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 Christian truths: lectures. 
 
 3 1924 031 386 398 
 olin,anx 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031386398 
 
Cornell Catholic 
 Union Library. 
 
CHRISTM TRUTHS. 
 
 Cornell Catholic 
 
 LECTURES """■" ^'"'"y- 
 
 ET. REV. FRANCIS SILAS CHATAED, D.D., 
 
 BISHOP OP VWCENXES. 
 
 i 
 
 New Yoek: 
 THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY CO., 
 
 9 Barclay Street. 
 
 1881, 
 
Copyright, 1881, by 
 FRANCIS SILAS CHATAED. 
 
 H. J. HBWiTr, Phinter, 27 Rose Street, New Toek. 
 
OOI^TENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface, 5 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 The Personality of God 9 
 
 LECTURE IT. 
 
 The Existence of the Soul in Man, its Simplicity and Spirit- 
 uality 31 
 
 LECTURE in. 
 The Relation between GtoA and the Soul-Revelation, , . 56 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 Faith and its Requisites, 82 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 The Rifle of Faith, 104 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 Infallibility— No. 1, 133 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 Infallibility— No. 2, 162 
 
 3 
 
4 Contents. 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Liturgy of the Church and Catholic Devotions, . . 189 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 Penance, 214 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 The Blessed Eucharist, 238 
 
 LECTURE XI. 
 Early Christianity, , 362 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 OF the Lectures published in this volume 
 the first four were given during the pasl 
 vfinter in St. John's Church, Indianapolis, and 
 from the interest they excited I am led to 
 hope they wiU. not be without a beneficial in- 
 fluence. The remainder, with the exception of 
 the last, were delivered during my residence in 
 Rome. The citations they contain will be of 
 assistance to Catholic young men in strength- 
 ening their faith and supplying them with 
 means to defend it. The last lecture, on "Ear- 
 ly Christianity," is, as is seen on reading it, 
 one of those matter-of-fact arguments which 
 are appreciated to-day more than ever, and it 
 cannot faU to have its weight. I am in duty 
 bound to give credit to the illustrious archae- 
 ologist, Comniendatore G. B. de Rossi, author 
 of the Roma Sotterranea, for nearly ail the in- 
 
 5 
 
6 Preface. 
 
 formation I lay before tlie reader in this lec- 
 ture, though I have frequently studied the fres- 
 coes and monuments I refer to on the spot. 
 
 My aim in publishing this book has been to 
 furnish our young Catholics with a manual 
 which will be useful to them in meeting the 
 vital questions of the day in a manner suited 
 ^o parry the attacks against the faith. The 
 only merit I may claim for it is that I have 
 striven to be very exact in" all my quotations, 
 having, as far as memory serves me, verified 
 them all in the best editions" before using them, 
 where that was possible. Certainly, no one 
 heed feel himself in any danger of going 
 astray in trusting the citations. 
 
 In conclusion I submit, as becomes a bishop 
 of the Catholic Church, all I have here written 
 to the supreme and infallible authority of the 
 Head of the Church, the Vicar of Christ on 
 earth, ready to correct any error into which I 
 may have fallen; and I pray that God, who 
 alone "gives the increase," through the inter- 
 cession of the ever-blessed and immaculate Vir- 
 gin Mary, may illumine the mind and touch 
 
Preface. 7 
 
 the heart of those who read, that they may 
 appreciate still more, and more ardently love, 
 the faith, without which "it is impossible to 
 please God." * 
 
 •J« Francis Silas Chatard, 
 
 Bishop of Vincennes. 
 
 Indianapous, Ind., April 9, 1881. 
 
 *St. Paul, Hcb. xi. 6. 
 
Leotuee I. 
 
 THE PERSONALITY OF GOD. 
 
 ANY one who gives even a passing attention 
 to current literature cannot but be aware 
 of the widely-disseminated teachings that aim 
 not only at the destruction of revelation, but 
 even at the existence of God. No one who has 
 the best interest of the human family at heart 
 can fail to be exceedingly pained to witness the 
 defection from the ranks of believers in revealed 
 religion of so many of the young, energetic, and 
 talented men of to-day. This painful fact— for 
 fact it is — is a mystery to many and defies their 
 efforts at explanation. But from the Catholic 
 standpoint there is no mystery whatsoever in 
 the matter. Catholic theology teaches that faith 
 is a gift of God ; she takes the truth of this from 
 the lips of her Divine Founder. She knows that 
 
10 Christian Truths. 
 
 faith, being a gift, is not a part of man' s nature 
 — not essential to it, that is, in a natural way, 
 as man's reason is essential to him — and that, 
 therefore, he can be without it, while his natu- 
 ral qualities and endowments remain the same. 
 She knows that this gift of faith, not being 
 essential, after having been once possessed can 
 be lost. With this knowledge, my dear friends, 
 we are prepared to see men without faith, and 
 to see men lose it also. And when we look 
 around and see the present state of the world 
 we are not surprised at the absence and loss of 
 faith, though pained at this beyond power of 
 expression ; for to recognize the claims of faith 
 requires a spirit of prayer and of conscientious 
 investigation. Abroad we see a forgetfulness of 
 God, and a levity of manner in treating of spi- 
 ritual matters, inimical to all serious reflection 
 and study. To preserve the faith once had is 
 requisite a spirit of humble submission to God, 
 coupled v/itli a good moral life. A spirit of 
 pride, especially pride of intellect, whereby a 
 man worships himself and looks down on others, 
 and a life of sensuality, sap and destroy faith. 
 Now look around on the world as you know it, 
 and tell me whether pride and sensuality, in 
 giant form, are not stalking it over the land ? 
 
TTie Personality of God. 11 
 
 Therefore is it that we are not surprised at the 
 loss or absence of faith among the masses. 
 
 But it is the duty of all those who are, by the 
 providence of God, named to preside over their 
 fellow-men as teachers of the Gospel to do all 
 they can to remedy this state of things, to give 
 the faith to those who have it not, and to lead 
 back to the fold those who have lost it, by- 
 showing clearly the truth, its beauty and con- 
 sistency, and how it may be acquired and re- 
 tained. And for this reason, my dear friends, I 
 take to-day the most fundamental of all truths, 
 upon which all others depend — the existence of 
 God Himself, the personality of God, that is ; for 
 a God who is not personal is no God at all. 
 
 To show this great and all-important truth in 
 its proper light, I refer to the absolute require- 
 ment on the part of the human intellect of a 
 cause. The intellect of man is the supreme 
 judge in this matter. The mind we have is that 
 whereby we recognize the truth. There is no 
 other tribunal but the mind of man, anterior to 
 his full recognition of God's claiims on his sub- 
 mission. The Catholic Chtirch does not unduly 
 exalt the human intellect ; she does not allow the 
 mind of man to sit in judgment on what God has 
 revealed, except in so far as it may reverently 
 
12 Christian Truths. 
 
 explain and apply it to the needs of our nature. 
 But wMle she thus curbs it, she does not de- 
 spise the power of human reason. On the con- 
 trary, she honors it, recognizes its capacity and 
 aspirations, guards and defends it. The Catho- 
 lic Church ever protects man's intellect from 
 ■nhat might mar it by excess or by defect. As 
 an instance of the way in which she saves it 
 from going to extremes, I may mention the 
 consistent, firm opposition she has ever made to 
 the doctrine of private Judgment, so vaunted by 
 non-Catholics, and so little made use of by them. 
 She has always maintained the doctrine that God 
 speaks to man through His Church on earth ; and 
 for this reason she denies that the Spirit of God 
 is with each one to constitute him a judge of the 
 meaning of the Sacred Text, the interpretation of 
 which lies with the Holy Spirit residing in the 
 Church and speaking through those of whom 
 Clirist said:- "He who hears you, hears me." 
 And in so deciding, it strikes me, she speaks in 
 accord with the requirements of reason itself. 
 
 On the other hand, the Church has unmistak- 
 ably asserted the powers of the mind of man, 
 against those who sought unduly to disparage 
 it. Of this I could cite you several instances. 
 For example, there was a school of men that 
 
The Personality of God. 13 
 
 » 
 
 sprang from the religious movements of the 
 sixteenth century, which held that man, in his 
 present condition, is incapable of doing any- 
 good work pleasing to God, and that even all 
 his actions are bad. The Catholic Church 
 taught, on the contrary, that our actions de- 
 pend for their morality on the way in which 
 our conscience judges; so that an act of idola- 
 try, for instance, which is a sin of great gravity 
 if the one committing it knows he is doing 
 wrong, comes to be no sin at all if a man is in 
 good faith. This same school, or those akin to 
 it, went so far as to deny the power of knowing 
 anything above what we see about us, and re- 
 quired a tradition to initiate men into an elemen- 
 tary knowledge of the most important or ob- 
 vious truths. The Catholic Church repelled such 
 teaching, by proclaiming that man's mind has 
 an innate power of arriving at truth by the facul- 
 ties of observation, self-study, reasoning, and 
 abstraction. Another school thought so little of 
 any powers inherent in man as to require a vision 
 of God Himself, a natural revelation, that he 
 might know the primal truths, and went so far 
 as to say man could not act on material things, 
 but that, on or by occasion of them, God co- 
 operated and did whatever was external to the 
 
14 Christian Truths. 
 
 thought. All these ideas have be«ii more or less 
 condemned or discountenanced by the Catholic 
 Church, which teaches the power of man's 
 mind is so great, that, by the contemplation of 
 what exists, he can attain to the knowledge, not 
 only of truth, but of the existence of God and 
 of His power and wisdom, though not so as 
 to comprehend them fully.* With the appro- 
 bation, therefore, of the Catholic Church on the 
 native powers of the mind of man, let us see 
 whither this mind leads us in our search after 
 the personality of God. 
 
 If there is anything a man's mind is active 
 about, it is in finding "the reason of a thing," 
 the cause of it. Xo man practically believes 
 in chance. It is never taken as an excuse for 
 crime. The use of this word chance serves sim- 
 ply to cover an ignorance of what produced the 
 fact we have to deal with. Xothing comes into 
 being without a cause, and the human race has 
 always accepted and has always held the doc- 
 trine of causality. The whole system of scienti- 
 fic enquiry is based on it ; no science ever exist- 
 ed mthout taking it for granted. Pre-eminently 
 does the inductive process, so much, and in great 
 part, so justly lauded nowadays, start from the 
 
 * Vatican Council, Constitutio DogmatLca, ch. iv. 
 
The Personality of God. 15 
 
 principle of causality, of cause and effect. The 
 disciple of physical science observes with the 
 greatest care all phenomena ; he classifies them 
 and waits patiently. And why ? That he may, 
 by comparing and carefully analyzing, discover 
 the cause of the phenomena ; and this he will call 
 the law or the simple cause. It is in this way 
 the great discoveries have been made ; in this 
 way Galileo found out, or conjectured rather, the 
 motion of the earth ; thus Newton discovered the 
 law of gravity ; after this manner scientific men 
 traced the cause of health or of disease — the 
 diseases so well known that come from the use of 
 bad food or from the introduction into the sys- 
 tem of infusoria. 
 
 Here, then, we have the whole scientific world 
 bent on the study of cause and eifect. The ver- 
 dict of the minds of men, our only criterion, is in 
 favor, most pronouncedly, of cause, of causality. 
 
 Is it not illogical, my friends, to have such a 
 habit of mind, and still to stop short at the last 
 cause or first cause of all ? There must be a first 
 cause ; there is no escape from this. If you stop 
 short at your last material cause, you must make 
 it your first cause and put up with the absurd 
 consequences. If it be your first caiise it must 
 have produced itself ; it must have life in itself ; 
 
16 Christian Truths. 
 
 it must be self -existent ; it must be infinite, un- 
 limited, because nothing existed before it to limit 
 it, and it could not- limit itself. It must be sim- 
 ple — not composed of elements, that is ; not ma- 
 terial, for composition implies one who composed 
 or formed the composite. It must be unchange- 
 able, for change involves unrest ; and a being in- 
 finitely perfect, possessing all in itself, cannot 
 change for the better, much less for the worse, 
 since this would argue imperfection ; so that it 
 must have perfect rest in itself. Are you pre- 
 pared to assert all this of matter as you know it 
 and see it ? The pantheist says the first cause is 
 no higher than this world we see around us ; this 
 world itself is God. Yet the pantheist believes 
 in primal imperfection, in change from good to 
 better ; in evolution ; in such a progress, that this 
 God of his becomes conscious of himself in man ! 
 Was there ever a greater contradiction ? He 
 cannot escape from the direct consequences I 
 have just laid before you, and yet he denies to 
 his God the attributes of intelligent conscious- 
 ness until his God has developed into man ! 
 
 Look at man and study him as he is. What 
 do you remark in him especially ? Not only 
 his intellect and his energy ; but you see one 
 quality pre-eminent : he has the absolute control 
 
The Personality of God. Yl 
 
 of his being; he rules it supreme. His mind 
 feeds upon whatsoever object he turns it to ; 
 his will loves that which he has judged suit- 
 able for him ; his freedom constitutes him a re- 
 sponsible being ; his fellow-men hold him re- 
 sponsible for his acts. This is the noblest type 
 of existence with which we come in contact ; 
 and this nobility of type is due to the fact 
 that man is z, person. A man has personality — 
 the adequate principle, that is, of his actions ; 
 for personality is that rational mode of exist- 
 ence which renders a being independent of oth- 
 ers and the adequate principle of his actions, 
 so that his actions are his own. For this reason 
 is he responsible. This mode of existence can 
 be conceived of as capable of being separated 
 from human nature ; so that we conceive of it as 
 something which gives perfection to human na- 
 ture ; though there may be a higher personality 
 given to human nature — as, for example, the per- 
 sonality of an angel ; or, better still, as happened 
 in the mystery of the Incarnation, according to 
 the theology of the Church, the Personality of 
 the Son of Gfod. Now, here is a qiiality of the 
 very highest order existing in man. Is it possi- 
 ble we are going to deny it in the first cause 
 of all things, which we saw a moment ago must 
 
18 Christian Trvihs. 
 
 have been, from the very nature of things, pos- 
 sessed in the very beginning of every perfection 1 
 There can be no effect without a cause ; how are 
 we to account for the existence of personality' iff 
 man, if it did not first exist in God ? Then,, 
 again, we conceive of God as the greatest and 
 most perfect of beings, and we cannot excluder 
 personality from God without degrading the very 
 idea of this Supreme Being, and subjecting this 
 God thus degraded to a law of evolution He did 
 not make. And who made it for this Gadi 
 Fate ? destiny I Then fate or destiny is God, 
 and we have the same trouble over again. Itis- 
 the fable of the ancients once more. 
 
 Again, let us look at man. We find him . in 
 this age of ours engaged in all manner of ma- 
 terial development, nowhere more so than in 
 this country we live in. Inventions of every; 
 kind are daily presented to the Patent Office and 
 patents are secured. Now, I want to know on 
 what ground these patents are given ? Here is 
 a wonderful jDiece of machinery — the cotton-gin 
 or threshing-machine. If this object, this cotton- 
 gin or threshing-machine, came by chance, de- 
 veloped out of matter by itself, what right has 
 the government to give a man a patent for it, to 
 allow him the exclusive privilege of making and 
 
The Personality of Qod. IP 
 
 selling it? Manifestly there is no right in tlife 
 question. No man, under such circumstances, 
 has a right to a patent, and the government is 
 wrong, unjust, oppressive to grant such privi- 
 leges. But I can fancy the intelligent inven- 
 tors of our country, who have made its name 
 -famous throughout the civilized world ; I can 
 fancy every man who has aspirations to in^ 
 vent something useful for his fellow-men and 
 profitable to himself ; I can fancy all these smil-. 
 ing a scornful smile at the unfortunate wdght 
 who would insinuate that their work was mere 
 chance- work, nothing more ; that their applica- 
 tion of principles discovered was not their own 
 brain-work. The whole world honors the inven- 
 tor and gives him credit for what he has done foi* 
 them ; they even call him the benefactor of his 
 kind, while they bow in homage at his power of 
 mind. This is instinctive ; and it is because the 
 order, and adaptability, and results witnessed in 
 his work convince all that it came from the mind 
 of a man of genius, gifted with personality which 
 ruled and rightly directed his faculties, and 
 finally led to such happy results. A man who 
 has lost his pexsonality — or, what is nearly equi- 
 valent, the power to rule himself and act with 
 judgment and order^could never do such 
 
20 Christian Truths. 
 
 things ; and therefore are the order, and adapta- 
 bility, and fitness of parts in his work an evi- 
 dence of personality in man. 
 
 Eaise your eyes from man and look to the 
 First Cause of all things, and then consider 
 His woi'ks. Behold the universe before you. 
 See those countless stars, those worlds moving 
 in space, revolving around their central orb, and 
 that orb and its system, too, moving in order. 
 Ask the mathematician and astronomer what 
 they have observed. They will tell you that 
 the sciences they cultivate are justly and pre- 
 eminently known as "the exact sciences" ; that 
 all these movements they have for ages been 
 watching are so regular that they can calcu- 
 late to a second the place where a given planet 
 will be ten or a hundred years hence. Do they 
 not tell us with the utmost precision the eclip- 
 ses of the sun and of the moon? Does not 
 the United States Signal Service, one of the 
 glories of our country, with a sureness almost 
 unerring, warn us of what is to come upon ns 
 in the way of inclement weather? Have not 
 numberless lives been saved this year by its 
 timely warnings? What does all this prove 
 but the most perfect order in nature \ And 
 man himself, with his intellect, and will, and 
 
The Personality of Ood. 21 
 
 wonderful mechanism of body,— is he not a per- 
 fect type of order in nature \ And now, if you 
 are so inclined to look with pitying contempt 
 on the one wlio would rob an inventor of his 
 glory and refuse him approbation as a nian 
 of genius, personality, and order, are you go- 
 ing to deny personality, the adequate principle 
 of His acts, to the First Cause, from whom 
 this universe came ; from whose mind the laws 
 of order and proportion we witness among the 
 planets proceeded ; whose hand fashioned this 
 frame of ours and gave it the noble mind that 
 makes man the lord of creation ? It is absurd 
 to think it, my friends ; and you know this is 
 your judgment, too. 
 
 A further point in this system of pantheism 
 which denies God's personality is, that its re- 
 sults conflict with the unanimous judgment of 
 past generations, and with that of the genera- 
 tion of this day in which we live. According 
 to the pantheist, the only God there is is na- 
 ture, and that God becomes conscious of Him- 
 self in the intellect of man, the most perfect en- 
 dowment of the visible world. In other words, 
 man is God. That is the formula. What is 
 the result? If I am God, then I am a law to 
 myself ; there is no one to whom I must give 
 
22 Christian Truths. 
 
 an account. I can do as I please. I can do no 
 wrong, for we can conceive of no wrong when 
 there exists no. law before ns to which we can 
 refer as the criterion of our actions. My will 
 is the law, because I am God an^ there is no- 
 thing superior to me. What follows ? Why, 
 I can do as I please ; and, provided I do not 
 find some one who will not let me do as I 
 please, I have no restraint on my actions. All 
 idea of moral law, of responsibility is lost ; 
 all laws are without any other foundation but 
 force and might. Is this the idea of civilized 
 society ? Is this the idea of pagan society % 
 Is this the idea of even the savage 1 It is not. 
 All men believe in right and wrong naturally. 
 It is reserved for this our day to see and hear 
 the contrary avowed and practised ; and the 
 result is licentiousness, disregard of vested 
 rights and ownership of property, theft, com- 
 munism, murder ! Once destroy the idea of a 
 personal God independent of and separate from 
 matter, and such is the consequence — the ab- 
 solute destruction of morality and the impos- 
 sibility of social ]ife. 
 
 To these most weighty reasons, which compel 
 our mind to acknowledge the existence of a 
 personal God, I may add the testimony of the 
 
Tlie Personality of God. 23 
 
 human race itself. In all ages, in every clime, 
 wherever man has been, there has man's soul 
 recognized the power of God and looked up 
 to Him as a Supreme Being, distinct from and 
 ruling the universe. The greatest and most 
 famed intellects, equally with tlie untutored 
 mind, have borne witness to this truth. We 
 turn over the pages of the great philosopher 
 Plato, and we read what he tells us of his 
 great master, the sage of Athens. In his work 
 known as Timceus * he introduces Socrates as 
 present with his disciples, and the discussion, 
 which goes on, there, regards the existence of a 
 First Cause and the production, calling into 
 existence of all that is visible. A late writer 
 (Paul Janet) sums up the teaching of Socra- 
 tes in these words: "Socrates does not only 
 see in nature the traces of intelligence, he re- 
 cognizes the proofs of a power essentially good 
 and full of solicitude for men ; he believes in 
 the constant presence and infallible action of 
 this power in the whole universe. Socrates, in 
 fine, announced to the world the sublime dog- 
 ma of Providence." f Plato — known as the 
 
 * Ed. Firmin-Didot, Paris, 1862. 
 
 t Dicliminuire des Sciences Philosophique, Frank, 1875, art. " Socrates," 
 p. 1635, quoted by Abbe Alexis Arduin, Cosmogo 
 
 \noiUie. 
 
24 Christian Truths. 
 
 Divine Plato, from the near approacli of his 
 ideas about God to the teachings of revela- 
 tion — in the work I have just referred to, the 
 TimcBus, expounds his views in unmistakable 
 terms. He teaches that everything that is 
 made, or has an origin, must of necessity pro- 
 ceed from a cause ; for nothing can have an 
 origin without a cause. He says the cause of 
 all things is eternal. And he furthermore 
 says : " "We say of him that he was, is, and 
 shall be, while the only thing proper to say 
 of him is, that he is";* in this way excluding 
 succession or change in God, making Him eter- 
 nal, immutable. As we hear this pagan phi- 
 losopher thus instructing his disciples, we re- 
 call instinctively the name God gives Himself 
 in the inspired text, "I am who am." In an- 
 other place he exclaims : "In the name of 
 God shall we be easily persuaded to believe 
 the one, who is absolutely, has no movement, 
 no life, no soul, no thought ; that he is inert, 
 that he has no august and holy intelligence? 
 Shall we say he has intelligence but no life ? 
 Shall we say he has both the one and the 
 other, but no personality? ShaU we say he 
 
 *lbi., p. 209, 25. 
 
TJie Personality of Ood. 25 
 
 is personal, intelligent, living, but inert? All 
 this would be absurd ! * 
 
 Another great philosopher of antiquity, Ar- 
 istotle, in some respects perhaps greater than 
 Plato, though inferior to him in others^ speaks 
 of God as the cause of all things : "For God," 
 he writes in his first book of Metaphysics,^ "is 
 seen to be the cause and certain beginning of 
 all things." He speaks of God as eternally 
 enjoying perfect happiness; and says that "in 
 Him there is life, for the action of the intelli- 
 gence is life, and God is actual intelligence 
 itself ; this intelligence, taken in itself, is His 
 perfect and eternal life." 
 
 I close with one more witness, one whose name 
 as a philosopher and orator has filled the world 
 for nigh two thousand years, and whose name will 
 be re-echoed in future generations when the gift- 
 ed but superficial orators of to-day, whose voice 
 is raised against God, shall have been forgotten. 
 When those whose names are great before the 
 public in this day of ours will have sunk into 
 their graves, pitied by men for their folly in at- 
 tempting to destroy the belief of human nature 
 in God ; and the oblivion of death, like a pall, 
 
 * Translation of F. Gratry. 
 
 t Book I. ch. ii., ed. P. de laRovifere, Anrelise AUobrogum, an. 1605. 
 
26 Christian Truths. 
 
 shall have settled upon them and for ever hid 
 them from the notice of men, the name of Mar- 
 cus Tullius Cicero will be hailed vrvih. pleasure, 
 his works will be read with profit and delight, 
 and for nothing ^vill he be more honored than 
 for this ; because he proclaimed absolutely the 
 existence of God. I cite but a few words from 
 among his eloquent writings on this subject : 
 "Whoever doubts that there is a God present 
 to us and aU-powerful, I cannot understand 
 why he does not doiibt about the existence of 
 the sun"' {De Nat. Deorum, Mb ii. 2j.* "It is 
 weU known among aU, by the judgment of all 
 peoples, that there are gods ; what kind of 
 gods they are, is disputed ; that they exist, no 
 one denies" (Xo. 5, ibi.) And he moreover 
 quotes Xenophon telling of Socrates asking, 
 ' ' whence did man get this mind of his ' " except 
 from God, the first cause of aU. ^ (Xo. 6, ibi.) 
 
 In the second century of the Church there 
 lived a most learned man, full of talent and 
 fiery energy. He was a Christian and an able 
 asserter of the truths of his faith. This man 
 was the great Tertullian, the apologist, so-call- 
 ed, of Christianity. His pen was ever ready, 
 and he never shrank from a contest with the 
 
 *£d, Jo. Eraesti, Londini, 1830. cur. A. J. Valpy. 
 
Tlie Personality of God. 21 
 
 false ideas of his day. He calls to his aid, in 
 asserting the existence of the one true God, 
 the soul of man. As he expressly states, 
 he does not want the testimony of the soul 
 of a man learned and experienced in the waj^s 
 of the world ; for, he says, no one now trusts 
 learning, however slight it be. "I call up- 
 on thee as a witness," he exclaims, address- 
 ing the soul, " simple, rude, lanpolished, un- 
 tutored as thou art in those who have naught 
 but thee ; that very soul who art to be found 
 wholly at the crossing, in the byway or humble 
 workshop." What does such a soul say? It 
 calls on God by naming Him constantly as sim- 
 ply God, and exclaims : ' ' God is good ; God has 
 done us good " ; " God sees." "0 testimony ! " 
 he cries out — "O testimony of a soul naturally 
 Christian ! And when it says this it does not 
 look toward the Capitol, but up to heaven, for 
 it knows the dwelling-place of the living God." 
 Such has always been the testimony of the soul 
 to the existence of God. It catinot help itself, 
 for God made nature ; nature is the teacher, and 
 the soul the disciple.* It is no wonder, then, my 
 dear friends, that Christianity triumphed over 
 paganism. 'No wonder that we have eloquent 
 
 * Tertulliaiij De Testimmiio Animce. 
 
28 Christian Truths. 
 
 monuments of that victory. Let me trespass for 
 a moment longer on your time, that I may speak 
 of but one. There is a church in the city of 
 Rome known as the Church of St. Clement, be- 
 cause the house pf the Clement family, of which 
 came St. Clement, pope and martyr, was con- 
 verted into a church. In process of time the 
 church having fallen into decay and being too 
 low, the present church was built upon the foun- 
 dations and walls, the under portion having been 
 filled up with earth. I was in that city when 
 the subterranean portions were dug out, and saw 
 with my own eyes what was discovered. Among 
 many other objects of gi'eat interest was found, 
 beneath the magnificent and splendidly orna- 
 mented church above, a small, cave-like temple. 
 Upon entering it, it was recognized to be a tem- 
 ple of Mitlii^as, the god that represented heat — 
 the heat of the sun especially — the god of fire, 
 whose worship came from the East ; having been 
 brought to Rome by Pompey the Great, the 
 rival of Julius Caesar. That worship flourished 
 in Rome ; it burrowed beneath the temple of 
 the great Capitoline Jove. It was the type of 
 myths, and teemed with myths itself, and was 
 pre-eminently pantheistic. What had happened 
 to this god Mithras, here in the centre of the Ro- 
 
The Personality of God. 29 
 
 man world, where he had chosen unto himself a 
 permanent abode ? He was shnt in by a Chris- 
 tian chnrch ; and there, on the floor of this his 
 temple, like Dagon of old, he lay with his neck 
 broken ! Above him rose the majestic temple 
 of Christianity, whence daily go np, in this onr 
 day, the prayers of the true worshippers of 
 God. Behold Christianity serenely triumphant 
 over paganism and pantheism ! 
 
 I sum up briefly, my friends. God exists ; He 
 is a pure spirit, infinitely perfect. He is distinct 
 from the world, endowed pre-eminently with per- 
 sonality more perfect than our own. He is the 
 first cause of all things. To Him we owe our be- 
 ing ; to Him we owe our homage — the homage of 
 a good life. Even the pagan acknowledged this. 
 And I cannot close these remarks better than by 
 citing the words of the great Plato on this sub- 
 ject of a good life, in his letter to the relatives 
 and friends of Dion of Syracuse.* "God," he 
 says, " is a law to the wise, pleasure to the fool- 
 ish." t Let us learn of this pagan; and if 
 there be any one here who has been led to fol- 
 
 * Plato, viii. Ep. ad Dionis., ProquiDquos et Amicos, 34. 
 
 f Qeoi di d.v(ipQonoii 6o6<ppo(ii vonoi- acppodi Si r/Sovrj. 
 
30 Christian Truths. 
 
 low the teachings of a false philosophy, let him 
 pay homage to the united intellect of the world, 
 and profess his belief in one true Grod and live 
 according to His law. 
 
Leotuee II. 
 
 THE EXISTENCE OF THE SOUL IN MAN, ITS SIM- 
 PLICITY AND SPIRITUALITY. 
 
 HAVING shown in my last lecture that God 
 is, that He is a spirit infinitely inteliigeiil, 
 self-existent, and the Author of all things, it be- 
 comes my duty now, my dear friends, to vindi- 
 cate a second essential truth at the very founda- 
 tion of Christianity, the existence of the Soul of 
 man, its simplicity and its spirituality. One of 
 the fruits of so-called progress in these days of 
 ours is the absolute denial of the existence of 
 anything not material, and therefore of the soul 
 of man ; while another result is to make the in- 
 telligent j)rinciple in man a part of the divinity, 
 to say, that the god of nature manifests himself 
 in man, who is therefore god, inasmuch as the 
 spiritual element in man is nothing but the god 
 of the pantheist becoming conscious of himself 
 
32 Christian Trutlis. 
 
 and. of Ms excellence and attributes. Against 
 these two erroneous views of the nature of man 
 it is my purpose to demonstrate that there is in 
 man a principle, an essence, which we call the 
 soul ; which is created, by Grod for union with 
 the body of man ; and which is not material or 
 composed of elements, but is one, simple, and 
 spiritual in its being, endowed with intellect and 
 freedom of wiU, and therefore the responsible 
 agent in man' s acts. 
 
 Having spoken at length last Sunday of pan- 
 theistic error, I will not stop to speak further on 
 this phase of it than to say, that such an idea is 
 completely at variance with the thought and 
 practical judgment of the human race. What 
 are the results of tliis pantheistic teaching, man 
 is God % Is it not that man has no superior ; 
 that there is therefore no law to bind him ; that 
 he is master of his actions in such a way as to 
 be capable of doing no wrong ; that all distinc- 
 tion of right or wrong is done away with ? Yet 
 what do men think about this matter? They 
 believe in a law. They believe man is ame- 
 nable to it, subject to it. They believe that 
 there does exist a distinction between right and 
 wrong; that the source of this distinction is in 
 the eternal fitness of things as God eees them. 
 
The Existence of tlie Soul in Man. 33 
 
 They are profoundly convinced of man's re- 
 sponsibility for his acts. They are most inti- 
 mately persuaded of his being a free agent. 
 For this reason men make laws, enact penal- 
 ties, and inflict these penalties on the trans- 
 gressors of their laws. Were the supposition 
 of the pantheist true, we should have the ab- 
 surd spectacle of the god of pantheism pun- 
 ishing himself for what he does, vnthout rhyme 
 or reason ; for if the soul is god its will is 
 the only law ; and because in one man this god 
 does his own will, inasmuch as he exists in other 
 men, he chastises himself. So absurd a conse- 
 quence could not but result from such a mon- 
 strous error as pantheism. The intellect and the 
 moral sense of man alike scout the idea that 
 there is a portion of the Deity in man, that man 
 is God. Reason is our tribunal ; and reason de- 
 cides. 
 
 There is more difBculty in answering the ma- 
 terialist, however, than in showing the contra- 
 dictions of pantheism. And yet the difficulty 
 is not so great that materialism cannot, with a 
 little effort of attention and reasoning, be easily 
 shown inconsistent with all reason teaches us, 
 and therefore unworthy of the acceptance of a 
 rational being. 
 
34 Christian Truths. 
 
 The cardinal principle of the materialist is 
 that there is nothing but matter. Under the 
 head of materialists are to be classed the posi- 
 tivists, evolutionists who evolve everything out 
 of matter, and those who profess a belief in. the 
 indefinite progress, in a material sense, of na- 
 ture. For all these theories are based on the de- 
 velopment of matter. To these are to be added 
 a horde of scientific men who, without any spe- 
 cial preconceived ideas, from their observation 
 of the laws of matter in the more perfect ani- 
 mal organisms, of involuntary muscular action, 
 of reflex action in man and in the animals, of 
 the movement of matter— of a limb, even after 
 severance from the parent trunk, have leaped 
 to the. conclusion that thought is but a se- 
 cretion of the brain, and that there is no such 
 thing as a soul. It is useless to deny the 
 gravity of this error, its great danger, its 
 most destructive consequences. For this rea- 
 son I have taken it as the subject of my se- 
 cond lecture, proposing to show the impossi- 
 bility of matter thinking, and the absolute ne- 
 cessity, and therefore the existence, of a spiri- 
 tual essence in man, thinking and ruling his 
 acts, which is his soul, the principle of his 
 actions, and the responsible agent of tliem. 
 
The Existence of the Soul in Man. 35 
 
 By matter is niiderstood by all that which is 
 composed of elements, of parts, and can be di- 
 vided ; which has extension and occupies space. 
 It is, moreover, inert ; that is, does not move it- 
 self ; and when it does move, it moves in conse- 
 quence of a motor or moving power, and then it 
 moves necessarily in the direction of the force or 
 power that acts upon it. I invite your attention 
 particularly to these qualities of matter, its ex- 
 tension, form, and shape, its inability to move 
 itself, and its necessary movement in the direc- 
 tion of the force that acts upon it ; for I shall 
 make special use of these facts in a moment. 
 
 If we turn our eyes upon ourselves, as it 
 were inwardly, and consider what we are con- 
 scious of as going on within us, we have at once 
 an idea of our identity ; that is, we are conscious 
 we are the same person we were always. Changes 
 have gone on around us ; this body of ours 
 even has changed ; but there is a something in 
 us that has not changed : it is that which did 
 years ago what we are sorry for now, or what 
 we are glad we did. Again, that something 
 which is in us rules our action. It resolves, it 
 acts with deliberation and promptness, it makes 
 every part of the body act, all parts together, 
 for one purpose — for examj)le, for self-jire- 
 
36 Christian Truths. 
 
 serration — with incredible rapidity. It is like 
 the engineer who is driving his engine, or a 
 man who is managing a pair of spirited horses ; 
 his action makes all go together and work 
 without interfering the one with the other. 
 We are conscious there is a something in 
 us which acts in this way, and feel there 
 is no discussion or agreement between several 
 principles of being in us to produce so harmo- 
 nious a result. The very quickness yAXh which 
 we get out of danger precludes discussion, 
 deliberation, agreement. To deliberate would 
 mean destruction. There is, therefore, no mul- 
 titude of counsellors, but one directing power. 
 Now, this can be only on the supposition that 
 this something is simj^le, not composed of 
 parts ; the very complex nature of man' s body 
 exacts this. To consist of parts would imply 
 the necessity of these different parts consult- 
 ing, advising, agreeing, or refusing to agree, 
 if they were capable of doing this. Therefore 
 is it that this principle in us which is one, 
 identically one ; which is one in its direction of 
 the forces of body ; one in all its operations 
 whether of mind or of body — of thought, that 
 is, or of physical action — must be one by na- 
 ture, not compound, not consisting of parts 
 
The Existence of the Soul in Man. ' 37 
 
 added to parts, and therefore simple in its es- 
 sence or being— simple, and not compound, not 
 a composite. For the acts of any being are in 
 accordance with its nature ; while its nature can 
 be judged of from its acts. Besides, we are con- 
 scious that we move ourselves. We say now and 
 then we are moved to do something ; but we 
 mean that considerations of various kinds have 
 influenced our thoughts so as to make us re- 
 solve to do it. All the time we are conscious 
 we move ourselves ; that we needn't unless 
 we wish ; that we can do just the opposite, if 
 we desire. Reason tells us this is a quality 
 matter has not ; and this being the case, what 
 has that quality isn't matter, isn't this inert 
 mass that can't move unless something moves 
 it. Just contrast the work of this principle 
 of action in us with that remarkable phenome- 
 non called "reflex action." In ourselves we 
 may see both. A blow to a nerve will cause 
 immediate and sj^asmodic action of a limb which 
 apparently has no connection with the nerve. 
 But this is the result of mechanical action, 
 irritating a nerve and thus stimulating the 
 nervous system, and is determined to one 
 thing or act, and we are conscious that this 
 act goes on independently of us ; that is, I 
 
88 Christian Truths. 
 
 am conscious this movement in me takes place 
 without any control or direction of tlie think- 
 ing principle in me ; whereas when I am self- 
 possessed and direct my actions, such actions 
 are mine, not those of my nerves or of my 
 body. Is not this the way all men talk, 
 and is it not the judgment of oar tribunal — 
 reason? Therefore we are always, in a natu- 
 ral, easy way, distinguishing between the ac- 
 tion of matter and the action of the one, sim- 
 ple, self -ruling, self-directing principle in us ; 
 and this could not be, unless we were intimate- 
 ly persuaded that we had something in us not 
 of matter, but of an order above matter and 
 better than it, differing from it essentially in 
 its nature. 
 
 One — the greatest — faculty of this principle 
 IQ us, which we call the soul, is thought. This 
 is its life, in fact. This belongs as essentially 
 to the soul as breath does to the body. Xow, 
 with reference to thoiight, we are conscious 
 that there is a unity in thought which does 
 not admit of division. We recognize succes- 
 sive steps or stages in thought ; but each 
 thought is one in itself. It may be more or 
 less distinct, yet it is always one. ]Men speak 
 of half a mind ; but this is a metaphorical ex- 
 
Tlie Existence of the Soul in Man. 39 
 
 pression signifying that they are not fully re- 
 solved. To speak of thought as having form, 
 shape, color, would cause people to look at 
 you with undisguised astonishment, possibly 
 with disagreeable surmises. To us all thought 
 is as fully present, as indivisible, as is the 
 simplicity of the soul itself ; and it cannot 
 be otherwise ; for, as I have said, thought is 
 the life of the soul, and if the one excludes 
 division the other must, too. Thought, there- 
 fore, cannot be conceived of as having exten- 
 sion, form, shape, color. What results from 
 this ? That the soul is simple, not composed 
 of matter ; for if it were, the thoughts would 
 be according to its nature and consist of 
 parts, and consequently there would be no- 
 thing strange in speaking of a half, or of a 
 quarter of a thought. 
 
 Again, thought cannot result from motion of 
 particles of matter. The reason of it is this : 
 matter is inert and moves only in consequence 
 of force applied to it; moreover, as I have al- 
 ready said, it moves necessarily in the direc- 
 tion of the force acting on it. Here, then, is an 
 additional reason which convinces us of the sim- 
 plicity of the soul, for we are conscious of the 
 freedom of our thoughts. We can interrupt 
 
40 Christian Truths. 
 
 them at will ; we can, by tlie interior force 
 of our volition, pursue an entirely different 
 train of thought. We can check our mind so 
 as to not let it reach a conclusion ; or, having 
 reached a conclusion, not permit our will to 
 carry out the result. This freedom of thought 
 is absolutely in contradiction to that necessary 
 or compulsory movement such as belongs to 
 matter. Besides, the necessity also of moving 
 in the direction of the force impelling takes 
 away all responsibility ; for free-will is de- 
 stroyed. Man is no longer a free agent; he 
 becomes material wholly, and acts are organic 
 changes in matter for which he is not answerable. 
 These acts are not his ; for the movement which 
 produces such changes is from outside, and 
 the changes are absolutely determined in extent 
 and direction by the outside force. Here the 
 materialist finds himself at once in conflict 
 with the firm persuasion and belief of hu- 
 man reason from the beginning ; for men have 
 always recognized the responsibility of man 
 with regard to his actions, and have made laws 
 on that account. The very existence of all 
 law presupposes, as a necessary condition, the 
 freedom of man's will, his power to rule him- 
 self, the full possession of his faculties of ac- 
 
The Existence of the Soul in Man. 41 
 
 tion — liis personality, in fine. Reason, there- 
 fore, is with us in asserting unmistakably the 
 existence of the soul of man as a simple sub- 
 Stance, with a life of thought and. reason and 
 of freedom of action which constitute it a 
 spiritual being — a spirit. 
 
 Moreover, the materialist, whatever his the- 
 ory, is often embarrassed for language, as he 
 cannot find expressions which are not more or 
 less, as Mr. Mallock has so fitly remarked, in 
 accord with the teaching that man is a spirit ; 
 the reason of this is that words are the repre- 
 sentations of man' s ideas ; and man has not the 
 words which would please the materialist, be- 
 cause he has not such ideas — the "ideas corre- 
 spond to such words. Nothing daunted by this, 
 however, the materialist professes his belief in 
 evolution, and asserts that new desires produce 
 new attempts of nature, and consequently new 
 results. Now, here is a most illogical statement. 
 Call to mind what I said a moment ago. If 
 there is nothing but matter this matter moves 
 necessarily according to the force impinging on 
 it, and also necessarily in the direction of the 
 same force. Not only this, which would, as 
 you see, give all the credit of development to 
 a power above matter and moving it ; but as a 
 
42 GTirist'mn Truths. 
 
 stream rises no higher than its source, as you 
 cannot make gold out of iron, or sUk out of 
 cotton, so you cannot get ideas above matter out 
 of matter ; you cannot produce thought from 
 matter ; you cannot have desires, manifesting 
 themselves as a result of movement of matter, 
 which are above matter itself. And for this rea- 
 son the assertion that evolution is a result of 
 material action only, having aspu'ations above 
 itself, is not only untenable but absurd. That 
 there are aspirations in beings endowed vrith 
 reason and intellect is due to the fact that 
 they have a soul at once simj)le and spiritual. 
 In beings of a lower order which have no rea- 
 son nor intellect, but only a soul simple in its 
 substance, there can be no such aspirations, as 
 those souls are bound down to a material life, 
 and are not intended, and are not able to rise 
 above that material level. 
 
 But by far the — I v^dll not say strongest, 
 but — most impressive argument to make us 
 appreciate the spiritual nature of the soul is 
 the practical one whereby men judge of the 
 worth of anything. What are its natural re- 
 sults ? The tree is known by its fruits. Wliat 
 are the fruits of materialism ? At one stroke 
 it blots out the very thought and idea of 
 
The Existence of the Soul in Man. 43 
 
 everything spiritual, everytliing exalting, every- 
 thing, I may say, sublime. There is nothing 
 left but the brute, dread force of nature. A 
 frightful precipice or a fearful crash of thun- 
 der will inspire fear, but not raise the mind 
 higher than the yawning gulf or the affright- 
 ing sound of nature's workings. The simple 
 Indian who walked amid the forests of this 
 land of ours here, was Avrong to think of the 
 Great Spirit when the fierce winds raged over 
 the earth, tore up giant oaks by the roots ; 
 when the blinding flash gleamed across the low- 
 ering, dark vault of heaven, and the thunder 
 spoke of irresistible power ! He was a savage ; 
 he knew no better ; he had not reached the cul- 
 ture and elevated plane of thought of the man 
 of science in the nineteenth century ! He was 
 wrong to 1 1 link of anything but matter ; for, 
 as the materialist says, nothing but matter 
 exists. 
 
 Closely following on this result or fruit 
 comes another — the destruction of all morality. 
 This is a necessary consequence of the system 
 of materialism, and it is openly avowed by its 
 followers. If any still hold back in this 
 avowal it is because they do not appreciate 
 where they stand and are not well up in their 
 
44 CJiristian Truflis. 
 
 tenets. This is evident ; because no morality 
 or moral law can be conceived of unless we 
 have a lawgiver. Laws are not framed with 
 reference to the one who makes them, but to 
 bind and direct others. In the supposition 
 that there is no moral lawgiver there can be 
 no moral law ; and not only no moral law as 
 laid down by revelation, but no natural moral 
 law, no system of ethics, no rights and no 
 duties, rights and duties springing from the 
 natural law. Therefore the only controlling 
 principle, according to materialism, is might. 
 Might makes right ; that is the formula., the 
 outcome of materialism. Again all duty of 
 self-control vanishes ; passion, the gratification 
 of all desires, provided it can be done so as not 
 to interfere with material well-being, is to be 
 allowed full sway. There is no check upon it. 
 Why, last summer a professor addressing a 
 class of young men in Paris, on occasion of 
 their gi'aduation, bade them remember that 
 virtue was but a name ; that such an idea was 
 but a trammel ; that talent only was the thing 
 to look to in a man who was to rise and hold 
 position and authority, and ended by saying : 
 "Henceforth, gentlemen, pleasure is to be your 
 measure of action." What wonder that we see 
 
The Existence of the Soul in Man. 45 
 
 the consequences of such teaching in that un- 
 fortunate country and elsewhere amid the 
 votaries of materialism ? Communism is the 
 necessary result of materialism and posil/Ivism. 
 The will of the masses is fast becoming the 
 only criterion of what is right or wrong. It 
 would be the law of the future, did . material- 
 ism triumph ; and murder, and arson, and crime 
 in general would be good works, provided the 
 masses willed them. Do we not see indica- 
 tions of this already? Defiance to what has 
 hitherto been deemed law, and vii-tue, and 
 morality is openly manifested, the outcome of 
 this modern civilization, which has its founda- 
 tion and its whole being in matter. Parents 
 who are solicitous for the virtue and well-being 
 of their children cannot, unless blunted by pas- 
 sion themselves, look on such a state of things 
 without concern ; and the feeling they have 
 is the best condemnation of the system of 
 materialism which, denying the existence of 
 €rod, of the human soul, and of the hereafter, 
 destroys every influence that can hold in check 
 the depraved yearnings of the human heart. 
 
 Such is the testimony of the human soul ; we 
 are therefore prepared to have a like testimony 
 from the human race. The human race has al- 
 
46 Christian Truths. 
 
 ways believed in the existence of the soul, and 
 in its being a free, responsible agent. This tes- 
 timony is concordant. It has been given al- 
 ways, everywhere, and by all. I say all ; for 
 the small number hitherto rejecting belief in 
 the existence of the soul is not to be consid- 
 ered. The fact shows this belief to be the true 
 one, as we can gather from the well-known 
 saying of Cicero : " Opinionum commenta delet 
 dies ; veritatem confirmat " {Be Nat. Deorum, ii.) 
 — Time destroys the comments of opinion, but 
 confirms the truth. For the universal judg- 
 ment of men, always, everywhere the same, is 
 the voice of nature ; and nature, as we saw last 
 Sunday, in the words of Tertullian, is taught 
 of God. 
 
 That the human race believed always in the 
 existence of a spiritual element in man, which 
 they called the soul, is evident to any one who 
 is even a superficial student of history. The 
 very fact that man worshipped God implies 
 this. The belief in future rewards and punish- 
 ments shows it. We can readUy understand 
 that if there is nothing but matter in the uni- 
 verse, nothing remains after a body is resolved 
 into its material elements by death. This is 
 the cardinal principle of materialism. Had men 
 
TTie Existence of ilie Soul in Man. 47 
 
 believed this, every system of religion, of be- 
 lief in rewards and punishments after death, 
 of morality, would have been an absurdity 
 on their part. But with all the force of their 
 mind the people clung to religious belief ; they 
 avoided evil, that they might escape the punish- 
 ment which, alike in India, in Greece, and at 
 Eome, were threatened after death to those who 
 transgressed the laws of nature or of religion. 
 The mythological systems of these countries, 
 known to every reader, even of an encyclopae- 
 dia, tell of happiness with the gods as the con- 
 sequence of a good life, as well as of the suf- 
 ferings to be undergone by those who led a life 
 of crime. Such is the testimony of the human 
 race ; and this testimony is the testimony of 
 simple, unalloyed nature not debased by that 
 spirit of pride which eliminated God from the 
 universe. Granted that such belief and testi- 
 mony are blurred and marred by innumerable 
 errors. That does not affect the main qxiestion, 
 the substance of the belief ; they are but like 
 to the varied garb in which man arrays his 
 form, different according to climate o].- nation- 
 ality ; the form remains always the same — the 
 noble form of man. Just so this intimate per- 
 suasion of the human race in the existence of a 
 
48 Christian Truths. 
 
 soul and in its future reward or future punisli- 
 ment, though attired in a garb which does not 
 become it. 
 
 I willingly grant, as true, that among the cul- 
 tured classes of all nations were to be found 
 schools which were not in accord with this be- 
 lief. The pantheism of the present day is not 
 new. It is but a reproduction of that of Rome, 
 of Grreece, and of India. And the materialism 
 of to-day had its progenitors not only in the 
 disciples of Epicurus, but in the Buddhists of 
 India and of China. Still the class of mate- 
 rialists was always a smaU one. The soul of 
 man, unless immersed in pleasure, naturally 
 revolts from holding such a tenet ; and as a re- 
 sult the more intellectual took up a pantheistic 
 system which identified the soul with God Him- 
 self.* The pantheists of all time taught the ex- 
 istence of a spirit in man distinct from the mat- 
 ter which formed his body, and therefore they 
 ever rejected this monstrous theory which makes 
 man naught save matter. But even among the 
 heathen were to be found those who, rejecting 
 these opposing errors as far as they knew them, 
 
 * Bauddhas of India and Ficlito aro identical in holding the exclusive 
 existence of the rb iyii. Brauchcroau, Hist, de la PldhsojMe, p. 29 cites 
 the Precis de QidUy. 
 
The Existence of the Soul in Man. 49 
 
 taught the existence of the soul as we hold it, 
 as a substance differing essentially from mat- 
 ter and made by God. Of all the great lights 
 of antiquity the judgment of mankind has 
 named as the greatest, Socrates, Plato, and Aris- 
 totle. The testimony of these three great men 
 is enough to show us to what real culture and 
 intellectual elevation can lead man. As a mat- 
 ter of fact, whatever the human mind of itself 
 can produce is necessarily inferior to what can 
 be known if the Maker of man unveils His 
 treasure of knowledge. Still, the words of these 
 men are admirable and most weighty. Xeno- 
 phon, in his Memorabilia, tells us of Socrates 
 deriving the existence of the soul from God. 
 He is not only persuaded of its existence, but 
 he absolutely excludes the possibility of the 
 soul proceeding from matter, and of matter 
 thinking. "Whence," he asks, "has man had 
 this soul" except from God? Plato makes him 
 speak, in his book entitled PhcEdo, of the im- 
 mortality of the soul.* 
 
 Plato himself not only teaches the spiritual 
 nature of the soul, but also a system of re- 
 wards and punishments to be undergone after 
 
 * } 68, Gary's translatioii. 
 
50 Christian Truths. 
 
 death. He thus not only tells of the distinc- 
 tion between the soul and matter ; he teaches, 
 besides, that the soul can exist independently 
 of matter. 
 
 Aristotle, so far from accepting materialistic 
 ideas, believed so firmly ia the existence of the 
 soul that he wrote a book on its existence and 
 qualities. In the beginning of this work he 
 writes : ' ' The soul is, as it were, the principle 
 of all animals" {De Anima, 1. i. c. i.) He goes 
 on to tell us what those who preceded him 
 thought, and then sums up as follows: "All 
 define the soul by these three : motion, feel- 
 ing, simplicity or absence of matter"' (C. i. 
 D. n. 486). He bears witness .here to what 
 has been the opinion of others who exclud- 
 ed matter from the soul. He does not accept, 
 however, this definition, and lays down his 
 own, styling the soul that which gives life to 
 a Tiuman body capable of living ; that which 
 makes a body actually a living body : "Primus 
 actus corporis potentiam vitse habentis." * And 
 so correct and proper has this definition been 
 deemed that the Church, in her teaching on the 
 
 * 'ArayxaTor ccpa rrjv Tpv/t/v 6v6iav el'vai, mi siSoi 
 Soo/xaroi cpv(Siy.ov Svvdiiei Zoor/v exovToi. C. i. p. 486, D ed. 
 De la Roviere, 1605. 
 
The Existence of the Soul in Man. 51 
 
 subject of the soul, has adopted it nearly in the 
 same words : the sonl is the form of the body- 
 that is, according to the language of the schools, 
 the soul is that which makes a human body a 
 living body. He says, moreover, that the soul is 
 a substance, and expressly argues against those 
 who teach that it is composed of very subtle 
 matter. He goes on to say that the soul must 
 be comprehended, determined in its natur^ by 
 its works ; and he treats of the various faculties 
 of the soul — ^the senses, imagination and intel- 
 lect. 
 
 It is evident from these citations, my dear 
 friends, that the judgment of the humblest 
 agrees with that of the most celebrated and 
 brilliant of men in asserting the existence of 
 the soul and its destiny. But striking and 
 sublime as are their sentiments and ideas, 
 these are little when we come to consider the 
 way in which the Catholic Church speaks 
 and decides with respect to the nature, and 
 attributes, and future destiny of the soul. 
 The theme is so grand it overwhelms one ; 
 words fail. The greatest light of the Church, 
 at this moment the patron of its theology, the 
 great St. Thomas Aquinas, will tell us what 
 is Catholic teaching on this subject. He was 
 
52 Christian Truths. 
 
 a loving disciple of Aristotle and often nses 
 his language. After speaking of the existence 
 of the soul, which he declares incorporeal, and, 
 using the wording of Aristotle, calls the act 
 of the body, or that which makes a body ac- 
 tually a human body — the form of the body, 
 or that which makes a body a living body ; he 
 goes on to specify that it is a spiritual es- 
 sence, living and endowed with personality, 
 inasmuch as it is one with the body and the 
 adequate priuciple of life and action in man ; 
 that it is only less than angelic in nature ; that 
 it cannot see corruption ; that its life is espe- 
 cially intellectual ; that its destiny is to pos- 
 sess the Sovereign Truth and Sovereign Good. 
 St. Thomas Aquinas wrote with all the trea- 
 sure of ancient knowledge at his command, 
 with the advantage 6f all the Avonderful light 
 that came from the works of the great St. Au- 
 gustine, whom he often quotes, and his mind 
 and his heart re-echoed the words of that great 
 African doctor: "Thou hast made us, O Lord! 
 for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it 
 find quiet in Thee ! " There is the sublime 
 destiny of the human soul ! Is it at all won- 
 derful, my dear friends, that Christianity 
 with such words on her lips, won the human 
 
TTie Existence of the Soul in Man. 53 
 
 mind and gained the human heart? She came 
 finding a civilization in a very high sense, 
 cultured in the extreme, but v^rith only a glim- 
 mer of light to raise man above himself and 
 to free him from the thraldom of his passions. 
 At once she made him see his condition, 
 made him raise his eyes and look to his Fa- 
 ther in heaven. She taught the inestimable 
 value of a human soul ; she made the great 
 ones of the VForld, their princes and their 
 rulers, recognize in the poor man a god-like 
 nature — a nature God had made free v^^ith a 
 freedom which God Himself respects. Her teach- 
 ings made slavery in Europe a thing of the 
 past, and her action, consistent with her teach- 
 ings, raised the poor man from poverty and ob- 
 scurity to the grand, pre-eminent position of 
 ruler of the Church of God on earth. It v/as 
 her doctrine_ on the rights of man which, tri- 
 umphing over barbarism, heathen pride, and op- 
 pression of the lower classes, made the rights 
 of man the basis of legislation, and conse- 
 quently brought about the civilization of this 
 period in which we live. Over those rights 
 she has ever spread her eegis, and she will 
 continue to do so, calumniated, though she has 
 been and is, as the enemy of human liberty. 
 
54 Christian Truths. 
 
 That liberty she asserts always and has ever 
 asserted. She teaches that a man must act 
 according to the dictates of his conscience, 
 which is the voice of his soul ; that every- 
 thing done in accord with this voice is good, 
 everything done against conscience is bad. 
 She teaches that by faithful following of con- 
 science only can a man reach his destiny. 
 That destiny she makes us understand, by 
 presenting us the spectacle of God Himself 
 so valuing a human soul as to come after it, 
 take human form, and die for it. Can any- 
 thing so impress us with the idea of the excel- 
 lence of the spiritual nature and supernatu- 
 ral destiny of a soul as this spectacle ? Won- 
 derful love and condescension of God! This 
 sight, the God of heaven taking on Himself 
 human nature^ made the subduer of Attila, 
 the great Pope Leo, transported^ with rever- 
 ent admiration, burst forth in these words : 
 "Recognize, O man! thy dignity, and, having 
 been made a companion of the divine nature, 
 return no longer by degenerate life to thy 
 former vileness." Let us, with this great 
 Doctor and benefactor of mankind, recognize 
 the excellence and the dignity of our nature, 
 of this soul of ours, and strive, by making 
 
The Existence of the Soul in Man. 55 
 
 God its law, to save it from the thraldom of 
 pleasure, and so prepare it for its destiny, the 
 possession of Infinite Truth and Infinite Good 
 — God Himself. 
 
Lecture III. 
 
 TUB RELATION BETWEEN GOD AND THE SOUL- 
 REVELATION. 
 
 IN the preceding two lectures, my dear 
 friends, I have treated of the existence of 
 God and of the existence of the human soul, 
 of God and of His creature. It is evident 
 that this creature, man, must be subject to his 
 Creator. The very intellect he has, the reason 
 he is endowed with, serve to make him know 
 and regard with reverent awe the Supreme 
 Being. He easily comes thereby to know his 
 duty of adoration and of obedience. He has 
 in his breast a still, small voice, which admo- 
 nishes him of his duty neglected, or praises 
 him for what he has well done. In the very 
 fitness of things, as he sees and understands 
 them, he finds a law of action regulating him. 
 Led by these natural means, and much more 
 by the traditions of the human race, he intro- 
 
 56 
 
Ood and the Soul-Bevelation. 57 
 
 duced various forms of honor to the Deity; 
 varying religions came into existence; each 
 people had its own peculiar form. 
 
 But it is one of man's frailties, that he is 
 prone to err. He is fallible especially in re- 
 gard to what excites his imagination and 
 powerfully affects his feelings ; and from this 
 source of error sprang innumerable and dis- 
 cordant systems of belief and worship. Men 
 deified everything that impressed them. It 
 would be ludicrous, were it not so sad a spec- 
 tacle, to call up in array the gods of pagan- 
 ism. Wise men felt this. Many rejected 
 false worship in secret, and strove to offer to 
 God some purer form of homage. But even 
 here, so many were the ways of going astray, 
 so often did men find it impossible to agree, 
 that divisions without number occurred. In 
 this state of the human mind men looked to 
 heaven. They yearned for some safe guide. 
 Plato, the great Plato, in the Dialogue in 
 which Socrates takes part, makes Simmias 
 avow man's inability to attain to certainty in 
 belief unless he should have some divine 
 word to teach him.* The sentiments of this 
 philosopher but re-echoed that of the gene- 
 
 * Phaido. 
 
58 Christian Truths. 
 
 rality of the human race. Man always yearn- 
 ed for union with Him from whom he came, 
 with God ; he was ready to use any means 
 to effect it, and eageiiy seized on any system 
 which promised to give him the light and 
 knowledge and moral power he sought. It 
 was this feeling cunning rulers availed them- 
 selves of to introduce their religious systems ; 
 and to more eifectually succeed, tliey feigned 
 intercourse with beings above nature. From 
 the founders of Hindu religions, from Brahma 
 and Buddha, to Numa and Mahomet, all 
 false systems of religious worship sought 
 their chief reliance in pretended supernatural 
 illumination ; and this is one of tlie most or- 
 dinary accusations made against religious sys- 
 tems by rationalists, who do not believe in the 
 supernatural. The fact, however, that men do 
 look for something siipematural, for a com- 
 munication from above, proves the deep-seat- 
 ed conviction of the human soul, that there 
 ought to be such a foundation for religious 
 worship ; that it should come from God Him- 
 self. This is the persuasion of the mind of 
 man, expressed always and everywhere ; this 
 the language of the soul. It is intimately per- 
 suaded that it is the child of God ; that God, 
 
Ood and the Soul- Revelation. 59 
 
 as a father, should come to the aid of His 
 children, enlighten their darkness, and let 
 them know how they are to please Him. 
 God is, in fact, the father of all. Fatherhood 
 comes from Him, for its most perfect essence — 
 fatherhood itself, that is — is in Him. Why is 
 it that men condemn a father who turns his 
 back on his offspring and abandons him to 
 die ? In the philosophy of those who argue 
 in favor of improving the human race as one 
 would stock, deformity or weakness would 
 justify this. But such is not the la,nguage 
 of the human race, for men characterize as 
 inhuman such conduct. Whence comes this 
 feeling, if not from the natuial belief of man 
 that a father must of necessity love his child, 
 and provide for its welfare, in proportion to its 
 inability to provide for itself ? This is man' s 
 idea of fatherhood. Now, every perfection ex- 
 ists primarily in God, in its most perfect 
 form, and is essentially in God. Fatherhood, 
 therefore, exists in its utmost perfection in 
 God. He is the Father by excellence. Being 
 such, He cannot neglect His children. He has 
 made them for Himself, for He coiild make 
 them for none other ; and He has given them 
 the hearts of children whit^h yearn for Him. 
 
60 Christian Truths. 
 
 It is, therefore, an absolute impossibility that 
 God could have neglected the human race ; 
 and a revelation from God, in man's present 
 condition, is an absolute necessity. The na- 
 ture of the case, and the conviction of man's 
 mind, as evidenced by his history, all go to 
 show this truth. What that revelation should 
 be, or how it should be made, that is quite a 
 different question. The main fact stands that 
 a revelation, or communication between God 
 and man, was necessary from the very nature 
 of the case. 
 
 Again, God is not only a father, but the 
 omnipotent Creator and Ruler of the universe. 
 From these two characters and powers of God 
 result : 
 
 First ; that He could not lead astray His 
 children, or allow them to be led astray 
 against tlieir will, in such a manner, that is, 
 that, being willing and desirous to know God 
 and serve Him, man could not only not find 
 the way, but must go in the wrong direction. 
 Secondly ; that God has the perfect control 
 of nature ; and, after creating it, holds it in 
 His hand, regulates its movements, wills and 
 carries out the laws by which it is govern- 
 ed. No animal was ever so under the control 
 
God and tlie Soul- Revelation. 61 
 
 of its master, as nature is under the control 
 of God. Human leason teaches us this. 
 
 It follows from these two facts — that God 
 cannot let men be led astray despite himself, 
 and that He is the absolute Master of nature — 
 that nature must obey Him and does obey 
 Him ; moreover, that man, being acted on by 
 sensible things, and therefore through natu- 
 ral objects around him, God must make use 
 of these objects to act upon him and raise 
 His mind to higher things— to Himself, in fine 
 — and cannot allow these natural objects to be 
 the means of misleading him, if he does not 
 wish to be misled. For did God permit na- 
 ture to lead man from Himself to follow a false 
 system of worship, that action would be im- 
 putable to God ; it would argue imperfection 
 in God, and destroy the very idea of God, 
 which is Sovereign . Perfection. Here, then, is 
 the sure basis of communication with God ; 
 upon this must and will rest all revelation 
 made to man. It is useless to enquire whe- 
 ther man needs it ; his history, a history 
 of error from the time man strayed away 
 from God, shows he needs something more 
 than his own feeble mind. He needed it 
 from the beginning, and from the beginning 
 
62 Christian Truths. 
 
 he had. it. God spoke to man through nature. 
 Not only did He make him acknowledge his 
 Creator by the display of His power in the 
 elements ; He made use of nature, suspending 
 its laws, the most familiar and necessary laws, 
 so as to convince man that He was there, 
 and that His Voice was to be heeded, His reve- 
 lation was to be accepted. He wrought mira- 
 cles ; and miracles, wonderful works which in- 
 volved the suspension of nature's laws in a 
 most marked and unmistakable manner, con- 
 vinced man of God's Presence, of His work, 
 of the truth of the words he heard, of the 
 necessity of submission to the commands giv- 
 en him. A miracle was not and is not an ab- 
 stract or subtle matter few can fathom. It 
 was and is a fact ; a fact patent to all ; a fact 
 the truth or falsity of which could and 'can 
 be detected easily ; a fact witnessed by seve- 
 ral and determined by the laws of evidence. 
 
 But before I go more deeply into this mat- 
 ter, let me say a word with regard to the rela- 
 tion between science and revelation. Science, 
 as here taken, is the study of physical na- 
 ture, carried on and systematized through the 
 process of induction. It rises no higher than 
 nature, belongs to it ; for it is the child of na- 
 
God and the Soul- Revelation. 63 
 
 tnre. This being so, it must partake of all the 
 attributes, essential qualities of nature around 
 us, which has been made by God. God being 
 infinite perfection, it is impossible for nature 
 to contradict God ; for otherwise God would 
 be a vastly imperfect God — a God of contra- 
 dictions — an absurdity. In the supposition, 
 therefore, that God made a revelation to man, 
 He being the God of truth, his creation could 
 not contradict His word. There must be har- 
 mony between God's words and His works. 
 It may be difficult for a finite mind to solve 
 the problems which would seem to show want 
 of agreement between the Word of God as re- 
 vealed, and the facts of physical science ; but 
 an agreement there is, and he is wise who, in 
 obedience to the dictates of his own mind, 
 which tells him he is capable of erring, does 
 not trust what seems to him true, when he 
 knows revelation teaches the contrary ; but, in- 
 stead, waits to be rewarded with the expla- 
 nation further experience is apt to produce. 
 There are a host of superficial observers and 
 thinkers in these days, whose disposition is to 
 war against revealed religion. The mere ap- 
 pearance of contradiction between science and 
 revelation is enough for them ; and, with a 
 
64 Christian Truths. 
 
 cry of triumph, they hurl their assumptions in 
 the face of all the world has held sacred. 
 There are great names, on the contrary, who 
 have not followed this style of thought and 
 action. Leibnitz, Carpenter, Faraday, men of 
 great mind, and scientific men, of whom the 
 world is proud, believed in the existence of 
 God and of His revelation, and did not see 
 contradiction in His works and words. The 
 learned Abbe Moigno, of Paris, still living, is a 
 credit to science, and the editor of a scientific 
 review of value. The late Jesuit Father Sec- 
 chi, the originator, I may say, of the modem 
 scien'ce of the physical constitution of the sun, 
 through the study of its spots, rose-colored 
 flames, and the striated lines of the spectro- 
 scope, was a devoted disciple of science and an 
 exemplary priest. The Catholic Church her- 
 self, the great bulwark of revelation, is de- 
 voted to science, and has done more for it 
 than those who have cast aside her control ; 
 and it was a mark of honor the Commission of 
 the World's Fair, held in Paris in 1867, con- 
 ferred on her when, by the hand of the Em- 
 peror Napoleon III., it placed on the breast of 
 Father Secchi the first prize of merit for his 
 scientific excellence and mechanical inventions 
 
God and tlie Soul-Renelation. 65 
 
 in meteorology. ISTor is this all. The very- 
 first Academy of Science, which antedates by 
 far those of Paris and Berlin, was founded in 
 Rome, in the year 1603, under the name of the 
 "Lincei," or Lynxes. In the year 1740 Pope 
 Benedict XIV. gave it new life and a new 
 name, calling it the "J!^ew Lynxes," and pre- 
 scribed for its study natural history and ex- 
 perimental physics. Pius VII., in the begin- 
 ning of the century, did much for it, and wish- 
 ed that the study of religion and of science 
 should go hand-in-hand. It was also befriend- 
 ed and aided by Leo XII. Pius IX. estab- 
 lished its seat on the Capitoline Hill, in the 
 Capitol itself, recast its statutes and assigned 
 it a revenue of $1,200 per annum, and gave it 
 charge of the astronomical observatory at the 
 Capitol. During my residence in Rome I was 
 a witness of what these two observatories of 
 the Capitol and of the Roman College were 
 doing for the advancement of science. 
 
 It is, therefore, idle to assert the antagonism 
 of science and revelation. Solid, serious sci- 
 ence the Church patronizes and encourages, as 
 much as she discountenances flippant science, 
 quick in its assertions and unfair in its deal- 
 ings. Bacon has taught that a philosopher 
 
66 Christian Truths. 
 
 must get rid of the idola, or idols, in Ms mind 
 or feelings, before lie can become a true inves- 
 tigator ; and these disciples of science would 
 do well to follow this counsel of the Father of 
 modern inductive science, and get rid of their 
 prejudices and preconceived notions. Only by 
 laying aside these will they be fitted to cross 
 the threshold and enter the temple of true 
 Science, the handmaid of God, who there pro- 
 claims His glory. 
 
 Turn to the men of solid scientific culture 
 who to-day are listened to with respect by all, 
 because of the vastness and solidity of their 
 knowledge, and for the sober manner in which 
 they treat important questions. You will not 
 hear the satirical remark at the expense of re- 
 ligion. Some may have lost their belief in 
 Christianity, but they love the truth and are 
 not afraid to speak it. Professor James D. 
 Dana, of Yale College, the accomplished au- 
 thor of the Manual of Geology, so highly es- 
 teemed, takes as his motto the words of Juve- 
 nal: "Nunqixam aliud natura, aliud sapientia 
 dicet" — Nature and wisdom will never contra- 
 dict each other. In closing his remarks on 
 the Progress of life, he uses these weighty 
 words: "For the development of man gifted 
 
God and the Soul- Revelation. 67 
 
 with, high reason and will, and thus made a 
 power above nature, there was required the 
 special act of a Being above nature, whose 
 supreme will is not only the source of natural 
 law, but the working force of nature herself." 
 In a note he distinctly asserts that there is no 
 discordance between what he has observed and 
 the Biblical account of creation. He further 
 reminds his readers that the order and system 
 made manifest in nature by geological science, 
 leading up to ultimate perfection of all in man, 
 is by no means atheistic, but is the only view 
 consistent with the Divine origin of the uni- 
 verse ; and each discovery of the connection be- 
 tween grades of living species demonstrates 
 still further the completeness of the system 
 and order, and hastens its thorough under- 
 standing. 
 
 Another writer, Mr. Le Conte, of the Univer- 
 sity of California, Professor of Geology and 
 Natural History, in his remarks on the cal- 
 culation of geological time, and particularly 
 in reference to the time man has been on 
 earth, says that geologists have ' ' no certain 
 knowledge" on this point. He, however, re- 
 fers to calculations, based on the formation of 
 deltas and on the progressive erosion of lake- 
 
68 Christian Truths. 
 
 shores, whicli have given moderate results : 
 seven thousand and ten thousand years. These 
 are mere calculations, subjected to the vicis- 
 situdes of human reasoning, based on facts 
 which, however probable, may not be exactly 
 as observed or suitnised. This present calcu- 
 lation, however, of seven, or even eight, thou- 
 sand* years for the life of man on earth does 
 not conflict with the opinions of Catholic theo- 
 logians. The Church has given no definitions 
 with reference to time, geological or simply 
 chronological, although she has given most 
 precise definitions with regard to facts. There 
 is no danger of her definitions ever clashing 
 with the facts of science. Once she is satisfied 
 that what is asserted by scientific men to be a 
 fact is really such, she wUl accept it, and inter- 
 pret the Sacred Books in accordance with it ; 
 for it is one of her cardinal teachings that 
 God cannot contradict Himself, and that for 
 this reason His revelation and His works 
 must say the same thing, f From her very 
 teaching, therefore, on this point she m-ust ac- 
 cept the fact. These facts, however, I may 
 state, form no part of the deposit of faith, 
 
 * Malloy grants atout eight thousand as possible. 
 
 + Vat. Council, Constitutio Dogmatica, eh. iy., De Fide et Ratione. 
 
God and tlie Soul- Revelation. 69 
 
 and cannot be the subject of religious teacli- 
 ing. 
 
 Having thus put before you the relation of 
 revelation to science, I return now to the 
 gi'ound upon which the existence of revelation 
 rests, and from which I digressed to give you 
 the explanation Just had. That ground is the 
 occurrence of miraculous events evidencing the 
 interference of the Deity. It is one thing to 
 recognize the necessity of a revelation from 
 God, and the impossibility of nature and re- 
 velation contradicting each other ; it is another 
 thing to recognize the true revelation itself; 
 that is a practical matter, and it is, at least 
 ordinarily, to be compassed in a practical 
 way. The multitude of religions in the 
 world, with such conflicting claims, with such 
 opposing and even contradictory teachings, 
 makes it absolutely necessary to have some 
 way to recognize the truth ; otherwise it will 
 be as if there had been no revelation at 
 all. Some lull themselves into a false security 
 by saying that enough truth exists in each 
 one of these religions to make man good and 
 aid him to find God. But they do not under- 
 stand that the truth they recognize in each 
 one of these systems is only some partial 
 
70 Christian Truths. 
 
 tradition, or the glimmer of Imman reason, 
 which, as we have seen, is capable of recog- 
 nizing the existence of God and the princi- 
 pal duties of man toward God and toward 
 his neighbor. That is not and cannot consti- 
 tute a revelation. The revelation which comes 
 from God must be of such a kind that it 
 exclude everything erroneous from its teach- 
 ings ; for it is the word of God, who cannot 
 teach error, cannot deceive. Secondly, it must 
 teach all the truth that will lead man to God, 
 keep him united to the Author of his being, 
 and make him so live as to obtain Lis highest 
 reward ; and, for this reason, it must not only 
 teach the doctrine needed for this, but it must 
 supply the means. Now, we have seen, in 
 speaking of the various religions of the world, 
 exclusive of the Christian and Jewish disj)en- 
 sations, as is well known from history, that 
 these various religions, to use the words of the 
 Apostle, "detained the truth of God in injus- 
 tice" ; that is, kept the tr^^th about God, which 
 reason has, involved in error and in evil-doing. 
 Why, even the moral teachings of those whose 
 authority I have been hitherto citing, Socrates, 
 Plato, and Aristotle, are to be censured for 
 the error they contain. Therefore, these reli- 
 
Ood and the Soul-RexielaUon. 71 
 
 gions are not to be trusted, are worthless in 
 themselves ; though those holding to them 
 may, by the light of reason, be eventually led 
 to the truth. Moreover, the knowledge of 
 what is to constitute truth and purity must 
 come from God, since men are so conflicting in 
 their views ; and for this reason there must 
 be a practical, unmistakable manner of recog- 
 nizing God as revealing to us His truth and 
 law. Miracles, therefore, are necessary to open 
 man's eyes to revealed truth. There is no 
 other way ; and this is the judgment of the 
 human race, as I have said. 
 
 A miracle may be defined to be an extraor- 
 dinary event, falling under the observation of 
 the senses, of a wonderful character, beyond 
 the Older of all created nature, and suspending 
 nature's ordinary laws, evidently and directly 
 attributable to the act of God Himself, done 
 for a purpose, made known from the circum- 
 stances and worthy of Him. 
 
 This definition excludes all signs and won- 
 ders which may, through God's permission, be 
 wrought by an agency above nature, through 
 hidden natural laws yet unknown to us. It 
 excludes all signs and wonders which are mar- 
 vellous and, it may be, miraculous, but not 
 
72 Christian Truths. 
 
 clearly so. It excludes all signs and wonders 
 which tend to lead men astray from the 
 known truth of God. It includes all those 
 events which so suspend nature's known 
 laws as to make man at once* understand he 
 is face to face with his Maker, speaking to 
 him, or manifesting His presence. Such events, 
 for example, are those which involve the sus- 
 pension of ordinary laws necessary for the 
 maintenance of human life, the neglect to 
 observe which would destroy life. Thus, to 
 drink a virulent poison like prussic acid, to 
 walk over a precipice, to cast one's self into 
 the sea in order to walk upon the water, such 
 things are fatal. To do them does or may 
 destroy life. Also, the immediate restoration 
 to health, under certain conditions science can- 
 not explain, may be such as to' cause it to be 
 attributed to some agency above nature, good 
 or bad ; the end, and purpose, and circum- 
 stances will enable us to determine which ; 
 for if it makes us love God and keep His 
 law more faithfully, it is from Him, and not 
 vrrought by an agency in opposition to Him, 
 yet by His permission. 
 
 The purpose, moreover, for which a miracle 
 is wrought must, as a rule, be evident from 
 
God and the Soul- Revelation. 73 
 
 the circumstances or surroundings, and must 
 be also worthy of God.* The absence of such 
 a purpose is enough to make us doubt, and 
 even exclude a wonder or sign as coming 
 from God. Much more shall we exclude it, 
 when the purpose for which it is wrought 
 would tend to foster what is against God or 
 against the well-being of nature, by inculcat- 
 ing vice or by keeping men in superstition. 
 
 It is clear, then, that if we really have such 
 an evidence of God's action, there is a true 
 miracle., God is there ; and if the act is done 
 to confirm His word, men will look upon the 
 revelation as coming from God ; and this, in 
 consequence, essentially, of man's mental and 
 moral nature. So true is it, that were any- 
 thing, supported by such testimony, suppos- 
 ably not true, God would lead man necessarily 
 into error, and man would not be responsible. 
 
 * Our Lord Himself gives us a criterion whereby to judge of a miracle. 
 In the fifth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, t. 36, we read : " The works 
 which the Father hath giren me to perfect ; the works themselves, which 
 I do, give testimony of me, that the Father hath sent me." Again, ehap. x. 
 37 : " If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not." 38: " But if 
 I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works." The works of 
 the Father, of God, must lead to God, to Himself; this is a mark which 
 must intrinsically belong to what comes from God. The absence of such 
 influence must make us doubt about what is said to be miraculous. Any- 
 thing that leads us from God, and makes us slaves of superstition or of 
 passion, has the evil mark on it, is not of God, and therefore not a miracle, 
 however wonderful it be. 
 
74 Christian Truths. 
 
 The only questions to be decided are : 1. 
 Are miracles possible? 2. Did miracles ever 
 occur ? 
 
 Both these questions are answered in the 
 negative by a very large class of men of 
 science. The affirmative answer to them, how- 
 ever, is in the records of the past. 
 
 The Bible is a true history, the most au- 
 thentic ever written. That its thousands of 
 facts have, not only not been shown to be 
 false, but, as far as collateral research has 
 gone, from the earliest days of Biblical study 
 to the discovery of the tiles in the Library 
 of Assurbanipal by George Smith, have been 
 proven true, is enough to make the authenti- 
 city of the Bible as clear as the noonday sun. 
 And when we consider the theory of chances, 
 the theory of permutations, the millions upon 
 millions of chances of these thousands of facts 
 not being put in such order as to coincide 
 with historic truth, unless the Scripture nar- 
 rative was based on authentic accounts, re- 
 ceived from eye-witnesses or persons existing 
 at the time they occurred, it is a demonstra- 
 tion of tlie historic truth of the Bible. I take 
 but one of the Bible miracles, the Resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ foretold by the prophet. 
 
God and the Soul-Bevelation. 75 
 
 typified in the history of Jonas and the 
 monster of the deep,* and predicted by Christ 
 Himself. Here we have a prophecy. Cen- 
 turies before, just as the birth of Christ and 
 the appearance of His star is foretold by Ba- 
 laam, the Resurrection is predicted, for " God 
 will not let His Holy One see corruption." 
 We have also a prophetic fact : Jonas thrown 
 into the sea, carried in the body of the fish 
 for three days, and on the third day thrown 
 up on dry land. And here let me make one 
 remark. Some scientists would deny : 1. The 
 possibility of Jonas being so swallowed ; - 2. 
 The possibility of a man living under such 
 circumstances. JSTow, these denials cannot 
 stand. All things not intrinsically repugnant 
 are possible with God, and the great mon- 
 sters of the deep are not so long extinct but 
 some one of them may not have existed at 
 the time, and been expressly used by God for 
 such purpose. That is certainly not intrinsi- 
 cally repugnant, and therefore it is possible. 
 Further, the same scientists would have no dif- 
 ficulty in admitting that a person aay remain 
 cataleptic for days, giving no sign of life, not 
 even tarnishing a mirror held to his mouth. 
 
 * 4'^ dox), Hebrew text— jjiscis, a fish. 
 
76 Christian Truilis. 
 
 Therefore Jonas could, in some extraordinary 
 manner, have been preserved, though under 
 ordinary circumstances he might have died. 
 Moreover, being alive, he resisted, as living 
 tissues will, the action of vphat would other- 
 wise have destroyed him. There is, for this 
 reason, nothing intrinsically repugnant in the 
 fact as narrated in the Book of Jonas. 
 
 Now, this fact was intended by the Pounder 
 of Christianity, by Him who made "the blind 
 see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, and the 
 lame walk," as a fact which prefigured His 
 Resurrection, which He Himself foretold ; for 
 He said: "As Jonas was three days in the 
 ■ belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man 
 be three days in the bowels of the earth." 
 He was put to death. His death was offi- 
 cially ascertained, and for that reason His 
 legs were not broken, as were those of the 
 men crucified with Him. To make assurance 
 doubly sure. He was pierced with a lance in 
 the chest from below and upward, and the 
 broad head of the lance could not but sever 
 the great vessels. So wide was the wound 
 that the hand could be put into it, as the 
 Evangelist records. He was taken down from 
 the cross, embalmed, and buried. A guard 
 
Ood and the Soul-Revelation. Tt 
 
 was put at the tomb, and the tomb was 
 officially sealed. On the tliird day He rose 
 again ; the tomb opened, and the affrighted 
 guards Wbre paid to say that, while they were 
 asleep, the disciples came and stole away the 
 body. "Truly," says the satirical St. Au- 
 gustine, ''you make use of witnesses that 
 were asleep." For forty days He was seen 
 by hundreds, taught and eat with His disci- 
 ples. The matter could not be gainsaid. It 
 had been foretold ; it took place ; it convert- 
 ed the world. It withstood every assault 
 from that day. Amid aU the jeers and per- 
 secutions heaped on them, the Christians 
 looked to this astounding miracle as the proof 
 of their revelation. They painted on the 
 walls of their catacombs the story of Jonas ; 
 and when they were threatened with death, 
 they raised their eyes to it, professed their 
 faith in the Resurrection of the Son of God, 
 and looked for a like • resurrection for them- 
 selves. 
 
 From that day to this miracles have never 
 ceased ; and though not needed so much, per- 
 haps, as then, they still occur to silence the 
 scoffer, and to lead souls to embrace the truth 
 of the Grospel. I am not speaking wildly. 
 
78 Christian Truths. 
 
 My words may sound strangely to some one 
 here ; but I speak the truth, and am able to 
 sustain my assertion with facts. I shall men- 
 tion one, which will serve for the conclusion 
 of this lecture. 
 
 THE CUKE OE PIERRE DE RUDDER. 
 
 About fourteen years ago, a man, by name 
 Pierre de Rudder, of Jabbeke, near Brages, in 
 Belgium, had his leg broken by the fall of a 
 tree. For seven years he suffered from this 
 fracture, which was compKcated with an ex- 
 ternal wound, continually discharging. Seven 
 different physicians visited him ; everything 
 tried was of no avail. The limb shrivelled, 
 and dangled perfectly useless ; and walking, 
 without crutches, was impossible. Not only 
 was this the case, but on the 7th of April, 
 1875, he was obliged to put on the wound 
 an oak-bark plaster to destroy the worms in 
 it. The foot could be bent from side to side, 
 and turned so that the heel was in front. On 
 that day Pierre de Rudder, who had been de- 
 voutly praying to Our Lady of Lourdes, vis- 
 ited her sanctuary at Oostakker, near Ghent. 
 The journey by rail and wagon caused him 
 
God and the Bo ul- Revelation. 79 
 
 a great deal of suffering, but lie still contin- 
 ued hopeful and praying. After a while he 
 seems to have lost consciousness ; for he 
 found himself at the foot of the altar, not 
 knowing how he came thither. He looked 
 for his crutches. He had left them at his 
 place on the bench. He rose up bewildered ; 
 found he could stand ; that he was cured 
 completely. He left his cratches with a reli- 
 gious whom I have seen and spoken to about 
 this case, and who has charge of the chapel 
 on the grounds. He then returned home to 
 Jabbeke, and on that night, April 7, 1875, 
 was seen walking about by two hundred peo- 
 ple. I have myself been to this place ; have 
 seen this man, Pierre de Rudder, and reliable 
 persons there. No doubt is possible. The 
 fact is true, and just as narrated.* 
 
 Here, then, is a modern miracle no one can 
 gainsay. It is an answer to the jeer that 
 "signs do not follow those who believe." 
 
 To sum up, my dear friends, what I have 
 been saying this evening, there must be a re- 
 lation between God and the soul ; God's char- 
 
 * See extended accouiit In the Appendix, by the author, which was pub- 
 lished in 1878. 
 
80 CJiristian Truths. 
 
 acter as Father will not allow Him to leave 
 His children without guidance. That guid- 
 ance can be had only by revelation ; and the 
 revelation God gives can never conflict wdth 
 His works, or be contradicted by them, for 
 in that case God would be a God of contra- 
 diction. The revelation the Christian accepts 
 does not conflict with science, as scientific 
 men themselves have admitted and do admit. 
 The Catholic Church herself patronizes science. 
 She was the first to establish a scientific aca- 
 demy. The only question, therefore, is. On 
 what ground shall a man accept this revela- 
 tion the Catholic Church claims to have from 
 Go'd ? The answer is : On the authority of 
 miracles, which have made Christianity tri- 
 umph over the gods of paganism, and which 
 continue, at this day of ours, to show that 
 God is with His own to save them from the 
 darkness of the world, and bring them to 
 light eternal. May all open their eyes to 
 that light ! May the revelation of Jesus 
 Christ be a light unto the nations. May our 
 own people turn with disgust from the attacks 
 made upon that revelation ! May they lay 
 aside that spirit of levity which encourages 
 the enemies of faith ! May they look upon 
 
God and the Soul- Revelation. 81 
 
 tlie assailants of God and of His revelation 
 as their own greatest foes, who would seek 
 to rob them of their birthright, the loss of 
 which means exclnsion from the kingdom of 
 Heaven — for ever — for ever! 
 
Lectuee IV. 
 
 FAITH AND ITS REQUISITES. 
 
 REVELATION, the necessity and existence 
 of wMcli, my dear Mends, we have seen, 
 is accepted, taken hold of by us through the 
 assent of the intellect believing. To believe 
 means to accept by our intellect and wUl any 
 •truth on the authority of another. We believe 
 the news of the day on the authority of relia- 
 ble channels ; we have not seen the facts nor 
 verified them for ourselves. We accept them 
 because we have confidence in those who in- 
 form us. This is the essence of belief, to ac- 
 cept on the authority of others. The ordinary 
 phrase, seeing is believing, is incorrect, inas- 
 much as to see a thing or fact is to receive it 
 on the authority of our own senses, and not 
 on the authority of another. To see and to 
 know are not, therefore, equivalent to belief or 
 to faith. 
 
 Belief or faith is twofold, human and di- 
 ss 
 
Faith and its Requisites. 83 
 
 vine, according as our authority is human or di- 
 vine ; divine authority begets divine faith, hu- 
 man authority begets human faith. The ac- 
 ceptance of revelation takes place by means 
 of divine faith, not only because we accept it 
 on account of the character of Him who gave 
 it, but also because the doctrines it t«aches 
 are beyond the comprehension of reason, and 
 to accept these involves an influence on our 
 will such as to bring our intellect into subjec- 
 tion to the teaching of revelation ; and this 
 can be the work of God alone, as it is not in 
 human nature to give such obedience. Reason, 
 however, recognizes the power of God in na- 
 ture, and the existence of many things in na- 
 ture it carmot explain; as, for example, the 
 subtle work of chemical combination, the dis- 
 tribution of color in plants, the action of mind 
 on matter, and of matter on mind ; all these 
 are inexplicable, but we see the facts before 
 our eyes. It is, therefore, according to reason 
 to imagine that God, in His infinite wisdom, 
 can communicate to man something of what is 
 in His Divine intellect, which far transcends 
 the powers of the finite, weak intellect of man. 
 To find mysteries, therefore, in revealed re- 
 ligion is not against reason, but, on the con- 
 
84 Christian Truths. 
 
 trary, in accordance with it. I may go further 
 still, and say that the existence of mysteries 
 is postulated or demanded by reason, in such 
 a way, that the absence of what is above rea- 
 son, or of mysteries in revelation, would be a 
 mark that it is purely human. 
 
 This divine revelation, therefore, must be 
 accepted by divine faith or belief ; and this 
 divine faith is divine not only because the 
 objects of it come from God, but because it is 
 a gift from Him. Before, however, I proceed 
 to explain what faith is in itself, and how it 
 is a gift of God, it is necessary to say a word 
 regarding the source, the principal source at 
 least, of the arguments by which these truths 
 are clearly shown ; that is to say, I must first 
 show you in what way we are to use the 
 Bible. The Bible is used, firstly, as an histori- 
 cal book, a truly authentic record of facts. 
 Those facts and collateral testimony prove the 
 existence of a revelation of God, and show us 
 what is the constitution of the Church of God ; 
 how it exists in this world as His representa- 
 tive ; how it speaks in His name ; how it de- 
 fines truths as dogmas ; how it must do this, or 
 contradict this authentic record itself. Then, 
 when we have thus shown what this Church 
 
Faith and its Requisites. 85 
 
 of God is, we are prepared to exercise otir act 
 of faith. Up to tMs point the whole matter 
 has been one of investigation which has con- 
 vinced us of the existence of God's Church. 
 Now, as faith is the acceptance of the truth 
 or of facts on the authority of another, to 
 have faith we must accept the authority of 
 God residing in His Church, and it is here our 
 divine faith begins ; we believe in the Church 
 of God, because God, who can neither deceive 
 nor be deceived, is vsdth it. We believe no 
 one else with divine faith ; not the Bible, nor 
 an angel from heaven, do we believe in with 
 divine faith, unless the Church bids us do so ; * 
 and then we accept the Bible, and any other 
 truth, because the Church, speaking in the 
 name of God and by His authority and assist- 
 ance, tells us to do so. 
 
 Let us see now what this authentic record, 
 the Bible, tells us about the Church of God. 
 It presents to us Prophets, Apostles, Christ 
 Himself, speaking of the kingdom of God on 
 earth. The Prophets foretell the existence of 
 this widespread dominion of God with men, 
 
 ' The following words of St. Augustine are to the point : " Evangelio 
 non crederem nisi me Ecclesias Catholica3 commoveret auctoritas " — " I 
 would not believe the Gospel if the authniity of the Catholic Church did 
 not move me." (Contra Ep. Maniohaei quam voeant Fundamonti, No. 6.) 
 
86 CUiristian Truths. 
 
 wMcli is to extend from the rising of the snn 
 to the going down of the same ; the offering 
 by it to God of a clean oblation ; the coming 
 to it of all the peoples of the eari;h ; its posi- 
 tion in the worid as the illuminator of the hu- 
 man race. The prophecies are fulfilled. The 
 Prince of Peace, the Father of the Age to 
 come, appears among men. His doctrine is 
 recorded. His words are unmistakable. He 
 abrogates the old dispensation ; He establishes 
 the new law. He gives His commands to His 
 Apostles, whom He has selected, and trained, 
 and instructed: "Go, teach all nations ; baptiz- 
 ing them in the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." "Behold, I 
 am with you all days, even to the consumma- 
 tion of the world" "I will send to you an- 
 other Paraclete, the Spirit of Tmth, who will 
 abide with you for ever, and bring all things 
 to your mind whatsoever I have said to you." 
 The Presence of God with the Church, illumi- 
 nating, ruling, and aiding it, is here most 
 clearly taught ; and the absence of this note 
 would argue a false pretension to be the 
 .Church of God. The Apostles, by their prac- 
 tice, show us how they understood their Mas- 
 ter. They taught in the name of God. Tliey 
 
Faith and its Requisites. 87 
 
 not only alluded to their being sent to preach ; 
 but, with a boldness that had been blasphemy, 
 had it not come from the truth, they used the 
 formula: "It hath seemed good to the Holy 
 Ghost and to us." And that formula has 
 been religiously preserved and used in succes- 
 sive ages by one Church, and by one Church 
 only, down to the days of the Yatican Council, 
 when it re-echoed anew in the council-hall of 
 St. Peter's at Rome. Here, then, is the au- 
 thority which is requisite for faith — God 
 speaking through His Church on earth. And 
 this authority is the essential foundation pos- 
 tulated for faith, without which faith cannot 
 exist. 
 
 But, some one may suggest, is there no 
 faith outside the Catholic Church % Can no 
 one have faith, unless he believe in the Church 
 of Rome ? I will answer the objection fairly, 
 before proceeding farther. And my first pro- 
 position is, that faith and private judgment 
 are contradictory, and logically cannot exist to- 
 gether ; and I think, when I explain the mat- 
 ter, you will agree with me also. What modi- 
 fications truth requires, I will make in the se- 
 quel. But the principle introduced in the six- 
 teenth century by those who attempted to 
 
88 Christian Truths. 
 
 reform the teachings of the Catholic Church 
 of Rome — ^private judgment— is destructive of 
 faith. Recall what I said in the beginning: 
 faith is the acceptance of truth on the autho- 
 rity of another. St. Paul defines faith to be 
 "the substance of things hoped for, the evi- 
 dence of things unseen." From the nature of 
 the case, the objects of faith are not in our 
 possession ; they are not present, they are 
 hoped for ; moreover, they are unseen. What 
 is hoped for, what is unseen, we must take on 
 the authority of the one who tells us of them, 
 who has seen them, who knows they exist. 
 Therefore this authority is essential to the act 
 of faith. Now, my dear friends, what does 
 private judgment say? Its language is well 
 known to you: "I will see for myself; I 
 accept no man's authority ; I will be my own 
 interpreter. I will see for myself what Christ 
 taught, and that only will I hold to; there 
 shall be no one to come between me and the 
 Founder of Christianity." Is not this the 
 style of speech you recognize as that of pri- 
 vate judgment? Now mark attentively what 
 follows from this assertion, so unmistakably 
 clear. Use your private judgment; what re- 
 sults? You do not only omit to exert that 
 
Faith and its Requisites. 89 
 
 legitimate, proper act of private judgment, 
 which, consists in examining the claims of 
 Church authority on your obedience, and, those 
 claims once recognized, surrendering, in a rea- 
 sonable manner, yoiir intellect and will to the 
 guidance of God speaking through the Church ; 
 you absolutely, from the very outset, scout 
 those claims as vain assumptions, and you set 
 up in their place your own intellect and reason 
 as judge in matters of faith. In other words, 
 you ielieve no one, no authority, trust no one 
 hut yourself ; and, therefore, your convictions 
 are simply the result of the workings of your 
 owTi mind. Yours is conviction, not faith ; a 
 natural act, not a supernatural act ; there is 
 no faith in it, because there is no acceptance 
 of truth on the authority of another. 
 
 It results, further, that, in following private 
 judgment, you set up a judge liable to be mis- 
 taken, a judge by no means infallible; and 
 knowing this, you of necessity deny infalli- 
 bility in matters of faith ; and not only do you 
 deny infallibility in matters of faith, but, de- 
 nying even the possibility of it, you ridicule 
 those who pretend to have it. To indulge a 
 little pleasantry at the expense of the Catholic 
 Church, because she teaches that she is infalli- 
 
90 Christian Truths. 
 
 ble, is, as you are aware, qiiite in the fashion. 
 And yet infallibility in the teaching authority 
 of God's Church is an absolute, essential requi- 
 site to faith. Faith cannot exist without it. 
 And as faith cannot exist without it, so is it 
 easy to demonstrate the necessity and exist- 
 ence of this first requisite — infallibility — ^in the 
 teaching authority. You will here, no doubt, 
 object that I am going too far in making such 
 a sweeping charge, that faith in no way exists 
 among those outside the union of the Catholic 
 Church who follow the system of private judg- 
 ment : the very character of such a charge, 
 admitting no exception, proves it groundless. 
 And yet I maintain fully what I have said ; 
 making exception where in justice it must be 
 made. For I do acknowledge that there is to 
 be found faith amid the communions outside of 
 the Catholic Church. That faith, however, so 
 existing, is not the result of private judgment; 
 it is the result of tradition in families, which 
 has led many to accept revelation on the authori- 
 ty of those who went before, unquestioningly. 
 That tradition has led them to look on the 
 Bible as the word of God; to look, therefore, 
 to the Bible, and to the Bible only, as the 
 source of all truth about God. It is belief in 
 
Faith and its Requisites. 91 
 
 the Bible, not private judgment, whicli consti- 
 tutes their faith in God's worli on earth. As 
 long as such belief lasts, faith is possible. 
 Sometimes, however, the assertors of private 
 judgment use their private judgment on the 
 Bible itself as a book. This has become more 
 frequent of late, and with terrible result ; with 
 the result of depopulating churches, creating a 
 generation of sceptics and unbelievers, liberaliz- 
 ing revealed religion, and placing in pulpits 
 men who deny the Godhead of ovlt Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, Christianity itself. Private 
 judgment, consistently carried out, has produc- 
 ed such men as the popular infidel lecturers of 
 the day. The multiplication of these enemies 
 of revelation puts in peril whatever of faith 
 exists outside the Catholic Church. The re- 
 cent revision of the Bible, too, is likely to give 
 a still further shock to the faith yet ex- 
 isting outside the Catholic Church. For how 
 can people look on the Bible as they once 
 did? Shake their faith in a part, and they 
 will begin to doubt about the rest. The exist- 
 ence of any faith in the religious bodies out- 
 side the visible communion of the Catholic 
 Church is in spite of the principle of private 
 judgment ; unconsciously they are all the 
 
92 Christian Truths. 
 
 time accepting the authority of the tradition 
 which tells them the Bible is true ; and they 
 do believe piously, and often in such a way as 
 to save their souls. Being in good faith, they 
 hold to the doctrines taught in the Bible, as 
 far as they know them, and, living up to them 
 earnestly, God rewards them for it. The mo- 
 ment, however, they begin to doubt, and fail 
 to follow up the doubt, and find the truth, 
 that moment they put themselves in the 
 wrong, they remain in their bad faith ; and 
 saving faith with them, while in* that state, is 
 no longer possible. 
 
 It is really surprising, my dear friends, not- 
 withstanding the widely-diffused teaching and 
 practice of private judgment, that any such 
 doctrine could ever for a moment have found 
 favor. What is man, that he should set up 
 his puny intellect against God? Look at the 
 Bible itself, which not private judgment, but 
 the care and approbation of the Catholic 
 Church, has preserved to man as the embodi- 
 ment of revealed truth to a great extent, and 
 see what it tells us. It tells us that there ex- 
 isted a teaching authority in the old dispensa- 
 tion, which taught, in the name of God: "The 
 Scribes and the Pharisees are seated on the 
 
Faitli and its Requisites. 93 
 
 chair of Moses ; all things wliatsoever they 
 shall say to you, observe and do" (Matt, xxiii. 
 2). So spoke Christ. The Wise Men who came 
 from the East to adore the Infant Messias, 
 went to Jerusalem and asked of Herod where 
 the Christ should be born. Herod consulted 
 the priests, the guardians of the law, and the 
 answer they gave was the true one : "In Beth- 
 lehem of Juda." There the Wise Men found 
 the object of their search. There was, there- 
 fore, in the Old Dispensation a true teaching 
 authority, andj by believing in it, faith was ex- 
 ercised and man received grace. Are we to 
 say that the New Dispensation was to be infe- 
 rior to ^Q Old in this respect ? Was it to be 
 a backward step, instead of a progress to 
 greater perfection? Was God to appear to 
 man in so special a way, as He had never 
 done before, for so little? to do less than He 
 had done before ? The answer reason gives is : 
 It cannot be so. God came to introduce a 
 more perfect system in every particular, and 
 to give greater certainty to those who believ- 
 ed, and a purer, higher, and surer guide, who 
 would lead man to the certain knowledge of 
 all He wished to teach him. This is evident 
 from the words of Christ. He bade the Apos- 
 
94 Christian Truths. 
 
 ties go teacli ; promised to be with tliem ; pro- 
 mised the Paraclete; after having for forty- 
 days conversed with the Apostles, and tanght 
 them all that was needful for them to know to 
 carry out His work, He sent down the Holy 
 Ghost on the day of Pentecost, to abide with 
 them for ever* to bring to their mind all 
 things whatsoever He had said to them. 
 Forthwith the Apostles preached with autho- 
 rity in the name of God, and gave to the 
 Church of Christ the form of definition of re- 
 vealed truth, based on infallibility in the 
 Church, which, as I have said, the Catholic 
 Church, and the Catholic Church alone, has 
 preserved to this day. 
 
 To accept this authority of the Church and 
 make an act of faith, my dear friends, is no 
 merely human action. It is a supernatural 
 act, an act which has its beginning, and con- 
 tinuance, and life in the grace of God. It 
 heightens vastly our appreciation of it to 
 know this ; to recognize that we who possess 
 it are the privileged children of God ; and the 
 effect of this tnith, weU appreciated, should be 
 to so make us realize our privilege and prize 
 
 * In (eUmum, Vulgate, Eu rb^ aiu^a, Cod. Vaticauus, ed. Tlschendorf, 
 vij. 
 
FditTi and its Requisites. 95 
 
 it, as to glory in it, and generously live up 
 to it. On the other hand, the mere announce- 
 ment of this doctrine, that faith is a gift of 
 God, should not unduly depress those who 
 may think or know they have it not ; for 
 God, who is our Father, wants us all to have 
 it, and especially those who are here to-day, 
 within the reach of my voice. You aU can 
 pray ; and this first gift of prayer, well used, 
 can bring the further gift of faith. God, says 
 St. Paul, wants all to be saved and come to 
 the knowledge of the truth.* But it is a serious 
 truth, dear friends, and it becomes us to con- 
 sider it seriously, and to know the grounds 
 upon which this truth rests. ■ There have been 
 many in the past who erred in this matter ; 
 but I will mention but one — St. Augustine, the 
 great Doctor of grace. With the humility of 
 a great and true Christian and Saint, he did 
 not hesitate, for the welfare of others, to con- 
 fess his error. In Ms book on the Predestina- 
 tion of the Saints, chapter iii. , he mentions that 
 he had been led to think the first movements 
 of the mind and heart towards God came 
 from nature ; and that God, seeing the good 
 disposition of the heart, came to its aid, and, 
 
 * 1 Tim. ii. 4. 
 
96 Christian Truths. 
 
 I 
 
 bestowing grace, perfected the work and gave 
 saving faith. One day the writings of St. Cy- 
 prian fell into his hands, and he began to 
 read. His eye fell upon a passage commenting 
 the words of St. Paul: "What hast thou that 
 thou hast not received? And if thou hast re- 
 ceived, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst 
 not received ? ' ' Immediately he saw his mis- 
 take, and, correcting himself, taught ever after 
 the true doctrine, that even the very first 
 movements to God which precede faith come 
 from grace, from God, and not from nature, 
 which only co-operates with grace. The same 
 truth is evident from the Scripture, and from 
 the definitions of the Church. In the sixth 
 chapter of St. John, our Saviour is very ex- 
 plicit on this point. To the Jews, who were 
 murmuring, Christ said (verse 44): "Murmur 
 not among yourselves ; no man can come to 
 me, except the Father, who has sent me, draw 
 himy In verse 66 of the same chapter, when 
 He hears His disciples murmuring, and sees 
 them scandalized at His teaching, he repeats 
 the same weighty words: "Therefore did I 
 say to you, that no man can come to me, un- 
 less it be given him by my Father." This 
 drawing on the part of God is the first move- 
 
Faith and its Requisites. 97 
 
 ment to Him ; for an inanimate object re- 
 mains in its place until a power from with- 
 out draws it. Such is the comparison Christ 
 makes. Men do not come until this exterior 
 force — exterior in its origin and entity, but 
 interior in its action — moves man's heart and 
 so draws him to God. The definitions of the 
 Second Council of Orange and of the Council 
 of Trent teach the same. It results from this 
 nature of faith that it is a gift of God, not 
 essential tq human nature, though essential 
 to his spiritual welfare here and hereafter, as 
 the Apostle teUs us: "Without faith it is 
 impossible to please God." * It can, therefore, 
 once had, be afterwards lost by those who 
 trifle with it and make a bad use of it. 
 
 That faith should be of spiritual profit to 
 us, it is not enough, my dear friends, that 
 we should believe in the authority of God's 
 Church, and recognize that we are indebted 
 wholly to God for this faith we have. To be 
 a saving faith it must not be merely a sterile 
 belief, but an active faith, "a faith which 
 worketh by charity" — "Fides quae per chari- 
 tatem operatur" (Gal. v. 6). It was Martin Lu- 
 ther who preached, in these latter days, the 
 
 * Heb. xi. 6. 
 
98 Christian Truths. 
 
 doctrine that faith alone justifies. He arbitra- 
 rily introduced into his translation the word 
 ' ' alone ' ' / and, when asked why he did so, 
 quoted the words of Juvenal, ' ' Sic volo, sic 
 jubeo, stat pro ratione voluntas " — "I will have 
 it so, so I say it shall be ; my will's the 
 reason." This infallible guide put forward 
 this doctrine of his, certainly not in accord 
 with the apostolic teaching ; for St. James 
 tells us: "The devils believe and tremble"; 
 "faith without works is dead." And St. 
 John, 1 Ep. iii. 14, says : ' ' He that loveth 
 not, abideth in death." Now, the doctrine 
 that faith without works justifies underlies 
 the whole system of what is called the Re- 
 formation. If faith alone justifies, then the 
 Sacraments are not necessary and do not con- 
 fer sanctifying grace ; and baptism is therefore 
 a mere sign, which may be dispensed with. 
 No one need be solicitous about the exactness 
 of the form or about the quality of the mat- 
 ter. Again, there is no need of doing pen- 
 ance ; and as for punishment of a temporal 
 nature, in the next life, faith, alone, renders it 
 impossible. So far did ilaitin Luther go in 
 this matter that he taught, in his theory of 
 justification, that man's sins were only cov- 
 
Faith and its Requisites. 99 
 
 ered over, and that it made no difference what 
 he did, provided he believed. His formnla 
 was: "Pecca fortitei-, crede fortius" — "Sin 
 stoutly, but believe more firmly," a saying 
 which opened the door to every vice ; and its 
 results so alarmed the innovator and his theo- 
 logians that they strove to find some escape 
 from it, by saying that the proof of faith 
 was the well-doing of the believer. How 
 that agrees with Luther's formula, "Sin stout- 
 ly, but believe more firmly," it is impossible to 
 comprehend. The whole system is erroneous 
 from the outset. The only faith which justifies 
 is the faith which shows itself by a change 
 of heart, by a change of the will, doing good 
 works, doing penance for sin. It is not hard 
 to show this. Take, for example. St. Paul's 
 eloquent words regarding faith. You find 
 that he praises it in every instance for its ef- 
 fects, the good works it made its possessors 
 do. He speaks of Abraham, and lauds his 
 faith, and says it was imputed to him unto 
 Justice ; why ? Because, believing in God, he 
 did God's will and was ready to sacrifice his 
 only son, Isaac. "He staggered not by dis- 
 trust" (Rom. iv. 20). His uplifted hand 
 was about to strike the blow; "And there- 
 
 Comell Cathotic 
 
 Union Library. 
 
100 Christian Truths. 
 
 fore it was reputed to hiin unto justice " 
 (verse 22). In the Epistle to the Hebrews, be- 
 sides speaking of Abraham, he tells of Abel 
 by faith offering a sacrifice ; by faith Noe 
 framed the ark ; by faith Moses denied him- 
 self to be the son of Pharao's daughter, be- 
 cause he esteemed the reproach of Christ 
 greater riches than the treasures of the Egyp- 
 tians. Others he speaks of who "by faith 
 conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtain- 
 ed promises, stopped the mouth of lions, 
 quenched the violence of fire," all of which 
 was the reward of a life of faith and of good 
 works, the result of that charity which is the 
 soul of faith. 
 
 But a greater than St. Paul has testified to 
 the necessity and to the value of good works. 
 Jesus Christ Himself has said : Beware of 
 false prophets ; by their fruits you shall know 
 them ; every tree that bringeth not forth good 
 fruit shall be cut dowu and cast into the fire. 
 "Not every one that saith to me, Lord! Lord! 
 shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but 
 he that doth the will of my Father in heaven, 
 he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
 The will of God has to be done by us, and 
 the will of Grod is clearly laid down by His 
 
Faith and its Requisites. 101 
 
 law — by that law of charity which loves God 
 above all things and our neighbor as ourself. 
 "On this dependeth the whole law and the 
 prophets" (Matt. xxii. 37). 
 
 In the description of the Last Judgment, 
 our Saviour is yet more explicit in his teach- 
 ing of the necessity of a faith working by 
 charity, of the need of good works unto sal- 
 vation. The description is familiar to you. 
 The King addresses those on His right hand: 
 "Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess 
 the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world. For I was hungry, 
 and you gave me to eat ; I was thirsty, and 
 you gave me to drink ; I was a stranger, and 
 you took me in ; naked, and you covered me ; 
 sick, and you visited me ; I was in prison, 
 and you visited me. Then shall the just 
 answer Him, saying : Lord, when did we see 
 Thee hungry, and fed Thee ; thirsty, and gave 
 Thee drink? and when did we see Thee a 
 stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and 
 clothed Thee \ or when did we see Thee sick 
 or in prison, and came to Thee? And the 
 King, answering, shall say : Amen I say to 
 you, as long as you did it to one of these 
 ray least brethren, you did it to me." The 
 
102 Christian Truths. 
 
 King, on the other hand, condemns the wick- 
 ed because they did not do these good works. 
 Certainly, nothing stronger than these words 
 of Christ are needed to make us understand 
 that the only faith acceptable in His eyes, 
 which justifies man, is the faith that worketh 
 through charity, and which is rewarded, not 
 because it says, Lord ! Lord ! — in other words, 
 beUeves — but because it does the will of God, 
 in the doing of good works of charity. 
 
 It is no wondei', therefore, my dear friends, 
 when we consider all this, to find the Apos- 
 tle so enthusiastic, so to speak, in enlarg- 
 ing on the value of faith. For faith is that 
 whereby we lay hold upon life eternal, and 
 without it that life is absolutely lost. By 
 it we accept the revelation of God ; by it 
 we learn to live in accordance with God's 
 law ; by it we lead a life of virtue ; by it 
 we do good works of charity to our neighbor, 
 available to eternal life, because we see in 
 every poor man Jesus Christ, and therefore 
 act, not through a motive of philanthropy, 
 but through a motive of charity, the first 
 and last object of which is Jesus Christ. By 
 leading this life of faith working through 
 charity, we are laying up riches for the next 
 
Faitli and its Requisites. 103 
 
 life. Our motive of faith is the truthfulness 
 of God ; He has promised, and He cannot de- 
 ceive us ; and, believing in Him, we shall 
 surely receive the reward of faith. Let us, 
 therefore, love and cherish this faith as the 
 greatest boon we could possess. Let us not 
 put it in jeopardy ; let us avoid exposing it 
 to loss or to injury by careless reading, or by 
 listening to those who speak against it. Let 
 us, on the contrary, take the greatest care of 
 it, foster it, guard it from the blast and frost. 
 Let us constantly have in our hearts and on 
 our lips that prayer of the Apostles; "Lord, 
 increase our faith." In this spirit we shall 
 certainly be blessed by God with fulness of 
 faith here, and with its reward hereafter — 
 eternal happiness with Him. 
 
Lectuee v. 
 
 THE RULE OF FAITH. 
 
 AMONGr those who profess belief in the Di- 
 vinity of Christ there is a controversy, as 
 you are aware, my dear friends, on the subject 
 of what constitutes the Rule of Faith. Faith 
 comes by hearing. How are we to hear? The 
 Apostle says we are to hear by means of a 
 preacher sent of God. Who is that preacher? 
 The supreme authority of the Church, teaching 
 in the name of God and by the commission of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, as Catholics say ; or the 
 written word of God, and the written word 
 alone, as interpreted by each one in the use 
 of his own private judgment, assisted by 
 the Spirit, as is the tenet of our separated 
 brethren? The question is a vital one, in- 
 volving the dearest interests of the human 
 race ; for upon its correct solution depends 
 the possession of revealed truth — the one 
 boon vouchsafed by a merciful God to the 
 
 IM 
 
The Rule of Faith. 105 
 
 poor children of Adam in this mortal pilgrim- 
 age, to end so soon in that eternity the con- 
 dition of which is dependent on the way in 
 which we have done His will, made known 
 to us through that one means of ascertaining 
 it. It is, therefore, with no ordinary feelings 
 that we should approach the examination of 
 this point. 
 
 I begin with the opinion which claims 
 the Bible alone as the all-sufficient rule of 
 faith, the only teacher needful. This doctrine 
 has always been a favorite one with all those 
 who rose up against the received teaching ; 
 though history records that, while they claim- 
 ed such a rule for themselves, they were not 
 equally inclined to extend the privileges of 
 private judgment to those who differed with 
 them. Their doctrine, once started, gained 
 favor with many ; and it is now the univer- 
 sally received foundation of all the religious 
 bodies among us which stand opposed to the 
 Catholic Church. On what basis does it rest? 
 It rests on this : that as in the Christian re- 
 ligion all are to be taught of God, and no one 
 is to say; "here is God, or there is God," any 
 sincere investigator of His written word, ex- 
 amining in a spirit of prayer, will receive the 
 
106 Christian Truths. 
 
 promised light of tlie Holy Ghost, whereby 
 he may know the truth. I omit, dear breth- 
 ren, dwelling at length on the faultiness of 
 this reasoning, which, interpreting the Scrip- 
 ture in this manner, assumes the very point 
 in question — the power of interpreting by 
 private judgment ; and I come immediately 
 to the direct answer to such a claim, and say 
 that the Bible alone cannot be the rule of 
 faith. 
 
 The first reason which substantiates my de- 
 nial is one inherent in the Bible itself. The 
 books of the New Testament, you are well 
 awai'e, dear brethren, were written some time 
 after the Gospel began to be preached. The 
 earliest of all, the Gospel of St. Matthew, 
 was not written till eight years after the 
 death of our Lord. Inasmuch as Jesus Christ 
 bade the Apostles go teach all nations in His 
 name, promised them the Holy Spirit, which 
 came down on them on the day of Pentecost, 
 with the result of the immediate conversion 
 of five thousand Jews and Gentiles ; and as 
 He, moreover, confirmed their preaching by the 
 signs or miracles that followed, it was natural 
 that those who had seen the Avorks of Christ 
 and heard His words, and were witnesses of 
 
The Rule of Faith. 107 
 
 the verification of His promises in the Apos- 
 tles, should have venerated exceedingly their 
 teachings as dictated by God, and jealously 
 retained them either in their original form, or 
 in copies preserved in the various churches. 
 These originals and first copies, known as 
 "exemplars,''^ according to the custom of the 
 time written on parchment, were religiously 
 preserved for centuries, and were continually 
 copied in proportion as individual churches 
 multiplied. There was no process for stereo- 
 typing or photographing in those days. 
 Everything depended on the accuracy, or dili- 
 gence, or good faith of the copyist. That 
 there were copyists of bad faith is notorious 
 to every beginner in ecclesiastical history. 
 Thus we have the Gospel of Tatian ; that of 
 St. Luke used by Marcion ; the ten false epis- 
 tles of St. Paul of the same heretic. The 
 number of errors that came from want of 
 diligence or accuracy is simply enormous ; 
 though comparatively few as affect dogmatic 
 teaching, as can be seen in the writings of 
 those treating of this subject professedly. 
 Then there was another cause of error — the 
 difference of opinion with regard to words, 
 their position, and their x^unctuation. AU 
 
108 OhrisUan Truths. 
 
 these various causes brought about so great a 
 divergence in the codes, as they were called, 
 that when, in the fourth century, St. Jerome, 
 at the request of the learned and holy pontiff, 
 Pope Damasus, set about the translation of 
 the Old Testament, and the revision of the 
 New, tried by the conflicting texts consulted 
 by him, he gave way to his feelings and ex- 
 claimed : "Tot sunt exemplaria quot codices" 
 —There are as many exemplars as codes ; as 
 many originals, if one may say so, as copies. 
 This was the state of the case as regards the 
 original text. When we come to the transla- 
 tions, there is another difficulty of even more 
 moment added to the first ; that is, the errors 
 of the translators. If even in copying so 
 many mistakes were made, what was to be 
 exjjected in the process of translation % St. 
 Jerome, the prince of translators, with all the 
 aid thorough culture, profoiind knowledge of 
 languages, especially the Hebrew, and the 
 influence of Pope St. Damasus, could give 
 him, still spoke unreservedly of the diffi- 
 culties of his task. He tells us, what it is 
 not difficult for us to understand, that the 
 translator or interpreter is not gifted with the 
 inerrancy which, by the presence of the Holy 
 
The Rule of Faith. 109 
 
 Spirit, was the prerogative of the Apostles 
 and Evangelists who wrote the Sacred Books. 
 Dear brethren, it is not my purpose to shake 
 your faith in Holy Scripture, as you will see 
 before I close ; but, I ask, what is the natural 
 consequence of such a condition of texts, 
 codes, and translations revealed to us by the 
 writings of this great biblical scholar % Is it 
 not a feeling that there is an impediment in- 
 herent in the Scripture itself, which prevents 
 the divine, or even human, certainty that 
 the meaning we may get out of it, as a mere 
 book, is what was intended by the Author 
 of it, the Spirit of God? In the supposition, 
 which is held by so many as the ground- 
 work of their belief, that there has never 
 been any infallible authority to decide, and 
 private judgment is all-sufficient, the case is 
 simply hopeless ; and it is no wonder men of 
 intelligence, who have been educated in a 
 prejudice against authority in matters of 
 faith, should have ended by throwing aside 
 all hope of certitude in this matter, and con- 
 sequently all revealed religion. They were 
 logical ; but the fault which is in their lirst 
 principle, in their premises, is not attributa- 
 ble to them, but to the so-caUed reformers 
 
110 Christian Truths. 
 
 of Christianity, who not only professedly 
 claimed no inerrancy (though in practice they 
 actually did), but even denied such infalli- 
 bility in the Apostles themselves. Martin 
 Luther openly preferred his own spirit and 
 interpretation to that of the Apostles. These 
 are his words: "Be it that the Church, Au- 
 gustine, and other Doctors, also Peter and 
 Paul, yea, even an angel from heaven, teach 
 otherwise, yet is my doctrine such as sets 
 forth God's glory." "Peter, the chief of the 
 Apostles, lived and taught outside of the 
 word of God" ("extra verbum Dei"). The 
 same thing was openly taught by others, 
 among whom Brentius, praised by Jewell,* 
 affirms that "St. Peter, chief of the Apos- 
 tles, and also Barnabas, after receiving the 
 Holy Ghost, together with the Church of Je- 
 rusalem, erred." John Calvin said the same 
 thing. He asserts that "Peter added to the 
 schism of the Church, to the endangering of 
 Christian liberty and the overthrow of the 
 grace of Christ." f Much as such expressions, 
 dear brethren, may shock us, there is nothing 
 wonderful in this. It is really the logical re- 
 sult of a first denial of the authority of the 
 
 * Protestant Bishop uf Salisbury. t Si-'o V^ard's Errata. 
 
Tlie Rule of Fa'tli. Ill 
 
 Holy Ghost, dwelling in Christ's Church, and 
 speaking in His name. 
 
 Besides this general difficulty in ascertaining 
 the truth of Scripture-teaching, which is com- 
 mon to every people professing Christianity, and 
 not in communion with Rome, there are spe- 
 cial obstacles, stumbling-blocks, in the way of 
 each one in particular. Those which especially 
 regard persons speaking the English language 
 are the corruptions of the Bible- text translated 
 in the early editions of the Bible in the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries. It has been 
 conclusively shown that the common English 
 version of King James differs very materially 
 from the Vulgate. This latter, as you know, 
 dear brethren, is the edition in use and ap- 
 proved by the Catholic Church. So accurate 
 is this Vulgate version in Latin, that' the learn- 
 ed Calvinist, Theodore Beza, whose opinions 
 were generally taken as a guide in the King's 
 Version, said of it : "I confess that the old in- 
 terpreter seems to have interpreted the Holy 
 Books with wonderful sincerity and religion. 
 The Vulgate edition I do, for the most part, 
 embrace and prefer beyond all others." Yet 
 when we come to confront the Vulgate and 
 the King James's Version, what do we find? 
 
112 Christian Truths. 
 
 We find that on at least sixteen different 
 counts they disagree, the Vulgate teaching, 
 the King James's Version denying, omitting, or 
 explaining away. These points are by no means 
 unessential ; they embrace the Holy Sacrifice of 
 the Mass, the essence of reKgion, the Real Pre- 
 sence, the priesthood, authority of bishops, jus- 
 tification, good works, and free-will, besides 
 other important points of faith. So glaring 
 were some alterations of the editions of the Eng- 
 lish Bible of the first period of the Established 
 Church, that many were corrected in the edi- 
 tion of 1683. Among other falsifications the 
 word altar of the Vulgate was made to read 
 temple; the word priest became elder ; the 
 word grace, with reference both to the priest- 
 hood and to the Blessed "Virgin, was translated 
 gift; penance was rendered repentance ; and 
 several texts were made to read in such a way 
 as to exclude the sense of intrinsic justification 
 and of the necessity of works. These citations, 
 dear brethren, are more than enough to show 
 what insuperable difficulties are in the way of 
 the interpreter of the Scripture, relying only 
 on private judgment, which are inherent to 
 the Scriptures themselves. That such an in- 
 terpreter, without a guide, should attain to the 
 
The Rule of. FailTi. 113 
 
 real sense, the real truth of Scripture, would 
 be as great a miracle as the descent of the 
 Holy Ghost upon the Apostles. 
 
 Besides these inherent difficulties in the re- 
 ception of the Bible as the ultimate rule of 
 faith, there are equally weighty ones on the 
 part of the interpreter. From what I have 
 said of the various original texts* the Hebrew 
 and the Greek, as well as of the versions, it is 
 evident that only scholars of the most finished 
 culture can aspire to a competent knowledge 
 of the meaning of Scripture. ISTo one will ever 
 be able wholly to attain to such a knowledge 
 of it. Here is a first immense difficulty. Here 
 immediately one must begin to believe some 
 one who went before him ; for not one in a 
 thousand can succeed of himself. Then, grant- 
 ing that one can finally acquire the most com- 
 plete assurance of the correctness of the ver- 
 sion, he has at most only the matter, in which 
 he must find the spirit, from which he must 
 extract the meaning. The difiiculty of this step 
 can be well illustrated by an example. Law- 
 yers are well acquainted with the intricacies of 
 interpretation of law. Scarcely has a law been 
 framed and approved, when legal authorities 
 go to work to examine it and determine its 
 
114 Christian Truths. 
 
 meaning and bearing. How often, despite the 
 greatest care, is there not a clasli of opinions ? 
 The matter has to be brought to a lawfully- 
 constituted tribunal, and the authoritative or 
 judicial interpretation must be laid down be- 
 fore the law can have its full effect. And yet 
 this happens in matters which do not exceed 
 the grasp of reason, in practical matters, too. 
 We can readily understand how the difficulty 
 must increase where the matters examined are 
 not only abstruse, but above the reach of rea- 
 son, supernatural, revealed by God, and de- 
 pendent on that revelation for the extent to 
 which they can be understood ; where, more- 
 over, there is no tribunal to appeal to ; where 
 no one is to rely for assistance on his neigh- 
 bor, but, from the very tenet of his faith, 
 must rely solely on himself, and on the light 
 which is in him. Whence is that light to 
 come ? Is it from the mere natural intellect or 
 from the Holy Spirit i It caanot be from the 
 mere natural intellect ; for as the object and 
 the mode of assent to it are of an order above 
 nature, no such disproportion can exist. 
 Therefore it must be assisted, and the assist- 
 ance must come from above. And this, in 
 fact, is what is claimed by the advocates of 
 
The Rule of Faith. 115 
 
 private judgment in matters of faith. They 
 tell'us that the Holy Ghost is witli tliem, and 
 enables them to understand and derive comfort 
 from so much of the Scripture as it may be 
 they are moved to read and reflect on. Wow, 
 this is an assertion made vs^ithout foundation 
 in Scripture. Not only is this so, but we have 
 facts to contradict the assertion. 
 
 You are all familiar, dear brethren, with the 
 narrative, given us in the Acts, of the manner 
 in which the deacon Philip and the eunuch 
 of Queen Candace were brought together by 
 the Spirit of God. It was precisely a case of 
 complete failure of private judgment. The eu- 
 nuch was seated in his chariot, reading a pas- 
 sage from the prophet Isaias ; but he was not 
 able to understand it. The Spirit of God 
 spoke to Philip and bade him go join the eu- 
 nuch. He did so, and asked the eunuch if he 
 understood what he was reading. The eunuch 
 replied : ' ' How can I, unless some man show 
 me % ' ' Philip, at his request, did show him 
 the meaning of the passage, and the man was 
 converted and baptized. Here we have private 
 judgment at fault ; and, in contradistinction, 
 the teacher ordained of God, resulting in be- 
 lief, saving faith. This is, moreover, confirmed 
 
116 Christian Truths. 
 
 by the words of St. Paul: "Faith coirieth by 
 hearing." 
 
 But we are to judge a tree by its fruits. This 
 principle of private judgment, since its first erec- 
 tion into a system in the sixteenth century, has 
 had ample time and opportunity to develop, to 
 put forth foliage, and bear abundant fruit. What 
 fruit has it borne ? Has it borne the fruit of that 
 unity of belief and of wUl for which Jesus Christ 
 prayed : "Holy Father, keep them in Thy name 
 whom Thou hast given me, that they may be 
 one, as we also are ' ' ? What is the unity of be- 
 lief, what the harmony, which have sprung from 
 private judgment? You know, dear brethren, 
 better even than I do, the numberless divisions 
 on the score of faith which distract Christian peo- 
 ples. The very first result of private judgment 
 in matters of faith was to produce those widely 
 differing churches, the Lutheran, the Calvinistic, 
 and the Anglican. Since then the process of sub- 
 division has been going on with alarming rapid- 
 ity, until now the question is, not so much to 
 settle upon points that all must hold under pen- 
 alty of being excluded from church-membership ; 
 but rather to see what mutual tenet will succeed 
 in gathering under its banner the greatest num- 
 ber of men of broad views ; of those, in a word, 
 
Tlie Rule of Faith. 117 
 
 who desire to hold the least possible amount of 
 revealed truth. It has come to this, dear breth- 
 ren, that one feels relieved if he does not hear 
 open profession of disbelief in the divinity of Je- 
 sus Christ. Nor is this all ; the preaching of re- 
 ligion has in very many instances, and with in- 
 creasing frequency, fallen into the hands of those 
 who substitute their own excited imaginations 
 and wild speculations for revealed truth; who 
 speak of the Bible as, if cautiously used, well 
 adapted to teach morality, nothing more ; and 
 these men, by the power of their eloquence and 
 the captivation of their manner, sensational in 
 the extreme, hold in absolute bondage those who 
 boast of their intellect, and glory in the privilege 
 of judging for themselves. To crown all, we 
 have daily before us the spectacle of men and 
 women who ma^fee themselves the priests and 
 priestesses of spiritism, and, either dealing with 
 powers above them or carried away by excite- 
 ment, renew the scenes of bygone days, the con- 
 STiltations with the departed spoken of with con- 
 demnation by the inspired writer and by Fathers 
 of the Church — a retribution on those who have 
 left the paths marked out by revelation. And 
 each one of these, like the pythons and python- 
 esses of old, is followed by a number of credulous 
 
118 Christian Truths. 
 
 persons, who accept as truth, whatever is said in 
 moments of wild paroxysm or pythonical inspira- 
 tion. It is a sad sight to witness, dear brethren. 
 It takes one back to the paganism Christ freed 
 us from. We seem to see the days of mental in- 
 fatuation of old Rome, of which St. Leo writes : 
 ' ■ Magnam sibi acquisivisse religionem videbatur, 
 quia nullum respuebat errorem." Would it were 
 only in imagination that we are carried back 
 to those days ! With these aberrations we see 
 returning pagan maxims and pagan practice, the 
 supremacy and deification of the state, the loos- 
 ening of the marriage-tie — the very safeguard of 
 Christian society, — the exalting of might over 
 right, and of the senses over all that is spiritual 
 and intellectual. Even science itself feels the ef- 
 fects of this materialism. Our duties to 6rod are 
 not the ordinary subject of the investigation of 
 intelligent men ; nature, what they see around 
 them, claims their attention and that of the peo- 
 ple applauding ; and this not with any aim or in- 
 tention of manifesting the glory of the Author 
 of nature, but for the purpose of chaining her 
 to the car of man' s material progress. 
 
 Such, dear brethren, is the result of the aban- 
 donment of the guiding light of faith ; such is the 
 evil way the mand of man takes when left to it- 
 
TTie Mule of Faith. 119 
 
 self. God, who foresaw this, in His mercy vouch- 
 safed to give us a means to avert the danger, and 
 to have always the sure protection of which man 
 stands in need. For this purpose He instituted 
 His Church, and bade His Apostles, "Go, teach 
 in my name ; as the Father hath sent me, so I 
 send you ; whosoever will not hear you, let him 
 be to you as the heathen and the publican." 
 Could anything clearer be needed to show the 
 existence of authority to which the judgment of 
 each one must yield ? That authority we see, in 
 the Sacred Books, exercised not only in teach- 
 ing, but also in making laws. Thus, St. Paul 
 lays down laws for the direction of Christians in 
 public worship, excommunicates the incestuous 
 Corinthian, and bids those who are faithful avoid 
 those who have apostatized. St. John speaks in 
 like manner. The Holy Ghost is promised and 
 given to the Church, the Spirit of truth, "who," 
 as Christ, in the Gospel of St. John, tells us, 
 "will teach you all things whatsoever I have 
 said to you" (St. John xiv. 26). What is the 
 consequence of this promise and its fulfilment ? 
 It is, dear brethren, this : that the Church of 
 God is the depositary of all revealed truth, and 
 the teacher of all truth revealed, and consequent- 
 ly the guardian of all that appertains to or con- 
 
120 Christian Truths. 
 
 tains it. In two founts or sources does she keep 
 this sacred treasure, and from them does she 
 draw it when needful — ^in Scripture and in Tradi- 
 tion ; for, as the holy CEcumenical Council of 
 Trent, in its fourth session, teUs us, the Church 
 receives and venerates both with a like feeling 
 of piety and reverence, as divine in their origin. 
 But the Church, dear brethren, does not seek 
 the reason of her existence in Scripture ; hers 
 is a higher claim. As to the Scripture, she 
 is the guardian of it. She existed before it. 
 She came before the nations with the stamp of 
 divine approbation on her in the first ages as it 
 is on her now ; for God confirmed her mission 
 by making clear that He was with her, by mira- 
 cles, by charismata, by the practice of the coun- 
 sels of Christian perfection. Before a word of 
 Scripture — that is, of the New Testament — was 
 penned, the Church of Christ existed, and ap- 
 peared in far-off lands ; and it was verified, with 
 regard to the Apostles, that the sound of their 
 voice had gone forth throughout the earth. 
 Christianity was preached, then, before the New 
 Testament was written. Two consequences flow 
 from this, dear brethren : first, that the ordinary 
 way of making known the truth of God is by the 
 preaching of the Word, God Himself, that man 
 
TTie Rule of Faith. 121 
 
 may not glory, giving the increase ; second, that 
 the Church, in which the Holy Grhost dweUs, is 
 the judge and interpreter of Scripture ; for to her 
 was it needful that the writings and teachings of 
 her Apostles should be submitted, in order that 
 the faithful might be sure they were not led 
 astray. St. Paul himself bears witness to this, 
 when he tells us he went up to Jerusalem, that 
 he might compare his doctrine with that of those 
 who were there, " lest he had run or should run 
 in vain." And this office of judge and guardian 
 of Holy Writ, in virtue of her high authority 
 and commission, the Church has never proved 
 false to. She it was who, amid the confusion of 
 exemplars and codes, carefully preserved what 
 was genuine, consecrating it by her use of it ; and 
 by her canon of Scripture in the Council of Car- 
 thage, the decrees of her pontiffs. Innocent and 
 Gelasius, down to the decree of the Council of 
 Trent (sess. iv.), vindicated the genuineness of 
 each of the Sacred Books and their parts. To 
 her, dear brethren, are you indebted for the 
 Bible to-day. The oldest codes of it you have 
 cannot claim an antiquity equal to hers ; for 
 they go no farther back than the fourth cen- 
 tury, and for the most part are wanting in some 
 particular. As she, then, has been the faithful 
 
122 Christian Truths. 
 
 guardian of Holy Writ, and has so jealously 
 cared for it as to extort, as we have seen, the 
 praise of Theodore Beza, and that, in virtue of 
 her Divine Spouse assisting her ; she has, too, in 
 virtue of that same Spirit, the power of interpret- 
 ing its meaning, so that it is not lawful to follow 
 any other meaning or edition than what we know 
 to have been approved of by her. In this way 
 are the children of the Church providentially 
 protected from the incubus of erroneous teaching 
 and interpretation which oppresses those outside 
 the Church, and prevents them from attaining to 
 the knowledge of the truth once delivered to the 
 saints. 
 
 But it is not alone in Sacred Scripture, dear 
 brethren, that revealed truth is contained. Tra- 
 dition, as the Council of Trent says, is to be 
 received and venerated equally with Scripture. 
 You are well aware how the world looks on 
 such a doctrine. Yet it is a doctrine not only 
 eminently reasonable, but which has its foun- 
 dation in Holy Writ itself. In several places 
 mention of traditions occur, but I cite only 
 one, from the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the 
 Thessalonians, ii. 15. He tells them: "There- 
 fore, brethren, stand, and hold the traditions 
 3'ou have learned, whether it be by word or 
 
TTie Rule of Faith. 123 
 
 by our epistle." This text the English ver- 
 sions of 1562, 1577, and 1579 translated other- 
 wise, rendering the word, not traditions, but 
 ordinances. It is worthy of remark, however, 
 that the edition of 1683 corrected this change, 
 restoring the objectionable word traditions. 
 But though the text and its history are suffi- 
 cient of themselves to bring about conviction, 
 there are arguments from facts recorded in the 
 Bible which are conclusive of a tradition of faith, 
 which God did not intend should be lost. Tlie 
 first of these I have in part alluded to already, 
 when speaking of the interpretation of Isaias, 
 given by the deacon Philip to the eunuch of 
 Queen Candace, on his way to Ethiopia. Is it 
 to be supposed for a moment that this new 
 convert, a man of intelligence and of influence, 
 did not remember the explanation of the pro- 
 phet's words, and repeat it to his fellow-coun- 
 trymen ? No ; that tradition remained with the 
 people, who, notwithstanding their isolation, 
 must have kept such tradition jealously, as they 
 kept the main traditions of Christianity. And it 
 is not a little singular that, among the tradi- 
 tions, though erroneous, which they have hand- 
 ed down from father to son through so many 
 ages, there is one which favors the Immaculate 
 
124 Christian Truths. 
 
 Conception of the Mother of God : namely, that 
 her soul was created before the souls of other 
 men — a provision, the effect of which would save 
 her from the sin in which we are all born. But 
 this is a digression. 
 
 I come to the second fact which proves the 
 existence of tradition. It was the- third day 
 after the Eesurrection, and two of the disciples 
 were wending their way to the little village of 
 Emmaus, when suddenly au unknown Person 
 joined them. This unknown Person was none 
 other, as you know, dear brethren, than Christ 
 Himself ; but, as the Gospel tells us, ' ' their 
 eyes were held that they did not know Him." 
 And He said to them, "What are these dis- 
 courses that you hold one with another, and are 
 sad?" They replied, telling Him of what had 
 occurred in Jerusalem, and how Christ, who, 
 they had hoped, would have redeemed Israel, 
 had been put to death, but was said to have 
 arisen. Jesus Christ answers them : "O foolish 
 and slow of heart to believe in all things whiijji 
 the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to 
 have suffered these things, and thus have en- 
 tered into His glory ? And beginning at Moses 
 and all the prophets. He expounded to them, in 
 all the Scriptures, the things that were con- 
 
The Rule of Faith. 125 
 
 cerning Him." Now, here we have a most im- 
 portant interpretation of Scripture, given by 
 Christ Himself, the author of our holy reli- 
 gion. Do you find one word of that interpre- 
 tation in this place, or in any other place of 
 the New Testament % No ; there is not a word 
 said of it beyond the fact that ]\Ioses and the 
 other prophets did speak of Him, as in other 
 parts of the Bible He tells us. Is it at all cre- 
 dible that this authentic interpretation of the 
 predictions regarding Christ were allowed by 
 these disciples to remain unknown? By no 
 means ; for we read that the disciples told what 
 happened to them on the way. That interpre- 
 tation was not forgotten. Every word of it was 
 cherished and handed down, and constituted 
 a part of that living tradition even more po- 
 tent, if possible, in its influence on the life of 
 the Church, than the Scripture itself. 
 
 The third fact I referred to is the one of 
 which the Evangelist St. Luke tells in the iirst 
 chapter of the Acts. He says that Jesus Christ 
 "showed Himself alive to His Apostles, by many 
 proofs, for forty days appearing to them and 
 speaking to them of the kingdom of God." 
 Here Christ is represented as in frequent com- 
 munication with the Apostles during these forty 
 
126 Christian Truths. 
 
 days, and He speaks to tliem of His Church, 
 of the kingdom which He had come to found 
 on earth, which was not of this world. Yet 
 very little is found in the Gospel of what He 
 said. The Gospel was rather concerned in tell- 
 ing what He did, that the resurrection of Christ 
 might be evident to all. What He said, except 
 in a very few instances of the highest import- 
 ance, the Bible does not tell us. It was during 
 this time Christ explained and regulated the 
 constitution of His Church, and the explana- 
 tions and regulations remained v/ith the Apostles, 
 and were handed down by them, through the 
 Spirit promised and afterwards given them to 
 recall to their mind whatsoever their Master 
 had said. This is further evident from what 
 St. Luke says in the last chapter of his Gos- 
 pel. Christ, when He had eaten before His 
 Apostles and disciples, explained to them anew 
 the words of the prophets and of the Psalms 
 concerning Him. Yet, while mentioning the fact, 
 the Evangelist only adds ^ "Then He opened 
 their understanding, that they might understand 
 the Scriptures." There is nothing so evident 
 as that Christ left His Apostles a teaching body, 
 entrusted with knowledge for others, which was 
 not then recorded, because such record was not 
 
The Rule of Faith. 127 
 
 deemed necessary. The action of the inspired 
 writers, with what they tell us, shows this con- 
 clusively. It is clear that this authority to 
 teach stands in a high position over both the 
 written and spoken word — Scripture, that is, and 
 Tradition — to make use of the one and of the 
 other, as the Spirit may dictate. Scripture and 
 Tradition are the treasures entrusted to the keep- 
 ing of God's Church ; from these, and these alone, 
 does she draw the doctrine she unerringly teach- 
 es. The canon of Scripture gives us the books 
 which contain the written word of God. Tradition 
 is contained in the writings of the Fathers and 
 councils approved as witnesses by the Church, 
 and in the living belief of the faithful, held 
 always, everywhere, and by all. Such is the 
 celebrated mle of St. Vincent of Lerins, laid 
 down in his well-known work, the Gommonitori- 
 um; and St. Augustine, too, gives us this same 
 principle, when he says, in his fourth book 
 against the Donatists : " What the universal 
 Church holds that has not been instituted by 
 councils, but has always been retained, is most 
 rightly believed to have been handed down, not 
 otherwise than by apostolic authority." St. Ire- 
 nseus, Tertullian, and other Fathers speak in like 
 manner in praise of Tradition. 
 
128 CfJiristian Truths. 
 
 It was witli her supreme authority and with 
 these two sources of truth, always in her 
 charge, that the Church of God, dear brethren, 
 set about approving and presenting to her chil- 
 dren a faithful copy of the Scriptures. Up to 
 the Council of Trent, there existed no edition 
 of the Old and New Testament which enjoyed 
 an approval of its authenticity on the part of 
 the teaching authority of God's Church. Her 
 practice in using the edition, known as the 
 "Old Vulgate edition," through so long a series 
 of centuries, was a guarantee tliat it contained no 
 error against faith or morals, and that, substan- 
 tially, it was the Word of God. But that it was 
 entirely free from mistakes of words, and even 
 of sentences, no one of learning would assert ; 
 for, as I have already said, the various read- 
 ings were very numerous. The attacks made 
 against the Church by the innovators of the six- 
 teenth century, who each took his stand on the 
 Bible ; the facility of being led astray which 
 came from such a variety of translations ; the 
 accurate knowledge of dead languages required 
 to detect fraud, all convinced the Fathers of the 
 Council of Trent that it was advisable to give the 
 faithful an edition which would, on account of 
 the sanction of the Church, be looked to with 
 
The Rule of Faitli. 129 
 
 greater reverence, and be nsed with greater confi- 
 dence. Therefore it was that, after approving the 
 old Vulgate edition, rendered authoritative by 
 the use of so many centuries, the council order- 
 ed it should be printed as free from faults as 
 possible — "ut quam emendatissime imprima- 
 tur." This work, the history of which is full 
 of interest, was carefully carried out under the 
 eye of the Sovereign Pontiff, who called to 
 his aid the most learned scholars of the Church, 
 and had brought to Rome the most valued 
 ancient codes he could obtain. In this way 
 finally issued from the press the Vulgate edi- 
 tion now in use in the Catholic Church, the 
 only complete Bible the Chxirch of God ever 
 authentically approved, no matter what its lan- 
 guage or under what circumstances other edi- 
 tions may have been given to the public. This 
 Vulgate edition the Church commands to be read 
 in her assemblies, and puts in the hands of the 
 faithful with the interpretations she approves. 
 It is this edition of which she permits, through 
 ecclesiastical authority, the translations for the 
 private use of her children, so that every one 
 may receive the instruction and edification it is 
 intended to impart. 
 
 Such has been the conduct of the Church. 
 
130 Christian Truths. 
 
 That conduct, instead of causing the Bible to be 
 despised, has had the effect of causing it to be 
 still more honored and more widely spread. In 
 guarding the reader against the difficulties of in- 
 terpretation inherent in the text itself, against 
 those inherent in the interpreter himself, with 
 that fulness of divine authority received from 
 her Founder and from her Spouse, going before 
 and showing the true sense of its Author, the 
 Holy Ghost, she confers an immense, an incal- 
 culable benefit on mankind. Has this benefi- 
 cence been gratefully acknowledged ? By those 
 in her communion it has. But with respect to 
 those outside of her communion, this very act 
 has been made the pretext of charges the 
 most false, and the object of attacks the most 
 virulent. It was, however, not unreasonable to 
 expect such a line of conduct from those who, by 
 siich a proceeding on the part of the Church, were 
 directly pointed out as contradictoi-s of revealed 
 truth. Jesus Christ came to convict the world of 
 error and of injustice. His words and His acts 
 merited for Him false witness, ignominy, and 
 death. He told His followers that the disciple 
 could not expect more leniency than fell to the 
 lot of the Master. He told them that the world 
 would hate them because it first hated Him. 
 
The Rule of Faith. 131 
 
 He foretold they would be oppressed, and bade 
 them not be discouraged, but to i)ut their confi- 
 dence in Him, for He had conquered the world. 
 And therefore it is, dear brethren, that when we 
 see the Church in her perennial struggle with the 
 world — whether it be with the pagan persecu- 
 tors or the barbarian rulers that enthralled 
 her; with the innovators of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury or the rationalistic governments of the 
 nineteenth — we should not be either surprised 
 or cast down. We must expect to hear her 
 calumniated, and held up as the betrayer of 
 the deposit she was called into being to pro- 
 tect and foster. What has been done by her, 
 dear brethren, with regard to that deposit, I 
 have shown you. No mother has ever watched 
 over her child with more solicitude than she has 
 guarded that ofl:spring of the Holy Spirit's vir- 
 tue in the souls of the Apostles — His inspired 
 woid. Not only has she saved it from harm, not 
 only has she done all in her power to make it 
 perfect, but she has taught us to reverence, hon- 
 or, and love it. 
 
 Let us cherish, then, a heartfelt gratitude to- 
 wards her for thus preserving to us, free from all 
 taint, the Holy Word of God, that it might, under 
 her guidance, be ' ' iisef ul to teach, to reprove, to 
 
132 Christian Truths. 
 
 correct, to instruct in justice." Let us, imitating 
 her, treat it always with tlie reverence due it ; for 
 she puts it on the altar in her councils, and hon- 
 ors it daUy in her liturgy. Let us read it with 
 the docUity of spirit which is the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost ; such docility will merit for us that He 
 open our intellect to aid us to understand it, ap- 
 preciate it more, and make its maxims the rule 
 of our life. Amen. 
 
Leotuee VI. 
 
 INFALLIBILITY.— No. I. 
 
 IN my last discourse, dear brethren, we saw 
 that the Bible, though, as St. Paul says, 
 "useful for teaching," cannot of itself teach, 
 because of the need of an interpreter ; because 
 it tells us expressly to obey an authority insti- 
 tuted by God ; and because, moreover, it does not 
 contain aU that was revealed and taught by 
 Christ. I come now to speak of what in the 
 Church of God is the authority speaking in His 
 name. What is the Ecclesia docens ? It is that 
 body which has inherited! the duties and rights 
 given by Christ to the Apostles, to whom He 
 said: "Go, teach all nations." That body is 
 composed of the Head of the Church and the 
 bishops of the Church united with the Head — 
 the Sovereign Pontiff and the bishops. This is 
 the body which represents Christ, to whom He 
 said : "He that hears you hears me"; " Behold, 
 I am with you all days even to the consumma- 
 
 133 
 
134 Christian Truths. 
 
 tion of the world " ; "The gates of hell shaU not 
 prevail against my Church." The gates of Jiell 
 would most certainly prevail against the Church, 
 she would, in fact, be without the promised pre- 
 sence of Christ and of the Holy Ghost, if it were 
 at all possible for the teaching body of that 
 Church to present for belief to the faithful any 
 doctrine not true. And therefore it is we say the 
 true Church of God can teach no error, the su- 
 preme teaching authority of the Church, the Pope 
 and the bishops united with him, in cecumenical 
 council or otherwise, can by no possibility lay 
 down as dogmatic belief what is not revealed ; 
 and this privilege she has from the Holy Ghost 
 dwelling in her. This is what is known as the 
 prerogative of infallibility. This infallibility, one 
 in its source, is twofold in its manifestation ; it 
 is in the Head, and it is in the Church at large 
 united with the Head. In other words, the Holy 
 Spirit is ever working in a double manner : in the 
 Head to cause him to teach infallibly the univer- 
 sal Church ; in the bishops united with the Head 
 to make them preserve the doctrines and tradi- 
 tions of the faith and instruct their flocks in 
 them. So that, dear brethren, not only is it im- 
 possible that the Sovereign Pontiff, and the bi- 
 shops with liim, should ever have given or should 
 
Infallibility. 135 
 
 ever give any false ex-cathedra or official defini- 
 tion of dogma for the wliole Church ; it is equally 
 impossible that the whole body of bishops of the 
 Catholic Church should fall away from the faith. 
 
 But though that infallibility is thus twofold in 
 its manifestation, it is, my dear brethren, essen- 
 tially one, because its author, the Holy Ghost, is 
 one. The Head of the Church is infallible with 
 or by reason of that same infallibility with which 
 Christ willed His Church to be endowed. In un- 
 dertaking, then, to show that the Sovereign 
 Pontiff is infallible in his ex-catliedra teachings, 
 I, by this fact, also show the infallibility of the 
 Church, of which undoubtedly the principal 
 share or part, or the chief exercise, lies with the 
 successor of St. Peter, the Bishop of Rome. 
 Around him the whole system revolves in per- 
 fect harmony ; and he alone enjoys a personal 
 infallibility in official teaching of the universal 
 Church. 
 
 It is, therefore, to the infallibility of the Sov- 
 ereign Pontiff that I shall confine my remarks 
 to-day. I shall reserve for the next discourse 
 the examination of the decree of the Vatican 
 Council. 
 
 Every society, dear brethren, requires a head. 
 Order is Heaven's first law. Order is the parti- 
 
136 Christian Truths. 
 
 cipation of the divine harmony given to created 
 nature. Everything is subordinate to God, and 
 in creation of intelligent beings, vrhom He 
 made to do His will. He has made it a neces- 
 sity of their co-existence, as well as a mark of 
 His sovereignty, that there should exist among 
 them some supreme authority. It comes thus 
 from the very essence of society ; and as society 
 is from Grod, so is authority from God, as the 
 Apostle tells us. Now, the Church is a society, 
 an association for a definite purpose, it is true, 
 but a perfect society, not needing in itself any 
 other authority for its conservation, and for the 
 attainment of its end. It is, therefore, neces- 
 sary, as is evident from what I have just said, 
 that it have a head. This being so, the preroga- 
 tives of that Head must spring from the nature 
 of the association or society. The nature of the 
 society which constitutes the Church of God, is 
 to preserve the deposit of faith, and the unity of 
 the fold. As for this double purpose there must 
 be power to teach what is contained in the de- 
 posit, and to hold the flock together by laws de- 
 vised to that end, inherent in that society, so its 
 oflicial head must be the one to hold and exer- 
 cise such power of teaching and ruling. In some 
 societies, it is true, the head is, as it were, merely 
 
Infallibility. 137 
 
 an executive officer, the legislation having been 
 done by other bodies belonging to them, which 
 for this reason are known as supreme bodies, to 
 which are subject the executive officers them- 
 selves. But those officers, merely executive, are 
 rather something introduced into society for pur- 
 poses of prudence, than natural results of asso- 
 ciation ; for the natural state of society was and 
 is, that the supreme power lies with the head; 
 whether this society be that of the family, or that 
 of the original state, the result of patriarchal 
 rule. Now, when we come to consider the 
 Church, we find a society immutable in its form, 
 because founded by God, and perfect in its or- 
 ganism. Such an origin, and the action of the 
 Church itself, substantiate the assertion of the 
 supreme power of its Head, and add value to 
 the reasons I have given. 
 
 We must bear in mind always that Christ pro- 
 mised His Spirit to His Church ; sent down up- 
 on it that Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, to abide 
 with it for ever ; and, moreover, promised to be 
 with it to the consummation of the world. In 
 fine, He foretold that, though it would be tried 
 in every way, the gates of hell would never pre- 
 vail against it. Hence it is impossible that this 
 Church should' ever teach false doctrine ; for in 
 
138 Christian Truths. 
 
 that case the Spirit of Truth would not be with 
 it, and the gates of hell would have prevailed 
 against it — the Spirit of Truth would have de- 
 parted and the father of lies would have tri- 
 umphed. Wherefore, dear brethren, the highest 
 official teaching of the Church must be received 
 as the word of God revealed and contained in 
 Holy Scripture and in Apostolic Tradition. 
 
 What does the official teaching authority of 
 the Church say? What action has it taken, 
 which will substantiate the assertion that the 
 supreme teaching and ruling power is in the 
 Head of the Church % 
 
 If we turn to the CEcumenical Council of Flo- 
 rence, held in the year of our Lord 1439, we find 
 the Fathers, in union with the Sovereign Pontiff, 
 defining that " the Roman Pontiff, the true Vicar 
 of Christ, is the head of the whole Church and 
 the father and doctor of all Christians ; and that 
 to him, in St. Peter, was committed by our Lord 
 Jesus Christ the full power to feed the universal 
 Church, to rule and to guide it." What is the 
 most natural deduction from these words ? Is it 
 not that the Sovereign Pontiff, herein declared the 
 doctor or teacher of the Church, should possess 
 the infallibility which belongs to the Church? 
 The very idea of a teacher conveys this ; for a 
 
Infallibility. 139 
 
 teacher is only rightly so called when he can im- 
 jjart that degree of certitude which is essential to 
 what he teaches. If the science is physical, he 
 must impart physical certainty as far as it is 
 possible ; if it be a speculative one, he must give 
 the metaphysical certainty which is proper to 
 it ; if theological, the theological certainty which 
 comes from revelation. Consequently the teach- 
 er of the universal Church must be able to im- 
 part this theological certainty, which, as I said, 
 comes from revelation. It will not do for 
 him to teach as subordinate teachers do. They 
 are taught by the Church. He is the "teacher of 
 the Church," throughout the world. Consequent- 
 ly, what he teaches must be known to him not 
 from others, but by a special assistance of God ; 
 and for this additional reason, because his act of 
 teaching or judging is a personal act. I invite 
 your attention, dear brethren, to this point. A 
 supreme judge, who gives sentence, exerts a per- 
 sonal act ; if he do not, then he is only a sim- 
 ple mouth-piece, a simple instrument. But 
 when he is a supreme judge, such as we have 
 in our different countries, his decision is the 
 result of his study, of his information, of his 
 legal acumen, of his sound judgment. There- 
 fore, such an act is eminently a personal act ; 
 
140 Christian Truths. 
 
 and because it is a personal act we honor most 
 highly, and most justly, the learned men who 
 discharge such a difficult duty. Now, dear 
 brethren, when we come to consider the Sove- 
 reign Pontiff in the discharge of his duty, as 
 teacher of the Church, we see him occupied in 
 examining, studying, praying, and judging, in 
 order to define what the doctrine of the Church 
 is. If he takes the decisions of the Church, the 
 writings of the Fathers, the traditions of apos- 
 tolic origin, it is that he may compare them, re- 
 volve them in his mind, and judge with respect 
 to the question at issue. This is involved in his 
 duty of teacher, and this is, too, an eminently 
 personal act. Every one must judge for himself ; 
 another cannot judge for him. I may follow the 
 judgment of another, but my judgment is and 
 can be only mine, and no one else's. There- 
 fore the act of the Sovereign Pontiff in judging 
 and deciding matters of faith and morals, as su- 
 preme teacher of the universal Church, is a per- 
 sonal act, and he is therefore personally infal- 
 lible. 
 
 This truth, which is evident from the nature of 
 the Church, and from the position and duty of 
 its Head, is clearly proved from Scripture and 
 from Tradition, as contained in the writings of 
 
Infallibility. 141 
 
 the Fathers, as I shall briefly show. There are 
 three texts of Scripture especially which, in 
 showing the position of Peter among the Apos- 
 tles, prove that he possessed for himself and for 
 his successors the prerogative of supreme infal- 
 lible teaching in matters of faith and morals. 
 
 The first is that which is found in the six- 
 teenth chapter of St. Matthew: "And Jesus 
 came into the quarters of Cesarea Philippi : and 
 He asked His disciples, saying : Whom do men 
 say that the Son of Man is ? But they said : 
 Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, 
 and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 
 Jesus saith to them : But whom do you say 
 that I am % Simon Peter answered and said : 
 Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And 
 Jesus answering, said to him : Blessed art thou, 
 Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood hath 
 not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in 
 heaven." Observe, dear brethren, the prerogative 
 of Peter. God Himself in heaven has deigned 
 to turn His eyes on him, and give him this ex- 
 traordinary gift of faith — to him individually, for 
 Christ addressed him individually : " Simon, son 
 of Jona."" "And I say to thee, thou art Peter, 
 and upon this rock I will build my Church, and 
 the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 
 
142 Christian Truths. 
 
 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom 
 of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on 
 earth, it shall be bound also in heaven ; and 
 whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be 
 loosed also in heaven." 
 
 In this text, speaking to Peter, Christ fulfils 
 the prophetic words uttered when He called him 
 and said to him : " Thou shalt be called Cephas, 
 which is interpreted Peter." This name is from 
 the Syro-Chaldaic, the language spoken by our 
 Lord, the word from which it is formed signi- 
 fying a rock* The simile, so clear in this 
 place, dear brethren, cannot be misunderstood. 
 Nothing is so usual as this expression even 
 now. The foundation is everything in an edi- 
 fice ; if that be bad, the building will fall ; 
 if it be rock, there is no danger. So Christ 
 Himself said when speaking of those who did 
 not build their houses on sand. What is re- 
 markable here is that Simon, the son of Jona, 
 praised for his faith and open profession of belief 
 in Christ' s divinity, is the one designated as the 
 rock upon which the Church is to be built. The 
 firmness of the rock is given him, and that 
 buUding against which the gates of hell are not 
 
 *JoliQi. 42; Heb , t)" ; Syro-Clial., N£15; itETpa, Tischendorf ed. 
 Tii. ; "petra," Vulgate. 
 
Infallihility. 143 
 
 to prevail is to be built on that foundation, 
 wMcli, of course, cannot have less strength, or 
 less permanence, than the edifice resting on it. 
 Our Lord, with extraordinary words, promises 
 him a power unlimited : " WJiatsoever tJiou sJialt 
 5m(^," etc. There is no limit put to it. He tells 
 him, moreover, that He will give him the keys of 
 the kingdom of heaven. It is not needful that 
 we delay on this point. The expression is fa- 
 miliar to you as designating power ; and so, too, 
 the custom evidenced in Scripture of the minis- 
 ter of the king carrying on his person a key to 
 represent his power, and. the consequent refer- 
 ence to this where the exercise of power, subor- 
 dinate only to the supreme ruler, is express- 
 ed ; as, for instance, when the prophet Isaias 
 says of Eliacim, the son of Helcias (Is. xxii. 22): 
 ' ' I will lay the key of the house of David 
 upon his shoulder." To Peter, therefore, is 
 promised the first place in Christ's Church, 
 unlimited power, and firmness like that of the 
 rock, in order that upon him may be built the 
 Church, against which the gates of hell are not to 
 prevail. This certainly proves the primacy of 
 Peter, and at the same time his inerrancy ; for 
 as the Church would undoubtedly be prevailed 
 against if it could be led astray in doctrine, so 
 
144 Christian Truths. 
 
 would it be prevailed against in like manner if 
 its foundation were shaken, if Peter were to err 
 in tke exercise of Ms supreme teaching autho- 
 rity, or Ms power be weakened. 
 
 The second text is that which is taken from 
 the Gospel according to St. Luke, ch. xxii. v. 31. 
 Our Lord was partaking of the Pasch with his 
 Apostles, and after the institution of the Blessed 
 Eucharist, as there was a strife among them, 
 "which should seem to be greater,"* He 
 cMdes them for this, and then turns to Peter, 
 saying: "Simon, Simon, the devil hath sought 
 you {expetivit vos) that he might sift you as 
 wheat ; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith 
 fail not, and thou, being once converted, confirm 
 thy brethren." These words are so clear, dear 
 brethren, as hardly to need explanation. I only 
 call attention to the distinction made here by 
 Christ between the Apostles all and Peter. He 
 says to the Apostles : The devil hath sought you 
 — ^in the plural. To Peter he says : I have prayed 
 for thee (pro te), that thy faith fail not ; thou, 
 
 * Even if this discussion took place some time before, as has been 
 said, the fact of its being introduced here is of the greatest significance ; 
 one realizes this the more he thinks about it. All editions, even those 
 like the English version of the Polyglot ; D'Oyly & Mant's, ed. 185(i, which 
 in a note says this discussion took place at this time ; and Tisehendorf s 
 seventh edition, have this account, hero. As Gallicanism is dead, it is 
 time to stop making concessions to it 
 
Infallibility. 145 
 
 being once converted, confirm thy brethren, 
 strengthen them in their faith. The office of 
 Peter was a future one ; he was first to fall, that 
 he might learn his strength was not of himself, 
 but from God. In fact, Simon Peter, stimulated 
 by these words, makes a profession of fidelity 
 tOl death ; but Christ tells him he will fall be- 
 fore cock-crow. Thus we see, dear brethren, 
 that this great prerogative we claim for Peter 
 is no inherent power of man, but a free gift of 
 God for the good of His Church. 
 
 The third text I inferred to is taken from St. 
 John xxi. 15, seq. Peter had thrice denied his 
 Lord. Christ causes him to declare thrice his 
 love for Him, and replying each time He says : 
 "Peed my lambs; feed my lambs; feed my 
 sheep." The Greek word used here, noinaivB^ 
 having as its root the word noi^rjv.^ signifying a 
 shepherd, means : Feed my lambs with authority. 
 The mode of feeding is certainly not an act of 
 giving material food ; so that we have to under- 
 stand it in a figurative sense — that is, of feeding 
 with doctrine. It is impossible that our Lord 
 would have given such a commission to Peter if 
 He had not intended to preserve him from error ; 
 especially if we take into consideration the rela- 
 tion this triple confession has with the triple 
 
146 Christian Truths. 
 
 denial, and tlie words which Christ used just be- 
 fore He predicted that triple denial: "I have- 
 prayed for thee that thy faith fail not ; thou 
 being once converted, confirm thy brethren." 
 We shall see, dear brethren, that the tradition 
 and practice of the Church bear out the interpre- 
 tation I have given. 
 
 But before I pass to show this, I must not 
 omit mention of a fact of apostolic practice 
 which speaks volumes in support of the doc- 
 trine of the infallibility of Peter and his succes- 
 sors. St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, had 
 received his revelation directly from God. He 
 went into Arabia and there remained for some 
 time, returning to Damascus. After three years 
 he "went to Jerusalem to see Peter, and tarried 
 with him fifteen days" (Gal. i.) He adds: 
 "Other of the Apostles I saw none, saving 
 James, the brother of the Lord." We see James 
 mentioned here only incidentally ; Peter is the 
 great figure presented, the one he went to see. 
 Why ? The reason, if doubtful after what 1 have 
 said, is evident from another passage of St. Paul, 
 chap. ii. He tells us : " Then after fourteen years 
 I went up again to Jerusalem." Peter s name 
 does not occur here, either becaiise he was not in 
 Jerusalem, or because the Cephas mentioned here 
 
Infallibility. 147 
 
 is he.. The point is a disputed one ; but granting 
 that Peter is here meant, we find St. Paul con- 
 ferring with "James and Cephas and John," 
 "lest perhaps I should run or had run in vain." 
 The subjection of an Apostle to the supreme 
 teaching authority in the Church, as openly de- 
 clared here by him, dear brethren, should serve 
 as a most convincing argument to those who 
 are tempted to follow their own judgment in pre 
 ference to its declarations, and make us who 
 believe Appreciate more thoroughly the august 
 character of the authority vested in Peter and 
 his successors. 
 
 That the primacy of Peter, as shown by these 
 texts, was not only accepted by the universal 
 Church from the beginning, but primarily be- 
 cause of the inerrancy of Peter's successors and 
 inheritors of the promises itiade to him, is to 
 be seen from the writings of the Fathers, of 
 whom I shall cite only a few. 
 
 St. Irenseus * was a father of the second 
 century. He was a disciple of St. Polycarp, 
 Bishoj) of Smyrna, who had been a disciple of 
 St. John the Apo:?tle. He was in a condition, 
 therefore, not only to know facts, but also the 
 ideas and feelings of apostolic times. What do 
 
 * Eueeb. v., H. B., c. 24. 
 
148 Christian Truths. 
 
 we find Mm saying and doing? In his work 
 against heresies lie tells lis of St. Peter and St. 
 Paul founding the Church at Rome. He himself 
 comes to Rome, sent by the clergy of Lyons to 
 St. Eleutherius, Pope, in the case of the Mon- 
 tanist heresy ; just as his master, Poly carp, had 
 come to Pope Anicetus to treat of the celebra- 
 tion of Easter. This is not all ; in the third 
 chapter of his third book he has these remark- 
 able words: "Pointing to the tradition of the 
 Church founded and constituted at Rome by 
 the most glorious Apostles Peter and Paul, we 
 confound all those who in any way, through 
 self-complacency or vainglory, or through 
 blindness and ill-will, gather other than they 
 should. For to this Church, on account of its 
 more powerful principality, it behooves every 
 church, to come — that is, the faithful every- 
 where." He goes on to designate the succes- 
 sors of Peter. What is even more, he tells us 
 that St. Clement, who was the successor of St. 
 Peter, although the Apostle St. John was still 
 alive, was the one to write to the Corinthians, 
 among whom contention had arisen, to settle 
 their disputes. Later on we have St. Cyprian,* 
 who speaks of the unity of the Church, saying : 
 
 * For letter of St. Cyprian, see Alzog, Chwrch History, ^ 87, vol. i. 
 
Infallibility. 149 
 
 " The beginning is from unity, and the pri- 
 macy is given to Peter, that the Church may 
 be shown to be OTie." Whence is this unity to 
 flow, dear brethren, if inerrancy of faith is not 
 the source, and therefore the reason, of the pri- 
 macy ? 
 
 St. Jerome was a father of the fourth cen- 
 tury. He was in his prime about the year 
 270, with all the advantages of having lived in 
 the centre of Catholic unity. He left Rome 
 for the East, and he was then, at the time of 
 which I wish to speak, at Antioch. He found 
 himself in the midst of the excitement conse- 
 quent on the discussion concerning the per- 
 sonality and natures of Christ. The Bishop of 
 Antioch wished him to subscribe to a formula 
 in which the word hypostasis occurred in the 
 sense of substance. The term was equivocal, 
 some understanding person, others substance. 
 St. Jerome '* writes with great earnestness to 
 Damasus, then ruling the Church of Rome. 
 He begs him to let him know which he is to 
 use — the term three hypostases or only one. 
 He says: "I, following none other but Christ, 
 am joined in communion with your beatitude — 
 that is, with the cathedral of Peter ; I know 
 
 * Bpist. St. Hieronym., 1. i., ep. 35. 
 
150 Christian Truths. 
 
 bhat the Church has been built on that rock. 
 Whosoever eateth the Lamb outside this house 
 is profane. Whoever be not in the ark of 
 Noe will perish in the universal deluge. ... I 
 know not Vitalis ; I reject Miletius ; I ignore 
 Paulinus.* Whosoever gathereth not vdth 
 thee, scattereth. . . . Who is not of Christ 
 is Antichrist." This father and doctor of the 
 Church, who merited special praise fi-om St. 
 Augustin, could not have been ignorant of the 
 traditions of the Church or of the writings of 
 the principal fathers of preceding epochs. He 
 therefore speaks not only in his own name, but 
 as a witness of the opinion common in the 
 Church then and previously. 
 
 To his belief, thus clearly expressed, I add 
 that of St. Augustin, the great Bishop of Hip- 
 po, and the Doctor of Grace, the greatest in- 
 tellect perhaps the Church in her long life has 
 possessed. In his defence of the doctrine on 
 grace he combated the heresy of Pelagius and 
 Celestius. He held councils against them, and 
 their heresy was condemned. The proceedings 
 of these councils were sent to Rome, to the 
 Pontiff, for approval. The approval was had 
 
 * The three contending bishops at Antioeh. 
 
Ir^ fallibility . 151 
 
 from the Sovereign Pontiff Innocent I., and St. 
 Augustin addresses in consequence these words 
 to his opponents : " The acts of two councils 
 have been sent to the Apostolic See; thence 
 have come the rescripts (or answers); the case 
 is decided ; would that once for all error would 
 cease!" We have here another witness of the 
 tradition of the Church of undoubted capacity 
 and credibility, the contemporary of St. Jerome, 
 though his junior. 
 
 A short time later, in the year 451, we have the 
 celebrated orator and Bishop of Ravenna and doc- 
 tor of the Church, St. Peter Chrysologus, bear- 
 ing witness to the same doctrine. He is writing 
 to the heretic Eutyches, who, in opposing Nesto- 
 rianism, which divided X'h.Q personality of Christ, 
 fell into the opposite heresy, that bore in conse- 
 quence his name, and which confounded the two 
 distinct natures of Christ. St. Peter replies to 
 him in these very remarkable words : "The Magi, 
 by their mystic gifts, confess Christ in his crib to 
 be God, and priests with sad questioning discuss 
 who it is was born of a virgin by the Holy 
 Spirit. We exhort thee, honored brother, to 
 attend obediently to what has been written by 
 the most blessed Pope of the city of Rome ; for 
 blessed Peter, who lives and presides in his own 
 
152 Christian Truths. 
 
 chair, gives to those who seek it the truth of 
 faith." 
 
 It is not necessary, dear brethren, that I de- 
 tain you with further citations from the fathers 
 of later date. These suffice, for they are of the 
 first four centuries of Christianity, when apos- 
 tolic tradition and practice were in the most 
 flourishing state, even by the admission of those 
 opposed to us, who readily admit that succeeding 
 epochs are prolific in writers who bear witness to 
 what they call the claims of Rome. B-ather let 
 ns turn for a moment our attention to consider 
 what was the action of the Church, whether she 
 was consistent with these teachings of the fa- 
 thers. This is very useful as a means of ascer- 
 taining the truth, as every moral body is apt 
 to use its prerogatives to the full extent, and 
 regulate its internal relations accordingly. 
 
 One very extraordinary course of action we 
 see in the Church from the beginning, and one 
 inexplicable, except on the supposition not only 
 of the primacy of the Sovereign Pontiff, but 
 also of his infallible teaching power, as inherent 
 to that primacy : it is the appeal to the Pope in 
 dogmatic cases. If the Pope were no more en- 
 dowed with infallibility than the patriarchs of 
 the Apostolic and Eastern Churches, how is it 
 
Infallibility. 153 
 
 that he is the one appealed to and they are the 
 ones that make the appeal ? The fact of such 
 appeal is beyond doubt. Even while the Apos- 
 tle St. John was still living, St. Clement, succes- 
 sor of St. Peter, was the one to write to the Co- 
 rinthians and settle their differences ; not St. 
 John. St. Polycarp, of whom I have said that 
 he was St. John's disciple and Bishop of Smyr- 
 na, came to see Pope Anicetus to have settled 
 the question of the proper day for the celebra- 
 tion of Easter. In the third century St. Denis 
 of Alexandria was accused by the Christians of 
 Pentapolis of the heresy afterwards taught by 
 Arius. The accusation was made to Pope Dio- 
 nysius, who called the patriarch to account and 
 declared him innocent, the people acquiescing.* 
 When we come to the fourth cenlury, which saw 
 the great Ecumenical Council of Nice, the se- 
 cond in number and the first after the Council of 
 Jerusalem, we see a most remarkable instance of 
 appeal. The Arians were all-powerful. They 
 had deposed numbers of orthodox bishops from 
 their sees. Among these were Paul, Bishop of 
 Constantinople, and Athanasius, Bishop of Al- 
 exandria. To whom did they turn for redress % 
 To the Bishop of Eome. Bear in mind, dear 
 
 + Vincenzi, De Saa'a Moiiarchia. 
 
154 Christian Truths. 
 
 brethren, that there was in question the divini- 
 ty of the Word. But it was not only the great 
 Patriarch of Alexandria who appealed to the 
 Pope ; the Arians themselves, * notwithstand- 
 ing they had the Emperor Constantius on their 
 side, appealed also to the Pope. They asked 
 him to call a general council ; but before he did 
 so, taking du'e information of the bishops of va- 
 rious countries whom he called to his counsels, 
 the Sovereign Pontiff condemned the Arians as 
 deserters of the faith of the Council of Nice 
 
 It will be useful to cite another important ap- 
 peal t of the fifth century, in which those ap- 
 pealing were the two most important bishops 
 and patriarchs of the Chtirch. One of these 
 was St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria ; the 
 other was ISTes'torius, Patriarch of Constanti- 
 nople, who was the author of the Nestorian 
 heresy. St. Cyril opposed him ; but he, instead 
 of yielding to the arguments of his learned 
 and pious colleague, used such unjustifiable 
 means, and showed such obstinacy in holding 
 his false teaching, that St. Cyril referred the 
 whole matter to Pope St. Celestin. Nestorius 
 did the same, and the Pope, in consequence, pro- 
 nounced judgment condemning the doctrines 
 
 " Alzog, vol. i. p. 381. t Ibid., vol i. $ 119. 
 
InfaUibility. 155 
 
 of Nestorius. I should detain you, dear breth- 
 ren, too lolig were I to go through the facts of 
 this nature, the prescriptions also of formulas of 
 faith by such Popes as St. Leo the Great, Hor- 
 misdas, and Agatho, or even dwell on the in- 
 stances in which the Sovereign Pontiffs gave 
 ■evidence of their belief that they were the in- 
 fallible guardians of the deposit of faith, by 
 speaking to the assembled bishops, in even gene- 
 ral councils, as their teachers, while the bishops, 
 on their part, gave proof of their belief in such a 
 prerogative of the successor of St. Peter, not 
 only by their docile acceptance, but by their ex- 
 clamations : "Peter has spoken through Leo, — 
 through Agatho." This much will suffice to show 
 how well grounded was the action of the tenth 
 general council, which met at Lyons under the 
 pontificate of Gregory X. (ann. 1274), who con- 
 voked it ; and how consonant with truth was the 
 conduct of the Greek emperor, Michael Palgeolo- 
 gus, who had desired the council to be called, that 
 the union of the two Churches, the Latin and the 
 Greek, might be brought about. Here especially 
 it was necessary that clearness of doctrine should 
 be taiight, and only the essentials of doctrine 
 should be insisted on. What was done there % 
 The great point to be settled was the primacy and 
 
156 Christian Truths. 
 
 the resulting prerogatives of the Bishop of Rome. 
 As a basis of settlement the emperor presented 
 his profession of faith. In this document, speak- 
 ing in the third person, he says : ' ' The Holy 
 Roman Church holds tbe supreme primacy and 
 princedom over the universal Church, which the 
 emperor truly and humbly recognizes it received, 
 with fulness of power, from the Lord Himself, 
 in Blessed Peter, Prince or Head of the Apostles, 
 whose successor the Roman Pontiff is. And as 
 it is bound, above others, to defend the faith, so, 
 if any questions regarding faith r.rise, they are 
 to be settled by its judgment." We have here 
 the particular, individual Church, presided over 
 by the successor of Peter, declared by the em- 
 peror unerring ; such is tlie declaration of the 
 one who has succeeded to all the rights of those 
 who had to his day fostered the schism of the 
 East. The council took action on this profes- 
 sion of faith ; but what they say is still more 
 explicit, for, in the definition of the procession 
 of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, 
 they say this is the doctrine of the Roman 
 Church, " the mother and teacher of all the faith- 
 ful,'" "fidelinm omnium mater ac magistra." * 
 There can be no doubt, dear brethren, that in 
 
 * BisU Cone, Labbo-Cossart. 
 
Infallilility. 157 
 
 thus speaking both the emperor and the council 
 meant it was the judgment of the Sovereign Pon- 
 tiff which was to be obeyed, and that his judg- 
 ment in matters of faith and morals, when de- 
 ciding controversies for the universal Church, 
 was infallible. How could they look upon the 
 official teacher of one infallible Church — that is, 
 upon the Church of the Roman See they had 
 judged to be infallible — in any other light ? That 
 such was the opinion of theologians at this time 
 may be seen from the writings of the greatest 
 among them, St. Thomas Aquinas. He was on 
 his way to take part in the proceedings of this 
 general council when he fell sick and died. In 
 his great work, known as the Summa, he teaches 
 most explicitly the infallibility of the Sovereign 
 Pontiff.* In the first question of the second vol- 
 ume of the second part he uses these words : " It 
 belongs to the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff 
 to give a new edition of the Creed, to compose 
 the symbol of faith" — "ad auctoritatem Summi 
 Pontificis pertinet nova editio symboli" — and he 
 gives as a reason the indefectibility of the faith 
 of Peter. In another place of the same book, in 
 the vi. art. of the second question, St. Thomas 
 writes thus : " The faith of the Church cannot 
 
 *% 2iB, q. 1. art x. Kcsp. 
 
158 Christian Truths. 
 
 fail, for the Lord said to Simon Peter, 'I have 
 prayed for thee, that thy faith faU not.' " St. 
 Thomas identiiies the living Pope, the one for 
 the time being occupying the chair of Peter, 
 with Peter himself, and to him does he apply 
 these words of Christ promising inerrancy of 
 faith to the Prince of the Apostles. 
 
 From this it is evident what the Council of 
 Florence meant when it declared, with a solemn, 
 formal decree, that not only was the Pope Chief 
 Pastor of the CliurcH, but the Doctor of the uni- 
 versal flock. We see, then, dear brethren, that 
 though the form of the definition, the explicit- 
 ness, and the solemn promulgation in the Vati- 
 can Council are new, the doctrine itself is not 
 new. On the contrary, we trace it back in un- 
 broken tradition from our own day to that of the 
 Apostles. What the Church has done is simply 
 to put in practice the advice so well known, so 
 often quoted, of St. Vincent of Lerins: that, 
 when the faith is to be taught, care must be 
 taken not to say what is novel or new, but to ex- 
 plain the old faith in a new way ; that is, in the 
 manner called for by the circumstances of the 
 day. This, and this only, has been the line of 
 conduct followed by the Church. Thus again 
 has she given a proof of that Spirit who dwells 
 
Infallibility. 159 
 
 in her, bringing to her mind whatsoever her 
 Lord and Master had said to hei' in His inter- 
 course with her on earth. 
 
 The dispositions we should cherish towards 
 her are, lirst, one of thankfulness ; for no jot or 
 tittle of revealed truth is without its important 
 influence for good on our lives. This doctrine of 
 Papal Infallibility has such an influence on us all. 
 By it we see the Church more united than ever 
 before. By it we have received a sure criterion, 
 by means of which we may "be able to Judge of 
 God's truth with less danger of being led astray, 
 of being left in doubt through want of. a gene- 
 ral council or of the consent of the universal 
 Church dispersed throughout the world. There 
 is no danger of any "uncertain sound" being 
 given ; for, when the Pontiff teaches the whole 
 Church, we know what to believe, what to do. 
 The words of St. Ambrose, "f7'6i Petrus, ibi Ec- 
 clesiar are truer, if possible, now, than when he 
 wrote them. To be with the successor of Peter 
 is to be with Christ ; to be separated from him 
 is to be with the enemies of God. Whosoever 
 heeds his voice, he is one of the sheep of his 
 flock, of whom Christ said : " My sheep hear my 
 voice." AYith this feeling of thankfulness should 
 be coupled a disposition of great docility to the 
 
160 Christian Truths. 
 
 voice of the Vicar of Christ. His official ex- 
 cathedrd utterances as teacher of the faithful 
 everywhere, with respect to faith and morals, 
 we are to look on as revealed truth. This every 
 one who professes the faith of the One, Holy, 
 Catholic, and Apostolic Church is bound to do. 
 But this is not enough. We are to look up to 
 the Bishop of Rome as our guide in everything 
 that appertains to our spiritual life, just as we 
 are to look to the Church of God for this pur- 
 pose. We are to reverence and to obey the one 
 and the other, knowing that both are guided in 
 turn by the Holy Ghost, whose one great duty 
 imposed on Him, and willingly, lovingly dis- 
 charged, is to care for all the members of the 
 fold, His own members. His own temples. Let 
 us cherish the docility of children towards their 
 father, in our relations with the Head of God's 
 Cliurch on earth. Let us not imitate those Cath- 
 olics who, if you were to believe them, stand in 
 a continual dread of the Pope and his counsel- 
 lors ; who put themselves, as it were, in a condi- 
 tion of perpetual self-defence against the Sove- 
 reign Pontiff, as if God's Providence were not 
 lovingly watching over all that he does, drawing 
 good even out of the errors which may occur in 
 the administration of affairs or in temporal mat- 
 
Infallibility. ] 61 
 
 ters, the decisions regarding which depend on in- 
 formation received. Be assured that, in those 
 things which do not pertain to the supreme 
 "magisterium," the opportunities of knowledge 
 possessed by the Sovereign Pontiff far exceed 
 those possessed by the most intelligent men ; 
 and how often have these latter to confess the 
 fact, with the evidence had here before their 
 eyes ! God' s Providence watches over those 
 who obey ; and not only are they free from 
 the apprehension of any aggressions on the part 
 of the Sovereign Pontiff, but they enjoy a tran- 
 quil trust in God, and possess at the same time, 
 even in spiritual matters, not of faith, the safest 
 guide it is given us here below to have. May 
 God give us all this docility of spirit and subjec- 
 tion to his Vicar ! 
 
Lectuee VII. 
 
 INFALLIBILITY— No. II. 
 
 ON last Sunday I promised I would speak to 
 you, dear brethren, of the decree of the 
 Vatican Council. To-day I come to fulfil that 
 promise. That decree declared the Sovereign 
 Pontiff infallible in his definitions of faith and 
 morals, when teaching ex catJiedrd, as the phrase 
 is. It will be useful to put the decree before 
 your eye in its integrity. In the fourth session 
 of the council, after giving summarily the 
 grounds of their decision, the proofs of the ex- 
 istence of the belief in this teaching from the 
 very beginning of the Church, the Sovereign 
 Pontiff and the Fathers go on to give the dog- 
 matic definition in these words : " WhUst, then, 
 we remain firm in the tradition of the Christian 
 faith, which has come down to us from the be- 
 ginning, we teach in accordance with this holy 
 
IvfalUMUty. 163 
 
 council, to the glory of God, our Saviour, to the 
 exaltation of the Catholic religion, and for the 
 benefit of all Christian jjeople, and declare it to 
 be a doctrine revealed by God, that the Roman 
 Pontiff, when he speaks from his chair of doc' 
 trine {ex catJiedrd) — that is to say, when he, in 
 the exercise of his office as Pastor and Doctor of 
 all Christians, by reason of his supreme apostolic , 
 power, defines a doctrine of faith or morals to be 
 held by the universal Church, in virtue of the 
 divine assistance promised him in St. Peter, he 
 possesses that infallibility which the Divine Re- 
 deemer willed His Church to have in the de- 
 finition of a doctrine respecting faith or morals ; 
 and that, therefore, such definitions of the Ro- 
 man Pontiff are of themselves, and not only 
 when they have received the consent of the 
 Church, unalterable. Should, then, any one — 
 which God forbid ! — venture to contest this de- 
 finition of ours, let him be anathema." 
 
 Now, dear brethren, I can fancy a person hear- 
 ing this decree, which pronounces the Sovereign 
 Pontiff infallible, asking the following ques- 
 tions : 
 
 1st. What was the need or opportuneness of 
 such a definition ; especially since it is known 
 that practically the Church always held it ? 
 
164 Christian Truths. 
 
 2d. How far does this decree extend, and what 
 is the precise meaning of it % 
 
 3d. What reply is to be given to those who 
 bring forward such potent objections to it, taken 
 from history and based on facts ? 
 
 To each one of these questions I propose "to 
 give a brief answer ; and I crave your indulgence 
 if, in so doing, I may enter into some historical 
 detail, necessary, however, to a clear understand- 
 ing of the matter. 
 
 And, first, with respect to the need and oppor- 
 tuneness of the decree. Bear in mind, dear 
 brethren, who the Sovereign Pontiff is , and what 
 are his prerogatives. He is the Supreme Ruler 
 in the Church, and the one appointed by God, in 
 the person of St. Peter, with full power to feed 
 and govern the flock by teaching and command- 
 ing ; so defined the Council of Florence. To 
 decide whether a decree confirming so strongly 
 this power was needed, we must enquire whether 
 any impediment had been put in the way of 
 the full, complete, beneficial exercise of such 
 power. A brief examination of historic facts 
 will show us that such impediments really did 
 exist to prevent the full and beneficial exercise of 
 this authority. 
 
 The first assertion of the principles which af- 
 
InfalUbilUy. 165 
 
 terwards became known as Galilean, from the 
 country in which they had their origin and their 
 greatest development, was during the period of 
 the great schism of the West, when three claim- 
 ants of the Papacy stood opposed to each other, 
 one of these being the legitimate Pope, the others 
 pretenders. Earnest men on all sides were busy 
 in devising means to put an end to the divisions 
 of Christendom. Among these was the learned 
 Chancellor of Paris, Pierre d'Ailly. He put 
 forth his doctrine regarding the power of the 
 Bishops, teaching that they could, in extraordi- 
 nary cases, sit in judgment on the Pope and de- 
 pose him ; which they certainly could not do, 
 if the Pope is endowed with such power as 
 the Vatican Council declares him to have. 
 D'Ailly' s distinguished pupil, the Chancellor 
 Grerson, proposed this same doctrine at a criti- 
 cal period of the Council of Constance. The 
 Emperor Sigismund, with the consent of John 
 XXIII. and of Gregory XII., caused the coun- 
 cil, which had been summoned by the buU 
 of John XXIII.,* to meet at Constance, to settle 
 the question of the papal., succession. One Pope, 
 Angelo Corrario, whose name will ever remain in 
 
 * John XXIII. convoked the council to meet at Constance, from Lodi 
 by a bull of December 9, 1413, 
 
166 Christian Truths. 
 
 honor, for he was the one whom history records 
 as having the right to his position, but resigned 
 it voluntarily for the sake of the Church, refused 
 to come to the councU, but sent his procurator, 
 in his name, to resign, as agreed on with those of 
 the opposite party, provided the other contest- 
 ants did the same. Tlie other contending Pope, 
 Baldassarre Cossa, * unable to overcome his am- 
 bition, fled from the council. It was during this 
 time, in which the council remained without a 
 head, that the bishops voted the celebrated 
 Canons of Constance, f which caused so much 
 mischief in the Church, but which were never 
 approved by Rome ; for Martin V.'s approval 
 extended only to what had been done ' ' con- 
 ciliariter" :]: — that is, "in council." That only 
 can be properly so called, which is done when the 
 assembly of Bishops has the legitimate Pope at 
 its head, presiding personally or by his legates, 
 and approving the decrees. These canons de- 
 clared the superiority of the Bishops assembled 
 over the Pope. What had contributed not a 
 
 * Cossa fled Marcli 21, 1415, and was deposed May 29, 1415. Con-ario 
 resigned July 4, 1415, unconditionally. 
 
 tSess. iv., March 30, 1415. Sess. v., April 6, 1415 
 
 X By the council as such — that is, the bishops in union \rith the Pope ; 
 presiding personally or by legato. 
 
Infallibility. 167 
 
 little to foster and increase GalKcan ideas was 
 the powers granted by Pope Urban VI. to the 
 kings of France, on account of the danger of the 
 people being led astray by the rival papal letters 
 so freely circulated, — powers which permitted 
 them to examine all pontifical documents before 
 they were prom^^lgated. This was a practical 
 matter ; but, taken with the ideas then beginning 
 to be broached, fashioned the opinions of ecclesi- 
 astics and statesmen in a manner unfavorable to 
 the superiority of the Pope as teacher and ru- 
 ler. The Canons of Constance began immedi- 
 ately to show their effect. Only a few years 
 afterwards, at the general council called at Basle, 
 the bishops of France especially, with a large 
 number of clergy of the second order, rose up 
 against the Pope, deposed him, and elected in 
 his stead Amadeus of Savoy, under the title of 
 Felix V. Amadeus, however, as soon as he was 
 convinced of his error, resigned, * peace was 
 restored, and the General Council of Florence 
 gave the fullest definition of the power of the 
 Roman Pontiff which had yet been proclaimed. 
 You may readily imagine, dear brethren, that all 
 this commotion could not take place without ef- 
 fect of some kind unfavorable to the Church. 
 
 • An. 1430. 
 
168 Christian Truths. 
 
 Those wlio were hurt at the definition of Flo- 
 rence made use of interpretation to diminish its 
 eflEect, and seized on the concluding clause of the 
 definition, which referred to the doctrine "as 
 contained in the decrees of oecumenical councils 
 and in the canons of the Church." This phrase, 
 they said, justified them in their opposition to 
 the claims of Rome. They acknowledged the su- 
 periority of the oecumenical council, and a cer- 
 tain primacy of the Sovereign Pontiff ; but not 
 in the sense claimed for the Pope by what they 
 called the Court of Rome, the Curia Romana, 
 whose doctrines they stigmatized as from beyond 
 the mountains which separate France from Italy, 
 or ultramontane, in contradistinction to their own 
 views, which they styled Galilean liberties and 
 Galilean doctrine. From that day to this no 
 general council convened by the Pope was ever 
 in a condition to take up and decide this ques- 
 tion among Catholics, so much was the Church 
 occupied in combating the attacks of the sects 
 which arose in the sixteenth century. The Popes, 
 however, never neglected censuring those who 
 taught the Galilean doctrines, as teaching erro- 
 neously ; but, inasmuch as the Galileans always 
 looked to a general council for a supreme deci- 
 sion, and the Sovereign Pontiff, as was natural, 
 
Infallibility. 169 
 
 lie being the party concerned, did not put forth a 
 dogmatic decree on tlie subject, these doctrines 
 remained lurking in the Church, from time to 
 time showing themselves with more or less 
 prominence, and with greater or less vitality.* 
 Governments, too, saw in Gallican teachings 
 what favored them against that which they 
 styled the encroachments of Rome, and, for 
 this reason, they patronized these doctrines 
 with all their might. ,The last century, and 
 the present too, witnessed this. The laws of 
 the Emperor Joseph, the new Church move- 
 ment in Germany, the measures of Pombal in 
 Portugal, tlie doctrines of Giannone in Naples, 
 and the hostile articles surreptitiously append- 
 ed to the Concordat of Napoleon I., whose 
 ideas were inherited by his nephew, and shared 
 by other crowned heads, all show this. What, 
 dear brethren, was the result? It was, as you 
 can clearly see, to hinder the full, complete, 
 and beneficial exercise of the supreme teach- 
 
 * This we-see in the case of the Jansenist heresy, and in the declaration 
 of the Port-Eoyalist, Arnauld, that the consent of the nniversal Church, 
 necessary, as the Gallicans' pretended, to an article of faith, had not been 
 given, if 0)16 6i5/iop withheld his consent. But individual bishops are not 
 infallible. The en"or of one man, according to this assumption, could 
 thus hamper the whole Church ; and it, moreover, could never be positive 
 ly known whether the assent of each individual bishop had been given. 
 
1*70 Christian Truths. 
 
 ing and ruling power of the Sovereign Pon- 
 tiff. Wliatever the Pope did was subjected to 
 the most distrustful scrutiny, and reduced to its 
 least expression, where it was not absolutely set 
 at naught. Was this the spirit God wished 
 should exist in His Church % Was this the doci- 
 lity to the voice of the Holy Spirit, working in 
 the members of the Church to make them heed 
 the voice of the Chief Pastor of their souls ? Did 
 Jesus Christ name Peter His Vicar, and trans- 
 mit His power to his successors, that they might 
 be looked on with distrust, and treated as ene- 
 mies of the flock they were placed over ? Dear 
 brethren, we should certainly regard such obedi- 
 ence to the authorities of our respective countries 
 as most undutiful, to say nothing further; and 
 we surely cannot say less when we think of who 
 and what the Sovereign Pontiff is. The be- 
 neficial influence of the Papacy in protecting 
 the minds of the faithful from insidious error, in 
 these days of universal difi'usion of sceptical and 
 anti-Christian ideas, called for a more untram- 
 melled exercise of the teaching power of the 
 Pope, and for the consequent removal of every 
 impediment to that exercise. The first and 
 greatest of such impediments was the doctrine 
 known as Galilean ; and not only was it natural. 
 
InfalUbilUy. Ill 
 
 dear brethren, that tlie first cecumenical council 
 after that of Trent should take the matter in 
 hand and define the truth of the ultramontane 
 doctrine, but it was the duty of the Fathers to 
 do so. And we must be thankful to a merciful 
 Providence that has restored confidence between 
 the Pastor and his sheep, the Father and his 
 children. The effect, dear brethren, has been 
 most salutary in the Church. The peace and 
 union within it are most consoling. The Bishops 
 are more closely united with their Head, the Vi- 
 car of Christ, and Catholics with their Bishops. 
 All this is of good omen for the future. The 
 Catholic Church will present a more undivided 
 front to the world, and it will only depend on 
 the correspondence of individual Catholics, with 
 grace of God, to exalt her in the face of man- 
 kind, and lead into the fold the multitudes that 
 are without. 
 
 I come now to the meaning of the decree 
 itself, in answer to the second question. But, 
 before explaining what it means, it will be useful 
 to explain briefly what it does not mean. So 
 much has been said in the press and magazine 
 literature on the subject that false ideas exist, 
 not only among non-Catholics, but even among 
 some Catholics. The first thing necessary to be 
 
172 Christian Truths. 
 
 remarked is, that the decree which declares the 
 Pope infallible does not declare him impeccable. 
 These are two distinct things. Infallibility may 
 be said to belong to the intellectual order, impec- 
 cability to the moral order. I illustrate with an 
 example : You will find persons who are truth- 
 ful, who would not for the world tell a lie, and 
 yet these very persons do not lead good lives ; 
 they are dissipated or neglectful of their duties. 
 Just so might it be with a Pope. There is no 
 special guarantee he may not sin ; but there is 
 a guarantee that he will always, in the circum- 
 stances mentioned in the decree, teU the truth 
 about the faith — teach infallibly. 
 
 Again, the decree does not mean that the Pope 
 will, under all circumstances, teach infallibly, 
 but only when he is defining officially, ex cathe- 
 dra, a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by 
 the unfversal Church. All the assertions, dear 
 brethren, you have heard about the Pope being 
 infallible \^-ith regard to what does not concern 
 faith or morality, are mere wUd declamation, 
 without foundation, and not worthy of thought. 
 
 The decree, however, does mean that, in the 
 province of faith and morals, teaching what is 
 to be held by the universal Church, the Pope 
 cannot err, and that his definitions of this kind 
 
Infallibility. 173 
 
 are infallible of themselves, and not by reason 
 of the consent of the Church. In order to un- 
 derstand this exactly, we must bear in mind 
 what the decree says. 
 
 It says, 1st : Tradition is that on which the 
 Sovereign Pontiff takes his stand. 
 
 2d. That the council agrees with him. 
 
 3d. That the Pope is infallible by the assist- 
 ance of the Holy Ghost, when teaching ex cathe- 
 dra any doctrine of faith or morals to be held 
 by the universal Church'. 
 
 4th. That the consent of the Church is not 
 needed to give force and inerrancy to such de- 
 cTee. 
 
 The Sovereign Pontiff and the bishops declare 
 they adhere to tradition. I have already shown 
 you, dear brethren, what the tradition is re- 
 garding the infallibility of the Pope. Tradition 
 and Scripture, the written and the spoken word 
 of Grod, are the source, and the only source, 
 whence doctrine of faith and morals is to be 
 drawn. The original deposit of the day of 
 Pentecost was perfect, not to be taken from or 
 added to. The anathema pronounced by St. 
 John against any one who should add to or 
 take from that deposit, the original revelation ; 
 the warning given by St. Paul lest any one be- 
 
174 Christian Truths. 
 
 lieve those evangelizing other than he did, 
 stand to-day as in the days of the Apostles. 
 The Sovereign Pontiff cannot, the whole Church 
 with the Pontiff at its head cannot, alter one 
 iota of that deposit left with ns by the Holy 
 Spirit. It follows, then, that when the Sove- 
 reign Pontiff wishes to define a doctrine of the 
 Church, he must take his stand on what is 
 handed down by the Church, and find such doc- 
 trine in that tradition, whether by word of 
 mouth or by writing, in the written and spoken 
 word of God. It is true, dear brethren, that 
 the Sovereign Pontiif, being the judge of con- 
 troversy in the Church, must be the one to de- 
 cide when there is question of what is or is not 
 the tradition of the Church. This is his pre- 
 rogative and duty. We who are gifted with 
 the faith have a certainty, surpassing human 
 knowledge, that in this he cannot err. The pru- 
 dence and solicitude with which this power has 
 been exercised, especially in the decrees of the 
 Immaculate Conception and those of the Vati- 
 can Council, will convince all unprejudiced read- 
 ers of the accounts which regard both that no 
 greater human precaution could be used. It is 
 true these dogmatical decrees may sound new 
 to unpractised ears. But they are only the old 
 
Infallibility. 175 
 
 doctrine in a new garb, developed in a new form, 
 conclusions from the dogmas ali'eady defined ; 
 just, for example, as the dogma of the two wills 
 in our Saviour was a new expression, a conclu- 
 sion of new form, flowing from the dogma of 
 the two distinct natures in Christ, the divine 
 and the human ; and, in defining such a conclu- 
 sion of new form of expression, the Sovereign 
 Pontiff and the Church are aided by the Holy 
 Ghost. You understand, therefore, dear breth- 
 ren, that this power of the Sovereign Pontiff 
 is by no means an unlimited power. It is lim- 
 ited by the very nature of the case, as I have ex- 
 plained it. It is limited to doctrine of faith and 
 morals, and to doctrine of faith and morals con- 
 tained in the deposit of revelation and handed 
 down to us. It may be said, too, in another 
 sense, to be limited ; that is to say, the Sovereign 
 Pontiff will not and cannot act capriciously, 
 even in such definitions, because he is under the 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that he wUl de- 
 fine only what the Holy Spirit, in His divine 
 prudence, wills should be defined for the good 
 of the Church. We can therefore rest assured 
 that not ODly will there be no innovation in doc- 
 trine, but that whatever is decreed as of faith by 
 the Pope will be that which the best iaterests of . 
 
1'76 Christian Truths. 
 
 the Cliurcli demand. It may clash, dear breth- 
 ren, with the ideas and interests of this world ; 
 but why should that trouble us ? The ways of 
 this world are not the ways of God. If Jesus 
 Christ had waited for the consent or tolerance of 
 the world, He never would have preached His 
 doctrine. Moreover, every human being owes 
 obedience to God and His representative on 
 earth. We have no rights independent of God, 
 and all our self-assertion, when He or His repre- 
 sentative, with due authority, speaks and com- 
 mands, comes from a bad source, from ignorance, 
 or, what is worse, from a spirit of pride and re- 
 bellion against our Sovereign Lord and Master. 
 Hence it is, dear brethren, that it is our bounden 
 duty to give our most docile submission to the 
 Vicar of Christ, to accept his decrees not only 
 with external reverence, but with the internal 
 sacrifice of self, of our opinions, of our predilec- 
 tions in every respect. 
 
 It is useful here, dear brethren, to call your 
 attention to a point nowadays very often treated 
 of by the public press of Germany, France, and 
 of our own respective countries. The Sovereign 
 Pontiff, in his government of the Church, must 
 rely a great deal on the assistance of others. 
 For this reason he calls around him his cardi- 
 
Infallibility. 177 
 
 nals, his prelates, and learned advisers of the se- 
 cular and regular clergy known as consultors. 
 He forms these into various bodies, giving to 
 each body charge of some special department of 
 ecclesiastical business. It would be very diffi- 
 cult, if not impossible, to find anywhere such 
 competent and learned bodies of men. To their 
 ability and learning are to be added the pru- 
 dence and care used in the treatment of busi- 
 ness. These bodies are known as the Roman 
 Congregations. IV^ow I come to what I wished 
 to say. The infallibility of the Sovereign Pon- 
 tiff is limited to himself, and is exercised by 
 him alone. But the decrees of these Congrega^ 
 tions are submitted to him, and must be approv- 
 ed by him, and, in consequence, you will find 
 appended to such decrees the phrase ; " Ex audi- 
 entia Sanctissimi" — " At an audience with our 
 Most Holy Father." What force is to be attri- 
 buted to them from this? Are such decrees "of 
 the Index, Holy Office, of the Congregation of 
 the Council, or that of Eites, especially con- 
 cerned in matters more or less dogmatic, to be 
 looked on as infallible or as merely disciplinary % 
 This is the qiiestion so often asked, and on which 
 depends the solution of not a few objections 
 made against the Church. The answer is a sim- 
 
178 Christian Truths. 
 
 pie one. The decrees of these Congregations are 
 purely disciplinary. The Sovereign Pontiff has 
 never any intention of deciding, through such 
 instrumentality, dogmatic questions. He uses 
 these bodies for the welfare of the faithful, as 
 he uses those who act in his name elsewhere. 
 The phrase, " ex audientia Sanctissimi," is noth- 
 ing more than a formula of approbation to as- 
 sure the faithful that such work is not done in- 
 dependently of the Sovereign Pontiff. But there 
 is not the slightest intention of infallible teach- 
 ing. Still, these decrees are to be most faith- 
 fully and docilely obeyed. For, not only is the 
 Sovereign Pontiff infallible ; he is also Supreme 
 Ruler, with the authority from God given him 
 in St. Peter. We are bound under grievous sin 
 to obey him in grave matters, in a greater degree 
 than we are bound to obey other authority, ec- 
 clesiastical or civil. The command of St. Paul, 
 in the twelfth chapter to the Hebrews : ' ' Obey 
 •your prelates and be subject to them," is espe- 
 cially applicable in this case. Conscience, there- 
 fore, dictates perfect submission to our superiors 
 in all that is not sinful ; and, therefore, as we do 
 not expect infallibility in the ordinary com- 
 mands of a superior, ecclesiastical or civil, nei- 
 ther are we to wait till we find it in the disci- 
 
Infallihility. 179 
 
 plinary decrees of the Roman Congregations be- 
 fore yielding to them a hearty obedience. What 
 will be of use to make us more zealous in such 
 obedience is this : that not all certainty is super- 
 natural. There is metaphysical certainty, moral 
 certainty, and physical certainty, and, in prac- 
 tical matters, a grade of probability approaching 
 so nearly to certainty as to be styled moral cer- 
 tainty. Any one of these may be attained with- 
 out transcending natural powers, without special 
 aid of the Holy Spirit. Such certainty is, then, 
 at the command of the learned and virtuous men 
 who compose the Roman Congregations, and 
 they are much more likely to have it, if we con- 
 sider the universal, cosmopolitan character, if I 
 may be allowed such an expression, of these 
 bodies, and the means at their disposal. 
 
 The remaining point of the definition which is 
 to be examined regards the declaration that the 
 consent of the Church is not needed for the fix- 
 edness or inerrancy of the ex-cathedrd decisions 
 of the Sovereign Pontiff. The Sovereign Pontiff 
 is the teacher of the universal Church. To the 
 teacher must be subject those taught ; it is in- 
 congruous that the disciple should confirm the 
 master. Those who are taught are the Church, 
 as we find the decree of Florence says. Certain- 
 
180 Christian Truths. 
 
 ly, the Clmrcli is in no danger of going astray ; 
 but the same Holy Spirit who is working in its 
 members to make them hold the faith, is working 
 in the Sovereign Pontiff to make him teach it in- 
 fallibly, and in the Bishops also to make them 
 co-judges with him, and fit witnesses of the tra- 
 ditions of their individual churches, though their 
 judgment is not necessary to give force to his. 
 To express the matter in a few words, we may 
 be allowed to say that the action of the Holy 
 Spirit, though one, has a double effect : an ac- 
 tive effect in the Sovereign Pontiff, a passive ef- 
 fect in the Bishops, who must teach as he teaches, 
 and in the faithful dispersed throughout the 
 world. 
 
 It was to be expected, dear brethren, that, 
 when such a doctrine should be defined, the 
 world would rise up in arms. The world and 
 the prince of this world felt the blow as a mor- 
 tal one, and we miist not wonder at the resent- 
 ment which followed, or at the ^iles the ene- 
 my of man's salvation may employ. We often 
 hear some well-meaning people deplore the defi- 
 nition. Why ? For two reasons especially : be- 
 cause they are too much attached to this world, 
 its opinions, its comforts, to the friendship of 
 people that they depend on ; or because they 
 
InfalMMUty. 181 
 
 think harm has been done to the Church, and 
 many souls have been kept out of the Church 
 by this doctrine. Dear brethren, let us quicken 
 our faith and look at the eternal years, the life 
 to come ; the spiritual life here, the eternal life 
 begun here below, as Jesus Christ expresses it. 
 What are all earthly gains or advantages in com- 
 parison with this ? "He that loveth father and 
 mother more than me is not worthy of me." 
 We should dismiss the tjiiought of inconvenience 
 caused us as unworthy of us ; whilst, on the 
 other hand, we should consider that a valuable 
 thing cannot be had without paying a high price 
 for it. There could certainly be nothing more 
 valuable than what secured to the Church of 
 Jesus Christ the full, complete, and beneficial 
 exercise of the teaching power of His Yicar, be- 
 stowed by her Divine Pounder as a protection 
 for weak, erring human intellect ; consequently, 
 we should really look on it as cheaply bought at 
 the price of the petty annoyances it may cause 
 
 us. 
 
 As for those who think souls have been kept 
 out of the Church by this doctrine, there is 
 room to question their view. Certainly many 
 souls have come into the Church in consequence 
 of it. Coming into the Church is the effect of 
 
182 Christian Truths. 
 
 grace, wMch may be resisted, as we know. But 
 we may fairly ask whether those who say they 
 are repelled by this dogma would have come 
 into the fold. That there were others who left 
 the Church on account of the dogma, I grant ; 
 but the history of not a few of these, as made 
 known to us by the public press and one's 
 own casual information, must lead us to sus- 
 pect that other causes than the definition of 
 the Council of the Vatican had long been at 
 work to bring about a denial of the faith. 
 
 Before closing, dear brethren, I feel it incum- 
 bent on me to say a word regarding some very 
 strongly-urged objections made against the in- 
 fallibility. 
 
 They are of two kinds — they are theological 
 and practical. The theological are based on his- 
 toric facts, and, when strongly put, have a spe- 
 cious ap]3earance which will undoubtedly move 
 those who do not believe to look on the Church 
 as having contradicted herself ; while they may 
 painfully impress those who believe, but have not 
 examined the questions. With regard to such 
 objections it will suffice to say, first, in general, 
 that they have all long since been carefuUy and 
 critically examined, and that they were again 
 thoroughly sifted at the Vatican Council ; and the 
 
Infallibility. 183 
 
 result was tliat no case of erring in the official 
 or ex-cathedra definitions of the Popes was ever 
 found to be proven ; secondly, that the case of 
 Pope Honorius, which, in preference to the othei's 
 found less tenable by the opponents of the defini- 
 tion, was particularly examined, and the difficul- 
 ties, very serious at first sight, were satisfactorily 
 cleared up. It is weU to dwell for a moment 
 on this case, as it is so often thrown in the face 
 of Catholics. Pope Honorius wrote to Sergius, 
 Patriarch of Constantinople, the author, in great 
 part, of the monothelite heresy, seconding his 
 views regarding silence on the subject of one or 
 two wills in Christ. This is the ground of ac- 
 cusation against him. There are two opinions, 
 each supported by able writers : that Honorius 
 never wrote the letters at all, and this may be 
 true ; but, practically, we should take the se- 
 cond view, that he did write them. What fol- 
 lows from this second view ? That Pope Hono- 
 rius was condemned by the Sixth General Coun- 
 cil because he did not define, not because he 
 taught error. Such a condemnation is even an 
 argument to show the belief of those days that 
 the Pope ought to have defined, because he was 
 the one divinely constituted to do so. Instead 
 of defining, he wrote, if he be the author of the 
 
184 Christian Truths. 
 
 letters, to Sergius, agreeing to impose silence on 
 the two parties, which had each, respectively, 
 as a watchword, "one will" and "two wills" ; 
 while, in these same letters, he teaches the very- 
 doctrine of the two natures in Christ, each with 
 its proper '•'■ energla'''' (^svipyna), or wiU, and he 
 excludes any conflict pertaining to the nature of 
 fallen man, that is, the law of the mind and the 
 law of the members, of which St. Paul speaks as 
 warring with each other in us. The Pope, Leo 
 II., who approved the council — and, dear breth- 
 ren, you are aware that a council is valid only 
 in the sense in which it is approved by the 
 Pope — Pope Leo approved the condemnation of 
 Honorius, not as having taught heresy, but as 
 having neglected to do his duty.* And, as this 
 condemnation is the ground of all the others 
 which followed, it results that whatever terms 
 were used, heretic or other, nothing further than 
 this negligence, this "economy of silence," was 
 
 * The words of Pope Loo II. are : " Necnon ot Honorium qui banc 
 Apostolicam Eeclosiam non Apostolicse Traditiouis doctrina lustrarit, sed 
 profana proditioue immaoulatam fldem aubvertere eonatiis est " (T.abbe 
 aud Cossart, torn. vi. p. HIT"). In the margin they have " immaculatam 
 maciilari permisit," ivhich is tbe exact translation of the Greeir text: 
 " ixiavOijvai to adxiXor Jtapsxcopifde."- Terms of condemnation 
 apart from the definition of doctrine are not infallible, because they re- 
 gard facts learned hy information which may or may not be correct. 
 There is much that is cloudy in the charge apainst Honorius. How 
 punning and clamorous the Greeks were is wt'll known. 
 
Irt fallibility. 185 
 
 meant. On the other hand, when we take into 
 consideration the fact of the hostility of the 
 Eastern bishops against Rome, which culmi- 
 nated in the Greek schism under Photius, and 
 later under Michael Cserularins, and the fact also 
 that the successors of Honorins, especially Pope 
 Hormisdas in his official formula of fidelity pre- 
 scribed for the Eastern bishops, and Pope Aga- 
 tho in the letters to the Seventh General Coun- 
 cil, both solemnly declare that the Holy See of 
 Rome never taught error, we can readily acquit 
 the only Pope — that is, Honorius, against whom 
 an apparent case could be urged, of any erro- 
 neous teaching. 
 
 The other objections, I said, were practical. 
 They regard the effects of the decree with re- 
 spect to governments. It is pretended that the 
 state of the Church has been changed, that new 
 rights have been asserted which interfere with 
 the rights of civil rulers. Both charges are 
 false. The state of the Church has not been 
 changed. The infallibility of the Pope has al- 
 ways practically been acknowledged ; the change 
 has been to destroy the errors of Galilean teach- 
 ing. But the Pope will not encroach on civil 
 governments any farther than he ever did, if we 
 are to style encroachment the assertion of the 
 
186 Christian Truths. 
 
 immutable, eternal principles of morality taught 
 by the religion of Jesus Christ. He will teach 
 nothing more than what has been taught before. 
 The two orders, the ecclesiastical and the civil, are 
 distinct in their object and sphere. Each must 
 go out of its way to interfere with the other, and 
 history has recorded far of tener the aggressive- 
 ness of the state tlian that of the Church, if it 
 can be proved that the Church ever was aggres- 
 sive. For, dear brethren, it is the style to speak 
 of the Church as aggressive when she contends 
 for the untrammelled exercise of the power God 
 has given her, or for the possession of what she 
 has justly acquired by the gratitude or piety of 
 the faithful. Her Divine Founder placed her in 
 our midst to correct us and to teach us, and she 
 but imitates Him. As He was hated and per- 
 secuted, as He was reviled as a seducer of the 
 people, a teacher of blasphemous doctrine, a 
 plotter against the public weal, so must His 
 Church and those who belong to it fare. She 
 must conduct herself with the patience of which 
 Christ gave her a sublime example. She has 
 seen all those who raised their hand against her 
 disappear. She is seeing them one by one dis- 
 appear even now. Events are too recent to need 
 explanation, and it may be that the near future 
 
Infallibility. 187 
 
 has similar events in store to instruct mankind. 
 Certainly, when we raise our eyes to that majestic 
 palace which crowns the Vatican Hill, and think 
 of the wonderful and venerable Pontiff whom 
 duty and honor, even more than physical neces- 
 sity, keep a prisoner there, it is impossible that 
 in his preservation to this moment, which par- 
 takes of the nature of a prodigy, we should not 
 see the hand of God preparing events which will 
 redound to the good of His Church and of the 
 world. Whatever may be, our duty is clear. We 
 are to cling to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, our In- 
 fallible I'eacher, whom God' s angel protects, who 
 is directed by the Holy Spirit in his beneficent 
 rule ; we are to cherish towards him that docility 
 of spirit for which the wise Solomon prayed, and 
 which is a gift of the Holy Ghost. Adhering to 
 him, God's representative here below, we adhere 
 to God ; and God will reward us for our fidelity 
 by an increase of faith, and by an increase of 
 charity which will make us all be one with the 
 Vicar of Christ and with each other ; which will 
 make us, too, labor unceasingly by word and by 
 example to bring those into the fold who know 
 not the joy, and peace, and holy assurance which 
 are the portion of those who call themselves chil- 
 dren of the Vicar "of Christ ; a joy, a peace, and 
 
188 Christian Truths. 
 
 a holy assurance which are a presage of the 
 eternal happiness of those who will more really- 
 one day be the children of our Father who is in 
 heaven, who is Truth itself, in whom our minds 
 and hearts will find perfect rest. 
 
Leotuee VIII. 
 
 TEE LITURGY OF TEE CEURCE AND CATEOLIG 
 DEVOTIONS. 
 
 " The priests and the Lovites shall enter into my sanctuaiy, to come 
 near unto me, and to minister unto me, and keep my ceremonies." — EzE- 
 CHIEL xliv. 16. 
 
 IF we examine never so little into the various 
 systems of religious worship which have ob- 
 tained in the world, from the remotest ages np 
 to the present time, we discover, dear brethren, 
 that each one of them has had special outward 
 ways of expressing its belief and of honoring 
 the Deity. You find this tru th as clearly illus- 
 trated amid the savage hordes of Polynesia, the 
 roaming tribes of America, and the- degraded 
 types of Central Africa, as among the intellec- 
 tual races of India and the cultivated pagan 
 peoples of Greece and Kome, whose mythology 
 and symbolism are the object of the study of 
 
190 Christian Truths. 
 
 the learned and the delight of the artist. It 
 was reserved for professors of Christianity to 
 attempt the complete exclusion of external 
 forms in the worship of God. We hear contin- 
 ually from such Christians that true religion is 
 spiritual ; that Grod is not to be adored in " tem- 
 ples made with hands ' ' ; that forms bind down 
 and hamper the free development of the soul; 
 that " true religion and undefiled is to visit the 
 widow and the fatherless," and does not con- 
 sist in the observance of prescribed rites. I^ev- 
 ertheless, they have been only able, as I say, 
 to attempt the exclusion of ceremonies in sacred 
 things ; for they have utterly failed in their main 
 purpose. The reason is evident : they have 
 done violence to nature, and it was impossible 
 that they should succeed. The words of the 
 old Latin poet are as true, and therefore as 
 popular, now, as on the day when they ^ere 
 penned : 
 
 " Naturam expellas fiu-c^, tamen usque reeurret " * 
 
 You may cast out nature even with violence, 
 but she wiU come back. The universality of 
 external forms in religion proves how natural 
 they are.^ There may be errors in systems, 
 but, be these what they may, it is a dictate of 
 
 * Horace, i. lib. cp. x. t. 24. 
 
Liturgy and Bevotions of the Church. 191 
 
 our nature to manifest our convictions outward- 
 ly. The reason is that the body is made for 
 the soul, alid they form together a compositum 
 humaiium — a composite human unity — under 
 the rule of one common personality. Soul and 
 body in man cannot act separately. Each is 
 continually influencing, or being influenced by, 
 the other. Moreover, man wa,s made for so- 
 ciety ; and those social relations for v^hich the 
 Creator intended him require the exact cor- 
 respondence of the body vi^ith the mind. So- 
 ciety is founded on truthfulness and fair-deal- 
 ing. Words must mean what they say ; actions 
 must correspond with the internal state of the 
 mind. Such is the law of nature ; it is thus 
 that God has made man. Hence it follows 
 irresistibly that, in spite of all opposition, even 
 to the violent casting out of nature of which 
 the poet speaks, nature will still vindicate its 
 rights ; and truthfulness and fair- dealing, the 
 faithful correspondence of the actions of the 
 body with the state of the mind and soul, will 
 reassert themselves as the only solid basis of 
 social life. 
 
 We apply this principle, which cannot possi- 
 bly be gainsaid, to religion. Mankind is con- 
 vinced that there is a G-od ; that, in some way or 
 
192 CJirisiian Trutlis. 
 
 other, He has rerealed His will to be worship- 
 ped by His creatures. This is a fixed founda- 
 tion of man's belief. He is acted on by it dur- 
 ing every moment of his existence. In danger 
 and in trouble he invokes and propitiates the Su- 
 preme Being as well as he knows how, and thus, 
 according to the expression of TertulUan, gives 
 the testimony of a mind naturally Christian. 
 The one special mode of honoring God — sacri- 
 fice — which we see used in the very beginning 
 of history, among pagan nations as weU as un- 
 der the Jewish dispensation, and continued by 
 Christianity, if we except the sects which lay 
 claim to the name of Christian, has always been 
 accompanied by forms of external worship. 
 The idea of the necessity of propitiating God 
 by sacrifice is, in fact, the pivot upon which 
 each respective system of religious worship 
 turns. Entertaining it, with whatever other 
 tenets, man could no more abstain from its ex- 
 ternal manifestation than he could repress Ms 
 nature. "What was the line of conduct pursued 
 by the pseudo-reformers of the religion of 
 Christ ? In proportion to their abhorrence of 
 any given dogma was the fury with which they 
 aimed their blows against its outward recog- 
 nition—putting the axe, as it were, to the very 
 
Liturgy and Bemtions of the Church. ]93 
 
 root, in order to do away with whatever neces- 
 sarily kept alive in the souls of the faithful the 
 truths they denied. The doctrines they for a 
 while retained were of course accompanied by 
 some corresponding rite or observance ; but, as 
 faith gradually dwindled down to its lowest 
 degree of meagreness, forms of worship as- 
 sumed a commensurately sterile aspect, which 
 is mistaken by those who still cling to this last 
 shred of religion for the simplicity of the Gos- 
 pel. The basis upon which they found their 
 alleged convictions will not, however, sustain a 
 moment's serious scrutiny. God Himself, in 
 the Old Law, ordained that certain ceremonies 
 and rites should be established. He bade Mo- 
 ses observe and make what He had commanded, 
 according to the pattern He had shown him on 
 the Mount, and each of the manifold, nay, al- 
 most numberless, requirements of the levitical 
 and sacrificial law was prescribed with a minute- 
 ness of detail which affords overwhelming evi- 
 dence of the will of the Almighty concerning the 
 manner in which His chosen people were to ap- 
 pear in His presence. Christ came to fulfil the 
 law of Moses ; but that law, together with its 
 attendant ceremonies, having been one of types, 
 became unnecessary when the great Antitype 
 
194 Christian Truths. 
 
 appeared of wMcli they were only the figures. 
 Indeed, the continuance of their use would 
 have signified a disbelief in the reality of the 
 possession of what they prefigured. The Apos- 
 tles and teachers of the early Church were com- 
 pelled to discountenance and condemn this very 
 abuse, which grew up in the first century after 
 Christ among Judaizing Christians. But, be- 
 sides what was mainly typical in the Ancient 
 Law, there were a multitude of signs of venera- 
 tion of Grod, and of ways of adoring Him, which, 
 under whatever form of worshi}), would either 
 naturally suggest themselves to the human mind, 
 or might fittingly serve for that purpose. Jesus 
 Christ Himself made use of some of these. We 
 read that our Lord prayed aloud ; that He pray- 
 ed on His knees ; that He sang a hymn with 
 His Apostles ; that He instituted the Blessed 
 Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the Christian Al- 
 tar, bidding His disciples " do this in remem- 
 brance of" Him. Moreover, we behold Him 
 washing the feet of the disciples, touching with 
 spittle taken from His divine mouth the ears of 
 the deaf person ; we see him mixing spittle with 
 the clay which He applied to the eyes of the 
 blind man, restoring him thereby to sight— all 
 typical acts, intended to prefigure the intrinsic 
 
Liturgy and Devotions of the Church. 195 
 
 power of His holy sacraments, in wliich mat- 
 ter, by the efficacy of His omnipotent word, was 
 to become endowed with virtue to cause life 
 and grace in the soul, as water in Baptism, 
 chrism in Confirmation, and oil in the Sacra- 
 ment of Extreme Unction. It was during His 
 forty days' life on earth after His Resurrection 
 that our Lord organized His Church, and gave 
 the last instructions regarding the sacraments. 
 When we are desirous of knowing what com- 
 mands were given, what the institutions and 
 ceremonials were with which our Divine Saviour 
 vouchsafed to enrich His Church during the pe- 
 riod which preceded His ascension into heaven, 
 we turn our eyes to the traditions it has hand- 
 ed down from the beginning, and, applying the 
 rule given by St. Augustine and by St. Vincent 
 of Lerins, believe that what has always been 
 held everywhere, and by all Christians, is most 
 certainly not error, but the truth which was re- 
 ceived from Jesus Christ by His Apostles. AVe 
 adhere to the forms thus transmitted from one 
 generation to another, and deem it unlawful to 
 alter them in the least. Subsidiary forms may 
 be introduced or modified by the Church ; but 
 those derived from the Apostles, implying dog- 
 matic teaching, are unchangeable. 
 
196 Christian Truths. 
 
 Here occurs the question, Who may make 
 changes of any kind? Who, in the past, has 
 been empowered to do so, or may do so now? 
 
 It is obvious, dear brethren, that, as the 
 forms of religious worship hold the closest re- 
 lation to belief, the power of regulating them 
 can belong to none other than the highest teach- 
 ing authority. The danger of erring would be 
 too great were the right left to individuals, or 
 even to individual churches, of introducing or 
 modifying ritualistic observances. The senti- 
 ment expressed by Pope Celestin I., in his let- 
 ter to the bishops of Gaul, underlies the action 
 of the Church in this matter. He tells them 
 that the law of prayer is to determine the law 
 of belief — "Lex orandi statuat legem crcdendi." 
 These two laws are so intimately blended to- 
 gether that they cannot be disjoined in ecclesi- 
 astical legislation ; and it is for this reason that 
 the Supreme Authority of the Church reserves 
 to itself the power of deciding all questions re- 
 lating to divine worship, and permits no forms 
 or ceremonies which it does not sanction. It is 
 strange that a principle so natural should be for 
 an instant a subject of cavil. We find it adopt- 
 ed by the ancient Eomans, -wliose. poviifex max- 
 imus was exclusively vested with the preroga- 
 
Liturgy and Devotions of the Church. 197 
 
 tive of regulating worship, and the same has 
 been ever the case with most other pagan reli- 
 gions. It is only in our day that we witness in- 
 dividuals arrogating to themselves the functions 
 of liturgical legislators. How is this novelty 
 to be explained? Are they actuated only by 
 a morbid spirit of innovation, or do those wlio 
 are called Ritualists not rather recognize in- 
 herent defects in their own church which they 
 are conscientiously striving to remedy ? I be- 
 lieve, if I may be allowed to express an indi- 
 vidual opinion on such a subject, that in at least 
 the vast majority of cases the latter reason is 
 the correct one. The investigations which fol- 
 lowed the Tractarian movement of over thirty 
 years ago have led many to the discovery that 
 the so-called Reformation was unworthy of the 
 name, and that even those who flattered them- 
 selves they were weeding out tares had, in real- 
 ity, plucked up the good growth of sound 
 doctrine instead, destroying with it its foli- 
 age of outward forms. Now that the Ritu- 
 alists have attained to a belief in certain doc- 
 trines hitherto repudiated by Anglicans, it is 
 but natural, in accordance with the principle I 
 have laid down, that they should seek for their 
 expression in the rites adapted for that purpose. 
 
198 Christian Truths. 
 
 So far, dear brethren, there is nothing of which 
 we may not respect the motive ; but their action 
 in undertaking to regulate their liturgical forms 
 themselves is manifestly unsafe, and even, if 
 many details, known to most of us are consid- 
 ered, indefensible. Were their course only 
 one of contradiction to their own church, such 
 as it is, there would be no ground for condem- 
 nation ; but experience has shown that what be- 
 gan in conscientious opposition has, in too many 
 instances, developed into an assuinption by in- 
 dividual ministers of a practical infallibility, 
 and retain those dependent on them in a 
 spiritual bondage unjustifiable in tLe eyes of 
 God and anti-Christian in spirit. They do not 
 seem to bestir themselves, as tenderness of con- 
 science would suggest, to examine the claims 
 of the Church which they know has never ceas- 
 ed to hold the doctrines and to employ the 
 corresponding forms which have gained their 
 slow consent ; but, presuming upon their posi- 
 tion, no matter how much they may differ 
 among themselves in opinion, they prevent those 
 guided by their counsels from either consulting 
 with Catholic priests, reading Catholic books, 
 or frequenting Catholic places of worship. 
 While these gentlemen boldly assert their 
 
Liturgy and Devotions of the Church. 199 
 
 right of private judgment against their own 
 bishops, they absolutely refuse the same right 
 to those they spiritually preside over. It is 
 no reply to recriminate against the Holy Ca- 
 tholic Church of Rome the charge we bring 
 against them. It is not true, as they pretend, 
 that the Roman Catholic priest exercises a 
 similar jurisdiction over his flock. There is no 
 parity in the case. No Catholic priest, as you 
 are aware, dear brethren, is at liberty to follow 
 his own private judgment. He has over him a 
 supreme authority to direct him, to which he 
 is bound implicitly to submit to. Those over 
 whom he rules are careful to ascertain well 
 that he is in communion with, and his teaching 
 is sanctioned and approved of by, that authori- 
 ty. This test of their priests' rectitude and or- 
 thodoxy is ever before the eyes of the people, 
 and saves them from the possibility of being mis- 
 led. The simplest uneducated Catholic occu- 
 pies, dear brethren, a safer position, has a more 
 sublime confidence in his faith, than the most 
 enlightened non-Catholic can possibly possess. 
 His motive of assent to the teachings of faith is 
 identical with that of the most learned theolo- 
 gian — the presence of the Holy Spirit teaching 
 in the Church and preserving it from error. The 
 
200 Christian Truths. 
 
 answer given to her master or mistress by the 
 poor servant-maid when asked why she believes 
 some doctrine, "Because the Church teaches 
 it," is often listened to with a pitying or con- 
 temptuous smile ; but it is the great philo- 
 sophical and theological reply found in the 
 sublime pages of a St. AugTistine or a St. Tho- 
 mas of Aquin. The illiterate Catholic knows 
 that his priest is in communion with his bishop, 
 and his bishop with the Pope, the Yicar of Jesus 
 Christ on earth ; and this is his guarantee that 
 the anointed servant of God to whom he goes to 
 confession, or whom he consults, will not mis- 
 lead him. But what assurance could he have 
 if his priest had no superior, no one to whom he 
 was bound to be united in faith, but taught by 
 his own unaided reason, and dictated liturgical 
 observances from his own ideas of the aesthetic ? 
 The answer is obvious ; but such is the incom- 
 prehensible position in which those are placed 
 who follow the Ritualistic movement, instead 
 of logically coming into the Church which they 
 know holds the very tenets they are striving 
 for.* 
 
 * What certainly justifies the Ritualistic movement in England and 
 elsewhere, and makes out an unanswerable case against the Anglican pre- 
 lates, is the discovery of the frescoes in the Church of St. Clement at 
 Eome. Among others, there is one representing St. Clement saying Mass. 
 
Liturgy and Devotions of the Church. 201 
 
 In addition to the safeguards just men- 
 tioned, there are, dear brethren, others of a 
 special character to prevent the Catholic from 
 being misled. However protected from danger 
 of going astray the priest or the bishop may 
 be, the Church does not allow either the one 
 or the other to lay down laws respecting the 
 liturgy. That most important function is re- 
 served for a committee, or, as it is commonly 
 styled, a congregation, whose duty it is to 
 watch over everything regarding divine wor- 
 ship. It is known as the Congregation of Rites. 
 It is composed of twenty -four of the most dis- 
 tinguished members of the Apostolic College 
 of Cardinals, one of whom acts as president 
 or prefect. Besides these, there belong to it 
 
 This painting is in the subterranean church, and is considered to be of the 
 ninth century, if not earlier, jit that time the artist was firmly persuad- 
 ed that St. Clement wore the vestments now in use in the Catholic Church ; 
 and if he was so convinced it is a sign that the use of such vestments was 
 traditional in the Roman Church in his day ; they held possession by pre- 
 scriptive right. Looking at this picture, you see the altar with its canopy 
 and hanging-lamp ; upon the altar the chalice and the paten ; near them 
 the open missal, and in it you read familiar Latin words of the Catholic 
 ritual; " Dominus vobiscum" and "Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum." 
 St. Clement stands at the altar, with the vestments of a Catholic priest, 
 the colohium or cha.suble, the pallium, or it may be the stole, after the 
 manner of the Greeks, and the maniple. His attendants carry crosses, 
 incense, and tapers. In a fresco of the transfer of the remains of St. 
 Clement, at this same church, all the processional ritual of the Church 
 is most exactly represented. How could honest non-Catholics, educat- 
 ed in prejudice against our liturgical forms, fail to bo impressed by the 
 sight of all this ? It was perfectly natural they should be. 
 
202 Christian Truths. 
 
 nine prelates and twenty-five consultors, all 
 men of note for their learning or special abili- 
 ty. Any matter of importance is first studied 
 by the consultors, then by the cardinals and 
 their special assistants, and the vote of this 
 congregation of these twenty-four cardinals, 
 subject to the approval of the Sovereign Pon- 
 tiff, is what decides the question. It is thus 
 clear from the very nature of the case that the 
 precautions against mistake are rendered effec- 
 tual, and that a disciplinary decree issued, with 
 the sanction of the Pojie, by such a body of 
 men precludes, as far as human means render 
 it possible, any liability to even the smallest 
 error. How safe such a rule is for Catholics is 
 manifest. What a contrast between this and 
 the solitary, though earnest, minister, who is 
 the de facto infallible teacher of his congre- 
 gation ! 
 
 It is under the guardianship of the high 
 controlling authority of the Congregation of 
 Eites that are placed those forms of worship 
 which show themselves from time to time in, 
 as it were, a new character, which startle non- 
 Catholics and cause them to exclaim that the 
 Church has changed and has introduced new 
 teachings. I refer to what are generally known 
 
Lititrgy and Devotions of the Churcli. 203 
 
 under tlie name of "devotions." By devotions 
 in general, dear brethren, are meant tliose forms 
 of worship whereby we express not only our be- 
 lief, but also some special affection of our heart 
 which we cherish towards God, or towards any 
 object either directly or indirectly connected with 
 God or referring to Him. We are carefully to 
 distinguish in every devotion two things — the 
 motive and the object. This is very important, 
 in order that misunderstanding may be avoided. 
 The motive is God, or relation to God in any 
 way ; the object is manifold, according to the 
 nature of the devotion, being the material ob- 
 ject around which the devotion centres. There 
 is still another distinction to be made. As every 
 devotion has for its object, directly or indirect- 
 ly, some person, it is necessary to bear in mind 
 that there is a triple worship sanctioned by the 
 Church. A proper understanding of this will 
 make manifest how falsely the Church is some- 
 times accused of idolatr}'. The first degree of 
 worship is what is known as tatreia, from the 
 Greek word signifying divine worship, and is 
 paid to God alone; the second is Jiyperdulia, 
 a compound Greek word, the components being 
 hyper, above, and dulia, the worship or homage 
 paid to a servant — a servant of God. This 
 
204 Christian Truths. 
 
 second degree of reverence is paid only to the 
 Mother of God.- The third and last degree is 
 known as dulia, and is the worship or honor 
 paid to a servant — a servant of God — a saint. 
 
 Let us consider for a moment this devotion 
 to the saints, to illustrate what I have been 
 saying, especially as it is so much objected to 
 by those who are not Catholics. I must state, 
 at the outset, that this tenet of the existence of 
 communion between the saints in heaven and 
 the faithful on earth is an apostolic tradition 
 which we find embodied in the Apostles' Creed. 
 We believe that we can pray to the saints ; 
 that they pray for us ; that we are helped by 
 their prayers and by their merits in God's sight. 
 In the Catholic doctrine the saints in heaven, the 
 faithful on earth, and the souls in purgatory 
 form one body in the sight of God, who views 
 their good actions and merits as one, and per- 
 mits each to share in the merit of the others ; 
 prayer being the chief means by which that 
 merit is applied to individuals. There are not 
 wanting instances and proofs from Holy Writ 
 to substantiate this teaching. The first evi- 
 dence we may take from the example and 
 prayer of Lot. Almighty God stayed His ven- 
 geance on Sodom and Gomorrah at the jprayer 
 
Liturgy and Devotions of the Church. 205 
 
 of Lot, and had only ten individuals been found 
 whose actions were pleasing in His sight, these 
 cities would not have been destroyed. In like 
 manner we read in the Book of Job that the 
 Almighty told those who had upbraided Job 
 in his afflictions, and with whom He was there- 
 fore angry, that He would not listen to them, 
 but that they were to ask Job to pray for them, 
 — " Orabit pro vobis servus mens Job." 
 
 In the fifteenth chapter of the prophet Jere- 
 mias, first verse, we read: ''And the Lord said 
 to me : If Moses and Samuel shall stand before 
 me, my soul is not towards this peojDle." Again, 
 in the fourteenth chapter of Ezechiel, twentieth 
 verse : "And Noe, and Daniel, and Job be in the 
 midst thereof ; they shall deliver neither son nor 
 daughter ' ' ; that is to say, God would not listen 
 to their pleadings in behalf of their people. 
 And how often are we assured of the beneiits 
 granted by the Almighty for his servants "Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob's sake" ! 
 
 In the New Testament we find St. Paul * beg- 
 ging the brethren to pray for him : "I beseech 
 you, brethren, that you help me in your prayers 
 for me to Grod"; and St. James declares that 
 "the prayer of the just man availeth much." 
 
 * Ad Eom. XV. 
 
206 Christian Truths. 
 
 In commenting upon the text of St. Paul, Cardi- 
 nal Bellarmine argues as follows : "If it was 
 lawful to ask the brethren then for their prayers, 
 and it was no derogation from the intercession of 
 Christ to do so, it cannot be derogatory to the 
 merits and intercession of Christ to pray to the 
 saints in heaven,'' for the saints have the same 
 merits they had on earth. Their merit has re- 
 mained the same because it was secured to them 
 by a good death ; while, on the other hand, 
 they are now no longer in a state to merit fur- 
 ther. Moreover, the saints have greater charity 
 for us and are more inclined to pray for us 
 than when on earth. Again, the saints are 
 aware that we invoke their aid, because of 
 their knowing everything in God, and they 
 rejoice, as Christ declares the angels do, 
 "over every sinner that repenteth." The ob- 
 jection made against the devotion to the 
 saints, that it is not commanded in Holy Scrip- 
 ture, has no force, because we see the angels 
 appealed to by holy men in the Old Testa- 
 ment, as recounted in the books of Daniel, and 
 Tobias, and even of Genesis. Jacob speaks of 
 the angel who always aided him, and prays him 
 to bless his children. These, dear brethren, are 
 but a very few of the instances to be found, in 
 
Liturgy and Devotions of the Church. 207 
 
 Scripture, of prayer addressed to spirits, and of 
 the aid rendered by them to man. And when to 
 these positive words of the Holy Bible are added 
 the experience of ages, the apostolic traditions, 
 such wonderful and incontrovertible effects of 
 the invocation of saints as the miracles related 
 by St. Augustine, and the wonders which may 
 be daily witnessed, at the present time, at 
 Lourdes and elsewhere, it is impossible for a 
 mind free from prejudice to gainsay this devo- 
 tion. 
 
 Now I return from this digression to apply 
 what I have said to the worship of saints. I 
 spoke of the distinction between the motive and 
 the object in all devotion. The motive we have 
 in venerating the saints is to honor God in His 
 friends, in those He deigns to honor. The saints 
 are the friends of God. All the excellence they 
 possess they have received from Him ; and, 
 therefore, in honoring such excellence or virtue, 
 we are honoring God. We revere self-denial, 
 the sacrifice of one' s life in a good cause, as for 
 one's country, even when we behold such hero- 
 ism in a pagan. The three hundred of Ther- 
 mopylse have received a just meed of praise in 
 every age. But this is mere human veneration. 
 It does not extend beyond the individual him- 
 
208 Christian Truths. 
 
 self, and its effects cease there, excepting in so 
 far as the example may incite us to noble deeds. 
 But the case is far different with the saints. We 
 honor their sublime virtue, but refer the honor 
 to God. It is God who is adored in them, and 
 therefore our reverence is a religious act which 
 not only encourages us to follow the standard 
 of holiness held up to our admiration, but also 
 obtains for us the blessing of the Creator, the 
 assistance of His saints, and the help of the 
 Holy Ghost to lead a supernatural life. This 
 motive, therefore, is one which directly refers 
 or appertains to God and the religious life. 
 
 The object of the devotion itself is the human 
 being whom we honor, or those things which be- 
 long to or relate to him ; such as relics or images. 
 Around these the acts of our devotion centre, and 
 in venerating or emj)loying them in any pious 
 way we always have for a motive the homage 
 due to God in His servant. Through that ser- 
 vant we hope to obtain the graces we stand in 
 need of. We do 'not, therefore, transfer from 
 God to them anything that belongs to Him, still 
 less do we derogate from the intercession of Je- 
 sus Christ ; but just as God bade those suing for 
 pardon go to Job, and St. Paiil besought others 
 to pray for him, without derogating from our 
 
Liturgy and Devotions of the Church. 209 
 
 Lord's intercession in any way ; so we, with 
 equal propriety, implore the saints to intercede 
 for ns, and honor the pictures and relics which 
 remind us of them, in order that we may ob- 
 tain what we ask for. 
 
 Again, I made the distinction of the three 
 grades of worshi]D — latreia, hyperdulia, and du- 
 lia ; that is, the worship of God, of the Blessed 
 Virgin Mary, and the inferior veneration paid to 
 the servants of God. In this devotion to the 
 saints the first grade of worship, latreia^ or divine 
 worship, is excluded ; the other two only obtain, 
 the hyperdulia for the Mother of God and the 
 dulia for the saints. It is clear from this, dear 
 brethren, as you perceive, that no such thing as 
 worship in the sense in which non-Catholics use 
 the word is chargeable against the Church in its 
 reverence of saints ; so much so that lately, in 
 the judgment rendered in the Folkestone case,* 
 Lord Penzance clearly stated no one would ac- 
 cuse Catholics of paying the worship that be- 
 longed to God to saints and their images. An 
 inferior honor only, and that, inasmuch as they 
 are friends of God, is given to them ; and we 
 have seen that this practice is founded on tradi- 
 tion and Scripture, and has been sanctioned by 
 
 * Risdale Case. 
 
210 Christian Truths. 
 
 innumerable miracles testifying the approval of 
 Almighty God. 
 
 What I have said, dear brethren, vnth regard to 
 the devotion to the saints may be applied to aU 
 the devotions of the Church. In the devotion to 
 the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus the motive is the 
 divinity or the Diviae Person of Christ, the object 
 His material Heart, the symbol and organ of His 
 love, united to that person, ruled by it, and one 
 with it, just as our heart or our hand is one with 
 us, is ourself. Whatever homage is paid to the 
 object is paid to the person. So, too, with re- 
 gard to the devotion to the Most Precious Blood 
 of our Saviour. These devotions, once recog- 
 nized and approved by the Sacred Congregation 
 of Eites, are lawful and useful, and merit our 
 veneration. The supervision of these devotions 
 by the Sacred Congregation is our unfailing 
 safeguard against the possibility of going 
 astray. 
 
 I can imagine, dear brethren, some one ob- 
 jecting that such forms of religious worship 
 appeal to the feelings, while true religion ought 
 to be calm and intellectual, and 'in no way 
 based upon excitement, because this latter has 
 the effect of obscuring the mind and prevent- 
 ing it from clearly understanding and discern- 
 
Liturgy and Devotions of Hie Cliurcli. 211 
 
 ing between what is reasonable and what is 
 unreasonable. The answer is a very simple 
 one. First, we are protected from mistakes by 
 the supreme direction of the liturgical legisla- 
 tion in the Church. If, individually, any one 
 err, the means are within his reach of instant- 
 ly correcting his error. Secondly, those who 
 would exclude feeling from religion make a 
 grave mistake. God is our Sovereign Master, 
 and must be honored with our whole being, and 
 not with a part of it only. Moreover, Grod is 
 love ; He is tlie supreme good ; and because 
 He loves us He is to be loved in return ; and 
 we are bound to love Him for Himself, because 
 He is this Supreme Infinite Good. All the af- 
 fections of our nature should, therefore, be 
 given to Him. The fact that the Catholic re- 
 ligion accords with nature in directing our af- 
 fections towards God by its devotions is a 
 proof that it comes from Him who is the Au- 
 thor of nature ; while it also explains the strong 
 hold it has on all classes of those who profess 
 it. The omission to take into account the 
 yearnings of the heart is, in great part, the 
 cause of the decreasing hold of Protestantism 
 upon the masses ; while it is an evidence that it 
 comes not from the Author of nature. So great 
 
212 Christian Truths. 
 
 is the want tlie masses of our people experi- 
 ence in this respect, that they are seen going 
 after sensational forms of religion, to the 
 absolute exclusion of dogma. This explains 
 the excitement caused lately by the revivals in 
 England and in America, vi^hich have simply 
 astounded the cultured clergymen of non-Ca- 
 tholic communities. It also explains why the 
 denomination known as Wesleyans or Metho- 
 dists have gained so largely in proportion as 
 other sects have declined. "Nature cannot be 
 cast out ; she will come back." The divine 
 wisdom of the Founder of the Christian Church 
 provided for the requirements of hiiman nature ; 
 but, to guard against every danger of error, laid 
 down clearly the rules by which His followers 
 should be guided. The security we enjoy is 
 an additional title to our gratitude, and should 
 be a reason to make us correspond with the 
 spirit of the Catholic Church. In all the Church 
 does slie has our interests at heart. It was by 
 her liturgy that she taught pagan and barba- 
 rous nations respect and love for authority, and 
 for all that pertains to divine worship. It was 
 and is her veneration for the inspired Word of 
 God which has caused the Scripture to be looked 
 up to with such universal reverence. We are 
 
Liturgy and Devotions of the Church. 213 
 
 told by Tarasms, Patriarch of Constantinople, 
 who took such a prominent part in the Seventh 
 OEcumenical Council, in his letter to Pope Had- 
 rian I., that the Gospel was placed on the 
 throne in the midst of the council ; and in the 
 Vatican Council the Bible was put upon the 
 altar in the midst of the fathers, and lionored 
 as the word of God speaking to them. These 
 examples we ought to profit by. We should 
 strive to enter into the spirit of the various 
 festivals and devotions of the Church. It is 
 by this means that we shall be enabled to edu- 
 cate our souls in the real life — that of the spirit 
 — and to separate ourselves from that baneful 
 materialistic life which prevails at the present 
 day. Thus, too, all the aspirations of our na- 
 ture will be corresponded to and satisfied ; in- 
 cipient yearnings will be implanted within our 
 souls to be realized hereafter. Those yearnings 
 and tendencies, satisfied as far as possible here 
 below, will be more and more purified and 
 strengthened, until they shall find in a hapjjy 
 eternity the only object which can content them 
 — Infinite Truth and Infinite Good, the reward 
 of all those who hearken to the words of God' s 
 Church, placed by Him as a guide to our feet 
 and a light to our eyes im this vale of darkness. 
 
Lecture IX. 
 
 PENANCE. 
 
 OUR Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, dear 
 brethren, came upon this earth to redeem 
 us, to atone for our sins, to wash them away 
 with His pi'ecious blood. " Christus oblatus est 
 semel ad multorum exhaurienda peccata," says 
 St. Paul, Hebr. ix. 28 — " Christ was offered 
 once to exhaust the sins of many." That one 
 expiatory act of our Redeemer's, as far as its 
 efficacy is concerned, blotted out every sin com- 
 mitted from the beginning of the world to the 
 end of time. But with regard to the positive 
 effects of the Redemption, there is a contingency 
 ever to be borne in mind by the sinner. St. Au- 
 gustine teaches us : "He who created you with- 
 out your concurrence, will not save you without 
 your concurrence." It stands to reason, dear 
 brethren, that no prince or ruler can forgive a 
 
 214 
 
Penance. 215 
 
 rebellious subject, if that subject persevere in 
 his rebellion, or continue to foster a seditious 
 spirit. Hence it follows that, although Christ 
 died for all, not all will be saved ; because it is 
 a fact of daily, nay, of hourly, experience that 
 men not only live in a state of open revolt 
 against God, of wilful sin ; not only manifest 
 no desire to repent, but even glory in their 
 guilt and determinedly die in their iniquity. 
 We continually witness examples of this fact, 
 even in this centre of the Christian world, where 
 the means of salvation are, as it were, thrust 
 and obtruded upon us by divine mercy with such 
 lavish prodigality. This is the first reason why 
 the merits of Jesus Clirist, of themselves all- 
 sufficient, are often ineflicacious in their result. 
 
 There is another cause, however, why they re- 
 main without effect. It is because the declared 
 will of (jfod has conditioned the application of 
 those merits upon certain actions, the use of cer- 
 tain means, without which no one, ordinarily 
 speaking, can profit by the infinite graces ob- 
 tained for mankind by His Son. I have said 
 ordinarily, because the hand of Almighty God 
 is not shortened, and, in His inscrutable mer- 
 cy. He may vouchsafe to have recourse to ex- 
 traordinary ways ; but with these we have 
 
216 Christian Truths. 
 
 nothing to do. It is the most supreme folly to 
 look to extraordinary means of salvation, to the 
 exclusion of the use of the ordinary means or- 
 dained by God. Therefore, in what I am going 
 to say, dear brethren, I shall speak only of the 
 ordinary means left by God in His Church for 
 our justification. Unless these are properly 
 employed by man, the merits of Christ will avail 
 him nothing ; and it is, consequently, of the most 
 vital importance for each one of us to know pre- 
 cisely what they are. 
 
 The means, dear brethren, whereby the merits 
 of the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ may be applied to us, are the holy Sac- 
 raments of the Catholic Church. A sacra- 
 ment is a sacred outward sign, instituted by Je- 
 sus Christ, to signify and impart grace to the 
 soul. Jesus Christ, the author of nature and of 
 grace, took matter and added to it, by His word, 
 grace and spiritual efficacy, just as He did with 
 the clay which, mingled with spittle from His 
 sacred mouth. He put upon the eyes of the blind 
 man to restore him to sight. He instituted, as 
 the Catholic Church teaches, seven of these sac- 
 raments, three of which, from their imparting 
 spiritual life where it did not previously exist, are 
 generally denominated sacraments of the dead; 
 
Penance. 217 
 
 that is, of those dead spiritually. These are Bap- 
 tism, Penance, and Extreme Unction. The first 
 our Lord has declared to be absolutely neces- 
 sary to the life of the soul: "Unless you be 
 born again of water and the Holy Ghost, you 
 shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
 The second and third restore lost grace. To- 
 day I wish to speak to you of the second ; that 
 is, of the Sacrament of Penance — a sacrament 
 which Christ instituted, taking for its material 
 basis the form of a judicial proceeding, includ- 
 ing both the criminal and his judge, and adding 
 thereto His divine grace. Such is the nature of 
 the Sacrament of Penance, the means provided 
 by God for receiving anew spiritual life which 
 has been lost after Baptism. This sacrament, 
 named by the Fathers of the Church a second 
 baptism, a painful re-entrance into life, a plank 
 of safety after shipwreck, is, as you know, dear 
 brethren, scouted as an invention of later days, 
 and an innovation, useless, to say the least, if 
 not absolutely wicked. I hope to make it evi- 
 dent not only that this view is an utterly false 
 one, but that, 1st, this sacrament has its type in 
 the Old Law ; 2d, that it was instituted by 
 Christ, and is obligatory upon all ; and, 3d, that 
 the power of forgiveness in the Church, thus 
 
2] 8 Christian Truths. 
 
 bestowed by our Lord, is unrestricted with re- 
 spect to sin and its spiritual effects. 
 
 The confession of one's sins in detail is not, 
 dear brethren, a practice which has no later 
 date than the advent of Christ. We read in 
 the Old Testament of sacrifices offered for par- 
 ticular sins ; as, for example, the ram for a sin of 
 negligence, and the goat for a sin of ignorance.* 
 Naturally, the offering of such sacrifice was a 
 confession of sin. But this was not all. We 
 are told, in the fifth chapter of Leviticus (v. 4 
 et seq.) : If any one swear and keep not his 
 oath, "let him do penance for his sin, and offer 
 of the flocks an ewe, lamb, or she-goat," or 
 other sacrifice, if unable to offer one of these, 
 "and the priest shall pray for him and for his 
 sin, . . . and it shall be forgiven him." Now, 
 according to the opinion of learned Hebrew 
 scholars, the phrase in the original text, which 
 St. Jerome in the Vulgate has translated, "let 
 him do penance," signifies, literally: "Ze^ Mm 
 confess himself of what he has done sinful- 
 ly ^^ — that is, the culpable person was required 
 to make an external, oral manifestation of his 
 transgression, t The word confiteor is frequently 
 
 * Numbers v. 6-8 : ib. xv. 24. 
 
 t The Hebrew text, Lev. v. 5, has, triVs NBn -»s nrinini as 
 
 T ■" T - T - . T - .- • I ' 
 
Penance. 21 9 
 
 found in the Bible, and is to be interpreted, ac- 
 cording to the context, in various ways, as is 
 also the case in English. It is made use of in 
 celebrating the divine praises. The precision 
 of Scripture, in enumerating the minutest cir- 
 cumstances, renders it still more evident that 
 the sin it describes was to be orally con- 
 fessed, and not left to be supposed. Moreover, 
 the confession was a secret one. The offering 
 for secret sin was prescribed, to be partaken of 
 by the priests only, and not by members of their 
 families, and no portion was allowed to be taken 
 out of the temple. This custom is attested by 
 the Jewish historian Josephus, who says : " Who- 
 ever sins, and his conscience alone knows it, 
 and has no one who can reprove him, will offer 
 a ram according to the law, and the priests, on 
 the same day, will eat the flesh of it in like man- 
 ner in the temple." 
 
 This is not all. There is nothing more use- 
 ful, in order correctly to understand the Old 
 Testament, than to study the usages of the Jews 
 
 above — " Let Mm confess himself [with regard to] what he has done sin- 
 fully." The Torb from which the word rr-r">ris comes is mi or m 
 — jecit, manu indicavit. The reflex form here used means manifest himself, 
 confess. Here this word is determined in its meaning by what follows, 
 h.^Vy NKh 'ntt-N— " W/iat lie lias done sinfally." (See Vicenzi, I/a C'm- 
 fessione Vocale, Rome, 1850.) 
 
220 Christian Trvihs. 
 
 themselves. Now, the most celebrated rabbins 
 expressly inculcate in their writings that " when 
 Israelites sacrifice for voluntary or involuntary 
 sin, if they do not repent and make a clear and 
 weU-stated confession of their sins, their sacri- 
 fices will be of no avail." And the Jew Philo, 
 writing on Victims,* confirms what I have just 
 quoted from Scripture, that "no part of the 
 victim offered for sin was to be taken out of 
 the temple, for the sole reason, that his sins 
 might not ie cast up to the penitent.''' "These 
 sins," he observes, " must be reserved to the 
 sacred precincts in which the exjiiation is made." 
 So explicit are the testimonies on this point of 
 confession in detail, that we are enabled by them 
 more fully to comprehend the words of St. Mat- 
 thew, chapter third, when he relates that "Je- 
 rusalem, and all Judea, and all the country 
 about Jordan went out ... to John the Bap- 
 tist, . . . confessing their sins." The necessi- 
 ty of confession was, it is plain, universally 
 recognized at the time our Lord commenced His 
 preaching. The final dispersion of the Jews, 
 the loss of their priesthood, and the confusion 
 of their tribes rendered it impossible for them 
 to maintain the sacrificial precepts of the Mo- 
 
 * De Victimis, ed. Colonic Allobrogum, an. 1613, p. 653 E. 
 
Penance. 221 
 
 sale law. But, nevertheless, they strove, and 
 still strive, to cling as closely as circumstances 
 allow to its observances, and they have substi- 
 tuted for confession to a priest either the accu- 
 sation of themselves before those whom they 
 have set apart to act in the prie'fet' s stead, or, in 
 some secret place of their abode, before God 
 alone. 
 
 You are well aware, dear brethren, that the 
 Old Law was one of types, destined to have their 
 realization in the New Dispensation. The sacred 
 rites of the Jews were beneficial, in consequence 
 of the disposition and prayers of those who per- 
 formed them. Of themselves they did not be- 
 stow grace. The sacred rites of the K'ew Law 
 work grace of themselves, though, of course, re- 
 quiring the consent and desire to receive them 
 well on the part of the recipient. They produce 
 sanctification ex opere operato, according to theo- 
 logical language, iy the worJc done; while the 
 Jewish rites produced grace ex opere operantis — 
 by the act, that is, of the individual receiving or 
 fulfilling them. Jesus Christ raised this practice 
 of the Jews of confessing their sins before their 
 priests to the dignity of a sacrament, instituting 
 a tribunal wherein the priest should sit as a judge 
 in His name ; hear and pass sentence on the self- 
 
222 Christian Truths. 
 
 accuser ; pardon tlie ofEences committed, if con- 
 tritely acknowledged, and impose satisfaction in 
 proportion to the degree and nature of the guilt. 
 The act of our Lord in establishing priestly ju- 
 risdiction over sinners is narrated in the Sacred 
 Text. In the Gospel of St. Matthew * He fore- 
 shadows the institution of the Sacrament of Pen- 
 ance when He tells His Apostles: "He who 
 will not hear the Church, let him be to you as 
 the heathen and the publican. Amen, I say to 
 you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall 
 be bound also in heaven ; and whatsoever you 
 shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in 
 heaven." The fulfilment of this solemn pro- 
 mise of Jesus Christ we witness in scenes which 
 occurred after His resurrection. We read, in the 
 twentieth chapter of St. John, that, on the day 
 He rose from the dead, Christ stood in the midst 
 of His disciples, and said to them: "Peace be 
 to you. As the Father hath sent me, I send 
 you." Observe the wording of the mandate. 
 Our Lord had already said: "All power has 
 been given me in heaven and on earth." He 
 had wrought a miracle to prove His power to 
 forgive sins ; for, when He healed the paralytic 
 man, He had pronounced the words in the pres- 
 
 * Matt. xvui. 18. 
 
Penance. 223 
 
 ence of the Jews : " Have courage ; thy sins are 
 forgiven tliee." The Pharisees and Scribes, you 
 remember, murmured at this, saying: "How- 
 can this man forgive sins?" — only God can do 
 that. Jesus, who knew their thoughts, replied 
 to them: "Wljy do you murmur? Which is 
 easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee ; or, Take 
 up thy bed and Avalk ? But that you may know 
 the Son of Man hath power to forgive sin, turn- 
 ing to the paralytic man, He said : Arise, take 
 up thy bed, and walk." JSTow, our Lord, who 
 had thus given proof of His omnipotence, again 
 declares His power, and sends others with the 
 same authority precisely that the Father had 
 vested in Himself: "As the Father hath sent 
 me, so I send you (verse 22), and, when he had 
 said this, He breathed upon them, and He said 
 to them : Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose 
 sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them ; 
 whose sins ye shaU retain, they are retained." 
 Here we see bestowed upon the Apostles and 
 their successors this tremendous power of sitting 
 in judgment as God, by the commission of God 
 Himself, and with the promise 'that the sentence 
 they pronounce will be ratified by Him. Our 
 Lord is the God of all: "There is no other 
 name under heaven whereby man can be saved." 
 
224 Christian Truths. 
 
 "N"© one Cometh to tlie Father," He declares, 
 " save through me," and I depute you to act in 
 my stead, "for as the Father has sent me, I 
 send you." All who come to me must come 
 through yoTi, for we are one. Therefore, dear 
 bretliren, this tribunal of penance is a tribunal 
 that does not admit of exemption from its juris- 
 diction. Even those who, by reason of perfect 
 contrition, are pardoned before confession, are 
 bound to present themselves to it. Its jurisdic- 
 tion is, therefore, commensurate with that of 
 God Himself. A twofold power is imparted to 
 the Apostles and their successors : that of bind- 
 ing and that of loosing. The power of loosing 
 is exercised when the sentence of remission, of 
 absolution, is pronounced ; that of binding is 
 exercised when the minister of God refuses to 
 absolve ; and those who have sinned, and do not 
 approach to this tribunal, remain in the bonds 
 of sin. Unless they come to confess humbly 
 their sin, the minister of God will not pronounce 
 the sentence which wUl loose them from these 
 bonds ; and that refusal to loosen is ratified in 
 heaven, and they remain bound, their sins are 
 retained. 
 
 It follows from the nature of this tribunal, 
 dear brethren, as is evident from what I have 
 
Penance. 225 
 
 said, that all, without exception, who have 
 attained the age of reason and have sinned, 
 must present themselves before the priest of 
 God, in the Sacrament of Penance, as a neces- 
 sary condition for forgiveness of sin. It follows 
 also, both from what I have said of the custom 
 prevalent among the Jews, as well as from the 
 SacraKient of Penance being a sacred tribunal, 
 that a detailed confession of sin must be made. 
 The priests of the Old Law had to distinguish 
 between leprosy and leprosy, in physical cases ; 
 and this was a figure of the moral diseases of 
 the soul which the priest of the New Law is to 
 judge of. The Sacrament of Penance has, be- 
 sides the immediate effect of remission, one of 
 healing and protecting, and both these effects 
 require detailed knowledge in the minister of 
 God. A judge must, in fact, know the quality 
 of the deed done, both in order to pronounce 
 sentence as to whether or not it falls under the 
 law, as well as in order to apply the remedy, 
 impose the punishment, and exact satisfaction 
 for the well-being of society. If a priest, in 
 the tribunal of penance, have come to him one 
 who has defrauded his neighbor, how is he to 
 know what to tell him, or what restitution to 
 exact of him, unless the particular sin be con- 
 
226 Christian Truths. 
 
 fessed ? And yet we know from tlie thirtieth 
 chapter of the prophet Ezechiel that the amount 
 stolen, or the pledge unjustly retained, must be 
 given back, otherwise the sin is not remitted. 
 
 It was in such a sense that this power con- 
 ferred by the words of Christ, and this duty 
 imposed in consequence of it, were understood 
 in the Church. From the earliest period ©f the 
 Church such was her teaching, such her practice. 
 St. Augustine speaks of this power ; so also do 
 St. Ambrose, St. John Chryso^tom, St. Gregory 
 Nazianzen. Ecclesiastical history is full of facts 
 regarding the Sacrament of Penance. There 
 was the private confession of sins to the priest ; 
 and there was the public confession of sin, to 
 which was annexed a system of public penance. 
 All works on ecclesiastical history, even the 
 most elementary, treat of this. Sometimes the 
 penance was undergone not only by public sin- 
 ners, or by those who made public confession, 
 but also by others voluntarily. The penance 
 undergone varied with the character of the sin, 
 both with respect to kind and duration — weeks, 
 months, and even years of penance being as- 
 signed. Hence derives the familiar expression 
 used in the Church, which so often scandalizes 
 those wlio are not Catholics. They hear of so 
 
Penance. 227 
 
 many days, or weeks, or years of indulgence, 
 and do not understand that by such words is 
 meant dispensation from these days, or weeks, 
 or years of penance, by substitution of other 
 work by the authority of the Church. In order, 
 however, dear brethren, that we understand 
 this thoroughly, it is needful that we dwell on 
 the necessity of satisfaction for our sins, of pen- 
 ance for them, whence flows the doctrine of 
 indulgences. 
 
 For confession, siTch as will Justify in the 
 sight of God, you are aware, dear brethren, 
 that there are absolutely required contrition, 
 hearty sorrow for sin, based on a supernatural 
 motive ; confession in detail to a duly authorized 
 priest ; satisfaction imj^osed by him ; and, finally, 
 on the part of the priest, the sentence of abso- 
 lution. Against this point of satisfaction those 
 who deny the necessity of good works very na- 
 turally rise up. Such is the logical consequence 
 of their system, and we must, therefore, not be 
 surprised at this denial. That their teaching 
 has not only no foundation, but contradicts the 
 words of Scripture and the words of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, condemning to everlasting fire 
 those not doing good works, we have already 
 seen. Against this j)articular manifestation of 
 
228 Christian Truths. 
 
 their system, this denial of the necessity of 
 satisfaction, I wish to present you some valid 
 reasons based on Scripture itself. 
 
 In every grievous sin we are to distinguish, 
 first, the guilt of sin ; secondly, eternal death 
 resulting from it ; thirdly, temporal punishment 
 incurred for it ; and, fourthly, the necessity of 
 reparation. 
 
 Of the guilt of sin and its eternal punishment 
 Christ Himself tells us, where He speaks of cer- 
 tain heinous offences, and says, those "who do 
 such things veill not enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven." It is not necessary, therefore, to delay 
 on this point. By the sentence of absolution 
 pronounced on a sinner, in due disposition to re- 
 ceive it worthily, the guilt and the eternal pun- 
 ishment are remitted. j!7ot so is it with re- 
 spect to the temporal punishment incurred, and 
 the satisfaction necessary. These two remain 
 to be undergone, and the proof is at hand. 
 We have several remarkable instances in 
 Scripture in which this fact is unmistakably 
 shown. 
 
 The first among these I select is the case of 
 Adam and Eve in the Garden of Paradise. They 
 had sinned ; but, on their repentance, God par- 
 doned them. He, nevertheless, addressed them 
 
Penance. 229 
 
 words of terrible import, even while promising 
 the Redeemer, through whose merits their sin 
 was forgiven. " Cursed is the earth in thy 
 work. ... In the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
 eat bread until thou return to the earth, out of 
 which thou wast taken : for dust thou art, and 
 into dust shalt thou return."* Toil, suffering, 
 disease, death — all these are so many penalties 
 to be undergone by Adam and his posterity, 
 notwithstanding his sin has been remitted. 
 
 Another instance we have from the life of 
 the Royal Psalmist. King David had been 
 guilty of murder and adultery. For one year 
 he lay in his moral lethargy, heedless of the 
 sad state of his soul. God had pity on him, 
 and sent to him the prophet Nathan, who by a 
 parable convinced him of his guilt. The words 
 of the prophet, "Thou art the man," sounded 
 to him as the upbraiding voice of an offended 
 Grod, and he fell prostrate, crying: "I have 
 sinned against the Lord." His repentance was 
 sincere, and merited that the prophet should 
 say to him: "The Lord has remitted thy sin." 
 But he added: "Because thou hast made the 
 enemies of God blaspheme, the child that is 
 born to thee shall die." Here was a temporal 
 
 * Gen. ili. 
 
230 Christian Truths. 
 
 punishment inflicted by God upon David, even 
 after his sin had been forgiven. There are 
 many instances, dear brethren, in Holy "Writ, 
 from which we can deduce the same truth, that, 
 after sin pardoned, temporal punishment is stUl 
 to be undergone. Almighty God must in some 
 way be appeased. His justice satisfied, in this 
 way, by punishment inflicted by Him. But not 
 only does He require this ; He demands also 
 voluntary affliction of ourselves, penance done 
 wiUingiy or in obedience to the .priest to whom 
 we confess. This He accepts, and, in conse- 
 quence, remits what we deserve to suffer. 
 Of this, too, there are instances in Scripture. 
 
 The first of these is one that not only occurs 
 in the Old Testament, but has the approbation 
 of Jesus Christ Himself in the Xew. We are 
 told in the book of Jonas that, at his pro- 
 phesying the destruction of Xinive, the peo- 
 ple, and even their king, did penance by fast- 
 ing in sackcloth and ashes. They repented of 
 their sin ; they turned from their evil way ; 
 they confessed their offences ; but they were 
 not content with this. They thought they must 
 satisfy the offended justice of God, not only 
 by doing what natural justice dictated — restor- 
 ing what had been ill-gotten, repairing the 
 
Penance. 231 
 
 damage done to the reputation of others, for- 
 giving injuries — but, besides this, they did pen- 
 ance, a penance full of self-affliction. They 
 had sinned by self-indulgence ; they punished 
 themselves by denying themselves vs^hat they 
 naturally craved — food and comfort. If we 
 vi^ere to believe the sects of to day, we should 
 say that these were works of supererogation, 
 entirely unnecessary, in fact perfectly useless. 
 But, dear bretliren, a greater than any of the 
 prophets of to-day, a greater than the prophets 
 of any day, approved that penance, full of fear 
 and full of suffering. Jesus Christ tells us what 
 the Ninivites did at the preaching of Jonas, 
 and reprimands the Jews, because, though there 
 was present before them One greater than Jo- 
 nas, they did not imitate the penance of the 
 Mnivites. 
 
 Again, we have the phrase "do penance" 
 frequently occurring in the Sacred Text. The 
 first preaching of our Lord, as we read in the 
 fourth chapter of St. Matthew, was in those 
 words. 
 
 What He meant by them is evident from 
 the language He employs in praising the Nini- 
 vites. Again, when He tells us of the rich 
 man who died and was buried in hell. He mere- 
 
232 Christian Truths, 
 
 ly says that lie did not give alms, but feasted 
 splendidly every day, and was clothed in pur- 
 ple and fine linen, giving us to understand the 
 necessity of self-denial and mortification to 
 atone for our sins. So far, then, dear brethren, 
 are we to be from regarding these works of pen- 
 ance as useless, according to the theory of those 
 out of the Church, that we must look on them as 
 an integral part of the atonement for our sins 
 demanded of us by God. This is, therefore, a 
 part of the satisfaction we owe Him. To some 
 extent the debt is discharged by confession, and 
 by performing the penance imposed on us by 
 the priest. But as, generally, yet more remains 
 to be done by way of satisfaction, the Church 
 comes to our assistance. Call to mind what I 
 said a few moments ago. The power given the 
 Church by Jesus Christ is unlimited. "Ail 
 poAver has been given me," He said: "as the 
 Father hath sent me, I send you. Whose sius 
 ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them." Now, 
 we know that sins are forgiven only through 
 the merits of Jesus Christ. Those merits, how- 
 ever, are not confined to Him alone ; they em- 
 brace all that, by means of His coming on earth. 
 He did in Himself or in others. I say in others, 
 for all the good works of others are His work ; 
 
Penance. 233 
 
 without Him they would not and could not 
 have been performed. The works, therefore, of 
 Christ, and the good works of the faithful 
 throughout the world, and in every epoch, are 
 one vast treasure which belongs to Christ. In 
 virtue of the doctrine of the commiinion of 
 saints, we know that Ave share in each other's 
 good works and merits. Now, this great trea- 
 sure of merits which belongs to Jesus Christ He 
 puts at the disposal of the Church, so that the 
 Church can make use of it at will. How she 
 does this I will explain presently. I call atten- 
 tion beforehand to the fact that it is a higher 
 power, a more noble act, to restore grace to the 
 soul than to remit the punishment of it. The 
 change from the state of sin to a state of grace 
 is one of the greatest of God' s miracles, greater 
 than raising the dead to life. It is not strange, 
 therefore, that Christ, having given such won- 
 derful power to His Church, should not have 
 restricted her with regard to what was less, the 
 remission of the temporal punishment due to 
 sin, especially when we hear Him say: "All 
 power has been given me in heaven and on 
 earth : as the Father hath sent me, I send you." 
 Armed, then, with this plenitude of power, with 
 this treasure of the merits of Christ and of His 
 
234 Cliristian Truths. 
 
 saints at her disposal, what does the Church 
 do? She applies, in virtue of her supreme 
 power, these merits to the faithful, in lieu of 
 their own satisfaction, under certain conditionSj 
 which, if fullilled, procure for them a remis- 
 sion of the temporal punishment to be under- 
 gone after the sin has been remitted in th^ 
 tribunal of penance. This is what is known as 
 an indulgence. An indulgence, therefore, is 
 not, as it is so often falsely charged, a permis- 
 sion to commit sin ; nor is it a pardon of sin ; 
 but it is a remission of temporal punishment to 
 be undergone after sin has been pardoned. You 
 understand now, dear brethren, how it is that 
 indulgences are spoken of as being of several 
 days, of several years. This wording, strictly 
 Just, is taken from the early discipline of the 
 Church, as I have observed before. When pen- 
 ance had to be done for days, and months, and 
 years, what Christians gained by those periods 
 of self-denial and punishment is bestowed by an 
 indulgence, which, therefore, takes the same 
 title of so many days or so many years. The 
 practice of granting indulgences is coeval with 
 the Church of the martyrs. On the same prin- 
 ciple of vicarious atonement and satisfaction, of 
 the communion of saints, the Church accepted 
 
Penance. 235 
 
 the merits of martyrs while suffering, and at 
 their -written request would excuse from their 
 penance those in whose favor the request was 
 made. This is a fact of early history which 
 cannot be called in question. In consequence 
 of tills same principle of the communion of 
 saints, of the unity of the Church triumphant 
 in heaven, the Church militant on earth, and 
 the Church suffering in purgatory, where those 
 are detained who left this life without having 
 discharged their debt of temporal suffering, the 
 • good works contained in this treasury of the 
 Church are applicaljle per modum svffragii ; 
 they are offered to God as a supplication for the 
 remission of the punishment due to souls after 
 death, which God may or may not accept. 
 What one has gained for himself he may freely 
 give for these souls, that, as we read in the 
 Book of Machabees, they may be loosed from 
 their sins. 
 
 Such, dear brethren, is the wonderful means 
 the patient love of God has invented to rescue 
 us from sin and from its direful effects. To us 
 it is an ordinary thing ; we have been used to it 
 from our childhood, and it may happen that 
 we do not appreciate it as we ought. If we 
 could understand its full reality, our tongues 
 
236 CJiristian Truths. 
 
 would call on the whole nniverse to thank God 
 for this great glory manifested in the remission 
 of sins. We should also have a higher idea of 
 the goodness of God ; of that wonderful love of 
 which He gave us some faint view when He 
 represented Himself as the Good Shepherd, go- 
 ing after His one stray sheep, while He left the 
 ninety -nine ; or when He speaks of Himself as 
 the Father receiving back to His bosom His 
 prodigal child. These are, after all, but faint 
 images of God's love towards us. Knowing 
 this, we should endeavor, with great faith and 
 confidence, to make use of this means of recon- 
 ciliation with Him. For one thing must be evi- 
 dent to every one : if God, on His part, has 
 done so much for us, it is surely not His inten- 
 tion to leave us to our own weakness in mak- 
 ing use of this great sacrament, on the contrary 
 He will aid us always, where He finds the least 
 disposition in us to make a good and beneficial 
 use of it. The acts of faith, of humility, and of 
 sorrow we exercise in doing so bring with them 
 special graces ; while the Sacrament itself bestows 
 actual graces, and assistance against the faults 
 we confess. No one, therefore, no matter how 
 steeped in sin, should draw back from this pledge 
 of God's mercy. Especially at the holy seasons 
 
PenoMce. 237 
 
 of the year, an acceptable time, a time of salva- 
 tion, should all approach to this sacred tribu- 
 nal, and share in those spiritual gifts, in com- 
 parison with which all the treasures of earth are 
 as dross 
 
Lecture X. 
 
 THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 
 
 1C0ME to speak to you to-day, dear 
 brethren, of one of the great mysteries 
 of our holy religion — a mystery won- 
 derful, surpassing the utmost stretch of un- 
 aided htiman imagination or conception ; a 
 mystery so extraordinary as to seem almost 
 proposed for the purpose of repelling men 
 from accepting the religion which teaches it ; 
 a mystery which, at its very first announce- 
 ment by the divine Founder of our faith, had 
 precisely that very effect. This mystery is 
 that of the Real Presence of the Word made 
 Flesh, under the appearance of bread and 
 wine, in the Sacrament of the Blessed Eucha- 
 rist. In the announcement of no other mys- 
 tery did our Lord show so evidently His ap- 
 preciation of the difficulty of the acceptance 
 of it by men, as in proposing for their belief 
 the doctrine of the Real Presence. A mo- 
 ment's consideration of His manner of speak- 
 
 838 
 
The Blessed Eucharist. 239 
 
 ing in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. 
 John will make this evident to the most 
 ordinary capacity. 
 
 When Jesus Christ announced the doctrine 
 of His divine nature, He appealed simply to 
 facts which every one knew ; that is, to the 
 miracles He had wrought. When He spoke of 
 the regeneration of man, He confined Himself 
 to declaring the necessity of being born again 
 of water and the Holy Ghost. He taught in 
 the same way, when He unfolded the mystery 
 of the Blessed Trinity and that of the re- 
 demption of the human race. "The works 
 that I do, these bear witness of me." "If 
 you do not believe me, believe the works 
 that I do." Such was His reply to objections 
 and to incredulity. The answer could not be 
 gainsaid, and served as a ground of acceptance, 
 in the case presented. But to this He now 
 adds a special and most emphatic exhortation 
 to faith in Him, expounding the difliculty of 
 it, and pointing to the source whence alone 
 it could come. 
 
 You remember, dear brethren, that the sixth 
 chapter of the Gosx)el of St. John opens with 
 the wonderful miracle of the multiplication of 
 the five barley loaves and two fishes. Five 
 
240 Christian Truths. 
 
 thousand people were sated with this food, 
 and twelve baskets were filled with the frag- 
 ments that remained over and above from 
 what had been eaten. The multitude were so 
 struck with this astounding prodigy that they 
 exclaimed: "This is of a truth the prophet 
 that is to come into the world" (verse 14). In 
 accordance with the ideas they had of the 
 Messias, who, they thought, was to rescue Israel 
 from bondage, they would have made Him 
 king ; but He fled away from them. They 
 went seeking Him, and found Him on the 
 other side of the sea .which He had crossed 
 miraculously the night before. He tells them 
 that they seek Him, not because they had 
 seen miracles, but because they had eaten of 
 the loaves and were filled. He chides them 
 for being so gross and material, and says to 
 them: "Labor not for the meat that perish- 
 eth, but for that which endureth unto life 
 everlasting, which the Son of Man will give 
 you. For Him hath God the Father sealed" 
 (verse 27). Here Christ begins His remarkable 
 preface which inculcates the necessity and also 
 the difficulty of faith. For those He speaks to 
 ask Him: "What shall we do that we may 
 work the works of God ? Jesus answered them 
 
The Blessed EucTiarist. 241 
 
 and said : This is the work of God, that you be- 
 lieve in Him whom He hath sent" (verses 28, 29). 
 They immediately begin to contest, as it were, 
 His claim to their belief, and refer to the 
 miracle of the manna which Moses had given 
 in the desert, as if showing that He had 
 done nothing to surpass the miracle of Moses. 
 Therefore they require a further display of 
 His power. The only answer Christ returns 
 them is this: that their fathers ate manna in 
 the desert, but that manna was not bread 
 from heaven ; and He adds : ' ' My Father giv- 
 eth you the true bread from heaven. For 
 the bread of God is that which cometh down 
 from heaven, and giveth life to the world.'' 
 When they said to Him: "Lord, give us al- 
 ways this bread," He answered: "I am the 
 bread of life ; he that cometh to me shall not 
 hunger ; and he that believeth in me shall never 
 thirst" (verses 32-S5). Our Lord, as is evident, 
 speaks of spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst. 
 The Jews did not misunderstand Him here ; but 
 they murmured against Him, because He had 
 said He came down from heaven, for they say : 
 We know His father and mother. It is here, 
 dear brethren, that our Lord gives us clearly 
 to understand the difficulty of faith, and how 
 
242 Christian Truths. 
 
 it is a gift of God, for He says: "Murmur not 
 among yourselves. No man can come to me 
 except the Father, who hath sent m-e, draw 
 him." We shall see that Jesus reiterates this 
 assertion, after having fully declared the doc- 
 trine of the Blessed Eucharist. In this present 
 connection He prepares the ground, and makes 
 this declaration that He may use it at the de- 
 cisive moment of the complete manifestation 
 of a doctrine which was to tax so seriously the 
 faith in Him of all His followers. He is stead- 
 ily leading the way up to this doctrine by 
 inculcating the paramount importance of faitli. 
 If we weigh well this mode of proceeding of 
 Christ, it is impossible, dear brethren, that the 
 thought of some important doctrine to be re- 
 vealed should not present itself to our thoughts. 
 For never yet has He so spoken ; never yet so 
 rebutted the arguments of His opponents ; never 
 yet has He gone so directly against what they 
 esteemed to be the teaching of the law. He is 
 substituting Himself for it ; vindicating for 
 Himself exclusively the power to speak in the 
 name of God, and putting Himself forward as 
 the only means of salvation. He even excludes 
 from that salvation all those whom the Father 
 does not draw to Him ; and, by His words ex- 
 
The Blessed Eucharist. 243 
 
 pressly uttered here, He gives all to understand 
 that belief in what He is going to say can only 
 come from the Father. All this must certainly 
 make us look forward to some weighty reve- 
 lation, and that Christ hastens to declare. He 
 repeats anew : "I am the bread of life. Your 
 fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are 
 dead. This is the bread that cometh down from 
 heaven ; that if any man eat of it, he may not 
 die. I am the living bread that came down from 
 heaven. If any man 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" (verses 48-52). 
 The passage is here made from the spiritual 
 sense of faith and grace as inculcated by the 
 phrase, "I am the bread which came down 
 from heaven," to what we may call the material 
 or real sense of the flesh of Christ ; not that 
 this sense is excluded by the context in the 
 prior portions of our Lord's discourse, for He 
 had this in His mind as He spoke ; but His 
 primary motive was to prepare those present 
 not only with respect to the absolute need of 
 faith, but also with regard to the proper sense 
 in which they were to understand the real 
 eating of His flesh. All that has gone before, 
 dov/n to this fifty-second verse, is but a preface 
 
244 Christian Truths. 
 
 and preparation for tlie doctrine wMcli Christ 
 now unfolds to those present. The Jews who 
 had been scandalized when Christ declared 
 that He came down from heaven, are far more 
 so now. At first they murmured ; now they 
 strive among themselves, and say: "How can 
 this man give us His flesh to eat?" It is evi- 
 dent that they understood Christ in a carnal 
 manner ; but the words were so unusual, the 
 circumstance so extraordinary, that one cannot 
 be surprised that nature, unaided by grace, 
 should not have understood tliem. Yet what 
 does our Lord go on to say ? Does He, as was 
 frequently His wont, explain to them or to 
 His disciples the hidden meaning of the words ? 
 His only answer is a most solemn asseveration, 
 and a more explicit declaration of the doc- 
 trine : ' ' Amen, amen, I say unto you, except 
 you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 
 His blood, you shall not have life in you. 
 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, 
 hath everlasting life : and I will raise him up 
 at the last day." Could any one imagine, dear 
 brethren, a more eflicacious way of confirming 
 those who had murmured and were scandal- 
 ized, in their opinion that the Lord really 
 did intend His flesh to be eaten, and His blood 
 
The Blessed Eucharist. 245 
 
 to be drunk? How easily He might have 
 said : I am but speaking figuratively ; I only 
 mean the partaking of what will be a repre- 
 sentation of my flesh and of my blood sepa- 
 rated by death. But He does not say any- 
 thing of the kind; on the contrary, He con- 
 tinues even more explicitly : ' ' My flesh is meat 
 indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that 
 eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abid- 
 eth in me, and I in him. As the living Father 
 hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so 
 he that eateth me, the same shall live by 
 me." There was no one present, dear breth- 
 ren, who misunderstood Christ as regards the 
 fact. Those words were too explicit ; they could 
 mean but one thing. The objection that the 
 wording here is a SyroChaldaic idiom, and figu- 
 rative, cannot be admitted. That idiomatic 
 phrase refers to calumny and injury. It would 
 have been foolish to interpret Christ as making 
 calumny and abuse of Himself a condition of 
 eternal life. No one in His presence was absurd 
 enough to entertain such an idea for an instant. 
 All understood Him unmistakably as to the fact ; 
 they mistook Him as to the way. They under- 
 stood Him as opposing to the eating of the man- 
 na of the Old Testament a physical action of eat- 
 
246 Christian Truths. 
 
 ing in tlie New Dispensation, and of participating 
 of the very flesh, as they saw it, of Him who was 
 speaking to them. His words confirm them in 
 thi^ idea, for they are explicit: "Tliis is the 
 bread which came down from heaven." You re- 
 member, dear brethren, that the Jews, quoting 
 the Scripture, had said: "He gave them bread 
 from heaven to eat." Christ replied that Moses 
 did not give them bread from heaven, but that 
 the bread which came . down from heaven gave 
 life to the world. That manna of which He 
 again speaks. He says, did not give life ; for 
 " your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and 
 are dead." Thus Christ confirms the Jews in 
 their interpretation of a physical eating of His 
 flesh. The effect of this eating will, however, be 
 different; for "he that eateth this bread shall 
 live for ever." The natural effect of these words 
 was immediately visible. Before, it was the 
 Jews that strove among themselves, saying: 
 "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" 
 Now it is His disciples who begin to murmur, 
 and remark : "This saying is hard, and who can 
 hear it ? " Here, dear brethren, it is of interest to 
 observe the manner in which our Lord acts with 
 the disciples, for it affords a strong indication of 
 His meaning. When He related the parable of 
 
TTie Blessed Eucliarist. 247 
 
 the sower who went out to sow his seed, and His 
 disciples asked Him what this parable might be, 
 .He replied: "To you it is given to know the 
 mystery of the kingdom of God ; but to the rest 
 in parables, that seeing they may not see, and 
 hearing they may not understand" (Luke vlii. 
 10). And He explained the parable to them. 
 Why did He not explain to these disci- 
 ples this parable ? Because, dear brethren, 
 it was not a parable. He meant what He 
 said. He meant that they were to eat His 
 flesh and drink His blood. They who had 
 been with Him so long ; who had heard the 
 words of grace which daily fell from His lips ; 
 who had witnessed the wonderful miracles He 
 had wrought, ought to have understood that, 
 however improbable it might seem to nature, 
 still He was by His power able to devise a way 
 by which what seemed gross and carnal would 
 be avoided, and the truth of what He had ut- 
 tered be nevertheless maintained. But, like so 
 many who have come after them, they confided, 
 even when God Himself was speaking to them, 
 in their own reason, and they bore the conse- 
 quence. Christ sees their danger, and calls their 
 attention to His future ascension into heaven as 
 a sign that would prove to them the truth of 
 
248 Christian Trutlis. 
 
 what He had said ; and we may hope that when 
 His ascension was afterwards beheld or heard of 
 by them, it recalled them to a sense of the crimi- 
 nality of their unbelief. He saith to them : 
 " Doth this scandalize you ? If then you shall 
 see the Son of Man ascend up where He was 
 before?" (John vi. 63). He adds here words 
 which have been the subject of dispute be- 
 tween the Catholic Church and the dissi- 
 dents of the last three centuries and a 
 half: "It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the 
 flesh profiteth nothing. The words I have 
 spoken to you are spirit and life." With re- 
 gard to these words, it is obvious that our Lord 
 pronounced them as a direct reply to the objec- 
 tion which had been made to His teaching. It is 
 natural that His answer should correspond to 
 the nature of the cavil of those who murmured, 
 especially as there was no reason why He should 
 speak for any other purpose. If we accept the 
 objections of non-Catholics and their interpreta- 
 tions, the harmony of the entire context of this 
 remarkable chapter is destroyed, and Jesus 
 Christ is made to appear as having deliberately 
 laid a snare for the weakness of tliose who 
 had hitherto followed Him — a supposition ir- 
 reconcilable with His unspeakable goodness 
 
The Blessed Eticharist. 249 
 
 and tenderness for their welfare. If, how- 
 ever, we receive His words as replying ex- 
 actly to the objections of His disciples, solv- 
 ing their difficulty, while maintaining the 
 doctrine of the Real Presence, and of the real 
 participation, by eating, of His Body and Blood, 
 everything becomes harmonious. It does not re- 
 quire much acumen, dear brethren, to understand 
 that this is the safest rule of interpretation. 
 When, therefore, our Lord says : "It is the Spirit 
 that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing," 
 the meaning is that the eating of His flesh in a 
 carnal manner is not what He intends ; that they 
 are not to eat it as they would meat, for in that 
 way it would profit them nothing. For that 
 which profiteth is the Spirit, which is with my 
 flesh, my divinity, that gives value to my Body 
 and my Blood. You are, therefore, to partake of 
 my Flesh and of my Blood in a manner to derive 
 from them the spiritual benefit which comes from 
 the presence of My Divinity within you. You 
 are to receive Me in such a way that My natures 
 will not be destroyed or separated, and, there- 
 fore, in a mystical manner, which will neverthe- 
 less realize the words T have hitherto uttered : 
 those "words are spirit and life,"— a Hebraism 
 for spiritual and life-giving. Such, my dear 
 
250 Christian Truths. 
 
 brethren, is the obvious interpretation of the 
 words of our Saviour. Such, too, is the explana- 
 tion given to us of them by the lucid and pene- 
 trating intellect of St. Augustine.* 
 
 Our Lord, dear brethren, having, at this point, 
 fully expounded His doctrine, recurs again, as 
 though always having before His eyes the diffi- 
 culty of the mystery, to the indispensability of 
 faith from above, and repeats what He had said 
 previously in the forty-fourth verse : " There are 
 some of you that believe not. Therefore did I 
 say to you that no man can come to me unless it 
 be given him by my Father." We are informed 
 by the Evangelist St. John (vi. 67) that "after 
 this many of His disciples went back, and walked 
 no more with Him." Is it at all probable, dear 
 brethren, that this would have happened if our 
 Lord had only spoken of a commemoration of 
 His Passion and Death by bread ^d wine ? 
 
 Let us pass to a brief consideration of the in- 
 stitution of the Blessed Eucharist, and examine 
 whether our interpretation is borne out, or 
 whether this idea of a commemoration by bread 
 and wine is substantiated. We read in the 
 twenty-sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. Mat- 
 thew (verse 26), that our Lord, as St. Luke also 
 
 * Tr. xlvii. in Joannem. 
 
TJie Blessed Eucharist. 251 
 
 relates, was at tlie Last Supper with His twelve 
 Apostles, and, " whilst they were at supper, 
 Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke, and 
 gave to His disciijles ; and said : Take ye and 
 eat ; this is my body, (verse 27 :) And taking 
 the chalice, He gave thanks ; and gave to them, 
 saying : Drink ye all of this, (verse 28 :) For 
 this is my blood of the New Testament, which 
 shall be shed for many unto the remission of 
 sins." Nothing can be more explicit than these 
 few words of our Lord. He declares that what 
 but a moment before was bread is now His Body ; 
 what but a moment before was wine is now His 
 Blood. We see the perfect realization here of 
 what He had promised in the passage of St. John 
 I have explained. The explaining away of the 
 word is, as done by the followers of Calvin and 
 Zwingle, if not by all Protestants, is a manifest 
 violence done to the text. Whenever is is equi- 
 valent to "represents," or means "is figurative 
 of," that meaning results from the nature of the 
 matter spoken of, and from the context. But, 
 in the present instance, the nature of the case 
 clearly requires that the word is should be re- 
 ceived in its natural and ordinary sense of being. 
 For we have seen that Christ had spoken to His 
 disciples of something that would try their faith. 
 
252 Christian Truths. 
 
 and to such a degree that the power of the Fa- 
 ther alone could make them accept His teaching. 
 What difficulty, however, would there have been 
 in accepting a nude commemoration by a sup- 
 per in whicli bread and wine were partaken of ? 
 Such a thing was not beyond the sphere of rea- 
 son ; indeed, required no further exercise of faith 
 whatsoever. Moreover, Christ had promised a 
 bread that would replace the manna. If the 
 Body and the Blood of Christ were not hidden 
 under this form of bread and wine, the antitype 
 would be of less value, be less extraordinary 
 than the type or figure. Who would be so ir- 
 reverent, dear brethren, as to assert that this is 
 possible ? It stands to reason that the words of 
 Christ are practical propositions, effecting what 
 they signify, and truly converting the bread into 
 His Body and the wine into His Blood. By 
 virtue of these words, under the species of bread 
 is only the Body of Christ ; under that of wine 
 only His Blood ; though, as you know, dear 
 brethren, as Christ dieth no more, His Body and 
 His Blood, and His soul and His divinity, are no 
 longer separable, and are there by concomitance 
 present under each species. This interpretation 
 of these words of consecration is borne out by 
 the constant tradition of the Church of God, the 
 
The Blessed Eucharist. 2.'i3 
 
 infallible body in which dwells perpetually the 
 Holy Spirit. I have no intention of detaining 
 you, dear brethren, with numerous citations •, but 
 I cannot refrain from quoting the testimony, on 
 this important subject, of two or three of the 
 Fathers of the Church. 
 
 The first is a remarkable passage of the apos- 
 tolic Father St. Ignatius of Antioch, who, writ- 
 ing against those who denied to Christ a real 
 body, says, in his Epistle to the Christians of 
 Smyrna: "They do not admit the Eucharistic 
 offerings and oblations, because they do not con- 
 fess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 St. Irenseus, who, you will remember, is a 
 Father of the second century, in the second 
 chapter of his fifth book against heresies, writes : 
 " The chalice which is derived from a creature. 
 He pronounced to be His own Blood ; and the 
 bread which is from a creature, He pronounced 
 to be His own Body." 
 
 Tertullian, also a writer of the second century 
 and early part of the third, in his book against 
 Marcion (iv. n. 40) says: " He made the bread 
 He had taken that very Body of His." 
 
 And St. Augustine, in his two hundred and 
 twenty-seventh sermon, thus speaks: "That 
 
^54 Christian Truths. 
 
 bread which you see on the altar, sanctified by 
 the Word of God, is the Body of Christ ; this 
 chalice, rather what the chalice has in it, sancti- 
 fied by the Word of God, is the Blood of Christ." 
 
 The time is too limited, dear brethren, to per- 
 mit my dwelling longer on tradition with refe- 
 rence to this subject, or to develop the argument 
 which proves the Blessed Eucharist to be a sacri- 
 fice as well as a sacrament. Both these themes 
 would require a discourse for each. Rather per- 
 mit me to present you with a fact which proves 
 both the one and the other ; and this you wUl 
 more readily allow, as facts bear more weight 
 with them than words. This fact is one of 
 Christian symbolism. 
 
 In the Catacombs of St. Calixtus, on the Ap- 
 pian Way, there exists a group of remarkable 
 frescoes. It consists of a centre-piece, and of 
 two lateral illustrative pictures. These frescoes 
 are pronounced, by the unanimous verdict of 
 competent judges, to belong to the first half of the 
 third century. The central picture represents a 
 banquet. Seven persons are reclining at a table, 
 as was the custom in ancient times. There are 
 two fish upon the table, and before it are eight 
 paniers of bread. The fish, in Christian art, is 
 known to be a representation of Christ, or the 
 
TTie Blessed Eucharist. 255 
 
 Ghristian. The acrostic ''1x6 v?, witli whicli you 
 are familiar, goes back to a very early date, and 
 was used as the name of Clirist ; for the letters 
 composing it are the initials of the five Greek 
 words, signifying Jesus Christ, Son of God, Sa- 
 viour. Tertullian uses it in his book on Bap- 
 tism (c. i.): " Nos omnes pisciculi secundum 
 Icthun nostrum Christum" — "We are all little 
 fish, after the manner of our Icthus, Christ : we 
 are born in the water, and only by remaining in 
 the water are we safe." Optatus Milevitanus, a 
 Father of the fourth century, in his comment on 
 the book of Tobias, also speaks of the fish as a 
 type of Christ. He says that the fish which, 
 we are told in the Scripture, was taken by the 
 young Tobias, at the command of the angel Ra- 
 phael, was useful for giving sight to the blind, 
 for healing disease, and for putting to flight the 
 evil spirit ; and, in point of fact, the narrative 
 goes on to tell us that, by means of it, sight 
 was given to the father of the young man, and 
 the evil spirit that persecuted Sara, the wife of 
 young Tobias, was put to flight. Optatus Mil- 
 evitanus makes here a parallel between the fish 
 and Christ, applying to both "the words, illumi- 
 nat ; sanat ; et fugat diabolum — as did the fish, 
 so does Christ give sight to the blind ; heal dis- 
 
256 Christian Truths. 
 
 ease ; and put to flight the devil. Here, then, 
 we have a banquet at which the mystic fish is 
 partaken of, that is, Christ. That it is the Eu- 
 charistic banquet is further evident from the 
 baskets of bread ; and the fish and the bread 
 also allude to the multiplication of the loaves 
 and fishes described in the sixth chapter of St. 
 John, as we have seen, and which serve as the 
 introductory miracle to the doctrine of the Bless- 
 ed Eucharist. This is not a mere allusion to this 
 miracle, much as such allusion imports. For 
 this symbol of the fish too clearly refers to the 
 Eucharist and to Christ Himself. In otlier places 
 in these Catacombs we find a fish upon a trident, 
 which is the cross concealed ; and a fish alive, 
 swimming, having on Lis back a panier of bread, 
 and in the middle of the panier a bottle of red 
 wine. There is, then, no doubt as to what we have 
 before us : the seven Christians or disciples are 
 partaking of the Eucharistic banquet, in which 
 Christ is really present. It is He whom they are 
 eating, to use the words of Christ Himself. When 
 we take into consideration, dear brethren, the 
 tradition of the Church, it is not possible for us 
 to mistake the interpretation of this remarkable 
 picture. But this is not all. I mentioned two 
 lateral pictures. One of these presents us with 
 
The Blessed Encharist. 257 
 
 a tripod, the well-known type of sacrifice in pa- 
 gan art, which the Christians took because it 
 contained in its idea nothing that was specifi- 
 cally pagan. Upon this tripod a sacrifice is offer- 
 ing by a priest whose hands are stretched out 
 over the oblations, which are the same objects 
 as are partaken of in the banquet — the fish and 
 the loaf of bread. We have here the Blessed Eu- 
 charist, both as a sacrament and a sacrifice ; and, 
 lest there should be any doubt as to the nature 
 of that sacrifice, the second lateral illustrative 
 picture speaks an unmistakable language, for it 
 presents us with the figures of Abraham and 
 Isaac ; of the ram, and of faggots of wood. 
 It is well known that Isaac was the type of 
 Christ in His Crucifixion ; for, as Isaac took 
 the wood upon his slioulders upon which he was 
 to be sacrificed, so Christ took the wood upon 
 His slioulders — the cross — upon which He was 
 to die a sacrifice for our sins. This picture tells 
 us, more clearly than words, that the sacrifice on 
 the tripod is Christ' s upon the cross, mystically 
 represented in the Blessed Eucharist. We have, 
 therefore, the Blessed Eucharist here before us, 
 in the symbolism of the early part of the third 
 century, both as a sacrament and as the Sacrifice 
 of the New Law. Christian symbolism thus 
 
258 Christian Truths. 
 
 comes to the aid both of Scripture and of tradi- 
 tion, perfecting, as it were, the proof of the truth 
 of the Catholic doctrine, which the authoritative 
 decisions of the Church have taught. Of these 
 decisions, there are two I wish especially to lay 
 before you. The supreme teaching authority of 
 God's Church is the ultimate judge of controver- 
 sy, from the very nature of the case. The first of 
 these dogmatic declarations is found in the Con- 
 fession of the Fathers at the Council of Ephesus. 
 "We confess,"' they say, "that we approach to 
 the mystic benedictions, and are made holy, in- 
 asmuch as we are participators of the Flesh and 
 Blood of Christ." The word used here, "bene- 
 dictions," means precisely the Eacharistic offer- 
 ings. The second is the decree of the Council 
 of Trent, treating professedly of this doctrine 
 against the errors of the innovators in general of 
 the sixteenth century. The words, therefore, of 
 this great council, legitimately called together in 
 the Holy Ghost, and speaking iu His name and 
 by His assistance, must carry with them a weight 
 exceeding that of all argument or human author- 
 ity. In the fourth chapter of the thirteenth ses- 
 sion we read : " Since Christ, our Redeemer, said 
 that what He offered under the appearance of 
 bread is truly His Body, therefore has it always 
 
The Blessed Eucharist. 259 
 
 been the persuasion (or belief) in the Church of 
 God, and this now anew this Holy Synod doth 
 declare, that, by the consecration of the bread 
 and wine, a change is made of the whole sub- 
 stance of the bread into the substance of the 
 Body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole sub- 
 stance of the wine into the substance of His 
 Blood, which change has conveniently and pro- 
 perly been called, by the Holy Catholic Church, 
 transnbstanUaUon^ ' 
 
 Such, dear brethren, is the doctrine of the 
 Church of God concerning this wonderful Sacra- 
 ment of the Body and Blood of the Lord. How it 
 discloses to us the secrets of His love for us ! He 
 loved His own who were in this world, and He 
 loved them to the end ; and in the midst of the 
 oppressive dread that was upon Him, on the eve 
 of His Passion and Death, unheeding our of- 
 fences. He instituted this banquet. And what 
 a banquet it is ! The banquet of the King of 
 Kings, where He Himself is the food of those 
 He invites ; a banquet where He shows so much 
 desire of enjoying the presence and company of 
 His guests that He does not let them leave Him ; 
 but. Just as the material food of the body be- 
 comes one with them. He gives Himself to be 
 eaten by them that they may live by Him. "He 
 
260 Gliristian Truths. 
 
 that eateth me, the same shall live by me." Nay, 
 more, if we approach worthily, as St. Augustine 
 says, we become what we have received : "Si 
 bene accepistis, vos estis quod accepistis." * 
 How is it possible, dear brethren, that, with 
 the evidence of so much love on the part of 
 our divine Saviour, there should be so many 
 who abstain from receiving the sacrament, or 
 receive it seldom, or approach it in a cold and 
 formal manner % Yet so it is. Jesus Christ felt 
 this so deeply that He menaces with death those 
 who do not come to the Eucbaristic table : " Un- 
 less you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and 
 drink His blood, you shall not have life in you." 
 And He bids the messengers go forth and gather 
 in the guests, by force if need be — "compeUe 
 intrare." It is not creditable to our faith or to 
 our gratitude, dear brethren, if such a course 
 must be pursued with regard to us. Let us 
 quicken our faith in this great sacrament. It is 
 in a special manner the sacrament of faith. And 
 as Jesus Christ Himself said that to accept His 
 doctrine can only come from His Father, let us, 
 feeling how weak our faith is, and how deficient 
 is our gratitude, beg of Him to increase our faith, 
 and inflame our hearts with love for Him. Let 
 
 * Sermon 227. 
 
The Blessed Eucharist. 261 
 
 ■us assist Him in so doing by frequent acts of 
 love and adoration ; by freqnent visits to Him 
 as He sits on His sacramental throne, or dwells 
 in the quiet of the Tabernacle, speaking to us a 
 silent and eloquent language we cannot misun- 
 derstand. At those moments heart speaks to 
 heart, and we learn the vanity of earthly things ; 
 we enjoy the anticipated happiness pf paradise ; 
 we understand the inestimable value of resigna- 
 tion to divine Providence, and of the perfect 
 accomplishment of God' s will. He becomes our 
 Teacher, telling us how we may lead spiritual 
 lives — even the life of angels here on earth. He, 
 there, is a pledge not only of perseverance here, 
 but of a glorious eternity hereafter. May this 
 Holy Sacrament be such to you, dear brethren, 
 is the blessing I wish you all. Amen. 
 
Leotuee XI. 
 
 EABLT CHBISTIANITT. 
 
 ALTHOUGrH the nineteentii century is an 
 epoch of novelty and of invention, there 
 never has been a period in vrhich interest in the 
 history of remote ages was keener, or the results 
 of archseological investigation more satisfactory. 
 The whole world is divided into two classes of 
 seemingly opposite ideas. One is peering into 
 the future, believing in the progress of human- 
 ity, casting on the past doubt which will not 
 stand the test of principles often arbitrarily as- 
 sumed. The other is matter-of-fact, does not 
 discard the amelioration of the human race, but, 
 rejecting unsustained theories and unfounded 
 scepticism, looks to the past for lessons of truth 
 and of vnsdom, believing that there have been 
 wise men and triithful narrators of what once 
 was. The spirit of the former class, though not 
 vnthout its beneficial features, has been the cause 
 of immense evil in casting aside cherished memo- 
 
Early Christianity, 263 
 
 ries and traditions, and with them the principles 
 which gave them life. Dazzling often with the 
 electric brilliancy of their success, they have 
 oftener led men into darkness impenetrable, and 
 entangled them hopelessly in the meshes of il- 
 logical or unsound thought. The latter class, in 
 quiet, plodding, persevering efforts, attract little 
 attention, till suddenly a result is obtained, solid 
 in its nature, durable in its effects, and triumph- 
 ant in its vindication of historic truth. 
 
 To this latter class belong generally those who 
 are engaged in the serious study of antiquity, 
 not led by theory, but eminently inductive in 
 their method, gathering facts, collating them, 
 and patiently awaiting the fruit they hope for. 
 Not a square inch of stone bearing the marks of 
 the hand of man escapes them ; a cuneiform cha- 
 racter, a hieroglyph, a Greek letter, or a Latin 
 date, invests the cold marble with an interest 
 which gives it life and makes it speak in falter- 
 ing accents first, then in language not to be mis- 
 taken, when, in union with its other parts, it 
 tells of the past in a way that cannot be gain- 
 said. It is by such patient, painstaking care 
 that the discoveries of Layard, of George Smith 
 at Mneveh, and of Schliemann at Troy and My- 
 cense, have been brought about. The schools of 
 
264 Christian Truths. 
 
 Niebuhr and of Arnold may be aptly taken as 
 representing those who write history from theo- 
 retical standpoints, and who, influenced by scep- 
 ticism, have rejected as fable what they could 
 not compass. The spirit, however, which has 
 actuated Layard, George Smith, and Schliemann 
 is fitly shown us in the following words of Mr. 
 William Dyer, author of the well-known article 
 on Roman antiquity in Smith's Classical Dic- 
 tionary, and subsequently of the interesting and 
 valuable works on the histories of the City of 
 Rome and of the Kings. At page 62 of his 
 introduction to the History of the City of 
 Home, he says: "There is little motive to 
 falsify the origin and dates of piiblio buildings ; 
 and, indeed, their falsification would be mucli 
 more difiicult than that of events transmitted by 
 oral tradition, or even recorded in writing. In 
 fact, we consider the remains of some of the 
 monuments of the regal and Republican periods 
 to be the best proofs of the fundamental truth of 
 early Roman history." This is an eminently 
 sensible remark ; and I shall take its meaning as 
 our guide in the treatment of the subject of this 
 lecture. Early Christianity. The sources, there- 
 fore, to which we shall look for information 
 will be the monuments of Christian antiquity ex- 
 
Early Christianity. 265 
 
 isting at the present time. These are found scat- 
 tered over a very wide range of territory — a 
 range co-extensive with the old Roman Empire. 
 They are of varied character — ^architectural, com- 
 memorative, sepulchral, artistic, in painting and 
 in sculpture. Necessarily, in a brief lecture it 
 would be impossible to go over such a field, and 
 it is imperative that I should confine mj^self to a 
 part only of it, and even then in a summary 
 way. 
 
 Of all parts of the Roman Empire none could 
 certainly reward investigation better than the 
 Eterntil City itself, its capital, which became the 
 centre of Christianity, and the dwelling-place of 
 St. Peter and of his successors, the heads of the 
 Church in their respective epochs. Thither came 
 Christians from all parts of the known world, 
 and their piety made them devote their means to 
 advance the material prosperity of the Church in 
 the erection of churches and sanctuaries, and se- 
 pulchral ornaments. No portion of the Roman 
 Empire, for these reasons, is richer in monu- 
 ments of Christian antiquity than Rome with its 
 territory ; and to its study I invite your atten- 
 tion. Even here, however, as the objects deserv- 
 ing attention are so numerous, to study profit- 
 ably, it will be necessary to restrict ourselves to 
 
266 Christian Truths. 
 
 the exploration of the principal mines whence 
 the treasures of Christian archaeology are taken, 
 the Catacombs, in which the Christians of the 
 first ages were laid to rest. 
 
 The practice of depositing the bodies of the 
 dead in the ground the Christians took from the 
 Jews. It was not wholly a Jewish custom, as 
 may be seen by inspecting pagan tombs discov- 
 ered not long since on the Latin road. But the 
 favorite manner, used by the Romans, was that 
 of cremation, a custom born of the sentiment of 
 repugnance human pride has to what is so revolt- 
 ing in death. The Jew, who believed in the im- 
 mortality of the soul, reverenced the tabernacle 
 in which it had dwelt, and ta which he believed 
 it was again one day to live. " In my flesh 
 shall I see my Redeemer ' ' was for him a sacred 
 thought of deep meaning, and a tenet of un- 
 shaken faith. He followed the example of 
 Abraham and of the Patriarchs, and laid his 
 dead to rest in tombs cut in the rock or exca- 
 vated in the soil, leaving, in humble submission 
 to God, the remains to resolve themselves into 
 their former elements, as ordained by the Maker 
 of man. To these reasons of the Jews the Chris- 
 tians added a still more weighty one, the fact 
 of the Savioiir of man having thus been laid to 
 
Early Christianity. 267 
 
 rest. Every Christian wished to have his body- 
 buried as that of his Master, with whom he ex- 
 pected one day to rise again. 
 
 Before the Christian religion was preached in 
 Rome the Jews were there, and possessed places 
 of burial which remain at this day. Rome, be- 
 ing the centre of the world at that day, was the 
 starting-point whence radiated roads to every 
 point of the compass. These were the Ostian 
 Way, the Latin Way, the Flaminian Way, the 
 Nomentan Way, and the great Appian Way, 
 the main artery of communication with the vast 
 East, running across the Campagna in a straight 
 line to Brundisium, and so much frequented 
 as to receive the appellation Regina Viarum, 
 "Queen of Ways." By this road St. Paul 
 came to Rome, striking the Via Appia on his 
 way northward from Puteoli, or Pozzuoli. Ow- 
 ing to the fact of its being the principal way out 
 of Rome, it was selected by preference as the 
 one along which the great families of the city 
 erected the sepulchral monuments destined to 
 hold the ashes of their members. Nothing could 
 be more gratifying to family pride than that all 
 who left or entered the great metropolis of the 
 world, should see the statues of those whose deeds 
 had made the family famous, and recognize, in 
 
268 Christian Truths. 
 
 the taste and profusion of ricli ornament, the 
 culture and wealth of those to whom the monu- 
 ments belonged. For miles outside the city, the 
 Appian was lined with these tombs. This dis- 
 play disposition and circumstances made the 
 Christians leave to the pagans. They were ob- 
 liged, more by public opinion than by law, to 
 bury as privately as possible. The law of Rome 
 was very considerate with regard to burial, and, 
 in fact, would serve as a model for more than one 
 of the present ruling states of tlie world. Even 
 during persecution burial was protected by law. 
 The jurisconsult Marcian {Digest., i. 8, 56) says : 
 " Any one makes a place sacred when he places 
 in his property a dead body." Paulus, another 
 authority, states {Sentent., i. 21, 4) : " Whosoever 
 lays bare a body permanently buried, or put for 
 a time in any place, and exposes it to the light 
 of the sun, commits a crime against religion" 
 (De Rossi, Bull. Archceol. Sacr., an. 1865, p. 89). 
 He also says that "the bodies of criminals are 
 to be given up to anj^ persons seeking them for 
 burial" ; though sometimes, through odium of 
 crime, especially of treason, it was not done. 
 The Justinian Code (iii. 44, 11) contains a decree 
 of Diocletian and Maxentius, of the year .290, 
 in which they say : " We do not forbid the bu- 
 
Early Christianity. 269 
 
 rial of those condemned for crime and subjected 
 to a well-deserved punishment." This was the 
 law. But public feeling often sets aside law; 
 and the Christians, with commendable prudence, 
 took this into account. They therefore, as a 
 rule, sought to bury where they would be least 
 likely to be observed. The situations they 
 sought were the hills around Rome, generally 
 at the sides of the great Roman ways, not far 
 from the city. A radius of about seven miles 
 will include the most distant of the Catacombs, 
 by which name are known the Christian ceme- 
 teries. The reason why the Christians sought 
 the hills was because, as they buried deep under 
 ground and not on the surface, they feared the 
 water of the rivers getting into the tombs in low 
 ground. Moreover, they found strata of soft 
 rock, known as tvfa, which cuts easily with a 
 pick, and which, as long as it is underground, and 
 not subject to the action of the weather, remains 
 for centuries unchanged ; this being in great part 
 due to the equable temperature of the Catacombs, 
 and' especially to the absence of frost. Having 
 selected a fitting place for their cemetery, which 
 was generally on the farm of some Christian, 
 they began by sinking a shaft, or by striking 
 out from some sand-pit into which projected this 
 
270 Christian Truths. 
 
 soft tufa. A corridor was excavated, seven or 
 eight feet higli by three feet wide, the earth 
 being carried up and scattered over the farm, or 
 thrown into the old sand-pit. When the corri- 
 dor was completed, they made burial-places in 
 the sides of it, according to the size of the corpse, 
 and about a foot and a half in depth and height, 
 which were hermetically sealed with tiles or 
 marble slabs, inscribed with the name of the 
 occupant, with figures, facts, or dates. "When 
 these burial-places, known as locuU, or loculus 
 in the singular, had taken up all available space, 
 a further excavation was made ; and, leaving a 
 passage-way, it was the rule to throw the earth 
 excavated into old corridors, sometimes com- 
 pletely filling them to within a short distance of 
 the top. This is why the Catacombs are now 
 said to be excavated : this filling is taken out. 
 It was providential that the Christians filled up 
 these corridors, for by this means the most valu- 
 able remains of Christian antiquity have been 
 kept to our day. After burial in the Catacombs 
 ceased, they were from time to time devastated, 
 first by the Goths in the fifth century, and in 
 the eighth century by the Lombards under As- 
 tolphus, in the year 755. This latter devastation 
 was the worst of all. Tombs were violated, in- 
 
Early Christianity. 271 
 
 scriptions and monuments broken to pieces and 
 strewn around, mingled witli earth and sand ; 
 and this mass contributed also to fill up the 
 corridors. From this fact we can appreciate 
 the prudence which causes the earth now taken 
 from the Catacombs to be carefully sifted, and 
 every portion of marble discovered in it to be 
 jealously preserved for future use in making 
 up the monument it belongs to, when the other 
 parts "will come to light. 
 
 From the corridors at intervals open out small 
 rooms or chapels, known as ciibicula. A cubi- 
 culum is usaally not more than ten feet square ; 
 not always that. It generally has an arched 
 tomb, known as an arcosolium, in which the 
 head of the family to which the chapel be- 
 longed was laid to rest, or some distinguished 
 person or martyr was deposited. The remainder 
 of the chapel is lined with locuH for the mem- 
 bers of the family. The walls between them 
 were plastered and frescoed. 
 
 For my purpose it is not necessary even to 
 enumerate the various Catacombs, and useless 
 to attempt to speak of more than one. For this 
 reason I take the most celebrated, as weU as the 
 one richest in what we vdsh to study — the Cata- 
 combs of St. Calixtus. 
 
272 Christian Truths. 
 
 Riding out on the Appian Way, passing the 
 Baths of Caracalla, the tombs of the Scipios, 
 the Cohimbaria of Caesar and of Pompey, you 
 see before you the straight line of the Appian 
 stretching on to the Alban Hills, crowned by the 
 ruins of the temple of Jupiter Latialis, upon 
 which stands a convent of the Passionist Fa- 
 thers. On tlie right and on the left at intervals 
 stand shapeless masses of masonry. What are 
 they, or were theyl They are the nuclei of 
 sepulchral structures, which, covered over with 
 beautiful marbles, and ornamented by statuary 
 and alto-relievo work, were the pride of the old 
 Roman families, and enclosed the ashes of their 
 ancestors. About three miles out to the right 
 stands conspicuously one of these masses, hav- 
 ing beside it two trees which enable you to recog- 
 nize, from a great distance, the site of the Cata- 
 combs of St. Calixtus. In the first century this 
 area, or burial-place, belonged to the gens Cse- 
 cOiana, a pagan family. Later, some of the fam- 
 ily becoming Christian, it was in the possession 
 of the lady, from whom that portion of this Chris- 
 tian cemetery is known as the crypt of Lucina. 
 Here Christian burial went on during the latter 
 part of the first, and diiring the second century, 
 until every portion was so fuU of tombs that 
 
Early Christianity. 273 
 
 it was necessary to enlarge the cemetery. Pope 
 Zephyrinus ruled the Church of Rome from the 
 year a.d. 202, and Calixtus was the archdeacon. 
 To him the Pope entrusted the charge of carry- 
 ing out the work which made this the principal 
 cemetery of Christian Rome. Not all the exca- 
 vation here, however, was done during the life of 
 Calixtus, for it was carried on as needed. As he 
 began it, his name has been given to it. Others 
 worked there as he had done. There is an in- 
 scription now in the Catacombs of St. Calixtus, 
 which reads as follows : " By order of his Pope, 
 Marcellinus, this Deacon Severus made a double 
 cubiculum, with its one skylight and arched 
 tombs." This description accurately corresponds 
 with the architecture of the place. Pope Mar- 
 cellinus ruled the Church about the year 290, 
 so that nearly a century elapsed before that por- 
 tion was excavated. Work of that kind, how- 
 ever, ceased not many years after ; for burial in 
 the Catacombs began to be discontinued in the 
 first half of the fourth century. It is necessary 
 to call your attention to this fact, on account of 
 the epoch to which the monuments belong — for 
 those I am going to speak of belong to the first 
 three centuries. An inscription of Pope St. Da- 
 masus, cut by his celebrated workman, Furius 
 
274 Christian Truths. 
 
 Dionysius Filocalus, and placed in the Papal 
 Crypt of St. Calixtns, lias these words : 
 
 "hic fateoe damasus mea volui condebe 
 
 MEMBEA, 
 
 SED CINEEES TIMUI SANCTOS TEXAEE PIOEIJM. 
 
 ■>■> 
 
 After speaking of the martyrs, confessors, 
 and virgins buried there, for whom he had 
 such love and veneration, he declares that he 
 dares not desecrate their ashes by having him- 
 self buried among them. Damasus was Pope 
 in the year 370. If a Pope thought the place 
 too sacred for him, we may easily understand 
 that these Catacombs had ceased to be places of 
 burial. The incursions of barbarians later not 
 only made the Catacombs inadvisable as places 
 of burial, but counselled the removal of bodies 
 to Rome. 
 
 The cessation of burial in the Catacombs cer- 
 tainly gives us sure data with regard to what is 
 found in them. But there are other indications 
 which serve to fix still more clearly the epoch 
 to which the monuments we wish to use belong. 
 In the crypt of the Catacombs of St. CaliKtus, 
 the wall of which has ihe representation of the 
 Good Shepherd surrounded by His sheep, some 
 of which are drinking of water flowing from the 
 
Early Christianity. 275 
 
 rock, on careful examination I found that the 
 plaster, which served to close a loculus, lapped 
 over the painting. Now, this loculus had been 
 made by cutting through the painting, because 
 all the otlier portions of the walls of the cry](t 
 had become filled with bodies. Consequently 
 this was an old fresco when it was cut through. 
 People don't cut through new paintings. Eut, 
 as I said, burial in the Catacombs ceased, or be- 
 gan to cease, in the early part of the fourth cen- 
 tury. This fresco was old then. Other indica- 
 tions show it to belong to the groups of the 
 early part of the third century, while art was still 
 flourishing. In fact, the judgment which artists, 
 irrespectively of religious persuasion, have pro- 
 nounced with reference to these frescoes of St. 
 Calixtus, allots them to the early part of the 
 third century. Just as those who are engaged 
 in Biblical research learn to distinguish, with 
 great accuracy, the epoch of codices or Bible MSS. 
 by the material on which they are -written, the 
 style of lettering, and other less indications ; so, 
 too, artists detennine with great sureness, and 
 very close approximation, the period to which 
 paintings belong. Who cannot tell a pre-Ea- 
 lahael from a Giulio Romano? Who is not able 
 to distinguish a Byzantine head from a Roman 
 
276 CTirisiian Truths. 
 
 face of the time of the Caesars? Just so is it 
 with regard to the paintings of the Catacombs. 
 Some might wonder how they could last so long 
 under ground, and be inclined to doubt cf their 
 genuineness. Let them go to the Golden House 
 of Nero on the Esquiline, admire the delicate 
 and graceful figures of the Cripto Portico ; and, 
 when they have given expression and full play 
 to their feelings of admiration of the art of the 
 first century, let them visit the Catacombs and 
 doubt, if they can, of the possibility of frescoes 
 lasting eighteen hundred years. 
 
 The age and the style of these paintings are 
 not the only interesting features they possess. 
 Perhaps that which most attracts is their sym- 
 bolical character. For they do not represent the 
 tenets of Christianity in an obvious way, but in a 
 manner easily understood when once explained, 
 but not easily divined by an unskilled person. 
 The reason of this is that in the first ages so 
 great was the danger of discovery, and so merci- 
 less the shafts of ridicule aimed at the Chris- 
 tians, that it was deemed necessary to conceal 
 under symbolical forms the sacred teachings of 
 the faith. The very sacredness of these truths, 
 more even than anything else, counselled the 
 carrying out of the apostolic admonition "not 
 
Early Chrutlanity. 277 
 
 to cast pearls before swine." Hence arose the 
 "disciplina arcani," the economy of secrecy, 
 which veiled and protected the mysteries of re- 
 ligion. In virtne of this economy it was not 
 lawful for those initiated in the doctrines of 
 Christianity to speak of, or represent publicly, 
 certain of its tenets and usages ; for example, 
 the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, of the Bless- 
 ed Eucharist, the sufferings of our Saviour, even 
 the sign of the cross. The existence of this dis- 
 cipline is not only evident from the careful study 
 of the remains of early symbolism, but is clear 
 from the express words of the Fathers of the 
 first centuries. Thus TertuUian, in his book ad- 
 dressed to a wife {Ad Uxorem., lib. ii. c. v. ed. 
 Venetiis, 1744), says to one who is married to 
 a pagan : ' ' How will you escape the observation 
 of your husband when you make the sign of the 
 cross upon yourself or the objects you use ? 
 How will he not know what you partake of in 
 secret before- any other food ? And if he should 
 know it to be bread, he will not believe it to be 
 what it seems." Origen says (Horn, ix., in Le- 
 viticum, No. x.) : "He knoweth who is initiated 
 what is the Body and the Blood of the Word of 
 God ; let us not, therefore, delay treating of things 
 clear to those who know, but which cannot be 
 
278 Christian Truths. 
 
 disclosed to those who do not know." Pope 
 Julius I. upbraids the Eusebians for speaking 
 too openly about the Blessed Eucharist. In his 
 Horn, xi., on St. John, St. Augustine writes even 
 more explicitly : " If you ask a catechumen, Do 
 you believe in Christ ? he answers, I believe ; and 
 he signs himself with the sign of the cross of 
 Christ. . . . Let us ask him : Do you eat of the 
 flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood? 
 He does not know what you are saying, because 
 Christ has not yet trusted Himself to him." A 
 fact made known a few years ago justifies fully 
 this precaution of secrecy. In excavating the 
 palace of the Caesars, at Rome, a large room 
 was discovered which had served as a waiting- 
 room for the pages of the emperors. On the 
 walls were found etchings, and one of these re- 
 presented a cross, and on it a figure crucified, 
 liaving the head of an ass. At the foot of the 
 cross stood a figure, with his hand raised to his 
 forehead, according to the Eastern mode of ado- 
 ration, and underneath was written in Greek: 
 " Alexamenos worships God." The original is 
 preserved in the Kircherian Museum in Rome, 
 and was brought to the notice of English-speak- 
 ing people by the late Cardinal Wiseman. This 
 is sufiicient to account for the hidden manner in 
 
Early Christianity. 379 
 
 which the cross is found in the Catacombs. At 
 one time it is an anchor, at anotlier two dia- 
 meters of a circle crossing each otlier at riglit- 
 angies ; again it is what is known as a gafhma 
 cross 4"', or a trident. Tlie earliest representa- 
 tion of Christ on the cross I have seen is a fresco 
 of the early part of the third century, it being a 
 trident with a fish upon it, the fish being a sym- 
 bol of Christ, as I shall presently explain. 
 
 Let us go down the stairway that leads into 
 the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. A descent of 
 thirty feet brings us to a corridor, and a turn to 
 the right leads us to the entrance of a crypt 
 which gives the name by which these Catacombs 
 were known to antiquity, ad sanctum Xystum. 
 This subterranean chapel is about fifteen feet 
 long by eight feet wide, with a skylight. Here 
 were buried St. Xystus and twelve other Pontiffs. 
 The bodies were taken out and brought to Rome 
 in consequence of the ravages of barbarians al- 
 ready referred to. The slabs which enclosed the 
 remains were broken and thrown on the ground ; 
 among them, those of Popes Eutychian, Fabian, 
 Lucius, and Anterus, which have been recovered 
 from the debris and replaced in tocuU. Here 
 was the inscription of Pope Damasus I spoke of, 
 in which, after commemorating the sufferings and 
 
280 Christian Truths. 
 
 triumphs of those laid to rest in the Catacombs, 
 he declares himself "afraid to disturb the ashes 
 of the just." The portions of this inscription re- 
 covet'ed are let into a piece of peperino, or stone 
 of the Alban Mount. To the name ad sanctum 
 Xystum was coupled the further appellation, ad 
 sanctam CcBciliam ; for tradition told of the 
 burial of St. Csecilia at this place. When Pope 
 Paschal T., who became Pope the year 817, set 
 about bringing the bodies of the martyrs and Pon- 
 tiifs to Rome, he sought for her body, but could 
 not find it. He tells us in the Liher Pontificalls 
 what happened to him. He says he was one morn- 
 ing at St. Peter' s with his clergy, when St. Csecilia 
 appeared to him and reproached him for giving 
 np the search for her body, saying he had been 
 so near to her in the chapel in which he had 
 been, this crypt of the Pontiffs, that he could 
 have spoken to her, face to face. On coming to 
 himself he told his clergy what had happened. 
 They proceeded to St. Xystus and St. Csecilia, 
 and found the body on the other side of the 
 wall of tufa which separates the crypt from 
 that of St. Csecilia. She was in a sarcophagus, 
 richly clad in a robe of golden tissue, vrith orna- 
 ments of gold upon her person ; the delicate body 
 lay on its side, her head, nearly severed by the 
 
Early Christianity. 281 
 
 lictor's axe from the neck, enveloped in a light 
 veil and turned to one side, the face downward, 
 while her arms lay naturally with the hands in 
 front, one hand with one finger extended, the 
 other with three — she thus professing her faith 
 in one God in three Persons. The remains were 
 reverently taken up and carried to her house in 
 Rome, across the Tiber, which had been the scene 
 of her martyrdom, which she had left to be used 
 as a church, and deposited under the high altar. 
 There they remained until Cardinal Sfondrati, in 
 the year 1599, by permission of the Pope, while 
 repairing this cliurch, opened the tomb and recog- 
 nized officially the autheiiticity of the relics. The 
 urn was opened in the presence of the cardinal 
 and many others, among whom were Bosio, the 
 archffiologist, and Maderno, the sculptor, who 
 made the beautiful statue of St. Csecilia, so much 
 admired, which is now under the high altar of 
 the church. 
 
 Let us leave this place, though so full of edify- 
 ing and refreshing memories, to wend our way 
 through the labyrinth of corridors. Through an 
 opening in the side of the crypt we find ourselves 
 in a corridor lined on one side and the other with 
 empty locidi. They once had occupants ; the 
 marks are there to show that — a tile still in its 
 
282 Christian Truths. 
 
 place, or a crumbling bone. Look well into them, 
 and see the nature of the rock ; how the mark of 
 the pick, as fresh as if made yesterday, makes it 
 evident that it yielded easily to the stroke. Cold 
 and heat have had no effect on it. We are too far 
 underground for that. We pass on. Here right 
 before us is an open doorway. We enter and 
 find ourselves in a small room perhaps ten feet 
 square and seven in height. It is full of loculi. 
 But the ceiling and the spaces between the burial 
 places have been plastered and painted. Over 
 your head you see a representation of the Good 
 Shepherd, so often met with in the Catacombs. 
 At your left on entering you see on the wall a 
 fresco-painting. There is a man with a rod in 
 his hand, and he is striking a rock from which 
 water is flowing. The subject is evidently Scrip- 
 tural. It recalls Moses striking the rock in the 
 desert. But it is not Moses. The very opposi- 
 tion, so marked in the New Testament, to every 
 Judaizing spirit, would of itself exclude the fre- 
 quently recurring figure of Moses. The rod in 
 the hand, typifying power, might lead one to 
 think it might be the prophet like unto Moses, to 
 be raised up — Christ Himself. But Christ is not 
 the one who strikes, but the thing struck; for, as 
 St. Paul says: "They all drank of the spirit- 
 
Early Christianity. 283 
 
 ual rock that followed them, and the rock was 
 Christ." A matter-of-fact argument helps us 
 out of the difficulty and tells us who this figure 
 is. Discs of glass have been found in the Cata- 
 combs at the tombs, illuminated in gold and 
 black, which were covered over with a second 
 plate of glass and annealed in a furnace, so as to 
 hermetically seal the edges and so protect the 
 picture. Several have come to light representing 
 this picture we see before us, and one of them is 
 now in the Vatican Library. Over the head of 
 the man striking the rock is read the name Fe- 
 trus, Peter. Peter is the antitype of Moses ; he 
 is the leader of the New Dispensation. So speaks 
 St. Ephrem of Syria in his sermon on the Trans- 
 figuration on the Mount. Moses, the oeconome of 
 the Father, he says, saw Peter, the procurator of 
 the Son 
 
 Adjoining this painting we see a group. A 
 man is seated on the bank of a stream ; he is 
 fishing, and has caught a fish, which he is draw- 
 ing out of the water. There is a boy standing in 
 the water, and a' man by his side is pouring 
 water on his head. We are reminded at once of 
 the words of Christ to the Apostles, "Hence- 
 forth you will be taking men." Here is the 
 apostolic fisherman. The fish is the Christian. 
 
284 Christian Truths. 
 
 TMs symbol of tlie fisli is most interesting, and 
 plays a most important part in Christian sym- 
 bolism. So much, importance did the early 
 Christians attach to it that they made small 
 fish of bone or metal, and carried them about 
 as we carry watch-charms. It was the symbol of 
 a Christian. It has been said that the Erythraean 
 sibylfirstused the acrostic '/X0r'2; butthe verses 
 attributed to that sibyl are regarded as spurious. 
 The acrostic itself was in use, however, from the 
 early ages : first, because the five letters of the 
 word are the initial letters of the five words 
 'iTjffovS Xpiaroi &eov Tioi SaoTTJp. IXQVS, 
 therefore, recalls at once Jesus Christ, Son of 
 God, Saviour. Moreover, the fish lives in the wa- 
 ter, and so does the Christian by baptism. This 
 made TertulUan, in his book on baptism, say : 
 Nos omnes pisciculi secundum Ichthun nostrum 
 CJiristum; in aqua nascimur, et non nisi in 
 aqua permanendo salvi sumus — "We are little 
 fish, after the manner of our great fish, Christ ; we 
 are bom in the water, and only by remaining in 
 the water are we safe." Then, writing of Quin- 
 tilla, who denied the efficacy of baptism, he adds 
 wittily : " The cruel Quintilla knows well how to 
 kill the fish by taking them out of the water." 
 Optatus, of Milevitum, in Africa, in the fourth 
 
Early Christianity. 285 
 
 century, in his comment on tlie book of Tobias, 
 says that the fish caught by young Tobias, at the 
 instance of the angel, was a type of Christ ; for it 
 was useful to cure blindness, heal disease, and 
 put to flight the evil spirit. This, he says, is 
 what Christ does : illuminat, sanat, et fug at 
 diabolum. The fish, therefore, in Christian ar- 
 chaeology, represents Christ and the Christian. 
 In this fresco we have the Apostle who secured a 
 soul for Christ, the soul being represented by the 
 fish caught. How that soul enters into life is 
 shown by the other figures, a boy standing in the 
 water, and a man by his side pouring water on 
 his head. This is baptism ; and, what is of fur- 
 ther value, we have here child-baptism. We see 
 the early Church did not wait till a child grew 
 up to man' s estate to determine and choose for 
 himself. She recognized God's right to our ser- 
 vice and obedience from the first breath we draw, 
 and consecrated the child to Him ere vice could 
 taint it, and passion, grown strong with age, hold 
 sway in the heart. 
 
 On the plaster connecfed with this group, and 
 separated only by a line of color, is a man with a 
 bed on his back. Here is the healing of the pa- 
 ralytic man of the Gospel. You remember, my 
 friends, when and why our Lord wrought this 
 
286 Cliristian Truths. 
 
 miracle. On seeing this man lying in his bed 
 totally paralyzed, Christ said to him: "Have 
 courage, son ; thy sins are forgiven thee." The 
 Jevrs murmured and said: "Hovsr can this man 
 forgive sin % Only Q od can forgive sin. ' ' Know- 
 ing their thoughts, our Lord turned to them and 
 said: "Why do you murmur in your hearts? 
 Which is easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven 
 thee, or, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk? 
 But that you may know the Son of Man hath 
 power to forgive sin," turning to the paralytic 
 man. He said, "Arise, take up thy bed, and 
 walk." The man arose, and took up his bed, 
 and walked. This power of forgiving sins Christ 
 gave to the Apostles and their successors when 
 He said to them : "All power has been given me 
 in heaven and on earth. As the Father hath 
 sent me, I send you." The Christians recogniz- 
 ed, therefore, when they raised their eyes to this 
 picture, the truth of the belief in the forgive- 
 ness of sins. Not only were they taught by the 
 monuments of the Catacombs to so believe, but 
 an inscription by Pope Damasus, who, as I 
 have said, ruled the Church in the fourth cen- 
 tury, and which is found in the crypt of St. 
 Eusebius, tells how, in the beginning of the third 
 century, a fierce controversy raged in the Church 
 
Early Christianity. 287 
 
 of Rome about the forgiveness of certain sins of 
 a most grave nature. Eusebius was then Pope ; 
 the leader of the severe and gloomy Montanists 
 was Heraclius. This man tanght that those who 
 had fallen away from the faith during persecu- 
 tion could not be forgiven. The Pope defended 
 the doctrine of the Church that all sins, short of 
 resistance to the Holy Ghost, could be remitted. 
 The consequence was discord, strife, and blood- 
 shed. The Pope was driven into exile, and on 
 the shores of Sicily "left this world and life." 
 
 Passing from this fresco of the paralytic man, 
 we see on the wall facing the entrance the most 
 important and interesting of all the monuments 
 in this room. It represents to us a central group 
 and two pendants or lateral paintings belonging 
 to it. The central group has seven persons re- 
 clining at a table, and upon the table are two 
 fish.* In front of the table are eight baskets 
 of bread. We immediately recur in thought to 
 the miracle in the desert of the multiplication of 
 the loaves and fishes. Yet that miracle, as we 
 read in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. 
 John, was only the prelude or preface to the 
 
 * This subject has been spoten of in the lecture on the Blessed Eu- 
 chai'ist. As this is the proper place for its archaeological treatment, I 
 hope I shall be excused for introducing it again. 
 
288 CJiristian Truths. 
 
 promise of the Blessed Eucharist ; and, there- 
 fore, though we have here an allusion to that 
 miracle, the importance which the Christians 
 gave to the symbol of the fish makes us realize 
 that there is something more meant here. In a 
 double room in the first portion of these Cata- 
 combs, of which I spoke as the crypt of Lucina, 
 there are seen, on either side of the wall of the 
 inner room, two live fish swimming, each with a 
 basket of bread on its back, and in the centre 
 of each basket a bottle of red wine. This makes 
 it evident that the Blessed Eiicharist is intended 
 to be represented. Our Lord from material food 
 elevated the mind of those He spoke with to the 
 thought of a supernatural food, and bade them 
 " seek not the bread that perisheth, but that 
 which endureth unto life everlasting, which the 
 Son of Man will give you," which was His Flesh 
 and Blood. So here this fish and bread, wliile 
 referring to the miraculous multiplication of the 
 loaves and fishes in the desert, recalls the doctrine 
 of the Blessed Eucharist in a way not to be mis- 
 taken. That meaning is made still more evident 
 by the two lateral pictures. The one on the left 
 hand presents us two persons, one standing near 
 a tripod, vdtli his hands stretched over the tri- 
 pod, upon which are a loaf of bread and a fish. 
 
Early Christianity. 289 
 
 The tripod is a symbol of sacriiice. It was a 
 pagan symbol, to be sure ; but the Christians 
 were not narrow, and when symbols used by 
 pagans were not specifically pagan, but suggest- 
 ed ideas common also to a true system of reli- 
 gion, they did not scruple to use them. This 
 can be seen in the very accessory ornaments of 
 this room we are in. So here, wishing to repre- 
 sent a sacrifice, they took the tripod, offered on 
 it a loaf of bread and a fish, put the priest there 
 with his outstretched hand in the act of sacri- 
 fice, and alongside a figure praying, with the 
 hands raised just as the priest raises his hands 
 at Mass — the Orante, or praying figure of the 
 Catacombs, which here rej)resents the Church. 
 We see here typified the sacrifice of the Mass. 
 The Blessed Eucharist is both sacrament and 
 sacrifice. The lateral picture on the right makes 
 still more evident what the picture on the left 
 means ; for it gives us a man, a boy, a tree, a 
 fagot or bundle of wood, and a ram. The man is 
 Abraham, the boy is Isaac, the tree represents 
 the landscape of the mount, the bundle of wood 
 was brought up by Isaac, and the ram is wliat 
 was sacrificed by Abraham instead of his son. 
 Now, we know that Isaac was a type of Christ, 
 for he carried up the hill the wood upon which 
 
290 Christian Truths. 
 
 he was to be offered up ; and Christ did the 
 same when He carried the cross. There is, there- 
 fore, a unity in this fresco ; the lateral paintings 
 illustrate and explain each other, and both are 
 closely connected with the central group, giving 
 us, in this way, the Blessed Eucharist as a sa- 
 crament and a sacrifice, that sacrifice being the 
 sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, offered in an 
 unbloody manner, in the Mass. 
 
 The symbol of the tripod was of such impor- 
 tance in the eyes of the edirlj Christians that 
 not only did they repeat it often, but in one of 
 the principal crypts in the Catacombs of St. Ca- 
 lixtus, near the one we are studying, it is to be 
 seen, no one standing by it, in the most conspi- 
 cuous place, having upon it two loaves of bread 
 and a fish. This fact proves how prominent a 
 place in Christian symbolism the tripod, the type 
 of sacrifice, held. 
 
 Before leaving this subject I call attention once 
 more to the seven figures here reclining at the 
 table. All except the one in the middle have 
 their right hands raised. This, it is well known, 
 is the attitude of adoration. The middle one has 
 his right hand stretched out over the objects on 
 the table, whiqh is the position of one offering a 
 sacrifice. Taken in connection with what I have 
 
Early Christianity. 291 
 
 just described, the positions are most significant, 
 and represent to us the sacrifice of the New Law 
 and its great Sacrament, in which Christ is adored 
 and offered under the form or appearance of 
 bread and wine. On the walls of this room, near 
 the ceiling on either side, are to be seen the fres- 
 coes of Jonas thrown into the sea and swallowed 
 by the sea-monster, and afterwards thrown up 
 on the shore. This fact Christ alluded to as a 
 type of His death, burial, and resurrection. St. 
 Paul says : ''If Christ has not risen, then is our 
 faith vain." The Christian hunted to death, 
 knowing what a cruel fate awaited him when 
 discovered, strengthened himself by the sight 
 of these pictures which told of the resurrection 
 with Christ, one day, in glory. 
 
 I shall close this lecture, my dear friends, with 
 a few words on a subject regarding which Catho- 
 lics are so frequently attacked, but which is to 
 them a source of such great consolation and hap- 
 piness : the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary 
 and the saints. It has been stated, by more than 
 one of the writers who in non-Catholic circles are 
 looked on as authorities, that there are no repre- 
 sentations of the Mother of God in the Cata- 
 combs. This is a mistake. There are several 
 pictures of her that I have seen. One well known 
 
292 Christian Truths. 
 
 ,is in the Catacombs of St. Agnes, representing 
 the Mother of Christ with her Child. The 
 monogram of Constantine, the ^ shows, how- 
 ever, it belongs to the fourth century. There 
 is in the Catacombs of St. Calixtus one much 
 more ancient, having been painted in the early 
 part of the third century. It represents the 
 three wise kings bringing their gifts to the 
 new-born Saviour, who is in the lap of His 
 Mother. She is seated on a throne, and ex- 
 tends with majestic dignity her hand to re- 
 ceive the gifts they bring. The whole style of 
 this fresco is excellent, and shows how the arts 
 were flourishing when it was painted. This same 
 subject recurs frequently also in sculpture. 
 There is a sarcophagus at the Lateran Museum 
 in Rome, of the fourth century, which is most 
 remarkable and valuable on account of its sym- 
 bolism. Among other groups it presents us with 
 the Blessed Virgin and her Child receiving gifts 
 from the Magi. By the side of the throne, upon 
 which she is seated, stands the figure represent- 
 ing the Holy Ghost, as can be seen by comparing 
 it with the Holy Ghost in the Trinity figured just 
 above it. He has His hand upon the throne, 
 just as He is represented as having there. Be- 
 sides these representations, we have those of the 
 
Early Christianity. 293 
 
 saints, of those particularly wlio shed their blood 
 for the faith, by whose tombs are found the 
 small vials of their blood, gathered and pre- 
 served by the piety of the faithful as a sign of 
 their victory over persecution. Often or^ their 
 tombs, or by the side of the place vrhere these 
 sacred remains reposed, was to be found the 
 prayer of the Christian, rudely painted on the 
 wall, and invoking the aid of the saint. What 
 especially strikes one, and in its spirit of beau- 
 tiful charity touches the heart, is the expression 
 often found of prayer for the dead. The words 
 refrigerare, "refresh," is the favorite word for 
 signifying this prayer. It is, in fact, the liturgical 
 word of prayer for the dead. In the Canon of 
 the Mass the priest every day prays that God 
 may give to the departed locum refrigerii — "a 
 place of refreshment." In the Catacombs of 
 Prsetextatus the Commendatore de Rossi, to 
 whom I am indebted for most of the informa- 
 tion and explanation I have given you, found 
 the following words on a sepulchre uncovered 
 in 1851 : Deiis Christus omnipotens refrigeret 
 spiritum tuvm — "May Christ the Almighty 
 God refresh thy spirit." In the same cemetery 
 of Prsetextatus he found also this expression : 
 Refrigeri {sic], Januarius, Agatopus, Felicis- 
 
294 Christian Truths. 
 
 Sim. Martpres—"'Retresh, O Januarius, Agapi- 
 tus, Felicissimus, martyrs, the soul, etc." The 
 inscriptions in the Catacombs are very frequent- 
 ly ungrammatical, a sign that they were written 
 by rude people in the simple language of faith 
 and feeling. In fact, it is a canon of archaeology, 
 the ruder and simpler, the more ancient ; the 
 more elaborate and polished, the more modem. 
 In the Catacombs of Hippolitus, in the sixteenth 
 century, Bosio found the words : Refrigeri tihi 
 domnus IppoUtus — "May our master, Ippo- 
 Utus, give thee refreshment." The word dom- 
 nus is a title of distinction signifying "pre- 
 eminence," as lord or master. In a tablet at 
 the Museum of St. John Lateran, taken from 
 the Catacombs or crypts of Rome, I have read 
 the words : Refrigera Deus anima — the stone 
 ending here, probably cutting off the final m — 
 "Refresh, b Lord, the soul." 
 
 You thus see, my dear friends, how the tenets 
 of the Christian faith we hold are illustrated 
 by the discoveries of the Catacombs— how they 
 show us the existence of a belief in the early 
 Church in the primacy and hegemony of Peter, 
 the Sacrament of Baptism, the forgiveness of 
 sins, the Blessed Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice 
 of the Mass, the Resurrection of Christ, the 
 
Early Christianity. 295 
 
 veneration of the Holy Mother of God and of 
 the saints, supplication for the departed. We 
 look around us, and we find no church holding 
 all these doctrines but the Holy Catholic Church 
 of Rome. We recognize ourselves as one with 
 the early Christians ; were they to rise from their 
 tombs they would come to us. Let us thank 
 God for the perpetuity of His faith and for our 
 possession of it ; let us hold fast to it, appre- 
 ciate it all the more feelingly, as we realize its 
 miraculous life and its unsurpassed beauty. 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
 MIRACLES AND MODEEN SCEPTICISM — AN AUTHENTI- 
 CATED CASE. 
 
 (Journal of the Fair, New Yuri, 1878J 
 
 In the spring of 1878 I was returning from Italy 
 to America, and, leaving my route of travel, I went 
 into Belgium. The reason of this going out of my 
 way was because, some time before, I had read of 
 an occurrence so remarkable that I wanted to look 
 the matter up for myself. I had read, in fact, that 
 a man had broken his leg ; that the injury was what 
 the physicians called a compound fracture ; that he 
 had been thus disabled eight years, the wound con- 
 stantly discharging ; that he had been visited by seve- 
 ral medical men, who had pronounced the cure impos- 
 sible ; the only thing to do was to cut the leg off, as 
 union of the broken parts could not even be hoped 
 for. Just the same opinion would be given bv our own 
 surgeons here. Yet, all of a sudden, this man, who 
 woke up in the morning in the pitiable condition just 
 described, is seen walking about as sound of limb as any 
 of the busy walkers one meets on Broadway of a morn- 
 ing. This, certainly, was extraordinary, and I was 
 determined to look into the statement. I was well 
 repaid for my trouble, apart from the charming 
 scenery and interesting sights offered by the busiest 
 little country in the world. I went at once to Jab- 
 beke, a station on the railway from Ostende to Bruges, 
 
Appendix. 297 
 
 where dwelt Pierre de Eudder, the man who was said to 
 have been cured, reaching this place on the first of 
 June. I called immediately on the venerable cur6, 
 the Abb6 Slock. He received me with genuine Bel- 
 gian hospitality. When told the object of my visit, 
 he promised to do all he could. Just then, he said, 
 De Rudder was out of the village, but he would send 
 word to him, and to any others I wanted, to come at 
 the hour I should name. 
 
 I named seven o'clock that evening, and besides re- 
 quested that some of those who, I had heard, had 
 assisted De Rudder in his sad state might also come. In 
 the meantime, in company with the vicaire, I went to 
 see the only one of the medical attendants of De Rudder 
 we found there. Dr. Van Troostenberghe. The doctor 
 received us very politely, and expressed his willingness 
 to answer any questions we might pnt to him. We 
 found he had not seen De Rudder for two years, as his 
 physician. He said the case was well known. Two 
 years before he had seen the wound in the leg ; it was a 
 compound fracture and discharged a great deal ; he 
 thought some portions of bone had been lost, but he had 
 not seen these portions. In fact, as I afterward ascer- 
 tained from De Rudder, there was no bone lost. The 
 doctor told us that both bones of the leg were broken, 
 the fracture being at the junction of the upper and mid- 
 dle thirds of the tibia and fibula. He added there was 
 no cure for such a state of things. Tlie only resource 
 was to amputate. He concluded by saying : "Art could 
 not accomplish such a cure as had taken place in De 
 Eudder." 
 
 All this only rendered me more desirous of making a 
 thorough examination in the evening. At seven o'clock 
 
298 Appendix. 
 
 I went with the cure to his office. We found there 
 the following persons : 
 
 Pierre de Eudder, Edward Van Hooren, Marie Witter- 
 zaele, Jean Houtsaeyer, innkeeper at Jabbeke, besides 
 the vicaire, or assistant priest. 
 
 The first person I questioned was Edward Van Hoo- 
 ren, a Fleming. The vicaire translated my questions 
 and the witness's answers. De Rudder had lost all hope 
 in man, and had been making a novena, or nine days' 
 prayer, to the Blessed Virgin of Lourdes. There is a 
 small grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on the property of 
 the Marchioness de Courtebonne, at Oostakker, near 
 Ghent, much visited by the people of the country 
 around. 
 
 De Rudder, not being able to go to Lourdes in France, 
 both from poverty as well as from his condition, resolved 
 to make a pilgrimage to this grotto. 
 
 Edward Van Hooren testified that he had seen De 
 Rudder on the eve of his departure for Oostakker, the 
 6th of April, 1875. De Rudder told him he was going 
 to Oostakker. He saw him turn his foot so as to put 
 the heel in front — " the heel where the toes were." He 
 had several times seen De Rudder turn the foot and lower 
 part of the broken leg at an angle to the upper part of 
 it. The last time he saw this was at 7.30 o'clock on 
 the morning of the day before he was cured. The leg 
 on that day was much swollen, being larger around than 
 his head. He saw him leave the next day for Oostakker. 
 He saw him m the afternoon of the same day, the day 
 he was healed, well and walking abou.t. Here the cur6 
 made the remark that he himself saw De Rudder walking 
 that day without crutches, and well ; that he had pre- 
 viously seen the wound, and the extremities of the broken 
 
Appendix. 299 
 
 bone separated about three centimetres, or about an inch. 
 Upward of two hundred persons saw him walking. 
 
 Marie Witterzaele, the next witness, also a Fleming, 
 declared that she saw De Eudder, the day preceding the 
 cure, at her house, at eight o'clock in the morning. He 
 complained of his condition and sliowed his leg, bending 
 it from side to side. He told lier he was going to Oostak- 
 ker. Slie saw the wound dressed about fifty times, and 
 several times saw the ends of the broken bone come out 
 of the wound in the skin. Both bones were broken. 
 
 I then questioned Jean Houtsaeyer, innkeeper at Jab- 
 beke, who speaks French fluently. He said he had seen 
 Pierre de Eudder only once prior to his cure. It was 
 about two weeks before this event ; he asked De Eudder 
 what was the matter with his leg ; De Eudder took hold 
 of his leg and turned it almost entirely round, so that 
 the toes were behind: "// mettait les doigts du pied 
 par derriire."' He showed the wound and the extremi- 
 ties of the bone, about two centimetres apart. The 
 wound was about four centimetres square. He pointed 
 to the inkstand on the table, saying : '• That could have 
 gone in it. " The leg was slightly swollen. De Eudder 
 told him the leg was almost dead, not feeling to any ex- 
 tent the piercing of a needle. He saw De Eudder the 
 day he was cured ; saw him walking, and did not 
 recognize him, as he was walking without crutches. He 
 offered to sign his name to what he had eaid. 
 
 Pierre de Eudder was finally questioned by us. He 
 described his cure. Ho went to Oostakker the 7th of 
 April, 1875, to- pray for restoration to health. On 
 reaching the grotto he took his place on the front bench. 
 His leg pained him a great deal. The bench was crowd- 
 ed, and he was jostled by some one. This caused him 
 
300 Appendix. 
 
 so much pain that he left his place and went to a back 
 bench ; here he became absorbed in prayer, and while 
 in this state left his place and went to the statue of the 
 Blessed Virgin. When he came to himself he wondered 
 how he got there, and looked around for his crutches ; 
 he hadn't them by him. They were at the bench. He 
 rose up, and found that he could stand perfectly. The 
 bandages fell, and would have slipped down to his feet 
 had he not caught them. The leg had resumed its 
 natural size ; he was entirely cured. He walked to the 
 house of the marchioness and left his crutches there. 
 In reply to my question whether he had lost any por- 
 tion of bone, De Eudder stated that he did not re- 
 member. His leg, for some days after the cure, was as 
 if it were asleep. In appearance it was like the other. 
 He also stated that the wound used to swarm with worms ; 
 and that, on the day he went to Oostakker, he had to 
 put on it a large cataplasm of oak-bark to kill them. 
 This assertion was confirmed by those present. He 
 showed me his leg and the scar that remains. There 
 is no inequality from callous or loss of substance of 
 the skin. He is sound of limb. He can walk with- 
 out tHfe'^i^E^six'dlffibdlty or limping, there being no 
 difference in; the .length *-of his limbs, nor any defor- 
 mity in them. 
 
 It results, from this examination of the fellow-towns- 
 men of Pierre de Rudder and of himself, that he was in- 
 stantaneously cured of a compound fracture of the leg, 
 complicated with a suppurating wound of dangerous 
 character and swarming with worms ; that the cure was 
 effected without defect in the broken limb ; that this 
 also is the consequence of no material or medical treat- 
 ment ; but that, having been given up by his physicians, 
 
Appendix. 301 
 
 De Rudder had recourse to prayer, and that while pray- 
 ing he was entirely and immediately healed. We find 
 no parallel for this case except in the miracles of our 
 Lord, or of those the Church honors as her saints. 
 
 I cannot flatter myself every one is going to accept 
 this fact as a miracle, or believe it supernatural, or 
 will be induced by it to acknowledge the efiicacy of de- 
 votion to the Blessed Virgin, or, finally, to enter the 
 fold of the Church. Faith is a gift of God, and the 
 Spirit breatheth wheresoever He will. Our Lord tells 
 us, in the parable of Lazarus, in reply to the request of 
 Dives, that some one should be allowed to leave the place 
 of torments in which he was, in order to warn his breth- 
 ren, lest they too should come to share his sufEering : 
 " They have Moses and the prophets ; if they do not be- 
 lieve them, neither will they believe if one rise from the 
 dead." A fact like this will do good to those God wills 
 siiould have the great gift of faith ; strengthen those 
 who already j)ossess it, and make them set a greater 
 value on it. 
 
 Cornell Catholic 
 Union Library.