {omne genus ad originem suam censeatur 
 uecesse est). Therefore there are so many Churches 
 and they are so great, but there is one first Church 
 founded by the Apostles from which all the others 
 have sprung. So all are the first Church and all are 
 Apostolic, provided that together they all show forth 
 unity — provided that there is one communion of 
 peace between them, and one common name of 
 brotherhood, and the seal of hospitality." ^ 
 
 1 Prcescrip., 14, cf. De Anima. I have availed myself of the 
 summary of M. Batiffol {Primitive Catholicism, p. 267). 
 
 2 PrcEScvip., 20. 
 
3i8 Is Catholicism True? 
 
 Later on Tertullian sums up his whole contention 
 in the sentence : " The Churches have received their 
 teaching from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, 
 Christ from God."^ This teaching is a Tradition. 
 It is far more ancient than any heresy whatsoever.^ 
 It was in possession long before men spoke of 
 Marcion the Stoic, or of Valentinus the Platonist.^ 
 *' Now, it is self-evident that what was first handed 
 down (traditnm) comes from the Lord and is true, 
 whereas what appeared later is foreign and false.'"* 
 The priority of the Catholic Tradition is vouched 
 for by the fact that the Apostolic Churches prove 
 that they truly come down from the Apostles, 
 Smyrna claims Polycarp who was put there by John, 
 Rome claims Clement who was put there by Peter. 
 ** Let then the heretics show us the origin of their 
 churches, let them give us the lists of their bishops 
 from the beginning so that their first bishop may be 
 seen to have had as the Founder of his see and his 
 predecessor one of the Apostles, or of the Apostolic 
 men who persevered with the Apostles. For this 
 is the manner in which the Apostolic Churches 
 produce their lists." ^ Tertullian concludes as 
 follows : 
 
 " If then it be the case that truth be adjudged to 
 
 us, whoever we are, who walk in that Rule which 
 
 the Church has handed down from the Apostles, the 
 
 Apostles from Christ, and Christ from God, it follows 
 
 1 Prn'scrip., 21. ^ Ibid., 29. ^ //,/^/^ ^o. 
 
 * Ibid., 31. ^ I bid., 31. 
 
The Apostolic Church 319 
 
 that our proposition stands firm asserting {definientis) 
 that heretics must not be allowed to make any 
 appeal to the contents of the Scriptures."^ 
 
 Irenaeus and Tertullian made their appeal to the list 
 of Bishops in various Apostolic Churches, choosing 
 the succession at Rome as a sample. In the second 
 century such Sees were numerous, and reference to 
 the teaching at Smyrna, for example, was obviously 
 easier for those who lived near Smyrna than was 
 a visit to Rome. But by the fourth century the 
 prestige of other Apostolic Sees was gradually 
 waning and during the controversy with the Donatist 
 heresy in Africa we find St. Optatus of Milevis and 
 St. Augustine of Hippo appealing simply to the 
 Roman See. St. Irenaeus had already said " with 
 this See it is necessary that every church should 
 agree," ^ because of its more powerful headship. 
 
 The Roman See was the Chair (Cathedra) of Peter. 
 
 St. Optatus reminded the Donatists that on this 
 
 account alone anyone who should desert the Church 
 
 ^ ^ of Rom.e would be thereby a schismatic 
 
 St. Optatus , -^ 
 
 and the and a sinner, for the whole [Catholic] 
 
 Apostolic world was in communion with its Bishop. 
 
 This communion with Rome is for him 
 
 the simplest, and the decisive, test as to whether 
 
 1 Prcescrip., 37. 
 
 2 Or perhaps " have recourse to." We only have the words 
 of St. Irenseus in a Latin translation of the original Greek " Ad 
 hanc enim Ecclesiam (Romanam) propter potentiorem princi- 
 palitatem necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam, hoc est eos 
 qui sunt undique Fideles " {Adv. Hczret., iii. 3). 
 
320 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 any Church is, or is not Apostolic. He writes that 
 the Church has certain endowments [Dotes, as we 
 should say, Marks) and that the first of these is the 
 Cathedra. We will give his own words. 
 
 ** The first of the endowments is the Cathedra, on 
 which Peter was the first to sit. To him succeeded 
 Linus." 
 
 Optatus proceeds to give a list of the Bishops of 
 Rome, as Irenaeus and Tertullian had done before 
 him, and when he comes to the name of Siricius, 
 the Pope of the day, he adds, " With this Siricius 
 the whole [Catholic] world agrees in one com- 
 munion " (in una communionis societate concordat). 
 
 On the other hand he warns Parmenian, his 
 Donatist adversary : 
 
 ** You cannot deny that you know that in the 
 city of Rome the episcopal Cathedra was conferred 
 on Peter first, in order that in this one Cathedra 
 unity might be observed by all, lest the other 
 Apostles might claim separate cathedras each one 
 for himself, so that he that might set up another 
 against this one Cathedra, should be at once a 
 schismatic and a sinner."^ 
 
 St A eus- ^*' Augustine likewise gives a list of 
 tine and the the Bishops of Rome, continuing it to his 
 Donatists. ^^^^ day,^ and makes the following appeal 
 to the Donatists : 
 
 1 Coni. Donaf., ii. 2, 3. 
 
 a EpisL, liii. 2. C/. Episf., xliv. 3 ; xlix. 2. 
 
The Apostolic Church 321 
 
 ** Come oh my brothers, if you will be grafted 
 upon the Vine. It grieves me to see you lying there 
 cut off. Number the Bishops from the very See of 
 Peter, and in that order of Fathers observe who 
 came after whom in the order of succession."^ 
 
 For himself St. Augustine writes simply : " I am 
 held in the communion of the Catholic Church 
 by the succession of Bishops from the Chair of 
 Peter the Apostle to whom the Lord commended 
 His sheep to be fed, up to the present Episco- 
 pate." 2 
 
 At the present day, no Apostolic See can be 
 consulted by those who would learn the truth, save 
 No Apostolic the See of Rome. Christians in Jerusalem 
 See now in belong to Other lands than Palestine, and 
 
 existence 
 
 save the See ^.re in no special sense the heirs of the 
 of Rome. Tradition handed down by James the 
 first Bishop of the Holy City. Nor is modern 
 Jerusalem in any true sense the same city as that 
 which, in accordance with the prophecy of Christ, 
 was destroyed under Titus. We have here merely 
 a continuity of site. Ephesus, the See of John, 
 is but a name. Antioch has long since become 
 Nestorian, and Alexandria Monophysite. Constan- 
 tinople is not ApostoHc in origin. Of the Thrones 
 upon which Apostles sat none but Rome remains, 
 but Rome suffices. 
 
 ^ Ps. cont. partes D-onaii., Str. i8. 
 
 2 Cord. Ep. Maiiich. quam voccuit Fiindam., iv. c^. 
 
 21 
 
322 Is Catholicism True? 
 
 St Au us- *' ^ think," wrote Augustine to Julian of 
 tine and Eclanum, ** that part of the world ought 
 that See. ^^ suffice for thee, in which the Lord 
 willed to crown the First of the Apostles with a most 
 glorious Martyrdom."^ 
 
 What was enough for St. Augustine is surely 
 enough for us. Others may pass away, but Rome 
 remains eternal, the unfailing witness to the fulfil- 
 ment of the Promises of Christ. 
 
 So when we come to apply the test and ask 
 whether any church is truly ApostoHc, it is a matter 
 of extreme simplicity. " Has it the Cathedra ?" we 
 may ask with Optatus, that is to say : " Is it in 
 communion with the Bishop of Rome?"^ Every 
 Church has a right to the Apostolic name, which is 
 joined in " doctrine and fellowship " with the 
 Apostolic See of Peter, "to whom," as St. Augustine 
 reminds us, " the Lord commended His sheep, to be 
 fed, up to the present Episcopate."^ Any Church 
 not in communion with " the Chair of the Roman 
 Church on which Peter sat and on which Anastasius 
 [Benedict] sits to-day,"* either never possessed, or 
 unhappily has lost, the right to the Apostolic name 
 and heritage. 
 
 Thus do we come to our conclusion. When we 
 say that the Church is One, we mean that she is 
 
 * Coni. Julianum, i. 13. ^ Coni. Donat., ii. 3, 9. 
 3 Cont. Ep. Manich. quam vocant Fundam., iv. 5. 
 
 * Con. Lift. PeiiL, ii. 51. 
 
The Apostolic Church 323 
 
 Conclusion ^^^ divided within herself but possesses 
 of the matter, one faith, one worship, one ecclesiastical 
 government ; when we say that she is Catholic, we 
 mean that she is not merely national but world wide 
 in her unity ; when we say that she is Apostolic, we 
 mean that she is not modern but ancient. 
 
 In this manner are we " built upon the foundation 
 of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself 
 being the chief Corner-stone;"-^ built upon the 
 Prophets, since the accomplishment of their pro- 
 phecies proves that Mary's Son is the Lord who is 
 Himself the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets ; 
 built upon the Apostles, since they received from 
 the Lord His Divine teaching to be handed down, 
 through all the ages, in His Church. He Himself 
 is the chief Corner-stone : " Other foundation can no 
 man lay than that which has been laid, which is 
 Christ Jesus ;"^ yet He deigned to associate with 
 Himself in the building of His Church another — the 
 Head and Prince of His Apostles — the one Apostle 
 to whom He said : " Thou art a Rock, and upon 
 this Rock I will build My Church, and the Gates of 
 Hell shall not prevail against it, unto thee will I 
 give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven." In this 
 Promise of Christ we have our guarantee that His 
 Divine Teaching shall never be lost, nor changed — 
 shall never be corrupted, in that Church which He 
 built on Peter. So long as we abide in the Church 
 ^ E^ph. i 20. ^ I Cor. iii. ii. 
 
324 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 of Christ— One, Catholic, Apostolic— we shall remain 
 in possession of that supernatural Truth, which God 
 committed to Christ in His Humanity, which Christ 
 committed to the Apostles, and the Apostles com- 
 mitted to the Church. 
 
 Once more let me quote words of St. Augus- 
 tine : '* I am held in the communion of the Catholic 
 Church by the succession of Bishops from the very 
 Chair of Peter the Apostle . . . lastly I am held by 
 the very name of Catholic, which, not without cause 
 amid so many heresies, this Church has alone 
 retained, so that although all heretics wish them- 
 selves to be called Catholics, yet, if any stranger 
 should ask them where the Catholics must worship, 
 not one of the heretics would venture to point out 
 his own temple or house."^ 
 
 It comes to this. The Church of Christ was to 
 be undivided like a Kingdom, unbroken like a net— 
 constquently it must be one ; the Church of Christ 
 was to bring the Gospel to *' all nations "—conse- 
 quently it must be Catholic— that is world-wide ; 
 the Church of Christ was built on the Rock of Peter 
 and founded on the Apostles — consequently it must 
 be APOSTOLIC. To this One, Catholic, Apostolic 
 Church, and to this Church alone, has been entrusted 
 the custody of the Word of God, and the interpreta- 
 tion thereof— the Word of God, which is the divine 
 Revelation made to mankind by Jesus Christ our 
 1 Coril. Ep. Manich. quam vacant Fundam., xiv. 5. 
 
The Apostolic Church 325 
 
 Lord. If then we would learn with certainty the 
 meaning of the Teaching of Christ, we must seek it 
 from the Church which He founded and which is 
 the heir of His Promises. This Church is that 
 which is known amongst men to-day as " The Roman 
 Catholic Churchy'' for the Roman Catholic Church 
 alone is One — and World-wide — and in union with 
 the Apostolic See of Peter. Her circumference is 
 the world; the centre of her Unity is Rome. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH 
 
 We have seen that Christianity is a body of doctrine 
 which requires to be taught. It consists of a num- 
 ber of revealed truths, closely connected with, and 
 interdependent upon, one another, often termed The 
 Faith. It takes the form of definite statements, 
 which after they have been presented to the under- 
 standing, must be either accepted or rejected by the 
 will of each individual. It is called, and it truly is, 
 the Word of Christ— the Word of God, for it is a 
 divine Revelation. Moreover, our Lord has entrusted 
 ^,, ^, , this His Word, as a Deposit or sacred 
 
 T. he Church r • /^ i. i • 
 
 the Deposit Trust, to the keeping of His One Catholic 
 of Truth, Church, which He built upon His Apostle 
 Peter, that she may guard, develop, hand down and 
 teach it to His people, free from any admixture of 
 error to the end of time. 
 
 From the Church, then, we may securely learn 
 those supernatural truths, which God has made 
 known, to our soul's welfare. The question remains 
 to be examined : In what manner does the Church 
 
 326 
 
The Voice of the Church 327 
 
 exercise her office of delivering to men the Divine 
 Word ? Through what channels does she speak to 
 those who would fain listen to Her Voice ? 
 
 The Vatican Council answers this question, 
 reminding us that " all those things are to be 
 believed . . . which are proposed to us by the 
 Church either by a solemn Judgementy or by her ordi- 
 nary and universal authoritative Teaching (magis- 
 terium), to be believed as having been revealed by 
 God."i 
 
 We are referred here firstly to that which is excep- 
 tional, any solemn Judgement of the Church, and 
 secondly to that which is of everyday occurrence, 
 her ordinary Teaching. 
 
 (I.) The exceptional Teaching of the Church is to be 
 found in the definitions of revealed doctrine whether 
 issuing from her CEcumenical Councils, or from the 
 Successors of St. Peter teaching ex cathedra — also in 
 her approved Creeds or Professions of Faith. 
 
 Before going further, it may be well to recall the 
 distinction between the Ecclesia Docens, or the 
 _ Church that teaches, and the Ecclesia 
 
 The Ecclesia 
 
 Docens Discens, or the Church that is taught, 
 
 and Ecclesia Very often the same individual may in 
 his official capacity belong to the 
 Church that teaches, whilst in his private capacity 
 he belongs to the Church that is taught. For 
 example, a Bishop or a Pope when declaring the 
 ^ De Fide, sess. 3, cap. iii. 
 
328 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 Faith, does so as a membsr of the E celesta Docens; 
 when however he submits his own mind to the 
 Mystery which he has just taught officially — he is 
 in this personal act a member of the Ecdesia Discens. 
 By his submission of the intellect he, like a layman, 
 acquires merit and pleases God. St. Paul when he 
 taught with authority that which he had " received "•'■ 
 was one man ; he was yet another when he cried 
 out " I know in whom I have believed. He will 
 render unto me a crown of justice, as unto all those 
 who love His coming." ^ 
 
 Now this distinction between teachers and taught 
 is very clear in the New Testament. In the Gospels 
 we find that our Lord, at the very beginning of 
 His Public Ministry, chose and called to His side 
 disciples ; that from amongst them " He chose 
 Twelve, whom He called Apostles ";^ that of these 
 Apostles one was called the First,^ Simon, to whom 
 He promised the new name of Peter, which He 
 subsequently conferred upon him under special 
 circumstances of great solemnity ; that first to Peter, 
 and then to all the Apostles together. He gave the 
 power of governing His Church under the figure of 
 binding and loosing ; that He promised to send His 
 Holy Spirit to the Apostles to abide with them for 
 ever; that after His Resurrection He sent these 
 
 ^ I Cor. xi. 23. ^ 2 Tim. i. 12 ; iv. 8. 
 
 3 Matt. X. 2-4 ; Mark iii. 13, 14 ; Luke vi. 12, 13. 
 * Matt. X. 2. 
 
The Voice of the Church 329 
 
 Apostles into the world, "even as" he had been sent 
 by the Father, at the same time breathing upon 
 them, saying to them *' Receive ye the Holy Ghost," 
 and bestowing upon them the power of forgiving and 
 "retaining" the sins of their fellow-men; that 
 having declared that "all power had been given 
 Him in Heaven and upon earth," He commissioned 
 His Apostles to " teach all nations," and to " bap- 
 tize them in the Name of the Father, the Son and 
 the Holy Ghost," promising that He Himself 
 " would be with them all days, even to the end of 
 the world." 
 
 From a consideration of such passages as these we 
 see that Christ gave the Apostles authority to teach, 
 ru - . to govern the Church, to baptize and 
 
 the Apostles to forgive sins ; we notice also that He 
 Authority, promised that His Holy Spirit should 
 abide with them, not merely for their lifetime, but 
 " for ever," and that He declared that He Himself 
 would be with them " all days even to the end of 
 the world." From these passages we deduce with 
 certainty that the Apostolic office is to continue in 
 some way in the Church after the death of the last 
 Apostle, and that the Divine assistance will never 
 be lacking to the Teaching Church. Nor are we sur- 
 prised not only to see the Apostolic College exercising 
 undisputed authority after the Ascension of Christ, 
 but also to find St. Paul recognising the distinction 
 between the teachers and the taught, independently 
 
330 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 of the actual Apostles of the Lord. For example, in 
 the First Epistle to the Thessalonians (a letter which 
 is probably earlier in date than any of the Gospels) 
 he writes thus : " We beseech you, brethren, to 
 esteem more abundantly in charity for their works' 
 sake, and to have peace with, those who labour 
 among you, and are over you in the Lord (roi)? 
 TTpolarafievov^ v/jlmv iv Kvpio)) and admonish you."^ 
 And in the inscription of the Epistle to the 
 Philippians we read : *' Paul and Timothy, the 
 servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ 
 Jesus, who are at Philippi, and to the Bishops and 
 Deacons, grace and peace." 2 By the Saints are 
 meant the Faithful in general. The word Saint or 
 holy (a7to9 literally = consecrated) was up to the middle 
 of the second century applied not, as now, to the 
 Church alone, regarded as the Body of Christ, but 
 to all her members individually." Now, at Philippi 
 there were not only the Faithful, but also, distin- 
 guished from them, Deacons and "Bishops." The 
 Bishops and Deacons {htaKovoi) ministered to them, but 
 Deacons. the " Bishops," as the name {eTricTKOTro^;) in- 
 volves, were their overseers, ruled them. And thus at 
 Ephesus St. Paul told Bishops, in set terms, that "the 
 Holy Ghost had placed them to rule [as Shepherds] 
 
 1 I Thess. V. 12, 13. 2 Philip, i. i, 2. 
 
 3 It is borrowed from the Old Testament in which Israel is 
 regarded as a holy nation, and the Israelites are called saints 
 because they belong to God (Exod. xix. 6 ; Deut. vii. 6). 
 A fortiori this should be true under the New Law. 
 
The Voice of the Church 331 
 
 (iroLiJLaiveiv) the Church of God, which He hath 
 purchased with His Own Blood." The teaching 
 office — the office of guiding the Flock of Christ, as a 
 shepherd guides his sheep — was, clearly, to continue 
 in the Church after the death of the Apostles, for it 
 was exercised, subject to the Apostles, even during 
 their lifetime, by other Teachers, called Episcopal. 
 **A Bishop," writes St. Paul to Titus, ''must, as the 
 steward of God . . . embrace that true Word which 
 is in accordance with The Teaching [Kara rrfv 
 BcBaxnv)'^ that he may be able both to exhort in 
 The health-giving Doctrine (eV rjj SiSacrKakia rrj 
 vyiaivovcrr/) and to confute those who oppose him, for 
 there are many who use foolish words {fiaraioXoyoi)^ 
 and are disobedient, who must be reproved."^ 
 
 Those then who do not heed the Teaching of the 
 Bishop, in contradicting him " use foolish words, 
 are disobedient and must be reproved.""* We have 
 here the Ecclesia Docens before our eyes. It is futile 
 for anyone to say that he wishes to be taught by the 
 Church as an abstraction, something in the air, or 
 
 1 17 didaxr) and fj Maa-Kokia (note the definite article) are here 
 synonyms for rj Trapddoais or The Tradition (2 Thess. ii. 14 ; 
 cf. I Cor. xi. 2, etc.), and rj TriaTis or The Faith. 
 
 ' Those who oppose the authoritative teaching of the Bishop 
 are simply described as fiaratoXoyoi, that is, foolish, empty 
 talkers. 
 
 3 Titus i. 7, 10. 
 
 * The distinction between Teachers and Taught in the 
 Church is unaffected by the question as to the exact meaning 
 of the word €7^^'o■K07^os in these passages. 
 
332 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 that he reverences and listens to the Church of the 
 past, unless he is ready to be taught by the Church 
 of the present, submitting himself obediently to her 
 authoritative officers in that time in which he 
 lives. This — and this alone — is "to hear the 
 Church."^ 
 
 " Jesus Christ," wrote St. Ignatius of Antioch, 
 himself a disciple of the Apostles, ''is the Mind ot 
 the Father, even as the Bishops who are settled in 
 the furthest parts of the world (ot Kara ra iripara 
 opcaOivre^) are the Mind of Jesus Christ."^ 
 
 And this at the very beginning of the second 
 century. (St. Ignatius died for the Faith a.d. 114.) 
 
 It is the Catholic Doctrine that, in the exercise of 
 the Teaching Office, the College of CathoHc Bishops 
 throughout the world has succeeded to 
 tolic College the College of the Apostles, and that 
 continued by the Bishop of Rome, who is the First 
 ops. ^^ ^y^ Bishops, has succeeded St. Peter, 
 who was the First of all the Apostles. 
 
 If the Apostolic College was not to die with the 
 Apostles, it is hard to see how anyone can imagine 
 that the Petrine Office was to die with St. Peter. 
 Throughout the Gospels we find St. Peter separated 
 from the rest. It is ''Peter and the Eleven";^ 
 "Peter and the Apostles";^ " Go tell His disciples 
 and Peter. "^ To Peter, as we have seen, first was 
 
 . 1 Matt, xviii. 17. ^ Eph. iii. 2. 
 
 8 Acts ii. 14. * Acts V. 29. ^ Mark xvi. 7. 
 
The Voice of the Church 333 
 
 given the power to bind and to loose ; to Peter 
 alone were promised the keys of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven ; he alone is the Rock upon which the 
 Church is built ; out of his boat Christ taught ; for 
 him alone with Christ was the tribute money paid : 
 **Take this and give it to them for Me and for 
 thee";^ for him alone Christ prayed that he might 
 confirm his brethren when tempted by the Evil 
 One; 2 to his pastoral care alone Christ explicitly 
 committed His Flock — both sheep and lambs — 
 before His own Ascension upon high."^ 
 
 ** One is the Church," wrote St. Cyprian in the 
 third century, " founded by Christ our Lord upon 
 Peter as the origin and principle of its unity* 
 (origine unitatis et ratione). And again, *' The Lord 
 gave this power first to Peter, upon whom He built 
 the Church, whereby He instituted and exhibited 
 the origin of its unity."^ " One is chosen amongst 
 the Twelve," writes St. Jerome, " that by the insti- 
 tution of a Head, any opportunity for schism might 
 be taken away."^ 
 
 With these Scripture texts and patristic principles 
 present to our minds, it should not be difficult to 
 The position S-Ccept the Teaching of the Catholic 
 of Peter, Church that the solitary position of St. 
 Peter was, according to the Will of God, to 
 
 1 Matt. xvii. 24, 26. ^ Luke xxii. 32. 
 
 " John xxi. 15, 16. * Ep., Ixx. 3. 
 
 ^ Ep., Ixiii. 3. ® Adv. Jovin., i. 26. 
 
J34 ^s Catholicism True ? 
 
 be held by Peter's successor in the Roman See. 
 If the Church was to be, as Cyprian assures us, 
 from the beginning, through Peter " instituted 
 and exhibited" in unity, through Peter in unity 
 it should continue. For this purpose not only had 
 *' a Head to be chosen amongst the Twelve, that 
 by the institution of a Head any opportunity of 
 schism might be taken away," but even more 
 necessary was it that a Head should still remain 
 amongst all Bishops during the long centuries 
 that were to follow. 
 
 To Peter's unique position was to succeed that 
 which St. Optatus terms the Unique (unica et 
 singularis Cathedra) Chair of the Roman Bishop, 
 who in every age is Peter's Successor.^ 
 
 The Chair of Peter is the visible centre of the 
 Church's visible unity. This unity is effected through 
 the solemn teaching that proceeds, when need 
 arises, from that Chair of Truth. " Peter hath 
 spoken by Leo," cried the assembled Episcopate 
 at the (Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon : nor can 
 any instance be adduced from ecclesiastical history 
 where the Church turned a deaf ear to the Ex Cathedra 
 Teaching of the Roman Bishop. The Universal 
 Church has ever known well that, in the words of St. 
 Jerome: "the Roman Faith praised by the words 
 of the Apostle, can sufter no change." ^ 
 
 1 Cofii. Donat., ii. 2. Cf. p. 320. 
 ^ Apolog., iii., Contra Rufin, 
 
The Voice of the Church 335 
 
 It is, however, sometimes objected that the position 
 of Bishops in the CathoHc Church to-day in relation 
 The position to the Pope is dissimilar to the position 
 of Bishops. Qf ^\^Q Apostles in relation to their Prince. 
 But surely this should not surprise us. It is 
 a truth accepted, I suppose, by Protestants as 
 well as by Catholics, that each Apostle was 
 infallible in his official teaching, and possessed 
 world-wide jurisdiction. No one would claim 
 to-day infallibility in teaching for any Bishop 
 (save one) considered individually, nor does any 
 Bishop (save one) claim world-wide jurisdiction. 
 Consequently it follows that no individual Bishop 
 (save one) is, standing alone, in the most comprehensive 
 sense a successor of any Apostle. Therefore we 
 should not expect to find the relations of any in- 
 dividual Bishop with the successor of St. Peter, 
 strictly similar to the relations of another Apostle 
 with St. Peter himself. For no one claims that the 
 position of any Bishop to-day (excepting the position 
 of the Bishop of Rome) is strictly similar to that of 
 one of the Twelve, or to that of Paul and Barnabas. 
 But it is true that the position of the College of 
 Catholic Bishops regarded as a whole in relation to their 
 visible Head is strictly similar to that of the College of 
 Apostles in relation to St. Peter. On the one hand we 
 never find in the New Testament the College of 
 Apostles acting independently of Peter ; on the other 
 hand, the College of Catholic Bishops in union with 
 
336 Is Catholicism True? 
 
 the Successor of Peter again and again have taught 
 the Catholic world with Apostolic authority, echo- 
 ing the words of the Council at Jerusalem : *' It hath 
 seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to Us." 
 
 To " Peter and the Apostles" have naturally and 
 inevitably succeeded " The Pope and the Bishops " 
 in the Church to-day. They constitute the Ecclesia 
 Docens. 
 
 When, then, the Successor of St. Peter '' defines 
 ex cathedra ... a doctrine concerning Faith or 
 Morals to be held by the Universal Church;"^ or 
 when the Catholic Episcopate, in union with its 
 Head, assembled in (Ecumenical Council, defines 
 such a doctrine, we know that, in virtue of the assist- 
 ance promised by Christ to Peter and the Apostles 
 '* to the consummation of the world," ^ this doctrine 
 is true, and part of the Deposit of Faith, really be- 
 longing (at least implicitly) to the Apostolic Tradition 
 *' once delivered to the Saints." ^ The same must 
 be held with regard to the Creeds and Professions 
 of Faith regarded as authoritative by the Church. 
 
 A Creed is a summary of revealed Truth, which 
 we accept on the authority of the Church. It serves 
 A Creed and three main purposes : 
 its purpose. j. That those who teach the Faith all 
 over the world may employ the same formula, so that 
 
 1 Council of the Vatican, sess. iv., cap. 4. 
 
 2 Matt, xxviii. 20. ^ Jucle 3. 
 
The Voice of the Church 337 
 
 by this means the Unity of the Faith may be the more 
 easily and the more effectively preserved. 
 
 2. That those who learn may be able to commit 
 to memory and often recite a summary of the great 
 truths, by which their faith may be strengthened and 
 increased. 
 
 3. That by this means the Faithful may be warned 
 against the heresies which the Creeds condemn. 
 
 The Catholic Church possesses three principal 
 Creeds. 
 
 1. The Apostles' Creed. This is generally believed 
 to be the ancient baptismal formula of the Roman 
 Y« Church, which contained the great 
 Apostles* articles of Faith in which catechumens 
 ^^^^^* were required by the Holy Apostles 
 Peter and Paul to profess their Faith before 
 Baptism. Probably, however, it was amplified by 
 new articles to meet successive heresies, and did not 
 reach its present form until the fifth century. For 
 example, the statement, " I believe in the Com- 
 munion of Saints" was in all probability inserted to 
 condemn the Jovinian and Helvidian heresies, which 
 denied the lawfulness of the Invocation of the Saints. 
 
 2. TheNicene Creed. This Creed was begun by the 
 Council of Nicsea (a.d. 325), which in order expressly 
 The Nicene to condemn the Arian heresy, added 
 Creed. to the Apostles' Creed the words, " An^ 
 in One Jesus Christ our Lord . . . consubstantial 
 with the Father, by Whom all things in Heaven 
 
338 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 and on earth were made." It was continued 
 by the Council of Constantinople (a.d. 381), 
 where words were added to express the Divinity 
 of the Holy Ghost in condemnation of the Mace- 
 donian heresy; approved by the Council of Ephesus, 
 (a.d. 431); and completed by the word Filioque (who 
 proceedeth from the Father and the Son), already 
 taught by St. Leo and added in Spain in the sixth cen- 
 tury. This addition, necessary in order to make the 
 Catholic Doctrine, which had been questioned on the 
 subject, explicit, was not approved by the Holy See 
 until the ninth century, when permission was given 
 for it to be sung in this form in the Mass. The 
 addition was accepted by the Greeks in the Second 
 Council of Lyons and the Council of Florence. 
 
 3. The Athanasian Creed. This Creed is so-called 
 from the fact that for some time it was attributed to 
 y, St. Athanasius. It is not, however, to be 
 
 Athanasian found amongst his genuine works, and we 
 ^reed. j^ ^^^^ j^^g^j- ^f j^ before the Council of 
 
 Toledo in the year 633. It is generally believed to 
 have been composed in Spain or Southern Gaul in 
 the fifth or sixth century. Whatever its origin, 
 it has been accepted by the Church and incor- 
 porated in the Breviary. 
 
 In addition to the Three Creeds, we have three 
 later Professions of Faith. 
 
 I. The Tridentine Profession of Faith, sometimes 
 called the creed of Pope Pius the Fourth, gives us a 
 
The Voice of the Church 339 
 
 summary of the definitions of the Council of Trent 
 (a.d. 1564) against the recent Protestant heresies. 
 
 2. The Profession of Faith prescribed for the 
 Greeks by Pope Gregory the Thirteenth (a.d. 1575). 
 
 3. The Profession of Faith prescribed by Pope 
 Urban the Eighth and Pope Benedict the Fourteenth 
 for Orientals (a.d, 1743). 
 
 This then is the Formal Teaching of the Church — 
 Teaching which comes to her children from the 
 ex Cathedra definitions of the Successor of St. Peter, 
 or from her Bishops collectively, or has been em- 
 bodied in some written Profession of Faith, which 
 she has made her own — Teaching which has often 
 arisen from the necessity of condemning some new 
 heresy — Teaching which has become as it were a 
 sign-post, a fixed, immutable presentation of the 
 Tradition which she received from the Apostles, and 
 the Apostles from our Lord. 
 
 We pass to the consideration of 
 
 (II.) The ordinary everyday Teaching of the Church, 
 
 This Teaching is given pre-eminently by the Bishop. 
 
 «,, _,, As the Pope represents the E celesta 
 The ordinary ^ ^ 
 
 teaching of Docens for the whole of Christendom, 
 the Church, g^ does each Bishop for his own 
 Diocese. Though he is not infallible, and though 
 in various crises of the Church's history Bishops have 
 fallen away from the Faith, still, normally, the 
 Bishop for his own people is the Vicar of Christ. 
 His jurisdiction and his right to teach is " ordinary," 
 
340 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 not delegated. This teaching power, since he can- 
 not himself exercise it personally in all parts of his 
 diocese, a Bishop is accustomed to delegate to priests, 
 who teach with his permission and by his authority. 
 
 In practice, the Faithful will learn their religion 
 from their parish priest, his assistants, and also from 
 their parents and school-teachers (whether ** Re- 
 ligious " or Layfolk), all of whom, when they teach 
 the Word of God, have their part in the commission 
 which first devolved upon the Church when the 
 solemn words were spoken to Simon Peter : ** Simon, 
 son of John, lovest thou Me ? Feed My sheep, feed 
 My lambs." In his measure and degree every 
 authorised teacher of the Catholic Doctrine shares 
 in Peter's Burden. 
 
 Now, this Catholic Doctrine is something very 
 definite and very living. We do not think of it 
 primarily as it existed in the second or the fourth or 
 the fifth, or even in the first century, but as some- 
 thing with which we have to deal to-day in the 
 actual present, possibly as teachers, certainly as 
 disciples. No man can give me a reason for obeying 
 the Council of Ephesus, which will not equally 
 oblige me to obey the Council of the Vatican. No 
 man can explain to me why those who lived in 
 Crete and disobeyed Titus should be termed ** users 
 of empty words" and had to be "reproved," unless 
 I also should be a user of empty words, and unless I 
 should also be *' reproved," were I, living possibly 
 
The Voice of the Church 341 
 
 in London, north of the Thames, so unhappy as to 
 contradict or disobey the Archbishop of Westminster 
 to-day. 
 
 The study of history, especially of ecclesiastical 
 history, is much to be commended, but any appeal 
 Appeal to to history, which means an appeal to my 
 History. particular view of history — any appeal 
 away from the Voice of the Church at the present 
 hour back to a dead past, must always be, as Cardinal 
 Manning so concisely expressed it, an act of Treason. 
 Within the Church, I can lawfully, if I think that I 
 have due cause, appeal from the lower authority to 
 the higher, from my parish priest to my Bishop, even 
 from my Bishop to Peter's Chair, but when the 
 Church speaks to me authoritatively — when I know 
 that my parish priest, or my Bishop is but deliver- 
 ing to me the authorized Teaching of the Church, 
 then an appeal to my private view of history is but 
 a treasonable appeal to my own fallible opinion 
 against that Church to which Christ has given His 
 Promise that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail 
 against her. In other words, it is an appeal to my 
 private judgement against the Promises of Christ — 
 against Christ Himself. And this, in the case of a 
 Catholic Christian, falls in no way short of treason. 
 
 The Catholic Doctrine which is the subject-matter 
 of the ordinary Teaching of the Church is, (as I 
 have said so often in the course of this book), nothing 
 else than the Word of God. Her knowledge of this 
 
342 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 Divine Word comes to her not only from the 
 authoritative definitions of Popes and Councils, 
 Catholic and from her Creeds. She derives it also 
 Doctrine no from the Teaching of her ancient Fathers, 
 the Word of ^0^1 her Liturgical Books, and from 
 God. the sense (or traditional belief) of her 
 
 Faithful people. By the Fathers of the Church we 
 mean certain ecclesiastical writers of the early cen- 
 turies, conspicuous for their learning and sanctity, 
 whose writings the Church holds in veneration. 
 The greatest of these Holy Fathers are called Doc- 
 tors, that is, not merely Doctors in the Church, but 
 Doctors of the Church. Of these, eight are known 
 as the Great Doctors — four in the West, and four in 
 the East. In the West, Ambrose, Jerome, Augus- 
 tine and Pope Gregory the Great ; in the East, 
 Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen and John 
 Chrysostom. There are also certain very early 
 writers, whose orthodoxy is suspect (such as Origen), 
 or who did not persevere in the Catholic Faith (such 
 as Tertullian), whose testimony is of very high value 
 as to the Teaching of the Church in their time, even 
 though unhappily they may have themselves at 
 some time repudiated that teaching. Thus from 
 Tertullian, writing in his heretical days, we learn that 
 Pope Callistus in the second century claimed to 
 forgive even the most enormous sins in virtue of the 
 powers of the Keys which he had received as suc- 
 cessor of St. Peter in the See of Rome.^ 
 1 Dc Piidiciiia, xxi. 9. 
 
The Voice of the Church 343 
 
 The Fathers of the Church may be regarded from 
 a twofold point of view. They are private Teachers^ 
 Testimony ^^^ ^^ ZMoh their teaching should always 
 of the be listened to with deep respect in con- 
 
 rathers. sequence of their learning and sanctity; 
 they are also witnesses to the Tradition of the 
 Churchy and in this capacity it is evident that 
 their authority carries very great weight indeed. It 
 is therefore certain that if we find the Fathers, with 
 practical unanimity, declaring — in this bearing wit- 
 ness to the Tradition of their respective churches — 
 that any doctrine has been revealed by God, or has 
 been received by the Universal Church, or cannot 
 be denied without shipwreck of the Faith, we dare 
 not on such a subject neglect their testimony. 
 Moreover, the Council of the Vatican, repeating the 
 teaching of the Creed of Pope Pius the Fourth, 
 warns us that it is not lawful to interpret any pas- 
 sage of Holy Scripture against the unanimous 
 consent of the Fathers. For example, even before 
 the Church had solemnly condemned the Lutheran 
 heresy of Justification by Faith only, it would not 
 have been permitted, against the unanimous agree- 
 ment of the Fathers, to interpret certain passages in 
 the Epistles of St. Paul, as though adult Christians 
 could be justified and attain salvation without the 
 doing of good works. 
 
 It is manifest that though the writings of the 
 Fathers will always be of the greatest interest to 
 
344 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 Catholics, and of the greatest importance for the 
 defence of the Faith, it is not so necessary to appeal 
 to their authority at the present time, m order 
 thereby to settle disputed points of controversy, as 
 was the case in the days before the rise of multiform 
 heresies had caused the Church to multiply her 
 definitions of doctrine. Moreover, we* must always 
 bear in mind that if the Holy Scriptures need a 
 living interpreter, so even more do the writings of 
 the Fathers, vast as they are in bulk, and ranging 
 over an enormous field. Besides the Fathers were 
 not inspired, and not one of them — unless he be a 
 Pope expressly teaching the Church — is infallible in 
 his writings. If anyone will even glance at the 
 volumes of Migne upon the shelves of a library, he 
 will understand how futile and how pathetic is the 
 appeal of some modern High Churchmen to the 
 Bible, not as interpreted by the living Church, but 
 by *'the Fathers." The Fathers themselves had 
 their disputes, and in such disputes, like Catholics 
 in every age, they submitted gladly to the Judgement 
 of the Church, to which alone, in questions of doubt, 
 they ever made their appeal. 
 
 We may also learn the Catholic Doctrine from 
 the Liturgical Books of the Catholic Church, accord- 
 ing to the saying Lex stipplicandi lex credendi. For 
 example, when in the various Liturgies we are 
 instructed to adore the Blessed Sacrament, we are 
 thereby taught the doctrine of the Real Presence 
 
The Voice of the Church 345 
 
 from which, of necessity, Eucharistic Adoration 
 springs. 
 
 The Church, then, has the Teaching of the 
 ApostoHc See and of her Bishops throughout the 
 The Teach- world ; she has her Ancient Fathers ; she 
 ing Church, j^^s her Liturgical Books. She possesses 
 also her Faithful People. Whatever may be the 
 truth of the saying Vox Populi, Vox Dei in secular 
 politics, there can be no doubt that in ecclesiastical 
 history again and again the Voice of the People has 
 been the Voice of God. So much so that St. Hilary, 
 seeing Bishops falling into Arianism whilst the 
 Catholic masses resented their heresy and stopped 
 their ears, did not hesitate to write "The ears 
 of the people are more holy than are the 
 hearts of their Bishops."^ Not that the people 
 are the judges of their Bishops — to say this 
 would be to contradict the whole teaching of 
 Antiquity — but that in those exceptional cases 
 where Bishops fall away from the Church, the 
 people remain, at least for a while, faithful, and 
 instinctively resent heretical novelties in doctrine. 
 It was so in the case of Arianism ; it was so when 
 Nestorius, Patriarch of the great See of Constanti- 
 nople, denied that Mary was rightly termed Mother 
 of God — the people would have none of it, stopped 
 their ears in horror, and joyfully acclaimed the 
 Catholic Teaching ; it was so under Henry the 
 
 ^ Contra Auxenfium, 6. 
 
346 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 Eighth in England and Wales, when alas ! Bishops 
 fell away through cowardice and worldliness, and 
 the people remained faithful to the Ancient Faith. 
 The English and Welsh people never gave up their 
 religion. It was persecution only, accompanied by 
 lack of priests throughout the land, that stole their 
 children's heritage. 
 
 Durmg a short period, when the Doctrine of the 
 Immaculate Conception had not yet been defined. 
 Undefined and whilst it was under much discussion 
 Doctrines, jn a.11 its bearings, a considerable portion 
 of the great Dominican Order inclined to the opinion 
 that our Lady had been sanctified not in the first, but 
 in the second, moment of her existence. At this period 
 some Franciscans happened to erect a new church, 
 and placed over the portico the inscription ** To 
 Mary conceived without Sin." Whereupon certain 
 Dominicans who lived in the neighbourhood ap- 
 proached the Pope of the time with a complaint : 
 " Was it lawful thus to anticipate the supreme 
 Judgement of the Holy See on a question that was 
 still under discussion ?" The Pope smiled and 
 replied : " Do yoti too build a church, and place 
 over the portico: * To Mary conceived in Sin,' and 
 let us see how long the people will let it stand!" 
 Theologians might ventilate a question scientifically, 
 and discuss it under all its aspects, but never at any 
 period of the Church's history would the Faithful 
 people have tolerated the thought that the empire 
 
The Voice of the Church 347 
 
 of Satan ever had access to the soul of the Holy 
 Mother of their God. Thus the people, ever reten- 
 tive of the traditions of their Fathers, ever jealous 
 of innovation, remain guardians and witnesses to 
 the Ancient Faith. 
 
 Indeed, provided that we understand the sense in 
 which we use the words, we may say with truth 
 that the Church which is taught is infallible even 
 as the Church which teaches. " You know all 
 things," wrote the Apostle to the first Christians, 
 " and have no need for any man to teach you 
 anything." ^ In the Catholic Church we are taught 
 not by man, nor of man as man, but by the Holy 
 Spirit dwelling in the Church and guid- 
 Spirit ° ^ i^g her into all Truth. St. John mani- 
 
 dwelleth in festly did not mean that those to whom 
 the Church. ^^ ^^^^^^g ^.^ ^^^ g^^^^ .^ j^gg^ Qf j^-g 
 
 teaching — he was constantly teaching them and 
 with much authority — he did mean that they were 
 not to look upon his teaching as the word of man, 
 but as the Word of God ; he did mean that Chris- 
 tians are liberated from all human authority in 
 religion (which is slaver^O, and submitted only to 
 that which is divine (which is freedom). And 
 thus are they infallible (so far as their know 
 ledge of revealed Truth is concerned), for they 
 know **all things" that Christ has revealed, ac- 
 cording to His saying to His Church : ** Go 
 
 ^ I John ii. 27. 
 
34-8 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 teach all nations, whatsoever things I have com- 
 manded you." 
 
 This is our great happiness as Catholics. We are 
 secure — built together, as stones may be built together 
 Yj^g into one building upon a Rock, united 
 
 security of together as various members in One Body, 
 Catholicism, ^j^.^j^ is the mystical Body of Christ Him- 
 self. We have discussed the various ways in which 
 the Word of God has been declared and made known 
 throughout the ages of Christian history. For us, 
 in practice, there is no difficulty in ** hearing the 
 Church," if only our hearts are willing. She speaks 
 with no uncertain voice. All over the world her child- 
 ren learn the Faith, first, still as children in point of 
 years, at their mother's knee, in catechisms approved 
 by her Bishops and substantially the same in every 
 land, in her ancient Creeds, through her solemn 
 liturgies ; they drink it in as they hear Mass, or kiss 
 the Crucifix, or make their confessions, or pray to 
 the Mother of God, and so does it become to them 
 almost as a second nature. They know what they 
 have received, woe to them if they keep it not as 
 they have received it. When at length they come 
 to man's estate, if they have leisure and education, 
 they may examine it analytically, they may learn 
 how it was defended by definitions of Popes and 
 Councils against attack ; reading the volumes of the 
 Fathers and great Theologians they may watch its 
 synthesis and development. But it always remains 
 
The Voice of the Church 349 
 
 the same. No more can they doubt its unity and 
 persistence than they can doubt the unity and per- 
 sistence of their own personality throughout the 
 various stages of life. And as life goes on, perhaps 
 more and more do they fall back upon its unadorned 
 statements, before yet controversy had attacked 
 them, as they are to be found in their wondrous 
 simplicity in the Holy Gospels. ** The Word was 
 made Flesh." " God hath so loved the world." 
 ** Christ Jesus our Lord." " Mary the Mother of 
 Jesus." ** They found the Child with Mary His 
 Mother." *' He hath died for sinners, ot whom 
 I am the chief." Against such sayings as these all 
 criticism is impotent. Heaven and earth may pass 
 away, but the Word of God passeth not. Nor is 
 the truth of our religion in any way affected by the 
 advance of scientific knowledge. One of the greatest 
 of men of science, by common consent, is M. Pasteur. 
 Perhaps I may be permitted once again to print the 
 true but well-known tale — how when in the evening 
 of his days the great investigator was asked whether 
 the knowledge he had acquired, had in any way 
 weakened his faith, he replied : ** My faith, thank 
 God, is that of a Breton peasant. I hope that before 
 I die, it may be that of a Breton peasant's wife." 
 
 This may not be our lot, for the faith of the 
 Breton peasant's wife has almost ceased to be faith 
 — hers is a faith which has almost melted into sight. 
 But we all, if we will, may so keep the Faith that, 
 
350 Is Catholicism True ? 
 
 when the end comes and earthly things are passing, 
 we may be able to say with St. Teresa : '* After all, 
 O Lord, I am a child of the Church,"^ and with the 
 Apostle, " This is the victory which overcometh the 
 world, our Faith." ^ 
 
 1 Life, edited with Preface by Cardinal Manning, p. 364, 
 ^ I John V. 4. 
 
WHAT DOES CATHOLIC 
 CHRISTIANITY GIVE? 
 
" La source de toutes les heresies est V exclu- 
 sion de qtielques unes de ces ve rites de foi ; et la 
 source de toutes les objections que nous font les 
 heretiques est V ignorance de quelques-unes de 
 nos verites. 
 
 ** C^est pourquoi le plus court moyen pour 
 empScher les heresies, est d'instruire ae toutes 
 les verites ; et le plus sur moyen de les refuter, 
 est de les declarer toutes,'' — Pascal: Pensees, 
 
PART III 
 
 WHAT DOES CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY 
 
 GIVE? 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST 
 
 Christianity has bestowed upon mankind not only 
 a definite Creed, but also a definite Code of Morals. 
 Faith and We are required not only to believe^ but 
 Works. also to do. Faith without works is dead 
 — of no avail before Him who is the Lord not of 
 the Dead but of the Living. The Faith that is 
 asked of us is a " Faith working by Charity." Our 
 faith has to be operative, otherwise it will avail us 
 nought at the Day of Account. 
 
 It is, however, often hard to believe aright — that 
 is, to submit our minds, in accordance with the 
 The need of divine Command, to Mysteries that are 
 divine help obscure and above our comprehension, 
 intellealndit is also often difficult to live aright— 
 the will. that is, to submit our wills, in accordance 
 with the divine Law, to moral precepts which not 
 seldom are repugnant to our natural instincts, and 
 
 353 23 
 
354 What does Catholic Christianity give r 
 
 are always above our natural powers to fulfil 
 meritoriously. Both for the intellect, that we may 
 believe, and for the will, that we may do, we stand 
 in absolute need of supernatural help. This super- 
 natural help is given us by our religion in rich 
 abundance. It is called the Grace of Christ. 
 
 Grace is the free, unmerited Gift of God. It 
 The grace comes from Him, who is full not only of 
 of Christ. Truth, but also of Grace, of whose ful- 
 ness we may all receive.^ 
 
 Before we turn our attention to the various 
 
 channels through which, chiefly, we receive the 
 
 «^, J Grace of Christ, it may be well to glance 
 
 of Christi' somewhat more generally at the manner 
 
 anity in the -^ ^vhich the sublime Gospel of Christianity 
 
 first and 
 
 second made its appeal in the first and second 
 
 centuries. centuries to a society that seemed sick 
 
 unto death — to men and women, many of whom 
 
 were without hope, as they avowedly were without 
 
 God in the world. We shall then see that the 
 
 gifts which Peter and Paul offered to the ancient 
 
 civilisations of Greece and Rome are the very gifts 
 
 of which we stand most in need to-day. 
 
 The Gift of Christianity in the first place is the 
 
 Gift of Freedom. It is a Gift offered to all who will 
 
 The gift of accept it — especially, perhaps, to the 
 
 Freedom. hopeless, for the hopeless need it most. 
 
 It declares that there are no chains which it cannot 
 
 ^ John i. 14-16. 
 
The Gospel of Christ 355 
 
 break. It was prophesied to be Redemption for the 
 captive. We are to be free with the liberty where- 
 with Christ has made us free. " If the Son shall 
 make you free, you shall be free indeed."^ 
 
 It is freedom for the intellect, and freedom for the 
 will. The intellect is to be set free from ignorance, 
 Freedom for but the learning, which this Gift promises, 
 the intellect* jg not in any special way destined for 
 those who are already learned, as men count learn- 
 ing; rather will the divine knowledge which it gives 
 be acquired the more easily by those who never have 
 had leisure at their disposal to bestow upon hiiman 
 Freedom for letters. The will is to be set free aom 
 the will. sin, and this freedom shall be valuedi.he 
 most by those to whom most has been forgiven, f-.T 
 the Son of Man came not to call the just but sinner., 
 to repentance. 
 
 Let us consider what this message meant to those 
 in the old Greco-Roman world — Gentiles they are 
 called in our New Testament — to whom it was first 
 delivered. We know that amongst them there were 
 not many who were rich, nor many who were learned. 
 Freedom for Do we realise that in large part the first 
 the slave. Christians, our first Fathers in the Faith, 
 were slaves ? 
 
 " Far-seeing Zeus," said Homer, " takes away 
 from a man half his worth, when he brings the 
 day of slavery upon him." ^ Before the dawn of 
 1 John viii. 36. ^ Odyssey, XVII. 322. 
 
356 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Christianity this doctrine would have been ques- 
 tioned by none, least of all perhaps by the slave 
 himself. The servile vices were his — they seemed 
 to belong to his very lot — does not the word servility 
 suggest them ? Obsequiousness, cringing — the in- 
 evitable results of conscious dependence upon 
 another for the very right to live — how could such 
 faults as these seem blameworthy to the slave ? 
 Yet they brought with them in their train, almost 
 it appeared of necessity, lying, tale-bearing (how 
 else obtain the favour of the master, without which 
 existence was quite intolerable?), loss of self-respect, 
 too often — especially in the case of women — degrada- 
 tion unspeakable. What of manhood, what of 
 womanhood, could be said to remain ? 
 
 And then — then there came the whisper of a new 
 religion, of a new gospel. Good indeed were the tidings 
 wafted by the breezes of hope to the glad ears of the 
 hitherto hopeless slave. In Christ Jesus, so — in- 
 credible though the words sounded — it was said to 
 run — in Christ Jesus, there is neither bond nor free, 
 but a new creature. " Wast thou called [to the 
 Faith] being a bondsman ? Care not for it. . . . 
 For he that is called in the Lord, being a bondsman, 
 is the freeman of the Lord."-^ What wonder — when 
 the first preachers of this wondrous doctrine first 
 appeared — what wonder if the slaves, now that the 
 opportunity was theirs, "heard them gladly"? 
 1 I Cor. vii. 21, 22. 
 
The Gospel of Christ ? 357 
 
 Light broke into their dreary encampments. The 
 chains seemed to fall oif their hands. When they 
 were beaten, they had something of which they 
 might think with comfort unspeakable as the cruel 
 lashes fell, for the Light that had appeared in the 
 East shone even upon them. They were redeemed 
 from their bonds. By the stripes of their Lord they 
 were healed ; by His dear Hands oil and wine were 
 poured into their wounds. Men were cruel and 
 heartless, but He at least was full of compassion and 
 of tenderness, and He loved them. A new dignity 
 was theirs — a dignity undreamed of by their Pagan 
 masters. They possessed a secret which filled their 
 souls with joy and was all their own. How their 
 blood must have quickened in their veins, as they 
 heard that Jesus of Nazareth, the Living God, had 
 for their sake taken '* the form of a slave," as a slave 
 had been scourged, and had died the death of a 
 slave, abandoned by all, that He might free them. 
 How they must have rejoiced when they learned of 
 the nobility that should now for all time attach to 
 the word, which heretofore had been used to express 
 their misery and degradation, when they learned 
 that the Apostle of the Gentiles — their Apostle — was 
 proud to call himself the slave of Christ Jesus, and 
 was their slave too, ready to serve them to the end ! 
 And not only the Apostle, but also his Lord should 
 Himself serve them ! 
 
 " The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto 
 
358 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 but to minister." These were Christ's own words — 
 recorded for all time in the Sacred Scriptures of 
 His new religion that had come to change the 
 world — to minister, then, to them. Freedom now 
 was theirs, not earthly m.anumission — arriving too 
 probably when it had long ceased to have any 
 value in the eyes of those who were worn out 
 with lifelong toil — but spiritual freedom — freedom 
 and equality, as regards their manhood, with their 
 fellow-men. 
 
 A position in the Church of Christ was assured to 
 slaves who became Christians which hitherto had 
 been inconceivable. 
 
 If their masters had the happiness to become 
 Christians too, those masters were their *' brethren 
 both in the flesh and in the Lord,"^ both by nature 
 and by grace ; if, unhappily, their masters remained 
 strangers to the Christian Faith, still a joy was theirs 
 such as none who was not a Christian could ever 
 hope to share. They were emancipated indeed, and 
 sealed with the sign of their Redemption. 
 
 Once on board an ocean steamer I heard a pluto- 
 cratic American icily observe that in her opinion 
 " Catholicism is no doubt a very suitable religion 
 for Irish servant girls." \Vith exultation of spirit I 
 reflected within my soul that there was a time when 
 our holy religion seemed to many a purse-proud critic 
 *' a very suitable religion for our slaves." 
 
 * Philemon 16. 
 
The Gospel of Christ 359 
 
 Receiving the grace of Christianity, the slave was 
 not merely reborn in the supernatural order, but 
 even in the natural order became a man again, or 
 rather became a man for the first time. And in the 
 records of persecution we find amongst the most 
 heroic, men, women and girls, who were slaves, 
 beautiful and admirable in death, as they had been 
 most winning and gracious in their lives. The servile 
 characteristics had disappeared in those for whom 
 the wounded Hands of Jesus Christ were full of 
 gifts. 
 
 But recognising what Christianity did for the first 
 Christians, we dare not say th-at we have no slaves, 
 and that therefore Christianity has lost its message 
 for our age. The generation in which our lot is cast 
 may or may not have social slaves in its midst ; it 
 most certainly is not without slaves of sin. *' And 
 they answered Him : We are the seed of Abraham, 
 and we have never been slaves to any man. How 
 sayest Thou : You shall be free ? Jesus answered 
 them : Amen, Amen, I say unto you that whosoever 
 committeth sin is the slave of sin." ^ 
 
 A slavery more terrible far than any which is 
 merely social, is the slavery of sin. If social slavery 
 Freedom takes half his manhood from a man, the 
 from sin. slavery of sin robs him of all the true 
 
 1 John viii. 33, 34. 
 
360 What does Catholic Christianity give? 
 
 glory of manhood which consists in the friendship 
 of God. From all sins Christianity promises de- 
 liverance to men if only they will be liberated, and 
 to all sinners forgiveness if only they will come to 
 Christ with a contrite heart. There are sins of 
 which the world thinks nothing, and there are sins 
 which make a man an outcast from his fellows. 
 Christianity knows no such distinction in her welcome 
 to the sinner who repents. If distinction there must 
 be, the greater the sinner — the more disgraceful his 
 sin — the deeper her welcome, for the greater his 
 need. 
 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ was called on earth the 
 Friend of Publicans and Sinners. Among the 
 Our Lord sinners publicly known as such, was the 
 and sinners, woman who washed His Feet with her 
 tears and wiped them with her hair, of whom He 
 was never ashamed — beneath His Cross by the side 
 of His sinless Mother stood the Magdalen. The 
 publicans were men held in execration — for the most 
 part dishonest in their dealings — and one of them, 
 after he left the receipt of custom became an Apostle 
 and an Evangelist. Jesus declared that sinners, 
 upon whom men of the world looked down with 
 scorn, should enter His Kingdom before the self- 
 righteous religionists of His time. From off His 
 Cross He promised Paradise to a thief suffering 
 punishment for his sins. He gave the keys of 
 Heaven to the Apostle who had denied Him thrice, 
 
The Gospel of Christ 361 
 
 that Heaven's gates might ever be opened wide to 
 
 sinners who would repent.^ 
 
 Such lessons as these the Church of Christ will 
 
 never forget. In every age it is her joy and her 
 
 _. ^ , , pride to share the reproach of her Lord. 
 The Catholic ^ / . , r - j ^u 
 
 Church and She is known as the sinners iriend, the 
 
 sinners. sinners' refuge, the sinners' home. Her 
 
 portals are flung wide open for all those who are 
 
 burdened and heavy laden to enter in, that they may 
 
 find the rest for their souls, which is elsewhere 
 
 denied them. 
 
 Other religions may rejoice over the respectability 
 or the affluence of their adherents. The Church of 
 God is about her Master's business, in her Master's 
 way. She seeks, first of all, those who are broken 
 and despised. 
 
 Origen tells us how Celsus objected against 
 Christianity that other religions welcomed those 
 Origen and " ^ho are holy, who are pure from all 
 Celsus. stain and clean of hands," but that the 
 first Christians reckoned amongst their number *' the 
 unjust, the thief, the burglar, the robber of temple 
 and tomb — men whom a brigand would ask to join 
 him." 2 There is no suggestion here that those who 
 practised the Christian religion were allowed to 
 continue in sin ; but it is true that from the beginning 
 
 1 C/. " Peccator accipit claves. . . . Provisum est, ut pec- 
 cator aperiret innocentibus, ne innocentes clauderent contra 
 peccatores" (St. Optatus, Cont. Donat., vii. 3 ad finem). 
 
 2 Contra Celsiim, iii. 59. 
 
362 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 the greatest sinners came to Christianity to be saved 
 from the paralysis of sin, and that always they were 
 certain of a welcome. 
 
 It is also true that any religion which in practice 
 does not know how to meet halfway — and more than 
 halfway — how to receive — how to make at home, 
 the repentant man or woman who has been sunk in 
 sin and is rejected by the world — whatever else it 
 may be — is not the Christianity of Christ. 
 
 The first gift, then, of Christianity is Freedom. But 
 
 freedom, however desirable in itself, is something 
 
 ^ negative. It is possible to be liberated — 
 
 Freedom in 
 
 itself to be made a freed man — and yet not to 
 
 something ^gg ^\^q liberty that has been won. Free- 
 Negative. 
 
 dom is an essential condition for healthful 
 
 activities, but is not itself activity. A man may be 
 set free from the slavery of agnosticism — the in- 
 ability to know — and yet may fail to use the freedom 
 that now is his to acquire knowledge, if he will. A 
 slave may come to understand that his external 
 state is no impediment to the free action of his soul — 
 and yet may fail to rise to God. A man may have 
 been saved from gross sins of the past — may have 
 repented and been forgiven — and yet may practise 
 but little virtue in the time to come. Without the 
 grace of Christ man cannot be freed. Without 
 the grace of Christ even the free man can do nothing, 
 in the supernatural order, to please his Lord.^ 
 
 * John XV. 5. 
 
The Gospel of Christ 363 
 
 Christianity gives more than freedom. Together 
 
 with freedom, Christianity gives life and power. 
 
 " I have come," said Jesus Christ, "that 
 
 Christianity - , , 
 
 gives not that they may have hte and that they 
 only freedom ^nsiy have it more abundantly." ^ He is 
 not only the Truth, He is also the Way 
 and the Life. He is the Way by which we travel to 
 God, and we journey by participation in His Life. 
 " In Him," writes St. Paul, " we can do all things — 
 in Him who gives us strength." And again : ** I 
 live, yet not I, but He liveth in me." ^ 
 
 Now, the life which our Lord declares that He has 
 come to give, obviously is not natural life — the life 
 of the body— for that, independently of 
 His Coming, is enjoyed as a Gift from 
 God, the Author of nature. Christ came to give 
 supernatural life — the life of the soul. This He 
 gives, as the Author of grace. Not that this 
 spiritual life was not bestowed upon men before His 
 Coming, but He has come to give it '* more 
 abundantly " — in more abundant ways than had even 
 been imagined, until He came. 
 
 In considering the life of the soul we shall do well 
 to always bear in mind its analogy with 
 beuvee^n the life of the body. The order of nature 
 nature and and the order of grace run not on diverg- 
 ^^^^^* ent, but on parallel lines. For nature 
 
 and grace both proceed from God as from their 
 1 John X. 10. 2 Gal. ii. 20. 
 
364 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 First Principle, and grace presupposes nature. With- 
 out nature there would be nothing on which grace 
 could build. To be reborn a man must first be 
 born. He must be born in the natural order, before 
 he can be born again supernaturally. 
 
 Now, the needs of our nature may be reduced to 
 these. We need (a) entrance into life, and (b) air 
 Our natural ^1^3.t we may breathe, and (c) strength to 
 needs. contend against the obstacles that will 
 
 beset and imperil us, and {d) medicine if we are 
 sick, and (e) food to sustain us. Our welfare also 
 demands at least for a certain period of life (f) a 
 family in which we may live, (g) a mother to care for 
 us, (h) teachers to instruct us, and (i) friends to 
 be our companions and, maybe, to help us in our 
 trials. We feel also (7) the need of acknowledging 
 the benefits of God and of adoring Him who is our 
 Father in Heaven, we feel {k) a desire — almost a 
 necessity — to enter into relations with those dear to 
 us who have passed beyond our sight, and we feel 
 (/) the need that the fear of death may be taken away 
 from our souls — that we may be strengthened and 
 taught how we may die — when our earthly life is 
 drawing to a close. 
 
 It is my aim to show how perfectly the super- 
 
 ^ natural needs of the soul which have their 
 
 Our super' 
 
 natural analogies in these natural needs of man 
 needs. ^^q satisfied by Catholic Christianity, 
 
 (a) The entrance to the spiritual life is Baptism ; 
 
The Gospel of Christ 365 
 
 that life is strengthened by (c) Confirmation ; and 
 ministered to in sickness by {d) Penance ; and 
 nourished by (e) Holy Communion, (b) Prayer is 
 the breathing of the soul, and {i) the Holy Sacrifice 
 of the Altar satisfies in a perfect and supernatural 
 manner our desire to worship God. Christ has 
 raised the family in which we live to a great dignity 
 through (/) the Sacrament of Matrimony; He has 
 given us teachers to minister to our souls in (h) the 
 Sacrament of Holy Order. He has given us (g) His 
 Mother to be our Mother, and (i) His Saints in 
 Heaven to be our friends and protectors ; He has 
 taught us how (k) to help the Holy Dead, and has 
 provided consolations for (/) our last hour, which 
 should take away from us the fear of death and 
 smooth our passage to Eternity. 
 
 These are some of the gifts of God, which come 
 to us through our religion, not only raising us when 
 we fall, but enabling us to keep the Commandments 
 — provisioning our souls as we travel through the 
 different stages of our varying lives. 
 
 What was said with such admirable simplicity of 
 His marvellous dealings with Israel of old has been 
 still more wondrously accomplished since the Incar- 
 nation of His Son : 
 
 *' He gave unto them " — in all truth He has also 
 given unto us — ''provisions in abundance."^ 
 
 1 Ps. Ixxvii. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM 
 
 Before we consider in any detail the supernatural 
 gifts of God — gifts that bestow freedom and life 
 upon the soul — it is necessary to say something on 
 what is known as the Sacramental System in 
 general. 
 
 All Christians are agreed as to the necessity of 
 divine grace for the overcoming of temptation and 
 the practice of supernatural virtues. Divergence un- 
 happily begins when we come to discuss the manner 
 in which Christ bestows His grace upon His 
 servants. All, it is true, are agreed that Christ gives 
 the passing assistance, which is called actual grace, 
 independently of Sacraments, and all are agreed that 
 this assistance may be confidently relied upon in 
 answer to prayer. The difference is concerned mainly 
 -with the grace which is called sometimes sanctifying^ 
 because it effects the union of the soul with God 
 through charity, and sometimes hahitualy because it 
 remains in the soul as a *' habit." 
 
 The difference between actual and habitual gracQ 
 
 366 
 
The Sacramental System 367 
 
 may be illustrated by a homely example. A man 
 falls into the mire in a ditch. He may not be able 
 Habitual to extricate himself. A good Samaritan 
 grace. passes his way, gives him the necessary 
 
 help to get up, and also clothes him. The momentary 
 help is a figure of actual grace, which is required 
 only for the instant ; the clothes may be compared 
 to habitual grace, in so far as they are intended to 
 remain upon the man who is clothed. Every 
 comparison is faulty somewhere, and we see where 
 this comparison fails. Our clothes will be taken off 
 and will wear out, whereas habitual grace is intended 
 to remain permanently ours during life. Still it 
 serves the purposes for which alone I have used 
 it — to make clear the distinction between habitual 
 and actual grace. 
 
 Habitual or sanctifying grace is a created quality 
 infused by God into the soul, whereby the soul is 
 brought into a new relation and union with His Holy 
 Spirit. The possession of this' gift brings with it a 
 special indwelling of God within the soul. The 
 Holy Ghost is indeed present everywhere, but souls 
 without sanctifying grace are excluded, by the 
 essential limitations of human nature, from partici- 
 pation in the Activity or Life of God. The posses- 
 sion of sanctifying grace renders this participation 
 possible — at least potentially. To render this poten- 
 tiality ever more active is the essence and purpose 
 of the spiritual life. 
 
368 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 The Catholic Church teaches that this grace, 
 whereby a man is pleasing to God, is both given and 
 The Sacra- increased — for according to Catholic 
 ments. Doctrine it is capable of increase — 
 
 through certain external rites called Sacraments. 
 These Sacraments are all directed to this end — the 
 birth and growth of sanctifying grace within the 
 soul. They owe their origin directly to Christ. 
 They are seven in number, and each was instituted 
 for a specific purpose. 
 
 This belief has been controverted on one or other 
 point by the various Protestant bodies. Since I 
 Protestant have proved in the second part of this 
 denials. book that it is only from the Teaching of 
 the Catholic Church that we may discover, should 
 dispute arise, what is in each case the doctrine 
 revealed by Christ, I do not consider it necessary at 
 this point to demonstrate the truth of any point of 
 Catholic Teaching, by means of a direct reply to the 
 arguments of its adversaries. I shall content myself 
 for the most part with setting forth the Catholic 
 Doctrine, as simply and plainly as is in my power, 
 stating broadly the grounds on which it rests — apart 
 from the authority of the Church which, as I have 
 already shown, is final and decisive. To deal with 
 the various objections made against it by those who 
 are not Catholics would be an interminable, and for 
 the most part a fruitless task. Ordinarily, the best 
 answer to any objection is one that is indirect and 
 
The Sacramental System 369 
 
 consists in the accurate presentation of the revealed 
 Doctrine. 
 
 By a Sacrament, then, Catholics mean a sign, 
 conferring grace and signifying what it confers. At 
 
 Connexion ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^* "^^^ appear strange that grace 
 of soul which is hidden and affects the soul 
 
 and body, should be conferred by a sign which is 
 public and generally touches the body. But any 
 surprise that may be occasioned by this fact ought 
 to pass away when we remember the intimate and 
 mysterious connexion between the body and soul in 
 man. Together they make up an individual human 
 being. A disembodied spirit is not complete — is not 
 man as his Maker made him. So close indeed is the 
 bond which binds body and soul in one, that medical 
 science fully recognises as a fact, that bodily health is 
 extraordinarily affected by the state of the soul. 
 The issues even of life and death not seldom hang 
 upon the question as to whether the soul is agitated 
 or at rest. If, then (as is certainly the case), in the 
 order of nature the state of the body often depends 
 upon the state of the soul, we should cease to wonder 
 when we learn that, in the order of grace — that is to 
 say, in the economy of God's supernatural dealings 
 with men — the soul is reached through the body 
 and through the senses of the body, which are the 
 avenues of the soul. 
 
 Moreover, we know that when God would redeem 
 mankind, He took to Himself a Human Body — "A 
 
 24 
 
370 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Body hast Thou fitted unto Me "i— and in that 
 Body died upon the Cross, saving us through 
 The Body of physical suffering, patiently endured — 
 Our Lord, above all by His Sacred Blood-shedding. 
 The Religion of the Taking of Flesh by God can 
 never be a religion which tolerates a low view of the 
 bodies of men. In the Body of His humiliation our 
 Lord lived upon the earth ; in His glorified Body 
 our Lord reigns in Heaven. " In Him dwelleth all 
 fulness of the Godhead Bodily."^ He spoke to men 
 with a Human Voice, and looked gently on them 
 out of Human Eyes. To their senses He appealed ; 
 through their senses He reached their souls. They 
 heard and saw and touched the Word of Life.^ 
 
 We need not wonder, then, to find our Lord Jesus 
 Christ using physical means to convey His grace, 
 sending His disciples to baptize with 
 with the water and to anoint with oil, giving 
 
 bodies of His Himself to be spiritual Food under the 
 discip es. appearance of earthly bread and wine, 
 
 conveyed to the bodies of those that believe in Him. 
 As has often been said, the Sacramental System is 
 " the extension of the Incarnation." It is also its 
 outcome and consequence. 
 
 A Sacrament is visible — a visible sign 
 of an invisible grace. A sign is some- 
 thing through the knowledge of which we arrive 
 at the knowledge of something else. I see smoke 
 1 Heb. X. 5. 2 Col. ii. 9. 3 j John i. i. 
 
The Sacramental System 371 
 
 emerging from a chimney ; by a knowledge of 
 
 that smoke, which is a sign of fire, I arrive at the 
 
 knowledge of something else — the fire beneath. 
 
 This is a natural sign, depending upon a law of 
 
 nature. Smoke is an effect of which fire is the 
 
 cause. So where there is smoke, there must be also 
 
 fire. 
 
 A sign may be conventional, that is something 
 
 which has been arbitrarily agreed upon beforehand, 
 
 Convene 3-S for example is the case in human 
 
 tional. speech, where by agreement it has been 
 
 settled that certain words should stand for certain 
 
 ideas, or in a cryptogram. The sacramental signs 
 
 as used in the Sacraments are not con- 
 Sacramental. .11 1 • TTT 
 
 ventional, but obvious. Water in 
 Baptism obviously signifies cleansing, oil in Confir- 
 mation strengthening and in Extreme Unction 
 healing, laying on of hands in Holy Order commis- 
 sion, bread and wine in the Eucharist nourishment. 
 A sacramental sign consists of two parts, called 
 for convenience, "Matter" and "Form.'* The 
 
 ^ " Matter " of the Sacrament is that part 
 Matter and ^ 
 
 form in the of the sign which is apprehended by the 
 Sacraments, senses ; the " Form " consists of the 
 words which "determine" the matter to the purpose 
 of the Sacrament. For example, in Baptism, the 
 Matter is water. But water is used for many 
 purposes. It is " determined " to the purpose of 
 the Sacrament by the words " I baptize thee in the 
 
^72 What does Catholic Christianity give? 
 
 Name of the Father and of the Son and of the 
 Holy Ghost." 
 
 As often as a Sacrament is administered, there 
 must be a Subject to receive it, and a Minister to 
 confer it. 
 
 When we come to consider the Sacraments 
 
 separately, in each case we shall have to speak of 
 
 the Matter and Form, the Minister and the 
 The Sacra- ^ ^. _^, . r .^ 
 
 ments insti- Subject. The meanmgoi these terms must, 
 
 tuted by therefore, be kept clearly before the mind. 
 
 The Sacraments have been instituted 
 
 by Christ Himself, since no one but God can give 
 
 an external rite the power of conferring internal 
 
 grace, or, to put it more exactly, no one but God 
 
 alone can promise to give internal grace through 
 
 an external rite, and can carry out His Promise.^ 
 
 Two of the Sacraments — Baptism and Penance — 
 are called Sacraments of the Dead, since they were 
 primarily instituted to give Life — sancti- 
 oT\h^^al fying grace (the first grace) to the soul 
 and of the which was dead ; the other five Sacra- 
 Living. ments are called Sacraments of the 
 
 Living, because they were instituted primarily to 
 give increase of that grace to the soul that is living. 
 
 Each of the Seven, in addition to either conferring 
 
 1 It may be urged that God might, had it so pleased Him, 
 have bestowed upon the Church the power to institute Sacra- 
 ments. But that all the Sacraments were instituted by Christ 
 was defined at Trent (Sess. vii., Can. i). 
 
The Sacramental System 373 
 
 or increasing sanctifying grace, bestows upon the soul 
 a grace which is called sacramental and is proper 
 Sacramental to itself. For example, that sacra- 
 grace, mental grace which is proper to the 
 Eucharist is the grace oi sustenance (analogous to the 
 effect produced by wholesome food upon the body), 
 and the sacramental grace proper to Matrimony is 
 the grace which, if used aright, will enable husband 
 and wife to discharge the duties peculiar to their 
 state in a way pleasing to God. 
 
 Having given this short summary of the Catholic 
 Doctrine on the Sacramental System regarded as a 
 whole, the ground is prepared for the consideration 
 of the Sacraments in particular. Before approaching 
 this task, however, it may be well to prove that they 
 
 ^, ^ are not bare signs, but that, through the 
 
 The Sacra' . . . 
 
 ments not Divine Will and mterposition, they really, 
 
 bare signs, and of themselves, when duly administered 
 and received,^ confer the grace which 
 they signify ; also that they are in number seven — 
 neither more nor less. 
 
 convey the ^^ ^"^ ^" ^^^ *^^ passages of Holy 
 
 grace which Scripture, which treat of the operation 
 they signify. ^^ ^-^^ Sacraments, that the external rite 
 is mentioned as the instrument through which grace 
 is conferred upon men — moreover that this grace is 
 
 ^ Dispositions of soul, necessary for the worthy reception of 
 the Sacraments {cf,e.g.\ Cor. xi. 29), are only conditions, not 
 " the instrumental cause," of the bestowal of grace. 
 
374 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 conferred by force of the sacramental sign, in- 
 dependently of any acts of the recipient. Thus we 
 read that, as water is the instrument by which the 
 body is cleansed from defilement, so Baptism washes 
 away sin ;'^ again, that Christ has cleansed the 
 Church, by the Washing of Water, in the Word of 
 Life.^ St. Paul, trusting '' the unfeigned faith that 
 was in " Timothy, admonished him to '* stir up the 
 grace of God, which is in thee, by the imposition of 
 my hands.'' " Be baptized," said St. Peter on the 
 Day of Pentecost, " every one of you in the Name 
 of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you 
 shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." ^ "But 
 when," wrote St. Paul to Titus, " the goodness and 
 kindness of God our Saviour appeared. He saved us, 
 not by the works of justice which we have done, but 
 according to His Mercy by the washing of regenera- 
 tion, and renewal of the Holy Ghost, Whom He 
 hath poured forth upon us abundantly, through 
 Jesus Christ our Saviour, that being justified by His 
 grace, we may be heirs according to hope of Life 
 Everlasting."^ There is no hint of any cause of 
 grace, excepting the external rite. It is always the 
 rite itself which produces the effect — " cleansing," 
 "the grace of God," "the remission of sins," "the 
 gift of the Holy Ghost," "justification," "heirship," 
 together with " hope of Life Everlasting." 
 
 1 Acts xxii, i6. 2 Ephes. v. 25, 26. 
 
 3 Acts ii. 38. * Titus iii. 4-7. 
 
The Sacramental System 37^ 
 
 When no obstacle is interposed, the 
 ments^confer Sacrament works, of itself, by the power 
 grace ex of God ; as theologians express it, not 
 
 °^^^^ ex opere operantis (by the work of the 
 
 human worker), but ex opere operato (by 
 the work that is wrought by God Himself). There 
 Analogies ^^^ countless analogies in nature, where 
 from Nature. Qod has established some channel of 
 natural gifts, for example light, electricity, radium, 
 which produce their effects of themselves, inde- 
 pendently of human agency, though man is free to 
 use them, or to neglect them, or even deliberately to 
 shut himself out from them — opposing an obstacle 
 to their beneficent operation. For example, a man 
 may deliberately and effectively keep the sunhght 
 out of the room in which he dwells. But when he 
 repents of his folly and lets in the sun once more, it 
 is not his action in opening the shutters, but the 
 kindly light itself which, as he submits to its glow, 
 takes the chill from his heart, and fills the room, 
 erstwhile so cold, with generous warmth. 
 
 If we investigate historically the Teaching of the 
 Catholic Church that the Sacraments instituted by 
 Words and Christ are seven in number, we shall find 
 things. that the word Sacrament will not help us 
 
 in our enquiry. It is with the thing — with the 
 reality — that we here have to do, not with the mere 
 word. For words change their meaning in the 
 course of years, whereas a thing which once has 
 
376 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 had real existence remains always the same. Our 
 concern is not so much as to the meaning that has 
 at various times been attached to the word Sacra- 
 ment, but as to whether it is a fact that the Church 
 has always believed that she possesses seven (neither 
 more nor less) Sacred Rites, instituted by Christ, 
 which confer grace. 
 
 If we turn aside for a moment from the main 
 question and examine the meaning of the word 
 Meaning of Sacrament, we shall discover that amongst 
 the word the Romans it was used in a great variety 
 Sacrament, ^^ genses, through all of which ran the 
 idea of something being secured by a religious 
 sanction (for example it denoted the oath of fidelity 
 taken by soldiers to their generals), whilst amongst 
 Christians it was at first employed in a very wide and 
 even loose sense. For example, Pliny writes that 
 Christians bound themselves by a Sacrament to 
 abstain from crime ;^ St. Cyprian speaks of the 
 practice of morning prayer as a Sacrament,^ and St. 
 Augustine lays it down vaguely that signs which 
 guide to the things of God are called Sacra- 
 ments.^ 
 
 N berof ^" these words of St. Augustine we 
 the Sacra- have a foreshadowing of the restricted 
 ments, ^g^ ^f ^^le word, by which its use was 
 
 confined to the Seven Great Mysteries of Chris- 
 
 1 Epist. xcvi. * De Oratione Domini, n. 35. 
 
 3 Epist. cxxxviii. 7. 
 
The Sacramental System 377 
 
 tianity.-^ When Peter Lombard in the twelfth century 
 taught expressly that there were seven, and only 
 seven, such Mysteries instituted by Christ to confer 
 grace, his teaching was accepted w^ithout comment in 
 the West and henceforward the word Sacrament was 
 used in Catholic Theology exclusively of these Seven. 
 The works of the great Scholastics of the Middle 
 Ages are full of discussions concerning the Sacra- 
 ments, but there was never any controversy as to 
 their number until the question was raised dis- 
 putatiously by the first Protestants. The Council of 
 Trent solemnly defined, in condemnation of the 
 denials of Luther and Calvin, that the Sacraments 
 instituted by Christ are seven in number, but this 
 truth had been already accepted without discussion 
 by the Greeks at the Councils of Lyons and 
 Florence. At the present day it is held as tenaciously 
 by the various separated churches of the East as by 
 Catholics. On the one hand each of the seven 
 Sacraments was accepted throughout Christendom, 
 until the sixteenth century, without cavil or doubt, 
 as having been instituted by Christ for the purpose 
 for which it was used ; on the other hand there is no 
 trace of any other external rite besides the Seven 
 having ever been regarded as a Sacrament in the 
 restricted use of the word. The doctrine that Christ 
 
 ^ The Greek word fj.v(TTr]piov is rendered by the Latin sacra- 
 mentum in the Vulgate (Tobias xii. 7 ; Eph. v. 32), 
 
3/8 What does Catholic Christianity give? 
 
 instituted seven Sacraments and seven only is there- 
 fore " in possession " and has behind it all the 
 strength of ** prescription "—that is, of the Catholic 
 Tradition, handed down to the Church by the Holy 
 Apostles. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION 
 
 As every living man has been born into this world, 
 in dependence upon physical forces of Nature — 
 
 forces which are imn^utable in their 
 Laws of . 11,- 
 
 Natural and operation — SO does the mysterious re- 
 Supernatural generation or new birth, not of the body 
 ^^^ ' but of the soul, depend upon a divinely 
 
 established supernatural channel. If life is to be 
 ours— whether bodily or spiritual — obedience must 
 be rendered to the laws that enshrine the springs of 
 vitality. 
 
 When we listen to the teaching of Christ, who is 
 
 the Author of all created life— and therefore also of 
 
 the laws which govern life — we shall learn 
 
 Baptism. ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^.^^ ^^ ^^^ promulgation 
 
 of the Christian Dispensation, the birth of the soul 
 is effected through Baptism. " Unless a man is 
 born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot 
 enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."^ By the 
 action of the Holy Spirit a man is born anew through 
 
 ^ John iii. 5. 
 379 
 
380 What does Catholic Christianity give? 
 
 the cleansing of water, and thereby enters into the 
 Kingdom of God. As water cleanses the body from 
 physical defilement, so does Baptism cleanse the soul 
 from the stain of sin. This is the doctrine of the 
 New Testament,^ and of the Catholic Church. 
 
 {a) The Matter of the Sacrament of Baptism is 
 Water. 
 
 (b) The words " I baptize thee in the Name of the 
 Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost " con- 
 stitute its Form. 
 
 (c) Every unbaptized human being is capable of 
 being its Subject. 
 
 (d) Baptism should, when possible, be adminis- 
 tered by a priest. Any person, however, even a 
 pagan or a child, can baptize validly, and, in case of 
 need, lawfully. 
 
 {e) The Council of Trent teaches ^ that the three 
 Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy 
 Order differ from the rest in the fact that they can 
 only be received once, and, further, that when they 
 are received an ineffaceable mark called Character 
 (meaning in Greek something carved or engraven on 
 wood or stone) is imprinted on the soul. In order 
 to emphasise the fact that the impression is not 
 merely transient, but permanent and indelible, this 
 character is sometimes called a seal.^ 
 
 1 Cf. Acts ii. 38 ; xxii. 16 ; i Cor. vi. 9-1 1, etc. 
 
 2 Sess. 7. De Sacrament., Can. 9. 
 
 a Cf. 2 Cor. i. 22 ; Eph. viii. 13 ; iv. 30. 
 
Baptism and Confirmation 381 
 
 It may be well shortly to amplify these points of 
 Catholic Doctrine. 
 
 (a) In the days of the Apostles, and for many 
 
 ages, water was ordinarily applied to the recipients 
 
 ThcMatter of Baptism, by immersion. It seems, 
 
 of Baptism, however, probable that even in Apostolic 
 
 days Baptism was sometimes administered in another 
 
 T , mode as, for example, when three thousand 
 
 immersion ^ 
 
 and were baptized at once in consequence of 
 
 Sprinkling ^ germon preached by St. Peter.^ And we 
 
 or the ■ . . 
 
 Pouring of find St. Cyprian in the third century 
 Water. speaking of " sprinkling or immersion " 
 
 as alternative modes of Baptism. ^ At the present 
 day, and for many centuries Baptism has been ad- 
 ministered throughout the West not by immersion, 
 but by pouring of water. This change is purely dis- 
 ciplinary and therefore within the power of the 
 Church to effect. It was brought about by motives 
 of convenience, especially in cold climates. Since 
 Baptism is a sign — through the washing of at least a 
 part of the body — of the cleansing of the soul, the 
 water must (if there is to be a valid Baptism) really 
 flow. We learn from the practice of the Church 
 that this is sufficient. Should Christians be con- 
 fronted with the fact that wherever Baptism is 
 mentioned in the Gospels it seems to be connected 
 with immersion, they will generally recognise at once, 
 that it is absurd to imagine that the Catholic Church 
 1 Acts ii. 41. 2 Epist. Ixxvi. 
 
382 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 has erred on a matter of such importance, and that 
 consequently there is at the present time no vaHd 
 Baptism amongst Christians, excepting in the East 
 and amongst " Baptists." Still, I think that it must 
 be admitted that if the appeal he made to Scripture 
 alone independently of the interpretation and authority 
 of the Churchy the Baptists, who hold that Baptism 
 necessarily involves immersion, have, on the whole, 
 the best of the argument. 
 
 (b) The Form of Baptism is taken from the words 
 of our Lord.^ In the Acts of the Apostles, however, 
 
 we read that catechumens were baptized 
 "in the Name of the Lord Jesus." ^ St. 
 Thomas Aquinas^ and St. Bonaventure* agree in 
 drawing the conclusion that the Apostles must have 
 received a special permission to use this Form for 
 the greater honour of the Holy Name of Jesus, which 
 is above every other name, but was then dishonoured 
 both by Jew and Gentile. It seems, however, 
 simpler to understand the words '' In the Name of 
 the Lord Jesus " as a compendious expression de- 
 noting Christian Baptism as contrasted with the 
 Baptism of John. 
 
 (c) It is the Catholic Doctrine that any unbaptized 
 
 person is a possible '* subject " for the 
 Its Subject. . ^ . , , , . - 
 
 Sacrament of Baptism, although m the 
 
 case of adults the Sacrament can only be received 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 19. - Acts ii. 38 ; viii. 12 ; x. 48. 
 
 3 3 p., q. 66 a. 6 ad I. ^ In lib. iv. Sen!. Dist. 3, q. 2. 
 
Baptism and Confirmation 383 
 
 fruitfully by one who possesses the necessary disposi- 
 tions, which include supernatural sorrow for sin and 
 faith in our Lord. Against the Catholic practice of 
 Baptists baptizing infants Baptists^ are accustomed 
 and Infant to argue that wherever we find mention of 
 Baptism, Baptism in Holy Scripture, there is also 
 reference to Faith as a prerequisite, and that faith 
 is manifestly impossible in the case of an infant. 
 
 In answer to this argument a Catholic will once 
 more appeal to Tradition. In a matter of this 
 nature the Church cannot err. Moreover, whilst, on 
 the one hand, the passages in Holy Scripture which 
 presuppose Faith for the fruitful reception of this 
 Sacrament are all concerned with the Baptism of 
 adults, on the other hand, the words of our Lord 
 concerning the necessity of Baptism by water and 
 the Holy Ghost admit of no exception. Wherever 
 the Baptism of water is possible, there the Baptism 
 of water is necessary. 
 
 Baptism of '^^e Catholic Church teaches that there 
 Water. is but One Baptism for the forgiveness of 
 sins. If, however, Baptism of water {fluminis) is 
 
 1 The word " Baptist" is a contraction of the word Aniipedo- 
 baptist (dm', irais, ^avT'i^co), that is, a person opposed to the 
 Baptism of children. Anabaptist {avd ^airTi^oi) signifies a re- 
 baptizer,that is, one who rebaptized those baptized in infancy 
 on the ground that infant Baptism is invahd. The Anabaptists 
 (a German sect of the sixteenth century) also denied the right 
 of private property, and were extraordinarily fanatical and 
 violent in their methods. 
 
384 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 not possible, its place according to Catholic Tra- 
 dition and Teaching can be supplied either by 
 the Baptism of Desire {Flaminis, the Fire of the 
 Holy Ghost) or by the Baptism of Blood [Sanguinis.^ 
 In both these cases the word baptism is used by 
 analogy only. 
 
 By the Baptism of Desire is understood the wish 
 for Baptism (at least the implicit desire) accompanied 
 
 by the necessary dispositions of the soul. 
 
 Our Lord has said : *' He that loveth Me, 
 shall be loved of My Father."^ The Love of Christ 
 necessarily contains within itself the desire for 
 Baptism, and the desire is taken by God for the 
 deed, where the deed is impossible, for God demands 
 impossibilities of no man. Thus St. Augustine dis- 
 tinguishes between the Sacrament of Baptism and 
 the turning of the heart to God. He teaches that if 
 either of these conditions cannot be secured, the 
 other will be sufficient. A baptized child is saved, 
 without turning its heart to God, should it die before 
 coming to the age of reason, and a man who turns to 
 God is saved without Baptism, provided he in no 
 way despise the Sacrament.^ 
 
 The Baptism ^Y ^^^ Baptism of Blood is meant 
 of Blood. Martyrdom. Martyrdom is the patient 
 endurance of death, or of sufferings which naturally 
 
 1 Cf. St. Gregory Nazianzeii, Orat. 39. In Sancia Luniina, 17, 
 
 P.G. 35, 35^- 
 
 2 John xiv. 21. ^ De Baptismo, iv. 25, 32. 
 
Baptism and Confirmation 385 
 
 would lead to death,^ for the Catholic Faith, or any' 
 Christian virtue. Our Lord has promised : " Every 
 one that shall confess Me before men, I will also 
 confess him before My Father who is in Heaven." 
 St. Augustine points out that these words are as 
 universal in their scope and import as those in which 
 our Lord taught the general necessity of the Baptism 
 of water. Hence he deduces the consequence that 
 remission of sins is secured by death for Christ, as 
 certainly as by the Sacrament of Baptism.^ To avoid 
 any possible misconception it may be well to point 
 out that in both cases sorrow for " actual " sins is a 
 necessary condition for their forgiveness. St. Paul 
 has written : " If I give my body to be burned and 
 have not Charity [that is, the Love of God, which 
 necessarily involves sorrow for sin], it profiteth me 
 nothing."^ It is conceivable that a man may die 
 rather than deny Christ, or the Faith of Christ, for 
 some sinful motive, without any love of Christ in his 
 heart. In this case he would not be a Martyr in the 
 sense attached to that word by the Church. But 
 true Martyrdom blots out sin and, according to 
 Catholic Teaching, also the punishment due to sin. 
 For this reason St. Augustine declares that it would 
 
 1 Thus St. John the EvangeHst, who by order of the Emperor 
 Domitian was thrown into a cauldron of boihng oil, has always 
 been regarded as a Martyr, though his life was saved by 
 miracle, and in the end he died a natural death {cf. Tertullian, 
 Dc Pnescript., 36). 
 
 2 Dc Civitatc Dei, 13, 7. * i Cor. xiii. 3. 
 
 25 
 
386 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 be an insult to pray for a Martyr — to whose prayers, 
 on the contrary, we ought rather to recommend our- 
 selves in our necessities.^ 
 
 {d) In the third century St. Cyprian, and with him 
 the vast majority of the African Bishops of his time, 
 The Minister ^^^^ ^^^^ Baptism by heretics was in- 
 o£ Baptism* valid, whilst several of the early heretics 
 maintained that no Baptism was valid if administered 
 outside their own sects — the Donatists, for example, 
 rebaptized all those who had been baptized by 
 CathoHcs. The Catholic Church teaches, on the 
 contrary, that Baptism is vahd by whomsoever con- 
 ferred, when the Matter and Form have been duly 
 used, with the intention of conferring the Sacrament 
 instituted by Christ as the condition for initiation 
 into His Kingdom. 
 
 {e) Although the Sacrament of Baptism can only 
 be received once, and to rebaptize is to commit a 
 Conditional sacrUege, the Church of England wisely 
 Baptism. provides that in case any doubt as to the 
 validity of Baptism cannot be cleared up. Baptism 
 must be conferred under condition.^ This is also the 
 
 ' 1 Scrmo 17 De Verbis Apost. (159), i. i. 
 2 The Rubric at the end of the form for The Ministration of 
 ■ Private Baptism of Children in Houses provides as follows : 
 " But if they which bring the Infant to the Church do make 
 such uncertain answers to the Priest's questions, as that it 
 cannot appear that the Child was baptized with Water, In the 
 Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, 
 (which are essential parts of Baptism), then let the Priest 
 
Baptism and Confirmation 387 
 
 Rule of the Catholic Church, and it is the only 
 possible course if, on the one side, the certainty of 
 Baptism is to be secured — so far as is humanly 
 possible — and, on the other, the risk of rebaptism is 
 to be avoided and the Sacrament to be safeguarded 
 from profanation. 
 
 Closely connected with, yet distinct from, the 
 Sacrament of Baptism is the Sacrament of Confir- 
 The S ra' "^^tion. By Baptism we are born anew 
 ment of Con- and receive the sanctifying grace of God ; 
 firmation. ^y Confirmation we receive an increase 
 of that grace and a special gift of the Holy Spirit to 
 enable us boldly to profess the Faith. Baptism is 
 the Sacrament of Regeneration ; Confirmation the 
 Sacrament of Strengthening. 
 
 For many centuries, throughout the Church, Con- 
 firmation was administered immediately, or at least 
 Age at which soon, after Baptism. At the present time 
 Confirmation Confirmation is not ordinarily adminis- 
 tered in the West (excepting in case of 
 dangerous illness) until a child has attained the age 
 of discretion. The reason for this change of dis- 
 cipline is to be found in the fact that, since Confir- 
 
 baptize it in the form before appointed for Publick Baptism of 
 Infants ; saving that at the dipping of the Child in the Font, he 
 shall use this form of words : // thou art not already baptized, 
 N., I baptize thee In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost. Amen,*' 
 
388 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 mation is not necessary for salvation, it is lawful, for 
 an adequate cause, to postpone the Sacrament — 
 even w^ith a certain risk of its occasionally not being 
 received at all. Such a cause is supplied by the fact 
 that it is desirable to give some instruction con- 
 cerning the Sacrament to the child who is about to 
 receive it — instruction which, as is obvious, would 
 ordinarily be useless until about the age of seven 
 years. The same consideration has led to a similar 
 postponement of Holy Communion, which, like 
 Confirmation, in the first days of the Church was 
 given to infants. In practice, since the Bishop may 
 only be able to give facilities for Confirmation every 
 three or four years, it is often impossible for children 
 to be confirmed until they are nine or even ten 
 years of age, whilst they should make their First 
 Communion when they are seven or younger. 
 
 {a) The Matter of Confirmation is Chrism blessed 
 by a Bishop, together with the laying on of hands. 
 We may note that, as in the Sacrament 
 Its Matter. ^^ Baptism, the symbolism of water 
 depends upon its use in the washing of the body, so, 
 in Confirmation, chrism (a mixture of fragrant balsam 
 with olive-oil) reminds us of the use of oil by the 
 athletes of old in preparation for a race or contest. 
 In the East there is no laying on of hands distinct 
 from the anointing. 
 
 (6) The Form of Confirmation consists 
 Its Form. -^ ^^^ words used by the Bishop, which 
 
Baptism and Confirmation 389 
 
 vary in East and West, but always express the grace 
 
 that is given.-'^ 
 
 (c) The Subject of Confirmation is any 
 Its Subject. . 
 
 baptized person who has not yet been 
 
 confirmed. 
 
 T WW W The Minister is a Bishop, or a priest 
 
 Its Minister. , , , . , ,,, , , , 
 
 delegated — m the West (unless he be a 
 
 Cardinal) explicitly — ad hoc by the Holy See. 
 
 In Article XXV. of the Church of England we 
 
 read as follows : ** There are two Sacraments, 
 
 T'i ^. * ordained of Christ our Lord, that is to 
 The Church 
 
 of England say. Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, 
 and Con- Those five commonly called Sacraments, 
 
 firmation. , . r^ r • -i-. 
 
 that IS to say, Conjirmation, Penance, . . . 
 
 are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel, 
 being such as have grown partly of the corrupt fol- 
 lowing of the Apostles, partly are states of life allowed 
 in the Scriptures." 
 
 Since Confirmation is manifestly not **a state of 
 life," it follows that in the mind of the author of 
 this " Article of religion " it had grown from the 
 corrupt following of the Apostles. In order to cut 
 down this corrupt growth, the Church of England at 
 the Reformation abohshed the anointing which 
 according to the Tradition of both East and West is 
 essential to the reception of this Sacrament. 
 
 * The present Western Form is " Signo te signo crucis : 
 et confirmo chrismate salutis." The Form used in the East is 
 2(Ppayis b(i)peas Hvevfj-aTOs dyiov. 'A[ir]v, 
 
390 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 At the same time the ancient Form was changed 
 to the following prayer : " Defend, O Lord, this Thy 
 child (or this Thy servant) with Thy heavenly grace, 
 that he may continue Thine for ever; and daily 
 increase in Thy Holy Spirit more and more, until he 
 come unto Thy everlasting Kingdom. Amen." 
 
 The ancient Sacrament of Confirmation was thus 
 changed into a Renewal and Ratification of 
 Baptismal Vows, made in presence of the Bishop, 
 and accompanied by the imposition of his hands. 
 In correspondence with this view of the Rite which 
 it is his duty to administer, the Bishop is instructed 
 to question the candidates before the laying on of 
 hands : " Do ye here, in the presence of God, and of 
 this congregation, renew the solemn promise and 
 vow that was niade in your name at your Baptism ; 
 ratifying and confirming the same in your own 
 persons, and acknowledging yourselves bound to 
 believe, and to do, all those things which your god- 
 fathers and godmothers then undertook for you ? " 
 " And," the Rubric proceeds, '* every one shall 
 audibly answer: *I do.'" There then follows a 
 prayer to God to ** strengthen [those about to be 
 confirmed] with the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and 
 daily increase in them Thy manifold gifts of grace." 
 The increase of grace is asked for as something that 
 is to be given not immediately, but " daily," in the 
 future. We find no mention of sacramental grace 
 to be conferred through the laying on of hands. On 
 
Baptism and Confirmation 391 
 
 the contrary, after the laying on of hands has just 
 taken place, the Bishop in a collect explains the 
 purpose of the ceremony which he has performed : 
 " Almighty and Everliving God, . . . we make our 
 humble supplications unto Thee for these Thy 
 servants, upon whom (after the example of Thy Holy 
 Apostles) we have now laid our hands, to certify 
 them (by this sign) of Thy favour and gracious 
 goodness towards them." 
 
 The Anglican Confirmation is a new rite, until the 
 time of the Reformers unknown in Christendom, 
 intended to replace something which was deemed to 
 be a *' corrupt growth," falsely claiming to be based 
 upon the example of the Apostles. 
 
 Although the use of Chrism in Confirmation 
 depends not upon Holy Scripture, but upon con- 
 tinuous Tradition, Holy Scripture dis- 
 
 Holy Scrips tinctly tells us that when the Apostles 
 tureandthe -^ ^ 
 
 Effects of laid their hands upon the Samaritans who 
 Confirma- ]^^^ recently been baptized, it was that 
 they might thereby and immediately re- 
 ceive the Holy Ghost. " Then they laid their hands 
 upon them and they received the Holy Ghost. And 
 when Simon [Magus] saw that through the imposi- 
 tion of the hands of the Apostles the Holy Ghost 
 was given, he offered them money, saying : ' Give 
 me also this power, that on whomsoever I shall lay 
 my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.' "^ 
 
 1 Acts viii. 17-19. 
 
392 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 The Anglican service " certifies." The CathoHc 
 Sacrament ** gives." In Confirmation we receive 
 not a sign merely, nor a certificate, but a seaP and a 
 gift. This seal is a mark upon the soul which will 
 last for eternity ;^ this gift is now, as in the days of 
 the Apostles, the Holy Ghost. 
 
 * 2 Cor. i. 21 ; Eph. i. 13 ; iv. 30. ^ qj^ p^ ^^gg. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE 
 
 What disease is to the body, that sin is to the soul. 
 
 Disease is disorder in the body, sin is disorder in the 
 
 soul. There are some diseases which 
 Sin. . ^. . . , 
 
 intlict injury, more or less serious, upon 
 
 a man's physical system without bringing about its 
 dissolution — others, on the contrary, are the direct 
 cause of his death; in like manner, there are sins 
 which do injury to the soul and yet leave it alive — 
 these Catholic Theology calls ** venial " — whilst 
 others, which deprive the soul of life itself, are 
 termed ^'grievous'' or ** mortal.''' By the word sin 
 is understood a wilful infraction of a known Law of 
 God. It is disobedience to our Lord, which is of 
 the essence of sin and preys upon the soul as disease 
 preys upon the body. 
 
 At first sight it may perhaps seem strange that we 
 should speak of any sin as " venial." It is sometimes 
 Sin, mortal urged by Protestant disputants that no 
 and venial, gin is "venial" in God's sight, but that 
 every sin is " grievous." 
 
 393 
 
394 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Protestant children were once gravely taught in 
 stock nursery doggerel that '* to steal a pin is as big a 
 sin as to steal a bigger thing." As I have heard it 
 put by a man who objected strongly to Catholic 
 Teaching on this subject : '' I do not hold with 3K)ur 
 distinctions. Sin is sin. That is enough for me." 
 Yes, sin undoubtedly is sin, and as such every sin is 
 hateful to God. This is a solemn truth of which the 
 Catholic Church never loses sight for a moment. 
 At the same time, common sense agrees with the 
 general conscience of mankind and with Catholic 
 Theology in recognising the fact that there is a dis- 
 tinction between sins and sins. A child, knowing 
 that it is forbidden so to do by the Law of God, may 
 steal a penny, that will never be missed, to buy sweets 
 for a friend ; a man may ruin the widow and the 
 fatherless to gratify some vile appetite. Each has 
 committed a sin — the sin of theft. Few will now 
 have the hardihood to contend that on this account 
 the moral guilt is the same in each case. 
 
 The distinction between venial and grievous sins 
 supposes a knowledge of the technical sense in which 
 the words are used. When Catholic Theologians 
 term certain offences " grievous," they mean that 
 -they are so grievous as to bring death to the soul ; 
 when they term certain offences " venial " they mean 
 that they are relatively venial, since after they have 
 been committed the soul still preserves its life in the 
 sight of God. The child who steals the penny stains 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 395 
 
 the wedding garment he received at Baptism, the 
 man who defrauds the widow and the orphan loses 
 that garment altogether. It is easier to remove the 
 stain than to recover the garment which has been 
 cast away. Again, to change the illustration, our 
 Lord compares some sins to a beam, others to a 
 mote in the eye. It is easier to remove the effects 
 upon the eyesight of a mote than the effects of a 
 beam, for the former will only impair the eyesight, • 
 the latter when thrust into the eye will often destroy 
 it altogether. 
 
 It is the teaching of the Catholic Church that there 
 is no obligation to confess venial sins which are often 
 forgiven by God without the intervention of a Sacra- 
 ment, but that the life bestowed in Baptism which 
 has been destroyed by mortal sin is restored by 
 another Sacrament distinct from Baptism. This 
 Sacrament, instituted by Christ primarily for the 
 remission of mortal sins committed after Baptism, 
 is called the Sacrament of Penance, and in English 
 popular parlance is known as Confession to a Priest. 
 It surely need not surprise us to find that habitual 
 grace (carrying with it friendship with God, first 
 communicated through a Sacrament), should, if lost, 
 be recovered sacramentally, as it was given sacra- 
 mentally, through a Mystery appointed by Christ. 
 We know that there is but One Baptism for the 
 remission of sins. Baptism can never be repeated, 
 but the Sacrament of Penance restores the life to 
 
396 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 the soul that was dead and so far restores the bap- 
 tismal gift. 
 
 Before we consider the Sacrament of Penance in 
 general, it may be well for the sake of clearness to 
 premise that sacramental Confessions are of two 
 kinds. There are Confessions which are necessary 
 and there are Confessions which are voluntary, 
 
 (a) A *' necessary " Confession, some- 
 times called a Confession of Obligation, 
 is a Confession made by a Christian who, after Bap- 
 tism, has committed mortal sin, from the guilt of 
 which he has not yet been absolved by a duly autho- 
 rized Priest. Such a Confession is necessary — so 
 the Catholic Church teaches — by the Law of Christ, 
 in the same sense in which Baptism is necessary — 
 that is, where it is possible. 
 
 . ,,r i (h) A voluntary Confession, sometimes 
 
 And Volun' ^ ^ / 
 
 tary Confes- called a Confession of Devotion, is a Con- 
 sion. fession made by a Christian whose con- 
 
 science is not burdened by the guilt of mortal sin. 
 
 (a) Catholics are assured of the obligation of con- 
 fessing mortal sins committed after Baptism by the 
 authoritative teaching of the Catholic Church.^ 
 
 If we turn to the witness of Scripture and Tradition 
 we shall find there also much to the purpose. 
 
 For example St. Matthew writes that our Lord 
 bestowed upon His Apostles the power not only 
 to "bind," but also to "loose," and that this power 
 1 Council of Trent, Sess. 14, Can. 1-4. 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 397 
 
 included authority to remove the guilt of sins is 
 made clear by St. John, who tells us that after His 
 Tt- TVT.. Resurrection Christ breathed upon them 
 
 The witness ^ 
 
 of Holy and said : "As the Father hath sent Me, 
 
 Scripture. eyen so send I you. Whose sins you shall 
 forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you 
 shall retain, they are retained." These words are as 
 explicit as words can be with regard to the power of 
 forgiving sins bestowed upon the Church. Our Lord 
 was sent by His Father to forgive sins, according to 
 the Word that was spoken to His Mother : " You 
 shall call His Name Jesus, for He shall save His 
 People from their sins." Now, even as the Father 
 had sent His Son, so did His Son send His Church, 
 and that there might be no doubt as to the precise 
 import of this divine commission, the words are 
 added : " Whose sins you shall forgive, they are for- 
 given them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are 
 retained." But, no one can imagine that this awful 
 power was to be used arbitrarily. The sins of men 
 were not to be forgiven or retained without regard to 
 the nature of those sins and to the dispositions of the 
 sinner. Sin comes from the heart, and is of its 
 essence internal. It consists in the turning away of 
 the will from the command of God to something 
 which is forbidden, and may be deliberately con- 
 summated within the soul without any external act 
 whatsoever. Consequently, many sins are known 
 only to the man who has committed them, and by 
 
398 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 him only can they be confessed to another. What 
 is true of the act of sin is also true of the act of re- 
 pentance, which is necessary for forgiveness. No 
 man but the sinner himself can know whether he 
 has turned back in his heart to God and away from 
 his sin. From this fact it follows that the power 
 to forgive sins which the Gospel assures us that Christ 
 bestowed upon the Apostles carried with it as a con- 
 sequence the obligation on the part of the sinner of 
 making known his sins, and also of declaring his 
 repentance and readiness (if necessary) to make 
 reparation, before those sins could lawfully be for- 
 given. This obligation is the obligation of Con- 
 fession. 
 
 The testimony of Tradition, which bears witness to 
 the existence of the Sacrament of Penance in the 
 And of Tra- Church from the beginning, also makes 
 dition^ it clear that the power to forgive sins 
 
 bestowed by our Lord upon His Apostles was (like 
 the authority to baptize, or to preach, or to offer the 
 Eucharist) conferred in their persons upon His 
 Church to the end of time, carrying with it the duty 
 of confession on the part of repentant sinners. It is 
 beyond the scope of this book to heap up references 
 from the Fathers to prove this fact. Those who 
 desire them can easily find them elsewhere. It will 
 be enough for me here to give two quotations which 
 will by themselves make the matter clear, at least as 
 to the mind of the Fathers who flourished in the 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 399 
 
 fourth century. We will take one from the East, 
 the other from the West. 
 
 In Asia St. Fulgentius wrote as follows : " He 
 that believes not in the power which resides in the 
 Church to forgive all sin cuts himself off from all 
 pardon of sin, if he persevere in this hardness of an 
 impenitent heart, and leave this world severed from 
 the communion of the Church."^ 
 
 And in Italy St. Ambrose compared the duty of 
 Christian priests to examine the sins of Christians, 
 before absolving those sins, to the duty assigned to 
 Jewish priests of examining cases of leprosy and 
 pronouncing whether the disease was present or had 
 disappeared.^ We recall the fact that our Lord 
 recognised this obligation when he told the leper 
 whom He had healed to " show himself to the 
 priest,"^ and we remember that leprosy is regarded 
 in Holy Scripture as an image of sin. Under the 
 Mosaic Law the leper was required to show himself 
 — the state of his body — to the Jewish priest ;* 
 similarly, under the Christian dispensation, the 
 sinner who seeks forgiveness is required to disclose 
 the wounds of his soul to the ** Minister of Christ 
 and the dispenser of the Mysteries of God."^ 
 
 Confession is ** a work" and a difficult '*work," 
 irksome to human nature. As such, it was opposed 
 
 ^ De Remissione Peccatorum, i. 23. 
 2 In Psa. xxxviii. 14. ^ Matt. viii. 4. 
 
 Lev. xiii. 2. ^ i Cor. iv. i. 
 
400 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 to the Lutheran doctrine of justification not " by 
 
 works, but by faith only," and therefore 
 
 Lutheran ^^'^^ repugnant to the whole Lutheran 
 
 denial of the system and had to be abolished. But 
 
 acram . Luther made no serious attempt to deal 
 of Penance. ^ 
 
 with the positive argument for the duty of 
 Confession. That argument remained unchallenged 
 in its contentions. It relies, as we have seen, 
 upon : 
 
 (i) The fact that Christ bestowed upon His 
 Apostles the power to forgive sins. 
 
 (2) The Teaching of the Catholic Church at the 
 present day, together with her unbroken Tradition, 
 to which we may add the testimony of the separated 
 communities of the East. 
 
 (b) The seventeenth century gave birth to the 
 
 heresy of Jansenism. The Jansenists accepted, at 
 
 least professedly, the teaching of the 
 
 Tthe^"^ Catholic Church with regard to necessary 
 Sacrament Confessions. I say " at least professedly," 
 of Penance. ^^^^ though they admitted that the Church 
 has the power to forgive all mortal sins in the Sacra- 
 ment of Penance and insisted on the duty of con- 
 fessing such sins to a priest, they required such 
 dispositions on the part of the penitent, before he 
 could validly receive absolution, as to make in 
 practice their acceptance of Catholic doctrine all but 
 nugatory. In practice, hardly was any man absolved 
 by a Jansenist Confessor. Still, as regards the for- 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 401 
 
 giveness of mortal sin, the Jansenists contradicted 
 no formal Catholic dogma. They taught, however, 
 that it was an abuse and useless to confess venial 
 sins, thus abolishing at a stroke the use of voluntary 
 confession. The Council of Trent had already laid 
 it down that to mention venial sins in Confession is 
 "right and useful,"^ and Pope Pius VI. condemned 
 the Jansenist error on this subject as rash, pernicious 
 and contrary to the custom of the Saints and pious 
 persons which was approved by the Council of Trent.^ 
 It is obvious that if the Jansenists had had their 
 way, the secrecy of Confession would have dis- 
 appeared. If the confession of venial sins had been 
 abolished as " an intolerable abuse," it would have 
 been evident that any one seen going to Confession had 
 committed mortal sin ! But Jansenism was a corrup- 
 tion and is now little more than a repulsive memory. 
 The power which our Lord bestowed upon His 
 Church is exercised daily the world over and in its 
 scope is absolutely comprehensive. It includes all 
 sins, even the gravest, but also even the smallest 
 (provided of course they be real sins). *' Whose 
 sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven " — in these 
 words we find no hint of any restriction or of any 
 exception whatsoever. By the Mercy of God all 
 sins fall under the power of the Keys left by Christ 
 to the Apostolic and undying Church. 
 
 Venial sins are ** usefully " confessed to a 
 * Sess. 14, cap. 5. 2 Audorem Fidei, 39. 
 
 26 
 
402 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 priest for, amongst others, the following reasons : 
 (a) although they may be forgiven in other ways 
 The useful' without confession, they are directly and 
 ness of the (provided they be repented of) certainly 
 Sacramental j-^j^i^ted in the Sacrament of Penance. 
 
 Confession 
 
 of Venial At the same time (b) an increase of habitual 
 Sins» grace is, in virtue of the reception of the 
 
 Sacrament, bestowed upon the soul, together with 
 aid to resist temptation in the future. Besides, 
 (c) the confession of venial sins is not seldom an 
 exercise of considerable and most profitable 
 humility. We need not therefore be surprised that 
 confession of venial sins, if persevered in with 
 patience, will often gradually lead to the extinction 
 of an evil habit and be a powerful factor in the 
 development of the Christian character. 
 
 It is above all experience that convinces those who 
 use regular Confession of its advantage as a means 
 not merely of uprooting evil habits, but also of 
 advancing in the ways of God. 
 
 ^ In every sacramental Confession. 
 
 The Three 
 Parts of the whether ''necessary" or "voluntary," 
 
 Sacrament there are three parts, each of which is 
 of Penance. ^ . , 
 
 essential : 
 
 (a) Sorrow. 
 {b) Confession. 
 (c) Satisfaction. 
 
 (a) Sin is always hateful in the sight of God. 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 403 
 
 Therefore no sin can be forgiven without regret on 
 
 the part of the sinner for having offended God. 
 
 This regret may arise from the thought of 
 Contrition, , . . . . __.. i • • c 
 
 havmg smned agamst Him who is inti- 
 
 nitely good ; or it may spring from some supernatural, 
 but less high source, for example from the considera- 
 tion that by sin we have deserved the punishment of 
 which we are warned in the Scriptures, or again from 
 A . , the thought of the shamefulness of vice, 
 
 and Perfect In the latter case the regret for sin is called 
 Contrition. ^^^^ perfect Contrition^ or sometimes Attri- 
 tion, whereas the sorrow that arises from the thought 
 of offending God, independently of all consequences 
 to ourselves, is called technically Perfect Cojitrition 
 — not as though it were necessarily perfect in degree, 
 but because it is perfect in its motive} It is Catholic 
 Doctrine that Perfect Contrition necessarily brings 
 with it immediate forgiveness of sin before the recep- 
 tion of any Sacrament. As the final turning away 
 from God involved in mortal sin is instantaneous, so 
 also instantaneous is God's Forgiveness. The Council 
 of Trent, however, warns us that God's forgiveness 
 is not to be ascribed to the contrition itself apart 
 from the desire of the Sacrament of Penance which 
 
 1 It is a comfort to know that St. Alphonsus tells us 
 {Theolog. Mor., vi. 36-442) that it is the common teaching of 
 Cathohc Theologians that sorrow for all (mortal) sins will 
 justify a sinner without the Sacrament, if it proceed /row evet?. 
 a low degree of Love of God above all things. 
 
404 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 it necessarily includes.^ As we have seen to be the 
 case with regard to the parallel case of Baptism, this 
 desire need not be, and in the case of a man who 
 does not know that Christ is the Author of the Sacra- 
 ment of Penance cannot well be, expHcit, but it 
 must be there at least implicitly. A man who would 
 refuse to go to Confession, even though he understood 
 that God required it of him, cannot be said to be 
 truly sorry for his sins because he has offended God, 
 since this sorrow necessarily involves a readiness 
 and even a desire to keep the divine commandments 
 and do all that God requires at our hands. But 
 where this desire really exists as part of regret for 
 having sinned against God, there forgiveness will 
 undoubtedly be immediate and divine grace will 
 once more clothe the soul and restore it to the 
 friendship of our Lord. When a man honestly 
 says, not necessarily in words, but from his heart, 
 that is with his will : ** My Lord, I am sorry for 
 having offended Thee, who art so good," he loves 
 God, since his sorrow for sin springs from the Love 
 of God as its source. And Jesus Christ has said : 
 ** He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, 
 and I will love him, and We will come to him and 
 will make Our abode with him."^ The Love of God 
 brooks no delay. ** Turn ye to Me, saith the Lord 
 of Hosts, and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of 
 Hosts." 3 
 1 Scss. 14, cap. 4. 2 John xiv. 12, 23. ^ Zach. i. 3. 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 405 
 
 The sorrow for sin which springs from a super- 
 natural motive less perfect in kind than the love of 
 God suffices not of itself, but in conjunc- 
 Attrition. ^.^^ ^.^j^ ^ Sacrament of the New Law, to 
 
 obtain forgiveness of mortal sin. Were this not so 
 the words *'be baptized for the remission of your 
 sins," or again "whose sins you shall forgive they 
 are forgiven them," could never have their effect. 
 For in this case— were no sins to be forgiven without 
 " Perfect Contrition"— all sins would, as we have just 
 seen, be forgiven immediately, and no sins would be 
 forgiven directly, either by the Sacrament of Baptism 
 or by the Sacrament of Penance— a conclusion which 
 not only is opposed to the Tradition and Teaching 
 of the Catholic Church, but also renders the words 
 of Holy Scripture meaningless. The Jansenists 
 maintained that sorrow for having offended God, 
 and consequent detestation of sin on account of the 
 supernatural rewards which have been forfeited 
 through sin or of the punishments which Faith dis- 
 closes that sin has incurred, can never be praise- 
 worthy in the sight of Heaven. Thus to argue 
 seems to me to be lacking in sincerity, or at least 
 to betray a strange forgetfulness both of our human 
 nature as we have received it from our Creator and 
 of the plain teaching of Holy Scripture. We have 
 been so made that by an essential law of our being 
 we desire that which makes us happy and shrink 
 from that which brings us misery. Nor is this in any 
 
4o6 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 way other than it should be. Every man is bound 
 to seek his own well-being not only for his own sake, 
 but also for that of his neighbour, and because such 
 is the Will of God. This duty, far from being 
 ignored, is insisted upon in a hundred places in the 
 Sacred Scriptures. For example, our Lord exhorts 
 us to lay up treasure in Heaven, St. Paul urges us 
 to work out our salvation in fear and trembling, and 
 who that has ever heard it can forget the divine and 
 solemn warning : ** Fear ye not him who after he 
 hath killed the body hath no more that he can do. 
 But I will tell whom you shall fear. Fear Him that 
 can cast both body and soul into Hell. Amen I say 
 to you. Fear ye Him." ^ 
 
 We should all aim at the highest motive for hating 
 sin. But to forget the motives which concern our- 
 selves directly would be opposed to our sense of 
 reality, as it is certainly contrary to the instincts of 
 the nature which God has bestowed upon us, and 
 to the teaching of the Christian religion as dis- 
 closed in the recorded teaching of Christ and His 
 Apostles. 
 
 In practice we do well to accustom ourselves to 
 make frequent acts of contrition drawn from a 
 consideration of the various motives suggested to us 
 by our Faith, but above all by the thought of the 
 goodness of our Lord. The crucifix — the sight of 
 the Face of Jesus Christ — will always be the most 
 
 1 Matt. X. 28. 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 
 
 407 
 
 perfect source of sorrow for sin. *' The Lord turned 
 to look upon Peter, and he wept bitterly." 
 
 The sorrow for sin, which is a necessary condition 
 of forgiveness, carries with it a firm purpose of 
 
 Nat r f S^^^'^S "P ^^^^ 2^^' together with a deter- 
 the Act of mination to take the necessary steps to 
 Contrition, attain the end in view. No man really 
 regrets his sin, unless he is resolved at the tin:ie to 
 avoid that sin in the future. The act of Contrition 
 is an act in the present, but it looks backwards to 
 the past and forv/ards to the future. The man who 
 repents is required, at the moment when he seeks 
 forgiveness, to be in the disposition of soul which 
 finds due expression in the words : " My God, I now 
 am sorry for having offended Thee ;" thus speaking, 
 he looks back upon his past offences, and then 
 forwards to the future : " With Thy Help I will not 
 sin again." 
 
 This sorrow for sin has to be full of hope. Other- 
 wise it will be as the sorrow of Judas — the sorrow of 
 despair. 
 
 It must also include sorrow for every mortal sin, 
 since we cannot regret any sin with a sorrow that 
 will bring pardon, unless we are ready to break 
 down all our idols, and part with everything that 
 excludes from the Friendship of God. '* The Lord 
 our God is a Jealous God and will have no gods 
 beside Him." There is no fellowship between 
 Christ and Satan, between good and evil. The 
 
4o8 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 choice is set before each one of us, whom we will 
 have to reign over us and which we shall serve. 
 Such is the dread responsibility of life. 
 Confession. (b) The second necessary part of the 
 Sacrament of Penance is Confession. Wherever oral 
 confession is not possible it is otherwise. A deaf 
 mute may write his confession, a sick man, who 
 cannot speak, may beat his heart, or press the 
 priest's hand, or in some other way express con- 
 trition, but, where speech is possible, the interior 
 sorrow of the penitent must be externalised through 
 the confession of his lips. 
 
 (c) Holy Scripture bears ample witness to the 
 truth that the consequence of sin is twofold. The 
 
 soul that has sinned is stained with gtiilt 
 Satisfaction. , ,, , . ,, . , , . ^ , _ , 
 
 {culpa) m the sight of God, and there 
 
 is also a punishment {poena) due to Divine Justice. 
 
 Thus, Adam sinned and in view of the Merits of 
 
 the coming Redeemer was forgiven, but was warned 
 
 that a life of trial was before him to be closed by 
 
 the great penance — death. ^ David repented and 
 
 was forgiven when he cried to the Lord ** I have 
 
 sinned," but the punishment due even to his forgiven 
 
 sin — that his child should die — had to be endured. ^ 
 
 The sin of Moses was forgiven. The punishment 
 
 remained. He was not allowed to cross the Jordan 
 
 and pass into the Land of Promise.^ 
 
 ^ Gen. iii. 17; v. 5. ^2 Kings xii, 13, 14. 
 
 3 Deut iii. 26, 27 ; xxxiv. 4. Cf. Niun. x. 26. 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 409 
 
 In Baptism and Martyrdom the whole punishment 
 of sin is remitted by God together with its guilt.^ 
 But the Church teaches that this is not always 
 the case in the Sacrament of Penance, where, 
 ordinarily, even after the remission of the guilt of 
 post-Baptismal Sin a debt of punishment remains 
 due, which has to be paid even to the uttermost 
 farthing.2 This debt can be paid either in Purgatory 
 when this life is over^ or in this world by what 
 are called Works of Satisfaction. Such works consist 
 of suffering inflicted by God and accepted with 
 patience, or of voluntary good works of a penitential 
 character such as prayer, fasting, alms-giving, or 
 other pious practices, above all of those which are 
 enjoined by a Priest in the Sacrament of Penance. 
 These last are commonly called penances from the 
 Sacrament of which they constitute an integral 
 
 part."* 
 
 In opposition to Catholic doctrine, the Jansenists 
 asserted that Absolution could not be validly given 
 until the penance imposed by the Priest (and 
 Jansenist penances were not light) had been actually 
 performed.^ It is, however, true that a readiness to 
 make some satisfaction for sin by accepting the 
 
 1 Cone. Trid., sess. 14. ^ Luke xii. 59. ^ Cf. p. 505. 
 
 * Many good works are "indulgeneed" by the Church, so that 
 those who perform them and satisfy the prescribed conditions 
 ctain an Indulgence, or direct pardon of punishment due to 
 post-baptismal sin. 
 
 5 Cf. Denzinger, 1173, 1302, 1398 
 
41 o What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 sacramental penance is a constituent part of the 
 Sacrament. 
 
 It remains to consider the Matter, Form, Minister 
 and Subject of this Sacrament. 
 
 (i) The Matter of the Sacrament of Penance differs 
 
 from that of the other Sacraments in the fact that it 
 
 ^, ,, does not consist of something^, Hke water. 
 
 The Matter _ . 
 
 of the Sacra- or oil, or bread and wine, or the laying 
 
 meut of Q^ ^f another's hands, external to the 
 
 Penance, 
 
 recipient. For this reason it is called m 
 the Roman Catechism Quasi-M ateria — that is to 
 say, something which takes the place of Matter, 
 and (in accordance with the opinion of St. Thomas) 
 is stated to consist of the Acts of the Penitent which 
 we have just enumerated — the Confession of sin 
 with Sorrow and readiness to make Satisfaction. It 
 must, however, be remembered that although the 
 authority of the Roman Catechism, which was one 
 of the results of the Council of Trent, stands very 
 high, the Fathers of the Council expressly declined 
 to condemn the Scotist opinion on this subject. 
 Scotist theologians, and those who follow them, 
 teach that the Absolution of the Priest, so far as it 
 is something external, is the Matter, whilst so far as 
 it signifies its effect, it is the Form, of the Sacrament 
 of Penance. 
 
 Those who hold that the Acts of the Penitent are 
 the Quasi-Matevia are accustomed to speak of sins 
 committed after Baptism as the Remote Matter of this 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 411 
 
 Sacrament, in the same way that original sin and 
 actual sins committed before Baptism may be called 
 the Remote Matter of the Sacrament of Baptism. 
 Whatever terminology or view be adopted theoreti- 
 cally, in practice it is certain that excepting in the 
 case of unconsciousness, when Confession is not 
 possible, there can be no valid administration of the 
 Sacrament of Penance unless sin be submitted to the 
 keys — in a " necessary " Confession, every mortal sin 
 not yet confessed; in a ''voluntary" Confession, 
 either some venial sin not yet confessed, or (if it be 
 preferred) some sin— at least in general— (whether 
 mortal or venial) already confessed and forgiven. 
 Without confession of sin — where confession of sin 
 be possible — the Sacrament of Penance can no more 
 exist, than can the Sacrament of Baptism without 
 washing with water. 
 
 (2) The Form of the Sacrament of Penance con- 
 sists of the Words of Absolution. For many centuries 
 the Form was precatory, as is the case in 
 orm. ^^^ Sacrament of Extreme Unction. At 
 present, however, in the West it is direct : " I absolve 
 thee from thy sins." Catholic priests belonging to 
 various Eastern Rites (commonly called Uniats) are 
 free to use either the direct or precatory Form at 
 their discretion. 
 
 (q) The Minister of this Sacrament is a 
 Its Minister. ^ . . . . . 
 
 Priest who possesses the necessary juris- 
 diction. These last words stand in need of some 
 
412 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 explanation. The Sacrament of Penance is a 
 supernatural Tribunal, where the priest judges in 
 the Name, and by the Authority, of Christ. But 
 no judge has authority to try a case, unless he has 
 been lawfully appointed for the purpose. He re- 
 quires what is known as jurisdiction. In the super- 
 natural order the Pope has world-wide jurisdiction, 
 and each Diocesan Bishop possesses jurisdiction 
 within the limits of his own Diocese. It follows 
 that the Pope can absolve from sins without limita- 
 tion as to place or persons, and that a Bishop, in 
 virtue of his office, can absolve his subjects from 
 all sins, excepting those which the Pope may per- 
 haps see fit to reserve to his own Tribunal. 
 
 A priest, as such, has received at his Ordination 
 the power to forgive sins. This power, however, is 
 in abeyance, unless he receives authority to exercise 
 it. This authority he may receive from the Pope 
 without limitation of any kind (save that existing 
 by the Law of God), or from a Bishop within the 
 limits of his jurisdiction. Thus a priest will often 
 be heard to say that he has, or has not, *' Faculties " 
 to hear Confessions within a certain Diocese, mean- 
 ing that he has, or has not, received the necessary 
 authorisation from the Bishop. It should be added 
 that every priest, even heretical or schismatical or 
 suspended, has jurisdiction from the Church to 
 absolve from sin any person who is in danger of 
 death in any part of the world. 
 
The Sacrament of Penance 413 
 
 (4) The Subject of this Sacrament is 
 " '^^ * any Christian who has committed sin 
 after Baptism. 
 
 To sum up. The Sacrament of Penance is a most 
 merciful institution of Christ, whereby we may so 
 judge ourselves here that we be not judged hereafter, 
 and may receive, after confession, pardon for our 
 offences, in virtue of His Promise whose Word shall 
 never fail those who trust in Him. With pardon 
 comes a new life, whilst renewed health and strength 
 are bestowed upon the soul to aid it in its future 
 struggles. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE BLESSED SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR 
 
 We now approach with reverence the central Mystery 
 of the Christian reHgion. The initial Mystery of 
 Christianity is the Incarnation of the Redeemer; its 
 final goal is the Beatific Vision of our God ; its very 
 heart and centre is the Blessed Eucharist. Through 
 the Eucharist, the soul born in Baptism, strengthened 
 in Confirmation, haply raised from death in Penance, 
 is nourished with divine Food, the true Body and 
 Blood of its Saviour. 
 
 As the body without nourishment must die, so too 
 the soul. *' Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of 
 ^, T^, , Man and drink His Blood you have no 
 
 The Divine -^ 
 
 Food of the life in you." As the life of the body is 
 Soul. sustained by Food, so too is the soul, and 
 
 that Food is Christ. " He that eateth Me, the same 
 shall live by Me."^ These are the wonderful Words 
 of God. In consequence of the Truth enshrined in 
 these Words, the Apostle was able to exclaim, " I 
 live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." ^ 
 ^ John vi. 58. ^ Gal. ii. 20. 
 
 414 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar 415 
 
 By Baptism Christians are united to Christ and 
 belong to Him, as the several members of our bodies 
 united to one another, are also united, and belong to 
 our several personalities. Jesus Christ is the Life of 
 every Christian who practises his rehgion. He gives 
 His own Life to His Servants who believe His Word. 
 He gives Himself. " Take ye and eat. This is My 
 Body."^ And so the Apostle: " I speak unto wise 
 men [that is to say to those who have been initiated 
 in the Christian Mysteries]. Judge ye yourselves 
 what I say. The Chalice of Benediction which we 
 bless — is it not the Communion of the Blood of 
 Christ ? And the Bread which we break — is it not 
 the Partaking of the Body of the Lord ? For all we, 
 being many, who partake of that One Bread, because 
 the Bread is One, are One Body."^ There is but 
 One Bread to be the Food of each member of the 
 mystical body of Christ, and that is the One Bread 
 that cometh down from Heaven, the Living Bread 
 — Christ Himself. 
 
 It is not my present purpose to prove the Catholic 
 doctrine. That doctrine we receive on the testimony 
 The Real of the Church. Moreover, Tradition on 
 Presence, the subject is clear. We find that until 
 the sixteenth century the truth of the Real Presence 
 was never denied by Christians.^ The evidence of 
 
 I Matt. xxvi. 26. ^ I Cor. x. 15-17. 
 
 3 The Docetas, a sect of the second century, denied the reality 
 of the Body in which Christ suffered on the Cross, and, /or this 
 
41 6 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Scripture is equally decisive. Indeed so unambiguous 
 are the Words of our Lord and St. Paul on this 
 great Mystery, that it is certain that had they not 
 delivered a "hard saying,"^ difficult for flesh and 
 blood to receive, their plain meaning would never 
 have been called in question even by the Protestant 
 Reformers. 
 
 An attempt has been made to show that when 
 Christ spoke of eating His Flesh and Blood — nay of 
 eating Himself 2— and when He said "This is My 
 Body," He spoke metaphorically. In support of 
 this contention it has been pointed out that, admit- 
 tedly, He thus spoke when He said " I am the True 
 Vine," and again " I am the Door," and it has been 
 argued that these sayings support the contention 
 that '* This is My Body " should be understood to 
 mean ''This is a sign of My Body," or perhaps 
 ** This represents My Body." But to establish the 
 parallel, "I am the True Vine" should mean "I 
 represent, or am a sign of, the True Vine," and " I 
 am the Door " should mean '' I represent, or am 
 a sign of, the Door." These are interpretations 
 which will be maintained by nobody. By all the 
 
 reason only, the reality of the Presence of His Body in the 
 Eucharist. They were rebuked for this error by St. Ignatius 
 (AdSmyr7i., vii., cap. 7). Berengarius in the eleventh century 
 denied the Catholic Teaching on the mode of Christ's Real 
 Presence. He was condemned at once by the Church, and 
 recanted his error, which faded away. 
 
 1 Cf. John vi. 6i. ^ John vi. 58. 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar 417 
 
 laws of exegesis we are only allowed to understand 
 words metaphorically when either their context or 
 the words themselves make it plain that a metaphor 
 is intended. When our Lord said " I am the True 
 Vine," He Himself pointed out the metaphor by the 
 word true. He is the True Vine as certainly as the 
 Blessed Sacrament is His Body. Similarly, a door 
 may mean a door of wood, or it may mean an entrance 
 — a way in. Our Lord is the door — the way in to 
 His Father's House. No doubt as to His meaning 
 is possible. On the other hand, no metaphorical 
 meaning can lie under the words My Body, and the 
 Blood which is shed, whilst the only metaphorical inter- 
 pretation of eating Flesh and drinking Blood known 
 to the Jews was to calumniate and destroy.^ Above 
 all, it should never be forgotten that when the 
 Jews deserted our Lord because they understood 
 His words literally and could not accept them. He 
 allowed them to depart, turned to His Apostles, 
 asking '' Will you also go away ?" and appealed to 
 His future Ascension to show that His Body was not 
 subject to the ordinary Laws of nature.^ Christ 
 is God and knew that generation after generation 
 of His most faithful disciples would believe His 
 words simply as He spoke those words. If this 
 be an error surely He would have undeceived 
 them, rather than by speech and action have led 
 them astray. 
 
 1 Cf. Psa. xxvi. 2, * John vi. 63. 
 
 27 
 
41 8 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 It may be of some interest to my readers if I 
 direct their attention to one of the various types of 
 the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar which we find in 
 the Old Testament. 
 
 We remember that after certain Jews had seen 
 our Lord multiply five loaves before their eyes, so 
 that after five thousand men had eaten, 
 His disciples " gathered up and filled 
 twelve baskets with the fragments that remained,"^ 
 they sought Him out, and in the end asked Him : 
 " What shall we do that we may work the Works of 
 God ?" And Jesus answered them : " This is the 
 Work of God, that you believe in Him whom. God 
 hath sent."^ When met with this challenge to faith, 
 the Jews reminded Him of the manna, the bread 
 from Heaven that their fathers had eaten in the 
 desert.^ It seems that they intended to signify their 
 unwillingness to leave Moses for Christ — the old 
 teacher for the new — unless Christ should work some 
 miracle more wonderful than that granted through 
 Moses to their fathers. But Christ said to them : 
 " Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and 
 are dead. I am the Bread of Life. This is the 
 Bread which cometh down from Heaven, that if any 
 man eat of it, he may not die. If any man shall eat 
 of this Bread, he shall live for ever, and the Bread 
 that I will give is My Flesh for the Life of the 
 world."^ 
 
 1 John vi. 13. 2 7^/^,_ 28, 29, ^ Ibid., 30. * Ibiit, 4S 52. 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar 419 
 
 There is here a parallelism which is suggested by 
 the very words of Christ. As the Jews during their 
 passage through the wilderness to the Land of 
 Promise received for their bodily life miraculous 
 bread called manna, that seemed to come down from 
 Heaven, so should Christians as they make their 
 earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly country be sup- 
 ported in their spiritual life by the true Manna, the 
 Body of their divine Lord Himself, given for the 
 life of the world. 
 
 ** And the children of Israel ate manna forty 
 years, till they came to a habitable land : with this 
 meat were they fed, until they reached the borders of 
 the land of Chanaan."^ 
 
 The Children of Israel, God's chosen people of the 
 Old Law, are the type of Christians under the New 
 Law. 
 
 The journey through the desert to the " habitable 
 land" is the type of our journey to God's Paradise. 
 
 The forty years are the type of the days of our 
 mortality. 
 
 The Manna from Heaven that gave life to the 
 body, but could not stave off death, is the type of 
 the Bread of Life — the Bread from Heaven that 
 gives life to the soul — the Food of Immortality. 
 
 The Creed of Pope Pius IV. teaches us to make 
 the following Profession of our Faith : I believe 
 
 ^ Exod. xvi. 35. 
 
420 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 that ** in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist 
 there is truly, really and substantially the Body and 
 Blood together with the Soul and Divinity 
 ^ImSion. of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that there 
 takes place a conversion of the whole 
 substance of the bread into His Body, and of the 
 whole substance of the wine into His Blood — a 
 conversion which the Catholic Church calls Tran- 
 substantiation." In virtue of the Words *' This is 
 My Body,'' the bread is changed by the Power of 
 God into the Body of Christ, and in virtue of the 
 Words " This is My Blood,'' the wine is changed into 
 the Blood of Christ. But Christ having died once 
 dieth now no more. His Body and His Blood are 
 now inseparable. Where His Body is there also is 
 His Blood, and where His Blood is there is His 
 Body, together with His Human Soul and His 
 Divinity. It is the Living Christ whom we adore 
 beneath the Sacramental veils and receive as the 
 Food of our souls in Holy Communion. 
 
 It has been objected that the word Transuhstantia- 
 tion is not found in the Holy Scriptures, but was 
 coined, at the time of the controversy with Beren- 
 garius, purposely in order to express the Catholic 
 Doctrine. This is true, but it is true also of such 
 words as Homoousios (of one substance), Trinity, In- 
 carnation. When a revealed Truth is impugned by 
 heresy the Church has been accustomed not only to 
 define that truth in its integrity, but also to find 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Ahar 421 
 
 some word which will crystallise it, so that the word 
 itself becomes a Catholic word, the badge and safe- 
 guard of the Faith itself. If a man rejects the word 
 Trijiity, he denies thereby that there are Three 
 Persons in God; if he rejects the word Transuhstan- 
 tiation, he denies that in the Eucharist the substance 
 of the bread is changed into the Body, and the 
 substance of the wine into the Blood of Jesus 
 Christ.i 
 
 The word Substance is employed in the Aristotelian 
 philosophy for that which underlies appearances and 
 Substance constitutes a thing that which it really is ; 
 
 and the word Accidents is employed for its 
 
 Accidents. j* i.* x r v • j 
 
 appearances as distmct from its mward 
 
 essence. It is not the case that the Church is com- 
 mitted by her use of these terms to a belief that the 
 Aristotelian philosophy is absolutely true ; the 
 terms are merely used as the most suitable which 
 could be found to express with precision the revealed 
 Truth that the whole of that which made the bread 
 bread and the wine wine is changed by God into the 
 Body and Blood of His Son, the appearances of 
 bread and wine remaining unchanged. 
 
 It follows that this change is hidden and sacra- 
 mental. No man can prove it excepting by Faith 
 in Christ ; on the other hand no man can disprove it. 
 
 The senses do not deceive us, they report solely as 
 to the appearances, and their report is true. 
 
 1 Cf. p. 280. 
 
422 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 " Gustus, Tactus, Visus in Te fallitur ; 
 
 Auditu solo tuto creditur." 
 
 Though Taste, Touch, Sight fail to tell us that He 
 is in His Sacrament, safely do we trust our Hearing, 
 for He has said : " This is My Body," and we are 
 content to hear and beheve His Word. *' Faith 
 Cometh by Hearing, and Hearing by the Word of 
 Christ." 1 
 
 It has often been objected by Protestants that 
 God is everywhere present, and that therefore the 
 Real Presence of His Sacred Humanity is super- 
 fluous. To this Father Bridgett in The Ritual of the 
 New Testament replies as follows, reminding us of the 
 Shechinah — a special Presence of God — which is a 
 type of the Blessed Sacrament : 
 
 " How many beautiful histories are related in the 
 Old Testament of the devotion of God's people to 
 His Presence in the Ark whether preserved in the 
 Tabernacle or the Temple ! It localised without 
 circumscribing their thoughts of God. It was the 
 source of no error. It did not make them think of 
 God as the heathens thought of their idols ; though 
 Moses could well say to them, * There is not any 
 other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them, 
 as our God is present to all our petitions.' ^ At the 
 dedication of the Temple Solomon prays, * Is it then 
 to be thought that God should indeed dwell upon 
 earth ? For if heaven and the heaven of heavens 
 cannot contain Thee, how much less this house 
 which I have built P'^ But though this particular 
 
 * Rom. X. 17. 2 Dcut. iv. 7. ^ 2> Kings viii. 27. 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar 423 
 
 Presence of God produced no error regarding His 
 divine nature, it impressed on the Jews in a wonder- 
 ful manner the sense of God's providence over them, 
 and His pecuUar love for them, and it inspired them 
 with a fiUal confidence in their necessities. 
 
 " I will choose, from among many, one illustration 
 of these truths, and of the manner of devotion of the 
 Jews to the Presence of God. 
 
 " When Ezechias received the insulting letter of 
 Rabsaces, ' he went up to the house of the Lord, 
 and spread it before the Lord, and He prayed in 
 His sight, saying: O Lord God of Israel, who sittest 
 upon the Cherubim, Thou alone art the God of all 
 the kings of the earth : Thou madest heaven and 
 earth : incline Thine ear, and hear : open, O Lord, 
 Thine eyes, and see : and hear all the words of 
 Sennacherib.' ^ 
 
 ** Certainly Ezechias believed in the omnipresence 
 of God, * who made heaven and earth.' Why, then, 
 did he not pray in his own palace ? Why, if he 
 must show God the letter, did he go and spread it 
 in the Temple ? It would be easy to find a parallel 
 to this BibUcal scene in the devotion of Catholics. 
 Let my reader enter any day into a Catholic church, 
 at an hour when no pubUc service is being carried 
 on, and I doubt not he will see some poor man 
 making his ' visit ' to the Blessed Sacrament, with a 
 faith and confidence, and external devotion, just like 
 that of Ezechias, though he may never have heard 
 of the name of the Jewish king, or of the Jewish 
 Temple in which he prayed. But I must continue 
 the history of God's Presence. 
 
 « The Ark of the Covenant has long since disap- 
 
 1 4 Kings xix. 14-16. 
 
424 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 peared. The Jewish historian Josephus informs us 
 that shortly before the destruction of the Temple, 
 those who ministered at the altar heard mysterious 
 voices from behind the veil, saying, ' Let us depart !' 
 as if God was removing from the Jews His sensible 
 Presence for ever. But, before the Temple was 
 destroyed, a far different Presence of God had come 
 down on earth. ' The Word had been made Flesh, 
 and dwelt among us.' This was the Presence 
 announced of old by the prophets. It was the 
 foreknowledge of this Presence which made Isaias 
 break forth into the words, ' You shall say in that 
 day. Praise ye the Lord, and call upon His name ; 
 make known His works among the people : rejoice 
 and praise, O thou habitation of Sion, for great is 
 He that is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of 
 Israel.' 1 "2 
 
 When we first become acquainted with the 
 Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence, considerable 
 O Lo d' difficulty is likely to be felt in conse- 
 Presence quence of the fact that the Body of 
 Sacramental, ^^j. Lord is present simultaneously in 
 so many places all over the world.^ This diffi- 
 culty, however, will cease to trouble our minds (as 
 
 * Isa, xii. 4-6. 
 
 2 Ritual of the New Testament, pp. 140-142. 
 
 .3 St. Thomas teaches that our Lord is not present in the 
 Eucharist, tanquam in loco. But in English we are forced to 
 write loosely of His being present "m many places," or " in the 
 Tabernacle," since we have no English word that will express 
 the truth of the Sacramental Presence with philosophical pre- 
 cision. The Italians speak of Gesu sacramentaio. 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar 425 
 
 distinct from our imaginations) when we remember 
 that the Body of Christ is present in the Eucharist, 
 not after the fashion of an earthly body (to use a 
 philosophical expression) with " its parts extended," 
 but transcendentally, sacramentally, *' spirit-wise." 
 Concerning the conditions of a body in this state 
 (St. Paul writes of the risen body as a spiritual body) 
 we know little if anything, and certainly it can never 
 be proved that its presence in many places involves 
 a contradiction. Indeed the relation of matter to 
 space is one of the obscurest of those questions con- 
 cerning which scientific men dispute amongst them- 
 selves. 
 
 There is a kindred difficulty as to how the Body of 
 Christ can exist within the compass of a small frag- 
 ment of a Host. But " this difficulty," writes Father 
 Hunter, ** is based on a vain conviction that we are 
 acquainted with the laws of space, and that what 
 commonly happens in the course of nature must 
 necessarily be always true, even when God is pleased 
 to act miraculously. There is no ground for this 
 conviction, as they who are most conversant with the 
 subject are most thoroughly assured. It is common 
 to meet with a multiplying mirror, where a man may 
 see the perfect image of himself twenty times over in 
 the space of a few inches. When a blind man is 
 assured by his companion that he was thus multiplied 
 and diminished, he would be rash and wrong if he 
 disbelieved the word spoken to him ; but the man 
 
426 What does Catholic Christianity give? 
 
 born blind is not more ignorant of light than are the 
 acutest reasoners on earth ignorant of the true nature 
 of space." ^ 
 
 We may now leave the consideration of difficulties 
 and proceed to state the Catholic Doctrine as to the 
 Matter, Form, Minister and Subject of this august 
 Sacrament. 
 
 The Proximate Matter consists of the species them- 
 selves which stand for the Body and Blood of Christ. 
 The Remote Matter consists of Bread and 
 the Sacra- Wine of the grape. Unleavened bread is 
 ment of the prescribed in the West ; leavened bread in 
 Eucharist. ^^^ ^^^^^ including the Eastern Churches 
 
 in communion with the Holy See. The use of un- 
 leavened bread has arisen from the fact that our 
 Lord undoubtedly used this kind of bread at the 
 institution of the Eucharist; the use of ordinary 
 bread is based upon the Oriental tradition that such 
 was the usage of the Apostles when offering the Holy 
 Sacrifice. From earliest antiquity a few drops of 
 water have been added to the wine in the chalice. 
 This ceremony is based upon the fact that at the 
 Last Supper our Lord used a cup in which a little 
 water, according to the Jewish custom, had been 
 added to the wine. It also conveys much mystic 
 teaching, serving to remind us for example of the 
 water which gushed forth from the Sacred Side of 
 I Ouilines of Dogmatic Theology, vol. iii., pp. 255, 256. 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar 427 
 
 our Saviour together with His Precious Blood, 
 
 symboHsing the Union of Human Nature with the 
 
 Divine in His One Person, and teaching us that in 
 
 our natural weakness we can only obtain the 
 
 spiritual force we need by union with Him who is 
 
 our strength, even as the weak water becomes one 
 
 with the wine with which it is mingled. 
 
 (6) The Form of the Sacrament of the Eucharist 
 
 consists of the words of consecration. These sacred 
 
 words uttered by the priest as a narrator, 
 
 Its Form, , , . r /-i • ^ i^ ^ 
 
 but as the representative 01 Christ, enect 
 
 what they express, and determine the species to their 
 sacramental being and condition.^ 
 
 (c) Its Minister is a Priest, who by ordination 
 obtains power to consecrate the Body and Blood of 
 Christ. In the case of the Holy 
 inis er. £^(.]-^a^j-ist there is a distinction (not to 
 be found in any other Sacrament) between the 
 Sacrament which is to be " made " {Conficiendum) 
 and the Sacrament which has been already made 
 {Confectum) but has to be ''administered.'' In the 
 latter case (the administration of Holy Communion) 
 when there is necessity — as in times of persecution 
 — it is lawful for a layman to give Communion 
 to another or even to communicate himself. This 
 
 1 For a discussion on the subject of the Epiclesis, which has 
 never been considered necessary for the Consecration, cf. 
 Bishop Hedley, The Holy Eucharist, pp. 78-80 (in The West- 
 minster Library). 
 
428 What does Catholic Christianity give? 
 
 distinction has to be carefully borne in mind when 
 C mm '^^ consider the question of communion 
 
 under One under one kind, or as it is often with much 
 ^'"^- inaccuracy termed by Protestants ''The 
 
 Denial of the Cup to the Laity." 
 
 According to Catholic Doctrine the Sacrament 
 of the Eucharist is ''made" during the offering 
 of the Sacrifice of the Mass. It is absolutely neces- 
 sary that this holy Sacrifice should be offered by 
 the double Consecration of bread and wine. This 
 is of the very essence of the Sacrifice. Otherwise 
 there is no Sacrifice. The double Consecration in 
 the offering of the Christian Sacrifice is of the 
 Institution of Christ. But after the Sacrament has 
 been " made," it remains that it should be distributed 
 to the Faithful. Now, here what is essential, and 
 according to the will of Christ, is — not that bread 
 and wine, but that His Adorable Body and Most 
 Precious Blood, hidden under a sacramental 
 appearance, be received as Food for the soul. It 
 belongs to the Catholic Faith to believe that, where 
 the Body of Christ is, there also is His Precious 
 Blood — there is Christ Himself. Any separation 
 of His Body and Blood can no longer be real, as in 
 the days of His mortality when He offered Himself 
 upon the Altar of the Cross. ^ Such separation now, 
 in the days of His glorified Life, can only be 
 mysticaly as in the double Consecration during the 
 
 ^ Cf. Rom. vi. 9. 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar 429 
 
 offering of the Holy Mass.^ Therefore, is it that im- 
 mediately after our Lord had said that we were to eat 
 His Flesh and drink His Blood, He summed up His 
 divine teaching in the words : '* He that eateth Me, 
 shall live by Me." ^ In accordance with His heavenly 
 doctrine (heavenly in truth, for He is *' the Bread 
 that Cometh down from Heaven," and the eating of 
 this Bread of Life is to be after a heavenly and 
 sacramental manner) St. Paul wrote : " Whosoever 
 shall eat this Bread, or drink this Cup unworthily is 
 guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord."^ In 
 the Eucharist it is impossible to eat Christ's Body 
 without at the same time drinking Christ's Blood — 
 without at the same time receiving Himself into 
 our souls. For, His Body and His Blood are in- 
 separable — not merely from one another, but also 
 from His Human created soul and from the 
 Divinity, to which His Sacred Humanity is hypo- 
 statically united. When we receive the Blessed 
 Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ under 
 either species we receive Christ Himself. And this 
 Sacramental reception of Christ is the end of this 
 Sacrament considered as a Sacrament, The mode in 
 which this end — the sacramental reception of the 
 Body and Blood of Christ — is to be effected is a 
 
 1 Cf. p. 442. 2 John vi. 56, 57. 
 
 3 I Cor. xi. 27. In the A.V. the crucial word or has been 
 changed to and in the first of these antithetical sentences. 
 This very serious mistake has been, as we should expect, cor- 
 rected in the R.V. 
 
430 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 matter of discipline, and as such is liable to change 
 according to the various requirements of various 
 times and places, and has therefore been left by our 
 Lord to be regulated according to the discretion of 
 His Church.^ As the mode of administering the 
 Sacrament of Baptism has changed, so also has the 
 mode of administering the Sacrament of the Body 
 and Blood of Christ. All Catholics, because they are 
 Catholics, know that the essence of the Sacraments 
 (which the Church has no power to change) has been 
 preserved — that essence being in the one case a 
 symbolic washing of the body to denote the washing 
 of the soul, in the other case the gift to the re- 
 generated soul of Christ Himself hidden as sacra- 
 mental Food. This Food comes from, and is part 
 of, the Sacrifice in which He offers Himself upon 
 our altars under the appearance of bread and wine 
 in the exercise of His Priesthood after the Order of 
 Melchisedech. Space will not permit me to discuss 
 at any length the history of the manner of ad- 
 ministering the Sacrament of the Altar, though I 
 have thought it well briefly to state the principles 
 which govern that administration in the Catholic 
 Church. Suffice it to say that at first (as scholars 
 .are perfectly agreed) Communion was ordinarily 
 given under both kinds, but that when there was 
 any reason (as for example when in times of per- 
 secution the Faithful were allowed to take thq 
 
 1 Cf. p. 381. 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar 431 
 
 Blessed Sacrament to their own homes and com- 
 municate themselves privately) it was received under 
 one kind only. It became, however, very difficult 
 to give Communion even in the public churches 
 reverently from the Chalice to large numbers of 
 people, so that gradually the custom grew, in the 
 East, of communicating the people with the Sacred 
 Host that had previously been soaked in the Chalice 
 and then dried ; in the West, with the Sacred Host 
 alone. When this authorised custom was challenged 
 by heretics, as being against the Will of Christ and 
 the purpose of the Sacrament, a doctrinal question 
 was at once involved. In order to make the Catholic 
 doctrine clear it was solemnly defined by the 
 Council of Constance against the Hussite heresy 
 that the custom of receiving Holy Communion under 
 the species of Bread alone " was reasonably intro- 
 duced to avoid danger and scandal, since all must 
 believe without doubting that the whole Body and 
 Blood of Christ is truly contained as well under the 
 species of Bread as under that of Wine." This 
 pronouncement is referred to by the Council of 
 Trent, which reasserts the decree with great 
 emphasis."^ I hope that I have made it clear that 
 the distinction is not, as Protestants so often 
 imagine, between " the Priests and the Laity." The 
 distinction is not between priest and people, but 
 between the priest who is saying Mass and all 
 1 Sess. xxi., cap. i, 2, 3. Cer. i, 2^ 3. 
 
432 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 others — be they who they may — who receive the 
 Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ without 
 at the same time offering the Holy Sacrifice. The 
 Pope in illness receives Communion under one kind 
 in the same manner as does the layman. 
 
 (d) Its Subject is a Christian in the state of grace. 
 St. Paul has stated how terrible were the results of 
 sacrilegious communion even in Apostolic 
 days.^ Moreover the Council of Trent 
 has made a positive law, requiring anyone whose 
 conscience is burdened by mortal sin, " however 
 contrite he may think himself," to seek Absolution in 
 the Sacrament of Penance, before daring to present 
 himself to receive the Bread of Life. Even though 
 an Act of Perfect Contrition may have been made, 
 the sacramental Confession must not be delayed until 
 after Communion. The risk of receiving the Body 
 of the Lord unworthily would be too great. At the 
 same time, it is true that if a man, unhappily in the 
 state of mortal sin were by no fault of his own to 
 receive Communion without Confession but with 
 supernatural sorrow (even the sorrow of Attrition) ^ 
 for his sins, he would thereby receive pardon, ac- 
 cording to the principle that under such circum- 
 stances the Sacraments of the Living, and especially 
 this greatest of all the Sacraments, confer justifying 
 grace. Such a case might arise, for example, if a 
 mortal sin had been completely forgotten, and there 
 1 Cf. I Cor. xi. 30. 2 cf. p. 405. 
 
The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar 433 
 
 honestly seemed to the communicant that there was 
 no necessity for Confession. Under such circum- 
 stances he would approach Communion in good 
 dispositions and enter anew into Friendship with 
 God. 
 
 It remains very briefly to sum up the ordinary 
 effects of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Let me 
 
 say once more that its distinctive work is 
 Its £<ffccts* 
 
 (so we are taught by the Council of 
 
 Florence) to nourish the soul as bread nourishes 
 the body. This work of nourishment is effected 
 by increasing habitual grace and strengthening the 
 virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, as well as the 
 Gifts of the Holy Ghost, within the soul of the 
 recipient. Again, as food is most closely united with 
 him who receives it, so, similarly, by the Heavenly 
 Bread of the Eucharist are we most closely united 
 to our Lord and, through union with our Lord, in 
 Him to one another. For this reason this Sacra- 
 ment is called so often Holy Communion, By the 
 reception of Holy Communion man is gradually 
 transformed into the likeness of Christ by Charity, 
 as the bread is transformed into Christ Himself 
 through the operation of the Holy Ghost. Now, it 
 is this transformation to the likeness of Christ 
 which especially brings about our union with one 
 another in the One body of His Church. ** [As] 
 there is One Bread," writes St. Paul, ** so we, though 
 many, are One body, because we all share in the One 
 
 28 
 
434 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Bread." ^ *' O Sacrament of Goodness ! O Sign of 
 Unity !" writes St. Augustine, " O Bond of Charity I"^ 
 Whereas it is the property of food often to 
 give health to the sick (though it does not restore 
 Hfe to the dead), so does the divine Food of this 
 Blessed Sacrament forgive those venial sins which 
 correspond to the daily waste of the body. By the 
 reception of Holy Communion our passions are 
 curbed, we are strengthened against temptation 
 and helped wondrously to practise virtue. In the 
 words of the Catechism of the Council of Trent : 
 " All that bread and wine do for the body is done 
 by this Sacrament for the well-being and delight of 
 the soul, and that in a better and most perfect 
 fashion. The Sacrament is not indeed changed 
 into our substance as are bread and wine, but we 
 are in a certain manner changed into it ; so that the 
 words of St. Augustine may be here applied : *' I 
 am the Food of the grown-up ; grow and thou shalt 
 eat Me, and thou shalt not transmute Me into 
 thyself, but thou shalt be changed into Me." Above 
 all is the reception of the Body and Blood of our 
 Lord the pledge of our immortality. " He that 
 eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood hath ever- 
 lasting Life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 
 This is the promise of Christ Himself. 
 
 O Sacrum convivium in quo Christus sumitur, 
 mens repletur gratia et futuras glorise nobis pignus 
 
 datui ! 
 
 1 I Cor. X. 17. 2 /;/ Joan xxv. 13. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS 
 
 ** He hath made a remembrance of His wonderful 
 works, being a merciful and gracious Lord. He 
 hath given food to them that fear Him."^ In these 
 words, first written of the manna, the Psalmist 
 anticipates the Bread of Life given to Christians in 
 the Blessed Sacrament. But the Holy Eucharist is 
 not only a Sacrament whereby, under the appear- 
 ances of bread and wine, Christ gives Himself as 
 spiritual Food to nourish the souls of His people ; 
 it is also a sacrifice in which, under the same 
 appearances. He offers Himself to God as the 
 propitiation for the sins of the world. 
 
 To develop at any length the idea and history and 
 theology of sacrifice does not lie within the scope of 
 The idea, of ^his book. Suffice it to say that when man 
 sacrifice, begins to think about his relations with 
 God there will often arise within his heart a desire 
 to recognise the dominion of the Supreme Being, as 
 Lord of Life and Death, by the offering and immo- 
 
 1 Ps, ex. 45. 
 435 
 
436 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 lation of a Victim. We should not therefore be 
 surprised to find in all the records of antiquity 
 traces of sacrifices offered to God in every part of 
 the world. Now, the Bible teaches us that to this 
 natural sense of the fitness of sacrifice, there was 
 added a supernatural sanction and blessing. ^ 
 Furthermore, when sin came into the world sacri- 
 fice was required not only in order to recognise the 
 Dominion of God, but also to make satisfaction for 
 the offences of men. And the Divine Revelation 
 given to the Jews commanded them to offer various 
 sacrifices — all of which were to typify and to look 
 forward to the One perfect Sacrifice that, in the 
 fulness of time, was to be made by the Redeemer of 
 Mankind. 
 
 It is the Catholic Doctrine that — to quote the 
 words of the Council of Trent : " Our Lord Jesus 
 
 _. „ „ Christ was ordained by God as a Priest 
 TheSacrihcc ^,rwii- j i. 
 
 offered by according to the Order of Melchisedecn, 
 
 Christ. to bring to perfection what was wanting 
 
 to the ancient Testament. Accordingly, He wrought 
 
 our Redemption once for all by His Cross. But, 
 
 because His Priesthood was to continue for ever, 
 
 and in order to leave to His Beloved Spouse, the 
 
 CathoHc Church, a visible Sacrifice, by which the 
 
 bloody Sacrifice of the Cross might be represented, 
 
 and the memory thereof kept up until the end of 
 
 time — in order, moreover, that its saving efficacy 
 
 » Of, Heb. xi. 4. 
 
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 437 
 
 might be applied to the remission of our daily sins, 
 He, on the night before He suffered, offered His 
 Body and Blood under the species of Bread and 
 Wine to God the Father, and commanded His 
 Apostles and their successors to offer as He Himself 
 had done. . . . This is that pure oblation predicted by 
 Malachy, and not obscurely referred to by St. Paul 
 in the phrase " the Table of the Lord."^ 
 
 This Sacrifice of our Altars — the Sacrifice of the 
 Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ — of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ Himself — under the sacramental 
 species — we call the Divine Mysteries, or the 
 Eucharist, or, most usually, the Mass. 
 
 In this Sacrifice Christ is both Priest and Victim, 
 offering Himself through the ministry of those to 
 Christ a whom He has communicated a share 
 priest after \^ His Priesthood. He is said to be a 
 
 the order of „ . ,. i /-^w i r ■» r i 
 
 Melchise- Priest according to the Order 01 Mel- 
 dech. chisedech.2 But of Melchisedech we 
 
 read that *' he brought forth bread and wine, for he 
 was the Priest of the Most High God."^ Melchise- 
 dech brought forth bread and wine for the Sacrifice 
 which he offered to God as a type of the Christian 
 Sacrifice ; Christ, the Priest after the Order of Mel- 
 chisedech, provided the same material for the anti- 
 type — the Sacrifice, which He left to His Church — 
 when He gave to His Apostles (and in their persons 
 
 ^ Sess. xxii., cap. i.-ix. 
 
 2 Cf, Ps. cix. 4 ; Heb. vi. 20. ' Gen. xiv. 18. 
 
438 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 to their successors in the Christian Priesthood) the 
 great commission, " Do this for a commemoration 
 of Me " — that is, " Offer this Sacrifice as My 
 Memorial." ■•• 
 
 The Council of Trent reminds us that the Sacrifice 
 of the Christian Altar was " predicted by Malachy 
 and not obscurely referred to by St. Paul." 
 y. The prophecy " of Malachy is very re- 
 
 Prophecy of markable. Having rebuked the priests of 
 Malachy. j^jg ^^^^ ^[^q fQj- their avarice and other 
 
 vices, the last of the Hebrew prophets proceeds as 
 follows : 
 
 " From the rising of the sun even to the going 
 down thereof, My Name shall be great amongst the 
 Gentiles, and in every place there shall be Sacrifices, 
 and there shall be offered to My Name a pure Obla- 
 tion ; for My Name shall be great amongst the 
 Gentiles, saith the Lord of Hosts." ^ 
 
 The Jewish sacrifices were limited as to time and 
 place, but the Prophet declares that the new Sacri- 
 fice which was to come was to know no such limits. 
 It was to be offered not in Jerusalem alone, but " in 
 every place " ; not only at one time of the day, but 
 at every moment " from the rising of the sun to the 
 going down thereof." This has been verified in the 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 19 : Tovto Troieire €LS Trp' i^rjv avdyivqcnv. IIoteiTe 
 and avaixvTjdiv arc both sacriiicial words used here in a sacri- 
 ficial setting. Cf. The Mustard Tree, p. 289 n. 
 2 Mai. i. II. 
 
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 439 
 
 most striking manner in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist, 
 which is offered all over the world, and at every 
 moment of time in some part of the world. It is 
 literally true that " from the rising of the sun to the 
 going down thereof" Mass is being somewhere said 
 — if not in New Zealand, then in Britain, if not in 
 China or America, then in Jerusalem or Rome. But 
 even before the prophecy of Malachy had, through 
 the spread of Christianity, been thus wonderfully 
 and literally fulfilled, it was understood by the 
 earhest Ecclesiastical witness to refer to the Christian 
 Sacrifice. For example, in the first century, in the 
 Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, the 
 Eucharist is declared to be the pure oblation or 
 sacrifice {KaOapa dvala) which was '' to be offered 
 every moment and in every place,"^ and the words 
 of Malachy are quoted textually from the Septuagint 
 Version. In the second century St. Justin,^ St. 
 Irenseus^ and Tertullian all connect the Sacrifice of 
 the Eucharist with the Prophecy of Malachy. For 
 example, Tertullian writes : " For the well-being of 
 the Emperor we offer Sacrifice to Him who is our 
 God and his," * and gives as one of the reasons for 
 which women may leave their houses " when either 
 Sacrifice is offered, or the Word of God is preached."^ 
 
 1 Chapter xiv. 2 Migne, P.G., vi. 745-749. 
 
 3 Adv. Hcer.^ xvii. 5, 
 
 ^^ Ad Scapulam, ii. 2 : " Sacrificamus pro salute Imperatoris, 
 sed Deo nostro et ipsius.^' 
 
 5 De cultu Fcemin., cap. vii. : "Aut sacrificium oifertur, aut 
 verbum Dei administratur." 
 
440 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 With reference to the Prophecy of Malachy he points 
 out that the Christian Sacrifice is universal, per- 
 petual, and identical everywhere.^ 
 
 The Council of Trent teaches us also that the 
 Eucharistic Sacrifice " is not obscurely referred to 
 
 by St. Paul in the phrase ' The Table of 
 St. Paul and "^ 
 the Sacrifice the Lord.' " The reference here is to 
 
 of the the well-known passage in his First 
 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, where St. 
 Paul is arguing that by eating of the flesh of a sacri- 
 fice a man partook in the sacrifice itself, and that 
 therefore it was unlawful for a Christian to partake 
 of the Pagan sacrificial banquets. He writes as 
 follows : ** The Chalice of Benediction which we 
 bless, is it not the Communion of the Blood of 
 Christ ? The Bread which we break is it not the 
 Communion of the Body of Christ ? You cannot 
 drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of devils ; you 
 cannot share the Table of the Lord and the Table of 
 Devils:'^ The Table of Devils was the Pagan altar 
 on w^hich the Pagan sacrifice was offered to the false 
 gods (called Devils by the Apostle), and thence dis- 
 tributed to the assemblage. St. Paul's whole argu- 
 ment loses its force, and breaks down, unless the 
 Table of the Lord is the Christian Altar on which the 
 Christian Sacrifice is offered to the True God and 
 thence distributed to the Christian people. 
 
 ^ Adv. Marciou, iii. 22. 
 2 Cor. X. 15 seq. 
 
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 441 
 
 The Sacrifice of the Mass derives all its efficacy 
 
 from the Sacrifice of the Cross, which it renews unto 
 
 ^. , the end of time. Indeed, the Council of 
 
 The relation , , <- -c • 
 
 oftheSacri' Trent teaches that the one Sacrifice is 
 
 fice of the identical with the other, inasmuch as in 
 Sacrifice of^ each case the chief offerer and the Victim 
 the Cross. are the same, and the difference Hes only 
 in the manner of offering. On the Cross our Lord 
 died really; on the Altar our Lord, through the 
 mystical separation in the twofold Consecration, 
 dies mystically. On both Cross and Altar He offers 
 Himself to God His Father. 
 
 There is considerable discussion amongst Catholic 
 Theologians as to wherein precisely consists the 
 essence of the Sacrifice of the Mass. On 
 of^thesIcH'^ this subject the Church has decided 
 fice of the nothing, and consequently we can have 
 ^^*^^* no certainty. Very great names (such 
 
 as those of Cardinal De Lugo^ and Cardinal Franze- 
 lin) may be quoted for the opinion that the essence 
 of the Sacrifice is to be found in the state of humilia- 
 tion and quasi-annihilation in which our Lord volun- 
 tarily places Himself as a Victim beneath the sacra- 
 mental Veils; but I venture diffidently to think that 
 the weight of authority and theological reasoning in- 
 clines somewhat to the view that it Hes rather in the 
 twofold Consecration. In this twofold Consecration, 
 
 1 Of De Lugo St. Alphonsus writes : " Theologorum post 
 Divum Thomam facile princeps." 
 
442 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 whereby first the Adorable Body and then the 
 Precious Blood of our Divine Lord are laid upon 
 His Altar, we have a mystic representation of the 
 real separation of His Body and Blood upon the 
 Cross, and thus most wondrously " do we show forth 
 His Death until He come."^ 
 
 There is also free discussion amongst Theologians 
 as to whether the Priest's Communion is necessary 
 for the completion, or only for the integrity of the 
 Sacrifice. The latter opinion seems to me to be the 
 more probable, especially if we hold that the Sacri- 
 fice of the Mass consists essentially in the Conse- 
 cration of our Lord's Body and Blood, of which the 
 term no doubt is meant to be reception by the priest, 
 just as the Sacrifice of the Cross essentially consisted 
 in the outpouring of His Blood from His Body on 
 Mount Calvary, culminating in actual dissolution. 
 
 But whatever viev/ we are inclined to take 
 theoretically concerning matters which in these 
 The Holy tremendous Mysteries are left open by 
 
 Mass the ^^g Church for reverent discussion, all 
 great Act of _ , , . , , , . 
 
 Christian Catholics are agreed as to their practice. 
 Worship. All are agreed that as our Lord's Offering 
 of Himself during the three hours whilst He remained 
 lifted up and hanging upon the Cross may be looked 
 upon as one sacrificial Act, so may the whole Service 
 of the Mass be spoken of without inaccuracy as the 
 Holy Sacrifice. 
 
 ^ I Cor. xi. 26. 
 
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 443 
 
 In this great Sacrifice there are three principal 
 parts, undoubtedly necessary — at least for its integ- 
 ^, . rity: The Offertory or presentation of 
 
 The princi- -' ^^ • i. 
 
 pal parts of bread and wine as gifts to God ; the 
 the Mass. Coiisec rati 071 or changing of these Gifts 
 of ours into His Gift to us — the Bread that cometh 
 down from Heaven ; the Communion or reception by 
 the visible earthly priest who stands in the place of 
 the Heavenly Priest, who is invisible. Round about 
 the Offertory, the Consecration and the Communion 
 in the Mass are grouped prayers of great antiquity 
 and beauty, and round about the Central Action 
 are ranged lesser actions rich with venerable 
 S3'mbolism. 
 
 And yet, when a stranger to the Catholic Faith 
 enters a Catholic Church and is present at the Holy 
 Sacrifice of the Mass, all that he sees and hears 
 usually fills him with perplexity. He will say : *' I 
 can understand nothing. There is nothing here in 
 which I can join." The idea of a Protestant 
 Englishman with regard to a religious service is 
 always that of prayers and hymns in which he can 
 "join." He has no conception when he goes to 
 church of "joining" in an Action. " But, Mary, ' 
 said a lady recently — the wife of an Oxford Don — to 
 a girl who had just become a Catholic ; " But, Mary, 
 how coidd you do it ? You do not know Latin. It 
 was different with my sister — perhaps you have 
 heard that she has just become 'a Roman' too — 
 
444 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 she, you see, had learned Latin." And then to 
 herself (meditatively) : *' Perhaps she learned it on 
 purpose." 
 
 I myself was assured as a child that " the Roman 
 Catholics " had their services in Latin in order to 
 keep their people in ignorance. I remember per- 
 fectly well feeling quite sure at the time that this was 
 nonsense and that " the Roman Catholics " must 
 have some very good reason for what certainly 
 seemed queer and unreasonable ; I also remember 
 wanting badly to find out what that reason was. 
 
 If then any person who is not a Catholic wishes 
 to understand the inwardness of the Holy Sacrifice 
 of the Mass, and to know something of what it 
 means to the Faithful who are present, he must bear 
 carefully in mind that the Mass is something which 
 is being done. The Priest is doing it as he was com- 
 manded — he is acting — in the Person and in memory 
 of Christ. The Mass is a great Action. The Faithful 
 are assisting and are joining their prayers to those 
 of our Lord and of His Priest. It is not in any way 
 necessary (however satisfactory it may be to some 
 people) to understand the meaning of the words which 
 the priest is using as he offers the Sacrifice. It is suf- 
 ficient for them to pray to God in their own tongue, 
 each according to the devotion which God gives him. 
 
 There are two great reasons for offering the 
 Sacrifice of the Mass in the West in Latin, (i.) The 
 Church is ancient, not modern ; but spoken languages 
 
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 445 
 
 are exposed to constant variation of meaning. It is, 
 therefore, important that the Liturgy should be 
 enshrined in a dead language which as such is not 
 liable to change. (ii.) The Church is Catholic, not 
 National. It is therefore important to secure as far 
 as possible that her children sojourning in foreign 
 cities should not be perplexed at Mass by the 
 sounds of a tongue with which they are not 
 familiar. 
 
 There are various methods of assisting at the 
 Holy Sacrifice. It is possible to follow the very 
 
 words of the sacred Liturgy used by 
 Various , . 1*1, 
 
 methods of the priest at the Altar, smce prayer- 
 hearing books are published in every language, 
 
 1VI3.SS • • 
 
 containing those words in Latm and the 
 vernacular in parallel columns ; or it is possible 
 during the Mass to meditate on the Passion which is 
 being represented before our eyes, or on some other 
 Mystery of the Life of Christ ; or we may read 
 some book of devotion, from time to time with- 
 drawing our attention from the book to the great 
 Action in which we are taking part, as the bell warns 
 us of its solemn progress ; or we may deliberately 
 offer the Mass for the four great ends of Sacrifice — 
 Worship, Thanksgiving, Satisfaction for sin, and 
 Impetration — according to the well-known advice 
 of St. Leonard of Port Maurice ; or we may simply 
 keep our thoughts fixed, as best we may, on God in 
 whose Presence we are. 
 
446 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 After all, the most perfect representatives of 
 Christian worshippers will ever remain Mary, Mother 
 of our Lord, and the holy women who, with 
 the Disciple whom Jesus loved, were privileged to 
 remain beneath His Cross. During those three 
 dread Hours we do not read that our Lady and the 
 Magdalene and St. John joined together in any set 
 form of words. In the very Presence of the Divine 
 Victirs, through Him, each worshipped God under 
 the influence of His Holy Spirit, in the soul's inmost 
 sanctuary, and was silent before the Lord, whilst 
 that Lord offered Himself for the sins of the world. 
 
 Hymns and joint prayers and litanies and Scrip- 
 ture readings have their place, but all such spoken 
 words yield in importance to the offering of the 
 heart, whether that heart be sinless, as the Heart of 
 the Immaculate, or broken and humbled like the 
 heart of the woman that had been a sinner — an 
 offering God will not despise — an offering made in 
 conscious union with the One Offering of His Son. 
 This is indeed the Worship of the Father in spirit 
 and in truth, made not in one place only, but in 
 every land on which the sun shall rise. And the 
 Father seeketh such to worship Him. 
 
 Any man who will remember that we can learn 
 nothing that is worth learning without some little 
 trouble, may learn far more quickly than he may 
 think possible, either from books or from some 
 Catholic friend, the main principles as regards the 
 
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 447 
 
 structure of the service of the Mass, so that he may 
 be present at that service (though he know not the 
 meaning of one Latin v^ord), with intelHgence as well 
 as with joy and much contentment of spirit. If 
 anyone question this, let him watch the little children 
 and the poor old men and women hearing Mass in 
 any Cathohc Church. He cannot doubt, as he 
 watches, that they at least rejoice and are content — 
 that they understand substantially what the priest is 
 doing, and also understand with much intelligence 
 what they themselves are doing too. That which the 
 little children can do and the very poor, an ordinary 
 educated Englishman can learn to do also, if he will 
 only set to work to TRY, 
 
 The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass fulfils perfectly 
 the four great ends of Sacrifice — {a) to adore God, 
 (6) to thank Him for all His benefits, (c) to propitiate 
 Him for our sins, and {d) to beseech His blessings 
 for all mankind. 
 
 {a) I have already called attention to the fact that 
 every sacrifice is essentially a protestation of God's 
 
 supreme dominion and of man's de- 
 fice of the pendence upon Him, and is therefore an 
 Mass Latreu' act of worship. In the Mass this worship 
 
 is offered by our Lord Himself in His 
 Sacred Humanity. It is this sublime fact which has 
 led St. Alphonsus to remind us that one Mass gives 
 more glory to God than the Blessed Virgin and all 
 
44^ What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 the Saints and Angels have ever given Him in time 
 or can ever give Him for all Eternity. This thought 
 is indeed wonderful, yet it is most certainly true, for 
 our Lady and the Saints can only give their Lord a 
 worship which is finite — the worship of creatures 
 In the Mass the Son of Man renders His Father the 
 homage of one who Himself is Infinite. The 
 distance between the Finite and the Infinite is im- 
 measurable. From this point of view the Sacrifice 
 of the Mass is called Latreutic — that is to say, it 
 gives to God the worship due to Him alone, which is 
 called Latvia, 
 
 (b) The Mass is also Eucharistic or the Sacrifice 
 of Thanksgiving. Indeed we are told expressly that 
 And our Lord did not institute the Sacrifice 
 Eucharistic. until He had given thanks.^ In the 
 Mass, with and through His Divine Son, we are 
 enabled worthily to thank our Father in Heaven for 
 the various gifts of soul and body which He has 
 bestowed upon ourselves and all who are dear to us 
 on earth, upon the Holy souls in Purgatory, upon 
 His Blessed Mother and all His Saints in Heaven. 
 Thus, though we offer the Sacrifice to God only, we 
 may say Mass in honour of our Lady or the Saints, 
 and may in the Mass beseech God for their interces- 
 sion on our behalf. 
 
 (c) As the Council of Trent has expressly defined, 
 the Sacrifice of the Mass is Propitiatory ^ for in the 
 
 * Luke xxii. 19, 
 
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 449 
 
 Mass \V8 offer to God Him who made atonement 
 for our sins on Cah-ary. Through the offering of 
 And Pro- ^^^^ great Sacrifice venial sins are directly 
 pitiatory, forgiven not only as regards the punish- 
 ment which is due on their account, but also as 
 regards their guilt. We know that this is not the 
 case with mortal sins, the guilt of which is remitted 
 in the Sacrament of Penance, not by the Holy Mass. 
 In virtue, however, of this Sacrifice, sinners obtain 
 the grace of sorrow for even the most enormous 
 sins, whereby they may obtain the necessary dispo- 
 sitions to seek forgiveness of those sins in the 
 Sacrament that God has appointed for the purpose. 
 
 In this sense it is that, as the Council of Trent 
 expresses it, not only remission of punishment but 
 also forgiveness of sins is obtained for those who 
 *' with a true heart and right faith, with fear and 
 reverence, contrite and penitent approach to God."^ 
 
 Indeed our Lord Himself expressly declares that 
 in the Eucharist His Blood is poured out for the 
 remission of sin.^ 
 
 {d) The Sacrifice of the Mass is called Impetratoryf 
 because through our Lord Jesus Christ here present, 
 and for His Sake, we can with much confidence beg 
 
 1 Sess. xxii. 2. 
 
 2 Matt. xxvi. 28 ; Mark xiv. 24 ; Luke xii. 20. It should be 
 noted that in the Vulgate we have effundetur, the future 
 tense, but in the original Greek the tense is present. The 
 three Gospels have the same word €K;^i;i/d/iej'oj/, literally, " which 
 is being poured out." 
 
 29 
 
45^ What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 all graces and blessings for the Living and the 
 Dead. The Mass is a long drawn Scroll of plead- 
 And Impe- i^^g held up between earth and heaven on 
 tratory, behalf of sinful men, expressing by its very 
 action the cry to the Throne of God — Per Dominum 
 Nostrum Jesum Christum — through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. By Him, and by Him alone, we have access 
 to the Throne of Grace. On that Scroll we may 
 write, without pens but in our hearts, what petitions 
 we will, and God will hear us according to our needs 
 for the sake of His Son truly lifted up on His Holy 
 Altar. 
 
 Theologians tell us that the Fruit of the Mass is 
 
 threefold, {a) the general fruit which belongs to the 
 
 ^, ^, whole Church ; ih) the special fruit which 
 
 The Three- ^ ' v / 
 
 fold Fruit the Priest may apply — subject, of course, 
 of the Mass. ^Q ^j^g good pleasure of God — as he will, 
 saying Mass for this or that "intention"; (c) the 
 most special fruit which accrues to the priest himself, 
 according to his particular dispositions of soul, and 
 which cannot be alienated. 
 
 We should never lose sight of the fact that the 
 Sacrifice of the Eucharist is also a Sacred Banquet 
 in which both priest and people partake 
 also aDivine of the Adorable Victim. Thus Tertullian 
 Banquet, expressly calls Holy Communion par- 
 ticipatio Sacrificii} 
 
 ^ Dc ration e, cap, xiv. 
 
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 451 
 
 " The sacrificial meal," writes the learned Bishop 
 of Newport, "is the partaking of the Victim, and 
 the participating in those gifts which the Sacrifice 
 brings — that is, with Christians, the fruits of the 
 Blessed Sacrament. It is no matter that at any 
 particular Mass the Faithful who are present do not 
 partake. The priest always communicates and, for 
 the rest, the Mass is the one perpetual Sacrifice of 
 the Christian Church, and it is always true, speak- 
 ing of the Church throughout the world, that the 
 Faithful are partaking of the Holy Communion." 
 
 The Council of Trent says : " This holy Synod 
 would desire that in every Mass the Faithful who 
 assist thereat should communicate, not only spiritu- 
 ally and in desire, but also sacramentally partaking, 
 that so they might share more abundantly in the 
 fruits of this most Holy Sacrifice." But the Council 
 goes on to define that so-called ''private" Masses, 
 or Masses in which the priest alone communicates, 
 are not only lawful, but commendable. And there- 
 upon it adds the interesting note that " all such 
 Masses are rightly considered to be really com- 
 mon " — that is, not private or individual devotions — • 
 " partly because the people spiritually communicate 
 thereat, and partly because they are celebrated by 
 the Church's public minister not for himself only 
 but for all the Faithful who belong to the Body of 
 Christ." 1 True Catholic feeling, therefore, never 
 forgets that the Mass is not only a Sacrifice, but a 
 supper or meal, or a common banquet of which it 
 may be said that all the communicants of the whole 
 world partake. The Body of Christ is brought down 
 upon the altar by the Mass. ^ Whether it is par- 
 
 ^ Sess. xxii. cap. 6, 
 
452 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 taken of at the Mass or afterwards, that Communion 
 is always the participation of the Sacrifice. The 
 Body of Christ is the same Body on every altar. 
 Whether the Faithful receive it at this particular 
 Mass or do not receive it, Christ's servants ever 
 throng to the one altar and the one table. It is 
 only those who reject the Real Presence, who sever 
 the Body of the Lord reserved [in the Tabernacle] 
 from the Body of the Lord in the Eucharistic 
 Liturgy. They speak of the Lord's Supper and 
 make out that the common meal is all there is. 
 Catholic Faith holds that it is the Sacrifice which 
 gives its meaning and its efficacy to the common 
 meal. Although the Church has always upheld 
 that those who sacramentally receive at Mass par- 
 take far more abundantly of the fruits of the Mass ; 
 nevertheless, since the Body of the Lord, once con- 
 secrated in the Mass, remains real, and subsists as 
 a sacramental embodiment of all that the Mass can 
 effect (as far as it is His Will who there is really 
 present) all who at any time communicate join in 
 the Supper of the Lord. The Mass is the Lord's 
 Supper ; but it is a Supper which completes a 
 Sacrifice." ^ 
 
 In this Sacrifice, as in this Banquet, the laity have 
 their share as well as ordained Priests. "Orate 
 fratres," says the Priest at every Mass, 
 and the " ut meum et vestrum Sacrificium." '* Pray, 
 Mass. ^y brethren, that my sacrifice and yours 
 
 be acceptable to God." Moses of old was com- 
 
 1 The Holy Eucharist, pp. 170, 171 (in The Westminster 
 Library). 
 
The Holy Sacrifice or the Mass 453 
 
 manded by God to say to the children of Israel: 
 " If you will hear My Voice and keep My Covenant, 
 you shall be to Me a priestly kingdom."^ These 
 words are applied by the Holy Apostles Peter and 
 John to the true Israel of God, the children of the 
 Catholic Church.2 The Jews had a special king 
 and special priests, yet, in a true though metaphori- 
 cal sense, all were priests and kings. The same is 
 true of Catholics. So long as Catholics hear the 
 Voice of their Lord and keep His Covenant, they all 
 share most truly in His Kingdom and in His Priest- 
 hood. To Him all the Faithful offer "spiritual 
 sacrifices"^ and above all the Sacrifice of His Body 
 and Blood, for their souls' health and refreshment, 
 for the consolation of the dead and the comfort 
 of the living — for the well-being of all whom they 
 remember before His Holy Altar. 
 
 Quam magna multitudo dulcedinis Tuae Domine, 
 quam abscondisti timentibus Te. Proteges eos in 
 Tabernaculo Tuo a contradictione linguarum. Viri- 
 liter agite et confortetur cor vestrum, omnes qui 
 speratis in Domino. 
 
 " How great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, 
 O Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear 
 Thee. In Thy Tabernacle shalt Thou hide them from 
 the strife of tongues. Do manfully, and let your 
 hearts be strengthened, all ye who hope in the Lord." 
 
 1 Exod. xix. 5, 6. 2 I Pet. ii. 9 ; Apoc. v. 10. 
 
 3 I Pet. ii. 5. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS OF ORDER AND MATRIMONY 
 
 The Sacraments of Order and Matrimony differ 
 from the other five Sacraments in the fact that they 
 are intended not for every Christian, but for those 
 only who are called to a special state of life. We all 
 stand in need of new birth, and of strength for the 
 spiritual warfare, and of forgiveness of our sins, and 
 of the Bread that cometh down from Heaven — all 
 Catholics hope one day to receive the grace of the 
 Last Anointing. We are not all called upon either 
 to become priests or to get married. 
 
 It is far from being the case that those who receive 
 the Sacrament of Holy Order or the Sacrament of 
 Holy Matrimony receive thereby a gift 
 Social Sacra- that benefits none but themselves. On 
 ments. ^[jg contrary these two Sacraments are 
 
 sometimes called social Sacraments, for the very 
 reason that the grace which they convey is given to 
 its recipient not only for his own spiritual well- 
 being, but also that it should be used on behalf of 
 the whole Christian Society. A priest is not set 
 
 454 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 455 
 
 apart to offer Sacrifice for himself alone, but for the 
 living and the dead. All the multiform activities of 
 the Priesthood, other than the offering 01 the 
 Christian Sacrifice, are for the edification — that is, for 
 the building up — of the Body of Christ. The office 
 of baptizing, the hearing of Confessions, the ad- 
 ministration of Holy Communion, the preaching of 
 the Word of God, the spiritual care of the sick, the 
 giving of counsel to those in stress of trial and diffi- 
 culty, the consolation of the sorrowful and the 
 afflicted, the instruction of children and of the 
 ignorant, in a word the careful tending of the Flock 
 of the Good Shepherd — all that a priest does in his 
 capacity of priest — is for the welfare of the Christian 
 commonwealth. Strip a land of priests — as Wales 
 was stripped in the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries — and Catholicism must die out within its 
 borders. Certain islands in the Outer Hebrides and 
 a small corner of Japan are, as far as I know, the 
 only exceptions to this general experience. 
 
 Similarly with regard to Marriage. Let the 
 Sacrament of Matrimony be replaced by temporary 
 unions between men and women, terminable at will ; 
 then, in the wreckage of Christian Morals, some- 
 thing else will suffer besides morality. The preser- 
 vation of family life, with all its sanctities, depends 
 upon the preservation of the Sacrament of Matri- 
 mony. Civilisation as we know it, indestructible so 
 long, but only so long, as it remains based upon the 
 
45^ What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 family as its unit — is, should marriage disappear, itself 
 doomed to destruction that can no longer be averted. 
 
 In the Law and Providence of God, the Sacrament 
 of Matrimony is necessary for the continuance of 
 Christian Society, just as the Sacrament of Order is 
 necessary for the continuance of the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 No less than the priest, the married man and the 
 married woman have received a distinctive sacra- 
 mental grace personal to themselves, but they too, 
 like the priest, have to be careful not to live for 
 themselves alone. The priest receives his Priesthood 
 that he may henceforth devote his life in a special 
 manner to the Church, whose special servant and 
 minister he has become. In like manner, the 
 married man knows that he is bound by a most 
 sacred tie and obligation to consecrate his days to 
 the wife whom God has given him, and to the 
 children who may be his. Thus will he be of service 
 not to himself alone, nor only to his family, but 
 through them to the entire community. 
 
 We will consider these two Sacraments in the 
 same chapter. 
 
 The Council of Trent teaches that : " In the New 
 Testament there is a visible and external Priesthood, 
 _, o and the power of consecrating: and 
 
 The Sacra- ^ ^ ° 
 
 mentof Holy offering the true Body and Blood of the 
 
 Order. Lord and of remitting and retaining 
 
 sins ; and not an office only and bare ministry of 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 457 
 
 preaching the Gospel — so that [in opposition to the 
 novel Protestant doctrine current at the time] those 
 who do not preach may still be priests."^ 
 
 We are also taught by the same authority that 
 " In the Catholic Church there is a Hierarchy (or 
 sacred body of rulers) instituted by the ordination of 
 God, which consists of Bishops, Priests and 
 Ministers."^ The word Ministers here denotes '* the 
 other Orders, greater and less, by which, as by so 
 many steps, the priesthood is approached."^ 
 
 To this Sacred Ministry of Bishops, Priests and 
 
 Ministers in the New Law, St. Clement of Rome 
 
 refers the High Priest, Priests and Levites 
 
 of Rome and ^i the Old Law as typical;"* in the im- 
 
 the Sacred mediate context he uses — for the first 
 
 lerarc y. ^[^q j^ Christian literature — the word 
 
 layman (Xat/co?), regarding as the type of the Christian 
 
 layman the Israelite who did not belong to the tribe 
 
 of Levi and to the priestly family. We thus find 
 
 that Christian worship was, in Apostolic times, in 
 
 the hands of a hierarchy distinct from the people. 
 
 *' Let each one of us," continues St. Clement, " keep 
 
 to his own order, not transgressing the fixed rule of 
 
 his office."^ 
 
 ^ Sess. xxiii., Can. i; cf. i Tim. v. 17. 
 
 2 Sess. xxiii., Can. 6. ^ Sess. xxiii., Can. 2. 
 
 * xl. 2-5 : Tc5 yap ap-)(L€pe'l i8iat XeiTOvpyiai SeSo/LteVat elcriv, kul 
 
 Tols Up€V(TLV '1810s 6 TOirOS TTpOCTTiTaKTai, KOI XeVLTUlS \8iai dlUKO- 
 
 viai eniKelvTaL. It should be stated that some authorities here 
 regard the apx^^pevs as typifying, not the Bishop, but Christ. 
 ^ Ibid., xH. I. 
 
458 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 The " Ministers " mentioned in the Canon of the 
 Council of Trent which we have just quoted include 
 Seven Deacons, Subdeacons, and the holders of 
 
 Orders. the four Minor Orders. Though the Sub- 
 diaconate and the Minor Orders have come down to 
 us from very early times, it is now commonly held by 
 Catholic Theologians that they are of ecclesiastical 
 not of divine appointment. Consequently their 
 reception does not involve the reception of a 
 Sacrament. 
 
 The Diaconate, on the contrary, is held to have 
 been instituted by the Apostles on divine authority. 
 T, ^ It is certain that there is only one Sacra- 
 
 But One -^ 
 
 Sacrament ment of Holy Order — otherwise there 
 
 of Order. would be more than Seven Sacraments, 
 which we know from Tradition and the express 
 teaching of the Council of Trent, not to be the 
 case. Yet the one Sacrament of Order is received 
 three times by those who are ordained successively 
 deacon, priest and Bishop. And since it is now very 
 unusual to receive the Diaconate only, this Sacra- 
 ment is commonly received twice. 
 
 According to the present discipline of the Church, 
 Yhg the chief function of a deacon is to minister 
 
 Diaconate. at the Altar. He is also allowed, with the 
 permission of the Bishop, to baptize, to preach and 
 to distribute Holy Communion. 
 
 The Priest' ^ priest, in special virtue of his priest- 
 hood, hood, receives power over the Real Body 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 459 
 
 of Christ in the Eucharist, and over the Mystical 
 Bodv of Christ in Absolution. 
 
 The specific difference between the Order of priest 
 and that of Bishop is that the latter is alone em- 
 The Episco' powered to ordain. The Episcopate itself 
 pate. contains the fulness of the Sacrament of 
 
 Order, and from this point of view all Bishops are 
 equal and there is nothing higher in the Church. 
 The authority of the Bishop of Rome over the 
 Bishop of the smallest See in Christendom — and 
 over all other Bishops — comes to him in conse- 
 quence of his unique position as Successor of 
 St. Peter in the Apostolic See. The Bishop of 
 Rome possesses nothing accruing to him from 
 the Sacrament of Order that does not belong (to 
 take St. Jerome's example) to the Bishop of 
 Eugubium. Regarded simply as BisJwps the Bishop 
 of Eugubium and the Bishop of Rome are on an 
 equality.-^ 
 
 On the Day of Pentecost the whole Christian 
 Ministry was comprised in the persons of the 
 Apostles. To the number of the Eleven were 
 aggregated first Matthias, then Paul and Barnabas. 
 
 It soon became clear that the Apostles stood in 
 
 need of coadjutors — an imperative need which was 
 
 supplied without delay. The New Testament gives us 
 
 an account of the early institution of the Diaconate, 
 
 1 Cf. S. Hier., Ep. cxlvi. 
 
460 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 but is silent as to the first ordination by any Apostle 
 of either priest or Bishop. 
 
 We find, however, several Scriptural references — 
 
 the earliest of which are incidental — to a class of 
 
 men separated from their fellow-Christians 
 
 irpecrpvTepoi ^ , • • 1 ^1 v 
 
 and by their office and authority m the Church 
 
 fV/o-KOTTot. ^^Q a^j-g called sometimes irpecr^vrepoi, 
 and sometimes eiriaKOTroL. The Protestant ver- 
 sions of the Bible translate Trpea^vrepo^; EldeVy a 
 translation which is etymologically correct ; the 
 Catholic versions, relying on an unbroken tradition, 
 generally translate the same word Priest. Both 
 Catholic and Protestant versions translate eVtWoTro? 
 (literally *' overlooker ") Bishop. Therefore, at first 
 sight, we have in the English Bible warrant for 
 the Threefold Ministry from the beginning. 
 
 However, on examination we find that things are 
 not so simple as they may appear, for it is as certain as 
 anything of the kind can be that throughout the New 
 Testament the words TrpeajSyrepo^; and eiriaKOTro^ 
 refer to the same office and are used as convertible 
 terms.^ On the other hand it is equally certain that 
 from the time of St. Ignatius onwards (we can 
 
 1 For example we read (Acts xx. 17) that during his third 
 missionary journey St. Paul sent from Miletus for the npea^v- 
 Tepoi of the Church at Ephesus that he might exhort them, but 
 in the exhortation itself he calls them enLorKoiroi (Acts xx. 28). 
 Again St. Paul, writing to Titus, after saying that the 7rpecr,Sv- 
 repoi must be blameless, proceeds "for the (ttIo-koitos must be 
 blameless as God's Steward" (Titus i. 5-7). 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 461 
 
 hardly remind the reader too often that St. Ignatius 
 had known St. John) the word eVtV/coTro? was stereo- 
 typed and restricted in meaning to its present sense, 
 and was used exclusively for the first Order in the 
 Ministry. Thus St. Ignatius writes that " Men 
 should respect the eVto-AroTro? as being the type of 
 the Father and the TrpeajSyrepGi, as the Council of 
 
 God."i 
 
 At once the question arises as to what led to the 
 differentiation between these two words Trpea-^vrepof; 
 and i-rria-KO'Tro^, and how it came to pass that, though 
 there was so short a lapse of time between St. Luke 
 and St. Paul on the one hand and St. Ignatius on 
 the other, while St. Luke and St. Paul use them 
 as synonyms, St. Ignatius, on the contrary (with 
 all the Church that was to come after him), uses 
 them in sharply defined, even in contrasted senses ? 
 
 To this question it is impossible to answer with 
 absolute certainty. 
 
 Two solutions have been advanced. 
 
 According to the first (i) the ojfice of Episcopacy 
 was restricted— according to the second (2) the word 
 Bishop (or rather the word eTrlaKOTro^) changed in 
 its meaning — in the sub-Apostolic period. 
 
 (i) It has been widely held that the clergy who in 
 the New Testament are called irpea^vrepoi and 
 eTTio-KoiTOL indifferently, were all Bishops, that at 
 
 1 Tral, iii. i. Cf. Ad Rom, ii. 2; St. Irenaeus Ad Hcvr. iii. 3, 
 4 ; Eus. H.E. iv. 23, 3, etc. 
 
462 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 the very beginning the Church was governed in 
 each place by a College of Bishops, but that before 
 the end of the first century what is called " the 
 monarchical episcopate" as we have it now, was 
 substituted for this arrangement, having as its 
 consequence that only one priest in each Diocese 
 was consecrated Bishop. For this view such 
 great names as Batiffol amongst Catholics and 
 Lightfoot amongst Anglicans may be quoted. 
 Batiffol writes that the Diotrephes whom St. John 
 tells us was " fond of pre-eminence " (0 (juXoirpwrevcov 
 avTwvf- was the first monarchical Bishop (other 
 than an Apostle) whose name has come down 
 to us." 2 
 
 (2) It seems to me, however, almost certain that 
 the exact opposite of this view represents the real 
 facts, and that far from all the irpeafivTepoi and 
 eTrLaKoiroi of whom we read in the Acts and Epistles 
 being Bishops, none of them were such, excepting 
 the Apostles and their Delegates,^ and that the 
 word eiTiaK07ro<;, so soon to denote a Bishop, was at 
 first used ordinarily* for a simple priest.* 
 
 1 3 John 9. 2 Primitive Catholicism^ p. 122. 
 
 3 Cf. I Tim. i. 3 ; Titus i. 5. 
 . * I have written "ordinarily" because St. Peter refers the 
 word itna-KOTTJ) (Acts i. 2o) to the Apostolate of Judas, and in 
 his First Epistle (ii. 25) calls our Lord the Shepherd and 
 
 '■nria-KOTTOs of Our SOuls. 
 
 ^ This is taken for granted by Fr. Keoi^h, SJ., in his learned 
 Appendix on The Ministry in the Apostolic Church to the 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 46 
 
 n 
 
 For, we find St. Paul mentioning the '* iiriaKoiroi 
 and deacons"^ at Philippi, whilst St. Polycarp, the 
 pupil of St. John, writing also to the Church at 
 Philippi, speaks of their irpedSvTepoi and deacons.^ 
 Is it not almost certain that by iirLa koitol St. Paul 
 meant what St. Polycarp certainly meant by 
 Trpea/BvrepoL — Priests, not Bishops ? If St. Paul 
 saluted the Bishops and Deacons of Philippi, it 
 requires an elaborate theory, which is after all an 
 unproved hypothesis at best, to account for the 
 absenc^ of priests who were not Bishops in that 
 Church ; if, on the other hand, he saluted the 
 priests and deacons, no difficulty remains, since a 
 Bishop had very probably not yet been appointed 
 at Philippi, the Church remaining under the direct 
 supervision of the Apostles.^ 
 
 translation of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New 
 Westminster Version of the Sacred Scriptures. Fr. Keoah 
 writes : " The word eirlaKonos was at first used for all who had 
 oversight ; by the beginning of the second century, in Asia at 
 least, it was restricted to him who had supreme oversight." 
 Of the other view he goes so far as to say that it " is clearly 
 against the evidence." 
 
 1 Philip, i. I. 
 
 2 Ad Philip. 5, 6, ii. St. Clement of Rome, writing before 
 St. Polycarp, adheres to the Pauline terminology when he 
 reminds the Corinthians that " the Apostles preaching everv- 
 where in country and town, appointed their firstfruits, when 
 they had proved them by the Spirit, to be iiriaKoiroi and 
 deacons." 
 
 3 The establishment of the Diocesan Episcopate was no 
 doubt a work of gradual growth. Thus St. Jerome tells us 
 
464 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 A similar deduction may be drawn from the fact 
 that St. Paul, writing to Timothy_, enlarges first on 
 the qualities required of eVtWoTrot, and then at once 
 on those required by deacons.^ If the word eVto-AroTro? 
 here means (as ordinarily translated) Bishop, we are 
 immediately struck by the omission of any reference 
 to priests ; but if it denotes priests, all difficulty dis- 
 appears, since Timothy is evidently — and indeed 
 must be on any hypothesis adopted by Catholics — 
 the Bishop. No doubt Timothy and Titus may be 
 rightly called Apostolic Delegates, but the'y were 
 also Bishops. 
 
 Not only is it the case that the Apostle writes to 
 them in a strain which the Pope (who possesses the 
 Timothy Apostolic Office in its fulness), and the 
 and Titus Pope alone, might rightly use to Bishops 
 Delegates ^^ ^^^ present time, but also he addresses 
 and Bishops, them as none but Bishops can properly 
 be addressed. Their duties correspond to the Epis- 
 copal government of a Diocese ; they are urged to 
 have a Bishop's cajre for the spiritual welfare of all, 
 priests, deacons and simple faithful; they are re- 
 minded of that sedulous guarding of the purity of 
 the Deposit of the Faith which is peculiarly a 
 Bishop's duty ; above all, they are exhorted " to lay 
 
 (Contra Hcer. iii. 4) that it was established at Smyrna by the 
 Apostles, and Tertullian {Adv. Marc. iv. 5) that it was founded 
 by St. John throughout Asia Minor. 
 1 I Tim. iii. 1-12. 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 465 
 
 hands lightly on no man " — that is, only after con- 
 scientious and deliberate enquiry to exercise the 
 office of ordaining priests, which, as we have seen, is 
 a Bishop's unique privilege. There is no suggestion 
 in the New Testament that any TrpeajSvTepofi had the 
 right to ordain, excepting the Apostles themselves 
 and Timothy and Titus, who most certainly were 
 Bishops. The one difficulty in the way of holding 
 that the only Bishops of the New Testament are the 
 Apostles and their Delegates consists in the fact that 
 the word eVto-AroTro? was so soon afterwards restricted 
 to the First Order in the Ministry. But since 
 Timothy and Titus are given no title in the New 
 Testament (though St. Paul calls them his sons, and 
 says that he has " set " them in Ephesus and Crete), 
 it soon became necessary to find a word other than 
 Apostle to denote a Bishop's office.^ When this 
 necessity was felt, it was convenient and indeed 
 almost obvious to restrict the meaning of eVtWoTro?. 
 And this is exactly what Theodore of Mopsuestia, 
 writing in the fourth century, tells us took place. 
 Nor on a subject of this kind is there any reason to 
 reject Theodore's testimony. 
 
 Something very similar, though in the opposite 
 direction, happened with regard to the Christian use 
 of the word Sacerdos. African writers of the third, 
 
 * It is quite possible that the word ayyeXos was the first word 
 used in the New Testament (Apoc. ii. and iii.) to designate a 
 Bishop who was not an Apostle, 
 
 30 
 
466 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 fourth, and fifth centuries (suci as St. Cyprian, 
 St. Optatus, and St. Augustine) by sacerdos ordinarily 
 mean a Bishop — a priest they called by the old 
 name of presbyter; but by sacerdos we now mean 
 ordinarily not Bishop but priest (though of 
 course every Bishop remains a priest), so that the 
 words Presbyter and Sacerdos are now used as 
 synonyms.-"- 
 
 Whatever view we may take as to the meaning of 
 the word eVtV/coTro? in the New Testament, it remains 
 E cntial certain that from the earliest ages of the 
 distinction Church there was a real distinction be- 
 between the ^^^,^^^ ^^^ ^^^g ^f p^-gg^ ^^^ Bishop. 
 
 Episcopate ^ ... 
 
 and Priest' This is clear from the instructions given 
 hood. 1^^, 5^^ p^^l l-Q Timothy and Titus, and 
 
 also (as is now generally conceded) by the consentient 
 witness of all antiquity. 
 
 1 It may at rir>t seem somewhat strange that the word 
 lepeus- {sacerdos) is never apphed in the New Testament 
 (excepting in the Epistle to the Hebrews — and by imphcation 
 only) to the Christian priest. The reason of this becomes 
 evident when we remember that the word was used freely of 
 the Pagan and Jewish priest, from whom the Christian priest 
 had to be so carefully distinguished. To employ it too soon of 
 a Christian priest would have led to inevitable confusion and 
 misunderstanding. For this reason, no doubt, the Epistle to 
 'the Hebrews is the only book in the New Testament where 
 even our Lord is called tepev? (or apxi^p^vs), and here His 
 Priesthood — according to the order of Alclc'usedech — is care- 
 fully distinguished from that of the Jews, It was therefore 
 safe to use the word in this connerxion. 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 467 
 
 The Matter (a) The essential Matter of the Sacra- 
 
 g ^ ment of Order consists in the imposition 
 
 of Order, of hands. 
 
 {b) The Form consists in the words used in close 
 
 moral conjunction with the Matter. The Decree of 
 
 Pope Leo XIII. on the invalidity of Angli- 
 Its Form. ^ i i • i i 
 
 can Orders explams that these words must 
 
 " either specify or denote" the Order to be conferred. 
 
 This condition is verified in every ancient Ordinal;^ 
 
 it was not fulfilled in the Anglican Ordinal first put 
 
 out by authority of Parliament in 1550, and enforced 
 
 by the second Act of Uniformity in 1552. This 
 
 defective Ordinal was henceforth used until 1662. 
 
 (c) The Minister is a Bishop. St. Paul writes to 
 
 Timothy and Titus that they are to ordain others,^ 
 
 , ,^ and urges Timothy " to stir up the e^race 
 
 Its Minister. , . . , r b 
 
 that IS m thee, by means of (Sid) the 
 
 laying on of my hands."^ He has already reminded 
 him in a previous Epistle that this gift was (as at 
 the present day) " accompanied by (/nerd) the laying 
 on of the hands of the Priesthood."^ We see that 
 the Sacrament of Order is conferred by an Apostle, 
 or Apostolic Delegate (i.e., a Bishop), priests assist- 
 ing in the ceremony (as has always been the custom 
 of the Church) by the laying on of hands. 
 
 (d) The Subject of the Sacrament of Order 
 Its Subject. , , . , , 
 is a baptized male. 
 
 * The Popes and the Ordinal, by Mgr. Barnes. 
 
 2 1 Tim. V. 22 ; Titus i. 5. 3 2 Tim. i. 6. * i Tim. iv. 14. 
 
468 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 With regard to the Sacrament of Matrimony, 
 ^, g ^ limits of space permit me hardly to do 
 mcnt o£ more than state certain important prin- 
 
 Matrimoay. ^iples, accepted by all Catholics. 
 
 (i) Marriage is the lawful union between one man 
 and one woman. 
 
 (2) It is effected by a contract. 
 
 (3) Christ raised matrimony to the dignity of a 
 Sacrament. 
 
 (4) Amongst Christians there can be no true 
 marriage, which is not also a Sacrament.^ 
 
 (5) Like other Sacraments, this Sacrament can be 
 received only by the baptized. 
 
 (6) Completed Christian marriage can be dissolved 
 only by the death of one of the contracting parties. 
 
 (7) The Ministers of the Sacrament are the con- 
 tracting parties themselves. 
 
 (8) The Subject of the Sacrament is any baptized 
 person, who is free to contract. 
 
 There is no certainty concerning the Matter and 
 Form of the Sacrament. Most probably, however. 
 Its Matter t>oth Matter and Form consist in the 
 and Form. Contract itself — the Matter, inasmuch as 
 it signifies by words or signs the mutual offering of 
 one another by each contracting party in marriage ; 
 the Form, inasmuch as it signifies the acceptance of 
 the gift. 
 
 » Cj. Allocution of Pius IX., September 27, 1852. 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 469 
 
 The chief objections against the Catholic view of 
 
 marriage are levelled against the doctrine : 
 
 ^. . , (i) That marriage is a Sacrament. 
 
 Objections / i 
 
 against the (2) That the Church has power to make 
 Catholic null and void matrimonial contracts be- 
 
 doctrine on , . . 
 
 the Sacra- tween Christians, which otherwise would 
 mentof be valid marriages, by the creation of 
 ^ ^^* what are called Diriment Impediments. 
 
 (3) That marriage can be dissolved only by death. 
 
 With a few observations on each of these subjects 
 I will conclude this chapter. 
 
 Marriage a M Calvin and Luther, following in the 
 Sacrament, steps of the Waldenses in the thirteenth 
 century, denied with vehemence that Marriage is a 
 Sacrament. 
 
 For example, Calvin wrote : 
 
 " Lastly, there is Matrimony, which all admit was 
 instituted by God, though no one before the time of 
 Gregory regarded it as a Sacrament. What man in 
 his sober senses cotdd so regard it ? God's ordinance 
 is good and holy; so also agriculture, architecture, 
 shoemaking, haircutting are legitimate ordinances of 
 God, but they are not Sacraments."-^ 
 
 And Luther : 
 
 " Marriage is no divinely instituted Sacrament, 
 but the invention of men in the Church, arising 
 from ignorance of the subject." ^ 
 
 ^ Insiituliones IV. xix. 34. 
 2 De Captivitate Babylonica. 
 
470 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 In condemnation of this heresy the Council of 
 Trent defined as follows : 
 
 *' If anyone shall say that Matrimony is not truly 
 and properly one of the Seven Sacraments of the 
 Evangelical Law, instituted by Christ our Lord, but 
 that it was invented in the Church by men, and does 
 not confer grace, let him be anathema."^ 
 
 Pope Innocent IV. in the Profession of Faith pre- 
 scribed for the Waldenses had included Matrimony 
 amongst the Sacraments of the New Law.^ In this 
 he was but formulating the constant Tradition of the 
 Church. 
 
 St. Augustine represented this Tradition when he 
 
 compared Marriage in its nature with Holy Order 
 
 St. Augus' ^'^^ Baptism, which he certainly regarded 
 
 tine and as Sacraments in the strict sense of the 
 the Sacra- . 
 
 ment of ^VOrd : 
 
 Matrimony. '' Amongst all people and all men, the 
 good that is secured by marriage consists in the off- 
 spring and in the chastity of married fidelity [here he 
 is referring to Natural Marriage], but in the case of 
 God's people [Christians — here the reference is to 
 Sacramental Marriage] it consists moreover in the 
 holiness of the Sacrament, by reason of which it is 
 forbidden, even after a separation may have taken 
 place, to marry another as long as the first partner 
 lives . . . just as priests are ordained to draw 
 
 1 Sess. xxiv., Can. i. 
 
 2 Dcnziger-Bannvvart, Enchiridion, N. 424. 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 471 
 
 together a Christian community, and even though 
 no such community may be formed, the Sacrament 
 of Ordei still abides in those ordained, or just as 
 the Lord's Sacrament, after it has been conferred, 
 abides even in one who has been dismissed from his 
 office on account of sin."^ 
 
 And in another work : 
 
 ** Undoubtedly it belongs to the essence of this 
 Sacrament that when man and wife are once united 
 by marriage, this bond remains indissoluble through- 
 out their lives. As long as both live, there remains a 
 something attached to the marriage, which neither 
 mutual separation, nor union with a third can 
 remove. In such cases it remains for the aggrava- 
 tion of their guilt, instead of for the strengthening of 
 their union. Just as the soul of an apostate, w^hich 
 was once similarly wedded unto Christ and now 
 separates itself from Him, does not, in spite of its 
 loss of faith, lose the Sacrament of Faith, which it 
 received m the waters of regeneration.^'^ 
 
 The Council of Trent tells us that the sacra- 
 mental grace conferred in marriage is '* intimated " 
 
 St Paul and ^^ ^^^ Apostle in the Epistle to the 
 
 the Sacra* Ephesians:^ 
 
 ment of '< Let women be subject to their 
 
 Matrimony. i , , i -r -, , 
 
 husbands, as to the Lord, because the 
 husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the 
 
 1 Dc Bono Conjiigali, cap. xxiv. 
 
 2 De Nuptiis et Conciipiscentia, i. x. 
 
 ^ Sess. xxiv. : " Quod Paulus Apostolus innuit." 
 
472 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Head of the Church. He is the Saviour of His 
 Body. Therefore, as the Church is subject to 
 Christ, so also let wives be subject to their husbands 
 in all things. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ 
 also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for 
 it ... so also ought men to love their wives as 
 their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth 
 himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but 
 nourisheth it and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth 
 the Church, because we are members of His Body, 
 of His Flesh and of His Bones." 
 
 After this exhortation St. Paul alludes at once to 
 the divine institution of marriage in the prophetic 
 words proclaimed by God through Adam : *' For 
 this cause shall a man leave his father and mother 
 and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in 
 one flesh. This is a great Sacrament, but I refer it 
 to Christ and the Church." ^ 
 
 It would of course be a gross mistake to insist on 
 the word Sacrament, which here merely means 
 Mystery} The point urged by the Council of 
 Trent is not a verbal one, but regards the argu- 
 ment as a w^hole. The mystery of Christian 
 marriage is referred by the Apostle to " Christ 
 and the Church." 
 
 •* No one," writes Fr. Rickaby,^ "will be simple 
 enough to maintain that matrimony must be a 
 
 J Eph. V. 31, 32. 2 c/ p. 377^ n. 
 
 3 Further Notes on St. Paul, p. ^8. 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 473 
 
 Sacrament on the mere ground that in the Vulgate 
 it is called sacr amentum. Nevertheless the mystery 
 or sacr amentum spoken of, is the Mystery, or Sacra- 
 ment of Marriage, not directly the Mystery of the 
 Incarnation. The Mystery involved in the marriage 
 contract of husband and wife is great, inasmuch as, 
 like other Mysteries, it is representative of something; 
 and what it represents is that greatest of the works 
 of God, the union of God with man in the Incarna- 
 tion. . . ." 
 
 The first marriage between Adam and Eve in 
 Paradise was a symbol of the union between 
 Christ and the Church. But Christian marriage 
 is something far greater than any type. It is a 
 subsequent representation. ** But," writes Father 
 Lehmkuhl, "elsewhere^ St. Paul emphasises in a 
 most significant fashion the difference between the 
 Old and the New Testament, when he calls the 
 religious rites of the former * weak and needy 
 elements ' which could not of themselves confer 
 true sanctity, the effect of true justice and sanctity 
 being reserved for the New Testament and its 
 religious rites. If, therefore, he terms Christian 
 marriage, as a religious act, ' a great Sacrament,' 
 he means not to reduce it to the low plane of the 
 Old Testament rites, to the plane of a ' weak and 
 needy element,' but rather to show its importance 
 as a sign of the life of grace, and, like the other 
 
 1 Gal. iv. 9. 
 
474 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Sacraments, an efficacious sign. St. Paul, then, 
 does not speak of marriage as a true Sacrament 
 explicitly, but only in such wise that the doctrine 
 must be deduced from his words. "■'• He "inti- 
 mates " it. 
 
 Whatever may be thought of the force of this 
 argument from the language of St. Paul, Catholics 
 yj ^ , know that Marriage is one of the Sacra- 
 ing of the ments of the Gospel, from the Teaching 
 Church. ^f ^Yie Church, which in this matter has 
 never been challenged in the East, and only in 
 modern times in the West, of Christendom. The 
 Sacrament of Matrimony shows forth the mysterious 
 union between Christ and the Church, of which the 
 union between our First Parents was a type. More- 
 over it gives " the grace which it signifies," enabling 
 a Christian man to love and cherish and be true to 
 his wife as Christ our Lord loves and cherishes and 
 is true to His Bride the Church ; strengthening a 
 Christian woman to love and obey and serve and 
 be faithful to her husband, as the Holy Church loves 
 and obeys and serves and is ever faithful to her 
 Sovereign Lord and heavenly Spouse. 
 
 (2) Marriage, like every other contract, requires to 
 be clothed with certain conditions for its lawfulness 
 Marriage a ^^^ validity. Thus, in order to secure civil 
 Contract. effects the State requires that it should be 
 
 2 Cf. Article on " Marriage, Sacrament of," in the Catholic 
 Encyclopcedia, by Fr. Lehmkuhl, S.J. 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 475 
 
 celebrated in certain buildings and with certain 
 formalities. In like manner the Church has the 
 right to make conditions, the fulfilment of which 
 is necessary for the validity of the matrimonial 
 contract amongst Christians. This right concerns 
 the spiritual order only, and flows from the fact that 
 the Church is the guardian of the Seven Sacra- 
 ments, of which Matrimony is one. 
 
 The Ecclesiastical Impediment, rendering certain 
 marriages not only unlawful but also invalid, known 
 as that of Clandestinity , requires a few 
 ItmS^^"^" words of explanation, since its intro- 
 Clandes' duction into these countries by the Ne 
 tinity. remere Decree has been widely misunder- 
 
 stood. The Catholic Church holds that, apart from 
 special legislation, any baptised man and woman who 
 are free to contract marriage can do so in any place, 
 merely by signification of their assent to the matri- 
 monial contract, without the intervention or presence 
 of any third party. From very early times Catho- 
 lics were commanded to obtain the Blessing of the 
 priest in a religious ceremony — the omission of such 
 a blessing rendering the marriage sinful but not 
 invaUd. However, in the sixteenth century it was 
 recognised that very great troubles and even hfe- 
 long unhappiness too often arose from these clandes- 
 tine marriages, as they were called. Perhaps a boy 
 and girl contracted marriage secretly without the 
 knowledge of their parents, and much misery ensued 
 
476 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 in consequence to all concerned, but the union was 
 absolutely indissoluble. The Church had no power 
 to break the bond. This difficulty was partly met 
 by the institution at the Council of Trent of the 
 Impediment of Clandestinity, whereby it was required 
 that in future Christian marriage should, as a con- 
 dition of its validity, be celebrated in the presence 
 of a priest and two witnesses. 
 
 In the circumstances of the times it was impos- 
 sible to enforce this requirement in Protestant 
 countries ; it was therefore declared not to be 
 operative in those kingdoms where the Decrees 
 of the Council of Trent had not been promulgated. 
 For example, in England, during the reign of 
 Elizabeth it would in most cases have been simply 
 impossible to procure the presence of a priest at the 
 marriage of Catholics. A price was upon the head 
 of every priest in the land. But happier days 
 having long since dawned — days of religious 
 liberty — the late Pope Pius the Tenth by the 
 Decree beginning Ne Temere extended the legisla- 
 tion of the Council of Trent on this subject, so far 
 as Catholics are concerned, to the whole world.^ 
 There seemed to be no longer any reason for 
 exempting Catholics dwelling in the British 
 Empire from the ordinary Marriage Law of the 
 Church. In the case of unhappy marriages most 
 
 1 The application of the Ne Temere Decree was subsequently 
 withdrawn from the German Empire. 
 
Sacraments of Order and Matrimony 477 
 
 Protestants believe that in the last resort they may 
 fly to the remedy of divorce. Catholics have no 
 such remedy available in the case of matrimonial 
 misery. It behoves, therefore, the supreme Ecclesi- 
 astical authority to take every precaution that a 
 sacramental contract, which is of its very essence 
 indissoluble, should be made with the blessing of 
 religion and after at least some due consideration. 
 
 (3) This indissolubility of Christian marriage is 
 often brought as a grievance against the Church by 
 Th Id' those who do not belong to her Unity, 
 solubility of Men often say that the Catholic Church 
 Marriage, jg u ^^.^gj n ^^ refusing the relief of disso- 
 lution of marriage to those who have been unhappily 
 married. Nothing can be easier than to produce 
 hard cases. Perhaps a young man is deserted by 
 his wife, and left with little children on his hands. 
 It is asked : " Is he, in case his wicked wife survives 
 him, to spend the rest of his days without a partner ? 
 Is he to be doomed to loneliness ? Are his children 
 never to know a mother^s care ?" The Catholic 
 Church can only answer that it is never under any 
 circumstances lawful to do evil that good may come, 
 that she cannot go beyond her powers, and that no 
 power has been given her to break the bond which 
 God has made, or to loose those whom God's Hand 
 has joined. If the man or the woman who has 
 suffered through the desertion of wife or husband 
 
478 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 will trust God, special and extraordinary grace will 
 be given (as experience proves) in every case to bear 
 the extraordinary cross. 
 
 It is a law of general application that individuals 
 have constantly to suffer in this world (in this man- 
 ner — if the suffering be generously accepted — 
 sanctifying their own souls) for the common good. 
 But the common good — the good of the Christian 
 community — emphatically requires that under no 
 circumstances should Christian Marriage be capable 
 of dissolution, or a Christian man be allowed to 
 have two wives, or a Christian woman two husbands, 
 at the same time. 
 
 For, as we have already observed. Christian Society 
 depends upon the Christian Family, and the Christian 
 Family depends upon the Unity and indissolubility 
 of Marriage. We have only to contrast the condi- 
 tion of women and children — indeed of society gene- 
 rally — in countries where polygamy is allowed, and 
 the position of the wife is precarious, with that exist- 
 ing where monogamy is still the rule, to be assured 
 of this. Of all the blessings that Christ bestowed 
 upon mankind, none is greater than His elevation of 
 marriage to the dignity of a Sacrament, whereby 
 grace is given to men and women enabling them to 
 imitate the H oly Family of N azareth — husband loving 
 wife as Joseph loved Mary, wife loving husband as 
 Mary loved Joseph, husband and wife loving their 
 children as Joseph and Mary loved Jesus, their Child. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE SACRAMENT OF EXTREME UNCTION 
 
 Sudden death — even violent death — may come to 
 an}' one of us at any moment. Nor should this 
 possibility be unduly dreaded. Such an ending is 
 sometimes a special grace. No death is really lonely 
 for which due preparation has been made during life, 
 for there God is present — His Hands full of gracious 
 benedictions — and His Holy Angels. 
 
 For the overwhelming majority of mankind, how- 
 ever, death comes as the direct consequence of serious 
 illness ; yet, as we all know, there are many serious 
 illnesses which do not terminate fatally. Serious 
 illness is, then, something with which we have to 
 reckon — serious illness, often so full of depression, 
 anxiety, danger. And in our reckoning it is an 
 abiding comfort to remember that, when life is in 
 jeopardy — perhaps is ebbing fast away — the Catholic 
 Religion, which has never failed us yet during the 
 progress of hfe's story, then will fail us least of all. 
 For that moment of supreme need the Church of 
 God possesses celestial consolations, prominent 
 
 479 
 
480 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 amongst which is the Sacrament of Extreme 
 Unction. 
 
 " Is any man sick amongst you ?" writes St. James, 
 *' let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let 
 them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the 
 Name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall 
 save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up, 
 and if he be in sins they shall be forgiven him."^ 
 
 In these words v»'e find the Apostolic promulgation 
 of a Sacrament which had already during the life- 
 time of our Lord been foreshadowed by the action 
 of the Apostles, of whom we read : '' They anointed 
 with oil many that were sick and healed them." ^ 
 
 It will create no surprise to learn that Calvin and 
 
 Luther denied the sacramental nature of Extreme 
 
 The Re- Unction. Calvin described it as a piece 
 
 formers and of " histrionic hypocrisy " ^ and Luther 
 
 the Sacra- ^i^ssed it among^st rites that are of human 
 
 ment 01 ... 
 
 Extreme or ecclesiastical institution.^ The late Dr. 
 
 Unction. Forbes, Anglican Bishop of Brechin, on 
 
 the contrary, wrote as follows in his well-known 
 
 commentary on the Thirty-nine Articles : 
 
 "The Unction of the sick is the lost Pleiad of the 
 
 Anglican firmament. . . . There has been practically 
 
 lost an Apostolic practice, whereby, in case of grievous 
 
 r.ickness, the faithful were anointed and prayed over, 
 
 1 Jas. V. 14, 15. 2 Mark vi. 12, 13. 
 
 " Iiistii. IV. xix. 18. 
 
 * De Captiv. Baby Ionic, cap. dc Extrema Unctioue. 
 
The Sacrament of Extreme Unction 481 
 
 for the forgiveness of their sins, and to restore them, 
 if God so willed, or to give them spiritual support in 
 their maladies."^ 
 
 An *' Apostolic practice " which is also an external 
 rite, to which is ascribed " the forgiveness of sins" 
 and the bestowal of " spiritual support " 
 Unction a is plainly a Sacrament of the Gospel, 
 Sacrament of since no ceremonial anointing could pro- 
 t e ospe . (^uce such effects, unless it had been 
 instituted by the Divine Founder of Christianity for 
 this very purpose. Now, all these effects are expressly 
 attributed by the Apostle to the anointing of the sick 
 which he enjoins in case of serious illness. 
 
 " Anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 
 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and 
 the Lord shall raise him up, and if he be in sins they 
 shall be forgiven him." 
 
 It is clear that the words " shall save " and " shall 
 raise him up " are to be referred primarily to spiritual 
 rather than to bodily blessings, for they are coupled 
 with the forgiveness of sins and are universal and 
 absolute in their nature. But experience proves now 
 — and no doubt proved in Apostolic days — that every- 
 one who is anointed in serious illness is not " saved " 
 from that illness and " raised up " to renewed health, 
 whilst Faith teaches us that every Christian who 
 receives this Sacrament with due dispositions — that 
 is, with sorrow for sin in the soul — will receive salva- 
 1 Forbes On the Articles, vol, ii., p. 463. 
 
 31 
 
482 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 tion from the Lord and be raised up by Him spiritu- 
 ally, receiving also such benefit for his body as God 
 sees to be for his welfare. 
 
 We may find an analogy in the promises given to 
 prayer. The promise is given us that whatever we 
 ask believing we shall receive, and we are taught by 
 our religion that this promise will be fulfilled without 
 exception or limitation where spiritual blessings are 
 concerned, but that temporal goods will be given to 
 us only so far as they may conduce to our lasting 
 good. 
 
 (i) The Matter of this Sacrament Is consecrated 
 oil. No one has ever doubted that the oil mentioned 
 Matter of the by St. James is oil of olives. In the 
 Sacrament West pure oil without mixture of any 
 
 of i'.xtreme ^ "^ 
 
 Unction. Other substance seems to have been 
 always used. In the East the custom was early 
 introduced of adding, in some places, a little water 
 as a symbol of Baptism, in others a little wine in 
 memory of the Good Samaritan, and amongst the 
 Nestorians some ashes or dust from the sepulchre of 
 a Saint. In all ages the oil has been blessed or con- 
 secrated before use — in the West, by the Bishop on 
 Maundy Thursday, in the East, even amongst 
 Catholics, by the officiating priests before the ad- 
 ministration of the Sacrament. 
 
 (2) The Form consists of words indicating the 
 grace conferred. At present both in East and 
 
The Sacrament of Extreme Unction 483 
 
 West the form is precatory (the "prayer of faith" 
 of the Apostle). Some of the ancient Rituals, how- 
 ever, contain Forms which are absolute. 
 For example the Form of the Ancient 
 Celtic Church was : " I anoint thee with sanctified 
 oil in the Name of the Trinity that thou mayest 
 be saved for ever and ever.^^^ Other Forms of great 
 antiquity are partly precatory and partly absolute. 
 Our present form consists of the prayer " Through 
 this holy Unction and His Own most tender Mercy 
 may the Lord pardon thee whatever sins thou hast 
 committed by sight " (at the anointing of the eyes), 
 ** by hearing " (at the anointing of the ears), simi- 
 larly mentioning the other members of the body, 
 whenever time permits of anointing the five senses 
 and the feet ; and, where there is imminent danger 
 of death, of one prayer accompanying one unction 
 (for example, on the forehead) : *' Thrcug'i this holy 
 Unction may the Lord pardon thee whatever sins 
 thou hast committed." 
 
 (3) The Minister is a priest. In ancient times 
 where it was easily practicable, the Sacrament was 
 
 administered by several priests. This 
 Its Minister. . 
 
 custom IS at present observed through- 
 out the East. But this was never, at any time, or 
 in any place, held to be necessary. It is true that 
 St. James writes: ''Let him bring in the priests," 
 but this is an expression similar in its nature to "let 
 ^ Warren, Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Cliui^cli, p. i68. 
 
484 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 him bring in the doctors," where as everyone will 
 see, it might easily be meant merely " Let him send 
 for the nearest medical man." 
 
 (4) The Subject is a Christian, who has 
 had the use of reason, and is in danger of 
 
 death from sickness. 
 
 He must be a Christian, for we know that no one 
 who has not been baptized can receive any other 
 Sacrament. St. James writes: " Is any man amongst 
 you sick." 
 
 He must have had the use of reason^ for this Sacra- 
 ment was instituted primarily for the forgiveness of 
 sins ; and without the use of reason there can be 
 no sin. 
 
 The danger of death must arise from sickness, as 
 we gather from the words of St. James. Conse- 
 quently, no one going into action, no one in danger 
 of death during a battle, but still unwounded, no 
 criminal going to death on the scaffold, no martyr 
 going to death for the Faith is a subject for this 
 Sacrament. 
 
 (5) The Effects are described by the 
 Council of Trent in the following words : 
 
 ''The effect [of Extreme Unction] is the grace of 
 the Holy Ghost whose unction blots out sins (if any 
 remain to be expiated), and the consequences of sin, 
 and alleviates and strengthens the soul of the sick 
 person, by exciting in him a great confidence in the 
 Divine Mercy, a confidence sustained by which he 
 
The Sacrament of Extreme Unction 485 
 
 bears more lightly the troubles and sufferings of 
 disease, and more easily resists the temptations of 
 the demon lying in wait for his heel, and sometimes, 
 when it is expedient for his soul's salvation, recovers 
 bodily health."! 
 
 Unction has always been associated in its admini- 
 stration with the Sacrament of Penance. Since the 
 
 former of these sacraments is a Sacra- 
 The Sacra- r i i- • xi_ • i 
 
 mentof ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ hvmg, there is always an 
 
 Extreme obligation in the case of a sick man, who 
 
 Unction and . ^^^3 of mortal sin, to go to Con- 
 
 the Sacra' . 
 
 ment of fession, where this is possible, before he 
 
 Penance. -^ anointed. However, even mortal sin is 
 directly forgiven by Extreme Unction, if the sinner 
 for any reason has without fault of his own not 
 received Absolution. " If he be in sins, they shall 
 be forgiven him." 
 
 The special effect of this Sacrament is the removal 
 The Special ^f the consequences of sin (called by the 
 Effect of the Council of Trent reliquice) and the infu- 
 
 of^Ext^eme ^^°" °^ P^^*^^ ^^^ Strength into the soul. 
 Unction. enabling it to fight its battle against the 
 powers of evil with great tranquillity and much con- 
 fidence in God. 
 
 It would seem probable that where bodily health 
 
 is restored as a result of the reception of Extreme 
 
 Unction, this is not strictly speaking miraculous, 
 
 but is the supernatural result— flowing from the 
 
 ^ Sess. xiv., cap. 2, dc Ext. Undione, 
 
486 What does Catholic Christianity give 
 
 ? 
 
 mysterious union of soul and body — which is the 
 direct consequence of the grace of this Mystery of 
 Christ's Kindness. It is therefore most important to 
 receive Extreme Unction early in an illness ; indeed 
 as soon as the illness becomes grave and there is 
 danger of death. Only thus may we be sure that the 
 Sacrament has freedom to operate normally — that is, 
 in accordance with the laws which God has seen fit 
 to establish — not only for the health of the soul, but 
 also for that of the body. 
 
 No priest and no physician who has had much 
 experience of illness amongst Catholics will doubt 
 that in many cases bodily health is often restored 
 after the Last Anointing, however we may account 
 for the fact. 
 
 Some fifteen years ago I was giving a Mission in 
 a mining village in Yorkshire. One day the doctor 
 A Personal o^ the place came to dinner with my host 
 Experience. — the parish priest. After the meal was 
 over, we fell into conversation about matters of 
 religion. The doctor said that if we priests would 
 not take offence, he would like to be frank and tell 
 us that unfortunately he believed in " nothing." 
 
 " Well, then," said the parish priest, " I will 
 guarantee that, if you will do one single thing that 
 I will ask you, at the end of five years you will 
 anyway believe in something.''' 
 
 "What is that," asked our friend, "and what is 
 it that I am to do ?" 
 
The Sacrament of Extreme Unction 487 
 
 " When you go to any of my people," replied the 
 priest, '' I want you to let me know in good time if 
 they are seriously ill. I shall go and see them at 
 once, and shall anoint them, saying some Latin 
 prayers. I want you also to make a note in your 
 note-book of the condition of each patient before he 
 is anointed, and also of his condition a few days 
 after the anointing. If you do this, I will guarantee 
 that in a considerable number of cases there will be 
 a marked improvement of a nature that medical 
 science cannot account for, and beyond your power 
 of explanation. You will, then, at least believe that 
 this is due to the anointing of which I have just 
 spoken." 
 
 The doctor promised to do as he was requested. 
 
 Some years afterwards I went back to the same 
 place and found the same parish priest who had been 
 there at the time of my previous visit. I remembered 
 the doctor, and asked whether he still " believed in 
 nothing." " No," replied my friend, " he came to mo 
 long before the five years I gave him were past — 
 very soon in fact after he had begun to note the 
 results of Extreme Unction, and told me that he 
 fully admitted that here he had found something 
 beyond the power of nature. Further — he added 
 that since Anointing the sick had visible supernatural 
 effects. Baptism also might have invisible results. 
 He is now very careful to baptize children in danger 
 of death. Indeed, he asked me to teach him how to 
 
488 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 do so. I think that before he dies himself, the 
 children whom he has baptized, and who have 
 through his agency gone to Heaven, will obtain him 
 the grace of complete faith in all that God has 
 revealed." 
 
 I have since heard that a distinguished Edinburgh 
 Professor of medicine, not a Catholic, was for many 
 years accustomed to urge the medical students whom 
 he addresses to be careful when they come to prac- 
 tise, always to call in the priest early to Catholic 
 patients, adding these words : *' For, gentlemen, 
 explain it as we may, there is certainly something that 
 these priests do which is good for the bodily health of 
 those 'whom they attend in sickness. It is our duty 
 to see that those whom we attend professionally have 
 every chance that we can give them of recovery. 
 Our business is not with theories but with facts." 
 
 Neither do Catholics trouble themselves overmuch 
 with mere theories. All men who investigate are 
 acquainted with the fact that, in the Providence and 
 by the Disposition of God, the Sacrament of Extreme 
 Unction bestows wonderful peace and calm upon the 
 soul, and oftentimes also restoration of health to 
 the body. 
 
 " The prayer of faith shall save the sick man and 
 the Lord shall raise him up." 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS 
 
 Our religion has two sides — the corporate and the 
 personal — every man's religion is his own personal 
 The cor- affair, and cansists essentially of his direct 
 porate and relations with God, and yet he reaches 
 
 the indi- i i • 
 
 vidual side of God, and God reaches him, often and 
 religion. intimately through the Body of the 
 Church, which is the Body of Christ. So is it with 
 our lives. Each one comes into the world alone, 
 each one leaves the world alone. Alone each one 
 has one day to stand before the dread Judgement 
 Seat. There is something infinitely pathetic in the 
 loneliness of every human soul. And yet, just as 
 the Grace of God, though it is in a true sense a 
 matter between each man individually and his Maker, 
 must, by divine ordinance, be sought by that man 
 through other men — through external sacraments, 
 ministered by a human priest — so is the loneliness of 
 life tempered by human society. We are born into 
 a family, and consequently known by one name and 
 not another. Thus, relations with others closely 
 
 489 
 
490 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 accompany the very dawn of life. As soon as may be 
 after birth, the child is placed in its mother's arms and 
 smiled upon by its father. As the years go on ties ot 
 various degrees of intimacy are knit with kindred. 
 And soon the child learns that not only has he a 
 family which is his own, but also he has a country 
 which is his. He is English not French, or French 
 not English. He is taught that he is, as it may be, 
 the subject of a King, or the citizen of a Republic. 
 Thus new interests, and with new interests new 
 obligations, enter into his life. He learns not to 
 live for himself alone. He finds out that he has 
 people round about him whom he may trust to care 
 for him in trouble and to stand by him in difficulty. 
 These he calls his friends. So he comes to realise 
 that he has duties — duties to his home, duties to his 
 friends, duties to his motherland. He is alone, and 
 yet he is not alone. He knows that alone he must 
 render up his spirit one day to the God who made 
 him, yet he may hope haply to see dear, familiar, 
 comforting faces round about him, before his eyes 
 are closed in death. 
 
 All this is true in the natural order — and, as we 
 may be sure will be the case — we find close analogies 
 in the supernatural. Every Catholic Christian is 
 responsible to God alone from the first use of his 
 reason to the end — to the Last Anointing and beyond 
 
 yet every Catholic Christian knows that he does 
 
 not stand alone ; he is made a member of a spiritual 
 
The Communion of Saints 491 
 
 Family, which is the Holy Church ; he is made the 
 subject of a King who reigns in Christ's place over 
 His militant Kingdom ; he is a unit in the Christian 
 Society which is made visible on earth, but is also 
 made perfect in Heaven— as such he finds that not 
 only earthly friends are his, but also heavenly advo- 
 cates in the Courts of Paradise. " You have come," 
 writes the Apostle, "to the Spirits of the Just made 
 perfect." He learns that God has given him not 
 only a Mother on earth, but a Mother in Heaven, 
 who is the Mother of his Elder Brother. In a 
 sentence, he believes in the Communion of Saints. 
 Though in one sense he must stand alone, and would 
 not have it otherwise, yet in another sense it is not 
 good for him that he should be alone. Consequently, 
 not only in the ordinary conduct of his Hfe, but also 
 in his religion, his social needs are satisfied. 
 
 Catholics should, and do, remember that they are 
 members one of another, and above all, members of 
 
 Christ. Christ is the Head of the Body 
 OurLordwas z-n i-r xu u 
 
 alone in His to which we belong. Our hfe, then, has 
 
 earthly Life ^q ^e modelled on His Life, who is our 
 yet not alone. ^^^^^ ^^^^ .^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ Life of 
 
 Christ was a Life of unutterable loneliness. Of Him 
 it has been written that " He trod the Winepress 
 alone, and there was no man with Him." Yet He 
 had an earthly home, a home which He left only to 
 do His Father's Will, to be about His Father's 
 Business. He spoke pathetic words: ''The birds of 
 
492 What does Catholic Christianity give? 
 
 the air have their nests, and the foxes their holes, 
 but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head." 
 Even whilst He was thus speaking. He had friends 
 — Lazarus, the Magdalene, Martha, who from time 
 to time received Him into her house, and others of 
 whom we read in the Gospels. He had disciples, 
 one of whom He loved with a special love, who to 
 the end of time will be known as the Disciple whom 
 Jesus loved. In early life a foster-father was given 
 Him, specially chosen for the high office of protect- 
 ing Him in infancy and childhood, who surely was 
 very dear to His Sacred Heart. 
 
 Above all, He had a Mother. Mary of Nazareth 
 was the Mother of our Lord. No other woman 
 The Mother could call Him son by right. No other, 
 of our Lord, but He alone, born of woman, should 
 be born of Her. In one sense — and that a most 
 special sense — He could share her with no other. 
 He was her Son. He bestowed upon her the love, 
 unique of its kind, which every child owes to the 
 mother that bore him in her womb. She gave to 
 Him, and to Him only, that love which a mother 
 bears to the child that has drawn his life and blood 
 from her veins — from the chalice of her heart. Yet 
 in another, and in an equally true — if less close — 
 sense. He shares her with us. She is our mother 
 too, for we are His brothers and His sisters, redeemed 
 from sin by that Precious Blood which flowed from 
 off the Cross beneath which she stood on Calvary. 
 
The Communion of Saints 493 
 
 Mary loves us with a Mother's love, for we belong to 
 her Family — she will disown none whom her Son is 
 not ashamed to call His brethren, and we owe and 
 give her the love which is hers by right, both as the 
 Mother of our Lord, and as the Mother of all who 
 belong to Him. 
 
 Yes, the Mother of Christ is our Mother also, and 
 to her — the Queen in her Beauty, the Queen at the 
 King^s right hand — do we turn, and salute her from 
 this valley of tears, where we are sojourning yet 
 awhile ; for, as she cared for Jesus in His weakness, 
 so, we know full well, for His sake will she care for 
 us, and love us whilst she cares. There is nothing 
 more tender in a world that is often hard, than is the 
 devotion of Catholics to our Lady. It is the tender- 
 ness of children gathered round about the Mother of 
 God who is their Mother — their Mother who was the 
 gentle, loving Mother of Christ the Lord in the 
 days of His Human weakness and of His Human 
 needs. 
 
 As she cared for Him, so will she care for us. 
 
 If it be objected that Mary watched over Jesus 
 only for a few short years — that He grew up — we 
 reply that in the spiritual order we have to be 
 children to the end. " Unless you become as little 
 children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of 
 Heaven,^^ is said to the old man, on the verge of 
 the grave — most of all is it said to the '"' successful '^ 
 rpan, with even greater insistence than to the callow 
 
494 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 youth or to one of the world's broken failures. The 
 more successful, the more self-reliant a man, the 
 more urgently does he need the warning. Childish 
 none of us should be. As we grow up we put 
 away the things of a child. But childlike we all must 
 be, as one day we hope to see the Face of God. 
 Childlike in faith, in simplicity of spirit, in placing 
 trust without limit where such trust is due. Now 
 there is no surer test of a childlike spirit than devo- 
 tion to the Blessed Virgin. Well for us is it if this 
 devotion grows with our growth and increases with 
 our years — to the end. 
 
 And as the Mother of God is our mother too, so 
 the Saints and friends of God are our friends also. 
 Believing, then, in the Communion of Saints, be- 
 lieving that death does not hamper the activities of 
 the soul, believing that the Saints of God and that the 
 Mother of God intercede for us in glory, the Church 
 encourages her children to invoke the Saints, reigning 
 together with Christ — above all to invoke our Blessed 
 Lady. Are they not His friends and ours, is she 
 not the Mother of God and the Mother of men ? 
 
 Protestants are accustomed to bring two main 
 objections against this consoling doctrine. It is 
 Protestant urged that the Catholic Teaching inter- 
 objections, feres with the Mediatorial office of Christ 
 — that whilst St. Paul says that there is One Medi- 
 ator, Catholics make many — and also, that we can 
 have no certaintv that the Saints in Heaven hear 
 
The Communion of Saints 495 
 
 our prayers on earth — that Cathohcs make the 
 Blessed Virgin and the Saints ubiquitous — an 
 Attribute which belongs to God alone. 
 
 We will consider these objections separately. It 
 is quite true that we read in the Sacred Scriptures 
 The One that as Moses was the Mediator of the 
 Mediator. Old Testament between God and man, 
 so is Christ the Mediator of the New Testament,' 
 and that " there is One God, and One Mediator of 
 God and man, the Man Christ Jesus." ^ It is also 
 true that this is elementary Catholic doctrine, 
 taught to every Catholic child in every Catholic 
 school throughout the world. But it is by no means 
 true, and most certainly St. Paul does not say, that 
 because Christ our Lord and Saviour is the Mediator 
 between God and man in one sense, it follows that 
 we. His creatures, cannot mediate with Him for one 
 another in quite another sense. On the contrary, 
 
 1 Deut. V. 5 ; cf. Gal. iii. 19. Thus Milton writes (Paradise 
 Lost, xii. 235 ei seq.) : 
 
 " The Voice of God 
 To mortal ear is dreadful. They beseech 
 That Moses might report to t'lem His Will, 
 And terror cease. He grants what they besought. 
 Instructed that to God is no access 
 Without Mediator, whose high office now 
 Moses in figure bears ; to introduce 
 One greater, of whose day he shall foretell, 
 And all the Prophets in their age the lines 
 Of Great Messiah sing." 
 
 ? I Tim. ii. 5. 
 
496 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 we shall find on examination that St. Paul uses the 
 fact that we have a Mediator — who is the One 
 Mediator between God and man — as a great argu- 
 ment why we should mediate for one another — in 
 His Name. 
 
 The sentence " There is One God and One 
 Mediator between God and man '^ does not stand 
 alone. It is preceded by the word "for'' — that is, 
 '^ because.'' The Apostle had just urged that "first 
 of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
 thanksgivings (evxapi^crriai,) be made for all men," 
 in other words that we should mediate one for 
 another. As a reason for thus acting, he reminds us 
 that we have a Mediator, who is One as God is One. 
 Through Him alone can we go to God. But through 
 Him we can go, and can go with confidence, and 
 should go not only on our own behalf but also 
 pleading one for another. For (that is to say, 
 because) we may have confidence that our prayers 
 will be heard. If it were not for the existence of 
 this Mediator, it might be useless for us to pray one 
 for another ; at any rate we could not appeal to His 
 Name and seek God through Him, unless we 
 believed that He had broken down the wall of 
 partition that divided us from God, and, notwith- 
 standing our sins, had reconciled us with Him. 
 But, because we have access to God through Christ, 
 we can and should pray for ourselves and for one 
 another. Such is the Apostle's argument. No other 
 
The Communion of Saints 497 
 
 explanation will make sense of his words. We are 
 to "supplicate," *'pray," ''intercede" for one 
 another — that is to *' mediate " — through the Merits 
 of Him who is the One Mediator, because He alone 
 can mediate in His own Right. As Catholic theo- 
 logians put it, we who dwell yet on earth, as well as 
 the Saints and the Blessed Virgin in Heaven — are 
 ** mediators of Grace " ; but Christ alone is '* the 
 Mediator of Justice." He alone has a right to be 
 heard. Through Him Christian men and women, 
 the Saints and Mary, pray with much confidence. 
 And their prayers are heard in proportion to their 
 confidence, in proportion to their nearness to God, 
 to their sanctity. '* The prayer," writes St. James 
 — he is writing of the prayer of mediation one for 
 another — "of a just man availeth much."^ The 
 nearer to God, the surer the answer to prayer. This 
 is the reason why Catholics seek so earnestly the 
 prayers of the Saints, above all why they implore 
 the prayers of the Blessed Virgin. Who so near to 
 Him as His Saints, who ministered to Him so faith- 
 fully on earth, and who now can sin no more ? 
 Above all, who so near to Him as the sinless Virgin, 
 on whom He first smiled in the Crib of Bethlehem — 
 who was His last earthly thought on the Cross of 
 Calvary ? The Saints are His Servants. Mary is 
 His Servant ; she is also His Mother. 
 The Nev/ Testament is full of exhortations to 
 * Jas. V. 16. 
 
 32 
 
498 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 intercessory prayer. It is practised by all Christians. 
 What Christian mother fails to pray — to " mediate" 
 — for her son, or imagines that by thus acting she 
 derogates from the supreme Mediation of the One 
 Mediator, through whom she approaches the Throne 
 of God ? 
 
 I once heard a street-preacher explain to his 
 audience that he had at one time led an evil life, and 
 had been ** saved " by his faithful mother — he meant 
 saved from sin and from the consequences of sin — by 
 her prayers — by her mediation. He w^ould no doubt 
 have been shocked had he heard me preach in a 
 Catholic Church that I hoped to be saved through 
 the Virgo Fidelis — the faithful Mother of my God. 
 Yet I should have meant, as any Catholic speaking 
 thus means, and as he meant, that I hoped to be 
 saved through a Mother's prayers, offered to God by 
 Christ, and, in this sense only, by her mediation. 
 
 No Protestant is shocked w^hen he reads the decla- 
 ration of St. Paul that by becoming ''all things to 
 all men," he hoped to "save some."^ When men 
 use words — such words, for example, as mediator and 
 save, everything depends upon the sense in which 
 they use them. For Catholics the sense of these 
 words is not arbitrary, but is fixed by the first 
 principles of their religion. 
 
 It seems to me that all difficulty with regard to 
 the intercession of our Lady and the Saints ought to 
 
 * I Cor. ix. 22. 
 
The Communion of Saints 499 
 
 vanish so soon as it is understood that their interces- 
 sion does not differ in its nature from the intercession 
 which all Christians should make on earth for their 
 friends, and — if they listen to the exhortation of the 
 Apostle — " for all men." After the Ascension of 
 Christ His Mother lived in the house of John. Her 
 prayers for the Beloved Disciple possessed the same 
 character after her death as those which she offered 
 for him during her life. The intercession of the 
 Saints in Heaven differs only from the intercession 
 of us poor sinners on the earth in the fact that their 
 prayers are more likely to prevail than ours, because 
 they are nearer to our Lord than we. Experience, as 
 opposed to mere theory, proves that going to God 
 together with His Saints and His Blessed Mother — 
 asking not only our friends on earth, but also our 
 friends and Mother in Heaven to intercede for us — 
 greatly increases our confidence in Christ Himself 
 The Shepherds and the Wise Men — the simple and 
 the learned — who " found Mary and Joseph and the 
 Infant," 1 "who found the Child with Mary His 
 Mother,"^ had not less freedom, but rather greater 
 freedom, with the Holy Child because His Mother 
 and His foster-father were kneeling by their side. 
 
 Experience proves that the more constantly we 
 
 speak to Mary, the more constantly do we speak to 
 
 Jesus in simple, trustful prayer. Experience proves 
 
 to all who love Mary that the assurance of St. 
 
 ^ Luke ii, i6. 2 luatt. li. ii. 
 
500 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Alphonsus is not idle, when he tells us that " the 
 more we love Mary, the more we shall love God." 
 How could it be otherwise ? We love her on account 
 of her motherly relation to her Son, and to us. 
 The love of Mary intensifies the love of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. We need have no fear. Such is, and 
 ever will be, the experience of all Catholics, who 
 practise their religion. We love the Saints simply 
 because they were, and are, His special friends, and 
 walked most closely in His Footsteps. For this 
 reason we know their power with God. We love 
 and honour and trust His Blessed Mother, and we 
 know that as we love and trust her, she will draw us 
 gently to her Side beneath His Feet. 
 
 But it may be urged : '* You know that your friends 
 on earth can pray for you. You can ask them to do 
 The Saints SO by word of mouth or by letter. How 
 in Heaven can you be sure that the Saints in Heaven 
 
 can pray for , 
 
 men on ^^^ "^^^ y^^^ prayers ? They are gone 
 earth. beyond the reach of the human voice. 
 
 You can have no communication with them. They 
 are not ubiquitous. How then can they hear prayers 
 put up at the same moment of time in different parts 
 of the world?" To this we reply simply, " I believe 
 in the Communion of Saints." It can be shown that 
 the Church has always believed, as she believes to-day, 
 that the Saints in Heaven hear the prayers of their 
 friends on earth — that, as the Council of Trent teaches 
 us **it is good and useful to invoke the Saints reign- 
 
The Communion of Saints 501 
 
 ing together with Christ."^ To this truth the early 
 inscriptions in the Catacombs and the writings of 
 the Fathers bear ample testimony. It is enshrined 
 in the Apostles' Creed. The Communion of Saints, 
 in which we express our belief whenever we recite 
 that Creed, involves not only the communion of 
 Christians on earth in prayer and sacrifice and sacra- 
 ments and good works, but also the communion of 
 Christians on earth with those who have gone before 
 them to the City not built with hands. This com- 
 munion is effected by God. If you ask us how, we 
 anssver : '^ That we. do not know. To know how is 
 not our business. We are concerned simply with 
 the fact. After all, do we know exactly how God 
 enables us to communicate with one another on 
 earth ? Do we really tmderstand the mysteries of the 
 telegraph, or of the telephone ? Do we even under- 
 stand how God enables us to communicate our ideas 
 vocally with the friends on earth ? If challenged, 
 we should probably reply more or less after this 
 fashion : " When I wish to speak to a friend, who 
 understands my language, I clothe ideas, that are 
 formed in my mind, with words — words which, by 
 convention, are symbols of those ideas. I automati- 
 cally form those words with my lips, throat and 
 tongue, and I then utter them. They are carried on 
 waves of ether to the ear of my friend. They strike 
 the tympanum of his ear and are conveyed to his 
 
 ^ Sess. XXV. 
 
502 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 brain. In this manner he receives these words — 
 these symbols — and they represent to his mind the 
 ideas that I wish to convey to him." All quite true, no 
 doubt, but does it take us very much further ? In 
 the end we have simply to say that God enables me 
 to speak to my friend, and that, though I know some- 
 thing of the process by which this is accomplished, I 
 do not know very much. 
 
 With regard to the Saints, I know that they are 
 not ubiquitous — I do not speak to their material ears, 
 God enables their souls to know the yearning of my 
 soul. How He accomplishes this I know not, and 
 probably in my present state of existence could not 
 understand. Catholic writers tell us that they who, 
 like the Saints, see God in the Beatific Vision, " in 
 Him see all things which it is well for them to see," 
 and certainly hear the prayers of those who address 
 them. This we believe; it is part of our religion. 
 It does not trouble us that we do not know the pre- 
 cise method by which the Saints are able to know 
 the needs of many mortals all over the world at the 
 same time. I can use wireless telegraphy, though I 
 may be profoundly ignorant as to liow it operates. In 
 like manner I can pray to the Blessed Virgin, or to 
 any Saint, even though I cannot explain how our 
 Lady or the Saint to whom I pray is enabled by God 
 to hear me. It is enough for me to rest upon my 
 religion, and to believe — as by God's Mercy, and to 
 my great comfort, I do believe — in the Communion 
 of Saints. 
 
The Communion of Saints 503 
 
 But the Communion of Saints reaches beyond this 
 The Souls in earth to souls, who are not in Heaven, 
 Purgator7. and yet are the friends of God and our 
 friends too. We call them the Holy Souls in 
 Purgator3\ 
 
 The Catholic Church teaches that not all the 
 Friends of God, not all, that is, who die in the 
 divine Love and Grace, are fit immediately after 
 death to see His Face and dwell with Him eternally. 
 For all God's Friends in need there is a period of 
 purification beyond the grave — which we call 
 Purgatory. Moreover, we believe that these waiting 
 souls can be helped by us on earth. 
 
 The Council of Trent defined this doctrine, 
 against the denials of Luther and Calvin and their 
 followers. The Definition runs as follows : *' There 
 is a Purgatory, and the Souls there detained are 
 helped by the prayers of the Faithful, and principally 
 by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar." ^ 
 
 Faith in purification after death, and in efficacy of 
 prayer for the departed is not the exclusive possession 
 The Tews °^ Catholicism. Many other ancient 
 and Prayer religions have taught in the past, and 
 for the Dead, continue to teach in the present, the 
 possibility and the duty of helping the dead. This 
 is true, for example, of the Jewish religion. A 
 striking example of this is to be found in the Second 
 Book of Machabees. We there read that after the 
 ^ Sess. vi., cap. 30 ; Sess. xxii., cap. 2, 3. 
 
504 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Jewish hero Judas Machabeus had won a great 
 victory over Gorgias "the governor of Idumsea,"^ 
 he found under the garments of Jews dead upon the 
 battlefield things consecrated to idols ^ which it was 
 unlawful for them to wear. The narrative proceeds 
 that the survivors grieved when they saw this evi- 
 dence of the superstition of their dead friends. 
 
 *' And so, betaking themselves to prayers, they 
 besought the Lord that the sin which had been com- 
 mitted might be forgotten. But the most valiant 
 Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from 
 sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what 
 had happened, because of the sins of those that were 
 slain. 
 
 " And making a collection, he sent twelve thousand 
 drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be 
 offered for the sins of the dead, doing very ex- 
 cellently, reasoning concerning the Resurrection — for 
 if he had not hoped that they that were slain should 
 rise again, he would have thought it superfluous and 
 absurd to pray for the dead. But he saw well that a 
 most fair reward is reserved for those who fall asleep 
 in piety. 
 
 ** It is, therefore, a holy and a wholesome thought 
 to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from 
 their sins."^ 
 
 The habit, then, of praying for the dead was in- 
 
 1 2 Mac. xii. 32. 2 j^ the LXX ispcoiiara. 
 
 3 2 Mac. xii. 40-46. 
 
The Communion of Saints 505 
 
 herited by the Church from the Synagogue. In this 
 respect the Apostles made no violent break in their 
 faith and devotional practice when they became the 
 Disciples of Jesus Christ. With their Master, they 
 were no doubt often present whilst sacrifices were 
 being offered for the dead in the Temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 It is true that there were Jews at the time of 
 Christ who by no means '* reasoned excellently con- 
 cerning the Resurrection.'^ The Sadducees denied 
 that there was any Resurrection of the dead. They 
 deemed it " superfluous and absurd to pray for the 
 dead " — because they imagined that those whom men 
 call dead lived no more. But all Jews who under- 
 stood that, as our Lord reminded His unbelieving 
 questioners, God who is the God of Abraham, Isaac 
 and Jacob, is the God not of the dead but of the 
 living, and that consequently their fathers who had 
 passed beyond the veil of sense, still lived, under- 
 stood also the duty of offering prayer and sacrifice 
 on behalf of the souls of the departed. Those they 
 loved and often venerated, who had " fallen asleep in 
 piety," might too probably, like the soldiers of whom 
 we read in the Book of Machabees — the soldiers 
 who fell before the arms of Gorgias — have, in the 
 days of their mortality, committed offences for which 
 punishment was still due to the Justice of God. 
 
 I am well aware that what is called " the modern 
 mind " shrinks from such a phrase as " punishment 
 due to the Justice of God. Yet nothing is more 
 
506 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 certain than the fact that throughout the Scriptures 
 T^t, T-»- • both of the Old and New Testament we 
 
 1 he Divine 
 
 Punishment are assured that God does punish sin both 
 
 of Sin, -j^ |.|^-g jjfg g^j^ J -j^ ^Yie life to come. In the 
 
 Old Testament we are told that Wisdom — that is to 
 say God the Son — " brought man out of his sin " — in 
 other words forgave him the guilt of his sin, "and 
 bestowed upon him power to govern all things."^ 
 Man, even after sin, is rightly called creation's Lord. 
 Yet, the punishment due to him remained to be 
 endured. '* In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 
 bread until thou returnest to the earth out of which 
 thou wast taken ; for dust thou art, and unto dust 
 thou shalt return." 2 The incredulity of Moses and 
 Aaron was forgiven them, yet the punishment due to 
 their sin was inflicted by God. They were shut out 
 from the earthly Land of Promise. " Because you 
 have not believed Me, you shall not bring these 
 people into the land which I will give them."^ The 
 sin of David against Uriah the Hittite was declared 
 by the Prophet to be forgiven, yet the terrible punish- 
 ment had to be endured. " And David said to 
 Nathan : I have sinned against the Lord. And 
 Nathan said to David : The Lord hath taken away 
 thy sin. Nevertheless, because thou hast given oc- 
 casion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the 
 child that is born to thee shall surely die."** 
 
 ^ Wisdom X. 2. ^ Gen. iii. 19. 
 
 2 Num. XX. 12. * 2 Kings xii. 13, 14. 
 
The Communion of Saints 507 
 
 We find the same principle at work in the New 
 Testament. For example we are told that certain 
 debts due to the Justice of God have to be paid to 
 "the last farthing,"^ and of a man who commits 
 *' the sin against the Holy Ghost " (final impenitence) 
 we read that '' it shall not be forgiven him — neither 
 in this world, nor in the world to come."^ From 
 which statement of our Lord St. Augustine takes 
 occasion to argue as follows : '* that some sinners are 
 not forgiven either in this world or the next world 
 would not be said with truth, unless there were 
 others who, though not forgiven in this world, are 
 forgiven in the world to come."^ Whatever we may 
 think of this inference, at any rate our Lord's words 
 prove the truth that sins are punished by God not 
 only in this w^orld but also in the next. 
 
 Indeed the fact that God punishes sin will hardly 
 be denied by any man who has had experience of 
 life and believes in God at ail. It is not necessary 
 further to labour the point. Surely, the teaching of 
 the Catholic Religion is full of consolation, assuring 
 us that the punishment of sin which springs from 
 the awful Justice and Sanctity of God — " His eyes 
 are too pure to behold evil"^ — is intended by the 
 Divine goodness to purify us even on earth, and that 
 it is always purifying in Purgatory, where no obstacle 
 is placed by the wilfulness of the creature to the 
 
 * Matt. V. 26. 2 Matt. xii. 32. 
 
 2 De Civitaie Dei, xxii. 24. * Hab. i. 13. 
 
5o8 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 merciful designs of his Creator. Who is there 
 amongst us that really thinks that he is now fit to 
 see God face to face ? ** Bear without stain this 
 garment before the Judgement Seat of Christ " is 
 said to the child at Baptism. Who is there that 
 can really believe that he has so hearkened to this 
 warning, that no stain is there upon that Robe of 
 Entrance which must be washed out, no dust that 
 must be lifted off, before he can enter, without dis- 
 comfort, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb ? As we 
 think of our own souls, as we think of the souls of 
 our friends who have departed this life — for we 
 cannot fail to know that not all our friends have 
 lived on earth as Saints — we thank God that the 
 purification which is so necessary goes on beyond 
 the grave. We thank God also that we can help 
 the dead, and that when our turn comes we may 
 look to those we leave behind for the aid which we 
 have not grudged to those who have gone before us. 
 Jews at the present day who believe in the life 
 to come still pray for their dead, both publicly in 
 their synagogues, and privately in their homes. 
 Catholics, however, have the great advantage over 
 Israelites in the fact that they can pray, not only for 
 the living but also for the dead, to God throtigh Jesus 
 Christ. Judas Machabeus procured the offering of 
 sacrifices for his dead soldiers. Those sacrifices 
 derived all their efficacy from the fact that they 
 looked forward as types to the one great Sacrifice 
 
The Communion of Saints 509 
 
 which it is our privilege actually to offer upon our 
 altars. 
 
 So is it that the custom of praying for the dead 
 
 vvhich Tertullian in the second century mentions as 
 
 an Apostolic Ordinance, urging a widow 
 
 The Early , i i • c ^ - ^ 
 
 Fathers and '* to make oblations for him on the anni- 
 Mass for versary of her husband^s death," and 
 charging her with infidelity if she neglect 
 to succour his soul,^ was practised especially in the 
 Holy Mass. For example, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, 
 describing the Sacred Liturgy, writes : " Then we 
 pray for the holy fathers and Bishops who are dead, 
 and in short for all those who have departed this 
 life in our communion, believing that the souls of 
 those for whom prayers are offered receive very 
 great relief, while this Holy and tremendous Victim 
 lies upon the Altar." ^ 
 
 St. John Chrysostom assures us that the custom of 
 placing the names of the departed in the diptychs, 
 and then remembering them by name in the Holy 
 Mysteries of the Altar (a practice that was handed 
 down to the Church by the Apostles) is the best way 
 of relieving the dead.^ 
 
 St. Ambrose insists in his commentary on the 
 First Epistle to the Corinthians^ on the existence of 
 Purgatory, and in his funeral oration on the Emperor 
 Theodosius thus prays for his soul : " Give, O Lord, 
 
 1 De Monogamia, cap. x. ^ Caiechet. Mystog., q.v. 
 
 3 In Ad Cor., Horn, xli., n. 4. * In i Cor. iii 
 
5IO What does Catholic Christianity give r 
 
 rest to Thy servant Theodosius, that rest which 
 Thou hast prepared for Thy Saints. ... I loved 
 him, therefore will I follow him to the land of the 
 Living ; I will not desert him until by my tears and 
 lamentations he shall be admitted to the holy 
 mount of the Lord, to which his merits call him."^ 
 
 St. Augustine tells us that " some there are who 
 have departed this life not so bad as to be unworthy 
 of mercy, nor so good as to be entitled to immediate 
 happiness," and some there are, he says, who must 
 " go through those pains to which the spirits of the 
 dead are liable."^ 
 
 It is, then, clearly taught by the early Fathers of 
 the Church : 
 
 (i) That the prayers for the dead which are to be 
 found in all the early Liturgies, or Rites for the 
 offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass, represented 
 the practice of the Apostles. 
 
 (2) That the souls aided by these prayers were in 
 a state of purgation. 
 
 Such is the Catholic doctrine handed down in the 
 Church from her first beginnings. 
 
 Deep down in the human heart lies the desire to 
 
 communicate with the departed. Necro- 
 The instinC' , . ^ , , 
 
 tive desire mancy under various forms has been 
 
 to speak to practised in every age of the world's 
 the dead* history. In our days it has taken the 
 form of Spiritism (incorrectly but more commonly 
 termed SpirituaHsm). 
 
 I De Obitu TJicodosii. ^ De CivHatc Dei, xxi. 24. 
 
The Communion of Saints 511 
 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the dangers that 
 accompany any attempts to evoke the spirits of the 
 That which dead. Such attempts are condemned in 
 is unlawful, the strongest terms by the Holy Scriptures 
 and by the Catholic Church. Experience proves 
 that those unhappy persons w^ho, in defiance of the 
 prohibition of their religion, tamper with forbidden 
 practices of this nature, gradually find that their 
 moral sense has been perverted and their will-power 
 weakened, and too often lose their Faith. And after 
 all, what excuse shall we have to offer to God, should 
 we out of idle curiosity yield to superstition and 
 turn aside to what at best is doubtful and dark — to 
 something which we know to be most sinful — when 
 our religion gives us the consolation which God sees 
 that His children need in sorrow. 
 
 Inspired by the truth of the Catholic doctrine of 
 the Communion of Saints, taught us in the Creed, 
 That which we know that we are not alone, even when 
 is lawful. Yve may seem to be most alone. The 
 Everlasting Arms are round about us. And we are 
 surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses. We can 
 help the dead and the dead help us. It is not indeed 
 taught by the Church as of Faith that the Souls in 
 Purgatory can pray for us, though this is the reasoned 
 conviction of great Saints and Theologians, and 
 seems to have been proved again and again in the 
 experience of the Faithful who receive wonderful 
 answers to their prayers to the Holy Souls. It h 
 
512 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 of Faith that the Souls in Purgatory will one day 
 reach Heaven and that the Saints in Heaven pray for 
 their friends on earth. 
 
 The inscriptions in the Catacombs show especially 
 that in the early days of persecution fathers and 
 mothers whose little children had gone before them, 
 clothed in baptismal innocence, to the Throne of 
 God, sought with confidence those children's prayers. 
 
 We too may seek with confidence the help of those 
 who have already travelled the last journey we one 
 day must travel, and in this manner, unforbidden, 
 hold sweet communion with those we have loved on 
 earth. 
 
 The Church that has given us so much, has given us 
 friends in the Heavenly country. Her Saints raise 
 their hands to help us. Over all the Saints reigns 
 their Queen, our Mother. If we trust her now, and 
 seek her Motherly aid in all our needs, one day 
 beyond a doubt we shall see her with her Son. 
 Then, with her, we shall adore, and, with her, we 
 shall see, the Human Features of her Child Jesus — 
 her God and our God, her Lord and our Lord. 
 
 Devotion to our Lady, to the Saints, and to the 
 Holy Dead, is in truth one of the greatest gifts that 
 God has bestowed upon us in the beautiful religion 
 which is ours. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 There are two great questions which, sooner or 
 later, every man who believes in God will find recur- 
 ring to his mind — unless either he has answered 
 them once for all and is at peace within himself, or 
 has resolutely closed and barred the door, making 
 it fast against enquiry. 
 
 First : What am I to believe concerning the super- 
 natural ? For, that the supernatural is a reality — 
 that the belief in an order of phenomena which is 
 above nature is no mere figment of the imagination 
 — every man who faces the experience of life will in 
 his heart admit ; and then secondly : How shall I be 
 enabled to overcome my passions ? For, that there is, or 
 at least that there should be, a struggle between his 
 lower and his higher desires, no man is allowed 
 altogether to forget. 
 
 These two questions may be linked together as 
 one. What am I to believe and how am I to live as I 
 should ? In other words : What shall I do to be saved ? 
 
 In every age, Catholic Christianity has given 
 
 513 33 
 
514 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 the same answer, simple, precise, categorical, all- 
 sufficing : Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou 
 shalt be saved. 
 
 Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ — belief that Jesus 
 Christ is the Lord Incarnate — involves belief that 
 He is not only our Teacher, but also our Saviour, for 
 this is the meaning of His Name. Belief in our 
 Lord Jesus Christ brings with it, in this life, salvation 
 for the intellect from error and darkness, salvation 
 for the will from the slavery of sin, salvation for the 
 whole man from the powers of evil. When this life 
 is over, belief in our Lord Jesus Christ will give 
 place to sight, when we shall see face to face Him in 
 whom we have believed on earth. " Whom not 
 having seen," writes St. Peter, " you love, in whom, 
 though now you see Him not, you, believing, rejoice 
 . . . receiving the end of your faith even the salvation 
 of your souls, of which salvation the prophe'ts have 
 enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of 
 the grace that should come unto you."^ 
 
 In this book I have endeavoured to show that the 
 answer given by Catholic Christianity to the problem 
 of life does not consist of '' cunningly devised 
 fables,"^ but has come to us, as a living Tradition, 
 from the holy Apostles who " have made known the 
 power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ — who 
 were eyewitnesses of His Majesty,''^ and have handed 
 down to us, in the Church which is the heir of His 
 I I Peter i, 8-10. ^ 2 Peter i. 16, ^ Jbid, 
 
Conclusion ^ i ^ 
 
 Promises and the pillar and ground of the Truth, 
 that which they received — "the Form of Sound 
 Words''^ — "the common salvation — the Faith once 
 delivered to the Saints." ^ 
 
 He who rightly believes in our Lord Jesus Christ 
 who is the Head, believes also in the Church of God 
 which is His Body. 
 
 The answer to What am I to believe ? is The Catholic 
 Faith. For this Faith is guaranteed to us by our 
 Lord through His Promises to His Church. 
 
 The answer to How am I to overcome myself? is 
 Through the Grace of Christ. 
 
 " Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me 
 from the body of this death P"^ ''I thank God," 
 wrote the Apostle, that deliverance shall come to 
 me " through Jesus Christ our Lord " 
 
 *' Where sin hath abounded, there has Grace much 
 more abounded."^ 
 
 So it is that every child of the Catholic Church, 
 from his supernatural birth in Baptism to his depar- 
 ture from this world, is encompassed by the abundant 
 grace of God ; is protected by the prayers of the 
 whole Company of Heaven — " for we have come . . . 
 unto Mount Sion . . . and to the Spirits of just men 
 made perfect"^ — and, after his soul has left the body, 
 is aided, still, by Divine Mysteries upon the earth. 
 
 1 2 Tim. i. 13. s jucje ^^ 
 
 3 Rom. vii. 24, 25. * Rom. v. 20. 
 
 ^ Heb. xii. 22, 23. 
 
5i6 What does Catholic Christianity give ? 
 
 Catholic Christianity supplies the key to all life's 
 problems, so far as we need that the problems be 
 solved whilst still we see as in a glass darkly and not 
 yet face to face. 
 
 Safety, then, is to be found in the Communion of 
 that Church which Christ built on His Chief Apostle 
 as upon a Rock, that Church which is the home of 
 His Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth and the Sancti- 
 fication of redeemed souls, in which He abides 
 together with the Father and the Son. 
 
 As Cardinal Manning expressed it in a sentence: 
 When confronted with the Catholic Church we must 
 be " either critics or disciples." If Catholic Chris- 
 tianity is merely a system of religion devised by men, 
 it is open to criticism, but for those of us who are 
 convinced that the Catholic Church is the Church 
 of God the path is clear — though of necessity still 
 beset with difficulty — it is the path of discipleship. 
 
 Ours it is to keep the Faith, in no way troubled 
 or surprised when we find that to the " Modern 
 Mind " it is still what the Apostle tells us that '"'the 
 things of the Spirit are to the Natural Man," what 
 our Lord Jesus Christ Himself was to ''the Greeks" 
 — mere '' foolishness."^ We are to *'live" not by the 
 imaginings of "the Modern Mind," but by every 
 word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."^ 
 
 Once again let me say it. Either criticism or 
 discipleship. Momentous is the choice. For myself, 
 1 I Cor. ii. 14 ; i. 23. 2 Uatt iv. 4. 
 
Conclusion 517 
 
 by this alone do I hope to be saved — by the grace 
 of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 I am writing these last words of my book on the 
 Feast of the Apostles Simon and Jude. My task has 
 been concerned mainly with the Word of God, which 
 they received. To them and to all the holy Apostles 
 I commend myself and all who read what I have 
 written. Ours is the heritage bequeathed to us by 
 these mighty Apostles of Christ, who one day, with 
 Him, shall judge the Tribes of Israel. May Peter, 
 Prince of the Apostolic Company, who holds the 
 Keys, open to every one of us the gates of Heaven ; 
 may Paul, the great Vessel of Election, chosen to 
 carry the Name of Jesus to those who sat in darkness, 
 intercede for us all that we forget not the words that 
 have been written: *' The just shall live by faith; 
 but if any m.an draw back. My soul shall have no 
 pleasure in him."^ God in His mercy forbid that 
 any of us should be " of those who draw back unto 
 perdition." Rather may our lot — yours and mine — 
 be with them that believe to the salvation of the 
 soul, for : " Without faith it is impossible to please 
 God."2 
 
 1 Hcb. X. 38, 39. 2 Heb. xi. 6. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 LETTER I 
 
 Egypt, 
 
 Fekrujry i, 1916. 
 ^Iy dear Watkix, 
 
 A friend of mine, until lately a Unitarian, now a 
 Catholic, has read Catholic Christianity in proof. He 
 thinks that any man who is a disciple of Bishop Berkeley 
 in philosophy would be much dissatisfied with the state- 
 ment marked {b) on page 4. I replied that it was im- 
 possible, within my limits, to deal with all possible 
 metaphysical positions. ?vIoreover, Idealism will never 
 be the plain man's creed ; and even at Oxford, as you 
 know, Dr. Rashdall is left, a soHtary mourner, to bewail 
 its funeral. 
 
 However, I shall be very much obliged if you will 
 wTite and tell me what you think of my friend's criticism. 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 O. R. \"assall-Phillips, C.SS.R. 
 
 LETTER n 
 
 45, Chalfont Road, Oxford, 
 Fehiuary 16, 19x6. 
 Dear Fr. \'a.-sall, 
 
 I agree with your friend that the statement (h) on 
 page 4 requires a certain modification, since it is possible 
 to call in question the existence of a material world, 
 external to, and independent of, percipient minds. Never- 
 theless, such a reflection is always the artificial product 
 of philosophic speculation. The plain unsophisticated 
 common sense of mankind has ever believed, and will 
 ever believe, that the objective reality of the objects of 
 perception is given in their perception itself. Surely, 
 this consensus should not be lightly set aside. Moreover, 
 if, for argument's sake, the idealist position be granted, 
 
 518 
 
Appendix 519 
 
 it must surely follow— unless we are to fall into pure 
 solipsism, a patent absurdity— that the ordered universe 
 of mutually inter -dependent phenomena cannot be 
 caused by our own mind. Neither can it be caused by 
 the minds of all men together. Hence we are driven to 
 postulate a Deity on whose Mind this cosmos of pheno- 
 mena depends. Thus does Idealism lead us straight to 
 Theism. (This, of course, is the ideahst argument for 
 Theism— cogent, if Idealism be granted— which is taught 
 by Dr. Rashdall). But, if we believe in a Deity, it is 
 surely incredible that He, who must be Absolute Truth, 
 has subjected the human race to the illusion of belief in 
 a material universe not really existent. Therefore 
 Idealism cannot be true. So we see that Idealism postu- 
 lates a Theism Vv^iich is itself destructive of Idealism. 
 In other words, Idealism is self-destructive. Of course 
 this letter is not meant to be a satisfactory philosophical 
 discussion of the idealist position. But if you can insert 
 something of this kind, it will, I think, suffice to prevent 
 any idealist who may come across your book from putting 
 it away impatiently and refusing to read further. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 E. Watkin. 
 
 LETTER III 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 March g, 1916. 
 
 My dear Watkin, 
 
 \'ery many thanks. It is impossible at this stage 
 to make any changes in the body of my book. _ But, with 
 your permission, I will insert your letter, which I have 
 just received, in an Appendix. It expresses the gist of 
 the matter far more concisely and satisfactorily than I 
 could have done without your kind help. The publica- 
 tion of the book will, I fear, have to wait until after the 
 
 war. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 O. R. Vassall-Phillips, C.SS.R. 
 
INDEX 
 
 A. 
 
 Accidents, 421 
 
 Alexandria, The Apostolic Church 
 
 of, 321 
 Alpiionsus de Liguori, St., and — ■ 
 Perfect Contiition, 403, n. 
 The Ma^s, 447 
 Love of the Blessed Virgin, 
 500 
 Ambrose, St., and — 
 Absolution, 399 
 Prayer for the Dead, 509 
 Ammonianus Marcellinus, 70 
 Antioch, Ihe Apostolic Church 
 
 of, 321 
 Apocalyptic School, The, 79 
 Arius, 273 
 Arnobius, 75 
 Ascension, The, 142-146 
 Athanasius, St., and ihe Deutero- 
 
 Canonical Books, 261 
 Atlantis Magazine, 7 lie, 270 
 Attrition, 405 
 Augustine, St., and — 
 
 the Catholic Church, 187, 
 
 188, 297, 324 
 the Rule of Catholic Disci- 
 pline, 239 
 thfc Canon of the New Testa- 
 ment, 264 
 the Sinlessness of the Blessed 
 
 Virgin Mary, 285, n. 
 the See of Peter, 320, 321, 
 
 322, 324 
 the Baptism of Desire, 384 
 the Blessed Sacrament, 434 
 the Sacrament of Matrimony, 
 
 470> 471 
 Purgatory, 507 
 
 B. 
 
 Baptism, Conditional, 386 
 
 conferred bv heretics, validity 
 
 of, 283, 28^ 
 of Water, 383 
 of Blood, 384 
 of Desire, 384 
 Batiffol, M., 265, 462 
 Benediction, Rite of, 280-282 
 Benson, Mgr., 177 
 Berengarius, 416, n. 
 Beroean Jews and those of Thessa- 
 
 ionica, 243-245 
 Billot, Cardinal, S.J., 29 
 Bishops, Catholic, Suci essors of 
 
 the Apostles, 332, 335 
 Boxley, Rood of. 157 
 Bridgett, Fr., CSS.R., 235-238. 
 422-424 
 
 C. 
 
 Calvin, 469, 480 
 
 Canon of ^Scripture, 227, 259-267 
 Cathedra, The, 320 
 Causality, Principle of, 17-20 
 Cele-tine, Pope St., 312 
 Chillingvvorth, 224, ;/. 
 Chrysostom, St. John, and — 
 
 St. John's Gospel, 122 
 
 St. John V. 39, 243, ;/. 
 
 Prayer for the Dead, 509 
 Clement of Alexandria and the 
 
 Catholic Churci], 304 306 
 Clement of Rome, St., and — 
 
 his Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 226 
 
 the Canon of our Tradition, 
 
 2^I 
 
 52-: 
 
Index 
 
 521 
 
 Clement of Rome, St., and— 
 
 theDeutero-Canonical Books, 
 
 261 
 the witness of St. Irenseus, 
 
 315. 
 the Hierarchy, 457 
 
 eTTtV/COTTOl, 463, fl. 2 
 
 Collective Experience, 171, 179 
 
 Hallucination, 136 
 Communion under One Kind, 
 
 428-430 
 Conception, Immaculate, The, 
 
 284-286, 346 
 Confession, Necessary, 396 
 
 Voluntary, 396 
 Confirmation and the Church of 
 
 England, 389 
 Conscience, Argument from, 31 
 Consent, General, of Mankind, 30 
 Constantinople, The Church of, 
 
 321 
 Contrition, 403, 404, 407 
 Council, CEcumenical, ot Chalce- 
 
 don and the Successor of Peter^ 
 
 334 
 Council, CEcumenical, of Florence 
 and the Effects of the Eucharist, 
 
 433 
 
 Council, CEcumenical, of Trent 
 
 and — 
 the Deutero-Canonical Books, 
 
 262 
 the Confession of Venial Sins, 
 
 400 
 Holy Communion, 434 
 Holy Order, 456 
 Purgatory, 503 
 Council, CEcumenical, of the Vati- 
 can and — 
 the Knowledge of God, 15, 
 
 16 
 Revelation, 37 
 
 the Christian Evidences, 184 
 the Nature of Infallibility, 
 
 2-69 
 the Increase of Knowledge, 
 
 286-287 
 the Voice of the Church, 327 
 Council of Constantinople, 262 
 of Hippo, 261 
 
 Councils (two) of Carthage, 262 
 Creed, The Apostles', 337 
 
 The Nicene, 337-338 
 
 The Athanasian, 338 
 Cyprian, St , and — 
 
 the Church founded by Christ 
 on Peter, 333 
 
 the Mode of Baptism, 381 
 Cyril of Jerusalem, St., and — 
 
 St. John V. 39, 243, 71. 
 
 Mass for the Dead, 509 
 
 D. 
 
 Damasus, St., Pope, 264 
 Deposit of Faith, The, 251, 26S 
 
 270 
 Design, Argument from, 20-30 
 Deutero-Canonical Books, The, 
 
 260-262 
 Devivier, Fr., S.J., 52 
 Diaconate, The, 458 
 Didache, The, 261, 439 
 Diotrephes, 463 
 Docetse, The, 458 
 Doctors of the Church, The, 342 
 
 Ecce Homo, Author of, 78 
 Ephesus, The Apostolic Church 
 
 of, 321 
 Episcopate, The, 459 
 iTriaKOTTOi, meaning of the word 
 
 in the New Testament, 460-465 
 Eutyches, 273 
 
 F. 
 
 Fih'oque, The, 338 
 Forbes, Bishop, 480 
 Fulgentius, St., and the Power of 
 Absolution, 399 
 
 G. 
 
 Gospels, Authenticity of, 1 01 
 Date of, 102 
 
 H. 
 
 Hallucination Theory, The, 134- 
 139 
 
522 
 
 Index 
 
 Harnack, Professor, 82, 229, 11., 
 
 304 
 Heresy, Meaning of the word, 
 
 265-266 
 Heterodoxy, Meaning of the 
 
 word, 267 
 Hunter, Fr., S.J., 425 
 Huxley, Professor, 38 
 
 I. 
 
 Ignatius, St., of Antioch, and — 
 the Unity of the Church, 
 
 300-301 
 the DocetK, 416, n. 
 the Monarchical Episcopate, 
 461 
 Infallibility of the Pope, 336 
 Innocent I., Pope, 262 
 Innocent IV , Pope, 470 
 Irenseus, St.. and — 
 
 the Gospel of St. John, loi 
 the Unity of the Church, 
 
 301-304 
 Apostolic Sees, 314-315 
 the See of Rome, 319 
 the Prophecy of Malachy, 
 439 
 
 J. 
 
 Jansenist Theory of Confession, 
 
 400, 401, 409 
 Jansenists, the Dutch, 312 
 Jerome, St., and — 
 
 the Word of God, 239 
 
 the Deutero-Canonical Books, 
 
 261 
 the New Testament Canon, 
 
 264 
 the Headship o' Peter, 333 
 the Roman Faith, 334 
 the Episcopal Office equal in 
 
 all Bishops, 459 
 the Diocesan Episcopate 
 Apostolic in origin, 463, n. 
 Jerusalem, Destruction of, 68-7C 
 
 The Apostolic Church of, 321 
 Jevons, Professor Stanley, 84 
 Josephus, 69, 265 
 Joyce. Fr.,S.J., 83, 88, loi, 153 
 
 Julian, The Apostate, 70 
 
 of Eclanum, 322 
 Justin Martyr, St., and the Pro- 
 phecy of Malachy, 439 
 
 K. 
 
 Kant, 33 
 
 Keogh, Fr., S.J., 462, n. 6 
 Knox, Rev. R., 75, 88. 88. n. 4, 
 142-144 
 
 L. 
 
 Laity, Priesthood of, 452-453 
 Lehrakuhl, Fr., S.J., 474, n. 
 Leo the Great, St.. and the 
 
 Council of Chalcedon, 334 
 Leonard of Port Maurice, St.. 445 
 Lex orandi lex credendi, 344 
 " Liberal Theologians," 107, 135 
 Liddon, Dr., 60 
 Lloyd-George, Right Hon. David, 
 
 238 
 Lourdes, 161 -169 
 Lulher, Martin, 264. 267, 469, 
 
 480 
 
 M. 
 
 Macedonius, 273 
 
 Magisterhim, The Ordinary of 
 
 the Church, 339-341 
 Malachy, The Prophecy of, 438- 
 
 440 
 Malta, the Apostolic Church of, 
 
 3ii 
 
 Manna, The, 418-419 
 
 Mary, The Blessed Virgin, 71-74, 
 
 87, 492-494: 498 500 
 Mary Magdalen, St.. a Prophecy 
 
 concerning, 70 
 Matrimony, Impediments Diri- 
 ment of, 475 
 its indissolubility, 477 
 Mediator, The One, 495-499 
 Milton, 495, n. 
 Miracles of Christ — 
 
 their Nature. 119-120 
 their Possibiliiy, 80 89 
 their Truth, 114-1 18 
 Miracles of SS. Peter and Paul, 
 76 
 
Index 
 
 523 
 
 Miracles in — 
 
 Patristic times, 154 
 
 Mediaeval times. 154 
 
 Modern times, 155 160 
 Miracles, False, 93 95 
 
 Non evidential, 95, 152 
 Modernism, 10 
 " Modern Thinkers," 75, 77 
 Mohammedanism and Our Lady, 
 
 Motion, Argument from, 30 
 Moves, Mgr,, 21, 31 
 Myth Theory, The, lOO 
 
 N. 
 
 Natural Law, 85 
 Necessity, Argument from, 30 
 Nestorius, 273 
 
 Ne Temere Decree, The, 475-477 
 Newman, Cardinal, 31, 81, 149, 
 151, 270, 276-278, 281 
 
 O. 
 
 Optatus, St., and — 
 the Bible, 229, n. 
 the Chair of Peter, 319-320, 
 322, 334 
 
 P. 
 
 Parmenian, the Donatist, 320 
 Pascal, 54 
 Pasteur, M., 349 
 Paul, Si., and — 
 
 the Permanence of Miracles, 
 
 the "Divinity of Christ, 203, 
 204 
 Penance, Sacrament of — 
 
 its Three Parts, 402 
 
 Jurisdiction in, 411, 412 
 Perfection, Argument from, 30 
 Philip the Deacon and Private 
 Interpretations of the Bible, 233 
 Poly carp, St., and — 
 
 the Deutero-Canonical Books, 
 261 
 
 the Catholic Church, 301 
 
 eTricTKO'iroL, 463, n. 2 
 P)-<2ambnla Fidei, 42 
 Priesthood, The, 458 
 
 Profession of Faith of — 
 
 Pope Pius IV., 338-339> 
 419-420 
 
 Pope Gregory XI II., 339 
 
 Pope Urban VIII. , 339 
 
 Benedict XIV., 339 
 Professors, German, 136 
 Prophecies in the Old Testament, 
 49-62 
 
 in the New Testament, 63-74 
 Purgatory, 503-5 lo 
 
 Q- 
 Quadratus, Bishop of Athens. 104 
 
 R. 
 
 Rationalist Press Association, 
 
 The. 113 
 Renan, 80 
 Resurrection — 
 
 Hallucination Theory. 134- 
 
 139 
 Myth Theory, 100 
 Swoon Theory, 132-134 
 Rickaby, Fr., S.J-, 472 
 Rome, Apostolic Church of, 311, 
 
 314-315. 319-322 
 Rule of Faith- 
 Catholic and Protestant con- 
 trasted, 219, 222-248 
 Proximate, 221 
 Remote, 221 
 Russians in England, 137-138 
 
 S. 
 
 Sacrifice, idea of, 435-436 
 
 Sacrifice of the Mass — 
 and St. Paul, 440 
 Essence of, 441 
 Principal parts of, 443 
 Methods of hearing, 445 
 Reasons for saying in Dead 
 
 Language, 445 
 Ends of, 447-450 
 Fruit of, 450 
 
 Saints, Communion of, 500-503 
 
 Satisfaction, 408, 409 
 
 Schweitzer, Professor, 79 
 
524 
 
 Index 
 
 " vSearch the Scriptures," 243- 
 244 
 
 Sin, Mortal and Venial, Distinc- 
 tion between, 393-395 
 
 Siricius, Pope, 320 
 
 Slavery, 355-359 
 
 Smith, Benjamin, Professor, 109- 
 114 
 
 Smyrna, Church of, 315-321 
 
 Spectator, Newspaper, the, 297 
 
 Spencer, Herbert, Professor, 32 
 
 Strauss, 100, 102, 132 
 
 Streeter, Canon, and the Resur- 
 rection of Christ, 140 
 
 Substance, 421 
 
 Superstitions, Modern. 159 
 
 Swoon Theory, The, 132-134 
 
 T. 
 
 Teresa, St., 349 
 Tertullian and — 
 
 Heresy, 315-319 
 
 the Prophecy of Malachy, 439 
 
 Prayer for the Dead, 509 
 Things Strangled, 235 
 Thomas Aquinas. St., and — 
 
 Definition of Miracle, 87, n. 
 
 Evidential Miracles, 94, 11. 
 
 Our Lord's Presence in the 
 Eucharist, 424, «. 
 
 Thompson, Rev., M.S., 81, 103, 
 
 104, 108 
 Tomb, The Emp'y, 139 
 Tradition, The Divine, 251, 253- 
 
 259, 33i> «• 
 Traditions, Ecclesiastical, 254 
 Transubstantiation, The Word, 
 
 420 
 Turton, Colonel, R.E., 8, 50, 55, 
 
 100, 147-149 
 
 U. 
 
 Uniformity of Nature, The Law 
 of, 82-88 
 
 V. 
 
 Vincent of Lerins and the Deposit 
 of the Faith, 268 
 
 W. 
 
 Waldenses, The, 470 
 
 Washing of Feet, Ceremony of, 
 
 235-238 
 Winfrid, St., 312 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zola, M,, 161 
 
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