Chapter XII: Ambrose Lisle Phillipps

The close and warm friendship between Father Ignatius and Mr. Phillipps has scarcely a parallel in ancient or modern history. They became acquainted in 1829; and until death suspended their mutual communication for awhile, they ever wrote, spoke, and thought, with more than a brotherly--ay, more than any human or natural affection. The Christian patriotism of each, which prayed and laboured to bring their countrymen to the blessings they themselves had received, may have fostered this beautiful love; and even the different spheres in, as well as means by, which they felt themselves called to prosecute the work of their predilection may have helped to keep it ever warm and new; but there was a something in it which reminds one of David and Jonathan, that spread over it a grace and splendour far above what it is given us now and then to behold. This chapter will show the rise of their mutual affection, and show where lay the basis of the edifice gratitude and charity helped to fashion.

Father Ignatius says, in the account of his conversion:--

"Near the end of the year 1829 I was introduced to young Mr.
Phillipps, eldest son of a rich gentleman in Leicestershire, whom I
had often heard spoken of as a convert to the Catholic religion. I
had for a long time been curious to see him, that I might observe
the mode of reasoning by which he had been persuaded into what I
still thought so great an error. We spent five hours together in the
house of the Rev. Mr. Foley, Catholic Missionary in my
neighbourhood, with whom I had already had much intercourse. I was
interested by the ardent zeal of this {187} young man in the cause
of his faith. I had previously imagined that he must have been
ignorant on the subject of religion, and that he had suffered
himself to be led blindly by others; but he answered all my
objections about his own conversion with readiness and intelligence.
I could not but see that it had been in him the result of his own
diligent investigations. I was delighted with what I could observe
of his character. I was more than ever inflamed with a desire to be
united in communion with persons in whom I saw such clear signs of
the Spirit of God; but yet my time was not fully come. I fancied, by
his conversation, that he had principles and ideas inconsistent with
what I had learned from Scripture; and in a few days I again put
aside the uneasiness which this meeting had occasioned, and
continued to follow my former purpose, only with increased
resolution to come at satisfaction. He was, in the meanwhile, much
interested in my case. He recommended me to the prayers of some
religious communities, and soon after invited me to his father's
house that we might continue our discourses. I was happy at the
prospect of this meeting, and full of hopes that it would prove
satisfactory to me; but I left home without any idea of the
conclusion to which it pleased God to bring me so soon."

Mr. Phillipps wrote to him:--

"My Dear Sir,--We expect the Bishop of Lichfield here on the 25th
January, and I have ventured to hope that I might be able to induce
you to come here at that time, to meet him and stay the week. I hope
so the more, as I think your conversation might induce him, as well
as my father, to think more seriously on that awful subject on which
we conversed when I had the great happiness of being introduced to
you at Northampton. I assure you, a day has not passed without my
offering up my unworthy prayers to Almighty God in your behalf; and
I cannot refrain from again saying, that I hope one day we shall be
united in the same faith of the One Holy and Apostolic Church of
Jesus Christ. How great is the consolation to belong to that holy
Church which alone Jesus Christ has founded, which alone He has
illustrated with a never-failing succession of {188} pastors and of
miracles, from which all others have separated, and out of which I
find in the Holy Scriptures no covenanted promise of salvation! The
Catholic Church alone has converted those nations which have been
brought to the faith of Christ; and as, on the one hand, no man
could at this moment be a Protestant had not Luther and the other
Reformers existed, so, on the other, neither Luther nor any
succeeding Protestant could derive any knowledge of Christianity but
from the Catholic Church. How sublime are the promises of Christ,
'Upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall
not prevail against it.' .... 'Going, therefore, teach ye all
nations.' .... 'And lo! I am with you all days, even unto the end of
the world.' Now to what Church was this promise made (a promise
which involves infallibility; for it would be blasphemy to say that
the God of Truth could commission a Church to teach the world, if
that Church could possibly teach error)? Certainly not to Churches
(sects, I should say) which separated from the parent Church fifteen
hundred years after the promise was given, and therefore came into
existence fifteen hundred years too late to be the Church of Christ.
And to what do the sects have recourse? To groundless accusations of
the Church of God, involving the charge of idolatry; but this very
charge condemns them, '_ex ore tuo judico te_.' for, by saying that
the Church fell into idolatry, and that that justifies their
separation, they admit that there was a time when the Church was not
guilty of idolatry. Now how are the promises of Christ verified, if
His Church could ever become idolatrous? I find in no part of
Scripture any prediction that the Church of Christ should ever
become idolatrous, and that then it should be lawful to separate
from her. Christ said simply, 'I am with you all days,' and 'he that
believeth and is baptised shall be saved, and he that believeth not
shall be condemned.' It is in vain to urge that St. Paul speaks of
the 'man of sin,' and of 'a falling away,'--he speaks not of the
Church; and the very expression 'a falling away' shows that it is
not the Church, but sects, to which he alludes--for the Church never
fell away from any previous Church,--this is matter of {189}
history; but all the sects, all schismatics, all heretics, fell away
from the Catholic Church of Christ,--this is equally matter of
history. No. St. Paul, the ever-glorious apostle and doctor of the
Gentiles, spoke of Arius, Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Henry VIII., and
all other heresiarchs, all of whom did apostatize and 'fall away,'
and have by their schisms and endless divisions, and the spirit of
infidelity resulting from them, paved the way for the Man of Sin,
the great Antichrist, who may perhaps shortly appear, the last
development of Heresy and Liberalism. But how shall sectaries take
refuge in the mysterious predictions of the Apocalypse? As well
might that atrocious assassin who killed Henry IV. find some excuse
in the hidden words of that volume. But I might pursue the question
still further. What right have sects to the Bible? Jesus Christ gave
it to us, and these men have stolen our book. If they say He did not
give it to us, I reply, then they ought to cease to believe that
Jesus Christ ever existed, for that is no more a matter of history,
nor a more certain fact, than His commission to His Church to teach
all nations all truth.

"But I must conclude. I have not written all this without some fear;
but, my dear Mr. Spencer, I know it is a subject which is deeply
interesting to you, and, therefore, however ill I may have said it,
I have said it with the less hesitation. Will you write me a line to
say if you can come here? I do hope you will. My father says he had
the pleasure once of meeting you at Mr. Thornton's.

"Believe me, my dear Mr. Spencer,
"Most sincerely yours,
"Ambrose Lisle Phillipps.

"Clarendon Park, Loughbro',
_"Dec._ 30."

The letter in which Father Ignatius signified his acceptance of this invitation is still extant, and was lent by Mr. Phillipps to the Passionists for this "Life." It is interesting, as the last vibration of the needle to the pole of Catholic truth, as well as for the idea it gives of his state of mind at that time. We give it, therefore, in full. He wrote it from {190} Althorp, where the family were assembled, as usual, for the Christmas holidays.

"Althorp, _Jan_. 4, 1830.

"My Dear Sir,--I received your kind invitation to Garendon on
Saturday; but I thought it best to postpone answering it for a day
or two, that I might consider what I had better do. If the visit
which you propose to me had been an ordinary one, I suppose I should
have declined it for the present, as I believe my father and mother
will be at Althorp till about the 25th January, and I seldom go out
when they are here. But as you invite me in the hope, and with a
desire, that good may be done by my going, I believe I should be
sorry afterwards if I refused. I therefore have told my father of my
intention, and, if nothing happens to prevent me, I will be with you
on Monday the 25th. As to the hour of my arrival, I cannot just now
tell how the coaches run between Northampton and Loughborough; but I
conclude I shall be with you in good time. And now that I have
determined to go, I am really thankful that another opportunity of
conversing with you is given me so soon; and I trust that our
intercourse will be blessed for our own good and that of others. And
if the step you have taken in becoming a Roman Catholic is correct,
according to the will of Christ, I have no doubt that my
conversation with you will be of use in drawing me nearer to the
right point. If, as I still am convinced, there is some error in
your views, let us agree in hoping that our intercourse may be
likewise profitable to you. I have been confirmed, by every
conversation which I have had with Roman Catholics, in the
persuasion that there is something materially wrong in what we may
call the Protestant system; and I have spoken my mind to this effect
as often as occasion has been given me. But if our union with the
Roman Catholic Church involves a declaration of my belief of all
that she teaches, and a submission to all her authority, as their
subjects are set forth in Bossuet's Exposition and Catechism, I am
not as yet one of the body; and I am reduced to the conviction that
somewhere or other there is an error among {191} you. One thing I
have learnt in the course of these inquiries is that the Scriptures
of the New Testament are not, as I formerly used to regard them
through want of consideration, the formal canon of the Christian
faith. It is as clear to me as I suppose you could wish it to be,
that the oral tradition of Christ to Peter and the other Apostles,
and that of the Apostles to the Churches, is the rule of Christian
doctrine, and with all my heart I seek for the knowledge of what
they taught, and have been frequently struck with the desirableness
of a clear and definite authority to which we might refer, when I
have observed the mischief into which Christians have fallen by
following each his own judgment. I do not see how I should be
stopped from at once becoming Catholic, under this impression, if it
was not that on comparing the state of the doctrine and discipline
of the Roman Church with what the Scriptures plainly teach me of the
state of the Apostolic Church, and the method of their doctrine, I
see such an obvious and plain difference, and I cannot be convinced
but that, between their time and that of the Council of Trent,
improper use has been made of the Church's authority. I am waiting
to learn what is the right way, which God knows and He alone; and I
can only hope for His guidance of me into the right way by standing
ready for conviction when the means of it are offered to me. I
declare myself to be in doubt. But that doubt gives me no
uneasiness, for my hope of salvation is simply founded on Jesus
Christ crucified; whom I expect to meet, as one of His redeemed
ones, when He returns. It is not any works of righteousness which I
can do, nor any outward profession of doctrine which I can make,
that can justify me. I am justified freely by the grace of God
through faith in Jesus Christ, to whom I give myself, to learn of
Him and follow Him whithersoever He leadeth. You will find me as
open to instruction and conviction as you seemed to think me at Mr.
Foley's; and I will weigh what you say, though you should decline to
meet me on the same terms, and declare yourself determined to give
your mind no more to inquiry. Yet, for your own sake and the sake of
others, who will of course be more disposed to attend to you if they
see you {192} candid and still humble and doubtful of your own
judgment, I wish you to resolve that you will meet me as I come to
you, determined that we will, with the blessing of God, come to one
mind, at the cost of all our respective prejudices. We should not
meet as polemics determined on victory, but in the spirit of
meekness and mutual forbearance. Then God, who sees the heart, if he
sees us truly thus disposed, will know how to make his truth shine
clearly to us both. Above all, let us pray for each other, and for
all, but especially those who most nearly belong to us, and be
encouraged by the promise, 'If any two of you shall agree as
touching anything that ye shall ask, on earth it shall be done for
them of My Father, who is in heaven.' Pray give my respectful
compliments to your father, whom I remember well meeting once at
Brock Hall, and of whom I have often heard the Thorntons speak with
great regard; and to carry to him my best thanks for his kind
permission to you to receive me in his house. Perhaps I shall write
to the Bishop of Lichfield, to tell him that I expect to meet him
there. I hope nothing will prevent his coming. And if we are allowed
to have freedom of conversation with him on these things, which I
pray to God may be given us, I must particularly interest you to
hear and consider what he says with meekness and humility, though
you may have the clearest conviction that he is in error. Surely his
age and rank, and the work to which he has sincerely devoted
himself, and his relation to you, make this a double duty; and, by
acting so, you will not be hurt, for though you may be perplexed for
awhile, God will not suffer you to lose one point of what is really
good, but will finally establish you the more firmly for acting in
this humble spirit.

"Believe me, dear Sir,
"Yours most sincerely,
"George Spencer."

He relates, in the _Account of his Conversion_, the effects of this visit:--

"On Sunday, 24th January, 1830, I preached in my church, and in the
evening took leave of my family for the {193} week, intending to
return on the Saturday following to my ordinary duties at home. But
our Lord ordered better for me. During the week I spent on this
visit I passed many hours daily in conversation with Phillipps, and
was satisfied beyond all my expectations with the answers he gave to
the different questions I proposed, about the principal tenets and
practices of Catholics. During the week we were in company with
several other Protestants, and among them some distinguished
clergymen of the Church of England, who occasionally joined in our
discussions. I was struck with observing how the advantage always
appeared on his side in the arguments which took place between them,
notwithstanding their superior age and experience;[Footnote 8] and I
saw how weak was the cause in behalf of which I had hitherto been
engaged; I felt ashamed of arguing any longer against what I began
to see clearly could not be fairly disproved. I now openly declared
myself completely shaken, and, though I determined to take no
decided step until I was entirely convinced, I determined to give
myself no rest till I was satisfied, and had little doubt now of
what the result would be. But yet I thought not how soon God would
make the truth clear to me. I was to return home, as I have said, on
Saturday. Phillipps agreed to accompany me on the day previous to
Leicester, where we might have further conversation with Father
Caestryck, the Catholic missionary established in that place. I
imagined that I might take some weeks longer for consideration, but
Mr. Caestryck's conversation that afternoon overcame all my
opposition. He explained to me, and made me see, that the way to
come at the knowledge of the true religion is not to contend, as men
are disposed to do, about each individual point, but to submit
implicitly to the authority of Christ, and of those to whom He has
committed the charge of His flock. He set before me the undeniable
but wonderful fact of the agreement of the Catholic Church all over
the world, in one faith, under one head; he showed me the assertions
of Protestants, that the Catholic Church had altered her doctrines,
were {194} not supported by evidence; he pointed out the wonderful,
unbroken chain of the Roman Pontiffs; he observed to me how in all
ages the Church, under their guidance, had exercised an authority,
undisputed by her children, of cutting off from her communion all
who opposed her faith and disobeyed her discipline. I saw that her
assumption of this power was consistent with Christ's commission to
His Apostles to teach all men to the end of the world; and His
declaration that those who would not hear the pastors of His Church
rejected Him. What right, then, thought I, had Luther and his
companions to set themselves against the united voice of the Church?
I saw that he rebelled against the authority of God when he set
himself up as an independent guide. He was bound to obey the
Catholic Church--how then should I not be equally bound to return to
it? And need I fear that I should be led into error by trusting to
those guides to whom Christ himself thus directed me? No! I thought
this impossible. Full of these impressions, I left Mr. Caestryck's
house to go to my inn, whence I was to return home next morning.
Phillipps accompanied me, and took this last occasion to impress on
me the awful importance of the decision which I was called upon to
make. At length I answered:--

[Footnote 8: Phillipps was then about 17 years of age.]

"'I am overcome. There is no doubt of the truth. One more Sunday I
will preach to my congregation, and then put myself into Mr. Foley's
hands, and conclude this business.'

"It may be thought with what joyful ardour he embraced this
declaration, and warned me to declare my sentiments faithfully in
these my last discourses. The next minute led me to the
reflection,--Have I any right to stand in that pulpit, being once
convinced that the Church is heretical to which it belongs? Am I
safe in exposing myself to the danger which may attend one day's
travelling, while I turn my back on the Church of God, which now
calls me to unite myself to her for ever? I said to Phillipps: 'If
this step is right for me to take next week, it is my duty to take
it now. My resolution is made; to-morrow I will be received into the
Church.' We lost no time in despatching a messenger to {195} my
father, to inform him of this unexpected event. As I was forming my
last resolution, the thought of him came across me; will it not be
said that I endanger his very life by so sudden and severe a shock?
The words of our Lord rose before me, and answered all my doubts:
'He that hateth not father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and
houses and lands, and his own life too, cannot be my disciple.' To
the Lord, then, I trusted for the support and comfort of my dear
father under the trial which, in obedience to His call, I was about
to inflict upon him. I had no further anxiety to disturb me. God
alone knows the peace and joy with which I laid me down that night
to rest. The next day, at nine o'clock, the Church received me for
her child."

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BOOK III

_F. Ignatius, a Secular Priest_.

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