=0)
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
OCTOBER, 1867.
ST. PETER'S CENTENARY AND ITS TEACHING.
THE name of St. Peter hallowed the latest pages of the volume just closed by the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, and with the name of St. Peter we desire to consecrate the earliest pages of the new volume which it this day commences. To crown our labours of the past year we gathered together, as in a garland, the choicest of the devotional flowers which Catholic love had caused to bloom around St. Peter's shrine on the eighteenth centenary of the martyrdom of the Prince of the Apostles. Like the flowers of which Wis- dom said : /ores mei fructus* those flowers did not bloom idly, but ripened into fruits — fruits, which are for the healing of the nations. Such fruits are stored in the lessons which the Cente- nary teaches to all who care to listen to its teaching. For our part we count it a boon to be allowed to take our place among those who would learn, and we wish to register here, in front of our fourth volume, that it may guide us in our labours, what we have been taught by the solemn festival lately celebrated at Rome.
Love for the Holy See is the first and most striking lesson that celebration has brought home to us. What power was it which drew together, in spite of inconveniences of all kinds, from every
1 Eccli., xxiv. 23. VOL. IV. 1
2 St. Peter's Centenary and its Teaching.
part of the earth's surface, one half of all the bishops of the world, so many thousand priests, so many hundreds of thousands of the faithful ? One word from the Holy Father ; a word not of com- mand, but of request ; hardly even a request, but rather the bare expression of a wish. The voice of the Vicar of Christ, there- fore, finds its way straight to the heart of every Catholic in the world ; and each and every individual of that almost countless throng of pilgrims has borne witness to the fact, that the Chair of St. Peter is the object of the reverence, the veneration, and the love of all Catholics.
And what motives led the Pope to issue his invitation, and made Catholics so docile to his wishes? The bishops were invited to Rome to celebrate the centenary of St. Peter, and to assist at the canonization of new Saints. But for these events, the invitation would not have been issued. Every one, therefore, of those who went to Rome, went there to venerate the shrine of the Apostle and the altars of the new Saints, and thus again, each of them testified that in the heart of a Catholic the love of Holiness is akin to the love of Unity ; that, as the Church is One and Holy, so, the more tenderly we love the centre of Unity, the more closely do we bind ourselves to the source of Sanctity. Love for the purity of Catholic Holiness is therefore another of the lessons the Centenary would teach us. In the midst of the abominations of a wicked world, where heresy has perverted the moral sense of men, let us remember that we are children of the saints, and let us lift up our eyes to the glorious examples of heroic virtue that glow with heavenly brightness upon the altars of the Catholic Church.
And how did the pilgrim band spend the days of their visit to the shrines of the Apostles ? In prayer : now before the golden con- fession of St.. Peter, and now down in the dark caverns of the catacombs. How many Masses were said, how many graces received, how many vows paid, how many blessings — de rore coeli et de pinguedine terrae — asked for and obtained for nations be- yond the seas, for outlying dioceses, for dear ones far away ?
And as at Rome they offered to God the incense of prayer, so
John Kite^ Archbishop of Armagh. 3
to succour the poverty of His Vicar on earth did they bring their presents of gold. While so many hands were busy in plundering the Holy Father, his children's hands were more busy in sustain- ing him in his battle for the liberty of the Church. Besides this, they failed not in their addresses and acclamations, to give out- spoken utterance to their love for the Church and the Pope, to their sympathy with the Holy Father in his sufferings, and to their honest indignation against his brutal foes. And thereby they have taught us that the arms of our present warfare on be- half of the Church are Prayer, Alms, and Christian freedom of speech.
These are the glorious lessons which the Centenary has taught us, and with these to animate us, we recommence our humble labours. May it be our happy lot to contribute in these pages even in a slight degree, to lead others to fight for Catholic Unity and Sanctity by Prayer, by Alms, and by Christian freedom of speech !
JOHN KITE, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH (1513-1521). 1. — His early life.
THE records that have come down to us concerning the epis- copal life of John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland (1513-1521), are unfortunately meagre and scanty in the extreme. On the other hand, the information we possess of the part sustained by him as a statesman, at a period when considerable agitation prevailed in European politics, is copious and interesting in an unusual degree. This will serve to explain to the reader why, in our sketch of this distinguished man, we appear to exhibit the diplomatist rather than the pastor of souls. For our own part, we should undoubtedly have preferred in these pages to describe the sacerdotal side of his life ; but in de- fault of fitting materials for this, we are loth to neglect any frag- ment of history which may fcerve, were it only by its contrasted colours, to bring cut in stronger relief one of the episcopal figures whose biographies mainly constitute the history of the Irish Church. Besides this source of interest, the life of Arch- bishop Kite is the history of one of those remarkable men who adorned the court of Henry the Eighth in the earlier and better
1 B
4 John Kite> Archbishop of Armagh.
years of that monarch's reign. He had much intercourse not only with the king himself, but with Cardinal Wolsey, whose confidence he enjoyed, with Charles the Fifth and his statesmen, and he was brought into close contact with O'Neill in Ireland, and with the Duke of Albany in Scotland. Hence it happens that his biography brings vividly before us many of the leading men of the eventful sixteenth century, who by their good or evil deeds have created an interest in their own history which has not yet abated.
John Kitte, Kite, Kete, or Keyte (for the name is variously written), was born in London, and probably at Westminster. He was educated at Eton, and as his epitaph tells us, was one of the boys of Edward the Fourth's chapel. He continued in this position also under Henry the Seventh. From Eton he was elected to King's College, Cambridge, in 1480.1 On being ordained priest, he became rector of Harlington, Middlesex, which benefice he resigned in 1510, when he obtained the pre- bend of Stratton in Sarum, and afterwards a prebend in Exeter. In 1510 he is mentioned in the State papers as chaplain to the king, and sub-dean of the Chapel Royal. A grant was issued to him under the privy seal, by which ho was to receive the pension which the last elected prior of the monastery of St. Andrew, Northampton, was bound to give to a clerk of the nomination of the late king Henry the Seventh, who died with- out naming a clerk. This was not an unusual way of providing for ecclesiastics of merit. The prior of St. Frideswide's, at Ox- ford, was bound to pay a similar pension to Reginald Pole, then a student in the university of Oxford, afterwards Cardinal Arch bishop of Canterbury. The pension to be paid to John Kite was to be held by him until the prior should promote him to a competent benefice. Such a benefice was not long in coming. On 22nd September, 1510, he was presented to the church of Weye, or Weyhill, in the diocese of Winchester. He still con- tinued to hold the office of sub-dean of the Chapel Royal, pro- bably through favour of Cardinal Wolsey, who was ever his firm friend.
It has been well said that the reign of Henry the Eighth was " a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground". That period of the reign which corresponds with Archbishop Kite's employments at court, was the lightsome ground, across which the violent passions and brutal crimes which afterwards dis- honoured the king, had not as yet flung a single shadow. With our knowledge of what he became at a later period we find it difficult to imagine what Henry the Eighth really was for some years after his accession to the crown. Giustiniani, the Venetian 1 Cooper's Athenae Cantabrig.,^. 62.
John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh. 5
ambassador, in a secret paper addressed to the Signoria, thus describes him :
" His majesty is twenty-nine years old, and extremely handsome. Nature could not have done more for him. He is much handsomer than any other sovereign in Christendom ; a great deal handsomer than the king of France ; very fair, and his whole frame admirably proportioned. He is very accomplished ; a good musician ; composes well ; is a most capital horseman ; a fine j ouster ; speaks good French, Latin, and Spanish ; is very religious ; hears three masses daily when he hunts, and sometimes five on other days. He hears the office every day in the Queen's chamber ; that is to say, vespers and compline".1
His good Queen Catherine believed that the victory at Flodden and the capture of Terouenne " is all owing to the king's piety". Some curious details of his religious life are preserved in the " King's Book of payments", which, as they concern the Chapel Royal during the term of Dr. Kite's superintendence, may with some propriety be inserted here. On each Sunday and saint's day there is mention of the king's offering at Mass. The children who sang the Gloria in Excelsis on Christmas Day received forty shillings from the royal bounty. Two Masses daily were ordered by the king to be said by the Friars Observants of Greenwich, and the same by the Friars Observants of Canter- bury, of Southampton, and of Newcastle. Dr. Fisher receives one hundred pounds on bringing to the king the hallowed rose from the Pope. On Christmas and Easter mornings the king's " howselling" (i.e. communion) is marked by a special offering. The king's candle for Candlemas, his offerings at requiem masses, his visits to Westminster to gain the " pardon" there, the hallowing of the king's great ship, called The Henry Grace a Dewe, his alms to twenty-five priests for singing twenty-five masses before our Lady of Peace on All Souls Day, are all seve- rally recorded as things of course. In a word, the life led by Henry the Eighth at that time, was the life of a truly Catholic and great king. Erasmus2, in a letter to Paulus Bombasius, describes his court as a centre of letters and learning. Much as he dislikes courts, he would be glad, he says, were he young again, to return to England. He speaks highly of Henry's favours to learning. Katherine is not only a miracle of learning, but is not less pious than learned. Thomas Linacre is the king's physician ; Tunstal, Master of the Rolls (a scriniis) ,- More, privy councillor ; Pace (huic pene germanus), secretary; Colet, preacher ; Stokesley, who is well versed in the schoolmen and intimately acquainted with three languages, confessor (a sacris). It is a museum more than a court. The Venetian ambassador 1 Giust. Desp., ii. 312. 2 No, 4340, 26th July, 1518.
6 John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh.
above quoted, has left a vivid description1 of Henry's appearance at a reception held in the palace. Griustiniani describes how he and his companions, after having pressed through three hundred halberdiers of the body ^uard, all as big as giants, came into the presence of the king, whom they found standing under a canopy of cloth of gold, leaning against his gilt throne, on which lay a gold brocade cushion, with the gold sword of state. " He wore a c<p of crimson velvet, and the brim was looped up all round with lacets and gold enamelled tags. His doublet was in the Swiss fashion, striped alternately with white and crimson satin, and his hose were scarlet, and all slashed from the knee upwards. Very close round his neck he had a gold collar, from which thenv hung a rough cut diamond, the size of the largest walnut I ever saw, and to this was suspended a most beautiful and very large round pearl. His mantle was of purple, lined with white sitin, the sleeves open, with a train more than four Venetian yards long. This mantle was girt in front like a gown, with a thick gold cord, from which there hung large golden acorns like those suspended from a cardinal's hat ; over this mantle was a very handsome gold collar, with a pendant St. George entirely of diamonds. His fingers were one mass of jewelled rings".
The love of splendour which distinguished the king was shown forth especially in the festivities which were held from time to time at the principal solemnities of the year, and in these the future primate, in his capacity of sub-dean of the Chapel Royal, had a considerable share. It is remarkable that the earliest mention of his nomination to the see of Armagh is to be found in the account of the festivities held in February, 1511, drawn up in 1513 by Richard Gibson at the king's command. The pageant prepared was called " The Golden Arbour in the orchard of Plesyer". The arbour was " set with wreathed pillars of shining purple, covered with fine gold, and upon them a vine of silver bearing grapes of gold ; the benches of this arbour set and wrought with flowers, as roses, lilies, marigolds, primroses, cowslips, and such other; and the orchard set with orange trees, pomegranate trees, apple trees, pear trees, olive trees; and within this arbour were sitting twelve lords and ladies, and without on the side were eight minstrels with strange instruments, and before on the steps stood divers persons disguised as master, sub- dean, and others; and on the top, the children of the chapel singing". Among the persons who took part in the pageant were the King, Sir Thomas Knevet, the Earl of Essex, the Earl of Wiltshire, and " Mr. Subdean, now my Lord of Army- kan".2
1 Desp., ii. 312.
* Letters and Papers of Henry VIII., vol. ii. part ii, p. 1496,
John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh. 7
2. — Goes to Ireland as Primate. Octavian de Palatio, Archbishop of Armagh, died in June,
1513, after a reign of thirty- three years and three months. Before the close of the year 1513, Pope Leo the Tenth by provision, ap- pointed John Kite to succeed him. We have no information touching the place of the new Primate's consecration, or the pre- lates who consecrated him. He reached his diocese early in
1514, and we learn from a letter dated June 7th, 1514, written by him from Termonfeckin to Wolsey, then bishop of Lincoln, some particulars of his journey.1 He sailed in a bark belonging to Chester, and when his vessel was approaching the Irish coast it was attacked by two pirate men-of-war, whom he styles " Bryttanes". With these dangerous foes the crew of his ship had " a tore fight". The town of Drogheda manned two ships and went out to assist against the pirates. One of the pirates was taken, and with it a merchantman laden with salt which had probably been seized by the freebooters. On his arrival in his diocese he found the country ravaged by disease. The political and social condition of the people, also, was unsatisfactory in the extreme. From Termonfeckin, where he took up his residence, he wrote to Wolsey on May 14th, to represent to him the situa- tion of affairs. The English Pale is described in a valuable state paper2 written in 1515, as stretching "from the town of Dundalk to the town of Darver, to the town of Ardee, always on the left side, leaving the marche on the right side, and so to the town of Sydan, to the town of Kells, to the town of Dangan, to Kilcock, to the town of Clane, to the town of Naas, to the bridge of Kilcullen, to the town of Ballymote, and so backward to the town of Rathmore, and to the town of Rathcoole, to the town of Tallaght, and to the town of Dalkey, leaving always the merche on the right hande from the said Dundalk, following the said course to the said town of Dalkey". Dr. Kite found the whole of this tract of country in a most perilous condition, and the inhabitants in great alarm. He assured them that the king would come before long to reform the state, and he observed in his letter to Wolsey, that the king was as much bound to reform -abuses in Ireland as he was to maintain good order and justice in England. In the Carew Papers, lately published, we find a letter addressed by Dr. Kite in 1520 to the O'Neill. It is in Latin, and begins as follows: " John by the grace of God, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of Ireland, to the most illustrious O'Neill, Prince of Ulster and of his nation, greeting".
1 Calendar of State Papers, Ireland (1509-15 13), page 1.
2 State of Ireland and plan for its Reformation. State Papers Ireland, Henry the Eighth, vol. i. p. 1,
8 John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh.
The writer then tells O'Neill that his safety depends on the king, and he should therefore show him all observance. He should cultivate a mind worthy of his abilities and his character, and no longer take delight in wild and barbarous manners, and be unacquainted with the comforts of life. It would be much better to live in a civilized fashion than to seek a living by arms and rapine, and to have no thought beyond pleasure and the belly. " I therefore beseech you to consider how many evils and perils you will be exposed to if you make the king your enemy, and on the other hand how happy you will be if you gain his favour".
This letter does not appear to have produced much effect upon the warlike O'Neills.
3. — Returns to England by command of Henry the Eighth.
However, the Primate was not allowed to remain long in his diocese, having been summoned to England by special mandate from the king. The writ of protection for himself and his see during his absence, and the license to be absent for an inde- finite period, with authority to receive in the mean time all the profits of his diocese, are dated 20th September, 1616.1 But at that date he had already been in London almost for an entire year; for we find his name among those who were present at the ceremonial upon Wolsey's receiving the cardinal's hat, Thursday, 15th November, 1515.
The various documents relating to Cardinal Wolsey contained in the volumes of state papers from which we have mainly derived the materials for this sketch, contribute to place the character and history of that eminent man in a more favourable light than the popular histories would allow. At the period of Dr. Kite's return to London, Wolsey was at the height of his power. Erasmus, writing to Cardinal Grimani, says of him, " He is omnipotent". " All the power of the state is centred in him", observed Giustiniani ; " he is in fact ipse rex". " He is about forty-six years old1', writes Giustiniani to his government in 1619, " very handsome, learned, extremely eloquent, of vast ability, and indefatigable. He alone transacts the same business as that which occupies all the civil magistrates, officers, and councils of Venice, both civil and criminal ; and all state affairs are managed by him, let their nature be what it may. He is pensive, and has the reputation of being extremely just. He favours the people exceedingly, and especially the poor, hearing their suits and seeking to despatch them instantly. He also makes the lawyers pjead gratis for all paupers. He is in very great repute, seven times more so than if he were Pope".2 Even his bitter foe, Poly- 1 Rym&r, torn, xiii., p. 554. 2 Desp., ii., 314.
John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh. 9
doro Vergil, admits that ho was a good theologian (divinis lit- teris non indoctus), and informs us that he was a Thomist, and that he induced the king to study the works of Aquinas. Fox, Bishop of Winchester, in giving a reason for his own absence from the council, makes an incidental allusion, which tells that Wolsey was not insensible to the responsibility of the episcopal charge ; he describes how his own mind " is troubled night and day with other men's iniquities more than he could write, of which feeling Wolsey told him he had some knowledge when he was bishop of Lincoln".
The earliest mention of his cardinalate occurs in a letter from Polydore Vergil from Rome, 21st May, 1514. ] Four months later the king wrote to the Pope,2 requesting him to make the Bishop of Lincoln a cardinal, and saying that " his merits are such that the king esteems him above his dearest friends, and can do nothing of the least importance without him". Leo the Tenth replied that " the honour solicited for Wolsey is sur- rounded with difficulties. It is much desired, and admits at once the wearer to the highest rank. He adds that he will comply with the king's wishes at a suitable time".3 A few months later the Bishop of Worcester wrote from Rome that " his Holiness is naturally slow, and will not create Wolsey a cardinal now, nor yet with those that he promised before. He offers him a bull of promotion, on condition he will not carry the insignia pub- licly". This proposal was not agreeable to the king or to Wolsey, who wrote to Worcester: " I cannot express how desir- ous the king is to have me advanced to the said honour, to the intent, that not only men might perceive how much the Pope favoureth the king and such as he entirely loveth, but also that thereby I shall be the more able to do his Grace service". At length, on the 7th September, the Bishop of Worcester writes, that " the Pope is so on fire, that he will insist on Wolsey 's pro- motion in spite of all the cardinals. He has sent out briels to summon the cardinals to Rome, who have now left for their holi- days, stating that he wishes to appoint as cardinal * unum prae- latum dignissimum et maximum pro bono hujus Sanctae Sedis et ejus Sanctitatis"'. On the 10th September, Leo the Tenth wrote to Wolsey to notify to him his election to the cardinalate.
On the 15th November the prothonotary, bearing the car- dinal's hat, entered London. He was met at the sea side, and afterwards at Blackheath, by the Bishop ot Lincoln, the Earl of Essex, and others. He proceeded through London with the Bishop and Earl riding on either side, the mayor, aldermen, and crafts, lining the streets. When the hat came to Westminster Abbey, the abbot and eight other abbots received it, and con- 1 Vol. i. 6110. 2 Vol. i. 6318 3 Vol. i, 5445.
10 John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh.
veyed it to the high altar. Sunday the 18th, the Cardinal, with nobles and gentlemen, proceeded from his place to the Abbey. When the Cardinal reached the traverse, mass was aung by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of Lincoln and Exeter, before the Archbishop of Armagh and Dublin, the bishops of Winchester, Durham, Norwich, Ely, and Llandaff; the abbots of Westminster, St. Alban's, Bury, Glastonbury, Reading, Glou- cester, Winchecombe, Tewkesbury, and the prior of Coventry. The Bishop of Rochester was " crosier" to the Archbishop of Can- terbury during mass. Dr. Colet, dean of St. Paul's, preached the sermon. He said " a cardinal represented the order of Seraphim, which continually burneth in the love of the glorious Trinity ; and for these considerations a cardinal is only apparelled with red, which colour only betokeneth nobleness". He ex- horted Wolsey to execute righteousness to rich and poor, and desired all people to pray for him. The bull was read by Dr. Vecy, dean of the Chapel and of Exeter. The Cardinal kneeled before the high altar, where " he lay grovelling" during benedic- tion and prayers concerning the high creation of a cardinal said over him by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who set the hat upon his head. Then the Te Deum was sung. " All service and cere- monies finished, my lord came to the door of the Abbey, led by the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk. They proceeded to his place by Charing Cross ; next before him the cross, preceding it the mace such as belongeth to a cardinal to have, then my Lord of Canterbury, having no cross borne before him, with the Bishop of Winchester, before them the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk together, and in like order the residue of the noblemen, as the Bishop of Durham with the Pope's orator and other ban- nerets, knights, and gentlemen after their degrees, and following the archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, and the bishops. My Lord Cardinal's place being well sorted in every behalf, and used with goodly order, the hall and chambers garnished very sumptuously with rich arras, a great feast was kept as to such a high and honourable creation belongeth". The king, queen, the French queen, and all the noblemen above specified were present, with the barons of the exchequer, and the judges and sergeants at law.1
The messenger, Bonifacio, who was bearer of the hat from Rome, brought with him from the Pope a ring, more than usually valuable, and a plenary indulgence to those who were present at the ceremony.
On February 21st, 1516, Archbishop Kite assisted at the christening of the Princess Mary at Greenwich. "From the court gate to the church dooi of the Friars was railed and hung 1 Vol. ii.n. 1163.
John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh. 11
with arras; the way beinof well gravelled and strewed with rushes. At the church door was set a house well framed of timher, covered with arras, where the Princess with her god- father and godmother abode. There she received her name Mary. Then they entered the church, which was hung with cloth of needlework, garnished with precious stones and pearls".1 The font, the salt, the taper and the chrism were borne by peers. The Cardinal was godfather. The king was excessively fond of this daughter, and used to carry her about in his arms before the nobles of the court and the foieign ambassadors. The Venetian ambassador gives2 the following account of his interview with the little princess:
" After this his majesty caused the princess, his daughter, who fg two years old, to be brought into the apartment where we were; whereupon the right reverend Cardinal (Wolsey) and I, and all the other lords, kissed her hand, pro more; the greatest marks of honour being paid to her universally, more than to the queen herself. The moment she cast her eyes on the Keverend Dionysius Memo, who was there, she commenced calling out in English, ' Priest, priest', and he was obliged to go and play for her, after which the king with the princess in his arms, came to me and said, * Per Deum iste (Memo) est honestissimus vir et unus carissimus; mullus unquam scrvivit mihi fide- lius melius et isto; scribatis Domino vestro quod habeat ipsum commenda- tum* ".
The ambassador concludes his letter with the characteristic remark, that " Memo is in such high favour that he will be able to advance the interests of Venice".
4. — He is sent as ambassador to Spain.
We have now to follow Archbishop Kite upon a new and larger field of action. In order to appreciate duly his new posi- tion, we must cast a rapid glance at the political state of Europe at the period when he commenced his diplomatic career.
It was the policy of Cardinal Wolsey to check the influence of France, which under the energy of Francis the First, aimed at aggrandizement at the expense of the other nations of Europe. With this view he endeavoured to attach to English interests the Pope, the Emperor Maximilian, Spain, and the Swiss. The task was by no means easy. The Emperor, although he had received large sums of money from England, perfidiously sided with France. The Pope dreaded equally the Emperor and Francis, and could not be brought to act cordially with either. By the death of Ferdinand of Arragon, Charles succeeded to Spain, and it became a matter of the greatest importance to English policy to secure his cooperation and alliance. He was the can- ' Vol. ii. 1673. a 3976.
12 John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh.
dictate most likely to defeat the design the French king had, to win for himself the imperial diadem. Hitherto, Charles had not been favourably disposed towards England. But now, when it was necessary for him to journey into Spain to take possession of his new kingdom, he found that the help of England was indis- pensable to him. Henry the Eighth advanced to Charles in his need the sum of one hundred thousand florins. With this sum the Catholic king set out for Spain, where Cardinal Ximenes was straining every nerve to avert a civil war, which the mutual rivalries and jealousies between the Flemings and the Spaniards rendered only too probable. And yet, on the death of the great Cardinal, the ungrateful king appropriated to his own use the money left by Ximenes in legacies to his servants and charitable bequests, to the amount of two hundred and twelve thousand ducats of gold. Meantime while England was exciting in Charles distrust of France, mysterious conferences began to take place between the English and French ministers, and it soon oozed out that the two courts were likely to come to a friendly understanding. The French king offered four hundred thousand crowns for the surrender of Tournay, and England was not ad- verse to the bargain. This intelligence aroused the fears of Charles and his ministers, and the English court began to dread lest Spain should throw itself into the arms of France, and thereby inflict a fatal wound on the policy it had cost Wolsey so much labour to carry out. It was necessary that the state of the negotiation about Tournay should be sedulously concealed. For this purpose it was resolved that an embassy should be sent into Spain to Charles, and Archbishop Kite and John Lord Berners, the translator of Froissart, were chosen for the purpose.
The instructions communicated to the ambassadors by Henry the Eighth were as follows: — 1. They were to congratulate Charles on his prosperous voyage to Spain, and his favourable reception by his subjects. 2. The king is resolved to assist him with all his power. 3. He desires that whatever treaties be made by either parties shall be mutually communicated, agree- ably to which the ambassadors were to explain away the nego- tiations with France. England, they were to say, had demanded redress from France for injuries at sea, and two French ambas- sadors had come to London ostensibly to repress piracy, but really to offer a large sum for the surrender of Tournay. Henry had refused to accede without consulting Charles, and the French king was busy making preparations by land and sea to obtain the town by force of arms. Charles was to be asked to assist Henry in case of invasion.
By these negotiations it was hoped that any coalition be- tween Franoe and Spain would be prevented, and prevented in
John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh. 13
such a fashion that France, from being hostile to England, should become her ally, and Spain, from being weak, should become a power able to check France abroad, and at the same time bound by the ties of gratitude to England, to whose help she owed her increased advantages.
The Primate and Lord Berners set out on their important journey in February, 1518. In the King's Book of Payments, there is an entry of five marks a day for one hundred and eighty- two days to the Archbishop of Armagh going to Spain, and to Lord Berners of forty shillings a day. In addition to this, the two ambassadors received two hundred ducats (each ducat being four shillings and six pence) " for transporting them into Spain". In July they received another sum, the Archbishop £303 16s. 8d., and Lord Berners £182 10s., and in November a third sum, the Archbishop £233 6s. 8d., and Lord Berners £140. In their letters to Henry the Eighth and to Cardinal Wolsey, the am- bassadors themselves have written the history of their embassy. On the 12th of May they wrote to the king from Saragossa (the letter is in the Primate's handwriting), that on arriving at the court, after many delays and countermands, they were at last ordered to wait for the king at Almasana, on the borders of Arragon. He arrived there on St. George's day in the afternoon, wearing the garter about his neck, accompanied by a very great court. He kept evensong in his robe of the order. About two hours before his coining the chancellor came to them, with Lord Fynes and about twenty other noblemen, who welcomed them heartily, and bade them wait on the king next morning. To their credence and proposals the chancellor answered that the king thanked Henry for sending so far, and would be quite ready to add anything to the confederation that Henry wished. Spinelly, another English agent at the Spanish court, tells us that at nine o'clock on the morning fixed for the audience, several noblemen came to conduct the English king's ambassadors to the court. " After my Lord of Armachan had made the proposition with good eloquencya and audacya", the chancellor remitted their further communication, as the king was to depart on the same day.
We shall not attempt to follow the intricate and tedious reci- tal of conferences and debates, which took place bewteen the ambassadors and the Spanish court. No less than eighteen despatches from the Primate are contained in the volume from which we have quoted so much. Suffice to say, that the ends of the embassy were fully accomplished. The negotiations were so carefully handled, that Charles resigned himself to see Tournay become French, and was led to feel that it was to England he owed the secure possession of his Spanish kingdom. Besides, he was
14 Archbishop Kite, Archbishop of Armagh.
grateful that the ambitious longings of Francis after the imperial crown had been effectually repressed by the English diplomacy, and he could not but feel that his own prospects of attaining to the empire depended on the continuance of friendly relations between himself and Henry the Eighth. As to France, not only was her enmity disarmed, but by the marriage of the Princess Mary and the Dauphin, a union which was the work of Wolsey, the two crowns were joined in closest friendship. Pope Leo the Tenth, who had good reason to fear both Francis and Charles, looked with respect towards England, as the only power which, being independent of both, was able to help the Holy See against their attempts. Thus England saw herself raised to the position of arbiter among the nations of Europe, and this brilliant triumph was due solely to the soaring and masterly policy of the great Cardinal.
In a letter to Wolsey, written from Saragossa, 17th December, 1518, the Primate says that though his (Kite's) despatches, either for their shortness or their rarity have been " taken displeasantly", he has never failed to write as much as he knew, and whenever he could hear of a post going. He announces that they are about to take their leave of Spain. They are twenty-four days' j ourney from the sea, where they will take their passage with the first favourable wind, though Lord Berners is " marvellous loth thereto", not being yet fully recovered. Their purses compel them to take the nearest way. They have sold their plate and other things. The last letters from home were not of such as to make them merry. He hopes that if the sea " shall not like" them, their returning by land will be taken in good part.1
5. — He returns to London.
Dr. Kite arrived in England early in the year 1519. The volume of State papers now in the press2 will probably supply us with information as to how he was received upon his return, and as to what his employments were. In the year 1520 he was ap- pointed one of the commissioners of the jewel office.3 In July, 1520, he attended Cardinal Wolsey to Calais, on occasion of the celebrated interview between the kings of England and France, which had been brought about by the skill of the Cardinal. On the 8th July, Wolsey came to Dover, and on the 20th he sailed for Calais, accompanied by the Primate of Ireland, Charles Somerset Earl of Worcester, the lords St. John Ferres and Her- bert, the bishops of Durham and Ely, Sir Thomas Boleyn, Sir John Peche, and many others.
1 No. 4660. 2 Vol. iii. Letters and Papers Henry the Eighth.
3 Cooper's Athenae Cantab., p. 62.
John Kite, Archbishop of Armagh. 15
6, — He resigns the Primacy, and is made Archbishop of Thebes and commendatory Bishop of Carlisle.
In 1521 he resigned of his own accord the primatial see of Armagh. Probably he felt that, owing to the peculiar circum- stances of the time, which exacted from him a protracted ab- sence from Ireland, he could not conscientiously continue at the head of the Irish Church. It was one of the worst features of the melancholy period which preceded the so-called reformation, that bishops were not allowed to remain with the flocks which the Holy Ghost had placed them to govern, but were forced by a supposed political necessity (and perhaps to avoid greater evils) to undertake worldly business foreign to their own sacred calling. He was succeeded in Armagh by George Cromer, who was con- secrated in England the April after Dr. Kite's resignation. On his resignation of the primatial see he was appointed Archbishop of Thebes in partibus, and immediately after commendatory bishop of Carlisle, of which see the temporalities were restored to him, according to the legal phrase, on llth November, 1521. By the influence of Cardinal Wolsey a large share of the ex- penses ordinarily incurred on such occasions, was remitted to him. In Carlisle he exercised in a special degree his favourite virtue of hospitality. He built extensively at Rose Castle, the episcopal residence of the bishops of that see. In March, 1522, he received a letter from Henry the Eighth, requiring him to join Lord Dacre as his counsellor and treasurer in the payment of the garrison, as well as for rewards to be paid to the gentle- men of the Borders, who had done the king acceptable service in resistance of the authority of the Duke of Albany.1 In 1524-1526, he was again in commissions to treat for peace with Scotland. There exists in Rymer2 a recognizance entered into by Sir Thomas Kytson to him as bishop commendatory of Carlisle, dated 4th June, ,1533, in which the conditions of the purchase of an estate in Cornwall by him are laid down.
7.— His death.
On June 18th, 1537, finding himself near his end, he made his will (which was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury three days after), wherein he bequeathed his body to be buried by that of his father in St. Margaret's church, Westminster. On the 19th June he expired at Stepney, near London, at a very advanced age, and was buried in the church there, " almost in the middle of the chancel, inclining to the north".3 A marble monument was erected over his remains, and upon it was en-
1 Thorpe's Caknd. of State Papers, Scotland, vol. i. n. 96. 2 Tom. xiv. p. 465 3 Harris' Ware,
16 The latest defence of the Establishment.
graved the following epitaph, which has justly been styled " unworthy of so learned an age": —
Under this ston closeyde and marmorate
Lyeth John Kite, Londoner natyffe,
Encreasing in vertues rose to high estate.
In the fourth Edwards Chapell by his young lyffe,
Sith which the seventh Henryes servyce primatyfle
Proceeding still in vertuous efficace
To be in favour with this our Kings Grace, With witt endewyd chosen to be Legate Sent into Spayne, where he right joyfully Combyned with Princes in peace most amate : In Grace Archbishop elected wortbely, And last of Carlyel ruling pastorally Kepyng nobyl houshold with great hospitality : One thousand five hundred thirty and seven Invyterate with pastoral carys, consumed with age, The nintenth of June reckoned fill even, Passyd to hevyn from worldly pilgrimage :
Of whos soul, good pepul of cherite
Pray, as you would be prayed for ; for thus must ye lie. Jesu mercy ; Lady help.
THE LATEST DEFENCE OP THE ESTABLISH- MENT.1
1. THE method of defence observed by the champions of the Irish Establishment has, of late, undergone an important change. In the beginning, they relied mainly upon the historical case which the ingenuity of Archdeacon Lee, Rev. Alfred Lee, Archdeacon Stopford, and others, had constructed on its behalf. By degrees, even the dullest began to perceive from the admirable statements on the Catholic side, that the verdict of history, far from endors- ing the defence submitted by these writers, did fully and com- pletely refute it. Then came Mr. Hardinge's book, which, by its ridiculous blunders, helped not a little to the overthrow of the cause it was intended to support. Hence it has come to pass that the recent literature published in defence of the Establish-
1 1. A Charge, etc., by Hamilton Verschoyle, D.D., Bishop of Kilmore, June and July, 1867.
2. A Charge, etc., by Robert Daly, D.D., Bishop of Cashel and Emly, Water- ford and Lismore, June, 1867.
3. The Case of the Established Church, by James Thomas O'Brien, D.D., Bishop of Ossory,
4. The Distinctive Principles of the Church, an address delivered before the Irish Church Society, May 15, 18G7, by Rev. W. Maturin, D.D.
The latest defence of the Establishment. 17
ment does not place the historical argument in, a very prominent light. Another class of arguments was that employed by the rhetoricians of the party, who, in parliament and elsewhere, poured fourth in burning words their feelings of amazement that men should be found daring enough to assail the Church which was the teeming mother of Protestant blessings to the realm. But the rhetoricians were surprised to find that their bombast was simply laughed out of court Then there came moderate men who, for their parts, were content to breathe gentle sighs over the losses that were sure to come upon mental culture and good breeding if the Church were disendowed. But weak voices such as these had no chance of being heard amid the din of battle. Then came the loyalists, who declared that the safety of the constitution depended, as on its very basis, on the main- tenance of the Established Church. But, by a strange per- verseness of reasoning, these loyalists invariably pointed with pride to the fact, that the Fenians had no objection whatever to the Established Church ; that, amid the many cries raised by these misguided men, whose energies were directed to overturn the laws and the constitution, not one word was to be heard as directed against the Church which was upheld by law as the very basis of the constitution. Besides this, it was not easy to understand the loyalty which showed itself principally in illegal acts of Orangeism.
2. Thus it has come to pass that the chief characteristic of their latest publications is neither research, nor eloquence, nor mode- ration, nor loyalty, but simply a. spirit of furious bigotry. The writer do not indeed discard the old arguments, however weak and broken they may be. but they now appear to rest their defence mainly upon the ground, that the Irish Protestant Church is the true Church. The Establishment is to be kept up because it teaches true religion. " Our contention with the Church of Rome", says Dr. Verschoyle of Kilmore, "is not about a point of order, but for the faith once delivered to the saints, which she corrupts and makes void by human traditions. We cannot give place to her ministers, or countenance their peculiar work in any way (however full of zeal for God and fervent piety many of them have been and are), as tending to the destruction and not the salvation of the people's souls. We would extend to them the largest amount of toleration, and treat them with neighbourly kindness and charity ; but we must, as in duty bound, set our face as a flint against the system as vitally erroneous. It is not then right reason or genuine justice which vindicates the pro- posed measure of disendowment, for they * can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth' (II. <7or., xii. 8)". And still less should numbers turn the scales against the truth, " for then it
YOL. IV. 2
18 The latest defence of the Establishment.
must needs be driven out of the world" (page 9-10). And atjain, pa^e 14, " the principle of a Church" is declared to con- sist in its'being " a witness of the truth and a teacher of true religion, above one that witnessed a lie and taught soul destroy^ ing°error". And (page 15) the position of the Established Church is that it is " the recognized organ for diffusing true religion through the land". And again :
" Some of the kings of Judah, though otherwise godly, thought to buy off the hostility of the king of Babylon by robbing the temple of its gold and laying it at his feet ; but the ravenous appetite of him who would be supreme over all, was not to be thus sated, for, after a while, not only the temple itself, but the whole realm became the victims which he devoured. If the temple of truth be not only stripped of its gold, but the idols of transubstantiation and of the Virgin Mary be set up therein to purchase peace, not with the people of the country, but with the people who derive their inspiration from Rome, then the state, which has wilfully abandoned her post of honour amongst the nations, and has betrayed the faith she has once defended, will assuredly reap a fresh harvest of troubles in Ireland" (page 17).
Dr. O'Brien of Ossory prefaces his work with the following remaiks:
" I fear that the friends of the Church will think— that many of them at least will think — that I should have done more wisely for the Church, if I had made it more an object to conciliate its enemies. I do not think so. I do not think that the motives by which the assailants of the Church are animated leave them accessible to the in- fluence of soft words. If I did — if I thought that the interests of the Church required that its enemies should be addressed with ' bated breath and in a bondsman's key',— - though I could not do this good office for it myself^ yet I should have been very careful to avoid every thing that was calculated to deter those who could from undertaking it, or calculated to throw any hindrance in the way of its being done effectively by them. But, as I said, I do not think that it would avail. When Hector sees his terrible foe approaching, he thinks for a moment of propitiating him rather than resisting him : but the thought is but
for a moment And so I believe it is with us. The time for
such amenities is past, and the friends of the Church must not think of soothing its enemies, but of resisting them as best they can".
After this preface Dr. Daly begins his essay by observing that in the Irish Church Question there are two distinct, though con- nected, questions involved. " The first is : Ought any branch of the Reformed Catholic Church to be established in this country ? And the second — supposing the first to be answered in the affir- mative— Is the actual Establishment on so much too large a scale that it may and ought to be considerably reduced T He deals with
The latest defence, of the Establishment. 19
the latter of these questions in the first place, and then passing on to the second, distinctly lays down in the words used by an eminent statesman in 1835, that " there is no principle upon which the Church Establishment can be rightly or permanently upheld, but that it was the Establishment which taught the truth". These views Dr. O'Brien accepts as his own, and thus concludes:
" I hold firmly by the conclusion that a state is bound by its duty to God and to the people whom He has confided to its care, to choose as the Established Church of the country from among the various religious communities which exist in it, the representative of the Catholic Church which holds the truth and teaches the truth".
3. It is plain from these statements that in the opinion of those bishops the claims of the Irish Establishment are mainly reli- gious ; that its best defence is the theological one ; that its true merits are the doctrines it teaches ; that its office is to teach the true religion in face of the Catholic Church, which teaches soul- destroying error. Hence all plans of disendowment are sinful and sacrilegious, and all laws, human and divine, call upon the English government to preserve intact the Irish Church as the pillar of the truth.
This line of defence, so clearly and plainly laid down by such authorities, challenges our attention, and we proceed to consider it in itself, in its consequences, and in its application to the actual circumstances of the Irish Protestant Church.
4. And first of all, touching the general question of union be- tween Church and State, we Catholics have well defined princi- ples from which we will never consent to depart. The fifty- tifth proposition condemned in the Syllabus rpns thus: The Church ought to be separated from the State^ and the State from the Church. But the principle sounds far differently on the lips of a Catholic and on those of a Protestant. Dr. O'Brien would impose on the state, that is the government of the country, the duty of choosing from among the various religious communities which exist in it, the representative of the truth. Suppose the choice to be made, and the chosen religion elevated socially and •politically over all others, to be presented by the government to the people as the only teacher of truth, may not the people ask: " What warrant have we that the state has made a right choice? And if they interrogate the state : Are you certain, and of abso- lute certainty, that the religion you have chosen is the only true religion ? the state must needs reply : No ; we are not absolutely certain of it. It is the fundamental principle of Protestantism that each one is to decide for himself in matters of religion, and that no human power ought to stand between the soul and its God. No one is infallible, but it has pleased us to choose thia
SB
20 The latest defence of the Establishment.
religion, and we will wed to it ail the power and influence of the^tate, in order that the whole nation may be brought under its sway". In other words, the Protestant principle of an Estab- lished Church involves the most flagrant inconsistency and the greatest tyranny : he who concedes to others the absolute liberty of believing what they please, cannot consistently hold up to them his own belief as the sole truth, especially when he admits that he may have been mistaken in making choice of that belief. What is this but the giving to the civil ruler a right to invade the sacred sanctuary of the soul, and to subject to his rude caprice the holiest of holy things ? How different does the theory of union between Church and State appear in the light of Catholic principles ! According to their teaching, no fallible authority has the right of proposing to a people as truth the religion that may have approved itself to its uncertain judgment. The rulers as well as their subjects are equally bound to submit to the infallible •voice of the Church of God ; and if both governors and governed unite in receiving the teachings of that infallible authority, the state may and ought to protect that Church. But in such union there is no taint of tyranny. The state does not enforce as truth, doctrines which it has chosen to designate as true, but it places as truth before the people what an infallible authority, revered as such by the people and by itself, has declared to be true. And as long as religious unity exists in a nation, this blessed union between Church and State ought to be maintained as the source of numberless blessings to society. But if, through some gigantic social convulsion, or by the operation of other causes, this reli- gious harmony is once broken, and if instead of worshipping at the same altar, men shall have been led to erect altar against altar, and to constitute themselves into sects, then on the part of the state it may become lawful and at times obligatory to grant politi- cal toleration. But in no case is it lawful for the state, of its own authority, to dictate to the people in matters of religion.
The case as between Catholics and Protestants stands thus : Dr. O'Brien holds that every one is to guide himself in matters of religion, and therefore he holds it is the duty of the state to choose for him a certain religious body which is to teach him what it pleases to call the truth, and to affect him in his religious belief through a thousand channels of influence. The Catholic holds that every one is to submit to the revelation made by God and conveyed to him through a divinely appointed organ, which God will preserve from straying or leading him astray. The state, as such, has no right to interfere with religion ; where all are Catholic, it is its duty to protect the Catholic Church, but where religious unity has disappeared, and especially where the State itself professes that it may err in religious matters, it is
The latest defence of the Establishment. 21
nothing snort of tyranny to set up a religion as true, which that state is willing to admit may yet be false. Thus the Catholic theory is consistent and worthy of human liberty ; the Protestant, contradictory and degrading.
5. Let us now consider the consequences which naturally flow from this latest defence of the Establishment, which says that the Irish Protestant Church is to retain its endowments because it teaches the true- religion as opposed to the soul-destroying doc- trines of Catholicism. According to the dignitaries from whom we quote, this is the true plea for the Law Church. But if they be correct in this, they have succeeded in justifying, and on their own principles, all that Catholics ever have done against the Establishment. By their own admission the Establishment is a symbol which, when translated into words, means this: The Ca- tholic religion is a soul-destroying error. If this be so, can they blame any Catholic for endeavouring to effect the disendowment? Surely, they cannot expect a nation like Ireland, into whose heart of hearts the Catholic faith has entered deep, which for love of it has lost her wealth and her place among the nations of the earth, whose children have bled for it, and died gladly in its defence, could remain silent in view of an institution which its own bishops say means nothing but insult and contumely of the Catholic religion ! Why, then, does Dr. Verschoyle, after in- sulting the honest poverty of the Catholic priesthood of Ireland, by saying that it is by " a righteous judgment of God, which has befallen them for their adherence to errors that made the Church of God a synagogue of Satan, that they should be in the humiliat- ing position of asking alms from the people for their support", — why does he complain of them, for wishing to depose the Estab- lished Church from its place as the upholder of true religion in the land?
There is one excellent result which must follow from this out- spoken defence of the Establishment. The true state of the case is thereby made clear, and the true character of the Establish- ment thereby revealed to Catholics. There is no longer any room for deception : the highest Protestant authorities have in- formed the Catholic citizen that the Establishment is nothing else than a standing protest on the part of the nation that the Catholic religion is " a soul-destroying error and a synagogue of Satan", and that to remove the Establishment is to withdraw such a protest. It becomes, therefore, the conscientious duty of every Catholic to employ all the political power placed in his hands to effect the removal of the Establishment. Otherwise, as far as in him lies, he cooperates in that protest, and helps to brand his holy religion as an imposture. Thus it happens that the bishops have given the signal for war, and for a war which must be kept
22 The latest dejence of the Establishment.
up as long as Catholics have any power in the state. As long as a Catholic vote can help to make or mar a member of parliament ; as long as a Catholic meeting can make the voice of a free people heard in the kingdom ; as long as the press can direct public opinion; as long as petitions can be signed, so long must there be an incessant warfare waged by Catholics against the Estab- lished Church. Non meus est hie sermo: it is the teaching of the Protestant bishops themselves, who declare that the true principle on which the Establishment rests is, that it has been chosen by the state as the teacher of true religion, as opposed to " soul-destroying.errors, and the synagogues of Satan". If there is to be an Establishment at all, they must have it on those terms ; if it be maintained on terms other than those, it will be almost valueless in their eyes. Such a defence as this is a direct challenge to all who have any political power, and who are not members of the Established Church. It is the fruit of the rampant bigotry which it was hoped had died out. It is, in plainest terms, the assertion of that spirit of ascendancy which is a standing outrage and insult to the Catholics of Ireland. And after this, what becomes of that fair vision of peace which was bidden to arise by some noble and generous souls who loved to think that the Pro- testants of Ireland could be led to abate their extravagant pre- tensions and to consent to dwell on a level with the Catholics upon whom they have trampled for so many ages !
6. Let us now see how the application of this principle will work. Since our adversaries have now chosen to transfer the question from the political to the theological field, and to rest their defence of the Establishment mainly on its being the chair of truth and " the pillar by which it is held forth in Ireland", let us look into its claims to that high position. And to the end that our examination may be the more securely conducted, let us review by aid of their own works, the doctrines of the leading men in its communion. We do not intend to pass judgment here on each of the doctrines held by them individually ; this would be an endless and an unprofitable task. Our purpose is narrower and more easily attained. It is to show that the Law Church in Ireland has no fixed doctrine which it may teach ; that its members are in a state of utter bewilderment in matters of faith ; that the teachings of its accredited clergy range from, the wildest rationalism to High Church tenets, passing through every intermediate shade of thought; that there is no authority within it to decide what is to be held and what to be avoided ; and consequently, since truth is one, that it is an enormous pre- tension on its part to aspire to be maintained as the recognized teacher of true doctrine in Ireland. A Jove principium; let us begin with the bishops. Even
The latest defence of the Establishment. 23
the bishops themselves are at variance as to doctrine, and the differences that divide them are enormous. What a chasm between the present Protestant Archbishop of Dublin and his immediate predecessor ! Dr. Whately was accused by his own as one holding unsound opinions on the essential doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. Dr. Trench has been accused by his own as a Puseyite and a Papist. Dr. Daly of Cashel denounces (p. 22) Rev. Dr. Maturin, of Dublin, as a " deceitful teacher", " a recruiting-officer for the Romish Church", one " against whom and whose system there is as much reason to give warning as against those who circulate the Directorium Anglicanum, one who is the more dangerous on account of the favour he is supposed to enjoy". Dr. Trench allows that gentleman to teach and even to obtain promotion in his diocese. The sarn-e Dr. Daly indignantly lashes the steps that have lately been taken to acknowledge, as in close union with the United 'Church of Eng- land and Ireland, the Protestant Episcopal Church in Scotland, " notwithstanding that she holds that which we have seen to be at the bottom of the Ritualistic movement, namely, wha,t they call the objective presence of Christ i u the sacraments, and which our great reformer Cranmer said was the root out of which grew the whole tree of Popery". "It is to me", he adds, " a greater subject of regret that a high dignitary of our Church should last year have consented to lay the first stone of the Scottish. Cathedral in Inverness, and in his speech state that the Scottish Episcopal Church is the only true representative of the Church of England in Scotland". And the good bishop repeats what he said in 1845, that if his own Episcopal Church " should turn away from the truth, and introduce a service that speaks more like transubstantiation than ever was spoken by any Church but the Church of Rome, I would feel myself bound to protest against her heresy, and to separate from her communion". Thus, what one bishop calls heresy, the other holds to be saving truth ; and while the Scottish Church is accepted by some as orthodox in its doctrine of the Eucharist, by others it is anathematised as op- posed to truth.
And as the bishops, so the inferior clergy. The grea^t training school of the Protestant clergy in Ireland is Trinity College, Dublin. Now where did the desolating system of Positivism first show itself in public in Ireland ? Within the walls of the Protestant University. It was there that W. E. H. Lecky received into his mind the germs which afterwards grew into his pernicious book on The Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe. It was there that the Rev. James Barlow proclaimed that the doctrine of the everlasting punishment of the wicked was to be abandoned because jarring with the civilization of the nineteenth cen-
24 The latest defence of the Establishment.
tury.1 It was there that Rev. J. H. Jellett reduced the question of the inspiration of difficult parts of the Holy Scripture to a mere " balance of probabilities", of which balance each student was to be the judge, determining for himself whether "the external evidence of inspiration is sufficient to overcome the internal im- probability". And we are assured upon good authority that the current of thought among the students is setting altogether in the direction towards which this rationalistic literature points. Scandalised by the appearance of such books in a Christian com- munity, we looked for some authoritative denunciation of them on the part of the authorities of the Protestant Church ; but wo looked in vain. The only voice that was raised in reprobation was the voice of the Catholic Church, which by the lips of the Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin, avenged the outraged majesty of Christian truth.
And whilst one portion .of the clergy thus inclines to Ra- tionalism, another flies off towards dissent of the lowest kind :
" A few months ago, there were", says Dr. Maturin, " no less than three ordained clergymen of the Church of England acting publicly in Dublin alone as dissenting ministers ; while some years ago it was stated that a dissenting movement, which was then of recent origin, had, in the short time during which it prevailed, been joined by no fewer than thirty clergymen of our Church*'.
To these we have to add the party typified in Rev. Dr. Maturin, of whom Dr. Daly writes:
" He is evidently making a move backward towards Rome, when he says that ' our Church stands between the system of Protestantism and the system of Romanism' ; and when, as to the principle on which our reformers acted, he says, 'Their appeal was to Scripture and antiquity ; Scripture as the repository, the Church as the witness of the truth'".
We say nothing of the countless shades of doctrine and ritual which prevail in the Anglican Church, all of which might fairly also be placed to the credit of the United Church of England and Ireland.
The state of the laity shall be described by Dr. Maturin :
" There is a state of feeling and opinion, deeply rooted and widely spread in our Church, which has no parallel, I believe, in any other religious community. It may be described in general as ignoring the existence of anything distinctive in the character or teaching of the Church of England, and regarding it as one — the most respectable perhaps, but not always the purest — among several sects into which
1 Eternal Punishment and Eternal Death. An Essay, by James Barlow, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, Dublin, 1865. Cf. Irish Ecclesiastical ^ vol. i. p. 217.
The latest defence of the Establishment. 25
Protestantism is divided ; some of these sects more scriptural than others, but all agreeing in the same fundamental truths, and separated only by minor and non-essential differences. This common sentiment shows itself in various aspects ; but I refer to it now as bearing upon the way in which so many view the doctrines of their own Church. Some Church people are ignorant of the fact that the Church possesses any distinctive doctrines at all. Others think that, if ever she did possess such, they are now obsolete, left in the Prayer Book by mis- take— on a piinciple of compromise — or with the understanding that they should not be maintained ; or that they are the dregs of Roman- ism from which the same Prayer Book was never thoroughly purged, and that it needs farther revision to adapt it to the more enlightened Protestantism of the present age ; or, again, that the terms in which they are expressed may be so explained, softened, toned down, quali- fied, as to render the statements they contain harmless after all, if not satisfactory. Thus suspicion and dislike are common feelings that prevail on this subject ; and a half-hearted tolerance is the nearest approach to cordiality. Now this, I say, is peculiar to our Church. In other religious bodies you will find that those doctrines or practices by which they are distinguished, furnish the very points on which their respective members are sure to be best instructed. The Roman Catholic is well acquainted with the peculiar tenets of his own Church, and so on his side is the Presbyterian or the Methodist. Nay more ; these are the very points on which they are each commonly most zealous, neither afraid nor ashamed, but openly avowing and boldly maintaining them. It is exactly the reverse with many Church people ; they are not ignorant merely, but antagonistic. There is a sensitive shrinking from Church doctrine, as if they were afraid it would do them some inexplicable harm, as if it was something they should be ashamed to own, like a discreditable friend or connection ; something that, if the}' were once to accept, would lead them astray, whither they know not, and which it is therefore best to avoid alto- gether. Nor is this feeling confined exclusively to those who reject Church doctrine. It is, strange to say, shared to some extent by those who actually hold it, but hold it with a timid hand, as if they feared to grasp it — as men hold a dangerous weapon whose use they do not fully understand. They regard it as a trust to be kept, care- fully perhaps, but secretly ; hid in a napkin ; not produced, not turned to account, not taught, — at any rate till people are quite ripe and ready to learn, till it is perfectly safe, — in other words, till it becomes almost superfluous to teach them. In short, the expectation seems to be, that people will learn Church doctrine in some happy future by an instinct as happy ; and that, when this is the case, it may be held, inculcated, and defended plainly and fearlessly".
This, then, on the showing of its own defenders, is the inter- nal condition of the Established Church. In it bishop contends with bishop on matters of faith ; in it the clergy are divided one from the other as far as Rationalism is distant from the High Church ; in it the laity have either uo kuowlo Jge of the religious
26 The new religions of America.
principles of their faith, or are afraid of them. And yet this Babel of confusion is confidently exhibited to the state by Dr. O'Brien and his compeers as the one Church which teaches the truth, as the pillar of sound religion, as .the heaven-sent witness against the Catholic Church, which they are pleased to style " a synagogue of Satan" ! Even if it be granted that a Protes- tant may consistently demand an Established Church — even if it be prudent on the part of Irish Protestants to urge such a demand, still the state could not with any propriety choose as the one organ of truth, a body so much torn by dissensions, so helpless to control its members, so thorough a failure in all respects as the Law Church of Ireland.
THE NEW RELIGIONS OF AMERICA.
THE many ties that link the United States to this country, for- bid an Irishman to look with indifference upon the social changes which affect society within the great republic. Beyond all things else, the religious condition of a country which is the home of so many millions of our race, must ever challenge our atten- tion. The thousands of guileless young men and women who annually leave our shores rich in faith, in simplicity of charac- ter, in moral purity — into what kind of society do they carry this precious freight ? Had they remained at home, we could fore- cast their career blameless though lowly, in some quiet country valley, within sight of the humble chapel, under the fatherly care of a good priest. But, when they are once fairly launched upon their new life, what are their chances? what are their dangers? what their circumstances? Such questions as these spring unbidden to the lips at the frequent sight of emigrants wending their dolorous way towards our Irish seaports. The sketches of the wild and novel forms which religion has assumed in America, lately drawn by an intelligent writer, whose words we follow as closely as possible, will help the reader to frame the answer for himself.1
The first religious body whose habitation the author visited, was the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appear- ing, commonly known in America as the Shakers : Shakers being a term of mockery and reproach. The chief home of those fanatics is a village called Mount Lebanon, standing on a sunny hill-side, three miles south of New Lebanon Springs, in the
1 New America, by William Hepwortu Dixon, two Tola, London; Hunt an<J JJkckett. 1567,
The new religions of America. 27
tipper country of the lovely river Hudson. Though of American growth, this body owes its origin to England, having had for its first foundress an English female seer.
About a hundred years ago a poor woman living at Bolton-on- the-Moors, in South Lancashire, announced that she had received a call from heaven to go about the streets of her native town and testify the truth. Her name was Jane Wardlaw, and her hus- band, a tailor, was her first convert. These poor people had belonged to the Society of Friends, and had lived from their youth upward in the heart of a wild rocky district, in the midst of a coarse and ungodly population. She went out into the marketplace and declared to the world that the end of all things was at hand, that Christ was about to reign, and that His second appearance would be in a woman's form, as had been prefigured in the Psalms. She never declared in words that she herself was the Christ ; but she acted as if the plenitude of power had been committed to her, receiving converts in His name, confess- ing and remitting sins, and holding communication with unseen spirits.
Among her early converts was Anne Lee, born of a poor blacksmith, in Toad Lane (Todd Street), Manchester. This girl had been brought up first in a cotton-mill, next in a public kitchen, and was violent in her conduct and a prey to convul- sions. When yet a child, she had been married to a neighbour- ing lad named Stanley, to whom she bore four children, who all died young. She, too, soon began to sally forth like Jane Wardlaw, to testify for the truth. But the magistrates had her sent to the Old Baily prison as a disturber of the public peace. While there she said a light had shone upon her, and the Lord Jesus had stood before her in the cell, and became one with her in form and spirit. This privilege, recounted by her to the little church of five or six persons, obtained for her from them the rank of mother, as the queen described by David, and the bride of the Apocalypse, in whom Christ had come again.
As the rough factory boys and girls only laughed at her, Anne received a revelation to go to America, where she and her church were to find the Promised Land. Five men and two women accompanied her. Arrived in America, she separated her- self from her husband, in accordance with the fixed principle she had assumed, that she and her people were to wage continual war against the flesh. By lust man fell from heaven, by con- tinence only could he hope to regain it. Her disciples must live as the angeis, neither marrying nor giving in marriage. Her hus- band had no faith at all in her, and became a backslider. The little band of seven believers in Mother Anne's divine commis- sion w.ent up first to Albany, and then to Niskenna, where they
$3 The new religions of America.
waited in their lonely huts for three years and six months. ^ At length in 1780, a revivalist movement took place in the neigh- bourhood, and among other wealthy people Joseph Meachan and Lucy Wright became followers of Anne. The first of these she adopted as her eldest son, who was to be the heir of her power in the Church. The war of independence was then raging, and her peculiar doctrines involved the little band in many troubles. After many journeys, in 1784, she gathered together around her her disciples, gave them her blessing, and after yielding up the visible keys of her kingdom to Joseph and Lucy, as her succes- sors in the male and female headships of the kingdom, she passed away.
Not that she died: for her successors proclaimed to all that she had merely become changed and made invisible to the flesh through excess of light. Mother Anne had withdrawn herself for a Ettle from the world, but she would live and reign for ever -among her own true children of the resurrection. In dreams and ecstasies she could still be heard. This was the true resurrection, and her followers expect no other.
As yet the believers in Mother Anne were living mixed up with the Gentiles. Now Joseph and Lucy withdrew them apart into settlements : to Water Vliet and Mount Lebanon in New York; to Harvard and Shirley, in Massachusetts; to Enfield, in Connecticut ; to Canterbury, in New Hampshire ; to Union Vil- lage and White Water, in Ohio; to Pleasant Hill and South Union, in Kentucky. Under their rule a covenant was written down and accepted by the brethren ; the divine government was confirmed ; elders and deacons, male and female, were appointed ; celibacy was confirmed as binding on the saints, and community of goods was introduced among them. In 1796, Joseph passed out of sight, and left Lucy to govern the church for twenty-five years. She, too, named her successor an elderess, not a mother. The name of the present leader is Betsey Yates, commonly called Elderess Betsey, who represents Mother Anne only in the body, for the Mother is always present in the spirit among her children. Daniel Boler is the chief elder, and Elder Frederick the official preacher of Shaker doctrine. At present they have eighteen establishments, and the census of 1860 returns them as six thousand strong.
The estate on and around Mount Lebanon, visited by our author, consists of nearly ten thousand acres of the best land in the state of New York. These ten thousand acres bloom like a fair garden. " The hand of man has been laid on the soil with a light though a tender grasp, doing its woik of beauty, and calling forth beauty in exchange for love and care. Where can you find an orchard like this young plantation on our left ? Where,
The new religions of America. 29
save in England, do you see such a sward? The trees are greener, the roses pinker, the cottages neater, than on any other slope. New Lebanon has almost the face of an English valley rich with the culture of a thousand years. You see that the men who till these fields, who tend these gardens, who bind these sheaves, who train these vines, who plant these apple trees, have been drawn into putting their love into the daily task ; and you hear with no surprise that these toilers, ploughing and planting in their quaint garb, consider their labour on the soil as a part of their ritual, looking upon the earth as a stained and degraded sphere which they have been called to redeem from corruption and restore to God" (page 83 -84 )
The village is formed of a host of houses standing in gardens, each house having its own male and its own female head. The co-heads of the entire society are Elder Frederick and Elderess Antoinette. " The streets are quiet ; for here you have no grog- shop, no beer-house, no lock-up, no pound ; of the dozen edifices rising about you — work-rooms, barns, tabernacle, stables, kitchens, schools, and dormitories — not one is either foul or noisy. The paint is all fresh ; the planks are all bright ; the windows are all clean. The walls appear as though they had been built only yesterday; a perfume as from many unguents floats down the lane ; and the curtains and window-blinds are of spotless white. The people are like their village, soft in speech, demure in bear- ing, gentle in face. Every one seems busy, every one, tranquil. " The interiors of the houses do not belie the promise of the exterior. The greatest attention is paid in every building to scientific ventilation". The visitors' house, which stands apart, is plainly and neatly furnished. In the houses of the brethren, males and females dwell apart as to their rooms, though they eat at a common table and lodge under a common roof. A husband and wife who join the community become simply brother and sister.
" The Shakers dine in silence. Brothers and sisters sit in a com- mon room, at tables ranged in a line a few feet apart. They eat at six in the morning, at noon, at six in the evening. They rally to the sound of a bell, file into the eating room in a single line, women going up to one end of the room, men to the other ; when they drop on their knees for a short and silent prayer ; sit down and eat, helping each other to the food. Not a word is spoken, unless a brother should need help from a brother, a sister from a sister. A whisper serves. No one gossips with her neighbour ; even the help that any one may need is given and taken without thanks. Elder Frederick sits at the end, not at the head of the table. Elderess Antoinette at the other end. The food, though it is very good of its kind) arid very well cooked, is simple, being
30 The new religions of America
wholly, or almost wholly, produce of the earth — tomatoes, roast apples, peaches, potatoes, squash, hominy, boiled corn, and the like. The grapes are excellent, reminding one of those of Beth- lehem ; and the eggs, hard eggs, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, are delicious. The drink is water, milk, and tea. Then we have pies, tarts, candies, dried fruits, and syrups. For my own part, being a gentile and a sinner, I have been indulged in cutlets, chickens, and home-made wine" (p. 95-96).
Every man has a trade : some have two or three trades. Every one must take his part in the family business, and follow his oc- cupation, however high his rank and calling in the church.
Such is the every-day life of the Shakers : the doctrines which have made them what they are, are based on these leading prin- ciples: The kingdom of heaven has come; Christ has actually appeared on earth ; the personal rule of God has been restored. Hence it follows that the old law is abolished ; the command to multiply has ceased, Adam's sin has been atoned ; the intercourse of heaven and earth has been restored ; the curse is taken away from labour; the earth and all that is on it will be redeemed; angels and spirits have become, as of old, the familiars and minis- ters of men.
Only a chosen few are called by God to the knowledge of these mighty changes. The elect who are thus called die to the world, its pleasures, and its passions, and are born again to a new life of the soul. No one can be born into their body, as no mem- ber of their church can marry. As in heaven so on earth, the sexes must dwell apart. We once heard from a distinguished Catholic missionary an account of a visit paid by him to a Shaker village. He was received in the visitors' house and treated with kindest hospitality. The elder came to pay him a visit, and con- gratulated him on the celibate life he led. " But", he added, " what you have chosen for yourself you ought also to recom- mend to others, that all may be led to give up marriage". " On the contrary", replied the priest, " I teach that marriage is holy and a sacrament. What would become of the human race if your views were generally adopted ? It would perish in the course of a few generations". " What of that", said the elder, " let it perish!"
Whoever enters the Shaker union must pay off all debts, cancel all wills and settlements, renounce all honours, give up his friends and kinsmen as though he were parted from them by the grave. " They take no part in politics, they vote for no pre- sident, they hold no meetings, they want nothing from the White House. The right to think, vote, speak, and travel, is to them but an idle dream; they live with angels, and are more familiar (as they tell me) with the dead than with the living. Sister
Theneiv religions of America. 31
Mary, who was sitting in my room not an hour ago, close to my hand, and leaning on this Bible, which then lay open at the Canticles, told me that the room was full of spirits, of beings as palpable, as audible to her, as my own figure and my own voice. The dreamy look, the wandering eye, the rapt expression, would have alarmed me for her state of health, only that I know with what sweet decorum she conducts her life, and with what subtle fingers she makes damson tarts" (p. 108).
According to the Shaker doctrine every human being will be saved.
How is the community to be recruited if its rules forbid mar- riage among its members ? The losses by death each year must be considerable; how are the vacant places to be filled? "By revivals or spiritual cycles", replied Elder Frederick. Every great spiritual revival which has agitated America since the Shaker church was planted, has led to a new society being founded on the principles of Mother Anne. The revivals have been eighteen, the Shaker settlements are eighteen also. It will be within the memory of our readers how the Irish Protestants gloried in the Ulster revivals some years ago. Mr. Dixon has been a witness of these revivals as well as of the revivals in America, by means of which the Shaker churches are recruited, and we leave it to him to compare the two classes of phenomena :
** When the last Ulster revival broke out, I happened to be in Derry ; and having watched the course of that spiritual hurricane from Derry to Belfast, I am able to say, that, excepting the scenery and the manners, a revival in Ulster is very much the same thing as a spiritual cycle in Ohio and Indiana.
" In this country, the religious passion breaks out like a fever, in the hottest places and in the wildest parts; always in a sect of extreme opinions, generally among the Ranters, the Tunkers, the Seventh-day Baptists, the Gome-outers, and the Methodists.
" Yet a camp-meeting, such as I have twice seen in the wilds of Ohio and Indiana, is a subject full of interest, not without touches in its humour and in its earnestness to unlock the fountains of our smiles and tears. The hour may be five in the afternoon of a windless October day, when myriads of yellow flowers and red mosses light up the sward — when the leaves of the oak and the plane are deepening into brown — when the maples gleam with crimson, and the hickory drips with gold. Among the roots and holes of ancient trees, amidst buzzing insects and whirring birds, rise a multitude of booths and tents, with an aspect strange yet homely. Carts and wagons are unhorsed ; the animals tethered to the ground, or straying in search of grass. In a dozen large booths men are eating, drinking, smoking, praying. Some fellows are playing games ; some lolling on the turf; others are lighting fires ; many are cooking food. Those lads are cut- ting pines ; these girls are getting water from the stream, In the
$2 The new religions of America
centre of the camp, a pale revivalist marabout, standing on the stump of a tree, is screeching and roaring to a wild hot throng of listeners, most of them farmers and farmers' Avives from the settlements far and near ; a sprinkling of negroes, a few red men in their paint and feathers — all equally ablaze with the orator himself, fierce partners in his zeal, and feeders of his fire. His periods are broken by shouts and sobs ; his gestures are answered by yells and groans. Without let, without pause in his discourse, he goes tearmo; on, belching forth a hurricane of words and screams ; while the men sit round him, white and still, writhing and livid, their lips all pressed, their hands all knotted, with the panic and despair of sin ; and the women rush wildly about the camp, tossing up their arms, groaning out their con- fessions, casting themselves downwards on the earth, swooning into sudden hysterics, streaming at the eyes, and foaming at the mouth ; the staid Indian looking with contempt on these miseries of the white man's squaw, and the negroes breaking forth into sobs and cries, and convulsive raptures of ' Glory ! glory ! Alleluja!'
" Many visitors fall sick, and some die in the camp. In the agonies of this strife against the power of sin and the fear of death (I am told by men who have often watched these spiritual tempests), the passions seem all to be unloosed, and to go astray without let or guide. ' I like to hear of a revival', said to me a lawyer of Indianopolis ; ' it brings on a crop of cases'. In the revivalist camp men quarrel, and fight, and make love to their neighbour's wives. A Methodist preacher of twenty-five years' experience, first in New England, then on the frontiers, afterwards on the battle-fields of Virginia, said to me, ' Religious passion includes all other passion ; you cannot excite one without stirring up the others. In our church we know the evil, and we have to guard against it as best we may. The young men who get up revivals are always objects of suspicion to their elders ; many go wrong, I would say one in twenty at the least ; more, far more, than that number bring scandal on the Church by their thought- less behaviour in the revivalist camp' ".
The next body claiming our attention is that of the Spiritu- alists. The history of this movement is well known to all who have read Dr. Brownson's The Convert. The third national con- vention of Spiritualists was held in Providence, in the month of August last, and eighteen states and territories were represented on the platform. Those who saw the persons composing the meeting were struck with their wild appearance. Their eyes were preternaturally bright; their faces preternaturally pale. Many of them practised imposition of hands ; nearly all the men wore long hair, nearly all the women were closely cropped One of the vice-presidents announced that more than three millions of Americans, men and women, have already entered into this movement. "No Church in the United States, not even the Methodist", says Mr. Dixon, " can sum up half that number of actual members". But a well informed writer in these pages
The new religions of America. 33
(Irish Ecclesiastical Record, vol. ii. pag. 444), thinks that the number of Catholics in the States must be between three or four millions. The Spiritualist millions announce their personal conviction that the old religions are exhausted, that the churches founded on them are dead, that new revelations are required by man. They affirm that these revelations are made by the rap- pings of unknown agents, the drawings by unseen hands, and the other phenomena presented by Spiritualism. They have a well constructed organization, with progressive schools, cate- chisms, newspapers; male and female prophets, mediums, and clairvoyants, Sunday services, camp meetings, and general con- ferences. A tenth part of the population in the New England States, a fifteenth part of the population of New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, believe in those revelations from the spirit world. A very remarkable feature of the convention was the tone of Stern hostility towards the religious creeds and moral standards of all Christian nations, which marked the speeches both of men and women. One lady declared that she for one would build no more churches; "for they had already too long oppressed and benighted humanity". " I am infidel", exclaimed the aged John Pierpoint, " to a great many of the forms of popular religion, because I do not believe in many of the points which are held by a majority of the Christians, nay, even of the Protestant Church". Instead of putting his faith in creeds and canons, he put it in progress, liberty, and spirits.
Another celibate sect is that of the Tunkers, as they are called by the profane, on account of their Baptist tendencies (the word tunk&r meaning to dip), or the Brethren, as they are known among themselves. Their neighbours call them the Harmless People. They live in little villages and groups of farms, for their common advantage, and not in separate commu- nities like the Shakers. They remain subject to the civil law. They believe that all men will be saved ; a dogma which is com- mon to almost every new sect in the United States. They dress plain, avoid compliments, refuse to swear or fight, never go to law, employ no salaried priest, and consider the two sexes alike eligible for the sacred ministry. They hold strong views about the holiness of a single life, hold celibacy in the highest honour, and though they do not refuse to unite in marriage any brother and sister who may desire it, they never fail to impress upon the candidates for matrimony the superior virtues of a single life.
In strange contrast to these celibate societies is the body of reformers who call themselves Perfectionists, or Bible Commu- nists. They profess to base their theory of family life on the New Testament, most of all on the teachings of St. Paul. They have restored, they say, the divine government of the world j
VOL. IV. 3
34 The new religions of America.
they have put the two sexes on an equal footing ; they have de- clared marriage a fraud, and property a theft ; they have abolished fbr themselves all human laws ; they have formally renounced their allegiance to the United States.
The founder of this school is John Humphrey Noyes, whom Mr. Dixon describes as " a tall, pale man, with sandy hair and beard, gray, dreamy eyes, good mouth, white temples, and a noble forhead. He has been in turn a graduate of Dartmouth College, Connecticut, a law clerk at Putney in Vermont, a theological student at Andover, Massachusetts, a preacher at Yale College, New Haven, a seceder from the Congregational Church, an outcast, a heretic, an agitator, a dreamer, an experi- mentalizer ; finally, he is now acknowledged by many people as a 'sect founder, a revelator, a prophet, enjoying light from heaven and personal intimacies with God" — p. 209.
The rule of faith and the rule of life of this new Church are both equally plain. The Perfectionist has a right to do what he likes. He can do nothing wrong, because the Holy Spirit sus- tains and guards him. He knows no law : no commandment in the ten, no statute on the rolls is binding on him — a child of grace. Laws are for sinners ; he is a saint. Noyes practised this doctrine. He had been a teetotaller: on assuming holiness he began to drink ardent spirits. He had been temperate : he now began to indulge his palate. He had been chaste and regular in his habits : he now began to consort with harlots and thieves. And in doing all this he did no wrong : he had trusted himself to God, and walked through sin untouched. And how is a man to arrive at this stage of grace ? Nothing is more easy ; you have only to wish it, and at once, without good works, without prayers, by faith alone, you are freed from the power of sin.
There are three establishments belonging to the Perfectionists, in Wallingford, Brooklyn, and Oneida Creek. Mr. Dixon spent some days at Oneida as the guest of Noyes, and thus describes the appearance of the spot :
" Roads have been cut through the forest; bridges have been built ; the creek has been trained and dammed ; mills for slitting planks and for driving wheels have been erected; tlfe bush has been cleared away; a great hall, offices, and workshops have been raised; lawns have been laid out ; shrubberies planted and footways gravelled ; orchards and vineyards have been reared and fenced ; manufactures have been set going — iron-work, satchel-making, fruit-preserving, silk-spinning ; and the whole aspect of this wild forest land has been beautified into the likeness of a rich demesne in Kent. Few corners of America can compete in loveliness with the swards and gardens lying about the home of the Oneida family, as those things arrest the eyes of a stranger coming upon them from the rough fields even of
The new religions of America. 35
the settled region of New York The estate is about six hun- dred acres in extent ; the family gathered under one roof number about three hundred. Everything at Oneida Creek suggests taste, repose, and wealth ; and the account-books prove that during the past seven or eight years the family have been making a good deal of money, which they have usefully laid out, either in the erection of new mills, or in draining and enriching the soil".
The rule laid upon all at Oneida Creek is simply this — the duty of enjoying life. The saints in that house were simply men in the position of Adam before the fall ; men without sin ; men to whom everything was lawful, because everything was pure. Why should they not eat, drink, and love to their heart's content, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit ? All property is made over to Christ, the saints retain only the use of it. The wives and children of the family are as common as the property, the very soul of the system being a system which Mr. JJixon calls pantagamy, and which it is exceedingly difficult to explain in English. The whole family is one marriage circle, every man being the husband and brother of every woman, every woman being the wife and sister of every man. Marriage as a rite and as a fact they have abolished for ever, in the name of true reli- gion. Every new member, whether male or female, becomes married to the entire family on entering the association.
The Bible Communists, like other communists, found it hard at first to support themselves. The principal income of the Oneida family is derived from the sale of their vermin traps. Sewell Newhouse, a Canadian trapper, who had joined the family, constructed an ingenious trap which soon became a fa- vourite article. In a single year they made eighty thousand dollars of profit by their traps, and the present annual revenue from the same source is about three thousand pounds sterling.
The Bible Families are likely to increase. " They meet", said Elder Frederick to Mr. Dixon, " the desires of a great many men and women in this country ; giving, in the name of religious service, a free rein to the passions, with a deep sense of repose. The Bible Communists give a pious charter to free love, and the sentiment of free love is rooted in the heart of New York" — p. 263.
These are some of the wild forms of religion in America, forms as grotesque and monstrous as the Gnostic sects described by the Fathers of the first four centuries. Such are the noxious vapours poisoning the air which so many millions of our race are compelled to breathe. And all these blasphemous doctrines, these extravagant superstitions, these infamous orgies, are declared by millions to be the result of their study of the Holy Bible, interpreted accord- ing to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost ! And thus, in our
3s
36 Correspondence.
age, the Protestant rule of faith has made a religion of super- stition, of voluptuousness, and of rationalism. And from its fruits you shall know it.
CORRESPONDENCE.
EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION IN IRELAND.— THE ROLL OF 1560.
To the Editors of the Irish Ecclesiastical Record.
GENTLEMEN, — In the September number of your journal, in the article noticing recent publications on the above subjects, allu- sion is made to the notorious list of the spiritual and temporal peers, alleged to have assisted at Sussex's parliament in 1560, the original of which is now stated to have unaccountably disap- peared from the Rolls Office. The writer says that it betrays manifest indications of being derived from a later and unauthen- ticated source. When the late Mr. Hardiman published what he called a copy, in his edition of the Statute of Kilkenny, he wrote that it was then in existence, though in a state of decay, being in some parts quite illegible. This was in 1842, and his intention was, as he says, to preserve it, as it had not been pre- viously printed. But in this he was mistaken, as a copy differ- ing in some respects had been printed, so far back as 1831, by William Lynch, in his Feudal Dignities of Ireland, p. 343. In Hardiman's copy there are no contractions of either names or titles, such being the case in Lynch's in nearly twenty places, while Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond and Ossory, is designated Lord Treasurer of Ireland by Lynch, and £w6-Treasurer by Hardiman. Again, in neither copy have lords Athenry or Curcy Christian names prefixed, seven bishops being also defec- tive in that respect, while in both, four barons take precedence of viscounts, who are followed by barons, a very unofficial mode of registry. No officer of parliament would be guilty of such heraldic anomalies or mistakes, precedence of rank (as all who have examined the journals of the Lords are aware) being a vital point, on which the Irish peers were particularly sensitive, so much so as frequently to require the royal interposition.
The roll in question has been called by Sir William Betham, in his memoir of the family of Fleming of Slane, a parliament pawn, that is, a schedule of writs to be issued for the ensuing parliament, a title and character against which Lynch properly argues, from its heading, and from the fact that it contains lists
Correspondence. 37
of the knights, citizens, and burgesses, actually elected and returned by the sheriffs, proving that it must have been pre- pared some time or other after parliament had assembled. The time, or for what purpose, it is difficult to ascertain, but the de- fect of Christian names shows that it was not immediate, and the probability is, that it was fabricated to show summons and sittings of the temporal peers, in order to substantiate peerage claims for which such proofs were absolutely necessary. The name of Roger (Skiddy), bishop of Cork and Cloyne, being inscribed on the roll, has always tarnished it as apocryphal, as it was not till 29th October, 1561, he obtained confirmation from the dean and chapter, nearly a year after the parliament sat, and on which day he also obtained restitution of the temporalities from Queen Elizabeth by virtue of which he became a peer of parliament. It would certainly be very strange if the chancellor should sum- mon to parliament as a spiritual peer, one who, according to the construction of the laws of England, was not a full bishop, and who only received the queen's letter on 31st July, 1561, directed to himself and Sussex, for Skiddy's admission. The bishop of Ross is also entered on this roll, being one of those to whom no Christian name is prefixed. Ware writes that Dermod Mac Domnail died in 1552 ; yet it was a question with him whether he did not resign before his death, as he found one John, called Bishop of Ross, on the 12th of August, 1551. But this entry 13 the only mention of such a bishop in any record, and the name John is most likely a mistake for Dermod. He gives as his successor Thomas O'Herlihy, who was sitting in 1563, having assisted at the Council of Trent in that year. We now know that O'Herlihy was not appointed by the Pope till December, 1561, and consequently could not have been present in the par- liament of 1560, and although in the interval between Mac Dom- nail and O'Herlihy the Pope appointed Maurice O'Fihely and Maurice Hea to this see, no one will presume that the latter would be summoned, or attend if summoned. In like manner we have the " Episcopus" or " Epus.", " Aledenen", i. e. the Bishop of Killala. Redmund O'Gallagher had been appointed bishop by "the Pope in 1545, by whom he was translated to Derry in 1569, and was killed by the English in O'Kane'a country, 15th March, 1601. It is utterly incredible that he would attend, living so remote from English influence in the north-west of Connaught.
Conceding for a moment that the document is genuine, and not fabricated for a special purpose, it affords within itself no evidence as to what part any of the lords took on any question brought before them, how they voted, content or non-content. Some of them may have acquiesced in the surreptitious passing
38 Correspondence.
of the act of uniformity; for instance, of the spiritual peers, Curwin of Dublin, and Devereux of Ferns ; but it is admitted on all hands that two of these named on the roll, namely, Walsh of Meath, and Leverous of Kildare, acted quite otherwise. Butler, Earl of Ormond, or as he is generally called " Black Tom", may have been a supporter of English minions to gratify his revenge against Desmond ; but it was a hypocritical support, for when the hour of death came, he, like many another unfortunate, died an un- worthy member of the Church of Rome. Gerald Earl of Kildare, so often in after life suspected and imprisoned by the Dublin cabal, the unfortunate Gerald Earl of Desmond, and Eustace Viscount Baltinglass, who were the suffering champions of Catholicity, we may be assured never revolted against their original principles ; in fact Sussex as well as Curwin, as all extant records show, were in the then existing uncertainty of the descent of the crown, mere temporizers, not knowing how soon Mary Stuart, the de- Voted and inflexible adherent of Catholic principles, would be queen, and therefore very unlikely to exercise coercive measures. But were these lords present, and did they vote ? The former is not only the crucial test of the authenticity of this roll, on which depends whether it was an after-invention or not, but is the sole and real question involved. I have no doubt it is a fabrication; the anomalies and mistakes and difficulties as to Skiddy and Gallagher are very strong ; but there is one other objection which I consider conclusive, and which will require great ingenuity to controvert and set aside. One of the tempo- ral peers named on this famous roll as being present, was actually dead when the parliament sat. The heading of the roll states that it sat on the llth of January, in the second year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that is 1560, as she ascended the throne, lYth November, 1558. Now the thirteenth on the list is " Ricardus Nugent miles, baro de Delvyn". Turn now to Arch- dall's Irish Peerage, vol. i. p. 232, and we find that this Richard Nugent, eighth baron of Delvin, made his will 23rd November, 1559, and that it was found by post mortem inquisition he died on the 10th of December, same year. The entry, therefore, of his attendance and sitting is false, and from this fatal mistake we may judge of the entire document. There could be no mis- take about the Christian name ; it is Richard on the roll ; and his eldest son and successor was Christopher, only fifteen years old at his father's death, who consequently could not sit as a peer. Archdall observed this, but merely says that the fact of his having died on the 10th December, " proves that the inserting his name in this roll, as one of the lords present in the parlia- ment held by the Lord Deputy Sussex, 12th January, 1559-60, is a mistake". But it was a fortunate mistake for the elucida-
Liturgical Questions. 39
tion of truth and exposure of falsehood, no matter how ingeni- ously concocted. It is very questionable but the name of Barry, lord of Buttevante, is not also fraudulently introduced. It was a feudal title ; the preceding peer left daughters, and it was by entail James Fitz Richard Barry Roe succeeded his deceased cousin, who died in March, 1557, and it was not till 27th April, 1561, that the former had special livery of the inheritance by which he became entitled. But the case of Lord Delvin is enough and satisfactory. J. W. H.
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
I. A Limerick correspondent asks what is to be understood by the formula ob inopiam sacerdotum, which occurs in the petition addressed by the Irish bishops to Propaganda, and which seems to limit the permission granted by the Holy See for masses de Eequiem to be celebrated on doubles praesente cadavere. See Irish Ecclesiastical Record, vol. i. page 296.
To this question we reply : —
1. That this formula having been inserted in the petition of our bishops to the Holy See, each bishop is the authentic inter- preter of it for his own clergy.
2. The inopia sacerdotum is not to be too strictly interpreted, as if it should necessarily imply the absence of a sufficient num- ber of priests to sing a high mass. It is to be understood as the normal condition of our parishes and churches, contrasted with the facilities for solemn ceremonies which are to be met with in continental Catholic countries.
3. The general scarcity of priests in our Church as contrasted with other Catholic countries, oftentimes occasions many diffi- culties, which must be taken into account when explaining the above formula : for instance, the necessary expense and similar inconveniences which might not be compatible with the circum- stances of the relatives of the deceased.
4. The same formula occurs in the permission granted to England by rescript of 7th March, 1847. Now it is interpreted in England in its widest bearing; and even in religious houses, where we should suppose that a sufficient number of priests might easily be found, a low mass is said praesente cadavere, in accordance with this concession of the Holy See.
II. A much respected correspondent inquires " if an altar may be consecrated in a church which has not yet been consecrated".
We believe that an altar may be consecrated in a church which has not been consecrated. It has been done in the Basilica of St. Paul's at Rome.
40
POCUMEJSTTS.
CIRCULAR OF THE S. CONGREGATION OF THE COUNCIL TO THE BISHOPS.
Perillustris ac Rme. Domine,
Quum Sanctissimus Dominus Noster Pius PP. IX. in supremo Apostolici Ministerii fastigio Speculator a Deo datus sit domui Israel, ideo si ulla sese offerat opportuna occasio, qua veram populi Chris- tiani felicitatem promovere, vel mala eidem iam illata ac etiam tan- tummodo forsan impendentia agnoscere queat, earn nulla interposita mora arripit et amplectitur, ut providentiae et auctoritatis suae stu- dium impense collocet, aut aptiora remedia alacriter adhibeat.
Iam vero in hac tanta temporum rerumque acerbitate nonnisi sin- gulari Dei beneficio sibi datum iudicans, quod in proxima festiva celebritate centenariae memoriae de glorioso Sanctorum Apostolorurn Petri et Pauli martyrio, et canonizationis tot Christianae religionis heroum, amplissimam pulcherrimamque solio suo coronam faciant nedum S. R. E. Cardinales, sed etiam tot Rmi. Episcopi ex omnibus terrarum partibus profecti, periucunda eorumdem praesentia et opera sapienter sibi utendum statuit, mandavitque Episcopis in Urbe prae- sentibus quasdam proponi quaestiones circa graviora ecclesiasticae dis- ciplinae capita, ut de vero illorum statu certior factus, id suo tempore decernere valeat, quod in Domino expedire iudicaverit.
Quae sint huiusmodi disciplinae capita, super quibus ex mandate Sanctitatis Suae haec Sacra Concilii Congregatio ab Amplitudine Tua relationem et sententiam, quantum ad Tuam Dioecesim pertiriet, nunc exquirit, luculenter prostant in syllabo quaestionum quern hie adnectimus. Si quid vero aliud forte sit, quod abusum sapiat, aut gravem in urgenda sacrorum Canonum executione difficultatem in- volvat, Tibi exponere et declarare integrum erit : Apostolica namque Sedes, re mature perpensa, succurrere et providere, prout rerum ac temporum ratio postulaverit, procul dubio non remorabitur.
Ne autem ad hanc relationem cumulate perficiendam Domination! Tuae congrua temporis commoditas desit, trium vel quatuor, si opus fuerit, mensium spatium a die praesentium Literarum conceditur. Caeterum eamdem relationem mittendam curabis ad ipsam Sanctita- tem Suam, vel ad hanc S. Congregationem.
Interim impensa animi mei sensa ex corde profiteer Amplitudini Tuae, cui fausta quaeque ac salutaria adprecor a Domino. AmplituJinis Tuae.
Datum Romae ex S. C. Concilii die 6 Junii 1867.
Uti Prater P, CARD, CATEBINI PBAEF,
Documents. 41
Quaestiones quae ab Apostolica Sede Episcopis proponuntur.
1. Ultrum accurate serventur canonicae praescriptiones, quibus omnino interdicitur, quominus haeretici vel schismatici, in administra- tione Baptism!, patrini munere fungantur ?
2. Quanam forma et quibusnam cautelis probetur libertas status pro contrahendis matrimoniis : et utrum ipsimet Episcopo vel eius Curiae episcopali reservetur iudicium super status cuiusque contra- hentis libertate. Quidnam tandem hac super re denuo sancire expe- diret, prae oculis habita Instructione die 21 Augusti 1670 s. m. de- mentis X. auctoritate edita ?
3. Quaenam adhiberi possent remedia ad impedienda mala ex civili quod appellant matrimonio provenientia ?
4. Pluribus in locis, ubi haereses impune grassantur, mixta con- nubia ex Summi Pontificis dispensatione quandoque permittuntur, sub expressa tamen conditione de praemittendis necessariis oppor- tunisque cautionibus, iis praesertim quae naturali ac divino iure in hisce connubiis requiruntur. Minime dubitari fas est, quin locorum Ordinarii ab huiusmodi contrahendis nuptiis fideles avertant ac de- terreant, et tandem, si graves adsint rationes, in exequenda apostolica facultate dispensandi super mixtae religionis impedimento, oruni cura studioque advigilent, ut dictae conditiones, sicuti par est, in tuto ponantur. At enimvero postquam promissae fuerint, sanctene dili- genterque adimpleri solent, et quibusnam mediis posset praecaveri, ne quis a datis cautionibus servandis temere se subducat ?
5. Quomodo enitendum, ut in praedicatione verbi Dei sacrae con- ciones ea gravitate semper habeantur, ut ab omni vanitatis et novitatis spiritu praeserventur immunes, itemque omnis doctrinae ratio, quae traditur fidelibus, in verbo Dei reipsa contineatur, ideoque ex Scrip- tura et traditionibus, sicut decet, hauriatur ?
6. Dolendum summopere est, ut populares scholae quae patent omnibus cuiusque e populo classis pueris, ac publica universirn insti- tuta, quae litteris severioribusque disciplinis tradendis et education! iuventutis curandae sunt destinata, eximantur pluribus in locis ab Ecclesiae auctoritate moderatrice vi et influxu, plenaque civilis ac politicae auctoritatis arbitrio subiiciantur ad imperantium placita et ad communium aetatis opinionum amussim : quidnam itaque effici posset, quo congruum tanto malo remedium afferatur, et Christifideli- bus snppetat Catholicae instructionis et educationis adiumentum ?
7. Maxime interest, ut adolescentes clerici humanioribus litteris severioribusque disciplinis recte imbuantur. Quid igitur praescribi posset ad Cleri institutionem magis ac magis fovendam accommoda- tum, praesertim ut latinarum litterarum, rationalis philosophiae ab omni erroris periculo intaminatae, sanaequetheologiaeiurisquecanonici studium in seminariis potissimum dioecesanis floreat ?
8. Quibusnam mediis excitandi essent clerici, qui praesertim sacer- dotio sunt initiati, ut emenso scholarum curriculo, studiis theologicis et canonicis impensius vacare non desistant ? Praeterea quid statuen- dum efficiendumque, ut qui ad sacros ordines iam promoti, excellen- tiori ingeuio praediti, in decurrendis philosophiae ac theologiae stadiia
42 Documents.
praestantiores habiti sunt, possint in divinis sacrisque omnibus dis- ciplinis et nominatim in divinarum Scripturarum, sanctorum Patrum, ecclesiasticae historiae sacrique iuris scientia penitius excoli ?
9. luxta ea, quae a Concilio Tridentino c. 16, vers. 23 de reform. praescribuntur, quicumque ordinatur illi Ecclesia aut pio loco pro cuius necessitate aut utilitate assumitur adscribi debet, ubi suis fun- gatur muneribus nee incertis vagetur sedibus : quod si locum incon- sulto Episcopo deseruerit, ei sacrorum exercitium interdicitur. Hae praescriptiones nee plene neque ubique servantur. Quomodo ergo his praescriptionibus supplendum, et quid statui posset, ut clerici propriae dioecesi servitium, et suo Praesuli reverentiam et obedien- tiam continuo praestent ?
10. Plures prodierunt et in dies prodeunt congregationes et insti- tuta virorum et mulierum, qui votis simplicibus obstricti piis mune- ribus obeundis se addicunt. Expeditne ut potius congregationes ab Apostolica Sede probatae augeantur latius et crescant quam ut novae eumdem prope finem habentes constituantur et efformentur ?
11. Utrum sede episcopali ob mortem vel renunciationem vel translationem Episcopi vacante, Capitulum Ecclesiae cathedralis in Vicario capitulari eligendo plena libertate fruatur?
12. Quanam forma indicatur et fiat concursus, qui in provisione ecclesiarum parochialium peragi debet iuxta decretum Concilii Tri- dentini sess. 24, de reform, c. 18, et Constitutionem sa.me. Bene- dict! XIV. quae die 14 Decembris 1742 data incipit Cum illud.
13. Utrum et quomodo expediret numerum caussarum augere, quibus parochi ecclesiis suis iure privari possunt : nee non et proce- dendi formam laxius praestituere, qua ad huiusmodi privationes faci- lius, salva iustitia, possit deveniri ?
14. Quomodo executioni traditur quod de suspensionibus ex infor- mata conscientia vulgo dictis decernitur a Concilio Tridentino c. 1, sess. 14 de reformat. Et circa huius decreti sensum et applicationem estne aliquid animadvertendum ?
15. Quonam modo Episcopi iudiciariam qua pollent potestatem in cognoscendis caussis ecclesiasticis, potissimum matrimonialibus, exer- ceant, et quanam procedendi atque appellationes interponendi methodo utantur ?
16. Quaenam mala proveniant ex domestico famulatu, quern fami- liis Catholicis praestant personae vel sectis proscriptis vel haeresi addictae vel etiam non baptizatae : et quodnam hisce malis posset opportune remedium afferri ?
17. Quidnam circa sacra coemeteria adnotandum sit : quinam hac de re abusus irrepserint et quomodo tolli possent ?
ii.
ALLOCUTION DELIVERED BY PIUS IX. 20xn SEPTEMBER. Venerabiles Fratree,
Universus catholicus orbis noscit, Venerabiles Fratres, maxima damna, grayissimasque injurias Catholicae Ecclesiae, Nobis, et huic
Docwnents. 43
Apostolicae Sedi, Episcopis, Sacrisque Administris, Religiosis utri- usque sexus Familiis, aliisque piis Institutis a Subalpiuo Gubernio pluribus abhinc annis illatas, omnibus divinis humanisque juribus conculcatis, et ecclesiasticis poenis, ac censuris plane despectis, que- madmodum saepe lamentari, et reprobare coacti fuimus. Idem vero Gubernium quotidie magis vexans Ecclesiam, eamque opprimere con- tendens post alias editas leges ipsi, ej usque auctoritati adversas, et iccirco a Nobis damnatas, eo injustitiae devenit, ut minime exhor- ruerit legem proponere, approbare, sancire, et promulgare, quae in suis, et usurpatis regionibus temerario, ac sacrilego prorsus ausu Ecclesiam propriis omnibus bonis cum ingenti ipsius quoque civilis societatis damno spoliavit, sibique vindicavit, et eadem bona ven- denda constituit. Omnes profecto vident quam injusta, et quam immanis sit haec lex, qua et inviolabile possidendi jus, quo Ecclesia ex divina sua instutione pollet, oppugnatur, et omnia naturalia divina et humana jura proculcantur, omnes utriusque Cleri viri de re catho- lica, et humana societate optime meriti, et Virgines Deo sacrae ad ad tristissimam egestatem, ac mendicitatem rediguntur.
In tanta igitur Ecclesiae ruina, omniumque jurium eversione Nos, qui ipsius Ecclesiae, et justitiae causam pro supremi Apostolici Nostri ministerii officio studiosissime tueri, defendere et vindicare debemus, nullo certe modo silere possumus. Itaque in hoc amplissimo vestro eonventu Nostram extollimus vocem, et commemoratam legem auc- toritate Nostra Apostolica reprobamus, damnamus, eamque omnino irritam, et nullam declaramus. Ipsius autem legis auctores, et fau- tores sciant se misere incidisse in ecclesiasticas poenas, et censuras, quas Sacri Canones, Apostolicae Constitutiones, et Generalium Con- ciliorum Decreta ipso facto incurrendas infligunt contra Ecclesiae, ejusque jurium, ac bonorum usurpatores, et invasores. Paveant insuper et contremiscant hi acerrimi Ecclesiae hostes, ac pro certo habeant, gravissimas, severissimasque eis a Deo Ecclesiae sanctae auctore et vindice poenas parari, nisi vere poenitentes redierint ad cor, et illata eidem Ecclesia damna resarcire, ac reparare studuerint, quemadmodum Nos vel maxime optamus, et a iniserationum Domino humiliter enixeque exposcimus.
Hac autem occasione sciatis velimus, Venerabiles Fratres, men- dacem quemdam libellum gallice scriptum et Parisiis recens editum fuisse, quo cum summa perfidia, et impudentia in lectoris animum dubia insinuantur, ut luctuosissimae rerum in Mexico vicissitudines huic Apostolicae Sedi aliquo modo attribuendae sint. Quod quidem quam falsum, quam absurdum sit, omnes certe noscunt, atque id luce clarius apparet, inter alia documenta, ex epistola Nobis die XVIII superioris mensis Junii ab infelicissimo Maximiliano in carcere scripta, antequam indignam et crudelem mortem obiret.
Hanc ipsam vero nacti opportunitatem continere non possumus, quin meritas, amplissimasque laudes tribuamus clarissimae memoriae Ludovico Altieri, Sanctae Eomanae Ecclesiae Cardinali, et Albani Episcopo. Ipse enim, ut optime nostis, summo loco natus claris vir- tutibus ornatus, gravissimisque muneribus perfunctus, Nobisque
44 Notices of Books.
cams, ubi primum accepit horrificum cholerae morbum Albanum grassari, sui omnino immemor et caritatis aestu in commissum sibi gregem flagrans, illuc statim advolavit. Ac nullis iaboribus, nullis consiliis, nullisque incommodis, et periculis parcens, dies noctesque sine mora et requie miseros infirmos, et moribundos spiritualibus qui- busque praesidiis, et omni alia ope suis propriis manibus juvare refi- cere ac solari nunquam cessavit, donee horribili morbo correptus, veluti bonus pastor dedit aniraam suam pro ovibus suis. Equidem illius memoria in Ecclesiae fastis semper in benedictione erit quando- quidem christianae caritatis victima fortunatam obiit mortem, et maximam ac nunquam interituram gloriam sibi, Ecclesiae ac nobilis- simo vestro, omniumque catholicorum Antistitum Ordini comparavit. Nos quidem etiamsi gravi moerore affecti fuerimus, vix dum ejusdem Cardiualis obitum audivimus, tamen magna consolatione sustentamur, quod certam spem habemus, illius animam ad coelestem patriam per- venisse, ibique in Domino exultare, ac fervidas Deo pro Nobis, Vobis- que, et universa Ecclesia preces offere. Debitam quoque laudem tribuimus utrique Albani Clero, qui illustria sui Antistitis vestigia sequens cum ipsius vitae discrimine omnem, religiosam praesertim, operam aegrotantibus, morientibusque sedulo narare non destitit. Omnibus etiam praeconiis digni sunt Nostri milites ibi morantes turn a publica securitate servanda, vulgo Gendarmi, turn qui Zuavi appel- lantur ; nam vitae periculo plane spreto, in defunctorum potissimum humandis corporibus praeclarum christianae caritatis praebuerunt exemplum.
Denique, Venerabiles Fratres, ne desistamus levare animas nostras ad Dominum Deum Nostrum, qui est multae miericordiae omnibus invocantibus eum et Ipsum jugiter oremus, et obsecremus, ut strerme Vobiscum stantes in praelio, atque opponentes murum pro domo Israel, Ecclesiae suae sanctae causam viriliter propugnare, et omnes Ecclesiae inimicos ad justitiae, salutisque semitas reducere possimus.
NOTICES OE BOOKS.
The MacG-illicuddy Papers, etc., by W. Maziere Brady, D.D. London: Longman, 18 57.
This work contains extracts from the family papers of the MacGillicuddy, and affords a valuable and trustworthy illustra- tion of the means by which family estates were preserved despite the persecution of Elizabeth and the confiscations of succeeding reigns. In 1718 the heir to that graat name signed the renun- ciation of the faith of his fathers : he thus improved his temporal estate, but lost all claim to the consideration and esteem of thig Catholic nation.
Notices of Books. 45
n.
Familiar Discourses to the Young, etc., by a Catholic Priest,
Duffy, 1867.
We heartily commend this volume to our readers. The ex- hortations which it contains embrace the chief points of instruc- tion which are needed by the young of every grade. Parents as well as children — those who are advanced in years, as well as the young who are beginning life's battle, will find much to edify and instruct them. The volume displays throughout a depth of piety and learning seldom to be met with under such an unpretending title.
in.
The Life and Letters of Florence Mac Carthy Reagh, etc., by Daniel Mac Carthy. London: Longmans, 1867.
Mr. Mac Carthy in this work has rendered good service to our national history. Though he merely claims to present to us the life of an individual, he gives in reality the history of Ireland at a period of thrilling interest. Florence Mac Carthy, tanist of Carbery, was one of the chief opponents of Elizabethan rule in Ireland, and was one of those most feared by the English agents in this country towards the close of her reign. Hitherto his his- tory was scarcely known to us except through the pages of the Hibernia Pacata; and even in this prejudiced narrative of an open enemy, Florence Mac Carthy was found to display unusual abilities, and a military genius of the highest order. The pre- sent life is derived from the original State Papers and other authentic sources. It presents in detail the chief events of the war in Munster towards the close of Elizabeth's reign, and un- folds to us in the fullest light, that dauntless courage and con- summate skill which gave the stamp of heroism to the character of this Irish chieftain, and proves him to have been justly beloved by the people whilst he was the terror of the enemies of Ireland. The whole volume is an exhaustless mine of thrilling incidents and important details connected with the history of Ireland in Elizabeth's reign.
IV.
Evangelia Dominicarum et Festorum totius anni, homiliticis ex- plicationibus secundum mentem SS. Patrum et Catholioorum interpretum illustrata, opera Francisci Xaverii Schouppe, S. J. Bruxellis, torn. i. ii. pp. 501, 494.
This is one of the many useful compilations for which the clergy have reason to be grateful to F. Schouppe. It is intended as a companion book to the A djumenta Oratoris Sacri, of which
46 Notices of Books.
we gave some account to our readers last year. It does not con- tain set discourses methodically arranged, but rather gives a full exposition of the text, in order that the preacher may, by his own labour, construct therefrom his sermons for the people.
The sources whence the explanation is derived are the works of the Holy Fathers, and of approved Catholic commentators, such as Toletus, Maldonatus, Lucas Brugeusis, A Lapide, Patrizi, etc. The moral or tropological sense is generally drawn from the meditations of Lud. de Ponte. Each Gospel has annexed to it a double explanation, the first according to the literal sense, the second according to the mystic and accommo- dated senses.
An Introduction on the various senses of Scripture, a summary of the Gospel History, and an interesting table of the distances of the various places visited by our Lord in His journeyings on earth, contribute to make this excellent work still more complete and useful.
v.
Romanus Pontifex, tanquam Primas Ecclesiae et Princeps civilis e monumentis Omnium Seculorum demonstratur, addita amplis- sima litleratura, auctore, Augustino de Roskovany Episcopo Nitriensi: Nitriae, 1867. 5 vols.
This valuable collection of documents from the Scripture, the Fathers, the letters and decrees of the Popes, declarations of coun- cils, bishops, and sovereigns, supplies the student with the ground- work of the entire treatise De Romano Pontifice. The literature, or list of books on the subject, in each age, which is subjoined, renders it easy to appreciate the relative value of each of the documents themselves. Vol. i., contains the documents and literature of the first fifteen centuries regarding the primacy; vol. ii., those of the sixteenth and seventeenth ; vol. iii., of the eighteenth ; vol. iv., of the nineteenth, down to 1865 ; and vol. v., those concerning the temporal power from the fourth century to the year 1865 of the nineteenth.
VI.
The Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern, by the Rev. A.
Cogan, vol. ii. Dublin, 1867.
We congratulate the Rev. Mr. Cogan on having brought to a happy conclusion the second volume of his History of the Diocese of Meath. No one seems better suited than the author to achieve the great work which he proposed to himself. With untiring industry he examined every record connected with his subject: continual references to communications received from others, show that he spared no trouble to seek at the hands of
Notices of Books. 47
others particular items which their researches might have gleaned : he consulted the local clergy and the aged parishioners of each district: he visited the crosses, the holy wells, the ruined churches, the places of refuge hallowed by sacred traditions, the secluded spots where the Holy Sacrifice was offered up by stealth in the days of persecution ; and in a lively style presents to us the results of his investigations.
He resumes the history of the bishops of Meath with Dr. William Walsh, who being appointed in 1554, braved the fury of Elizabethan bigotry, and in penalty was deprived of the tem- poralities of his see. For some years after his demise the adminis- tration of the diocese was entrusted to the care of vicars general till the consec. ation of Dr. Thomas Dease, on the 14th of May, 1622. As early as 1611 he had been summoned to that dignity by Rome, but declined to accept it. He regarded, however, the second summons to it as a command, and courageously entered on the perilous duties imposed on him. Many interesting facts connected with him are given to us by Father Cogan, but there are some features of his public career which, we think, might be placed in a clearer light. The lives of the succeeding bishops, An- thony Mac Geoghegan, Patrick Plunket, James Cusack, Patrick Tyrrell, etc., are all treated with a master's hand ; but by far the most valuable contribution to our ecclesiastical history contained in the present volume are the original papers now published for the first time, connected with the episcopate of Dr. Patrick Joseph Plunket, a name still familiar to the more aged of our clergy. Our limits will not allow us for the present to enter into further details, but we trust we have said enough to awaken the interest of our readers, and we sincerely hope that the learned author will soon favour us with the third volume of his valuable work.
VII.
When does the Church speak infallibly ? or the Nature and Scope of the Church's Teaching Office, by Thomas Francis Knox, of the Oratory. London: Burns, Oates, and Co., 1867, pp. 92.
In the brief preface prefixed to this book, the reverend author modestly disclaims for it all pretensions to be a theological and scientific treatise. And yet, we believe that it will be highly esteemed by those who value theology, and by all who are trained to scientific method. The work is addressed to Catholics who as such believe in an infallible Church. Taking the infallibility of the Church as the starting point, it addresses itself to various questions concerning the subject, the object-matter of infallibility, and concerning the way in which the Church teaches. These questions are as follows :
48 Notices of Books.
1. What is the subjept of the Church's infallibility as teacher —i.e., in what person or persons does her gift of teaching with infallibility reside ?
2. What is the object-matter of her infallibility — i.e., what precisely is the sphere within which she teaches infallibly ?
3. In what way does she exercise her office as teacher ?
4. What are the nature and character of her doctrinal con- demnations?
5. What obligation does her teaching lay upon the faithful ?
In replying to these questions the author displays much judg- ment and learning. Under the second question he considers as objects of infallibility — 1, truths explicitly or implicitly contained in the original revelation ; 2, general principles of morality, if any, not contained in the deposit ; 3, dogmatic and moral facts under which come — a. the meaning of books in relation to faith ; b. canonization of saints ; c. general ecclesiastical discipline and worship; d. approbation of religious orders; e. condemnation of secret and other societies, education, particular moral facts ; 4, political truths and principles; 5, theological conclusions; 6, philosophy and natural sciences.
In conclusion the author offers a few brief remarks on the prac- tical bearing of the subject of which he has been treating. As a convenient mode of doing this he chooses the form of answers to objections which may suggest themselves against the doctrine he has set forth. We make room for one of these remarks :
4< First, then, it may be said, that to oblige Catholics under pain of mortal sin to submit their intellect to the Church's teaching on a variety of matters philosophical, political, scientific, and the like, which are only remotely connected with faith and morals, is to lay upon them an intolerable burden, such as will crush out all activity of mind, and be a perpetual hamper to them in all scientific re- searches.— To this objection it may be answered, that it really begs the question ; for all its force comes from the implied assumption that the Church is not infallible in such matters. If she is infallible, as she claims by her acts to be, what she teaches concerning these things is absolute truth. And no addition to our stock of truth, whenceso- ever it comes, and on whatever grounds it rests, can justly be regarded as an intellectual burden. On the contrary, it is an intellectual benefit, as tending to clear our views, to save us from possible errors, and to advance us in the pursuit of truth. The difficulty is at bottom pre- cisely the same as that which non-Catholics feel about the Church's teaching in matters of faith. To them it seems a tyranny in her to oblige reasonable beings to believe dogmas which do not rest for their evidence on natural reason".
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD,
NOVEMBER, 1867.
GEOLOGY AND REVELATION.
NO. Y.
" READER, you are beginning to suspect us. ' How long do we purpose to detain people ?' For anything that appears we may
be designing to write on to the twentieth century ' And
whither are we going?' Towards what object? which is as urgent a quaere as how far. Perhaps we may be leading you
into treason You feel symptoms of doubt and restiveness ;
and like Hamlet with his father's ghost, you will follow us no further unless we explain what it is that we are in quest of".
These words of Thomas De Quincey to his readers in the middle of one of his discursive essays, which, interesting as they certainly are in all their parts, yet sometimes beget a feeling of weariness from the uncomfortable apprehension that they will never come to an end, are, perhaps, scarcely less appropriate in our own case. It may be that our readers have been left too long in the uneasy state of suspense and hope deferred. They came to our pages to look for a practical solution of the question, Is Geology at variance with the Bible ? and what avails it, they may ask, to discourse to them of the Gulf Stream, and Rivers, and Glaciers, and Alluvial Plains, and Coral Rocks, and Coal Mines? Month after month they have been following us with painful steps through tedious disquisitions, straining their eyes to see the end, but the end is not yet in sight. Well, then, if they will rest for a few minutes by the way, we will pause, too, and tell them what we are about, and try to bring more clearly before their minds the object at which we are aiming.
VOL. IY. 4
50 Geology and Revelation.
Our design from the beginning was to consider the points of contact between Geology and Revelation ; to examine the rela- tions that exist between these two departments of knowledge, — one resting upon reason and observation, the other given to us from Heaven ; and to inquire how far it may be possible to adopt the conclusions of the former, while we adhere, at the same time, with unswerving fidelity, to the unchangeable truths of the latter. With this end in view, we proceeded at once to sketch out the more prominent features of Geological theory ; not the particular theory of one writer, or of one school, but that more general theory which is adopted by all writers, and prevails in every school. This theory, we were well aware, is in many points widely at variance with the common notions of sensible and even well-informed men who have not devoted much attention to the study of Physical science. And it occurred to us that, possibly, many of our readers might be disposed to cut the controversy short, by rejecting in a summary way the whole system of Geo- logy, and treating it as an empty shadow or an idle dream. This, we were convinced, would be a mistaken and a mischiev- ous course. Geology is not a house of cards that it may be blown down by a breath. It is a hypothesis, a theory, if you will: but we cannot in fairness deny that behind this theory there are facts, — unexpected, startling, significant facts; that these facts, when considered in their relations to one another, and when illustrated by the present phenomena of Nature, and when skilfully grouped together, as they have been, by able men, disclose certain general truths, and suggest certain arguments, which do seem to point in the direction of those conclusions at which Geologists have arrived.
If, therefore, we would investigate fairly the claims of Geology, we must first learn to appreciate the significance of these facts, and to estimate the value of these arguments. Now this is pre- cisely what we have been trying to do. We are not writing a treatise on Geology. Certainly not : it would be a presumption in us, with our scanty knowledge, to attempt it. Besides, Geology has its own professors, and its lecture halls, and its manuals. Neither do we mean to assume the character of the advocates or champions of Geology. It does not ask our services ; in its cause are enrolled the most illustrious names which for the last fifty years have adorned the annals of Physical Science. Nay, we do not even want to insist upon that more general theory of Geology which we are endeavouring to explain and to illustrate. We propose only to collect from various sources, and to string together the evidence that may be adduced in its favour ; that so, when we come hereafter to consider this theory in its relation with the History of the Bible, we may not incur
Reasoning of Geologists. 51
the risk of discomfiture by denying that which has been proved by facts, but rather approach the subject with such knowledge as may help us to discover the real harmony, that we know must exist between the truths inscribed on the works of God, and those which are recorded in His Written Word.
In the accomplishment of this task we have devoted ourselves chiefly to the study of the Aqueous or Stratified Rocks. Ac- cording to Geologists, these rocks, such as we find them now, were not the immediate work of creation, but were slowly pro- duced in the lon^ lapse of ages, and laid out one above another, by a vast and complex machinery of secondary causes. The elements of which they are composed were gathered together from many and various sources; sometimes from the ocean, sometimes from the air, sometimes from other pre-existing rocks ; and, for aught we know, may have had a long and eventful his- tory before they came to assume their present structure and arrangement. Thus, for example, the Conglomerates, and Sand- stones, with which we are so familiar, are made up of broken fragments derived from earlier rocks, and then transported to distant sites by the mountain torrents, or the stately rivers of vast continents, or the silent currents of the sea ; the Limestone with which we build our houses is the work of living animals that once swarmed in countless myriads beneath the waters of the ocean ; and the Coal which supplies the motive power to our manufactories, our railways, our ships of war and commerce, is but the modern representative of ancient swamps and forests, which, having been buried in the earth, and there, by the action of chemical laws, endowed with new properties, were laid by for the future use of man in the great storehouse of Nature.
This mode of accounting for the origin and formation of Stra- tified Rocks constitutes in a manner the framework that supports and binds together the whole system of Geology. If it be once fairly established, Geology is entitled to take high rank as a Physical Science. If on the contrary it should prove to be with- out foundation, then Geology is no longer a science, but a dream. Moreover, it is this theory of stratification which, from the first, has brought Geology into contact with Revelation. For Geologists have been led to infer the extreme Antiquity of the Earth, from the immense thickness of the Stratified Rocks on the one hand, and, on the other, the very slow and gradual process by which each stratum in the series has been in its turn, spread out and con- solidated. Those likewise who claim for the Human Race a greater Antiquity than the Bible allows, seek for their proofs in the sup- posed origin and antiquity of those surperficial deposits, in which the remains of Man or his works are sometimes found entombed.
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the theory of
4s
52 Geology and Revelation.
Stratified Rocks should engage the largest share of our attention when we undertake to discuss the relations of Geology to Re- vealed Religion. For the present we say nothing about the conclusions that flow from this theory, or the errors to which it has led when hastily or ignorantly applied : we are only investi- gating the evidence by which it is supported. In our former papers we have drawn out at some length the line of reasoning which is derived from the character of the Aqueous Rocks themselves, when considered in the light of Nature's present operations. We have shown that Stratified Rocks of many different kinds, just such as those which compose the Crust of the Earth, have been pro- duced by natural causes within historic times ; and we have ex- plained some of the more simple and intelligible parts of that complex machinery, which, even now, is busily at work gather- ing, sorting, distributing, piling up together, and consolidating the materials of new strata all over the world. These considera- tions, we took occasion to point out, beget a strong presumption in favour of the Geological theory. Here we have Nature at work, actually bringing into existence a stratum of rock before our eyes. And there, in the Crust of the Earth, we find another stratum of precisely the same kind already finished. What can be more reasonable than to ascribe the one to the action of the same causes which we see at work upon the other? And thus, by extending the area of our observations from one class of Aqueous Rocks to another, the idea gradually grows upon us that these rocks have been spread out, stratum upon stratum, during many successive ages, by the agency of secondary causes similar to those which are still in operation ; and that each stra- tum, in its turn, as it first came into existence, was for a time the uppermost of the series.
We are now about to consider a new and independent testi- mony in favour of this conclusion. It is the testimony of Fossil Remains. On this branch of our subject we do not mean to offer .much in the way of argument strictly so called.- We shall con- .tent ourselves with a simple statement of facts, and leave them to produce their own impression. It will be necessary at the out- set to explain some technical matters, that what we have to say hereafter may be the better understood : and if in this we are somewhat dry and tiresome, we will try to make amends by the curious and interesting story of Nature's long buried works, which we hope in the sequel to unfold.
When the word Fossil was first introduced into the English language, it was employed to designate, as the etymology sug- gests, whatever is dug out of the earth.1 But it is now generally 1 From the Latin Fossilis, dug up, homfodio, to dig.
Reasoning of Geologists. 53
used in a much more restricted sense, being applied only to the remains of plants and animals imbedded in the Crust of the Earth and there preserved by natural causes. When we speak of remains, we must be understood to include even those seemingly transient impressions, such as foot-prints in the sand, which having been made permanent by accidental circumstances, and thus engraved, as it were, on the archives of Nature, now bear witness to the former existence of organic life.
Now in every part of the world where the Stratified Rocks have been laid open to view, remains of this kind are found scat- tered on all sides in the most profuse abundance. In Europe, in America, in Australia, in the frozen wastes of Siberia, in the countless islands scattered over the waters of the Pacific, there is scarcely a single formation, from the lowest in the series to the highest, that, when it is fairly explored, does not yield up vast stores of shells, together with bones and teeth, and sometimes whole skeletons of animals, and fragments of wood, and impres- sions of leaves, and other organic substances.
These Fossil Remains do not always occur in the same state of preservation. Sometimes we have the bone, or plant, or shell, in its natural condition; still retaining not only its own peculiar form and structure, but likewise the very same organic substance of which it was originally composed. Examples innu- merable may be seen in the British Museum, or, indeed, in almost any Geological collection: the noble skeleton of an ancient Irish Elk, which stands erect in the Museum of Irish Industry, and of which all the bones are perfectly preserved, must be familiar to many of our readers.
It happens, however, more frequently that the organic sub- stance itself has disappeared, but has left an impression on the rock, that now bears witness to its former presence. Thus, for instance, when a shell has been dissolved and carried away by water percolating the rock, it has very often left after it, on the hard stone, a mould of its outer surface and a cast of its inner surface, with a cavity between corresponding to the thickness of the shell. In such cases we have the form, the size, and the superficial markings of the organic body, but we have no part of its original substance, and no traces of its internal structure. This form of fossilization, as Sir Charles Lyell has well put it, " may be easily understood if we examine the mud recently thrown out from a pond or canal in which there are shells. If the mud be argillaceous, it acquires consistency in drying, and on breaking open a portion of it, we find that each shell has left impressions of its external form. If we then remove the shell itself we find within a solid nucleus of clay, having the form of the interior of the shell".1 In many cases the space first occu- 1 Elements of Geology, p. 38.
54 Geology and Revelation.
pied by the shell is not left empty when the shell has been removed, but is filled up with a calcareous, or siliceous, or some other mineral substance. The mineral thus introduced becomes the exact counterpart of the organic body which has disappeared ; and has been justly compared to a bronze statue, which exhibits the exterior form and lineaments, but not the internal organiza- tion nor the substance of the object it represents.
There is a third form, more wonderful still, in which Fossil Remains are not uncommonly found. The original body has passed away as in the former case, and yet not only does its out- ward form remain, but even its internal texture is perfectly pre- served in the solid stone which has taken its place. This kind of change is exhibited most remarkably in the vegetable king- dom. Fossil trees of great size are formed, of which the whole substance has been changed from wood to stone; yet so, that the minute cells and fibres, and the rings of annual growth, may still be clearly traced ; nay, even those delicate spiral vessels which, from their extreme minuteness, can be discerned only by the aid of the microscope.1 Thus the tree remains complete in all its parts ; but it is no longer a tree of wood ; it is, so to speak, a tree of stone.
The mystery of this extraordinary transformation has not yet been fully cleared up by scientific men ; but the general princi- ple, at least, is sufficiently understood. It is thus briefly ex- plained by Sir Charles Lyell: "If an organic substance is exposed in the open air to the action of the sun and rain, it will in time putrefy, or be dissolved into its component elements, consisting usually of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon. These will readily be absorbed by the atmosphere or be washed away by rain, so that all vestiges of the dead animal or plant disappear. But if the same substances be submerged in water, they decompose more gradually, and if buried in the earth, still more slowly, as in the iamiliar example of wooden piles or other buried timber. Now, if as fast as each particle is set free by putrefaction in a fluid or gaseous state, a particle equally minute of carbonate of lime, flint, or other mineral is at hand and ready to be precipitated, we may imagine this inorganic matter to take the place just before left unoccupied by the organic molecule. In this manner a cast of the interior of certain vessels may first be taken, and afterwards the more solid walls of the same may decay and suffer a like transmutation".2 This exposition, so simple and luminous in itself, may, perhaps, be rendered still more intelligible to the general reader by an ingenious illustra- tion of Mr. Jukes. " It is", he says, " as if a house were gra- dually rebuilt, brick by brick, or stone by stone, a brick or a
J Lyell, Elements of Geology, p. 39. 2 Id., ib., p. 40.
Reasoning of Geologists. 55
stone of a different kind having been substituted for each of the former ones, the shape and size of the house, the forms and arrangements of its rooms, passages, and closets, and even the number and shape of the bricks and stones, remaining un- altered".1
This singular kind of petrifaction, by which not only the ex- ternal form, but even the organic tissue itself, is converted into stone, has been illustrated, in a very interesting way by Profes* sor Goppert of Breslau. With a view to imitate as nearly as he could the process of Nature, " he steeped a variety of animal and vegetable substances in waters, some holding siliceous, others calcareous, others metallic matter in solution. He found that in the period of a few weeks, or even days, the organic bodies thus immersed were mineralized to a certain extent. Thus, for ex- ample, thin vertical slices of deal, taken from the Scotch fir, were immersed in a moderately strong solution of sulphate of iron. When they had been thoroughly soaked in the liquid for several days, they were dried and exposed to a red heat until the vegetable matter was burnt up and nothing remained but an oxide of iron, which was found to have taken the form of the deal so exactly that casts even of the dotted vessels peculiar to this family of plants, were distinctly visible under the micros- cope".2
If we have succeeded in making ourselves understood, the reader will now have a pretty accurate notion of what is meant, in modern Geology, by Fossil Remains. They are the remains or impressions of plants and animals, buried in the earth by natural causes, and preserved to our time in any one of the three forms we have just described. Either the body itself remains, still retaining its own natural substance, together with its exter- nal form and its internal structure ; or secondly, the organic sub- stance and the organic structure have both disappeared, but the outward form and the superficial markings have been left im- pressed on the solid rock ; or thirdly, the substance of the body has been converted into stone, but with such a delicate art and with such exquisite skill, that it is in all respects, outwardly and inwardly, still the same body with a new substance. We should observe, however, that these three different forms of fossilization, which we have successively described, are not always clearly dis- tinct in the actual fossil specimens, but are often curiously blended together according as the original organic substance has been more or less completely displaced, or the process of petri- faction has been more or less perfectly accomplished.
1 Jukes, Manual of Geology, p. 375. 8 Lyell, Elements oj Geology, pp. 40-41.
56 Geology and Revelation.
It will probably have occurred to the intelligent reader that we have already had some insight into the Fossil world, when investigating the origin of Organic Rocks. We have seen, for instance, that Coal is the representative to our age of swamps and forests that once covered the earth with vegetation ; that Moun tain Limestone is chiefly formed from the skeletons of reef-build- ing corals; and that the great Chalk strata of Europe are almost entirely derived from the remains of marine shells. But we must observe that these and such like rocks, while they afford us much valuable information about the ancient organic condition of our planet, are not, strictly speaking, Fossil Re- mains. For, not only has the substance of the organic bodies they represent entirely passed away, but the internal structure has been in great part effaced, and even the outward forms and superficial markings have disappeared. They contain, it is true, great multitudes of Fossils : in the Coal, for example, are found, as we have seen, trunks of trees, together with the impressions of plants and leaves; in the Chalk and Mountain Limestone, fragments of shells and corals are often discovered in a state of perfect preservation : but the great bulk of these formations is made up not so much of Fossil Remains, as of that into which Fossil Remains have been converted ; Coal, for instance, is some- thing more than Fossil wood; Chalk, and Limestone, and Marble, are something more than Fossil shells and corals.
He who would impress upon his mind a vivid and accurate idea of the nature and variety of Fossil Remains, must not be content with any mere verbal description, but try to gather his impressions from actual observation. Let him go, for instance, to the British Museum, and walk slowly through the long suite of noble galleries which are exclusively devoted to this branch of science. He will feel as if transported into another world, the reality of which he could scarcely have believed if he had not seen it with his own eyes. Before him, and behind him, and on each side of him, as he moves along, are spread out in long array forms of beasts, and birds, and fish, and amphibious animals, such as he has never seen before, nor dreamt of in his wildest dreams. Yet much as he may wonder at these strange figures, he never for a moment doubts that they were once indued with life, and moved over the surface of the earth, or disported in the waters of the deep. Nay more, though the forms are new to him, he will be at no loss, however inexperienced in Natural History, to find many analogies between the creation in the midst of which he stands and that with which he has been hitherto familiar. There are quadrupeds, and bipeds, and rep- tiles. Some of the animals were manifestly designed to walk on dry land, some to swim in the sea, and some to fly in the
Reasoning of Geologists. 57
air. Some are armed with claws like the lion or the tiger, others have the paddles of a turtle, and others again have the iins of a fish. Here is an enormous beast that might almost pass for an elephant, though an experienced eye will not fail to detect an important difference ; and there is an amphibious mon- ster that suggests the idea of a crocodile; and again a little further is an unsightly creature which unites the general charac- teristics of the diminutive sloth with the colossal proportions of the largest rhinoceros.
If left to mere conjecture, the visitor would perhaps suppose that these uneouth monsters had been brought together by some adventurous traveller from the remote regions of the world. But no: he will find on inquiry that the vast majority belong to species which for centuries have not been known to flourish on the Earth ; and that many of the strangest forms before him have been dug up almost from beneath the very soil on which he stands, — from the quarries of Surrey, of Sussex, and of Kent, and from the deep cuttings on the many lines of railway that diverge from the great metropolis of London. The life they represent so vividly is, indeed, widely different from that which flourishes around us ; but it is the life not so much of a far dis- tant country, as the life of a far distant age.
It must not be supposed, however, that such skeletons as those which first arrest the eye in the galleries of the British Museum — so colossal in their proportions and so complete in all their details — fairly exhibit the general character of Fossil Remains. Perfect skeletons of gigantic animals are rarely to be found. They are the exception and not the general rule, — the magnifi- cent reward of long and toilsome exploration, or. it may bo, the chance discovery that brings wealth to the humble home of some rustic labourer. Very different are the common every day discoveries of the working Geologist. Disjointed bones and skulls, and scattered teeth, and fragments of shells, and the eggs of birds, and the impressions of leaves, — these are the ordinary relics that Nature has stored up for our instruction in the various strata of the Earth's Crust : and these likewise constitute by far the greater part of the treasures which are gathered together in our Geological Museums.
We will, suppose, then, that the visitor has gratified his sense of wonder in gazing at the larger and more striking forms, few in number, that rise up prominently before him, and seem to stare at him in return from their hollow sockets : he must next turn his attention to the cases that stand against the walls, and to the cabinets that stretch along the galleries in distant perspec- tive. Let him survey that multitude of bones of every shape and size, and those countless legions of shell?, and then try to
58 Geology and Revelation.
realise to his mind what a profusion and variety of animal life are here represented. And yet he must remember that this is but a single collection. There are thousands of others, public and private, scattered over England, and France, and Germany, and Italy, and, beyond the Atlantic, on the continent of America, and even in Australia ; all of which have been furnished from a few isolated spots, — scarcely more than specks on the surface of the Globe, — where the depths of the Earth have chanced to be laid open to the explorations of the Geologist.
Lastly, before he leaves this splendid gallery, let him take a passing glance at the Organic Remains of the vegetable world. There is no mistaking the forms here presented to his view. He will recognize at once the massive and lofty trunks of forest trees with their spreading branches ; the tender foliage of the lesser plants ; and, in particular, the graceful fern, which cannot fail to attract his eye by its unrivalled luxuriance. But if the forms are familiar, how stronge is the substance, of this ancient vegetation ! The forest tree has been turned into sandstone ; many of the plants are of the hardest flint ; and the rich green of the fern has given place to the jet black colour of coal. Let him take a magnifying glass and scrutinize the internal structure of these mineralized remains; for the more closely they are examined the more wonderful they are. He can observe with- out difficulty their minute cells and fibres, the exact counterpart of those which may be seen in the plants that are now growing upon the earth ; he may detect the little seed-vessels on the under surface of the coaly fern ; nay, if he get a polished transverse sec- tion of the sandstone tree, he may count the rings that mark its annual growth, and tell the age to which it attained in its prime- val forest.
From the galleries of the Museum we must now descend into the subterranean recesses of the mine and the quarry. For it is not enough to be familiar with the appearance of Fossil Remains, as they are laid out for show by human hands: we must see them also as they lie imbedded in the successive strata of the Earth's Crust, which are the shelves of Nature's cabinet. We shall begin with the celebrated quarries of Monte Bolca, in Northern Italy, not far from Verona. The hill on which these quarries are situated is described as being " composed of argil- laceous and calcareous strata, with beds of a cream-coloured fissile limestone, which readily separates into laminae of moderate thickness".1 Now in this hard limestone rock the entire skele- tons of many different species of fish are found imbedded in pro- fuse abundance, and in perfect preservation. They lie parallel 1 Mantell, Wonders of Geology, p. 269.
to the 1
Reasoning of Geologists. 59
to the layers of the rock, and are sometimes so closely packed together that many individuals are contained in a single block.1 The quarries have been worked only by students of Natural History for the sake of the Organic remains, and are, there- fore, of very limited extent; yet so abundant are these fossil treasures that upwards of a hundred different species have been discovered, and thousands of specimens have been dispersed over the cabinets of Europe.2 From these facts Geologists have been led to conclude ; — that the strata in question were deposited on the bed of an ancient sea in which these fishes swam; that the waters of the sea were suddenly rendered noxious, pro- bably by the eruption of volcanic matter ; that the fishes in con- sequence perished in large numbers, and were then almost im- mediately imbedded in the calcareous deposits of which the strata are composed.
These views receive no small confirmation from a very remarkable phenomenon to which we may be allowed, in pass- ing, to call attention. In the year 1831 a volcanic island was suddenly thrown up in the Mediterranean between Sicily and the African coast ; and the waters of the sea were at the same time observed to be charged with a red mud over a very wide area, while hundreds of dead fish were seen floating on the sur- face. Is it not pretty plain that when the mud subsided many of the fish were enveloped in the deposit, and thus pre- served to future times? If so, then, we should have an exact modern parallel to the fossil fishes of Monte Bolca. But for the present it is our purpose rather to describe facts than to develop theories.
Our next illustration will be taken from the important group of rocks known by the name of the Lias Formation. In England this formation stretches, as a belt of varying width, from Whitby on the coast of Yorkshire, in a South-westerly direction, passing through Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, and ter- minating at Lyme Regis, on the south coast of Dorsetshire. It is composed chiefly of limestone, marl, and clay, and is famous among Geologists for the number and variety of its great fossil reptiles. Of these the most remarkable, as well for its peculiar structure as for its immense size, is the Ichthyosaurus or Fish- like lizard.
This monster of the ancient seas combined, as its name de- notes, the essential characters of a reptile with the form and habits of a fish. No such creature has been known to exist within historic times ; but, nevertheless, all the various parts of its complicated structure have their analogies, more or less per-
1 Buckland, Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i. p. 123.
2 Mantell, Wonders of Geology, p. 269 ; also Lyell, Elements of Geology, p. 687.
60 Geology and Revelation.
feet, in the present creation. It has the head of a Lizard, the beak of a Porpoise, the teeth of a Crocodile, the back bone of a Fish, and the paddles of a Whale. In length it sometimes exceeded thirty feet; it had a short thick neck, an enormous stomach, a long and powerful tail. This last appendage, toge- ther with four great paddles or fins, constituted the chief organs of motion. But of all its parts the head was perhaps the most wonderful and characteristic. In the larger species the jaws were six feet long, and armed with two rows of conical sharp- pointed teeth, — a hundred below, a hundred and ten above. The cavities in which the eyes were set measured often four- teen inches across, and the eye-balls themselves must have been larger than a man's head.1
Now what we want particularly to impress upon our readers is, that the remains of this singular aquatic reptile abound throughout the whole extent of the Lias Formation of England. Far down below the surface of the earth they are found im- bedded in the marls, and clays, and limestones of Dorsetshire, and Gloucester, and Warwick, and Leicester, and Yorkshire.2 Sometimes whole skeletons are found entire with scarcely a single bone removed from the place it occupied during life ; but more frequently the scattered fragments are found lying about in a state of confused disorder; — skulls, and jaw-bones, and teeth, and paddles, and the joints of the vertebral column and of the tail. The neighbourhood of Lyme Regis is a perfect cabinet of these curious treasures. In some of the specimens there ex- humed, a singular circumstance has been observed, which is deserving of special notice. We should naturally have expected, from the prodigious power of this animal, from the expansion of his jaws and the immense size of his stomach, that he preyed upon the other fish and reptiles that had the misfortune to inha- bit the waters in which he lived. And so indeed it was. For here enclosed within his vast ribs, in the place that once was his stomach, are still preserved the remains of his half-digested food ; and amidst the debris we can distinguish the bones and scales of his victims. Nay, in some of the more colossal specimens of this ancient monster, we can distinctly recognize the remains of his own smaller brethren ; which, though less frequent than the bones of fishes, are still sufficiently numerous to prove that, when he wanted to appease his hunger, he did not even spare the less powerful members of his own species.3
It is with facts like these, which are revealed by the Crust of
1 See Buckland, Bridgewaler Treatise, vol. i., pp. 168 186; Mantell, Wonders of Geology, pp. 576-581 ; Lyell, Elements of Geology, pp. 420- 425 ; Jukes, Manual of Geology, pp. 598-599.
2 Buckland, ib., p. 168. 3 Buckland, ib., p. 189.
Reasoning of Geologists. 61
the Earth all over the world, that Geologists are called upon to deal. When they meet with skeletons and bones such as we have been describing, buried deep in the hard rock hundreds of feet beneath -the green grass and the waving corn, they cannot help but ask the question : Where did these creatures come from ? When did they live ? And by what revolutions were they im- bedded here, and lifted up from beneath the waters of the deep ?
The Pampas of South America are not less famous in Geology for the remains of gigantic quadrupeds, than the Lias of England for its colossal marine reptiles. These vast undulating plains, which present to the eye for nine hundred miles a waving sea of grass, consist chiefly of stratified beds of gravel and reddish mud : and it is in these beds that the remains of many unshapely but powerful terrestrial animals have been found imbedded. So abundant are they, that it is said a line drawn in any direction through the country would cut through some skeleton or bones.1 Indeed Mr. Darwin is of opinion that the whole area of the Pampas is one wide sepulchre of these extinct animals.2 It will be enough for our purpose to describe one in particular, which from its prodigious bulk has received the appropriate name of Megatherium or the great wild least.
As in the case of the Ichthyosaurus so also in the case of this great land monster, we can find some analogy to all its parts amongst the existing creation. In^ its head and shoulders it resembled the sloth which still browses on the green foliage of the trees in the dense forests of South America ; while in its legs and feet it combined the characteristics of the Ant- Eater and the Armadillo. These, it would seem, are the principal modern representatives of the family to which it belonged : but it is dis- tinguished from them all by its colossal proportions. It was often twelve feet long and eight feet high ; its fore-feet were a yard in length and twelve inches in breadth, terminating in gigantic claws ; its haunches were five feet wide, and its thigh bone was three times as big as that of the largest elephant.3 " His entire frame", as Dr. Buckland has admiiably observed and carefully demonstrated, " was an apparatus of colossal mechanism, adapted exactly to the work it had to do; strong and ponderous, in proportion as this work was heavy, and cal- culated to be the vehicle of life and enjoyment to a gigantic race of quadrupeds, which, though they have ceased to be counted among the living inhabitants of our planet, have, in
1 Mantell, Fossils of the British Museum, p, 477.
1 Id., ib.
1 Buckland, Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i. pp. 139-164; Mantell, Wonders of Geology, pp. 16G-169; Fossils of the British. Museum^ pp. 476-480; Knight's English Cyclopaedia, Nat. Hist. Division, article, Megatheridae.
62 Geology and Revelation.
their fossil bones, left behind them imperishable monuments of the consummate skill with which they were constructed, — each limb, and fragment of a limb, forming co-ordinate parts of a well adjusted and perfect whole; and through all their deviations from the form and proportions of the limbs o f other quadrupeds, affording fresh proofs of the infinitely varied and inexhaustible contrivances of Creative Wisdom".1
This Leviathan of the Pampas, as he has been justly called, became first known in Europe towards the close of the last cen- tury. In the year 1789 a skeleton was dug up, almost entire, about three miles to the south-west of Buenos Ayres, and was presented by the Marquis of Loreto to the Royal Museum at Madrid, where it still remains.2 Since that time other speci- mens, besides numerous fragments, have been discovered, chiefly through the zeal and energy of Sir Woodbine Parish; by the aid of which the form, structure, and consequently the habits of this clumsy and ponderous animal have been fully ascertained.3 The complete skeleton which forms so prominent an object of attraction in the British Museum, is only a model; but it has been constructed with great care from the original bones, some of which are to be found in the wall-cases of the same room, and others in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Sur- geons.4
Passing from the petrified fish, and the reptiles, and the quad- rupeds, that thus come forth as it were from their graves to bring us tidings of an extinct creation, we must next turn our attention for a moment to Fossil Shells. These relics of the ancient world, which are scattered with profuse abundance through all the strata of the Earth's Crust, may seem, indeed, of little value to the careless observer ; but to the practised eye of science they are full of instruction. They have been aptly called the Medals of Creation; for stamped upon their surface they bear the impress of the age to which they belong ; and they constitute the largest, we may say perhaps, the most valu- able part of those unwritten records from which the Geologist seeks to gather the ancient history of our Globe.
As regards the prodigious abundance of Fossil Shells pre- served in the Crust of the Earth, it is unnecessary for us here to speak. We have already seen that the great mass of many lime- stone formations is composed almost exclusively of such remains, broken up into minute fragments, and more or less altered by chemical agency ; and besides, there are quarries within the reach
1 Bridgewater Treatise, p. 164.
8 Knight's English Cyclopaedia) loco citato.
3 Id., ib.
4 Mantell, Fossils of the British Museum, pp, 465, 477, 478, 479.
Reasoning of Geologists. 63
of all, where they may collect at pleasure these interesting relics of the olden time. But there are some facts of peculiar signifi- cance connected with Fossil Shells, which we shall here briefly state. In the first place, we should observe, that there is a marked and well known difference between the shells of those animals that live only in the sea, and of those that inhabit rivers, and of those, finally, that frequent the brackish waters of estu- aries. Now it has been made clear beyond all reasonable doubt, by the explorations of Geologists, that sea-shells abound in great numbers far away from the present line of coast, in the heart of vast continents. Again, they are found, not merely on the sur- face, but buried deep in the Crust of the Earth, and overlaid in many cases by numerous strata of solid rock, thousands of feet in thickness. Thirdly, " they occur at all heights above the level of the ocean, having been observed at elevations of more than eight thousand feet in the Pyrenees, ten thousand in the Alps, thirteen thousand in the Andes, and above eighteen thousand feet in the Himalaya".1 Here, therefore, occurs once again a subject of in- quiry that must force itself on the mind of a Geologist : — how can the shells of marine animals have come to exist so far away from the sea? how have they been lifted up to the highest pinnacles of lofty mountains?
Before we bring our subterranean excursion to an end, we have yet to search among the cabinets of Nature's Museum for some Fossil Remains of the Vegetable Kingdom. No better example could be desired than that which is found in the celebrated quarries of Portland on the south coast of England. In one of these quarries a vertical section, extending from the surface downwards to the depth of about thirty feet, presents the following succession of strata arranged in horizontal layers :— first, a light covering of vegetable soil, beneath which are thin beds of cream-coloured limestone, forming a stratum of solid rock ten feet thick ; then a bed of dark brown loam, mixed with rounded fragments of stone, and varying in thickness from twelve to eighteen inches. This is known to the quarrymen by the name of the Dirt-bed, and seems, in former ages, to have supported a luxuriant vegetation ; for all around are scattered the petrified fragments of an ancient forest. The prostrate trunks and shattered branches of great trees are met at every step ; but what is most striking and peculiar is, that, in many cases, the petrified stumps are still standing erect, with their roots fixed in the thin stratum of loam, and their stumps stretching upwards into the hard limestone rock. Immediately below the Dirt- bed is another thick stratum of limestone, and below this again is a stratum of the famous Portland stone, so highly prized for build- 1 Lyell, Elements of Geoloyy, p. 4.
64 Geology and Revelation.
ing purposes. As the quarries of Portland are worked chiefly for the sake of this building stone, little attention is paid to the Dirt-bed and its contents, which are commonly thrown aside by the quarrymen as rubbish.
The scene of this petrified forest is thus described by Dr. Mantell: — " On one of my visits to the island (in the summer of 1832), the surface of a large area of the Dirt-bed was cleared preparatory to its removal, and the appearance presented was most striking. The floor of the quarry was literally strewn with fossil wood, and before me was a petrified forest, the trees and plants, like the inhabitants of the city in Arabian story, being converted into stone, yet still remaining in the places which they occupied when alive ! Some of the trunks were surrounded by a conical mound of calcareous earth, which had, evidently, when in the state of mud, accumulated round the roots. The upright trunks were generally a few feet apart, and but three or four feet high ; their summits were broken and splintered, as if they had been snapped or wrenched off by a hurricane at a short distance from the ground. Some were two feet in diameter, and the united fragments of one of the prostrate trunks indicated a total length of from thirty to forty feet ; in many specimens, portions of the branches remained attached to the stem".1
It is time we should come to an end. We have tried to jot down some general facts about Fossil Remains, in such a manner as to present a faithful and comprehensive, though, of necessity, a very imperfect sketch of this great subject. Our readers will easily find opportunities of filling up for themselves the details of the picture. There are few, we should suppose, who may not occasionally have access to those splendid Museums of Geology which have been set up in all the great towns of Europe ; and the still more extensive cabinets of Nature's Museum, spread out beneath our feet, are within the reach of all.
But even the scanty notions that may be gathered from these pages are sufficient, we hope, to satisfy all reasonable minds of this important truth, that the bones, and skeletons, and petri- fied trees and plants, we have been describing, are really the relics of organic life that once flourished on the earth or in the waters of the ancient seas. Yet obvious as this fact must appear to all who have fully realized the character and appearance of these Fossil Remains, it has been often vigorously assailed and vehemently denounced. In the early days of Geology pheno- mena of this kind were ascribed, not uncommonly, to the " plastic power of Nature", or to the influence of the stars.2 Such
1 Wonders of Geology, p. 400.
2 Lyell, Principles of Geology, cap. ii. and iii.
Reasoning of Geologists. 65
notions, however, meet with little support among modern writers. They were nothing more than wild fancies, without any founda- tion either in the evidence of facts or in the analogy of Nature. The " plastic power of Nature" was a phrase that sounded well, perhaps, in the ears of unreflecting people; but no one ever un- dertook to show that Nature really possesses that " plastic power" which was so readily imputed to her. No one ever undertook to show that it is the way of Nature to make the stems, and branches, and leaves of trees, without the previous process of vegetation ; or to make bones and skeletons which have never been invested with the ordinary appendages of flesh and blood. Yet surely this is a theory that requires proof; for all our expe- rience of the laws of Nature points directly to the opposite con- clusion. And as for the influence of the stars, we may be con- tent to adopt the language of the celebrated painter Leonardo da Vinci : — " They tell us that these shells were formed in the hills by the influence of the stars ; but I ask where in the hills are the stars now forming shells of distinct ages and species ? and how can the stars explain the origin of gravel occurring at diffe- rent heights and composed of pebbles rounded as if by the action of running water? or in what manner can such a cause account for the petrifaction in the same places of various leaves, sea- weeds, and marine crabs?"1
In modern times the form of objection has been somewhat changed. We are told by some writers that, when we seek to explain the existence of Fossil Remains by the action of natural laws, we seem to forget the Omnipotence of God. They urge upon us, with much solemnity, that He could have made bones, and shells, and skeletons, and petrified wood, though there had been no living animal to which these bones belonged, and no living tree that had been changed into stone. And if He made them, might He not disperse them up and down through His creation, on the lofty mountains, and in the hidden valley, and in the profound depths of the sea ? and buried them in the lime- stone rocks and in the soft clay ? and arranged them in groups, or scattered them in wild confusion as He best pleased ?
To this line of argument we must be content to reply, that we have no wish to limit the power of God. But we have learned from our daily experience that in the physical world He is pleased to employ the agency of secondary causes ; and when we know that for many ages a certain effect has been uniformly produced by a certain cause, and not otherwise, then if we again see the effect, we infer the cause. When a traveller in the un- trodden wilds of Western America, comes upon a forest of great
1 See Lyell, Principles of Geology, p. 31, who refers to " Da Vinci's MSS. now in the library of the Institute of France".
VOL. IV. 5
66 Geology and Revelation.
trees, or a herd of unknown animals, surely he never thinks of supposing that the wild beasts and the forest trees came directly from the hand of the Creator, in that state of maturity in which he beholds them. And why ? for it might be argued that the power of God is unbounded, and He might have created them as they now are if He had so pleased. Is it not that the travel- ler is impelled, by an instinct of his nature, to interpret the works of God which he now sees for the first time, according to the analogy of those with which he has been long familiar i Now this is just the principle for which we are contending. According to all our experience of the works of God in the physical world, the living body comes first, and the skeleton afterwards ; the living tree comes first, and afterwards the pros- trate trunk and the splintered branches. Therefore when we meet with a skeleton, we conclude that' it was once a living body ; and when we find the petrified stems, and branches, and leaves of trees, we have no doubt that they are the remains of an ancient vegetation.
But in truth, if any one, with all the facts of the case fully before his mind, were deliberately to adopt this theory, that Fossils, as we find them now, were created by God in the Crust of the Earth, we candidly confess we have no argument that we should think likely to shake his conviction, just as we should be utterly at a loss if he were to say that the Round Towers of Ireland, or the Pyramids of Egypt, were created by God from the beginning. The evidence of human workmanship is certainly not more clear in the one case, than the evidence of animal and vegetable life in the other. We believe, however, that no such persons are to be found ; that theories of this kind have their origin, not so much in false reasoning, as in imperfect knowledge of facts; and we have, therefore, judged it more expedient not to spend our time in a discussion of philosophical axioms, but to set forth the facts, and leave them to speak for themselves.
67
THE PAN-ANGLICAN CONFERENCE.1
THE Archbishop of Canterbury, in his address to those bishops of the Reformed Church in visible communion with the United Church of England and Ireland, who were lately assembled at Lambeth, pronounced the Pan-Anglican conference to be "a remarkable manifestation of life and energyin the several branches of the Anglican communion". We are disposed to concede to the Lambeth meeting the representative character claimed for it in these words, and to accept it as presenting, upon the whole, a fair estimate of the amount of vital energy existing in Angli- canism. But, we are of opinion, that upon a careful examina- tion of all the facts which ushered in, accompanied, and followed the meeting itself, our readers will agree with us in considering it to indicate energies in a state of exhaustion, and a life that is passing away.
We do not deny that orderly synodical action on the part of the bishops, regulated by the canon law, is a token of healthy vital energy in the ecclesiastical body. On the contrary, we point to the whole spirit of the canons prescribing frequent pro- vincial, and more frequent diocesan synods, as proof that the neglect of such action is a siijn of growing weakness. But then, what are we to think of the state of Anglicanism, which for three hundred years has been wholly without synods? If, to Anglican minds, a synod is a manifestation of life and energy, then they must admit that Anglicanism for some three hundred years has been torpid and prostrate. If, on the other hand, a synod is not an indication of vigour, what grounds are there for the Lambeth alleluias?
We cannot look on the conference, whatever the amount of its success, as the result of a design suggested to the chief rulers of the Church by their desire to promote the general wel- fare of the body; on the contrary, it is due rather to a happy series of partial and unconnected efforts on the part of those out- side. The action which produced it was spasmodic rather than vital ; it originated at the extremities of the system, not at the heart. The conference was forced upon the church in England from without. It was at the instance of the Canadian bishops in the first place ; subsequently, at that of other colonial bishops, that the project was entertained at all. Afterwards, the Episcopal Church of America was included, one of its bishops having declared that it would be a very graceful act if the invitations were extended to that church also. And, be it remembered, the meeting claims not to be a synod, but a mere conference ; one out of the many conferences of which this year has been marvel- 1 Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion, etc. Rivington.
5 B
68 The Pan-Anglican Conference.
lously fertile. And why does it abjure the synodical character? Not, certainly, because the bishops are opposed to synodical action ; on the contrary, it is notorious that many among them sigh after such action ; and in one of the resolutions synods are suggested as among the most efficient remedies for the evils that afflict the church. The true reason is assigned by the president when he says " that the bishops deemed it far better on this occa- sion to do too little than attempt too much, and instead of deal- ing with propositions which can lead to no efficient results, to confine themselves to matters admitting of a practical and bene- ficial solution". In other words, they felt that they had no authority to make canons, and that, were they to attempt any exercise of authority, their own people would abandon them. It is a poor boast for a church to point, as to a manifestation of its vitality, to a conference which dared not be a synod ; which took place but once in three hundred years ; which even that once was convened almost by chance ; and which avowedly and deli- berately set itself to do too little, as the only practical result it could hope to achieve.
The topics to which the bishops addressed themselves are not of a very important character. With the exception of the first, on the best way of promoting the reunion of Christendom, which is of general importance, and about which the bishops had nothing to propose, the other nine subjects concern the prac- tical difficulties that have sprung up in the colonial churches. The notification of the establishment of new sees, commendatory letters, the relation of metropolitans to their subjects, conditions of union with the church at home, missionary bishoprics, and the subordination of missionaries, are, after all, subjects connec- ted with the very rudiments and beginnings of a church. If such points are still unsettled, all we can say is, that we no longer feel surprised at the complete failure of the Anglican missions. A Church which has yet to fix the relations of missionaries to their bishops, of bishops to their metropolitans, of metropolitans abroad to the bishops at home, can hardly have much vitality and energy to boast of. But, what especially strikes us in this list of subjects submitted to the conference, is not so much what it includes as what it excludes. The Archbishop of Canterbury himself feels that some explanation is due to account for the omission of the more important subjects that the state of the English Church naturally suggests at this critical period of her history :
" Some may be of opinion that subjects have been omitted which ought to have found a place in our deliberations ; that we should have been assembled with the view of defining the limits of theological truth : but it has been deemed far better, on the first occasion of our
The Pan- Anglican Conference. 69
meeting in such form, rather to do too little than attempt too much, and instead of dealing with propositions which can lead to no efficient result, to confine ourselves to matters admitting of a practical and beneficial solution" (page 9).
It would indeed have seemed natural that at a moment when Anglicanism is rent with doctrinal controversies affecting almost every article in the Apostles' Creed, the assembled prelates should have borne witness to the faith that is in them. Between Rationalism, in forms that are of the wildest it has ever assumed, and Ritualism, which is changing the face of the Establishment, there is hardly a shade of thought which is not represented in Anglican pulpits. On the most essential points of Christianity, the faith of Anglicanism is divided and shifting. And yet, in this moment of supreme peril, the bishops are deliberately and wilfully silent, and the Archbishop of Canterbury warns them against defining the limits of theological truth. It was not thus that St. Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke to the bishops of his day, when dangers assailed the Church in England :
" Dearly beloved brethren", said he to the English prelates, " why do you not rise with me against the malignant ? Why do you not take your stand with me against such as work iniquity ? Know you not that the Lord will scatter the bones of them that please men ? They shall be confounded because God hath despised them (Ps., Hi.). Your discretion knoweth well enough that the error which is not checked, is approved of; that truth, when left defenceless, is oppressed; and, according to Gregory, he that hasteneth not to correct what stands in need of correction, seems to side with the guilty".1
Nor is the archbishop's excuse for this silence, a satis- factory one, or creditable to Anglicanism. To say that any utterance pronounced by the conference on matters of doctrine could lead to no efficient result, may account, at the moment, for the silence of the bishops; but, on the other hand, it is a revelation of the depth of the abyss into which Anglicanism has fallen. Not only is it torn by controversies on the most central Christian truths, but its own bishops publicly declare that they are powerless to apply an efficient remedy to its wounds.
As a matter of prudence this silence, however, was politic, if not Christian. It is pretty certain than any doctrinal decision the bishops might come to would carry with it no weight. But it is also pretty certain that the conference itself never would agree on any doctrinal decision. The elements of which it was composed were too heterogeneous and conflicting ever to be brought into unity of opinion on matters of faith. The list of
1 Ep. S. Thorn. Cant, ad Epos. Angliae, apnd Harduin. Concilior torn. VI. part 2. page 1387.
70 The Pan-Anglican Conference.
signatures in the official document is broken up into five groups of names; and this arrangement invites and facilitates a closer examination of the component parts of the conference. The first group (23) embraces the bishops of the United Church of Eng- land and Ireland; trie second group (6) represents the Protestant Episcopal Church of Scotland ; the third group (24), the Colonial bishops; the fourth group (19), the Episcopalian bishops of the United States; and the fifth and last group (4), the bishops who have retired from the labours of colonial dioceses. The fact that these prelates met together is, no doubt, a prima facie proof that they agree together upon many points. But admitting this har- mony on the part of those who joined the conference, we are compelled to believe that those who, as a matter of principle, declined to come, are not of the same way of thinking with those who did actually come. And this is already one patent sign of discord in the Anglican body.
Then, looking at the names forming the English and Irish group, we ask is there any power on earth that could bring into harmony the views respectively held by S.Oxon. and H. Kilmore ? Or how could John Lincoln, who denounces the pseudo-Catholic movement of to-day, agree with W. K. Sarum, who claims for himself all the priestly powers claimed by the Roman Church ? What form of Christian faith could be subscribed by the Bishop of St. David's and the Bishop of London, who are friendly towards Dr. Colenso, and by the Archbishop of Dublin, who anathema- tises him? Dr. Jeune, of Peterborough, according to the Church JNewsJ- " has floundered into heresy by indirectly reconrn ending to his flock that corrupt and corrupting novelty of semi-infidel Protestants, evening communions" ; how could he unite on the Eucharist-doctrine with an episcopal champion of the Directorum Anglicanum ? The High Church, and the Broad Church, and the Low Church, had each their representatives present, and is it to be hoped that they could agree ?
The details which have been communicated to the American papers by some of the American prelates on their return from the conference fully bear out what we have said. As n>ay be seen from the curious statement in' the note,2 not only did the
October 16th, 1867..
2 See New York Church Journal: —
"The two subjects that caused the greatest discussion were — first, the state- ment of the standard of true Catholicity, and secondly, the question of Natal. On the former of these points, the programme of proposed business mentioned only the First Four General Councils. On the first day, the Bishop of Vermont moved to change the four to six, and earnestly supported the motion.
* The Bishop of Illinois moved to omit the numeral, making the reference inde- finite ; and the Bishop of Winchester then proposed to omit the phrase altogether, which was carried. But this conclusion was felt to be too unsatisfactory to stand. The discussions on that day were so prolonged, that they did not get through with
The Pan- Anglican Conference. 71
members disagree one from the other so thoroughly as to render it impossible to define even the number of general councils, but, it appears, the Archbishop of Canterbury previously to the meet- ing had actually entered into engagements with some of the bishops that the meeting should make no declarations of doctrine. Next comes the Scottish group, the members of which again are at war with each other and with their neighbours. The Bishop of Brechin, conspicuous by his absence from the confer- ence, is too Catholic for some of his compeers. The English
the first resolution ; and, accordingly, on a subsequent day, when passing upon the latter clause of it, the ' undisputed General Councils' were ail acknowledged ; an expression precisely equivalent to the ' first six'.
" The other matter of interest — the Natal question — will have a fair chance. The Archbishop of Canterbury, knowing the unwillingness of many of the English bishops to venture upon so entirely unprecedented a step as the calling of such a council, and anxious to forestall as much as possible their objections to so strange a novelty, had intended to keep the subject of Dr. Colenso out entirely. The colonial Church, however, regarded this as the most important subject to be treated ; and a large proportion of them, as well as of the American bishops, would certainly never have attended at all had they understood it was to be excluded. Not finding it in express terms on the programme, they first succeeded at the pre- liminary meeting in making the programme open to amendment, as well as to the introduction of new matter. Then, on three or four of the intervening days, a number of the colonial bishops met for consultation. But by conferring with lead- ing English bishops also, the difficulties of the question were made so apparent, that the Bishop of Cape Town was persuaded to accept the appointment of a com- mittee to consider anew the whole difficulty from the beginning. When the matter came up in this shape in the council, he made a noble and unflinching speech, upholding as fearlessly as ever the righteous necessity of the course that has been pursued in South Africa.
" The Bishop of Vermont then moved as a substitute a preamble and resolution which comes straight up to the mark on the whole Colenso question, urging its adoption as the true course. The Bishop of Salisbury supported him with a whole- hearted singlenesss and boldness, worthy of all honour. Other bishops took the same ground, and not one word was said by anyone against the correctness of the position taken by the Bishop of Vermont. But the Bishop of St. David's rose and stated that the archbishop had pledged himself to him that the Colenso question should not be acted on in the conference, and he appealed to ' the honour' of the archbishop to say whether this were not so.
" The archbishop said that it was so, and that to act directly on the question of Dr. Colenso would be the breach of an honourable understanding. It was intended to convey this understanding in those words of the invitation which said that the meeting would of course not be competent to make declarations of doctrine ; but this phrase was unfortunately too vague to convey the full strength of the ' under- standing' ; for the question in South Africa is not only one of doctrine, but of fact, and canon and civil law. After what had been said by the archbishop, however, it was seen that to push the matter against the engagements of the distinguished prelate who issued the invitations, was not advisable, and the matter dropped, the Bishop of Vermont making a closing speech on the sense of duty which had com- pelled him to make his motion. But the thing would not rest. On the last day, the Bishop of St. Andrew's earnestly appealed to the Bishop of St. David's to waive his ' understanding' with the archbishop, in order to introduce a declaration on the fact of the present status of Dr. Colenso, drawn up by the Bishop of Oxford, to be introduced and acted on. It was then produced as a paper signed ' by the bishops assembled at Lambeth', the words 'in conference' being omitted; and it was at once signed by all the American and colonial bishops, and, we believe, by all or nearly all the rest, the act being done in the same room and during the continu- ance of the session".
72 The Pan- A nglican Conference.
Church periodicals some time ago were full of statements and explanations concerning the treatment which the Coadjutor of Edinburgh met with from some English bishops, who refused him permission to officiate in their dioceses. And have we not heard Dr. Daly of Cashel denounce in his last charge the entire communion service of the Scottish Episcopal Church as here- tical ? And did he not publicly express his protest against the conduct of a distinguished prelate of the United Church of Eng- land and Ireland, who consented to communicate in sacris with the Scottish Episcopalians? The Scottish bishops, far from intro- ducing harmony, would prove to be an apple of discord in any attempt at a doctrinal decision.
Next comes the Colonial group, who may really feel proud of the position they have achieved for themselves. Not only is the origin of the conference to be attributed to them, but almost all the resolutions deal with their special grievances. Unquestion- ably, however, they have cost their mother church dear. First of all, who selects the new bishops for the colonies and the missionary churches ? It is well known, that with some exceptions, they are designated by one or other of the great missionary associa- tions who annually pour out upon benighted foreign countries a torrent of Bibles and whole families of evangelical missionaries. These missionary societies for the most part are broad and evan- gelical in their views, and are not amenable to episcopal nor even to exclusively clerical control. The principle which would bring bishops thus appointed by such voluntary societies, and place them on the same benches with the bishops of P^ngland, is one fraught with danger to the Anglican Church. What if they outnum- bered the home bishops? What if they were representatives of as various forms of dissent as numerous as the countries to which they belong? As it is, they have been the occasion of con- siderable confusion and difference of opinion in the conference. In St. James's Hall, at the close of the conference, the Metropo- litan of Cape Town announced that
" one of the last acts of the synod had been to endorse the righteous conclusion of the Province of Canterbury with regard to the ap- pointment of one who should go forth as a bishop to minister to the souls of those who felt themselves as sheep without a shepherd in Natal. Their beloved Primate was prepared to join in recommend- ing one to go forth to be the chief pastor in that distracted land". Upon which, a layman thus writes to the Times: " That is, there being already in Natal a branch of the Church of England with a bishop, appointed, like all other bishops of our Church, by the Queen, the lay head of the Church, and confirmed in his posi- tion by decisions of competent courts both in England and Natal, the Primate proposes to send out another bishop of Natal.
The Pan-Anglican Conference. 73
" Such a bishop must be either, first, a bishop of the Church of England, or secondly, a bishop of a local Church, whether of Natal or of South Africa is immaterial.
"1. If he be the former, I hope that the Primate, or his grace's advisers, will explain to the lay members of the Church over which he presides, by what law of that Church or of this country he is authorized to send into a diocese a second bishop without the con- sent and against the wish of the existing bishop.
" 2. If he be the latter, then still more should the Primaf e explain to us how he, the chief bishop in the Church of England, can justify the founding of a second Church in a country and diocesi in which the Church of England already has a branch.
" Which horn of this dilemma will his grace prefer ?
" To me, a plain layman, the contemplated appointment of an- other Bishop of Natal seems as a matter of policy to be more likely to increase than to heal the distractions which the Bishop of Cape Town laments, and, as a matter of churchmariship, to be an act of schism.
" If this be a specimen of the practical results of the Pan- Anglican Synod, in a multitude of counsellors there will no longer be safety, even to themselves".
Another case in point is supplied by the Bishop of Dunedin in New Zealand, a prelate whose mitre and crosier were exhi- bited a few years ago at the York Exhibition. He was invited by the Bishop of Exeter to take his September ordination, the inviting bishop being ignorant of the fact that the invited was consecrated without letters patent from her majesty, " a defect", says the New Zealand bishop, " it appears, fatal to the legal validity of any ordination by me in this country".
The American bishops add nothing to the probabilities of harmony. The very title of Protestant, which is assumed by Dr. Hopkins in his signature, is significant of the line of thought chiefly in honour among them. Thus the resolutions which are headed as coming from the bishops of " Christ's Holy Catholic Church" are signed by the bishops of the " Protestant Episcopal Church" in the United States. Dr. Henry W. Lee, Bishop of Iowa, soon after the conclusion of the conference, wrote a long letter to the Bishop of London, in which lie deplores the state of the Anglican Church, afflicted as it is with Ritualism, and ex- presses his fears for the future of a Church where such excesses are allowed. This censure notoriously strikes at some of the pre- lates beside whom Dr. Lee sat in the conference. On the other hand, the Episcopalian Church in America has rejected the Athanasian creed. It has also expunged from the ordinal the clause which in the form of ordination regards the power of remitting sin It also rejects the form of absolution. What prospects of united action docs all this afford?
74 The Pan-Anglican Conference.
Of the closing group of retired bishops we have little to say. The only name that sounds familiar to us is that of Dr. George Smith, late bishop of Victoria, China. Is this the Dr. Smith of whom The Hong-Kong Daily Press, a journal devoted to British and Protestant interests, thus wrote in 1861:
" The conduct of the bishop is most reprehensible. .... For the last three years we feel sure he has not done three weeks' work in his diocese. He draws his stipend in consideration of the performance of specified duties — those duties he neglects for other vocations which are more lucrative or agreeable, and we will defy him to reconcile his conduct to common honesty, to say nothing about his duties as a bishop. .... There is as much devotion in all the Protestant missionaries we know of in the South of China as there is in a bootjack" (Ap. Marshall's Christian Missions, vol., iii. p. 4.12).
A conference consisting of bishops so far asunder as these in their doctrinal views, could have but slender hopes of being able to agree in defining what is to be believed and what to be rejected by their flocks.
What results the conference has been able to achieve are pre- sented to us in two documents, viz., the Encyclical Letter and the Resolutions. Both the one and the other deserve some attention. We omit to remark on the style and manner of the Encyclical, although both style and manner tempt criticism. The Encyclical itself is remarkable, principally for the skill with which it avoids all those really serious questions upon which An- glicans are divided, and for the dexterity with which it makes its affirmations broad enough to cover all shades of thought.
The most favourable interpretation of the document which has fallen in our way is that given By the Literary Churchman.1 The fiist result therein pointed out is the fact that the confer- ence witnesses to u a common connection ; that while there are such things as local churches, there is also the wider entity of a supra-local, i.e., a Universal Church". What a surprising dis- covery ! There is not a single Catholic child in the world to whose mind the idea of a Universal Church is not familiar. And is it for this that the Literary Churchman pronounces the Lam- beth conference to be " one of those events which are destined to hold a place in history, and of which the importance will be seen as years roll on"? The next benefit conferred by the Ency- clical, according to the Churchman, is that it defines the position of the Anglican Church in reference to Rome and to the Holy Scriptures. It protests against the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff; but who is there that did not know that this protest was the very basis of the Anglican schism? And touching this
1 No. 20, p. 417.
The Pan-Anglican Conference. 75
matter of the supremacy, we would remark a singular inconsis- tency between the Encyclical and the Resolutions. The fourth resolution is to the effect " that, in the opinion of this con- ference, unity in faith and discipline will be best maintained among the several branches of the Anglican communion by due and canonical subordination of the synods of the several blanches to the higher authority of a synod or synods above them". We ask, is not this plainly a claim for a universal sovereignty over God's heritage, put forth on behalf of the cen- tral synod? And if it be not repugnant to the Gospel that a few bishops should have higher authority over a supra-local and Universal Church, as set forth by the conference, how can it be repugnant to the same that one bishop, successor of the Prince of the Apostles, should have higher authority to keep unity of faith and doctrine in the entire Church? The state- ments made in the address touching the Catholic cultus of the Blessed Virgin are as false as those put forward by Nestorius and his bishops at the time of the Council of Ephesus. As to the assertion that the Bible is the word of God, even Dr. Colenso would have no hesitation to subscribe it, as, in fact, he has already done ; reserving, however, the right of determining what books or parts of books compose the Bible.
So far the address : the bearing of the Resolutions themselves is thus set forth by the Literary Churchman:
" Passing by the first three resolutions, together with those two (Nos. 6 and 7) which bear upon the Colenso difficulty, let us come at once to those in which the Conference takes in hand the class of sub- jects we have specified. It is not too much to describe resolutions 4, 5, 8, 9, etc., as sketching out the programme of a general Church Constitution which shall embrace upon one common footing all Churches whatever in communion with our own, irrespective of their various relations to the Secular Power. The object for which the Con- ference was devised was to take measures for securing unity in faith and discipline throughout the scattered and very differently circum- stanced branches of our Communion : and, however much this object seemed at one time likely to be frustrated through timid counsels, the firmness of the American bishops held the Conference to its purpose, and (practically) compelled our English bishops to look the real question in the face. The consequence is that the bulk of these ' Eesolutions' are devoted, not to the minor points announced in the Archbishop's original circular, but to what we may call the draft of a general Church organization elastic enough to fit all cases, and comprehensive enough to embrace any and every branch of the Anglican Communion, Missionary, Established, quasi-Established, or
entirely efts- established, or wn-established Free mutual action
and interaction by means of local and general representative bodies, acting under definite relations the one to the other, whether in the
76 The Pan-Anglicun Conference.
United States, the Colonies, or within the borders of our own 4 Establishment' — such is the foundation stone laid by this first Council of the Anglican Communion. Then from this first proposal for continuous concerted action they go on to the subject of the trial of cases of doctrine. In resolution 9, a committee is appointed ' to consider the constitution of a voluntary spiritual tribunal, to which questions of doctrine may be carried by appeal from the* local and provincial Colonial tribunals : while resolution 8 allows a margin of discretion to the Colonial Churches in reference to their Church Services, subject to the revision of a general Synod of the Anglican Communion in which the province concerned shall be represented. It is in these resolutions that the pith of the matter lies. There are other resolutions of no small importance, as for instance No. 10, upon the discipline to be exercised by Metropolitans, and by the Court of Metropolitans, and upon the scheme of legislation for Colonial Churches ; — but it is in those which we have specially particularized that we see the root of the matter thoroughly gone into. It shows that our assembled Bishops are ready to face the great need of the Church as a body independent of the special civil circumstances of particular countries, and independent of the special and accidental relations in which it stands to the civil governments for the time being. It shows that our bishops are alive to the fact that while civil governments vary, the Church must be one and the same ; and if she is to be kept one and the same, it must be by some means which shall act altoge- ther apart from the varying civil organizations of the various coun- tries in which the Church has to carry on her uniform existance. . . . In all this we see the benefit of the presence and experience of the Transatlantic and the Colonial bishops. These men have had actual experience of needs and difficulties and how to meet them, to which our own bishops are as yet comparatively strangers. The quiet — the torpidity if you please — of our own Church during so many gene- rations, and the complete surrender of all questions regarding her action and organization to the civil legislature, and to (essentially) civil courts, has had the inevitable result of cramping at once their energies and their ideas. The cramping of their energies has been bad enough : the cramping of their ideas has perhaps been even worse. The Church in England will owe a lasting debt to her daughter churches, in that they have now, in this year of 1867, brought sharply home to the minds of the English Episcopate the fact that they must begin to look at Church questions in a larger spirit than merely asking how they will appear to a Court of Arches or a Court of Appeal named by the Minister of the day".
This is no doubt what a section of Anglicans would wish to read in the Pan- Anglican resolutions. But the temper of mind now prevailing in the mass of Anglicans is most decidedly op- posed to any such action on the part of the bishops. The entire press, which is, in this case, a fair exponent of the public feeling, has placed it beyond doubt that the laity will resist to the last
The Pan- Anglican Conference. 77
this high episcopal tone. But even if the scheme of government, the outline of which the resolutions present, could be realized, would it work? Unquestionably not. A voluntary tribunal which of itself can claim no authority, which has been erected by itself, which has no sanction for its decisions, will never con- trol men in questions which are agitated with the warmth that always glows in ecclesiastical controversies. This elaborate sys- tem of synod over synod will be like the oriental system of the universe, in which the world is described as resting upon the back of a tortoise. The lower synods rest upon the higher, but there is no solid foundation upon which the final synod can rest. To rest securely it should rest upon the Rock on which Christ built His Church. There is no authority with which to clothe its decrees, so as to make them binding on men. Notwithstand- ing, however, the practical and theoretical difficulties which are arrayed against the resolutions, we are willing to admit that they contain much that is valuable. They contain an admission that the Anglican system is a failure ; that a national church is a mistake; that the old Protestant axiom, cujus est regio illius est religio, is a blasphemy ; that universality is a mark of the true Church. It is a justification of the principle on which the pri- macy of the Apostolic See is founded. " It shows", says the writer quoted above, " that our bishops are alive to the fact that, while civil governments vary, the church must be one and the same ; and that if she is to be kept one and the same, it must be by some means which shall act altogether apart from the varying civil organizations of the various countries in which the church has to carry on her uniform existence". St. Cyprian and St. Jerome point out the means by which this unity is to be preserved: "there is one Church, founded by Christ our Lord upon Peter for an original and principle of unity