MR GLAD S T O NE S
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EXP OSTULATION UNRAVELL ED
BI S HO P U L L A T HO R N E
L OND ON
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P o r t man
BU RN S AN D
St r e e t
an
1
GA T E S,
d P at e r n os t e r R ow
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CO N T E N T S
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P AGE
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T H E S O U R CE S
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M R GLA D ST ONE S I N S P I R A T ION
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M R GLAD ST ONE S O B JE C T AN D MO T I V E S
M R GLA D ST ONE S MI S C ON C E P T ION S
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T HE
M R GLA D ST ONE S I N FA L L I R I L I T Y
P OP E S I N F ALLI B ILI TY
‘
AN D T H E
M R GLAD ST ONE S
O B E D IEN C E
C H U R C H S O B E D IEN C E
’
M R GLA D ST ONE S S YL L A B U S AN D T H E P O P R S
S Y LLA B U S
A N A P O STR O P H E T o M R GLA D ST ONE
OF
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V II
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Ob l u bfi tnne fi QEt p ufi t u l u tinn i ll nr u ne l leh
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pamphlet T h e V a t i ca n D e cr e e s i n t h e i r
b e a r i n g o n Ci v i l A l l e g i an c e is in everybody s hands and
for long to co m e Cat h o l i c s will be asked What have
you g o t to s ay to Mr Gladstone !
Many replies have
been written ; more than the intrinsic value o f the pro
duction deserved The ch a racter o f the b o o k is p e c u
liar i n its style a style s o different from the man when
he writes wi t h clear and certain knowledge of his subj ect
Place it by t h e side o f his Homeric books o r h i s Finan
c i al Statements and it will be at once understood what
I mean T o read it is like looking into a landscape
where shift ing clouds and fogs leave u s scarcely a d e fi
nite obj ect in sight by which to tell u s where in the
world we are Broad assertions are m ade then con
tr a cted in their compass then expan ded anew i n to yet
broader and stronger affirmations ; and when we come
t o the end of them we are irresistibly driven to ask
What does Mr Gladstone precisely mean and where are
his proofs ! Hence the conclusion is forced upon u s
that this c annot be Mr Gladstone after all ; he must be
swayed by prompters on more than one side of him who
throw h i s mind into confusion Before then we come
t o t h e singular style o f his Expo s tulation let u s c o n
s id er
M R GL A D ST ONE
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I
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T HE
S O U R C E S O E M R GLA D ST ONE S I N S P I R A T ION
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mixed universities forced upon their C a tholic
subj ec t s by the policy o f the German Governments have
long been a source o f troubles to the Church a nd o n e
remote result of t hese troubles has bee n to disturb the
otherwise c lear mind o f the ex Prime Minister In those
u n iversities the ch airs o f Catholic philosophy and the e
logy were placed under one roof with the chairs o f
professors who in the name o f philosophy Often sapped
the found ations o f reason ; and in the name Of theology
not unfrequently denied the divinity o f Christ the au
It is
t h o r i t y of revelation or even the nature o f God
impossible for such opposite schools Of thought and
doctrine to consort together without some of the Gatho
lic professors and pupils contracting a tai nt from their
unbelieving associates Fo r the doctrines o f schools
are not confined t o lecture rooms and pupils them
selves become professors in their season If through
the force o f faith and piety very ma n y Catholics escaped
from the contagion others less faithfu l contr a cted a
laxity Of principle that led them as professors o r teach
e r s
to devise erroneous theories affecting the f o u n da
tions o f reason the constitution o f the Church certain
doctrines bearing o n faith or the relations of the Church
with civil society
By persist ence in such teaching they drew disciples
after them
Not seldom the admonitions of their
Bishops proved in vain and consequently their errors
were denounced to the Holy See T h en followed ex
decrees of the Sacred Congregations and
am i n at i o n s
apostolic letters or encyclics from the Pontiffs L e t it
su ffi ce to give the names o f Gunther Fr o s c h amm e r
and the unauthorised assembly of divines in Munich
of Septe m ber 1 8 6 3 which foreshadowed the heretical
T HE
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sect o f the D o l l i n ge r i t e s Whilst some of t hese teachers
bowed to correction others fell back upon the di s i n
e n u o u s tactics of the Jan s e n i s t s either t o evade the
g
suprem e authority o r to question it Irritated against
the Holy See f o r the checks p u t o n their u n catholic
teaching the professors fell back upon the ancestors Of
their unquiet spirit They invoked the expiring Galli
c an i s m which the co u rt lawyers and theologians had
framed for the u s e o f the ! ings Of France They had
ancestors in Richard o f the Sorbonne i n D r o n t h e i m o f
Treves better kno w
n as F e b r o n i u s in Bybel o f V ienna
in the Council o f Ems and the Synod o f Pistoia ; all i n
deed condemned by Rome and reprobated by the
Church b u t all serviceable to men prepared to with
draw themselves from the decisions o f the Apostolic
Chair Wh a tever else they might allow the infallibility
o f the authority that conde m ned them they would not
agree to
The unsound taint was brought to E n gland by cer
tain young laymen pupils o f D r D Ol l i n g e r o r others as
s o c i at e d with him
and exhibited itself in the later
numbers of the R amb l e r after it passed into their hands
in t h e H o me an d F or e ig n R e v i e w the N or t h B r i t i s h R e
v i e w and the C h r o n i c l e
But the Catholics o f this coun
try repelled the poison and these publications dropped
rapidly o n e after another into th eir grave
To go back a moment other errors had arisen in
France chiefly from the pen o f the unhappy D e la
Mennais errors subversive o f the foundations bo t h o f
Church and State Although condemned by Rome at
the instance o f the French Bishops and although his
di stingu i shed followers left him to stand alone in his
resis t ance yet other errors; milder but dangerous
sprang up as remnants o f his teaching at a later period
In reaction against these e rrors there arose another
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6
class o f unsound doctrines that to u ched upon t h e rela
ti o ns o f reason with faith whilst there w a s another
cl a ss to contend again s t in which was advocated either
Rationalis m o r some sort o f Pantheism
Not only h a d the Popes o f recent times to strive
a gainst these various errors infecting even members of
the C h u r c h but they had likewise to con t end against a
number o f political assaults upon the rights and i m
mu n i t i e s o f the Church that for many ages s h e had
held in undisputed possession From the time that
Napoleon I had foisted his O rganic Articles into the
Concordat concluded between h i m and the Pope there
had been successive violation s of conventions with the
Holy See o n the part Of various governments and those
o f the most unjustifiable character
Civil marri ages
were forced upon Catholic populations ; ungodly s ys
tems Of educati o n were fo r ced upon them ag ainst their
will Bishops were imprisoned f o r maintaining the prin
c i l e s o f their religion and the rights o f their sees
the
;
p
Catholics of Russia and o f the Polish kingdom were
ruthlessly dealt wi t h especially under the Emperor
Nicholas their Bishops exiled to Siberi a and every
t hing that the stiff politico religious bigotry O f the
Greek schism could devise was put in force to under
mine and destroy the Catholic faith in those regions
The ecclesiastical revenues o f Sp ain were sei z ed by
t h e revolution under Espartero its mon a steries s u p
pressed and their quiet inhabitants dispersed to starve
o r die
How the Papal States were sei z ed upon the
Pope dispossessed the Church den u ded the religious
institutions destroyed and everything devoted to God
confiscated and that mainly for the benefit o f adv e n
t u r e r s who have plundered the wh o le o f beautiful Italy
no one knows better than Mr Gl a dst o ne But it must
be kept in mind that every one Of these acts was de
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fend e d by the speech and pens o f men who to exhibit
some shadow o f re ason for the i r perpetration invoked
the names o f liberty m odern C i vilisation and progress
—
All the errors above intimated whether anti
rational or rationalistic whether anti Christian o r pan
theistic whether subversive o f the Church or of civil
—
society for the secret societies the revolutionists
and the comm u nists were u ndermining states and de
—
stroying thrones whether Opposed to Christian mar
whether subversive o f
r i ag e or to Christian education
the rights O f conscience or of established Christianity
all these it became the sacred and solemn du t y o f the
Popes to expose deno u nce and mark with their censure
a s anti Christian errors
N o t only had these numerous
errors and irreli gious acts to be noted and denounced
in defence of religion and for the instruction of all C a
t h o l i c s but likewise the false pleas and the deceptive
language by which under the pretence Of freedom civil
i s at i o n and progress these monstrous assaults upo n
tr u th upon morality upon religion upon civil order
upon es t ab lished rights and possession s were in spee ch
and innumerable writings defended Against a com
bination o f adversaries and adverse circumstances such
as his t ory gives no example o f and with a magnanimity
and fortitude worthy t h e noble line o f Ponti ff s this was
done ; and the allocutions apostolic letters and ency
c l i c al s in which this was done and which range from
but chiefly o f
t h e reign o f Pius V I to that o f Pius I X
Pius I X from the nature of the case are not aggr o s
sive but defensive Each one o f these documents is
addressed either to the Cardinals o r to the Bishops upon
the errors or events that had arisen at the period o f its
publication ; and from the text o f these documents the
n o w famous Syllabus was extracted
It is important to Observe that the Syllabus was
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published o n the 8 th o f D ece mber 1 8 6 4 exactly fi v e
years before the V atican Council com menced and that
in J uly 1 8 6 7 the Bishops assembled in Ro m e t o t h e
n umber o f two hundred and sixty fi v e
for celeb ratin g
the canonisation o f the J apanese Martyrs presented a
j oint address to his Holiness to w hich m ost o f the
C a tholic Bishops o f the world sent their adhesion in
which they solemnly accepted the doctrines o f the
Pontiff in the following term s ! We have come free to
the free Ponti ff ! ing with equal good will devoted as
pastors to t h e interests o f the Church and as citi z ens to
the interests o f o u r several co u ntries
That impiety
m ay not pretend to ignore this o r dare to deny it we
Bishops conde m n the errors that y o u have condemned
and rej ect and detest the new and s t range doctrines
that are everywhere propagated to the inj u ry o f the
Church o f J esus Christ ; we reprobate an d condemn t h e
s acrileges rapines V iolations o f ecclesiastical immunity
and other crimes committed against the Church and the
S e c o f Peter
This protestation which we as k t o be
inscribed in the records o f t h e Church we likewise c o n
fi d e n t l y pro ff er in the name o f o u r absent bre t hren
whether detained at home by force where t o day they
weep and pray o r w hether by reason o f urgent aff airs
o r sickness they cannot to d ay be present with us
Two years and a half therefore before the Council
o f the V atican assembled the Bishops had given their
spontaneous adhesion t o the doctrines o f the Syllab u s
and t o the Pa p al documents from which they were ex
tracted This is a proof added to hundreds given u s in
history that the Popes do n o t pronounce o n the d o c
trines o r aff airs o f the Universal Church except i n the
sense o f the Universal Church This chain o f f acts
s hould b e kept in mind by every o n e who would form
a right appreciation o f Mr Gladstone s Expost u latio n
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Another fact to be kept in m ind is this that the d o c
trine o f the Immaculate Concep t ion was not defined in
1 8 5 4 until petitions for it had b een long pouring into
Rome from every par t o f the Church until every Bishop
o f the Church had been called upo n to give the tradi
tion o f his See the sense o f h i s clergy and people and
h i s own view o f the subj ect and until the whole tra di
tion o f the Church from the A postles had been investi
g ated The schismatic Greeks raised a compl a int that
the Pope Should now first proclaim a doctrine that the
East had always believed in S O far was this definition
from being the deadly blow o f
to use Mr Glad
stone s words at the Old historic scie n tific and mode
rate
What bearing o n civil allegiance this
definition can have it woul d be very diffi cult to say
To return back on this narrative to the unso u nd
German professors and th eir disciples ; no sooner did
the Pope convoke the General Council th a n they took
alarm Whatever good was hoped from it by all stanch
Catholics who received its announcement wi th j oy these
lax professors felt that i t boded no good to their designs
When the Pope invited the Bishops to send theologians
and canonists to Rome invi t ing some men distinguished
for learning and prudence from various parts o f the
w orld himself that they might give their assistance in
prep ari ng dr a fts Of decrees f o r t h e coming Council it
i s a well known f act that certain men o f this party o n e
e speci a lly whom we need not here name were bitterly
disappointed at their being overlooked
In t h e month Of March 1 8 6 9 nine months before
t h e Council met the party Of whom I speak opened fire
u pon the coming Council in the A u s b u r
T
hey
az e t t e
G
g
g
proclaimed to the world that it was the work o f t h e
J esuits ; th at the Syllabus was to be made a dogmatic
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P ag e 1 5
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10
decree ; that the Infallibili t y was to be carried by a
trick a surprise a s u dden call for its acclamation by
the Fat hers ; t hat the rights o f the Ca t holic civil powers
—
in the Council were t o be s e t a side the fac t being that
the Catholic powers declared i t to be their intention
to watch the proceedings but to abstain from in t erfering
It was pr o cl aimed in a voice from Styria th at the e ff orts
Of the Council were decl a ring war against civilisation
and the organ o f the party especially d evoted itself to
“
the pro t ec t ion Of State i n t e r e s t s fi They thus antici
pated Mr Gladstone by four years and a half and
proved him to be a tardy copyist These and other
points o f like chara c ter were urged from day to day
u pon the world in every form o f vituperation a nd s ar
casm and with every rusty we a pon that the enemies of
the Holy See Of wh atever age could furnish for t h All
this professed t o come fr o m a Catholic point of view
the o n e profession in which they differ from their great
disciple o f the Anglican establishment Every o n e O f
these predi ctions prove d false in the result ; yet t hus
was it that t h e professors t hrew their flaming torch
upon the a nti Catholic world and kindled a u n iversal
ll
c o n fl a r at i o n
Pamphlets
fo
owed
this
stream
Of
fiery
g
articles A litt le kn o t o f survivi ng Gallicans were hard
The Protestant world was keenly
at work in P aris
alive of course and t h e infide l and the at heis t ic w o rld
and all their litera ry organs Their cry t hey took with
t heir arguments from the German professors a nd t his
cry was ! The civil power and socie t y are in d anger
from the Council Of the V atican a nd the Infallibili t y is
intended t o crush the liberties Of mankind
Prince Hohenlohe it is now admi t ted was tutored
by D r D Ol l i n g e r befo re he sent h i s di p l o m at i c circular
t o the courts o f Europe to inv o ke t heir repression o f an
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D
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H e r Oc
e n r ot
h
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J an u
A n ti —
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ch a
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1
e vil s o th r eatening C ount von Arn i m the Prussia n
Ambassador at Rome , was sent by Prince Hohenlohe
later o n to the same di p l o m at i c teacher The Emperor
o f the French promise d that the Council should n o t be
disturbed whilst sitting b u t he likewi s e was put in
motion against the definition ; and a newspaper was
published under government auspices in Paris which
though in milder terms than the A u gs b u r g G az e t t e had
a good deal Of its inspiration It was daily sent to such
Bishops O f the Council as migh t be supposed to be ope n
t o its influence ; but I never could understand why it
was sent to me Mr Gl adstone w a s Prime M inister o f
England and he had his representative at Rome D u r
ing the period o f the Council three hundred despatches
were sent home This I know authentically Were
they all the work o f his ostensible representative o r
were there other agents at work who were nearer the
Church and more intimate with the A u gs b u r g G az e tt e !
This has always been suspected It is certain however
that the then Prime Minister caught some o f the i n f e c
tion that foreign statesmen had imbibed from the Ger
man professors when he gave the hint o f retaliation
upon the Church for intruding into the civil sphere
D oubtless the notion of turning the Syllabus into dogma
and the Infallibility into an instrument against the civil
power had been already made to loom before his mind
Such a notion was nevertheless the pure result o f
heated imagination and a s we Shall hereafter Show
never had the slightest ground in fact
W h o would not have assumed t hat these impressions
had been e fface d through better knowledge gained later
"
on
In the interval bet w een the Council and Mr
Gl adstone s article in the C on t e mp or a r y R e v i e w that
statesman had been a most generous friend to h i s
Ca t holic fellow countrymen He had prote cted o u r
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principles a gainst strong opposition in the Elementary
Ed u ca t ion Act he had repealed the Ecclesiastical
Titles Act an immense boon t o u s ; he had freed
Catholic Ireland from the incumbrance o f a State
Church not in harmony with the religion o f the
people ; he had even intended well in his Irish Univer
si t
scheme
except
that
he
was
unable
to
realise
the
y
depth and tenacity with which Catholics hold to their
principles o r to understand what experience o f the
evil o f mixed universities we had already before us on
the Continent How s ad it is that by a n outrage as u n
provoked as it w as unexpected Mr Gladstone should
put o u r gratitude t o a strain so intense !
The prej udice inflicted o n Mr Gladstone s mind dur
ing the Council had seemed to S leep till his vindication
o f Ritualism woke it up again
His fierce attack upon
the Catholics and especially upon the converts in the
Co n t e mp or a r y R e v i e w led to private expostulations from
convert friends Was it possible f o r Catholics to be
silent under his imputations ! This seems to have sur
prised him and to have stung his sensitive mind He
resolved to expostulate in his turn and to hit a fierce
blow at men who dared to think he could be wrong
The newsp apers told us o f his visit to D r D ollinger
before his Expostulation appeared and o f his visit to
D r D ollinger s principal English pupil immediately
after it came o u t The points raised i n that produc
tion are t h e points raised by the D Ol l i n g e r i t e s before
the Council commenced and during its sitting whe n
yet these men hung loosely o n the Church and they
have been forced forward wit h still greater vehemence
by them since they became an excommu nicated sect
We have next t o examine Mr Gladstone s own state
ment o f his m otive s
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II M R GLA D ST ONE S
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O B JE C T
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AN D M O TI V E S
.
N E A R the close o f last session o f Parliament when
the Public W orship Bill was before the House Mr
Gladstone proposed a series o f resolutions protective of
the Rit u alists that dropped dead o n the instant He
subsequently relieved his mind in the well known
article defensive Of Ritualism i n the C on t e mp or a r y R e
But there was o n e point which the accomplished
vi e w
political fencer had especially to guard and that was
the popular impression that Ritualism leads to the
Catholic Church N o r could Mr Gladstone forget that
he had himself been repeatedly and publicly charged
with being a Catholic Since L ord J ohn Russell s D u r
ham Letter i t had become a habit in England t o scourge
the Ritualists on the backs of the Catholics ; s o this u n
fair and dishonourable cr u elt y was no innovation but
a good Protestant tradition wi t h a ritual O f its o w n
that the Catholics be striped for the crimes o f the Ritu
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al i s t s
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Mr Gl a dstone str u ck o u t with his unj u st blows in
the following terms
But there is a question which it is t h e special p u r
pose o f this paper to suggest for consideration by m y
fellow Christians generally which I s more practical
and of greater importance as it seems to me an d has
far stronger claims o n the attention Of the nation and
of the rulers o f the C h u r c h than the question whether a
handful o f the clergy are o r are not engaged in an
utterly hopeless and visionary e ffort to Romanise the
Church and people o f England At no time since the
bloody reign of Mary has s u ch a s c h e m e been p ossible
But if it had been possible in the seventeenth or eight
e e n t h centuries it would still have become imp ossible
in the nineteenth ; when Ro m e has s ubstit u ted for the
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proud boast o f s e mp e r e a d e m a policy o f violence and
chan ge o f faith when She has refurbished an d paraded
ane w every rusty tool she was fondly thought to have
disused ; when no one can become her convert without
renouncing his moral an d mental freedom and placing
his civil loyalty and duty a t the mercy o f another ; and
when she has equally repudiated modern thought and
ancient history I cannot persuade myself to feel alarm
as to the final issue of her cr u sades in England and this
although I do not undervalue her great powers o f mis
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In his Expostulation Mr Gladstone confesses to the
seeming roughness o f some o f these expressions and
tells us that had he been addressing his Catholic fellow
countrymen he would have striven to avoid t h e m fi
After this questi o nable apology he does not hesitate at
once to address them to his Catholic fellow countrymen
and sets about defending them To our great astonish
ment he even declar es that his assertion s are n o t ag
r e ssiv e
but
It
is
an
O l d saying that his
d
e fe n s i v e
g
I
tory repeats itself The D urham Letter of 18 4 9 was not
aggressive but defensive ; the Titles Act w as not ag
r e s s i v e but defensive
Prince
Bismarck
s
ruthless
per
g
s e c u t i o n Of the Church is n o t aggressive but defensive ;
whenever any unprovoke d a ttack is made upon the
Catholics it is not aggressive but defensive In their
original context in the Co n t e mp or a r y R e v i e w these O f
fensive terms were simply o ffered as a comfort to the
Anglican Est ablishment ; as a consolation to her for the
loss o f the able men whom the Catholic Church has
gained o r is g aining from her ; as an ass u rance to her
that conversions were drawing to an end ; as an intimi
dation to us lest that assurance might not prove tr u e
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Co n t e mp or ar y R e v i e w
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O c t ob e r
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7
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673 4
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15
To the converts themselves men as well educated
and c a pable o f forming a j udgment as himself some of
them his Old and intimate friends from youth onwards
M r Gladstone could n o t have addressed a more O ffen
sive o r a less eff ective insult than in t his sort of stage
aside voice to tell the world at large then to half
apologise for it and next to tell the converts them
selves outright that they have renounced their men
tal and moral freedom that they have placed th e ir
civil loyalty and du t y at the mercy o f another and
th a t they have done this aft er their Church has equally
repudiated modern thought and ancient history
Mr
Gladstone has read the writings o f the more distin
a
nd
must
therefore
know
that
they
u i s h e d converts
g
are far from thinking what he asserts o f them B ut
these things he does n o t know ; he knows not the mind
o f the converts nor the mind o f the Catholic Church
nor does he seem to have ever deeply reflected o n the
nature and s cope o f ment al and moral freedom To
these subj ects we sh all return in due time
More than o n e convert friends o f Mr Gladstone he
tells u s h a ve expostulated with him on the passage in the
Co n t e mp o r a r y R e v i e w Whereupon he lays down a doc
trine a s surprising in the mouth o f a Christian as it is
S i ngular in its mode o f statement First he tells us
that neither t h e abettors o f the Papal Chair nor any
who however fa r from being an abettor o f the
on e
Pap al Ch a ir actually writes from a Pap al point o f view
has a right t o rem o nstrate with the world a t large
What does this me an ! I S it meant to s ay that men
write from the Pope s point of view who do not take
the Pope s point of V iew ! Are men Catholics and non
Catholics a t o n e an d the same time ! Are they o u t
w ar dl y C a tholics and inwardly Protestants !
We know
o f no such men
Half a d o z en men o f an Opposite stamp
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16
we know an d Mr Gladstone knows them men who pro
fess to be Catholics whilst they attack the Catholic fait h
and do their bes t to degrade the Papal Ch air Men
who some of them at least although the P apal Chai r
be not the vine o f Noah endeavour to imitate the s i n
o f Cham
It is something new and stran ge in o n e who has
read the Prophets t h e Apostles t h e Word o f Christ
and something o f the Christian Fathers and who pro
fesses the Christian name to maintain that the Church
has no right to expostulate with the world at large
whilst the world at large has a right to expostul ate
with the Church
The world at large continues Mr
Gl a dstone On the contrary h as the fu llest right to r e
monstrate first with his Holiness ; secondly with those
who share his proceedings ; third l y even with such as
passively allow and accept
This necessarily
includes first the Pope ; secondly the Bishops ; thirdly
—
the clergy an d laity the whole Church The s u m o f
this doctrine is that the Church has lost its right t o
teach the world and the world at large h a s gained the
right to teach the Church When or how the world
gained this new authority Mr Gladstone does not s ay
What a descent from the Ch u r c h P r i n c ip l e s published
by the same author in the year 1 8 40 !
We have here a specimen o f that singular s t yle that
runs thro u ghout t h e Expostulation First the world
at large has a right to remonstrate with the Church ;
then the world at large is brought nearer our senses i n
the people o f this country who fully believe in their
’
loyalty that is in the loyalty o f the English Catholics ;
then the world and the English people are reduced to
a rhetorical background for the o n e figure of Mr Glad
stone who co m es forward as representative O f the w orld
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throughout the world And these doctrines we know
on the highest aut hority it is o f necessity for s alv a ti o n
Here is the ecclesias tic al party and here
to
their principles adverse to puri t y a nd integrity o f
allegiance ag ainst which quie t minded C atholic s an d
C atholics at large are invited by Mr Gl a dstone to give
f orth some opinion
At his beck the n ave is to rise up
against the sanctuar
the
Church
taught
t
o
correct
the
y
Church teaching the l aity to instruct the Bish o ps and
the Pope
What does the author O f the above passage mean
when he tells us that the suprem a cy including what
ever relates to the discipline and government o f the
Church makes n o reserve of civil rights ! Is it i n
tended t o imply that civil rights fo r m a n element in
Church government ! If they do why should they be
—
reserved ! If they do not and Catholics think they do
—
not how reserve them where they are not ! In such
Churches as those o f England Ru s sia and Prussia
Church government and discipline are suspended on
the civil power ; but Mr Gladstone has himself shown
in his Ch u r c h P r i n c ip l e s t hat the Church is a perfect
socie t y within itself with all the means requisite fo r its
O wn end and purpose
And the rights of an ecclesias
t ical society as such are in their nature exclusively
ecclesiastical
After travelling through a good deal of this kin d o f
fog we come to Mr Gladstone s real Obj ect and precise
intention At page 2 2 he says ! F ar be it from me to
m ake any Roman Catholic except the great hierarchic
power and those who have egged it o n responsible f o r
the portentous proceedings which we have witnessed
My conviction is that eve n o f those who m ay not
shake o ff the yoke m u ltitudes will vindicate at any rate
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their loyalty at the expense o f the consistency which
perhaps in difficult matters o f religion few among us
p erfectly maintain The fog has part c d and Mr Glad
stone s mind co m es out He hopes to cause some C a
t h o l i c s to cast O ff the yoke o f their fa ith and multitudes
o f them to sacrifice the i r consistency
To encourage
them he g ives them the comforting assurance that i n
diffi cult m atters o f religion few among us are perfectly
consistent Few are perfectly consistent in practice
but Mr Gla dstone invite s us to be inconsistent with
principle ; and there wi th Catholics he must utterly
fail
T his remin d s m e o f so m ething I recently heard
fro m a Protestant gentleman i n a railway carriage He
had bee n in want he said of a good and quiet under
servant Three young women applied for the place
one a Protestant another a Meth o dist the third a C a
t h ol i c
Not satisfied with the tone o f either of the
others , he was inclined to eng age the Catholic B ut
she refuse d to engage unless s h e could go to Mass every
Sunday Fearing the girl would be unprotected as he
lived at so m e distance from her church he wrote to
the priest and received a reply to this e ffect
Unless
the girl be faithful to God and her Church y o u cannot
expect her t o b e faithful in your service
This said
my informant decide d me and raised the priest in my
respect I engaged her o n condition that an uncle o f
hers should every Sunday s e e her safely to and fro m
church
Mr Gladstone may depe n d upon it that he
will never succeed i n m aking Catholics loyal t o the
h
m
e
ueen
by
aking
the
m
disloyal
to
Church We
t
Q
know all about that much bet t er than he can and he
m ay safely take o u r w or d u pon it
It is an exercise to track o u r tempter along the s e r
p e nti n e co u rse t hro u gh which here and there he winds
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20
his a p proach as if t o pu z zle and confu se our brain
with his me s meric passes before he puts his temptation
unmistakably befo re us O ne pass he gives as suring
Catholics a t large that i f they do become inconsistent
it is j u st what other pe ople do throwing himself e u
into
h
us
by
which
he
designates
those
c o u r ag i n gl
t
e
y
people He give s another soothing pass commiserating
the hard s hip brought u pon them altogether by the
conduct o f the a uthorities o f their own
Then
dra wing a longer pass he o ff ers his I eason to the C a
t h o l i c s at la r ge as a security for assailing the teachers
o f their faith
If he says I am t old that he who
animadverts upon these a ssails o r insults Rom a n C a
t h o l i c s at l a rge who do not choose their ecclesiastical
rulers an d are n o t rec o gnised as having any voice i n
the government o f the Church I cannot be bound by
o r accept a proposition which seems t o me to be S O little
”
in accor d with r e as o n r And S O because like their
Anglic an neighbours O f Mr Gladstone s communion
Catholics neither ch o o se t heir ecclesiastic al rulers nor
have a voice in Church government they are to take
the great Protestant st atesman s reason a s warrant for
—
resisting the teacher s of t heir Church not any special
reaso n b u t re a son in the abstract
Sever e u pon t h e present degr a dation Of the e p is
o u r expostul a tor is
C O al o r d e r I Of the L a tin C h u r c h
p
still more severe upon h e r converts
Whether this
severity is di r ected to all convert s o r to some O f
them or is intended to deter others from becoming
converts or whether leaving the main body Of them
among t h e ino ffe nsive Catholics a t large it is the
intention t o direct t his severity upon ce r t ain s pecifi c
O ffenders is left to our conj ecture Two converts ar e
mentioned by name and only t w o D r Ne wm an i s
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21
’
m entioned with high commendation ; Mr Glads tone s
’
.
and intimate friend the Archbishop of Westminster
is gravely reproved T 0 s ay the truth the al legations
great breadth and o f broad and deep foundation
of
with which the great orator begins to expostulate thin
o ff as he proceeds and terminate in two passages picked
carefully o ut o f the context of the Archbishop s nume
rous writings
’
Archbishop Man n ing it is said who is the head
o f the Papal Church in England and whose ecclesias
t ical tone is supposed to be in closest accordance with
that of his head quarters has not thought it too much
t o s ay that the civil order o f all Christendo m is the o ff
sp r ing o f the T emporal Power an d has the Temporal
Power f o r its
Precisely s o when there was
a Christendom composed o f Catholic States ; an d Gui z ot
the Protestant historian as well as Haller an d Hurter
show u s h o w the Catholic Bishops with the Popes at
t heir head form ed the Catholic States o f Europe and
the civilisation o f Christendom The ablest historians
have likewise S hown h o w by general consent the Popes
became the moderators o f that Christendom which
through the action o f private j udgment and free think
ing in religion has long ceased to exist Then it was
Christian light and law ; now it is h um an ambition an d
contempt o f covenants that settle o r m ore truly u n
settle the aff airs o f the world That state of things
however has long since passed away and Pius I X has
said as mu ch A S Mr Gladstone has give n b u t a p or
tion o f what his Holiness said o n that subj ect it will
be fair t o give the whole o f it I take it as p ublished
in the pastoral o f the Sw i ss Bishops co mm en d e d by the
P ope
The words were a d dresse d by his Holines s to a
ol
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deputation o f the Roma n Academia not o n the 2 l s t o f
‘
J uly 1 8 7 3 as Mr Glads t one s t at e s fi b u t o n the 2 0 t h
o f that month 1 8 7 1
The Pontiff exhorted that learned
Society to refute with all possible care man y f al s i fi c a
tions of the sense o f the Papal Infallibility
There are
many errors regarding the Infallibility said the Pope
but the most malicious O f all is that which includes in
that dogma the right Of deposing sovereigns and de
h
c l ar i n
t
e people n o longer bound by the Ob l igation
g
This right was in fact exercised by t h e
o f fidelity
Pop e in extreme cases but it has absol u tely nothing in
common with Papal Infallibility It was a consequence
of the public righ t then in force with the consent of
Christi a n nations who recognised in the Pope the s u
preme j udge o f Christe n dom and c onstituted him j udge
Of princes and peoples even in temporal matters B ut
the present situation is altogether di ffere n t Bad faith
alone could con f ound obj ects s o diff erent and times s o
unlike each other as if an infallible j udgment o n r e
vealed truth had any analogy with a righ t that Popes
solicite d by the desires o f the people have exercised
when the general good demanded it Statements like
these are but a pretext for stirring up princes against
the Church
To thoroughly understand a declaration like this
addressed by Pius V I to the Irish
o r the similar o n e
Bishops that has recently been quote d by a Catho lic
divine it must be kept i n mind that according to the
traditional teaching of Catholic di vines from the days
Thomas Aqui nas the temporal power has its
o f St
immediate derivation from the people It was through
the consent o f the people and the princes of Christendom
that this supre m e principle o f international law pre
vailed and the Coronatio n O ath made to t h e Ch u rch
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23
was based upon it It is historically true that the Papal
Power was in th ose times the keystone o f Christendom
The Archbishop again says Mr Gladstone has
affirmed that the spiritual power is supreme within its
o w n limits
and c an thereby fix the limits o f all other
j u r i s di c t i o n s But t hen the Archbishop expressly states
that this supremacy is in matters o f religion and con
science I t is not for me t o interpose between these
two distinguished persons ; but I should have thought
that it was impossible f o r one pow e r supreme in itself
to fix its boun d arie s without fixin g as a consequence the
bound aries o f whatever power came in contact with it
j ust as the fixing the boundaries o f your o w n field fixes
t h e boundaries o f the field adj oining it ; and that the
kingdom o f conscience that kingdo m o f God within the
m an settles the question as to how fa r any other power
sh all come and where its powers must cease in its right
to act Mr Gladstone has said this very thing O b
t here are m illions upon millions o f t h e
s erving that
Protestants of this country who would agree with Arch
bishop Manning i f he were simply telling u s that divine
truth is not to be sought from the lips o f the State n o r
to be sacrificed at its command i
O n a small scale we may exemplify what we mean
from this Expost u lation Its author would seem to
to
his
Catholic
fellow
countrymen
I
am
a
man
of
!
sa
y
position eloquence and influence Senates and nations
listen to me ! a powerful party obey my voice The
maj ority of o u r countryme n foster prej udices against
o l d and n e w and my skilful words can heat
b
oth
ou
y
t hem into a flame ; your fortunes ha v e been in my hands
and may be again Either protes t against your S pi
ritual teachers O r a bide my indignation Here is a civil
power which tho u gh n o t the royalty o f England n o r
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54
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55
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24
this moment its represent ative is yet not lightly t o
be undervalued B u t the Cat h o lics s ay ! You have no
right either to que s ti o n o r c o mm a nd o ur consciences
Must we obey yo u against o u r con s cien c e o r God with
conscience ! Y o u confess t h a t we are loy al that
ou r
loyalty is part o f our religion We r e we to denounce our
spiritual teachers that would be disl oy alty ind e ed ; and
whoever is disloy al to his conscience will be disloy al o n
temptation to h i s sovereign O ur fathers rather than
abandon their p a stors su ff ered much greater things
than you can inflict Your insidious a dvances we r e
j cet t h e indign ation with which at the close of your
Expostulation you threat en us we c an endure
H e re
t h e S piri t u a l power o f c o nscience in defining i t s own
exte nt defines the limits o f Mr Gladstone s power and
fears it not
But the converts Their fell o w C a tholics may be
let o ff more easily ; no stigma c an be too ignominious
for them They renounce their mental and moral
freedom they place their civil loyalty and duty at
the mercy o f another they ha v e repudiated modern
V ague are these accusa
thought and ancient history
tions and though not very generous yet quit e safe
from their generality It would never have done to
give examples and proofs However there is a decided
disagreement between the converts and Mr Gladstone ;
—
—
f o r they s ay and I have heard many Of them that
they have gained a mental and moral freedom that they
never knew before have obtained a firmer footing for
their loyalty have a keener appreciation to disting uish
between what is good and bad in modern thought and a
higher comprehension Of the movement of G o d thro u gh
a ncient history
Whether their testimony o r that o f
M r Gladstone should prevail must be left to the reader
I can only s ay that that of the converts i s c o n s c i e n t i
at
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26
heart will go forth in love u nto u nspe ak able depths
The Catholic even the convert who m akes
o f good
his annual eight days o f spiritu al retirement under
stands these things
A man is bodily free in proportion to the extent o f
territory over which he can freely move H a d he the
bird s privilege a s well to t ake to the ai r he would be
doubly free S O is it with the mind I t is free in pro
portion t o the extent of certain and assured truth into
w hich it can fr eely enter over which it c a n freely move
The will again i s morally free according to the extent
and height and greatness o f moral g o od t hat through a
loving heart the will can securely embrace In the very
roo t and basis of the soul moves the appetit e for truth
and the moral good that truth reflects and brightens
O nly when drawn forth by this truth and moral good
which G o d presents can he get o u t O f the contracted
cell of his subj ective nature a n d advance towards this
truth especially that o f God s m agnificent revelation
and enter into the foretaste o f that good whi c h this r e
velation has made known T his movement l o wer in the
natural order imme a surably higher in the supernatural
order constitutes the mental and mor a l freed o m o f man
If the truth shall set you free then ar e you truly free
W hilst still moving hes i t atingly thr o ugh the sh a l
lows O f doubt and o f uncertain o pinion n o man is free
He is struggling through conj ectures o r following half
lights towards that certainty Of t ruth and peace in
good which he hopes in time will make him free ; o r he
gives up the search and s inks back into i n di fl e r e n c e
The man who intent o n oth er tho u ghts h a s lost h i s
way and got benight ed is S O far from m ent al freedom
that he hesitates doubts conj ectures a nd fret S but on
regaining his path he recovers his freedom an d m akes
progress towards the good before him
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But against freedom O f will as o f mind stand the
allied powers o f sense ; their indulgence and the pas
sions they awaken absorb and degrade both the moral
and mental forces ; m ake t h e mind s light servile to the
imagination which however God designe d it to be the
servant of truth and its illustrator gr ows sordid fro m
sensuality and inflammable from passion a nd th u s
evilly stimulated it perverts from the truth and absorbs
into error and evil the action of t h e will Another condi
tion o f mental and moral freedom therefore is to keep
the senses their appetites and the inflammab l e I m ag m a
tion down in order and subj ection Nor is this all ;
deeper within the man is the pride that exalts the s u b
e self over the truth and good f o r w hich the man
t
i
v
e
c
j
was made This false and deceptive self exaltation draws
the mind from truth the will fro m law and needs the
curb o f humili ty and Obedience to the O ne T rue Good
whose au t h ority that it may be ever at hand for the
exercise o f these virtues is s e t before our very senses in
the human depositaries o f H i s tr uth and law
Wherefore Obedience to truth is mental freedo m ;
resistance to truth is the loss o f liberty O bed i ence to
the authority through which God brings u s the truth
and to the supreme law that marks the way towards
truth is moral liberty ; disobedience to that authority
and law is the loss o f moral freedom In what lies the
secret strength of obedience ! In th at a more au t h o r i
t at i v e and stronger will than o u r own brings o u rs into
action ; in that two wills combine to bring u p the o n e
that is oppressed with its egotis m authority and law
being i t s securi t y for right direction T hus by obedient
habits is the child trained to strength of will ; and thus
in the things of God where man is yet a child d oes the
authority o f the Church draw him u p to the u n chan ge
able regions o f truth and divine goo d T his bein g so
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and G o d having in His Church wonderfully pr o vided
the channels Of light and grace i n her Sacr a ment s o f
safety I n her infallible teaching and of self deni al h u
m i l i t y and obedience in her ministerial a ut hority it
i s Obvious to any one who comprehends these p r inciples
that the Church is t h e true home of mental and moral
freedom ; but f ar more Obvious is it to those who hold
r ac t i c al
o s s e s s i o n O f them within the Church herself
p
p
And if the fi e l d o f t h e mind hath received the whole
compass o f truth made known by God to man i n its
marvellous unity then i n contemplating that truth
article by ar t icle doctrine by doctrine each illumin a ting
all a nd all illuminating each new beauties o f truth i n
cessantly spring upon the mind t o the delight solace
and freedom O f the contempl ating S pirit But the C a
t h o l i c religion holds possession o f all the revealed truth
—
added t o all the natural truth that G o d has given to
—
man whilst elsewhere it is broken into frag m ents an d
scattered in parts through numero u s sects and divisions
In like manner the supreme l aw shapes o u t with
authority the boundaries bet w een good and evil and
lea d s us in the direction o f moral good ; and the Obe
dient following o f that law is the condition o f moral
freedom B ut that man might not lose his way be
perplexed with doubts o r left to the hesitating and n u
certain lights O f his o w n j udgment and opinion where
t here should be certain faith and belief Christ our L ord
appointed an authority to whom both the truth and the
law were committed t o teach them with divine a u
t h o r i t y to the e n d o f time ; and to hear and Obey that
authority i n a spirit loyal to God s inward movements
is to gai n mental and moral freedom That these ar e
gained and in a w ay contrasting wonderfully with their
previous states of mind all earnest converts bear witn e s s
T o the Catholic Church in his earlier d ays Mr
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gave a magnificent testimony a co mplet e
j ustific ation t o her converts In his C h u r ch P r i n cip l e s
he carps indee d at many details not s o much o f w hat
the Church re ally is and does but o f what he e r r o n e
supposes
her
to
be
and
to
d
o
At
last
however
o u sl
y
he comes to t h e comparison o f what is the stren g th of
the Protestan t and w hat o f the Catholic Church
Simple Protestantism he says has a legitimate
strength o f its o wn ; it is this th a t it makes the access
to the Holy Scriptures free f o r all the people and it
derives immense adva ntage in the controversy with
Rome fr om the e v ident fairness o f ex p osing to t h e
gener al eye the authority for the truths to whi c h the
eneral
a
ssent
Of
men
is
asked
We
may
estimate
th
e
g
amount Of this advant a ge from the anxiety which h as
been shown by the a dvoc ates o f Romanism ever since i t
has bee n obliged t o appe al to public discussion and
Opinion to show that the Papal sys t em is not opposed
to the free circulation of the Sc r iptures amo n g the
people
The free circulation Of the H o ly Bible w h i l e
i t i s o n e o cc as i on of t h e cl ifit c u l t i e s o f t h e Ch u r ch is like
wise a chief c a use Of her strength
I have marked t h e
passage in italics for further consideration
R o manism o n the other hand continues Mr Glad
stone has al s o a strength Of its o wn ; i t i s this that i t
the supremacy t h e
u n fl i n c h i n g l y a sserts the oneness
perm anen c y of t h e faith and its independence o f private
Opinion ; and that it o ffers the ordinances Of grace from
hands to which the power o f administe ring them has
been committed if there be truth in history by the
Apostles of o u r Lord an d asserts an authority an d power
of guidance whic h they tran smitted Thus o f these two
hostile principles the o n e tri u mphs by t endering the
w ord which God inspired the oth er by asserting the
Church which the Redeemer established It is si n gular
G ladstone
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30
that in the next paragraph Mr G ladstone Should affirm
o f these
two hostile principles that they must b e
essentially at al l times harmonious while their antagon
ism i s supposititious and has no ground but in the
d epraved fancies of
Whilst the author Of Ch u r ch P r i n cip l e s allows that
the free circulation o f the Scriptures is O n e occasion of
the di fficulties Of the ( Protestant ) Church he contends
f o r uniting it with the principle o f Church authority
which he correctly portrays as the stre n gth O f the
Catholic Church There is b u t o n e way o f uniting and
harmonising these t w o principles and avoiding the di ffi
culties and that is to keep the Scriptures under the
Church s authority and deliver that divine sense O f
them which the Church holds in her perpetual tradi
tion T hen may s h e deliver the H o ly Scriptures as s h e
habitually does together with their sense , to all men of
good will
Mr Gladstone will perhaps allow me to exhibit this
combination as it was understood by a probable an o es
tress Of that New ! ealander who is o n e d ay t o sketch
the ruins o f St Paul s My o l d friend Bi s hop P ompal
lier the first Catholic Bishop o f N e w ! ealand made a
convert Of the daughter Of a Chieftain and her name
was Hoke
Having previously been a disciple Of
certain Protestant missionaries t h ey went t o remon
strate with her j ust as Mr Gladstone expostulates with
the E n glish converts Arrived in her presence sh e sat
in silence whilst they spoke and said !
we are surprised that you should j oin the P i c o p o s ( C at h o
O n this
l i c s ) who w ill not give yo u the Holy Book
theme they descanted ; and when they had concluded
Hoke called for her books , and rising to speak accord
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9“
st on e ,
Ch u r ch P r i n c ip l e s
c h ap v i i i p 18 1
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c on s i d e r e d
i n th e i r R es u lts , b y
W
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E
.
G l ad
1
ing t o N e w ! ealand etiquette the missionaries in their
turn s at down in silence
Y o u m issio n ers s h e b e
gan should speak truth Here are the Holy Books
They teach me the creed what I am to believe ; they
—
teach me the Sacraments what I am to receive ; they
—
teach me the commandments what I am to do If I
was blind o f what use would be the Holy Book ! The
—
Bishop came and spoke his word went through my ear
—
to my heart
He baptised me m y heart received the
light o f G o d After he had b ap t i s e d m e he g a ve me
the Holy Book—with the light in my heart and the
Bishop s words I s aw the meaning o f the Holy Book
It w a s the light Of Catholic faith that enabled this
daughter Of a cannibal race to harmonise the Church s
authority with the use o f the Scriptures
T O come back to Mr Gladstone s S entiments i n his
Ch u r c h P r i n c ip l e s could their author have given a
sounder j ustification to the converts from his co m
munion He may s ay that since he described her
strength the Church has changed And it is not i m
probably amo ng the motives of the Expostulation to free
himself by this charge from what in that book he has
written in commend ation o f the Church But whether
she has changed o r not not her accuser but the Church
herself is the j u dge She maintains that s h e has acte d
in the V atican Council o n her Old prin ciples has drawn
from her o l d deposit and proclaimed her immemorial
tradition doctrine and practice And even the expos
t u l at o r with whatever consistency whenever it seems
t o support his accusations endeavours to show that her
recent decrees are the outcome Of her earlier history
At the end Of last session O f Parliam ent the T i me s
suggested that two parties were in want o f a cry ; and
the Old anti Catholic cry was suggeste d Mr Gladston e
has sei z ed u pon it and has dresse d up the ol d figure
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32
called Popery that grotesque invention Of the Protest
ant mind in a new g a rb t aken from the well stored
magaz ine of the D Ol l i n g e r i t e s But t his figure o f P 0
pery is no more like t h e Catholic religion than the idols
recently brought to light at Troy are like Minerva
T he Protestant people o f this country its new edito r
might think were fond o f the dear Old romance t h e
property Of their i magination from the nursery and
would welc o me a little improve m ent Of it In this
however there may have been some misconce p tion ;
the great polit i cal name explains its wide circulation
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III M R G LAD S T O NE
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S M IS O O N OE P T I O N S
.
C O U L D we g e t in t o the secret chambers Of Mr Glad
stone s mind and there examine his whole theory of the
Catholic system j udging fr o m t h e fragments O f it e xh i
bited we should have a n instr u ctive example Of what
vivid imagination working on the prej udices o f educa
tion can do in misshaping religious truth and m isj udging
its professors Could we discover a path through the haz e
—
and vague uncertainty Of his language would som e
gracious s u n shine o u t and disperse the O ssianic mist s
Of his rhetoric and bring us to s e e specific facts per
sons and precise charges with their proofs we should
have something tangible to tak e hold Of
But that
will serve for a cry which is not su fficient for argument
The title itself o f the Expostulation involves a fals e
ass ump t ion a nd expresses t h e fundamental error Of t h e
T h e V a t i ca n d e c r e e s have no b e a r i n g o n c i v i l
book
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The present w riter is a competent witness that
neither in the decrees themselves nor in the discussion s
u p on them nor in the s c h e ma t a disc u ssed but not voted
n o r in the s c h e ma t a prepared b u t not disc u ssed nor i n
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f o re ,
in virtue o f this mission the power and is u nder
the Obligation Of duty to j udge o f the morality and o f
t h e j ustice Of all acts whether external o r internal in
their relation to the natural and divine laws Hence
S ince n o act whether prescribed by supreme power o r
w hether it emanates from the free action Of the indi
can divest itself Of this ch aracter o f moralit y
v idual
it comes to pass that the j udgment o f
an d Of j ustice
the Church though falling directly o n the morality
o f the acts
indirectly embraces all those things with
w hich this morality is allied
Here is the precise point o f di fference between Mr
Gladstone s view Of the Church s action with respect to
Mr
t h e civil sphere and that Of the Church herself
Gladstone charges the Church and the Pope wi t h
claiming direct and absolute power in the civil sphere
The Church who can alone know her o w n mind s ays
Christ h as given to H i s
N O noth ing Of the kind
Church the moral and the divine law the authority
to teach them and t h e authori t y to judge the consci
e n c e s Of her children by them
But all the action s
as Mr Gladstone has beautifully d escribed
O f man
involve Go d s law and man s conscience even his
external acts relating t o civil duty and t o m aterial
things For instance it is a civil duty to o h ey the
civil power ; it is lik e wise a duty Of conscience and
as such
the Church enforces it But were the civil
p ower to prohibit pre aching in the name o f Christ
a s the authorities
Of J erusalem forbade the Apostle s
t o do then they would receive the apostolic reply
If it be j ust in the sight o f God to hear yo u
e
O to steal to break into
r ather than God j udge
S
y
a house to r aise or co operate in an unj ust rebellio n
or
to plunder the Church involve civi l and temporal acts
b ut they li kewise involve the co n science i n s i n ; and t h e
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Church condemns them as infringe m ents o f the moral
law O f conscience We have already seen how Mr Glad
stone himself asserts that there are millions upon mil
lions O f the Protestants O f this country who will agree
with Archbishop Manning if he were Simply telling
u s that divine truth is not to be sought from the lips
o f the State
n o r to be sacrificed at its
This is precisely what Cardinal Antonelli says ; fo r
divine truth includes the laws Of morality and the rules
And the Archbishop would s ay and
o f conscience
has in fact said t h e selfsame thing and no more
N o r is it to be supposed that Mr Gl adstone has
accepted the doctrine of the Hegelia n philosophy al
though Prince Bismarck has anno u nced it in express
ter ms that the State is the supreme dictator o f the
conscience and that the subj ective conscience is bound
to subj ect itself to the m aj esty Of its Obj ective laws
Cardinal Antone lli goes o n to explain ! But this is
not to mix herself u p directly with political affairs
which according to the order established by God and
accordin g to the teaching Of the Catholic Church her
self belo n g t o the j urisdiction o f the temporal power
without dependence o n any other authority
It is impossible t o put the contrary t o Mr Glad
stone s assumption in clearer terms The spiritual and
temporal po w ers are next described by the Cardinal as
distinct and separate o n e from the other the temporal
having a subordination to the spiritual as the human is
subordinate in its end to the divine
It results from
these principles his Eminence continues that tho u gh
the Infallibility Of the Church embraces all that is
n ecessa r y f o r the conservation o f the integrity o f t h e
fa i t h yet no prej udice can spring therefrom t o the
claims O f science history o r politics
The Ch u rch
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P ag e 5 5
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36
in fact while I nculcatin g the principle to render to God
the things that are God s and to C ae sar the things th at
are C ae sar s imposes at the same time on her children
t h e Obligation o f a conscientious Obedience to the au t h o
rity O f
When Mr Gladstone says that Rome has r e f u r
h ished and paraded anew every rus t y tool She w a s
fondly th o ught to have disused he refers to the Sylla
The Cat holic Chureh has ch anged within the l a st
bu s
forty years The Catholic Church has not changed b u t
refu rbished her rusty tools These contrary propo s i
t ions meet each other all through Mr Gladstone s
Expostulation
S e mp e r e a d e m i s h e r b o as t
S e mp e r
e a d e m s h e is not s e mp e r e a al e m s h e is
S O fa r from the Syll abus consisting o f rusty tools
refu rbished s o far from being extracted from ancient
its proposi t ions are collected
o r medi ae val documents
from the most recent Papal announcements and ex
pressly bear o n moder n errors S O far fro m refurbish
ing r u sty tools w h ils t the Council was sitting the Pope
d estroyed a great number Of them In his Constitution
A p os t ol i cce S e di s o f September 1 8 6 9 promulga t ed in
the Council a vast number o f Old censure s that had
accumulated with time were utterly suppressed and
abrogated O f this fact Mr Gladstone was well i n
formed at the time the representative Of his Gover n
ment at Ro m e having Obtained a copy o f it The pre
amble Of this Constitution i s very instructive t o those
whose fancy it is to assert that Rome keeps her old
weapo ns r e ady f o r u s e regardless of the changes around
her It commences in these terms !
It is befitting the moderation Of the Apostolic See
s o to retain what has been established by the canons i n
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T r an s l at i o n f r om t h at i n t h
e
M
on t h
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D
e ce
mb
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18 7 4
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37
a salutary way that if thro u gh change o f times and
circumstances the need suggest itself that some thin gs
be altered and prudently dispensed with the same
Apo stolic See should from its supreme authority p r o
vide a remedy Wherefore having lo n g revolved in
o u r mind that the ecclesiastical censures l a t t e s e n t e n t i ce
and to be incurre d i p s o f a c t o decreed and promulgated
th roughout many ages whether t o protect the safety
and discipline O f t h e Church o r to c o r r e c t an d amend
the unbridled license Of the wicked have grown by
degrees to a great number ; and because the reasons
and ends for which they were imposed exist no more
and they have ceased to b e applicable o r useful ; and
forasmuch as because Of them doubts not unfrequently
arise and a nxieties and distress o f conscience both in
those who have care o f souls and in the faithful ; in o u r
desire to remedy these inconveniences w e have com
m an d e d a complete revision o f t hese censures to be
made and t o be laid before us that with careful deli
ber ation we m ay determine and ordain which Of t hem
it is requisite to retain and which o f them it i s befitting
t o modify o r abrogate
Before passing to another chapter o f Mr Gladstone s
misconceptions I may as well point o u t the error of h i s
argument to prove t h at conversions to the Church are
diminishing Whether in recent years they have o r
have not diminished I decline to s ay though not from
want O f knowledge He t ells u s that the rumoured
—
increase Of Cathol ics in England and he speaks with
respect to conversions
would seem to be refuted by
and then the gradual decrease o f
au t h e n t i c figures
C atholic marriages from 1 8 5 9 to 18 7 1 is given But
that decrease is expl ained from ano t her cause than
A very large immigration O f
diminished conversions
Catholics from Ireland took place in conseq u ence of the
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terrible famine whi ch desolated that country ; whilst
o f late years that immigration has diminished u ntil it
has almost ceased But the stream Of Irish emigration
from England to America and Australia still flows o n
For this reason o n e would expect t h e diminution of
Catholic marriages in Engl a nd to be considerably more
t han it proves to be
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IV
MR
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G LAD ST O NE S
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IN E A L L I RIL IT Y
’
AN D T HE P O P E S
’
I N FALLI B I LI T Y
.
M R G LAD ST O NE S infa llibility and t h e Pope s i n f al l i
But before I draw
b i l i t y are two very different things
the line between them an d S how in what respects they
diff er to clear the way be f ore me I must remove one or
two more o f his misconceptions
As o n e proof that Rome has substituted fo r the
proud boast o f s e mp e r e a cl e m a policy of violence and
change in faith Mr Gladstone expostulates in these
words ! It is necessary for all who wish to understand
what has been the amount of the wonderfu l change now
consummated in the constitution o f the Latin Church
and what is the present degradation o f its episcop al
order to Observe also the change amounting to r e v o l u
tion o f form in the present as compared w ith other
conciliatory decrees
Wh e n in fact we speak o f the
decrees o f the Council Of the V atican we use a phrase
which w ill not bear examin ation The canons Of the
Council o f Trent were at least the real canons of a real
Council ; and the strai n in which they are p r o m u l
gated is this ! H ce c s a cr os an c t a e cu me n i ca e t g e n e r a li s
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T r i d e n t i n a S yn o du s , i n S p i r i t u S a n ot o l e g i t i me con g r e g a t a ,
i n ca p r oe s i cl e n t i b u s e i s d e m t r i b u s ap os t o l i c i s L e g a t i s , h or
t at u
l
r , o r ( oc e t o r s t a t u
,
i t,
’
o r a e ce r n
i t,
canons as p ublished in Ro m e are
,
,
and the like ; and
“
c a n on e s
et
its
d e cr e t a
39
s a c r os a n c t i e c u
me n i ci Con c i l i i T r i d e n t i n i ,
and s o forth
But what we have now to do wi t h is the Co n s t i t u t i o
.
D og ma t i ca P r i ma cl e E ccl e s i a Ch r i s t i , e a i t a i n s e s s i o n e
t e r t i a Of the V atican Council
It i s n o t a constitution
’
.
made by the Cou n cil but o n e promulga ted in the
Council And who is it that legislates and decrees !
It is P i u s Ep i s c op u s S e r v u s S e r vor u m D e i ; and t h e
s eductive plural o f his d oc e mu s e t d e cl a r a mu s is simply
”
the dignified we o f royal declarations T he doc u
ment is dated P o n t ifi ca t u s n os t r i A n n e X X V and the
humble share of the assembled Episcopate in the trans
a ction is represented by s a c r o a
r ob a n t e
pp
There is such a conscious tone o f havin g caught the
Pope in an act o f revol ution o f form at least and the
Episcopate in present degradation i n this passage such
an un ction t o o Of conscious superiority over Rome that
as a specimen of expostulation not a word of it could
be sp ared the reader Let us then use a little o f that
modern thought and ancient history which whateve r
Mr Gladstone may s ay we h ave no intention Of dis
c arding especially in the present case
First be it Observed that in the course of eightee n
c enturies the Church must be expected to make many
c hanges in disciplinary forms
Her whole history shows
that s h e does so Always the same in doctrine althoug h
s ome doctrines may at one time be held implicitly at
a nother explicitly —
always the same likewise in the
fu ndamental principles O f that discipline which springs
—
from her divine constitution i n the application Of its
d etails the Church as her history most clearly tells
knows how to vary a ccording to circumstances and con
d i t i o n s s o that the spirit of her constitution may b e
the more perfectly preserved For law is like an arm
a n d form is a species o f law
Its basis the fundamental
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P ag e s 3 2 3 4
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principles o f right i s fixed unchangeably o n the divine
a uthority as t h e upper arm is fixed unch a ngeably upon
t h e body ; whilst the hand the changeable application
ad apts itself in varied movements to the ever varying
Obj ects and circumstances which it has to take hold of
yet always resting on one and the same unchanged basis
as change O f law rest s on unchangeable right
The solution Of Mr Gl a dstone s difficulty is this
General C o uncils are held in o n e o r the other o f two
distinct forms and hence there are two distinct and
diff erent f orms i n which their decrees are drawn up and
promulgated Either the Pope presides by his Legates
o r he presides in person
When the Pope presides over
a Council by his Legates the decrees run in t h e name
Of the Council and this authenticates them when pre
sented to the Pope for his authoritative approval e n
The earlier General
f orcement and promulgation
C ouncils were held in the East and were presided over
by Papal Legates and after their conclusion they were
submitted t o the P o pe who gave them a u then t ic a ppro
The first over which t h e P o pes pre
b at i o n and e ffect
sided in pers on were the first four General Councils Of
O f the first three t h e decrees remain but
t h e Lateran
not the acts o r fo rms O f t h e First in 1 12 3 we h ave the
bare decrees without mention o f the auth o rity by which
they were approved o r promulg ated T he Secon d in
1 1 3 9 under Innocent II and the Third in 1 1 7 9 are
draw n up in the form Of P apal Constituti o ns with the
formula S a cr o ap p r o b an t e C on c i l i o precisely as in the
The Fo u rth in 1 2 15 u nder Innocent
V atican Council
III runs likewise in the Pope s name Mr Gl a dstone
in a note suggests that though some hold it to be s o
this is not establi s hed But as given in H ar d u i n and
as extracted in the authentic decreta ls o f Gregory I X
there is the very style and eve n the terms that Mr
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42
to this form than the Latins for their subscriptions prov e
the contrary
The like forms are used i n the Fift h Council O f the
L ateran presided over by L e o X I might have equally
referred to t h e Council Of Constance aft er the electio n
o f Pope Martin V h a d taken place in the Council
And
although the mode O f p r o c e e di n g in that C o uncil was really
informal inasmuch as its members voted by nations a
portion o f its doctrinal decrees Obtained force through
the d ogmatic constitution o f Mart in
The difference
o f style then between Tren t and the V atican is O b v i
n an invariable rule O f the Church and
based
upo
o u sl
y
is no innovation Of Pius I X
It must not be forgotten that it was the Bishops i n
the V atican Council wh o discussed and settled the
terms Of t h e t w o dogmatic constitutions suppressing
adding to and modifying t h e origin al draft s by t h e i f
m aj orities D uring the di scussions the Pope was absent
and only present at the final votings Every Bishop
w ithin the Co u ncil gave his p l a ce t o r n o n p l a ce t there
being but two n on p l a ce t s uttered i n defining the I n fal
The Pope never Opened his lips on the ques
l ib i li t y
tion before the Council until all discus s ion and voting
was completed ; he then gave the final j udgment All
the Bishops moreover subscribed the constitution after
the Pope as defining and their names are all printed
as defining in the authentic edition O f the Council
It has commonly been considered a foolish thing to
slay the slain ; b u t I cannot help noticing Mr Glad
stone s instancin g as o n e token Of change that the
canons o f Trent are publis h ed i n Rome as c a n on e s e t
”
and s o
d e cr e t a s a c r os an c t i e c u me n i c i Co n c i l i i T r i d e n t i n i
forth But what we have now to do wi t h is the Con s t i
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i
se e
t h e w h ol e o f t h
’
H ar d u i n s o u n c i l s
"
”
Fo r
C
.
e
f ac t s
an
d q u o t at i o n s
In
th
e ab o v e s t at e
me n t
43
t u ti o D
m
a t i c a P r i ma ale E c cl e s i a Ch r i s t i , e di t a i n
g
o
s e s s i on e
the V atican Council Precisely s o But it s o
happens that my O fficial copy o f the Co u ncil o f the
The title
V atic a n has a similar title to that of Trent
is ! A c t a e t D e cr e t a S ac r os an ct i Gflc u me n i ci Con c il i i V a t i
Mr Gladstone has confo u nded the title of a con
c an i
s t i t u t i o n with the title O f the entire Council ; and if he
will turn over the pages Of his copy O f the Council o f
Trent he will there find a title resembling that which
has given him s o much O ff ence It stan d s as follows !
t e r ti a
of
’
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B u lla S
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D
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N
ma t i o n e
.
P i i D ivi n a P
i d e n t i a P ap
e n e r al i s
on ci l i i
C
g
me n i c i
r ov
oc
1V
er
p
T r i de n t i n i
.
su
fi
In that B ull are contained these words wit hout which
the Council would be o f no e ff e ct ! With the counsel
and consent of o u r brethren [the Cardinals! we this
day have confirmed by Apostolic authority all and each
O f the Council
of
the
decrees
and
canons
and
have
[
!
decreed that they be received and Observed by all the
faith f ul S O the Q ueen and not the Parliam ent makes
our laws ; they r u n i n the Q ueen s name the Parlia
ment consenting
The expostulator may depend u pon it that the
Church is s e mp e r e aal e m But it is curio u s to notice
how the language o f his acc u sation o f change shifts
ab o ut First he tells us that within the days o f his
memory the constant favourite and imposing argu
ment o f Roman contro v ersialists was the unbroken and
absolute identity Of belief o f the R oman Ch u r c h fro m
the day o f o u r Saviour u ntil now
He then notes a
sensible change i n the present tenor o f o u r literature
durin g the last forty
Secondly he speaks O f
the deadly blows of 1 8 5 4 and 1 8 7 0 aimed at the Old
historic s e l e n t i fi c and moderate school which surely
”
was an act of v i o l e n c e r And in several other pass ages
c on
r
ce cu
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P ag e 13
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p
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15
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44
we are told that the evil claim o f the Pope to I n f al l i
bilty an d unlimited obedience dates from 18 7 0 But
then in a note we are told that the gist Of the evil we
are dealing with consists in following ( and enforcing)
precedents fro mthe age o f Pope Innocent
That is
from 1 2 1 5 which makes s i x centuries and a half Then
we are told o n the same authority that the Popes had
kept up with comp arative little i n t e r m i s s r o n for well
their claim to dogmatic I n f al l i
n igh a thousand years
b i l i t y ; and had at periods within the same tract Of
time oft en enough made and never retracted that
other claim which is theoretically less but practically
—
larger their claim to an Obedience virtually universal
’
from the b aptised members Of the Ch u r c h j
O n the two very points o n which Mr Gladstone
has raised all this clamour , and that o n the expre ss
ground O f violent and even revolutionary change by
his o w n admission the Church has been substantially
the same as far as these P apal cl a ims are concerned for
well nigh a thousand years Yet he complains and i n
vites Catholics to complain that by the decrees o f 1 8 7 0
the reli gion o f a man has been changed for him over
his head and without the very least o f his participa
t i o n j; Well the doctrines have not been changed but
—
defined by the Pontiff and the Episcopate fi r s t by the
Episcopate as far as their j udgment was concerned and
—
finally by the Pontiff and they teach the unchange
able faith O f the Catholic Church
I will venture to quote an English author who by
no means accords with the sentiment I have j ust quoted
O ur Redeemer he says as we are henceforward to
assume founded u pon earth a visible and permanent
society cohering and intended always to cohere by
m eans Of a common profession o f belief but also o f
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28
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22
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common and public ordinances which by their outward
form constituted an d sealed the visible union o f b e
hile by the inward spiritual grace attached
lie ve r s ; w
to them they were also destined to regenerate men i n
Christ and to build them up in Him and thus to c o n
s t i t u t e their i n ward and essential as well as their ex
te r nal oneness Now there has been in practice the
closest connection between the doctrines Of a visible
Church and that o f spiritu al gr a ce in the Sacraments
and that O f an A postolical Succession in t h e ministry ;
s o th a t in general they have been received o r rej ected
together
Then after a few pages speaking Of the ordinances
the au t hor says ! N o w it would be a
o f the Church
supposition most repugnant to all antecedent proba
b i l i t y that the administration o f such or d inances u nder
such circumstances (that is the having t o cope with al l
the Opposing forces of the unbelieving world and yet
more w ith all the bitterly though more subtilely hostile
influences which the breast o f every man professing
allegiance to t h e Saviour supplies) would be committed
to the members o f the society at large and t h i s f o r
several reasons First because o f the high and mys
t e r i o u s connection between the m outward form and
their s u bst ance and Of the blessings they convey we
should expect them i n the hands Of those whose func
tion in life i t is especially to know and to guard the
treasures Of Christianity
Therefore their adm i n i s
t r at i o n becomes a matter o f government and discipline
—
and o n e too requiring the best nay indeed much
—
more than the best discernment that is to be found
among men for its right management ; from whence it
seems to follo w that as diff erent persons are adapted
in various degrees f o r such an O ffice and as the mass
are not at all fit for it while the very best are b u t i m
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46
perfectly capable o f i t s discharge it should be kept I n
the hands Of a select body Of persons the most suit
able th at can be secured
And in another passage speaking o f succession from
the Apostles If there be a divine commission not a
figurative but an actual n o t a supposed but an attested
commission involved in the true idea O f the Christian
ministry then w e h av e a way Open for us naturally
and readily to believe that the gifts and graces which
belong to the author of that commission are indeed
closely attached to its legitimate exercise Then we
have a full and adequate representation Of the religious
dispensation under which we live as a system of power
ful influences emanating altogether from God and o p e
rating upon u s as their necessitous recipients a nd that
relation between Him and ourselves which we must
correctly apprehend in order to perceive the ad aptation
o f the Christian doctrines to their purposes is rightly
established in the ideas o f His unbounded might a nd
bounty o n the o n e hand and of o u r absolute weakness
—
and need o n the other o f Him as the universal Giver
and of u s as receivers qualified by necessity alone
And soon after the author says ! The argument
from the commission to preach and instruct and from
the power Of the keys is nearly par allel and is corro
b o r at i v e o f that from the authority requisite for the
right administration o f Sacraments
It would be a very hard task to reconcile these
beautiful passages with Mr Gladstone s demand o n the
Catholic people t o disclaim the teaching o f the Apostolic
See and the Episcopate o r with the complaint he makes
Of their acquiescing in the having their religion changed
over their heads without their concurrence But the
“
author o f these extracts is Mr Gladstone )
N o doubt
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Ch u
r ch
P r i n c ip l e s ,
p
ch a
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v.
47
he Often contradic t s his o w n C h u r ch P r i n cip l e s in the
details Of the very book from which they are quoted
but t hese are o r were Mr Gl a d s tone s principles
I t is impossible to take u p all the misconceptions
contained in the sixty s i x pages of the Expostulation
but th ere is a glaring o n e about e v ca t h e d r a definitions
where he s ays t hat there is no establish ed o r accepted
definitio n Of t h e phrase e tc ca t h e d r al and t h at n o o n e
has power to obta in o n e and n o guide t o direct choice
among some twelve th eories o n the subj e ct which it is
sai d are bandie d to and fr o among Roman theologians
excep t the despised and discarded agency Of h i s private
The whole Of this argument rests upon
—
the authority o f i t i s s a i d D oubtle s s whilst a greeing
in the main theologians diff ered as to minor conditions
Of what was a true and complete definition o f the term
e x c a t h e d r a befo re it was dogmatically u sed and defined ;
yet they always agreed that it w a s the O fficial ac t o f the
Pope teaching the Church Mr Gf ad s t o n e asks f o r an
accepted definitio n and the Council has given him
on e
It was before his eyes in the decree Of Infallibility
he had j ust quoted N O sooner does the Church in
Council introduce the term e a! c a t h e dr al than S h e give s
its authentic definition and what is more i t s very
terms are taken word for word f rom the dogmatic de
cree Of the Council Of Florence which w as signed by
both Greeks and Latins The definition i s in these
—
terms ! When he ( the Pope ) speaks e x c a t h e dr a that i s
to s ay when discharging the O ffice Of Pastor and D octor
Of all Christians by vir t ue O f his supreme Apostolic au
—
i
h e defines a doctrine reg arding f aith o r morals
h
t
t or y
There was a time when Mr Gladstone had n o di fli
culty in his own j udgment Of defining what is av c a t h e
d r a In 1 8 40 , i n his Ch u r c h P r i n cip l e s aft er qu oting
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48
Gregory X V I s condemnation Of indiff erentism as main
t ai n e d by the unh appy D e la Mennais he says ! And
th is the Pope promulgated c v c a t h e dr a as being i n f al
l i b l y decided by his voice and as being obligatory upon
all the children Of the Church to receive
Four a nd
thirty years ago Mr Gladstone understood the te r m ar
c a t h e d r a and could even apply it to Papal documents
where both the term d efi n i mu s and t h e term a n a t h e ma
are wanting He could even think at t h at pe r i o d th a t
it became Obligatory o n a ll the children Of the Church
to receive i t tha t is the Papal condemnation Why
t hen should he first be shocked in 1 8 7 4 that t h e
Council should define in 1 8 7 0 what he believed in 1 8 40
was the Catholic doctrine O f Papal Infallibility and
Obedie n ce to the Pope
And n o w let u s approach th e Council its elf The
Expostul ation goe s to suggest that the C ouncil w a s
convened m ainly with a view of defining the I n f al l i
b i li t y and that t h e definition itself was br o ught abou t
chiefly for political Obj ects through the action Of t h e
Ponti ff and a dominant party
A falser notion could
not be entertained I have the o ffi cial catalogue before
me Of the s ch e ma t a prepared by the theologian s for d i s
In them the Infallibility is not
c u s s i o n in the Council
even mentioned ; far the greater par t Of them regard
ecclesiastical discipline Through m undane revolu t io n s
such vast changes had t aken place in t h e condi t i o n Of
the Church and i t s affairs since the Council of Tre n t
t hat in a very large portion of the Church m any o f t h e
laws O f discipline enacted three hundred years ago h a d
ceased t o be applicable and new enactments were i m
n g these a not i n c o n
In
discussi
e r at i v e l y required
p
h a d been made when cal amitous
s i d e r ab l e progress
events suspended the Co uncil The w hole doctrin al
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C h u r ch
P r i n c i p l e s , c h ap
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vi i i . n
.
46
.
practice Of all times that involved the Papal Infallibility
would resist o r disown the doc t rinal decisions Of the
Ponti ff whenever brought agains t them The c o n s e
u e n c e would b e that the authori t y O f t h e Ponti ff d e fi
q
o f doctrine which the
t
o
settle
controversies
n it iv e l
y
Church had ever acknowledged and acted u pon would
be s e t at naught b y a party within the Church and
b etwee n Council and Council there would be no au t h o
rity recognised by them that could with irresistible
vigour p u t down new errors against faith o r moral
doctrine T here was precisely that j ustific ation for
action which Mr Gladstone a scribes to the definitions
Of the earlier Church
The j u s t i fi c at i o n he says Of
the ancient definitions Of the Church which have e u
d u red the storm s o f fift een hundred years was to be
—
found in this that they were not arbitrary o r wilful
but that they wholly sprang from and related to
theories rampant at the time an d regarded as menacing
to Christian belief Even the canons Of the Council o f
Trent have in the m ain this amount apart from their
”
!
matter o f presumptive warrant
Besides the motives already assign ed to borro w Mr
Gladstone s words again the levity o f the destr u ctive
speculations s o widely current and th e notable hardi
hood of the anti Christian writing o f to
as it
appeared to many Bishops
rendered it all the more
important that the Pope should be armed with that
full strength with which Christ had invested Peter and
his successors t o confirm his brethren in the truth
a nd to smite with irreversible j udgment the false doc
trines that might lift up their pride wi thin the Church
Fo r these reasons many Bishops united in a postulati o n
t hat the questio n Of Papal Infa llibility might be brought
into the Council ; and accordingly it was intro duced
4
7
P g 14
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51
O nce
introduced there co u ld be no doubt Of the deci
sion ; f o r even those Prelates who argued agai nst its
opport u neness with the exception o f three or four
maintained the doctrine I have already declared tha t
no political m ot ive o r noti on o f givi n g political domi
nion to the Pope ever entered t h e minds of those to
whom we owe the d efinition
It re m ains to consider t h e m eaning and extent o f
the Infallibility first as it is viewed thro u gh the pre
u di ces o f Mr Gladstone ; secondly as it is unders t ood
j
and defined an d s o limited by the Council Mr Glad
stone says tha t the reach o f the Infallibility i s as wide
as it may please the P ope o r those who prompt the
Pope t o m ake
T his he asserts o n the ground that
the sense o f the li miting ter m av ca t h e dr a is undefined
B u t we have shown that t h e Council itself defined the
term
He likewise asserts that the o fi i c e formerly
claimed by the Church was principally that Of a wit
ness to facts but that now especially within the last
forty years the claim is principally that Of a j udge if
not a revealer o f doctrine And then we have i t
asserted that in the earli er claim the processes were
s ubj ect t o a constant challenge to history
main
taining the tr uth and power of history and the inesti
ma b le value o f the historic S pirit But i n the second
no am ount o f historical testimony can avail against the
u nmeasured power of
This i s the intellectual basis Of D r D ollinger s party
as exhibited in their manifesto the book entitled J a n u s
in which book the whole o f Mr Gladstone s arguments
may be fo u nd with all their heresy That book written
previously in the shape o f article s in the A u gs b u r g G a
z e t te
and that before the definition has since become
their plea f o r rej ecting the Co u ncil L et Mr Gladstone
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52
read the reply to it in the A n t i J a n u s O f D r H e r g e n
a nd if his mind be candid he will s e e how far
r Ot h e r
an appeal to history upon foregone conclusions respect
i n g doc t rine will carry men away from historic truth
T he Old Protestant principle o f private j u dgment as
was the
against t h e t eaching au t hority Of the Church
appeal t o Scripture The new principle O f private j udg
ment O f D r D ollinger and his party as a gainst her
authority is the a ppe al to history This is precisely
that Spirit Of historic al criticism that I denounced i n
my P a st o ral
The a ssertion that until recent times the Church
acted a s w itness not as j udge Of doctrine presents us
with a most S ing u l ar example Of m o dern though t a r
rayed ag ainst ancient hist o ry What were the de c rees
and the canons the an athem a s an d t h e e x c o m m u n i c a
tions pronounce d against heresies and heres i archs O f
all the a ncient C o uncils an d of S O m any Of the Older
Popes but doctrinal j udgments !
Then as to the ch arge Of substituting unmeasured
devel o pment for the testimony O f history The Church
witnesses to two sources o f evidence before s h e pro
The first is the actu al
n o u n c e s upon her own doctrine
existing belief o f the Catholic world ; the second is the
tradition come d o wn thr o ugh the ages from the b e
ginning
The full testimony Of the a ctu al livin g
Church was wi t hin the V atican Council in the voice
Of her Bi s h o ps representing every c lime and n a ti o n ;
an d for the tr adi t ion Of the past never was history S O
t horoughly s earched before an d t hat on both S ides O f
i n dissert a tions written by 1 5 8 O f t h e
t h e que s t i on
Father s fo r t h e u s e O f the Council ; in discussions pro
longed until histo r y and argument were absolutely ex
h au s t e d a nd in a fl O O d O f pamphlets circulated a mong
the Fathers
The constitution in which the I n f al l i
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is defined cites decisions O f the Second Council Of
Lyons and that of Florence in both O f which the d o c
trine had already been vir t ually defined by the Greeks
and Latins united It also quoted the Fourth Council
of Constantinople o f 8 6 9 But this by no means r e p r e
sents the evidence brought forward i n discussion f rom
much earlier Co u ncils and Fathers and from the S acred
Scriptures Indeed it may be safely said that to an
u nprej u diced eye the evidence o f the Sacred Writings
is much stronger and more persu asive for the I n f al l i
b i l i t y o f Peter s successor than f o r that O f the E p i s c o
pate O n this subj ect there was no call whatsoever for
the principle Of development ; nor do I think i t was
once mention e d
Mr Gladstone is fond o f puttin g his state m ents in
the shape O f questions and he asks ! Will it be said
that the Infallibility o f the P O p e accr u es only when
he speaks c v c a t h e dr a
This question insinuates the
contrary But the Council strictly limits the I n f al l i
b i l i t y t o c v c a t h e d r a d e c i s i On s and the obj ector o u ght
to understand that such doc u ments are of strict inter
f
r e t at i o n
and
that
no
has
a
right
to
a
firm
that
o
n
e
p
m ore is contained in the decree than is expressed
Again it is asked ! Will it be said that the I n fal l i
O nly matters o f
b i l i t y only touches faith and m orals
morals PT And here by way Of illustrating the extent
Of morals Mr Gladstone very correctly describes o u r
human life as involving duty at every ste p as if the
Pope purs u ed every man throughou t his life p r o n o u n c
ing c v ca t h e dr aj udgments upon all his acts He c o n
founds j udgment upon moral doctri ne with j udgment
upon moral acts and by this confu sion o f ideas contrives
to bring all human life under the prerogative o f I n fal
l i b il i t y N o wonder that after this m ons t rous widening Of
b il it y
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5 4;
the sphere o f Infallibility he is enable d to hurl s o many
fi gures o f rhetoric against not the Pope s Infallibility but
his o wn inv e ntion Such then are Mr Gladstone s mis
conceptions o f the Papal Infallibility How completely
i t illustrates D r Newman s well known remark that
true testimony is unequal t o the Protestan t view !
I t remains to s e e what the Infallibil ity as defined by
the Co u ncil truly i s and W hat it truly is not Let me
first s ay that the Church is not responsible for either
doctrines o r their appli cations as given by those who
even though members o f the Church are not her
authorised teachers in whatever shape they may ap
pear N o r i s it fair to pick o u t the o b i t e r d i c t a o f c o m
petent writers and exhibit the m as Catholic doctrine
T he only way o f fair dealing is to take the formal expo
s i t i o n s o f competent authorities when expressly directed
to explain an ar t icle o f faith So we take the legal
expositions o f j udges s o the evidence o f exper t s
Before giving the definition o f the Infallibility it
w ill be expedien t to observe that the whole chapter in
which it is contained u nderwent considerable alteration
from the Bishops as the res u lt o f their discussi on s Fo r
example the original title o f the chapter w as D e R o
m a m P o n t ifi czs I nf all i b i l z A u c t omt a t e
B u t the word
a u c t or i t a t e was altered to ma i s t e r zo wit h
the
express
g
intention o f marking that the infallible authority was
limited t o t e a ch i n g For greater convenience I give the
definition in an English version o f it as follows
The Sacred Council approving we teach and define
that it is a dogma divinely revealed that the Ro m
—
Pontiff when he speaks e a! c a t h e dr d that i s when in
discharge o f the o ffice o f Pastor and D octor o f all Chris
tians by virtue o f his supreme Apostolic authority he
defines a doctrine regardi ng f aith or m orals t o be held
by the Universal Ch u rch by the divine assistance pro
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—
d to him in blessed Peter is possessed of that I
mi s e
l i b i l i t y w ith
n
f al
which the divine Redee m er willed that His
Church should be endowed f o r defining d octrine r e
gar di ng faith o r morals ; and that therefo re such d e fi
n i t i o n s o f the Roman Ponti ff a
r e irreformable of them
selves and n o t from the conse n t of the Church But
—
—
if any o n e which may G o d avert presume to contra
dict this o u r definition let him be anathema
A s an obj e ction has been raised in the T i me s that
there is no canon and no anathema attached to t h e d e fi
n it i on
it may be well to observe first that defini t ions
o f doct r i ne are not always put in the for m o f canons
although they were s o in the Council o f T rent ; secondly
th at the clause d oe e ma s e t di vi n i t a s r e v e l a t u m d og ma e as e
d efi n i mas begins the definition ; thirdly that the d e fi n i
tion does conclude with the an a t h e ma s i t against all who
presume to contradict this definition which is the e qui
valent o f a canon The definition strictly limits the I n
f allibility to doctrine o f faith an d o f morals and t hat
o n ly when the Pope is exercising his Apostolic authority
in teaching all Christians from the Apostolic Chair Mr
Gladstone confounds througho u t his pamphlet moral
conduct with moral doctrine ; b ut the Infallibility i s
e xpressly limited in the text to doctrine o f faith and
doctri ne o f morals or moral doctrine which in f act is
o f the elements o f faith as well as o f ethics
The reach o f the Infalli b ility is as wide says Mr
Gladstone as it may please the Pope o r those w h o
prompt the Pope to make
And he even questions
whether it may not enable the Pope to proclaim new
revelations This shows that he has never carefully
stud i ed the text o f the definitions n o r the exposition o f
its sen se delivered in the pre amble In that exposition
it is expressly stated that the Holy Spirit w as not
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promised to the successors o f Peter that by revelation
they might make know n new d o ctrine but th a t by His
assist a nce they might i n violably keep a nd faithfu lly
expound the revelation or deposit o f fa ith del ivered
T his t hen is a nother limita
t hrough t h e Apostles
tion t o the Infallib i lity t hat it is n o t b y r e v e l a t i o n nor
does i t extend to n e w doctrines but is b y as s i s t a n c e of
the Holy Ghost to keep t h e d ep os i t of f a i t h d e l i v e r e d
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r om
b egi n n i n g
th e
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In another passage of t h e preliminary expositi o n i t
is sh own that the Pope employs all wise and j udicial
precautions in taking the tes t imony o f the Chur c h to
any doctrine before defining it
The Roman Pontiff s
it says accordi n g to the exigencies o f time and circum
stances sometimes assembling ( Ecumenic al Co u ncils or
asking for the mind of the Churc h scattered through
o u t the world
sometimes by p a rticul ar Synods some
times by using other helps which D ivine Providence
supplied have defined as to be held those things which
with the help of God they had recognised a s conform
able to the Scriptures and Apostolic t raditions This
brief narrative o f the measures taken by the Popes
securely to obtain the sense o f the Church before pro
n ou n ci n
a
doctrinal
j
udg
m
ent
was
inserted
into
the
g
d ecree as o n e o f the results o f discussion in the
Council
The distinction between the false Infallibilit y as Mr
Gladstone has been taught to view it and the true I n
f allibility held by the Church has been admirabl y ex
pressed b y the late learned and lamented P e re Gratry
Misled like others as to what the Council really intended
he wrote against the definition ; but before he d i ed the
a ctual decree reached his hands
and he wrote in his
r etractation
I combated an i n sp i r e d Infallibility ; the Council s
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translation I refrain from doing s o Having disposed
o f hal f the g round o f Mr Gladstone s Expostulation I
proceed to dispose of the other half
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V
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M R G LA D ST O NE
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O B ED I EN C E A ND T HE
O B ED I EN C E
CHU RCH S
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in his exaggeration of the Pope s Infallibility Mr
Gladstone exceeds all bounds in his amplificatio n o f
t h e extent o f ecclesiastical obedience he becomes ab s o
I have only room for a brief statement
l u t e l y wild
o f his misconceptions ; I hope the reader will examine
h i s text from page 3 7 to page 4 5 o f the octavo
edition
The so u nding name o f Infallibility he says has
and riveted it o n the
s o fascinated the public m ind
four t h chapter o f the constitution D e E ccl e s i a that its
near n eighb our the third chapter h as at least in my
Hg
opinion received very much less than j u s t i c e
Then
is given the text o f the decree w hich I shall put in
English
The p astors an d faithful o f whatsoever rite
and dignity each o n e individually as well as all taken
together are bound to the duty o f hierarchical s u b
ordin ation and to tr u e obedience n o t only i n t h o s e
thin gs that belong t o faith and morals but likewi se in
th ose that belo n g to the discipline and government o f
the Church spread throughout the world
This is a
doctrine o f Catholic truth fro m which no o n e can de
v i at e with secure faith and salvation
We therefore
teach and declare that he ( the Pope ) is the supre m e
j udge o f the faithful and that in all causes belonging
t o ecclesiastical j urisdiction recourse can be had to his
j udgment ; but the j udgment o f the Apostolic See can
by no o n e be reverse d N o r is it lawful for any o n e t o
j udge his j u dgment
IF
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Upo n this Mr Gladstone comments in th ese terms
Even therefore where the j u dgments o f the Pope do
n o t present th e credentials o f Infallibility they are u m
appealable and irreversible ; no person may pass j udg
ment upon them and all men clerical and lay dis
o r in the aggregate are bound truly to obey
e r s e dl
p
y
them ; and fro m this rule o f Catholic truth no man c an
depart save at the peril o f his
This is strange blundering in the interpretation of
law fro m a practised legislator If with the whole con
text o f the l aw before his eyes he can draw such con
e lusions
what can we expect when the same writer
comes to the Syllab u s consisting as it does of shor t
s entences taken o u t o f their ample context !
He has
o i n t o f law ;
c onfounded the point of doctrine with t h e
p
and that peril t o salvation which in the text of the
decree is exclusively attached to the doctrine he has
attache d to the law resulting o u t of the doctrine
T he
first paragraph o f the decree asserts that the members
and whole b ody of the Church whe t her pastors o r flock
are held together in hierarchical o rd er by the principle
o f obedience o f obedience not only to the doctrines o f
faith and morals but obedience likewise to the regula
tions o f Church govern m ent and discipline It is this
principle o f obedience to the Church not that other
practical obe dience to Papal j u dgm ents which is de
c l ar e d to b e
a d o c t r i n e o f Catholic tr u th fro m which
n o one can deviate w i t h s e cu r e
Mr
a i t h a n d s a l v a t i on
f
Gladstone has extended this clause into the second para
graph where i t is not to be found and which is upon
t h e distinct subj ect of t h e Pope s j u dgments in cases
appealed to his S u pre m e Court t o which as being a
totally different s u bj ect n o t refe r ring t o f aith b u t
to legal decisions it does not apply Yet upon this
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60
gregious blunder o f his own making h a s Mr Glad
s tone raised his most vehement and declamatory accu
He spe aks likewise with horror of the Papal
s at i o n s
ecclesiastic al j udgments for being unappealable a nd
irreversi b le no person m ay pass j udgment upon them
Pre c isely s o So it is and s o it must be i n every
an d
dicial
system
where
there
are
inferior
tribunals
u
j
one supreme t r ibunal a n d last court o f appeal N o one
c an reverse its decision no o n e can j udge its j udgment ;
It
al l mus t obey it and that under pain o f contumacy
is the s ame in the civil as in the ecclesiastical system of
—
j udicat ure there is always a high court o f final appeal
whose decisions are unappe alable and irreversible ; no
person may p a ss j udgment up o n them All o f what
ever class o r degree
must obey them
In the
Anglican Establishment the same rule prevails
As
the Q u een is head o f the Anglican Church the
fin al appe al in causes eccle s iastical is to th e Q ueen in
C ouncil
All Anglican churchmen and laymen are
bound to o bey t h e decision which is unappe al able and
irreversible no person can rej udge thatj udgment Why !
B ecause the theory o f the law is that the Q ueen takes
the place formerly held by the Pope
B u t it does not follow from the terms of the decree
o f the V atican Council that there ar e no intermediate
cour t s such as those of the local Bishop next that o f
the Archbishop o r Metrop olitan ; nor does it follow that
the Pope may not reverse his own j udgment which is
not at all unus u al where the defeated party brings
proof of error o r new matter that could not be before
add u ced
I h ave a letter before me of the late Cardinal
Prefect o f Propagand a in a case where I had ac t ed as
apostolic delegate in which h i s Eminence says ! N o
th ing is more usu al t o the H oly See than to reverse its
j udgments on proof o f error The whole o f the second
e
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clause m ost pl a inly refers to appeals from the local and
inferior c ourts t o the Supreme Court in matters eccle
s i as t i c al
.
In his very authoritative bo o k on D iocesan Synods
the most learned P o pe Benedict X I V points o u t from
the provisions o f the common law that in issuing r e
scripts and mandates the Popes m a y sometimes be
deceived by false informations o r by suppressions o f
truth ; in which case they are far fr o m complaining if
the executors o f such documents suspend their action
until the Pontiff is informed who willingly r e c t i fi e s
what is amiss Moreover whenever a Pontifical law o r
m andate m ay in th e j udg m ent o f the local authority
have an inj urious e ff ect in some province o r diocese
the B ishop c a n a nd ought to m ake this known t o the
Holy See and the P o pe is ever ready to receive s u ch
representations an d to m ake exceptional p r o vision s
wh e rever they are shown to be needed
In short t h e
government o f the Church like that o f all sound g o
vernme n ts is guided by common sense A disciplin e
and government such as Mr Gladstone imagines for
u s could not exist
Th at the principle o f obedience to the authority o f
the Church is a point o f faith and condition of salv a
tion is no t hing new
It was t a ught by its D ivine
Founder when He said ! If thy brother shall o ffen d;
ag ainst thee g o and rebuke him between thee and h i m
alone If he shall hear thee thou sh alt gain thy brother ;
and if he will not hear thee t ake with thee o n e o r t w o
more that m the mouth o f two o r three witnesses eve 1 Y
word may stand And if he will n o t hear them tell
the Church ; and if he will not hear the Church let
him be to thee as t h e heathen and p u b l i c an fl Her e
disobedience to the Church even in m atters o f ordinary
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S yn o d o D i ce c c s an o , 1 i x
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xv i i i
14 17
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62
life is plainly put under anathema o r separation fro m
salvation St Paul likewise says
O bey your prelates
and be subj ect to them For they watch a s being to
render an account of your
What then has
the Council done but repeat the doctrine o f Holy Scrip
ture !
After he h as st u ffed the decree o f the Council with
his own misconceptions and mental confusion Mr Glad
stone lets his ideas run away with him into a w ildness
o f fancy
a very romance o f misconstructi o n tha t is
fairly astonishing The principle o f ecclesiastical obedi
ence is made to extend over all civil power and civil
actions
Individual servitude he s ays
however
abj ect will n o t satisfy the party now dominant in the
Latin Church ; the State must also be a slave j This
sentence is a specimen of the shift iness that runs through
t h e whole production
The author allows that the
decree was approved by a council oe cumenical in the
Roman sense ! i and here he limits the satisfaction de
H o w by this
rived from it to a dominant party
decree is the State m ade a slave ! It does not even
touch the State Mr Gladsto n e quotes in proof of his
assertion What he calls the pregnant words o n the
point They are these ! N o t only in those things that
belong to faith and morals but likewise in those that
belong to the discipline and government o f the Church
spread thr o u gho ut the world
These then are the limits s e t to t hat obedience
whose principle is pronounced to be a matter o f faith
It includes first obedience to doctrine s o f faith ; se
c o n dl
to
moral
doctrine
thirdly
to
Church
disci
;
y
pline ; fourthly to Church government Here I repeat
i s the limitation s e t by the Council to that obedien ce
t h e principle of which is d eclared to be o f faith
Let
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T
P ag e 40
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63
us now s e e to what Mr Gladstone extends it Absolut e
obedience it is boldly declared is due to the Pope at the
peril of s al yat i o n not alone i n faith and morals but in
all things which concern the discipline and government
T h e words absolute and boldly are
of the Church
Mr Gladstone s additions And what i s at the peril
of s alvation in the text is the doctrine not the obedi
ence Now f o r the wild romance
Thus says Mr
Gladstone are swept into the Papal net whole multi
tudes o f facts whole systems o f governments prevailing
though in diff erent degrees in every country o f the
world Even in the United States where the severance
between Church and State is supposed to be complete
a lo n g catalogue might be drawn up o f s u bj ects belong
ing to the domain and competency o f the State but also
unde niably aff ecting the government o f the Church ;
such as by way o f example marri age burial education
prison discipline blasphemy poor relief incorporation
mortmain religious endowments vows o f celibacy and
obedience
In Europe the circle i s far wider the
points o f contact and interlacing innumerable B u t
on all matters respecting which any Pope may think
pr e per to declare that they concern fa ith o r morals or
the government o r discipline o f the Church he claims
with the approval o f a co u ncil undoubtedly oe c u m e n i
cal i n the Roman sense the absolute obedience at
the peril o f salvation o f every member of his com
munion
Except i n points o f defined doctrine whether of
truth o r m oral principle all the rest in s o far as salva
tion is concerned is not in the decree o f the Council
b ut is a huge addition o f Mr Gladstone s For I r e
peat once more the doctrine o f obedience is declared of
faith under peril o f salvation but the exercise of ob e
di e n c e is simply declar e d to be obligatory
T here is no
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64
doubt but that contumacious disobedience against autho
rity is o f peril to s alv a tion Contumacy st r ikes at t h e
very root o f authority whether of G o d o r man ; an d n o
society under whatever government can toler ate i t b u t
ever tre a ts it among t h e gravest c r imes O nly this
poin t the Co u ncil does not touch directly it only speaks
o f the obedience o f subj ects to superiors as o f bindin
g
force
O f the matters w hich Mr Gladstone has swept into
the Pap al net the Council says nothing ; and he canno t
—
but know that whilst some of them vows for example
—are o f a purely spiritual n ature others—for example
—
poor rel i ef are o f a purely tempor al n ature ; whilst
others o f t he m have both a spiritual and a civil ele
men t in wh ich what is o f conscience and religio n b e
longs t o the Church a nd what is o f civil regul ation
belongs to the State
Nothing is more clearly expressed in the traditions
o f the Church than the dis t inction between the spiritual
an d civil powers ; b u t when a nation and its govern
ment is C atholic they a re both presumed to have C a
t h o l i c consciences a s in Engl a nd when for a thousand
year s the Catholic religi o n w a s part and parcel of t h e
common law Church and State be c ome mutually s u p
porting and whilst the civil power as such is left to its
free force all t hat is o f conscience o r to u s e the wor ds
expl aining the Bull U na m S a n c t a m in
o f Boniface V II I
a Council what regards s i n is of the authority o f t h e
Church This principle explains a considerable portion
Thus
it
is
that
the
Church
touche
o f the S llabus
s
y
civil actions o n the side o f conscience as previously
explained But in concluding th at part o f his subj ect
the expostul ator seems t o question the right of the
Church to have an y independent authority and r e
claims against the notion that the Church has the righ t
n
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publicly renounced his own book in Parliament but
this will not destroy the intrinsic force o f his argument
ation
,
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VI
MR
.
.
GL A D S T O N E
’
s
‘
S YLLAB U S
A ND T HE
’
Por n
’
s
S YLLA B U S
not as yet to
I T seems says the expostulator
h ave been thought Wise to ple dge the Council in terms
That achievement
t o the Syll a bus and the Encyclical
is probably reserved for some o n e o f its sittings yet to
come
This is in the expostulatory style based not o n
f a cts but o n a dream o f imagination
I need not point
o u t from where it comes t o any o n e who has read J a n u s
D oes Mr Gladstone fancy that the eighty distinct pro
positions o n as many subj ects a good many o f the m
complicated most of them demanding an acute ap p l i
cation o f theological o r canonical science for finding o u t
their precise bearing and their exact contradictories
would ever be discussed and settled in some o n e
sitting o f the C o uncil ! This is to insinuate that the
P o pe c o mmands and the Council obeys
D oes Mr
Gladstone remember how many months it took to dis
cuss and settle the decrees tha t have been the obj ect o f
his misinterpre t ations ! I can only s ay that the notion
o f introducing the Syllabus into the Council was never
heard of except from the writers in the A u gs b u r g G a
and their copyists The Papal documents from
z e t te
which they are extracted were promulgated by the
Bishops throughout the Church and the condemnations
e m bodied from t hem in the Syllabus were condemned
by the Bishops in thei r j oint and spontaneous address to
What more do they require to give them
t h e Pope
every kind o f force
Are they to be turned into dog
m as o f faith ! This is evidently Mr Gl adstone s notion
as i t is that of the school o f J an u s But t h e p r o p o s i
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tions
the Syll abus are far from all o f them capable
of b e m
pronounce d heretical ; and t o imagine this 1s to
misconstrue the nature o f the censure a t tached to them
The Syll abus is entitle d A Co l l e c t i on e m b r a c i n g t h e
r in c
l
E
r r o r s o o u r A e a s n o t e d i n t h e Con s i s t o r i a l A ll o
a
ip
p
f
g
c u t i o n s E n cyc l i c s a n d o t h e r A os t o l i c a l L e t t e r s o P i u s [ X
p
f
The letter of Cardinal Antonelli simply authenticates
them They are simply called e r r or s We must go t o
t h e original documents fo r any specific censures but
there we shall likewise find the exact limit of their sense
Error is a term t h at includes an exte n ded scale and gra
dation o f censures and to understand their nature we
cannot do better than consult the prefatory Instruction
to the Index o f prohibited Books
T he things to be
corrected it says are propositions that are heretical
o r errone ous or savouri n g o f heresy o r scandalous o r
o ff ensive to pio us ears or schismatical o r seditious o r
blasphemous
These are the several terms o f censure
any o n e o f which may be included under the compre
Then a censure may fall upon a
h e n s i v e word e r r o r
single clause phrase o r word and not upon the en t ire
sentence Amongst the obj ects o f censure are especially
marked in the Instruction the things that savour of
Paganism and such as drawn from p agan sentiments
morals and ex amples foster poli t ical tyranny which is
falsely c alled s t a t e r e as on and is abhorrent from the
Evangelic al and Christian law
Again such as are
immunity o r j urisdiction o f the
against the liberty
Church
Likewise lascivious o r obscene writing t hat
corrupts good morals
T hese points pretty well em
brace the whole Syllabus
Yet even with these helps and such as these how
is Mr Gladstone to const1 u e the sense of the Syllab u s !
It 1s tolerably clear that he m akes every proposition to
be a universal negation , and its cens u re to be th at o f
of
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68
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heresy and that t h e condemnation bears in all cases
upon every p a rt of each proposition It is t h e propen
o f ignorance to gener a lise whatever comes from an
si t
y
u naccept a ble source and to distort its meaning out o f
the proportions o f truth ; and o n Cath olic subj ects Mr
Gladst o ne is very ignorant He ought to understand
t hat Papal cons t itutions and ce n sures like law diplo
m acy and o t her p rofessional scie n ces are full of tech
n i c al terms an d refined distincti o ns comprehended only
by the initiat ed ; that they are a ddressed to Bishop s
who have t h e science of interpreting them ; and that
nothing can be more presumptuous th an for one who
s o far from having the requisite science is not even a
Catholic t o attempt to instruct the world above all
t o teach Ca t h o lics o n such a subj ect and to expostulate
wit h them o n what he plainly shows he doe s not him
self understand
Were Mr Gladstone a Catholic well acquainted with
his Catechism he would still require as t h e le a s t pre
ar at i o n before handling the Syllabus a course o f study
p
su ch as follows ! first a year o f schol a s t ic philosophy
to understand the school terms a nd their use and ap p l i
cation ; secondly a three years course o f d o gmatic
and moral theology in both cases under a competent
m aster ; thirdly he might then take up such a book as
t h e T h e s e s D a mn a t ae o f D ominic V iva
Aft er thi s pre
ar at i o n
h
t
e merely elementary knowledge will have
p
been gained for expounding the Syllabus provided its
propositions are examined with due sag a city in their
original contexts with due attention to the historic facts
t o which t hey are individually addressed and to the
t ime the place t h e persons and t h e circumstances
Grave warnings have been given us of the d anger o f
attempting to construe the Syllabus without the requi
site science The J ou r n al de s D e b a t s attempted it in
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69
part and the Bishop o f O rleans convicted the writer o f
!
more than seventy errors
Mr Gladstone attempted t o
render eighteen o f the eighty propositions 1nto English
and an able theologian in the M on t h found that twelve
of them were either strained or presented in a sense
foreig n to their m e an i n g s j
S o much h as bee n wel l written o n the Syll abus that
I shall confine my attention t o o n e o r two o f its easiest
propositions such as scarcely require the science I have
spoken o f to understand them ; n o r shall I do more t han
simply repl a ce the proposition in their context But
this w ill be su fficient to exhibit t h e di ff erence between
Mr Glads t one s Syllabus and the Pope s Syllab u s
I select the 8 0 t h and last proposition as one o f those
which has been subj ect to the widest misconstruct ion
has been made the most hostile u s e o f against the
Church an d neverthel ess with its context presents
the most complete refutation n o t merely o f the u n j u s
t i fi ab l e sense attached t o it but t o that w hich has been
attached to ot h er propositions o f the Syllabus Mr
Gladstone renders it in these words
O r that t h e
Roman Ponti ff ought t o come to terms with progress
liberalism an d modern c i v i l i s at i o n f[ T he original is
T hat the Roman P ontiff c a n and ought to r e con c i l e
himself and come to t erms wi t h progress with liberal
ism and with recent civilisation
T he question before
us is whether this is a condemnation o f progress liber t y
and modern civilisation absol u tely and w i t h out di s t i n c
tion o r only o f evils and ab u ses that go under that
name English men with insular pride are apt to mea
sure all things by what exists i n England and to think
t h e Pope is always aiming his censure at them ; whereas
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L
b y th
a
Co n v e n t i o n
d a 15 S e p t e mb r e
B i s h o p o f O r l e an s
h
T
n t h f o r D e c e mb
e
i
l
l
o
T
e
et
l E
’
n c yc l
i gu
e
da 8 D
e ce
.
er
18 7 4
.
1
P
g
a e
18
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mb r e ,
70
—to
understand the Pope s Allocution of March 1 8 t h
t hey must
1 8 6 1 from which the proposition is taken
consider the then state of thi n gs on the Continent and
t h e style in which evil m e n clo aked u nder p o pular
—
—
such a s liberty civilisation and progress d o c
n ames
t rines and deeds which in England would never be
tolerated
The Pope says in his Alloc u tion J a mdu du m ce r n i mu s
Long have we been the wi t ness of the agitation
into which civil society is t h f o w n especially at this
t ime through the lamentable con flict o f ant agonistic
principle s between error and truth between virtue and
vi c e between light and d arkness F o r c ertai n men o n
the one side contend for w h a t t h e y c a l l m o de r n c i v i l i s a
t i on ; others o n the contrary striv e for t h e rights of
j ustice and o f our holy religion They first demand
t hat t h e R o ma n P on t ifl s h o u l d r e c o n c i l e h i ms e lf a n d c o me
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to ter
ms w i t h W H AT
d wi th
T HE Y CA L L
p
r o
g
r ess,
wi t h li b e r
a l i s m,
But others with reason
reclaim that the immovable and unchangeable prin
ci l e s
of
eternal
j
ustice
be
kep
in
their
integrity
t
p
an d inviolabili t y
and that the salut ary f orce o f our
divine religi o n be completely preserved
But
the patrons of m o de r n civili sation will not admit o f
any such distinction even though they dec l are that
they are the true and sincere friends o f religion Will
i n gl y would we give faith to them were it not that the
melancholy fa cts which are this day before the eyes of
all m e n prove absolutely the contrary
Among
these fa cts no o n e is ignor ant how solemn Concor d ats
regular ly c o ncluded between the Ap o st o lic See and
vari o us sovereig n princes have been utterly aboli s hed
as recently occurred at Naples
Again s t whi c h act in
t his august assembly we again and a gain complain ,
venerable brethre n and loudly reclaim in like manner
an
r e ce n
t
c i vi l i s at i on
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as o n other occasions we have protested against like
attempts and violat ions
But whilst t h i s mode r n c i vi l i s a t i on fosters every anti
Catholic worship and by no means keeps back i n fi de l s
from public employments nor closes the Catholic
schools against their sons it i s irritated against reli
against
institutions
founded
to
teach
i
o u s orders
a
C
g
t h o l i c schools and against numerous ecclesiastics o f
every gr a de even t hose who are clothed with the
highest dignity o f whom not a few drag o n an u n
certain life in miserable exile or imprisonment and
even against distinguished laymen who devoted to us
and this Holy See courageously defend the cause o f
religion and j ustice Whilst it grants pecuniary a ssist
ance to anti Catholic institutions an d persons t h i s c i v i l
i s a t i o n despoils the Catholic Church o f her most lawful
possessions and puts forth every e ff ort to lower the
salutary in fluence of the Church Moreover whilst i t
gives entire l iberty to all disco u rses and writings that
attack the Church and those who from the heart are
devoted to her whilst it stirs up fosters and favours
such license at the same time it is exceedingly c au t i o u
and moderate in repressing the at tacks sometimes vio
lent and excessive employe d against those who publish
excellent works whilst it punis hes the authors of these
works if they pass the b o u nds o f moderation m the
le a st degree with the utmost severity
Can the Roman Ponti ff ever extend a hand to t h i s
h i n d of c i v i l i s a t i o n or cordially enter into alli a nce and
a greement with it ! L e t t h e i r r e a l n a me s b e r e s t o r e d t o
t h i n g s a n d t h i s H o l y S e e w i ll b e e v e r c o n s i s t e n t w i t h i t s e lf
F o r t r u l y h a s i t a l w ays b e e n t h e p a t r on a n d n u r s e of r e a l
c i v i l i s a t i o n ; the monuments o f history bear witness and
prove that in all ages from this Holy See have gone
forth even into the most remote and barbaro u s na t ions
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72
right and true hum anity moral culture and wis dom
But if u n de r t h e n a me of ci v i li s a t i on is to be unde rstood
a system devised to weaken and perhaps even to destroy
t h e Church—no never can the Holy See and the R 0
man Pontiff co me t o t e r ms w i t h s u ch a c i v i l i s a t i on
The Pope goes o n to n arrate how in return for his
paternal concessions t h i s c i v i l i s a t i on spattered his Coun
cil Chamber with the blood o f his minister ; how i t s t r i p
ped the Holy See o f its territories and amidst al l its i n
f am i e s stil l called upon the Ponti ff to reconcile himself
with t h i s mode r n c i v i l i s a t i on Willingly says the Pontiff
do we pray for these persons th at by the help of divin e
grace t hey may repent But in the mean while we
cannot rem ain passive as if we had no care for human
c alamities
If unj ust concessions are asked o f us we
cannot con sent to them But ifpardon be asked for them
freely and promptly shall we be prepared to give it
From one example learn all Here is the text from
which the 8 0 t h proposition of the Syllabus is extracted
an d from its Apostolic author we learn its true sense
Mr Gl a d s tone declaims o n the Pope s condemn a t ion o f
all modern civilisation Ironically the P o pe uses t h e
word from the mou t h o f the Church s adversaries until
he comes to true civilisation and then he embraces and
e x alts it But t h i s c i v i l i s a t i on w ith which the Pope is
asked t o be reconciled is a civilisation and a liber t y
that bre aks down solemn agreements with the Holy
See and t hat without ever consultin g the other party
to t h e contract breaks concordats an d puts an end to
t h e m renouncing the entire oblig a tion o f the solemn
compact This by natural divine international and
even Engli s h law is a great crime
It is to Italy in 1 8 6 1 that the Allocution refers to
a co u ntry in w hich the Catholic Church had full p o s
s ession through the faith o f its people ; and t h i s mode r n
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74
Christian p eople due obedience and subj ection to pri n ces
and ( temporal ) powers teaching t hem according to the ad
moni t ion o f the Apostle tha t there is no power b ut from
God ; and those t hat are a re o rdaine d of God There
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“
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,
of God
Wherefore the precept to obey t h e power
cannot by any o n e be violated wi t h out sin u nless per
chance th a t be com m anded whic h is against the law o f
God and the Ch urch
The second document referred to for condemnation
o f the proposition in ques t ion is the Allocution o f Pius
I X of O ctober 1 8 4 7
Aft er t reating o f the restoration
of the Latin Patriarch in J erusalem his Holiness says
And here venerable brethren we openly and loudly
declare that i n this aff air a s in all o t hers all o u r
cares thoughts and e ff orts completely estranged from
—
m
hu an p olicy tend but to one t hing that the most
holy religion and doctrine of C hrist m a y shine for t h
more and more unto all the nations o f the earth
For altho u gh we desire that princes to whom the
Lord hat h given power cl o s i ng their ears to deceit
ful and perniciou s counsels may keep the law o f
j ustice and walking acc o rding t o the will of God may
pr o tect the rights and liberty of Holy Church and from
religi o us duty as well as humanity may labour for the
happiness and prosperity of t hei r people nevertheless
we are most keenly afflicted t hat i n various places m e n
are to be met with a mong the people who rashly abus
ing o u r name and inflic t ing grievous inju r y on our
person and supreme dignity dare to refu se due subj ee
tio n to their prince s to sti r up multitudes against them
and to promote c r imin al di s t u rb a nces So fa r i s this
from o u r t houghts th a t in o ur Encyclical Letter ad
dressed l a st year to o ur vener able brothers t h e Bishops
we failed n o t to inculcate obedience to the princes and
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75
powers from which according to the precept of the
Christian l aw n o o n e can deviate without s i n unless
wh a t is commended be against the law of G o d and t h e
Church
The third document refe r red to in the 6 3 d error o f
the Syllabus is the Encyclical Letter o f Pius I X of
Septe m ber 8 th 1 8 4 9 after his return to Rome from his
ex i le in Gaeta After spe aking of the mischievous doc
trines and deeds of the Communists and Socialists the
Pope says ! Let t h e faithful i n trusted to your care be
admonishe d that it belongs to the very nature o f human
society that all should obey the authority that is law
fully constituted within it ; nor can anything be changed
in the commands o f the L ord wh ich are declared on this
subj ect in the Sacred Scriptures for i t is written ! Be
ye subj ect to every human creature for God s sake ;
whether it be to the king as excelling or to governors
as sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for
the praise o f the good ; f o r s o is the will o f God that by
doing well you may put to silence the ignorance of
foolish men as free and not as making liber t y a cloak
”
for malice but as the servants o f G o d
And again !
Let every soul be subj ect to the higher powers for
there is no power but from G o d ; and those that are are
ordained o f G o d Therefore he that resisteth the power
resisteth the ordinance of God a nd they that resist pur
”
chase to themselves damnation
Let them likewise know that it is equally a natural
and therefore an unchangeable conditi on o f human
things that even among those who are not in high
authority some by reaso n of diff erent qualities of mind
o r of other extern al advantages
o r body o r o f wealth
prevail above others ; nor u n de r a n y p r e t e n c e of li b e r t y o r
or
can
it
ever
become
lawful
to
invade
the
goods
e u al i t
y
q
rights o f another o r in any way to violate them Clear
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76
also are the divine precepts on this subj ect and extant
in various places o f Sacred Scripture in which we are
n ot only prohibited from taking but from desiring the
possessions of another
Let this suffi ce Mr Gladstone s principal charge
is that whilst the Catholics of E n gland are loyal the
Pope with his abettors uphold principles that are s u b
versive o f loyalty an d the Syllabus is his main proof
Let him read and be ashamed
T o s u m up the Syllabus ! some o f its propositions
defend natural human reason against its detractors
others defend Creation against Pantheism others de
fend Christianity against Rationalism others defend
natural and Christian ethics against immoral theories
Some defend Christian faith against L atitudinarianis m
and Indi fferentism ; n o t a few o f the propositions are
defensive o f the Church and of the prerogatives o f the
Holy See against the Ch urc h s ass ailants ; others o f them
maintain the rights of the civil power to the d u ty and
allegiance o f its subj ects ; others again the right o f
Christians to Christian marriage an d Christian educa
tion whilst others o f these propositions condemn that
revolutionary and rebellious spirit which under false
names strike at all real freedom progress and true civil
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i s at i o n
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V II
.
AN
AP O ST R OP HE
Sin
TO
M R G LAD ST O NE
.
.
—Respon di ng to the call you
Honourable
have m ade upon al l English Catholics to give yo u the
expression o f their sentiments o n the charges you have
brought against their Pontiff and their holy religion I
have the honour to offer you mine Though b u t one o f
a mill ion f o r whose voices you have called and although
I can scarcely u nderstan d why yo u exclude t h e other five
mi lli ons within the British Isles I clai m the right to be
R I GH T
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77
th
considered e representative
at le ast o n e tenth o f
that million If in defendi n g Catholic truth and loyalty
against your pen I seem in some defensive strokes t o
u t in the sharp edge o f controversy your courtesy will
p
rightly ascribe it to the keenness o f your assault T he
temper o f the assailant brings o u t in reverberatio n the
temperament o f the defen d ant as the strings o f o n e i n
strument s e t in motion awaken the chords o f another
though in tones more subdued
Aft er ages o f cruel persecution the Catholics o f this
country were living i n pe a ce and content loving their
Ch u rch and Pontiff loving their Q u een and country
and your political e ff orts in their favour had contributed
to their peace whe n to o u r sudden amaz ement an d
with no slight shock to o u r gratitude we found o u r
religious principles in their bearing o n o u r civil alle
s tion by your
called
with
vehemence
into
que
i
an c e
g
eloquent but this time misguided pen In your Ex
postul atio n you call upon us to disclaim doctrines and
principles o f conduct that neither in the mind o f o u r
ecclesiastical superiors nor our o w n have any existence ;
and that upon alleg ations that short o f absolute proo f
we have every reason to believe were prompted by a
factious party once o u r brethren in faith but now
eng aged in assaulting and ungenerously reviling that
supreme authority o f God s Church which was once
their rock of security Even should we be mistaken in
ascribing the violence o f your attack to the personal
influence o f those misg u ided men there can be no mis
take in tracing the materials yo u have used t o the book
in which they have drawn up their false indictment
It is the privilege o f those who ha v e been wronged
to complain ; and when the wrong comes from o n e to
whom they have habitually looked for right the breath
o f complaint co m es fro m those deeper sources of emotio n
of
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8
hat touch upon the verge o f indignation Nothing i n
fl i c t s p ain like the breaking down of trust especially
where no reason has been s hown for the change When
the Bishop s o f Ir eland opposed the scheme o f mixed u n i
versit y education they stood equ ally upon their r e l i g i
o u s principles their constitution al right and experience
o f the evils o f mixed educ a ti o n
That which yo u prof
f e r e d to them as a b e e n t hey discovered to b e an evil
What was there in this although it proved the occasion
o f breaking up a Ministry inclining to its f al l
t o j ustify
an unprovoked attack upon the Pope and the Catholics
o f England n o t o n the ground of the university scheme
but o n the totally diff erent plea o f a disl o yalty which
you yourself ad m it does not exist among us !
At a time when every Christian force is needed to
check the advance o f unchristian infidel and atheistic
peace and happiness o f mankind to
a severe accusation against the head o f the
—
greatest Chri sti an community accusation o n matters
that the accused look upon as c 1 i m i n al ; to rest that
accusation not upon proof but o n c o n j e c t u 1 e ; to colour
it and to heighten it with all the arts o f r hetoric to
subscribe it with a great and influenti al name and then
knowing the e ff ect it must produce of i n fl am i n g p r e j u
dice an d enkindling strife to flood the country and the
world at large with
copies of it is what we did
not expect and could not beforehand have believed It i s
not as if the Protestant population o f the country had
any true knowledge by which to j udge what the C at h o
lic reli g ion is o r what a r e its principles and practices
They have had nothing o f it in their minds fo r ce n turies
but a grotesque caricature to which your Expostulation
corr esponds
Wheresoever prej udice , bigotry and hatred o f the
Catholic religion and its professors prevail there as
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79
your correspondence w n l have proved y o u have added
flame to fire Can t his be j ustified o n any party poli
tic al or human motive ! Is it a deed that has met the
approval o f the nobler minded men o f this country or of
the press o r of the more prudent and able r men o f
your party ! Unless it be t h e intention to strike your
roots into lower s t r at a i n search of a n e w p ar t y what
is there to explain this downw a rd course !
The venerable Pontiff whom we love s o well what
has he done that you should strike at him ! Why
should y o u w h o profess Christianity j oin the throng
By what
o f scorners who bu ff et the Apostle of Christ !
word by what deed has he done inj ury to any mortal
being except according to h i s divine c ommission t o
warn men from error and exhort them to the truth
except to turn their way from evil and draw it unto
good ! For long years he h as been a spectacle of the
righteous man su ff e r ing t o the worl d to angels and to
men Su ff ering is undoubtedly the allotted portion o f
prophets apostles and saints yet no less undoubtedly
Faith broken
h r e men the i n fl i c t o r s o f that su ff ering
with him by half the powers of the world stripped o f the
patrimony that protected the freedom o f h i s prede
he sees the
c e s s o r s for more than a thousand years
strength o f the world and much o f its tho u ght com
His Bishops are persecute d and
b i n e d against him
imprisoned ; their clergy and the members o f the reli
i
o u s orders are scattered a nd dispersed by violence
g
leaving devoted Christian populations without pastors
Yet you Right Honourable Sir who
o r Sacraments
once carried your e n e r g 1e s m defence o f the imprisoned
as far as the South o f Italy profess not to understan d
the merits o f that unprovoked persecuti on in Germany
that rivals and in malignity surpasses the persecution
o f Christianity by the Ro m an C ae sars
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80
Is it possible that a man of large mm d and political
experience like your own can imagine still less can
gravely state to the world that this s ame Pontiff
amidst his suff erings a nd solitude c an be plott ing a
dangerous combination of physical forces expecti n g
therewith to re e stablish an order o f things which
through the injustice o f men God has permi t ted to
depart ! A Pope seated on a terrestri al throne r e
erected on the ashes o f a city amidst the whitening
bones o f the people is a combination of im ages such
as Mr Gladstone m ay contemplate with artistic enj oy
ment but from the very notion o f which a Pope would
turn with horror
Prussia has been long habituated to chastise its
people wit h stick and cane and that a minister of that
country should strike a m an when he is down is not
But that an En glishman and that
s o very surprising
Englishman Mr Gladstone should strike a man when
he is do w n and th a t a man o f the highest and mos t
v e nerable dignity stricken already with years stripped
of strength his place contracted from a kingdom to a
virtual prison ; i n his sorrows and solitude to strike
such a man and that with fo ul blows is what honour
able men would not have believe d had you not given
them the proofs o f it
Be not surprised t hat an ac t like this sh o uld dr aw
from us no other response th a n a j ust indign a tion
O ne good however beyond intention you have done
By compelling the Catholics o f this country to give a
closer consideration to the Apostolic acts o f their Pon
tiff than they had hitherto done they have learned t o
appreciate him the more
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R O BS O N A N D S O N S , P R I N T E R S , P A N C RA S R O A D
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