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THE
PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY
BY THE RIGHT REVEREND
JOHN S. VAUGHAN, D.D.
BISHOP OF SEBASTOPOLIS
AUTHOR OF "THOUGHTS FOR ALL TIMES," "DANGERS OF THE DAY"
"LIFE AFTER DEATH," ETC., ETC.
"Let us go back to the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Either there was a Church of God then in the world, or there
was not. If there was not, then the Reformers certainly
could not create such a Church. It there was, they as
certainly had neither the right to abandon it, nor the power
to remodel it."--J.K. STONE.
London
SANDS & CO.
15 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN
EDINBURGH: 21 HANOVER STREET
ST. LOUIS, Mo., U.S.A.: B. HERDER
1910
INTRODUCTION.
It may seem an impertinence on the present writer's part to indite a
preface to the work of a brother Bishop; and it would be a still
greater one to pretend to introduce the Author of this little book to
the reading public, to whom he is so well and so favourably known by a
stately array of preceding volumes. Nevertheless Bishop Vaughan has
been so insistent on my contributing at least a few introductory
lines, that, for old friendship's sake, I can no longer refuse.
It is a remarkable and outstanding fact that never before in the
history of the Church has the Roman Papacy, though shorn of every
vestige of its once formidable temporal might, loomed greater in the
world, ruled over such vast multitudes of the faithful, or exercised
a greater moral power than at the present day. Never has the
_conscious_ unity of the whole world-wide Church with its Visible
Head--thanks to the marvellous developments of modern means of
communication and transport--been so vivid, so general, so intense as
in these times. Not only does "the Pope's writ run," as we may say, by
post and telegraph, and penetrate to the inmost recesses of every part
of the globe, so that the Holy See is in daily, nay hourly
communication with every bishop and every local Catholic community;
but never has there been a time when so many thousands, nay tens of
thousands of Catholic clergy and laity, even from the remotest lands,
have actually seen the Vicar of Christ with their own eyes, heard his
voice, received his personal benediction. Well may we say to Pius X.
as to Leo XIII.: "Lift up thy eyes round about and see; all these are
gathered together, they are come to thee; thy sons shall come from
afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see
and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the
multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the
Gentiles shall come to thee" (Isaias, lx. 4, 5).
But not only is the present position of the Papacy thus unique and
phenomenal in the world; as the Author of this little book shows in
his first part, its career across the more than nineteen centuries of
the world's chequered history, from Peter to Pius X., is no less
unique and no less phenomenal. This is a fact which may well rivet the
attention, not of the Catholic alone, but of every thinking man, be he
Christian or non-Christian, and which surely calls for some
explanation that lies beyond and above that of the ordinary phenomena
of history. The only possible satisfactory solution of this problem is
the one so concisely, yet so simply, set forth in the following
pages.
The second part is concerned with a more particular aspect of the same
problem, in its relation to the Church in this country, and especially
to that incredible latter-day myth which goes by the name of "the
Continuity Theory". It is difficult to us to realise how such a theory
can possibly be held by thoughtful and earnest men and women who have
even a moderate acquaintance with history. Bishop Vaughan applies more
than one touchstone, which, one would imagine, ought to be sufficient
to prove to any unprejudiced mind the falsity of that theory. Among
these, what I may call the "pallium touchstone,"--which still bears
its irrefragable testimony in the arms of the Archbishops of
Canterbury,[1]--has always appeared to me peculiarly conclusive.[2]
In the present small volume, Bishop Vaughan adds another to the series
of popular and instructive books which have made his name a household
word among Catholic writers. May its success and its utility be as
great as in the case of those which have preceded it.
[cross] LOUIS CHARLES,
_Bishop of Salford_.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Not in those of York since 1544, see Woodward's
_Ecclesiastical Heraldry_, p. 191 and plate XX.]
[Footnote 2: See _The Pallium_, by Fr. Thurston, S.J., (C.T.S.) and
the striking list in Baxter's _English Cardinals_, pp. 93-98.]
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
The following chapters were not intended originally for publication.
If they are now offered to the public in book form, it is only in
response to the expressed request of many, who listened to them when
delivered _viva voce_, and who now wish to possess a more permanent
record of what was said.
In the hope that they may help, in some slight measure at least, to
promote the sacred cause of truth, we wish them Godspeed.
[cross] JOHN S. VAUGHAN,
_Bishop of Sebastopolis_.
XAVERIAN COLLEGE,
MANCHESTER _January_, 1910.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. GENERAL NOTIONS 3
II. THE POPE'S GREAT PREROGATIVE 18
III. WATCHMAN! WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 35
IV. THE CHURCH AND THE SECTS 53
V. THE POPE'S INFALLIBLE AUTHORITY 69
VI. THE POPE'S ORDINARY AUTHORITY 87
PART II.
THE ANGLICAN THEORY OF CONTINUITY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND,
OR
THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE IN ENGLAND IN PRE-REFORMATION TIMES.
I. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORMATION 107
II. THE OATH OF OBEDIENCE 117
III. THE AWKWARD DILEMMA 130
IV. KING EDWARD AND THE POPE 145
THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPACY.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL NOTIONS.
No one who is given to serious reflection, can gaze over the face of
the earth at the present day without being struck by the religious
confusion that everywhere reigns. Who, indeed, can help being
staggered as well as saddened by the extraordinary differences, the
irreconcilable views, and the diversities of opinion, even upon
fundamental points, that are found dividing Christians in Protestant
lands! The number of sects has so multiplied, that an earnest enquirer
scarcely knows which way to turn, or where to look for the pure
unadulterated truth. A spiritual darkness hangs over the non-Catholic
world; and chaos seems to have come again.
Yet, amid this almost universal confusion, one bright and luminous
path may be easily descried. As a broad highroad runs straight through
some tangled forest, so this path runs through the ages, from the time
of Christ, even to the present day.
We can trace its course, from its earliest inception in apostolic
times, and then in its development age after age, down to our own day:
from Peter to Gregory, from Gregory to Leo, and from Leo to Pius X.,
now gloriously reigning. We refer to the mystical (and one might
almost say the miraculous) path trodden by the Popes, each Pontiff
carrying in turn, and then handing on to his successor, the glorious
torch of divine truth. Though clouds may gather and thunders may roll,
and tempests may rage, and though the surrounding darkness may grow
deeper and deeper, that supernatural light has never failed, nor grown
dim, nor refused to shed its beams and to illuminate the way.[3]
The continual persistency of the Papacy, to whom this steadily burning
torch of truth has been entrusted, is unquestionably one of the most
certain, as it is one of the most startling facts in the whole of
history. It stares us full in the face. It arrests the attention of
even the least observant. It puzzles the historian. It taxes the
explanatory powers of the philosopher, and will remain to the end, a
permanent difficulty to the scoffer and to the sceptic, and to all
those who have not faith. As a fact in history, it is unique: forming
an extraordinary exception to the law of universal change: a portent,
and a standing miracle. Its persistence, century after century, in
spite of fire and sword; of persecution from without, and of treachery
from within; in prosperity, and in adversity; in honour and dishonour;
while kingdoms rise and fall; and while one civilisation yields to a
higher, and the very conditions of society shift and change, is deeply
significative, and betokens an inherent strength and vitality that is
more than natural and that must be referred to some source greater
than itself, yea, to a power far mightier than anything in this
world,--_viz._, to the abiding presence and divine support of Christ
the Man-God.
Verily, there is but one possible explanation, and that explanation is
furnished us, by the words of the promise made by God-incarnate,
_viz._, "Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of
the world" (Matt, xxviii. 20). Yes, I, Who am "the true light which
enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (John i. 9), "will
abide with you for ever, and will lead you into all truth" (John xvi. 13).
If but few persons, outside the Catholic Church, realise the force and
import of these words, it is because few realise the absolute and
irresistible power of Him Who gave them utterance. With their lips
they profess Christ to be God, but then, strange to relate, they
proceed to reason and to argue, just as though He were merely
man--one, that is to say, Who, when He established His Church, did
not consider nor bear in mind man's weakness and fickleness, and who
possessed no power to see the outcome of His own policy, nor the
difficulties that it would engender, nor the future multiplication of
the faithful, in every part of the world. For, did He know and foresee
all these things, He _must_ have guarded against them; and this they
_practically_ deny, by continuing to associate themselves with
churches where His promises are in no sense fulfilled, and where His
most solemn pledges remain unredeemed. We refer to those churches
wherein there is no recognised infallible authority; in fact, nothing
to protect their subjects from the inroads of the world, and from the
faults and errors inseparable from the exercise of purely human and
fallible reason.
Those, however, who can put aside such false notions, and awaken to
the real facts, will find the truth growing luminous before their
gaze. History constrains them to admit that it was Christ Who
established the Church, with its supreme head, and its various
members. But Christ is verily God; of the same nature, and one with
the Father, and possessing the same divine attributes. Now, since He
is God, there is to Him no future, just as there is no past. To him,
all is equally present. Hence, in establishing a Church, and in
providing it with laws and a constitution, He did this, not
tentatively, not experimentally, not in ignorance of man's needs and
weaknesses, and folly, but with a most perfect foreknowledge of every
circumstance and event, actual and to come. He spoke and ordered and
arranged all things, with His eyes clearly fixed on the most remote
ages, no less than on the present and the actual. _We_ mortals write
history after the characters have already lived and died, and when
nations have already developed and run their course. But with Christ,
the whole history of man, his wars and his conquests, his vices and
his virtues, his religious opinions and doctrines, had been already
written and completed, down to the very last line of the very last
chapter, an eternity before He assumed our nature and founded His
Church. It was with this most intimate knowledge before Him, that He
promised to provide us with a reliable and infallible teacher, who
should safeguard His doctrine, and publish the glad tidings of the
Gospel, throughout all time, even unto the consummation of the world.
Since it is God Who promises, it follows, with all the rigour of
logic, that this fearless Witness and living Teacher must be a _fact_,
not a _figment_; a stupendous reality, not a mere name; One, in a
word, possessing and wielding the self-same authority as Himself, and
to be received and obeyed and accepted as Himself: "Who heareth you
heareth Me" (Luke x. 16).
This teacher was to be a supreme court of appeal, and a tribunal,
before which every case could be tried, and definitely settled, once
for all. And since this tribunal was a divine creation, and invested
by God Himself with supernatural powers for that specific purpose, it
must be fully equipped, and thoroughly competent and equal to its
work. For God always adapts means to ends. Hence it can never
resemble the tribunals existing in man-made churches, which can but
mutter empty phrases, suggest compromises, and clothe thought in
wholly ambiguous language--tribunals that dare not commit themselves
to anything definite and precise. Yea, which utterly fail and break
down just at the critical moment, when men are dividing and
disagreeing among themselves, and most needing a prompt and clear
decision, which may close up the breach and bring them together.
No! The decisions of the authority set up by Christ are in very
truth--just what we expect to find them--_viz._, clear, ringing
and definite. They divide light from darkness, as by a divine hand;
and segregate truth from error, as a shepherd separates the sheep from
the goats.
Christ promised as much as this, and if He keep not His promise, then
He can hold out no claim to be God, for though Heaven and earth may
pass away, God's words shall never pass away. That He did so promise
is quite evident; and may be proved, first, _explicitly_, and from
His own words, and secondly, _implicitly_, from the very necessity of
the case; and from the whole history of religious development.
Cardinal Newman, even before his reception into the Church, was so
fully persuaded of this, that he wrote: "If Christianity is both
social and dogmatic, and intended for all ages, it must, humanly
speaking, have an infallible expounder.... By the Church of England a
hollow uniformity is preferred to an infallible chair; and by the
sects in England an interminable division" (_Develop._, etc., p. 90).
In the Catholic Church alone the need is fully met.
The Church is established on earth by the direct act of God, and is
set "as an army in battle array". It exists for the express purpose of
combating error and repressing evil, in whatever form it may appear;
and whether it be instigated by the devil, or the world, or the flesh.
But, let us ask, Who ever heard of an army without a chief? An army
without a supreme commander is an army without subordination and
without law or order; or rather, it is not an army at all, but a
rabble, a mob.
The supreme head of Christ's army--of Christ's Church upon earth, is
our Sovereign Lord the Pope. Some will not accept his rule, and refuse
to admit his authority. But this is not only to be expected. It was
actually foretold. As they cried out, of old, to one even greater than
the Pope, "We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke xix. 14),
so now men of similar spirit repeat the self-same cry, with regard to
Christ's vicar.
Nevertheless, wheresoever his authority is loyally accepted, and where
submission, respect and obedience are shown to him, there results the
order and harmony and unity promised by Christ: while, on the
contrary, where he is not suffered to reign there is disorder, rivalry
and sects.
To be able to look forward and to foresee such opposite results would
perhaps need a prophetic eye, an accurate estimate of human nature,
and a very nice balancing of cause and effect. It could be the
prognostication only of a wise, judicious, and observant mind. But we
are now looking, not forwards, but backwards, and in looking backwards
the case is reduced to the greatest simplicity, so that even a child
can understand; and "he that runs may read".
The simplest intelligence, if only it will set aside prejudice and
pride, and just attend and watch, will be led, without difficulty, to
the following conclusions: firstly, without an altogether special
divine support, no authority can claim and exercise _infallibility_ in
its teaching; and secondly, without such infallibility in its teaching
no continuous unity can be maintained among vast multitudes of people,
least of all concerning dogmas most abstruse, mysteries most sublime
and incomprehensible, and laws and regulations both galling and
humiliating to human arrogance and pride.
It is precisely because the Catholic Church alone possesses such a
supreme and infallible authority that she alone is able to present to
the world that which follows directly from it, namely a complete
unity and cohesion within her own borders.
Yes! Strange to say: the Catholic Church to-day stands alone! There is
no rival to dispute with her, her unique and peerless position. Of all
the so-called Christian Churches, throughout the world, so various and
so numerous, and, in many cases, so modern and so fantastic, there is
not a single one that can approach her, even distantly, whether it be
in (_a_) the breadth of her influence, or in (_b_) the diversity and
dissimilarity of her adherents, or in (_c_) the number of her
children, or in (_d_) the extent of her conquests, or (_e_) in the
absolute unity of her composition.
Even were it possible to unite into one single body the great
multitude of warring sects, of which Protestantism is made up, such a
body would fall far short of the stature of her who has received the
gentiles for her inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for
her possession (Ps. ii. 8), and who has the Holy Ghost abiding with
her, century after century, in order that she may be "a witness unto
Christ, in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the
uttermost parts of the world" (Acts i. 8). But we cannot, even in
thought, unite such contradictories, such discordant elements; any
more than we can reduce the strident sounds of a multitude of
cacophonous instruments to one harmonious and beautiful melody.
And if the Catholic Church stands thus alone, again we repeat, it is
because no other has received the promise of divine support, or even
cares to recognise that such a promise was ever made. The Catholic
Church has been the only Church not only to exercise, but even to
claim the prerogative of infallibility: but she has claimed this from
the beginning. Every child born into her fold has been taught to
profess and to believe, firstly, that the Catholic Church is the sole
official and God-appointed guardian of the sacred deposit of divine
truth, and, secondly, that she, and no other, enunciates to the entire
world--to all who have ears to hear--the full revelation of
Christ--_His truth_; the whole truth, and nothing but the truth;
fulfilling, to the letter, the command of her Divine Master, "Go into
the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi.
15).
How has this been possible? Simply and solely because God, Who
promised that "the Spirit of Truth" (_i.e._, the Holy Ghost) "should
abide with her for ever; and should guide her in all truth" (John xiv.
16, xvi. 12), keeps His promise. When our Lord promised to "_be with_"
the teaching Church, in the execution of the divine commission
assigned to it, "_always_" and "_to the end of the world_," that
promise clearly implied, and was a guarantee, first, that the teaching
authority should exist indefectibly to the end of the world; and
secondly, that throughout the whole course of its existence it should
be divinely guarded and assisted in fulfilling the commission given to
it, _viz._, in instructing the nations in "all things whatsoever
Christ has commanded," in other words, that it should be their
infallible Guide and Teacher.
Venerable Bede, speaking of the conversion of our own country by
Augustine and his monks, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, says: "And
whereas he [Pope Gregory] bore the Pontifical power _over all the
world_, and was placed over the Churches already reduced to the faith
of truth, he made our nation, till then given up to idols, the Church
of Christ" (_Hist. Eccl._ lib. ii. c. 1). If we will but listen to the
Pope now, he will make it once again "the Church of Christ," instead
of the Church of the "Reformation," and a true living branch, drawing
its life from the one vine, instead of a detached and fallen branch,
with heresy, like some deadly decay, eating into its very vitals.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 3: No Pope, no matter what may have been his _private_
conduct, ever promulgated a decree against the purity of faith and
morals.]