Chapter V (27)

"When he gave the promise to his church, 'I am with you always,
even to the end of the world,' manifestly he designed to say,
'I am with you only to the end of the third or fourth century,
after which I shall desert you until the sixteenth.'

"When he announced, 'I will send the Holy Ghost, and he shall
guide you into _all_ truth,' it is clearer than the day
that he wished to tell them, 'The Holy Ghost will teach you
just so much of truth as each individual can gather from the
private study of the Scriptures.'

"When he made the wonderful statement, 'The gates of hell shall
_never_ prevail against the church,' even children can see
that he meant, 'Hell shall triumph over the church for eight
hundred years and more.'"

The question is raised whether the Fathers and the first four General Councils cannot be taken as guides, and it is shown that they are as hard to interpret as the Bible itself. But cannot the clergy be appealed to as authorized interpreters? In replying to this query, the professor of theology said:

"There was not, he conceived, in the annals of human
religion--of which the number was now almost beyond
arithmetical calculation--so singular a paradox as that which
was displayed in Puseyite theology. The claims of a Leo the
Great, or a Gregory the Seventh, which, at least, whatever
Protestants might think of them, were cordially admitted both
in their own generation and in those which followed it, were
only the utterances of timid self-abasement, compared with the
super-oecumenical dogmatism of their high-church friends. 'Obey
me,' said these gentlemen to their disciples, 'for obedience is
the prerogative of the laity; but I obey nobody except my own
interpretation of the fathers, or of such of them as I approve,
because my church is not yet sufficiently catholic to deserve
my obedience. At present I am obliged to create a church for
you, because nothing worthy of the name is found just now on
earth. The day will come when she will have been sufficiently
taught by me, will cease to be Protestant without becoming
Roman, and then I shall be able to obey the church, because,
having learned from me the exact form of primitive
Christianity, which exists nowhere at present but in my own
ideal conception, the church will have come again into
corporate existence, and will be worthy of your dutiful regard.
It will then no longer be necessary for me, as it is
unfortunately at present, to cumulate in my own person the
functions of the pope, the saints, the fathers, the general
councils, and Almighty God.'

"(Considerable agitation followed this speech, during which the
sitting was suspended for some minutes.)

"The Rev. Lavender Kidds observed, as soon as the composure of
the assembly was restored, that, however forcible the remarks
of the learned professor might be as applied to Puseyism, he
had shown that he was unwilling to grapple with the grand
principle of Bible Christianity, of which he was the humble
advocate.

"The professor intended no disrespect to Mr. Kidds and his
party. Bible Christianity, since he must speak of it, (though
he thought that former speakers had sufficiently disposed of
the subject,) was only less preposterous than the rival theory
which he had just ventured to describe. It required personal
infallibility in all who professed it. It simply transferred to
the individual the supernatural prerogative which the Romanist
attributed to his church.
{562}
It was obvious to common sense that, if Mr. Kidds could
interpret a particular translation of the Scriptures, so as to
know infallibly both how much was necessary to be salvation,
and exactly what was necessary to believed about it, he must
himself be personally infallible.

"The professor must decline to give his own opinion, though of
course he had one, on the question proposed by Dr. Easy; but he
had no objection to state how he conceived it ought to be
answered by the so-called Bible-Christian. That answer might be
as follows:

"The existence of a church assumes the existence of a God;
therefore, the denial of a God would be the same with the
denial of a church. But the Church of England is a fact. Her
teaching may be doubtful or contradictory, but her existence as
a politico-ecclesiastical institution, professing belief in a
God, is beyond dispute. It would, therefore, be heresy in the
Bible Christian to deny the existence of a God; but it was
quite open to him to believe in any _kind_ of divinity he
might prefer, and to clothe him with whatever attributes the
Privy Council had permitted him to retain. ...

"Archdeacon Jolly doubted whether the universal _Nego_ of
Mr. Kidds and his friends could combat successfully the eternal
_Credo_ of two hundred millions of Catholics. However, he
was quite willing to consider Mr. Kidd's proposition; but he
must be excused if he did so from his own point of view.

"There was a large class of persons in this country," continued
the archdeacon, "who, having no definite religion of their own,
and being slenderly endowed with common sense, were indebted to
the Roman Catholic Church both for employment and maintenance.
Let Mr. Kidds restrain his excitement; he would explain his
meaning. He did not, of course, include Mr. Kidds among the
class in question, though he believed that gentleman would
willingly accept the statement of Sterne, who candidly
confessed, that, 'when he had little to say or little to give
his people, he had resource to the abuse of popery. Hence he
called it his "Cheshire Cheese." It had a twofold advantage; it
cost him very little, and he found by experience that nothing
satisfied so well the hungry appetites of his congregation.
They always devoured it greedily.'

"Perhaps Mr. Kidds was not aware that in his zeal to hasten the
downfall of popery--which, even according to modern prophets,
had still a few years to last, and which, judging by a recent
tour he had made on the continent, presented anything but a
moribund aspect--he was in violent opposition with many active
and devoted Protestants. The persons to whom he alluded were,
at this moment, full of anxiety lest popery should perish too
soon! They could not afford to say farewell to their old friend
at present, and desired only to keep him on his legs a little
longer. Mr. Kidds was probably ignorant that a society had
recently been formed in London, in connection, he believed,
with the Protestant Reformation Society, to which it was
designed to act as a timely and important auxiliary. The title
of this new association was: _'Society for considering the
best means of keeping alive the corruptions of Popery in the
interests of Gospel Truth'_ It was, of course, a strictly
secret organization, but he had been favored, he knew not why,
with a copy of the prospectus, and as he had no intention of
becoming a member, he would communicate it to the house.
{563}
It appeared from this document, and could be confirmed from
other sources, that a deputation was sent last year to Rome, to
obtain a private interview with the pope, in order to entreat
his holiness _not_ to reform a single popish corruption.
He was assured that they had reason to believe, he did not know
on what grounds, that the pope was about to make extensive
reforms, beginning with the substitution of the thirty-nine
articles for the creed of Pope Pius, and a permanent Anglican
convocation in lieu of an occasional oecumenical council. A
handsome present was entrusted to the deputation, and a liberal
contribution to the Peter's Pence Fund. The motives set forth
in the preamble of the address presented to his holiness were,
in substance, of the following nature: They urged that a very
large body of most respectable clergymen, who had no personal
ill-will toward the present occupant of the Holy See, had
maintained themselves and their families in comfort for many
years exclusively by the abuse of popery; and if popery were
taken away, they could not but contemplate the probable results
with uneasiness and alarm. Moreover, many eminent members of
the profession had gained a reputation for evangelical wit,
learning, and piety, as well as high dignities in the Church of
England, by setting forth in their sermons and at public
meetings, with all their harrowing details, the astounding
abominations of the Church of Rome. The petitioners implored
his holiness not to be indifferent to the position of these
gentlemen. Many of their number had privately requested the
deputation to plead their cause with the amiable and benevolent
Pius IX. Thus the great and good Doctor M'Nickel represented
respectfully that he had filled his church, and let all his
pews, during three-and-twenty years, by elegantly slandering
priests and nuns, and powerfully illustrating Romish
superstitions. A clergyman of noble birth had attained to the
honors of the episcopate by handling alternately the same
subjects, and a particularly pleasing doctrine of the
Millennium, and had thus been enabled to confer a valuable
living on his daughter's husband, who otherwise could not have
hoped to obtain one. An eminent canon of an old Roman Catholic
abbey owed his distinguished position, which he hoped to be
allowed to retain, to the fact of his having proved so clearly
that the pope was Antichrist; and earnestly entreated his
holiness to do nothing to forfeit that character. A well-known
doctor of Anglican divinity was on the point of quitting the
country in despair of gaining a livelihood, when the idea of
preaching against popery was suggested to him, and he had now
reason to rejoice that he had abandoned the foolish scheme of
emigration. Even a high-church bishop had been so hampered by
suspicions of Romanistic tendencies, which were perfectly
unfounded, that he had only saved himself from general
discredit by incessant abuse of popery, though he was able to
say, in self-defence, that he did not believe a word of his own
invectives. Finally, a young clergyman, who had not hitherto
much distinguished himself, having often but vainly solicited a
member of his congregation to favor his evangelical attachment,
at length hit upon a new expedient, and preached so ravishing a
discourse on the matrimonial prohibitions of the Romish Church,
and drew so appalling a picture of the domestic infelicities of
the Romish priesthood, that on the following Monday morning the
young lady made him an offer of her hand and fortune.
{564}
It was hoped that his holiness would give due consideration to
interests so grave and manifold, and not peril them by hasty
reforms, which nobody desired, and which nobody would receive
with satisfaction.

"Another class of clergymen appealed still more urgently to the
forbearance of the pope. They represented that they were in the
habit of realizing large sums by the publication of prophetical
works of which the whole interest turned upon the approximate
destruction of 'the beast,' and that while they indicated, by
the help of the apocalypse, the precise hour of his fall, they
yet managed to put off the final catastrophe from year to year,
and could hardly supply the successive editions which the
curiosity of the public demanded. They hoped that his holiness
would do nothing rash and imprudent which might compromise
their particular industry. One of these gentlemen ingenuously
confessed that without Antichrist, who was his best friend, and
the invaluable book of Revelation, which was his chief source
of income, he saw nothing before him but the workhouse. He
begged to forward to the pope a copy of each of his works,
including the following: 'Horns of the Beast,' neatly bound,
with gilt edges; 'Antichrist,' handsomely got up, 'positively
his last appearance in 1864, in consequence of other
engagements,' with new editions in 1865, 1866, and 1867; also,
'Answer to an insolent pamphlet, entitled the "The _Number
and Street_ of the Beast proved to be that of the Rev. Dr.
Comeagain."'

"Lastly, even members of parliament to whom nature had not been
prodigal in intellectual endowments, urged with great force
that they were able to get on their legs, and to stay there,
detailing the prodigious incidents of conventual turpitude;
making the blood to curdle, and the hair to stand on end, by
thrilling narratives of nuns immured, and clanking chains, and
bereaved mothers, invoking in agonized chorus, 'Liberty and Mr.
Newdegate.' They hoped the pope would see in this fact the
necessity of caution, lest he should unwittingly put to silence
more than one independent member of parliament, deprive an
illustrious assembly of its chief amusement, and rashly change
the composition of the British House of Commons.

"Dean Pompous inquired (with a somewhat thick utterance, but
with great dignity of manner) whether he understood the
archdeacon to say that he had actually seen this document?

"Archdeacon Jolly: He had certainly said so; it had been shown
to him in Rome by Cardinal Antonelli."

Archdeacon Chasuble held the theory that the Anglican
establishment is a _branch_ of the Catholic Church, and
proved that the Catholic Church was necessarily infallible at
one period of her existence. The gift of infallibility was
_suspended_ when Christendom became divided, and will be
recovered when the Russian, the Roman, the Greek, the Anglican,
and the Oriental branches reunite--a happy period, of whose
arrival, he regretted to say, there was no immediate prospect.
To this Dr. Candour undertook to reply:

"When the Roman, Greek, and Anglican communities should all
become one, the church would once more become infallible. Three
spurious and defective Christianities fused together, if
anybody could persuade them to coalesce, would make one true
and perfect Christianity. The giving up what each believed
specifically true, and the uniting in what each believed
specifically false, was that travail in the womb of Christendom
which would give birth to the new infallibility.
{565}
He would only say, as the professor of theology had disposed of
that point, that this was an obstetrical phenomenon which he
did not think any one present would live long enough to
witness.

"But he would now approach another aspect of the question, to
which the archdeacon had attracted their attention. The
low-church theory, he had told them, and the language of their
articles and homilies, which assumed the defection of the
Catholic Church, 'made void the promises of God.' Was the
archdeacon quite sure that low-churchmen were the real or sole
offenders? He thought not. Let him ask his friend whether even
the 'diabolical millennium' of the English reformers, that
dismal interval between the sixth and sixteenth centuries, was
a conception more insolently subversive of the promises of God,
more fatal to the Catholic idea of a divine, indefectible, and
'teaching church,' than the well-known Anglican conceit, that
the early church was wholly pure, the mediaeval much less pure,
and the modern quite unworthy of their obedience? Was it really
so very respectful to the catholic idea, of which the
archdeacon claimed to be the advocate, to assert, as he and his
party did in every act of their lives, that, in spite of the
'promises of God,' the only really perfect church at this hour,
protesting at once against Protestant heresies and popish
corruptions, was the little group of Puseyites and ritualists
within the national establishment? (Great laughter.)

"The archdeacon had reproached the low-church school, and the
founders of Anglicanism, with making void the promises of God.
Let the house consider how the high-church party interpreted
those promises for themselves. According to their theory, the
promise to be 'always' with the church applied only to the
beginning and the end of her career, but not to the long
interval between the two, during which the whole of Christendom
was hopelessly sunk in error and corruption. It was curious to
see that the high-church party cordially agreed with
ultra-Protestants, that the Catholic Church during long ages
had been teaching falsehoods! This was their reverence for 'the
promises of God!'

"Again. The promise to guide the Church into '_all_ truth'
had reference only to the integrity of truth _before_ the
mission of St. Augustine to England, and _after_ the
publication of the _Tracts for the Times_. The twelve
hundred years between them, rather a long period in the life of
the church, during which all Christians obstinately believed
the supremacy of the pope, the office of the mother of God, and
the mystery of transubstantiation--doctrines highly offensive
to Puseyites--were merely an unfortunate parenthesis in the
faithfulness of God, during which the catholic idea was
lamentably obscured, and God forgot his 'promises.'

"Once more. The promise that the 'gates of hell' should
'_never_' prevail against the church meant only, according
to the same school, that the principalities of evil, doing
active work under the father of lies, should certainly prevail
for a good many centuries, but that finally a little sect
should rise up in the Church of England, able to discriminate
with precision the errors of the Anglican, the Greek, and the
Roman churches, and peacefully to conduct them all to the
perfect truth which they had lost, to the unity which they had
forfeited, and to a very remarkable and final triumph over the
'gates of hell.'

{566}

"The only true test of a theory was the result to which it led
in practice. The branch-theory did not look well on paper, but
perhaps it redeemed itself in its practical evolution. He would
suppose, then, that the archdeacon, resolving to try his
theory, set out on a foreign tour. Did he leave Dover an
Anglican, and disembark at Calais a Roman Catholic? If so, at
what particular spot in the Channel did he drop the Anglican
articles and take up the Roman missal? Was it marked by a buoy?
or was the transformation a gradual process, like the changes
of temperature? On leaving Dover, he carried with him only two
sacraments, which had grown into seven by the time he landed at
Calais. Supposing the distance to be twenty-five miles, did he
take up a new sacrament--he was going to say at every fifth
milestone but the sea knew not such measures of distance. Were
there fixed points at which he _began_ to believe that
transubstantiation was a holy mystery, and not a 'blasphemous
fable;' that confirmation and extreme unction were divine
sacraments, and not, as he had believed while breakfasting at
Dover, a mere 'corrupt following of the Apostles'? Did he, in
spite of the injunction with which they were all familiar, 'not
to speak to the man at the wheel,' anxiously interrogate that
individual as to the precise longitude in which it behoved him
to cast away some Anglican delusion, and take up some Catholic
truth? At what point of the voyage did the pope's supremacy
begin to dawn upon him? And, finally, did the process of
transformation, to which all branch-Christians were inevitably
subject when they went to foreign lands, depend in any degree
upon the weather? Was it quicker or slower in a heavy sea? or
did sea-sickness in any way affect its development?

"The prolocutor of the house here rose, with an air of dignity
becoming his official character, and expressed his conviction
that the general feeling of the house was that the debate
should now close. (Hear, hear.) That debate had proved a
variety of things, which were more or less destructive to the
national church, but nothing perhaps more clearly than this,
that the public was right in regarding their discussions as
very unprofitable to the interests of religion, either in their
own land or in any other. ... If the house shared his opinion,
it only remained to determine what should be the place of their
future meeting. (Applause.)

"Doctor Easy was delighted to be able to offer hospitality to
his reverend friends. He lived, as they knew, in the immediate
neighborhood of their fine old historical abbey, and his
apartments were sufficiently spacious to afford a convenient
place of meeting. He proposed, therefore, on the understanding
that convocation was now happily extinct, that they should meet
at his residence on that day week, when they could either
resume the debate that had hitherto occupied them, or turn
their attention to any other topic which might promise greater
profit or amusement. (Loud cries of 'Agreed.') [_Excunt
omnes_."

The second scene is introduced with the following description, the delicate humor of which is inimitable:

"Dr. Easy's drawing-room presented an animated appearance.
Friendly greetings were exchanged, and decent hilarity pervaded
the assembly. The gravest countenances relaxed from
conventional severity. Archdeacons smiled as if in anticipation
of coming enjoyment, and even deans responded to the
salutations of the inferior clergy with unwonted urbanity.
{567}
The bright mirrors, well-selected pictures, and far-reaching
sofas which adorned Dr. Easy's saloon, and bore witness at once
to the amplitude of his revenues and the refinement of his
taste, were evidently felt to be an improvement on the decorous
gloom of the Jerusalem chamber. Tables of marble and rosewood
were covered with choice engravings and other works of art.
Portraits of the Misses Easy attracted the attention of the
younger clergy. The absence of reporters imparted to their
elder brethren a welcome sense of liberty. Free but not
undignified postures preluded the familiar dialogue in which
each could take cheerful part, without the unpleasant fear of
newspaper criticism. Convocation had become a social or family
reunion, and was evidently satisfied with the change. Informal
discussion preceded the coming debate, and themes which never
fail to interest the clerical mind occupied the company. Dean
Pompous disputed with a neighbor the exact pecuniary value of a
benefice likely to be shortly vacant, and suggested a probable
successor to the dying incumbent. Dean Primitive conversed with
Archdeacon Chasuble on the recent letter of the primate,
inviting the bishops 'in visible communion with the Church of
England' to a council in September. Had his friend noticed, he
asked, that remarkable announcement that 'such council would
_not_ be competent to make declarations, or lay down
definitions on points of doctrine'? His friend had certainly
noticed it. He had heard of councils, both general and local,
which had assembled to _decide_ on points of doctrine, but
it was the first time he had ever heard of a council summoned
with the avowed object of _avoiding_ all such questions.
In such cheerful talk the reverend guests continued to indulge,
till their number being at length complete, there arose
suddenly, amid the hum of general conversation, a loud cry of
'Chair, chair!' Then the host, leaning against a chimney-piece,
bowed to his friends, and prayed them to be seated. Silence
being restored, the debate commenced as follows:

"Dr. Easy rejoiced that his reverend friends had attended in
such imposing numbers. In compliance with their invitation, he
had selected a subject to be submitted to their notice. Their
last debate, as they seemed generally to feel, had proved to
themselves and to the public that authority neither did nor
could reside in the English Church. It was certain that no
individual clergyman, nor all the clergy put together, could
decide any point of doctrine whatever; so that the day seemed
close at hand if it had not actually arrived--when an Anglican
would be at liberty either to accept or reject every truth
contained in the Christian revelation. The learned prolocutor
had well epitomized all the points of their last debate, and
gracefully justified the characteristic decisions of privy
council, when he said, or at least implied, that the practical
result of all Anglican teaching, as of all Anglican history,
might be expressed in such a formula as this, 'Christianity,
from first to last, is simply a matter of opinion;' or, 'The
primary object of the Christian revelation is to render it
impossible for any man to know the truth with certainty.'

"In confirmation of this view of their position as members of
the Established Church, he was happy to be able to call their
attention to the recent declaration of one of her highest
dignitaries.
{568}
He regretted that he was not present with them, that he might
have enforced in person the very striking statements which he
was about to quote from a published volume of his sermons, with
which he (Dr. Easy) had only become acquainted since their last
meeting. The very Rev. Dr. Elliot, the present Dean of Bristol,
had publicly asserted, without incurring the slightest shadow
of reproach, these two momentous truths; (i) that the Church of
England is, in all respects, a purely human institution; and
(2) that her members are not bound in conscience to believe a
single doctrine taught by her. But he would quote his exact
words:

"'The Church of England,' said the Dean of Bristol, 'is created
by the law, upheld by the law, paid by the law, and may be
changed by the law, _just as any other institution in the
land_.'

"That was his first proposition, and here was the second:

"'I cannot desire you to accept either what I affirm, or what
the church affirms, as undoubtedly true, or _the only
true_ interpretation of the mysteries of God.'

"It was pleasant to see the conclusions at which they had
arrived in a former debate embraced with so much energy of
conviction by one of the highest functionaries of their
national church. And now, accepting these conclusions as
indisputable, and harmonizing perfectly with the life and
history of that church, he was led to ask, 'If the authority of
the English Church be purely human, can her orders be divine?'
This was the question he should propose for their
consideration, and without another word of preface, he would
submit the following motion to their vote: 'That this meeting,
being unanimous on the point that authority can have no
existence in the Church of England, desires to pass to the
discussion of the cognate question, "Are English orders human
or divine?"'"

The discussion as to the validity of these orders is pretty exhaustive, and the arguments are put with a terseness and effect quite beyond adequate praise. The hand of a master in dialectics is evident from beginning to end. Instead of attempting a summary, which would necessarily fall far short of doing justice to this part of the pamphlet, we shall let the ritualistic clergyman give the following account of himself:

"I call myself a Catholic priest, because I am either that or a
ridiculous impostor, and I object to be considered in that
light. I claim the power of the keys, because they belong to
the priestly office, and I will not allow that the clergy of
any other church have more power than I have. I can consecrate
the host, though I am not quite sure what that means, because I
should be only a Protestant minister if I could not, and a
Protestant minister is the object of my contempt. I can absolve
from sin, though the English clergy never knew they could do
it, because the commission was given to somebody, and,
therefore, it must have been given to me. I teach the Church of
England what she ought to hold, and instruct the Church of Rome
what she ought to retract, because I clearly perceive the
deficiencies of the one, and detect the excesses of the other.
I assert that my doctrines are part of God's truth, but I
communicate with those who flatly deny them, because, when I am
taunted with this, I can always reply, that it is the mark of a
self-willed man to seek another communion in order to quiet his
conscience.
{569}
I countenance, by remaining in the Church of England, all the
mortal heresies which have ever existed in her, but I tell my
accusers that I only remain in her in order to remove them. I
am in communion with no church in the world, but I invite them
all to come into communion with me, and indicate the terms on
which I will permit them to do so. I am not in schism, though I
dwell in solitude, because the other Christian bodies refuse to
associate with me; and I am not in heresy, though I every day
communicate with heretics, because I do it only for their good.
I do not obey my bishop, but I propose to him to obey me, which
he foolishly declines to do. All churches have erred, but I am
ready to teach them all, if they will only listen to me; and
though the perfect idea of Christianity has perished from the
earth, I am able to restore it at any moment, whenever I shall
be requested to do so. I remain in the Church of England,
though she allows most of her clergy to teach lies, because I
do not choose to quit her; and I refuse to enter the Church of
Rome, though she forces all her priests to teach truth, because
I do not choose to obey her. I prefer to obey myself, because I
find no other authority worthy to be obeyed; and, though I
admit that this position has its disadvantages, I must
positively decline to exchange it for any other."

The conclusion of the meeting is thus stated:

"Dr. Easy said he could not permit his friends to depart, as
they now manifested their intention to do, without thanking
them both for their attendance on that occasion and for the
part which they had taken in a discussion of great interest and
importance. He would not abuse his privilege as their host by
adding to the discourse of the archdeacon more than a few brief
words. They had arrived, he supposed, at a common conviction on
the two great questions of authority in the Anglican Church,
and the real character of her orders. It was at once their
wisdom and their safety to insist that both were purely human.
Any other theory, as the archdeacon had clearly proved, would
expose not only themselves but their common Christianity to
contempt and ruin. Either ordination, as it existed in the
English Church, was _not_ a rite intended to produce a
supernatural effect, except in a sense which might with equal
justice be applied to the orders of Mr. Spurgeon or Mr. Newman
Hall; or, if it _was_, the Reformed and Protestant
ministry established by Elizabeth and inaugurated by Parker,
which had never displayed the faintest trace of any such
effect, was a failure so portentous, that they must remain for
ever silent in the presence of any scoffing infidel who should
use it as an argument against the truth of Christianity.

"He trusted, therefore, that they were about to separate that
night with this practical conclusion, that the idea of a
catholic priesthood, one in doctrine and divine in endowments,
existing in the English Church, was not only a contradiction of
her whole history, but absolutely inconsistent with the belief
that Christianity was true. Either that foolish notion must be
abandoned, or they must honestly admit that, at least, the
English Church was a delusion.
{570}
For if any man could deliberately maintain, as a small party
among them desired to do, that the entire body of the English
clergy had been, from the beginning, a supernatural caste,
though it was undeniable that they had always exactly resembled
the laity in all their habits, principles, and actions; that
they had received a special vocation from Heaven to teach the
same unvarying doctrine, though no two of them could ever agree
together what that doctrine was; that they possessed the
faculty of retaining or remitting sin, though, for three
centuries, they had never once attempted to use it, and had
bitterly derided the assumption of it by the clergy of another
community; that they were clothed, by the transforming grace of
orders, with angelic purity and virginity, though they and
their bishops had ever been even more impatient of a life of
continence than any other class of human society; that they
were able to call down God upon a human altar, though their own
founders began their career by pulling down altars, and their
own tribunals ruled that the English Church denied their
existence; that the chief function of their ecclesiastical life
was to offer the daily sacrifice, though the Church of England
had carefully obliterated every trace of that mystery from the
national mind; and, finally, that the highest spiritual
privilege of their flocks was to adore the consecrated host,
though their own prayer-book expressly declared it was
'idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians.' If, he
said, any man could seriously affirm the series of propositions
here enumerated, and many more like them, he should be ready to
admit, what it would no longer be possible to deny, that
neither religion nor history had any real meaning, and that
modern Christianity had been more fertile in childish conceits
and preposterous delusions than any system of heathen mythology
with which he was acquainted.

"If, on the other hand, they were content to believe with the
whole nation, that the English clergy were simply the
representatives of the English reformation; that they were
Protestant ministers, not Catholic priests; that they were
distinguished in nothing from other men, except as having
undertaken to remind them, from time to time, of truths which
all were too apt to forget; they would then assume the only
character which really belonged to them, or in which either
their own communion or any other would ever consent to
recognize them. In that case, they would no longer expose
either themselves or their religion to the world's contempt,
nor unwittingly furnish the unbeliever with a fatal argument
against the truth and the reasonableness of Christianity. The
Church of England had never been the home of the supernatural,
as all mankind knew from her own history; and to try to
introduce so strange an element into such a receptacle would be
a far more dangerous experiment than to 'pour new wine into old
bottles.' They might as well attempt to inclose the lightning
which could shiver rocks in the hands of an infant, as to make
the English Church the shrine of mysteries _which she had
existed only to deny_."

The pamphlet from which the above excerpts are made is now in press, and will soon be published by "The Catholic Publication House."

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{571}

New Publications.

The Irish Reformation; or, The Alleged Conversion of the Irish
Bishops at the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and the assumed
descent of the present established hierarchy in Ireland from
the ancient Irish Church, disproved.
By W. Maziere Brady, D.D., Vicar of Donoghpatrick and Rector of
Kilberry, Diocese of Meath, and formerly Chaplain to the Earls
of Clarendon, St. Germans, and Carlisle, Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, etc., etc.
Fifth edition, containing also a letter from James A. Froude,
M.A.; notices of the early Elizabethan Prelates, and of the
sufferings of the Roman Catholic Bishops; and tables showing in
juxtaposition the Anglican and Roman Catholic successions of
Irish Archbishops, with lists of all Irish Roman Catholic
Bishops from 1558 to the present time.
London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1867.
For sale by the Catholic Publication Society,
126 Nassau Street, New York.

The author of this book, which has become celebrated in Great Britain, and has received the highest commendations from the English secular press, is an Irish Protestant clergyman. Catholic clergymen and scholars may, therefore, think that it is written in favor of the Irish establishment, or lacking in thorough information on Catholic topics. On the contrary, it is the most damaging attack on that iniquitous institution that has yet appeared; replete with solid learning, and an invaluable companion to the excellent works of Msgr. Moran, of Dublin, on the Irish Catholic Church and hierarchy. It is not to be supposed, however, that Dr. Brady is a Catholic in disguise, a Romanizer, or an enemy of the church whose minister he is. He is a Protestant Episcopalian, a real believer in religious liberty, and a man of liberal sentiments, who respects the Catholic Church and loves the rights and welfare of the Irish people. He has written this work not against the doctrine or discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church, but against the falsehoods, and ignorant or fraudulent misrepresentations of historical facts, by which certain writers have attempted to justify and bolster up the absurd pretence that the Anglican establishment in Ireland is the true Catholic Church of that country. These writers, among whom Palmer is a signal instance, pretend that the Marian bishops in Ireland, as a body, accepted the pretended reformation of Elizabeth; that the Irish hierarchy, church, and nation, renounced their allegiance to the Bishop of Rome, and to the doctrine of the Roman Church; that the apostolic succession was regularly transmitted to the Protestant bishops of Ireland, and that the present Roman Catholic hierarchy and church were established _de novo_, in a schismatical manner, by emissaries of the Pope. Consequently, they say, the Protestant archbishops of Armagh and Dublin are the canonical successors of St. Patrick and St. Lawrence; the other Protestant bishops are also the canonical successors to the ancient Catholic bishops of the sees they pretend to fill, the ecclesiastical property legally belongs to the Protestant establishment, and the Roman Catholic bishops are intruders who have drawn the majority of the Irish people into a schism. It was enough to have forced Protestantism into domination in Ireland by force, rapine, slaughter, and persecution without a parallel; to have robbed the Irish church and the Irish people of everything they possessed, without adding insult to injury by this preposterous pretence. Dr. Brady has laboriously and triumphantly refuted it, and Mr. Froude, the English historian, has given his full indorsement to Dr. Brady's statements. Dr. Brady proves that, at the most, two of the Marian bishops submitted to Elizabeth Curwin, of Dublin, and O'Fihil, of Leighlin. Curwin's apostasy is a notorious fact, but that of O'Fihil is denied by Dr. Moran, who adduces evidence against it. {572} Curwin was an Englishman, and consecrated by English bishops. Therefore, according to Dr. Brady, but one Irishman, having Irish consecration, deserted the communion of the Pope for that of the Queen and Parker. He goes through all the Irish sees _seriatim_, proving the continuity of succession from their ancient to their modern Catholic incumbents, and proving, also, the forcible intrusion of Protestants by degrees, and with many breaks, into the same titular sees. He states the conclusion derived from his facts and arguments thus: "In point of fact, the Irish nation from 1558 to 1867 has continued in communion with Rome, never having ceased to be, in its clergy, priests, and people, as thoroughly Roman Catholic as at the accession of Elizabeth," (p. 199.) The claim of a succession of orders by a line traceable to the old Irish hierarchy is also disposed of. The doctor shows that whatever orders the Irish Protestant church has are derived from Curwin, and from him alone, through Loftus, who was consecrated by him to Armagh, and thence transferred to Dublin, in lieu of Curwin himself, who was transferred to Oxford. Of course he does not deny the validity of the orders, but merely the fact that they descend from an Irish source. These orders cannot, however, be recognized by the Catholic Church for two reasons. First, there is a probability that Loftus was never ordained priest, and, consequently, was incapable of receiving Episcopal consecration. Second, he was consecrated by K. Edward's Ordinal, which is an invalid form. Anglicans may solace themselves as much as they please by the reflection that they can trace the Irish ordinations up to Curwin, an undoubted bishop, and may cover up the two great flaws we have pointed out in their validity, by the special pleading they are such adepts in using. This will not, however, benefit in any way those who are obliged to trace their orders to Parker, nor will it affect the position of either English or Irish Protestant clergymen in relation to the Catholic Church, or even to the schismatics of the East.

Dr. Brady throws much light on some other topics of historical interest. He shows, among other things, how bad was the character of Curwin, Loftus, and several others of the first Protestant bishops of Ireland, and, on the other hand, does justice to the virtues and martyr-like constancy of the Catholic prelates. He proves, against the denials of some Protestant writers, the truth of the history of the cruel martyrdom of that great hero of the faith, Archbishop O'Hurley, a man who richly deserves, in common with many other Irish martyrs, to be canonized.

The lists of Catholic bishops add much to the value of the work, and so also does the refutation of many Protestant calumnies against the Irish people, and the exposure of several falsifications of history.

On Catholic principles, the established church of Ireland is nothing but a schismatical sect, whose bishops are intruders upon the domain of the lawful bishops of the country. Even had they valid ordination, they could make no claim to a lawful succession in jurisdiction.

On Protestant principles, it is not in any way entitled to be considered as the national church of Ireland, but only as the church of a small minority of the people, whose ancestors forcibly intruded themselves upon the Irish soil by the aid of fire, and sword, and confiscation. We have no hostility against the Episcopalians of Ireland, who are not accountable for the crimes of their ancestors, and many of whom are worthy persons and true Irish patriots. We would not have them molested in their religious liberty, or even deprived of the churches in their possession, provided they can make any use of them, although it is so painful to Catholic feeling to see these ancient sacred shrines of the faith in their hands. But we would have them deprived of the privileges of a state establishment, Catholic and Protestant dissenters freed from the obligation of paying tithes to their clergy, and themselves left to sustain their own religion by their own contributions. The Irish establishment is a crying iniquity, and it ought to be suppressed. It is time, also, that the glorious history of the Catholic Church in Ireland, since the disastrous epoch of Henry VIII., should be better known than it is. {573} We thank Dr. Brady for his valuable contribution to truth and the cause of justice, and we recommend his work, as the production of a Protestant Episcopal clergyman of learning, honesty, and candor, to all who are interested in the history of Ireland, and especially to his own brethren in the ministry in this country.

----

The Three Holy Kings.
With Photographic Illustrations.
New York: Kurd and Houghton.

The writer of this volume presents us a short essay upon the Holy Wise Men of the East who came to adore our Lord soon after his nativity. The subject is one which requires considerable research to bring out a vivid picture of the character of the Magi, the circumstances of their journey to Judea, and their subsequent fortunes. The author confines himself to a simple reproduction of the gospel narrative, with a passing notice of the original bass-relief and pictures, with photographs of which the book is illustrated. It is well known that in the great Cathedral of Cologne is to be seen the shrine containing the relics of these holy kings. We are not surprised to find the writer discrediting the authenticity of these relics; but in the face of so much testimony, and against the weight of such ancient traditions, he who questions their truth must give solid, or at least plausible reasons, and not take it for granted as the author (we trust, innocently) does, that "some of the bones said to be of Saint Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins, which are everywhere exposed throughout the walls and pavement of the church of Saint Ursula, in the same city of Cologne, have been discovered to be those of sheep and other animals," in order to throw discredit upon the authenticity of all relics.

We refer him to an article entitled "The Truth of Supposed Legends and Fables," _Catholic World_, July, 1865, where he will find the subject of Saint Ursula treated in a masterly manner by His Eminence, the late Cardinal Wiseman.

We are surprised, however, to find the writer designating the Catholic Church as the _Romish_ Church. This appellation every scholar knows, or ought to know, is slang, except in the mouths and on the pages of bitter and ignorant controversialists, where it is idiomatic. Messrs. Hurd & Houghton have published the book in their best style; and were these defects removed, we would cheerfully recommend it to our readers.

----

Ye Legende Of St. Gwendoline.
With Eight Photographs, by Addis,
from Drawings by John W. Ehninger.
New York: G. P. Putnam and Son. 1867.

This truly magnificent volume, from the press of the Messrs. Putnam, is one of the choicest specimens of typography ever issued in the United States. The legend is written in early English, and the author has closely adhered throughout to the use of Saxon words and to the Saxon form of phrases. The story, replete with romance, is charmingly told, and reflects great credit upon the writer's literary ability. St. Gwendoline is first a princess, "fulle, fayre, and statelie, and of manie excellent dispositions, and verie learned, soe that there was no queene or princesse like her for beautie and goodlinesse and alle learninge." The king, her father, gives her a realm of her own, and then invites the neighboring kings and princes to visit her, hoping she would marry one of them. Though many came, she refused them all, because she did not love them. One, the King of Mynwede, dies in her presence, broken-hearted at her refusal. The description of this scene is unequalled for its simple and touching pathos. At last, Queen Gwendoline sees in a dream the face of a knight, whom, if a real person, she would certainly love; and at a tournament she discovers in the victorious champion the knight himself. Unfortunately for the love-sick queen,

"She who weds not when she may,
When she will she must have nay."

The knight is already a husband. Queen Gwendoline is good, pious, charitable; but love makes sad havoc with us all.

{574}

She will not give up her unlawful affection, and even prays for the death of the knight's own lady. Prostrate before the altar, with heart rebelling against God, an angel appears to her, and reasons with her. But what avail the best reasons, were they given by angels, when we have wilfully yielded ourselves up to the tyrannical mastery of passion? But God had great designs on Queen Gwendoline, and he lets this suffering fall upon her that he may purify her soul the more perfectly. The scene of her vision changes; the chapel walls divide, and before her is Calvary, with its "grayte crosse, whereon hung in paynes and woe ye Saviour of ye world. And ever mournfullie and stedfastlie Hee gazed upon her. And when ye Queene saw ye vision, shee cast her owne wille and her sinnes from her with a grayte crye."

And more than that. She becomes one of those who, for the love of God, sacrifice all human love. She lays aside her queenly crown, and royal robes, enters a convent; becomes, after many years, the abbess, and dies a saint.

We have given but a very imperfect sketch of this beautiful legend, but we hope enough to induce many of our readers to peruse it entire. The photographic illustrations are good, but such a rare publication as this ought to be adorned with first-class line engravings. Its appearance at the present time is very opportune, for it is a volume which will make a valuable and most appropriate present for the holidays.

----

Shamrock And Thistle; Or,
Young America In Ireland And Scotland.
A Story of Travel and Adventure,
by Oliver Optic.
Boston: Lee & Shepard. 1 vol. 12mo, pp. 343.

The author of this volume is well known as the writer of several interesting stories for boys. The book before us purports to be adventures of United States Naval Cadets in Ireland and Scotland during the visit of the schoolship to British waters. The author's brief sketch of Irish history, and his descriptions of Irish scenery, is very fair, and generally correct. Occasionally he lets out the usual sneer at Irish poverty and Irish customs. He is especially severe on the Irish hackmen of Cork and the boatmen of Killarney. The book will interest youthful readers, for whom it is written. Its style is somewhat inflated, and it has a general tone of boyish exaggeration throughout, which we suppose was the intention of the author, as he wrote it for boys. This, however, we cannot approve, for we think the youth of America pick up these ideas easily enough without having them put before them as examples, in books intended for their use. We are willing to forgive the author for much of his exaggeration, for the fairness exhibited by him in speaking of Ireland and her history, and her many wrongs under English rule. It will at least give "Young America" a more correct idea of that country than can be found in "Peter Parley's" books, and others of that same stamp.

----

The Hymn Of Hildebert,
and other Mediaeval Hymns, with Translations.
By Erastus C. Benedict.
New York: Anson D. F. Randolph. 1867.

Mr. Erastus C. Benedict amuses himself "in his occasional hours of leisure," as he tells us, by translating the grand old hymns of the Catholic Church into English rhyme. But he finds them full of horrible anti-protestant doctrine, and it would never do to put the true meaning of the verses before the eyes of his Protestant brethren. Besides, either his literary or his Protestant conscience would doubtless forbid an honest translation. Not being able, therefore, to make an honest one, he makes a dishonest one rather than not make a book. We give him credit, however, for making an apology for doing so, wretched as it is. All the doctrinal assertions of these hymns were undoubtedly meant by the writers of them to be understood in a Catholic sense; but, says Mr. B., they may be understood in a Protestant sense, (just as the Scriptures are interpreted in a Protestant sense, we suppose,) and thus garbled, distorted, and falsified, he puts them out in print.

{575}

It is bad enough to disgrace one's walls with ridiculous imitations of the pictures of great masters, but to cut down a genuine Murillo or Vandyke to suit a second-hand frame, bought in a cheap auction lot, and then touch up what is left of the subject with a white-wash brush, is something too execrable to be expressed. We append an example or two for our readers' amusement.

"Verbum caro, panem verum.
Verbo carnem efficit;
Fitque sanguis Christi merum.

"Word made flesh, among us dwelling,
With true bread and wine regaleth;
By His word the mystery telling."

Page 55.

"Inflammatus et accensus,
Per te, Virgo, sim defensus
In die judicii.

"By a heavenly zeal excited,
When the judgment fires are lighted,
Then may I be justified."

Page 67.

"Dogma datur Christianis,
Quod in carnem transit panis,
Et vinum in sanguinem.

"Here to Christians Jesus preacheth,
Here to us the mystery teacheth,
Never sense perceiving it--
Flesh and blood for us devoted,
Are by bread and wine denoted,
Living faith believing it."
Page 95.

These, we think, will suffice. The appearance of this new one among the many late republications in various forms of these hymns furnishes us with another gratifying proof that our Protestant friends are beginning to regret having consigned _all_ the works of "popery" to perdition; and we rejoice that they rehabilitate her poetry among the first of them; for the poetry of a church is as truly the sincerest expression of its heart as it is of a people's. But in the name of sincerity let us have an honest version. When or where did a Catholic ever "understand" the works of a Protestant in a Catholic sense? Let Mr. Benedict try again. We are sure he can and will do better, for there is no sign of malicious intent in his volume; and his language, when speaking of the Catholic Church, and of the writers whose poems he reprints, is that of a scholar and a gentleman.

----

My Prisons.
Memoirs of Silvio Pellico.
Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1868.

This well known and popular book is republished in beautiful form, with excellent illustrations, by the Messrs. Roberts, with an introductory notice by Epes Sargent. We cannot agree with Mr. Sargent, however, that Silvio Pellico, if living now, would have had any sympathy with the present Italian rebellion, or its unworthy and anti-Christian leaders, as he intimates. The publishers would do well to leave out the introductory notice.

----

Breaking Away: or, The Fortunes of a Student.
By Oliver Optic.
Boston: Lee & Shepard.

In this volume are described the adventures of the pupils of the Parkville Liberal Institute, consequent on their revolt against a tyrannical principal. Their "treasons, stratagems, and spoils" are told in pleasing style, and will meet none the less with boyish approval if somewhat difficult of imitation.

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Climbing The Rope; or, God Helps Those who Help Themselves:
and
Billy Grimes's Favorite; or, Johnny Greenleaf's Talent.
By May Mannering.
Boston: Lee & Shepard.