eyes, father, which are the legitimate judges of such matters, as reason
is the proper judge of things natural and intelligible, and faith of
things supernatural and revealed. For, since you will force me into this
discussion, you must allow me to tell you, that, according to the
sentiments of the two greatest doctors of the Church, St. Augustine and
St. Thomas, these three principles of our knowledge, the senses, reason,
and faith, have each their separate objects, and their own degrees of
certainty. And as God has been pleased to employ the intervention of the
senses to give entrance to faith (for “faith cometh by hearing”), it
follows, that so far from faith destroying the certainty of the senses,
to call in question the faithful report of the senses, would lead to the
destruction of faith. It is on this principle that St. Thomas explicitly
states that God has been pleased that the sensible accidents should
subsist in the eucharist, in order that the senses, which judge only of
these accidents, might not be deceived.
We conclude, therefore, from this, that whatever the proposition may be
that is submitted to our examination, we must first determine its
nature, to ascertain to which of those three principles it ought to be
referred. If it relate to a supernatural truth, we must judge of it
neither by the senses nor by reason, but by Scripture and the decisions
of the Church. Should it concern an unrevealed truth, and something
within the reach of natural reason, reason must be its proper judge. And
if it embrace a point of fact, we must yield to the testimony of the
senses, to which it naturally belongs to take cognizance of such
matters.
So general is this rule, that, according to St. Augustine and St.
Thomas, when we meet with a passage even in the Scripture, the literal
meaning of which, at first sight, appears contrary to what the senses or
reason are certainly persuaded of, we must not attempt to reject their
testimony in this case, and yield them up to the authority of that
apparent sense of the Scripture, but we must interpret the Scripture,
and seek out therein another sense agreeable to that sensible truth;
because, the Word of God being infallible in the facts which it records,
and the information of the senses and of reason, acting in their sphere,
being certain also, it follows that there must be an agreement between
these two sources of knowledge. And as Scripture may be interpreted in
different ways, whereas the testimony of the senses is uniform, we must
in these matters adopt as the true interpretation of Scripture that view
which corresponds with the faithful report of the senses. “Two things,”
says St. Thomas, “must be observed, according to the doctrine of St.
Augustine: first, That Scripture has always one true sense; and
secondly, That as it may receive various senses, when we have discovered
one which reason plainly teaches to be false, we must not persist in
maintaining that this is the natural sense, but search out another with
which reason will agree.”[351]
St. Thomas explains his meaning by the example of a passage in Genesis,
where it is written that “God created two great lights, the sun and the
moon, and also the stars,” in which the Scripture appears to say that
the moon is greater than all the stars; but as it is evident, from
unquestionable demonstration, that this is false, it is not our duty,
says that saint, obstinately to defend the literal sense of that
passage; another meaning must be sought, consistent with the truth of
the fact, such as the following, “That the phrase _great light_, as
applied to the moon, denotes the greatness of that luminary merely as it
appears in our eyes, and not the magnitude of its body considered in
itself.”
An opposite mode of treatment, so far from procuring respect to the
Scripture, would only expose it to the contempt of infidels; because, as
St. Augustine says, “when they found that we believed, on the authority
of Scripture, in things which they assuredly knew to be false, they
would laugh at our credulity with regard to its more recondite truths,
such as the resurrection of the dead and eternal life.” “And by this
means,” adds St. Thomas, “we should render our religion contemptible in
their eyes, and shut up its entrance into their minds.”
And let me add, father, that it would in the same manner be the
likeliest means to shut up the entrance of Scripture into the minds of
heretics, and to render the pope’s authority contemptible in their eyes,
to refuse all those the name of Catholics who would not believe that
certain words were in a certain book, where they are not to be found,
merely because a pope by mistake has declared that they are. It is only
by examining a book that we can ascertain what words it contains.
Matters of fact can only be proved by the senses. If the position which
you maintain be true, show it, or else ask no man to believe it—that
would be to no purpose. Not all the powers on earth can, by the force of
authority, persuade us of a point of fact, any more than they can alter
it; for nothing can make that to be not which really is.
It was to no purpose, for example, that the monks of Ratisbon procured
from Pope St. Leo IX. a solemn decree, by which he declared that the
body of St. Denis, the first bishop of Paris, who is generally held to
have been the Areopagite, had been transported out of France, and
conveyed into the chapel of their monastery. It is not the less true,
for all this, that the body of that saint always lay, and lies to this
hour, in the celebrated abbey which bears his name, and within the walls
of which you would find it no easy matter to obtain a cordial reception
to this bull, although the pope has therein assured us that he has
examined the affair “with all possible diligence (_diligentissimè_), and
with the advice of many bishops and prelates; so that he strictly
enjoins all the French (_districte præcipientes_) to own and confess
that these holy relics are no longer in their country.” The French,
however, who knew that fact to be untrue, by the evidence of their own
eyes, and who, upon opening the shrine, found all those relics entire,
as the historians of that period inform us, believed then, as they have
always believed since, the reverse of what that holy pope had enjoined
them to believe, well knowing that even saints and prophets are liable
to be imposed upon.
It was to equally little purpose that you obtained against Galileo a
decree from Rome, condemning his opinion respecting the motion of the
earth. It will never be proved by such an argument as this that the
earth remains stationary; and if it can be demonstrated by sure
observation that it is the earth and not the sun that revolves, the
efforts and arguments of all mankind put together will not hinder our
planet from revolving, nor hinder themselves from revolving along with
her.
Again, you must not imagine that the letters of Pope Zachary,
excommunicating St. Virgilius for maintaining the existence of the
antipodes, have annihilated the New World; nor must you suppose that,
although he declared that opinion to be a most dangerous heresy, the
king of Spain was wrong in giving more credence to Christopher Columbus,
who came from the place, than to the judgment of the pope, who had never
been there, or that the Church has not derived a vast benefit from the
discovery, inasmuch as it has brought the knowledge of the Gospel to a
great multitude of souls, who might otherwise have perished in their
infidelity.
You see, then, father, what is the nature of matters of fact, and on
what principles they are to be determined; from all which, to recur to
our subject, it is easy to conclude, that if the five propositions are
not in Jansenius, it is impossible that they can have been extracted
from him; and that the only way to form a judgment on the matter, and to
produce universal conviction, is to examine that book in a regular
conference, as you have been desired to do long ago. Until that be done,
you have no right to charge your opponents with contumacy; for they are
as blameless in regard to the point of fact as they are of errors in
point of faith—Catholics in doctrine, reasonable in fact, and innocent
in both.
Who can help feeling astonishment, then, father, to see on the one side
a vindication so complete, and on the other accusations so outrageous!
Who would suppose that the only question between you relates to a single
fact of no importance, which the one party wishes the other to believe
without showing it to them! And who would ever imagine that such a noise
should have been made in the Church for nothing (_pro nihilo_), as good
St. Bernard says! But this is just one of the principal tricks of your
policy, to make people believe that everything is at stake, when, in
reality, there is nothing at stake; and to represent to those
influential persons who listen to you, that the most pernicious errors
of Calvin, and the most vital principles of the faith, are involved in
your disputes, with the view of inducing them, under this conviction, to
employ all their zeal and all their authority against your opponents, as
if the safety of the Catholic religion depended upon it; whereas, if
they came to know that the whole dispute was about this paltry point of
fact, they would give themselves no concern about it, but would, on the
contrary, regret extremely that, to gratify your private passions, they
had made such exertions in an affair of no consequence to the Church.
For, in fine, to take the worst view of the matter, even though it
should be true that Jansenius maintained these propositions, what great
misfortune would accrue from some persons doubting of the fact, provided
they detested the propositions, as they have publicly declared that they
do? Is it not enough that they are condemned by everybody, without
exception, and that, too, in the sense in which you have explained that
you wish them to be condemned? Would they be more severely censured by
saying that Jansenius maintained them? What purpose, then, would be
served by exacting this acknowledgment, except that of disgracing a
doctor and bishop, who died in the communion of the Church? I cannot see
how that should be accounted so great a blessing as to deserve to be
purchased at the expense of so many disturbances. What interest has the
state, or the pope, or bishops, or doctors, or the Church at large, in
this conclusion? It does not affect them in any way whatever, father; it
can affect none but your Society, which would certainly enjoy some
pleasure from the defamation of an author who has done you some little
injury. Meanwhile everything is in confusion, because you have made
people believe that everything is in danger. This is the secret spring
giving impulse to all those mighty commotions, which would cease
immediately were the real state of the controversy once known. And
therefore, as the peace of the Church depended on this explanation, it
was, I conceive, of the utmost importance that it should be given, that,
by exposing all your disguises, it might be manifest to the whole world
that your accusations were without foundation, your opponents without
error, and the Church without heresy.
Such, father, is the end which it has been my desire to accomplish; an
end which appears to me, in every point of view, so deeply important to
religion, that I am at a loss to conceive how those to whom you furnish
so much occasion for speaking can contrive to remain in silence.
Granting that they are not affected with the personal wrongs which you
have committed against them, those which the Church suffers ought, in my
opinion, to have forced them to complain. Besides, I am not altogether
sure if ecclesiastics ought to make a sacrifice of their reputation to
calumny, especially in the matter of religion. They allow you,
nevertheless, to say whatever you please; so that, had it not been for
the opportunity which, by mere accident, you afforded me of taking their
part, the scandalous impressions which you are circulating against them
in all quarters would, in all probability, have gone forth without
contradiction. Their patience, I confess, astonishes me; and the more
so, that I cannot suspect it of proceeding either from timidity or from
incapacity, being well assured that they want neither arguments for
their own vindication, nor zeal for the truth. And yet I see them
religiously bent on silence, to a degree which appears to me altogether
unjustifiable. For my part, father, I do not believe that I can possibly
follow their example. Leave the Church in peace, and I shall leave you
as you are, with all my heart; but so long as you make it your sole
business to keep her in confusion, doubt not but that there shall always
be found within her bosom children of peace, who will consider
themselves bound to employ all their endeavors to preserve her
tranquillity.
-----
Footnote 338:
Decrees of the pope.
Footnote 339:
The papal constitution formerly referred to.
Footnote 340:
The Council of Trent is meant, when Pascal speaks of _the council_,
without any other specification.
Footnote 341:
The reader may well be at a loss to see the difference between this
and the Reformed doctrine. Some explanations will be found in the
Historical Introduction.
Footnote 342:
This sentiment was falsely ascribed to Luther by the Council.
(Leydeck, De Dogm. Jan. 275.)
Footnote 343:
Diego (or Didacus) Alvarez was one of the most celebrated theologians
of the order of St. Dominick; he flourished in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, and died in 1635. He was brought from Spain to
Rome, to advocate there, along with Father Thomas Lemos the cause of
the grace of Jesus Christ, which the Jesuit Molina weakened, and
indeed annihilated. He shone greatly in the famous Congregation _de
Auxiliis_. (Nicole’s Note.)
Footnote 344:
His Treatise _passim_, and particularly tom. 3, l. 8, c. 20.
Footnote 345:
“It may be proper here to give an explanation of the hatred of the
Jesuits against Jansenius. When the _Augustinus_ of that author was
printed in 1640, Libertus Fromond, the celebrated professor of
Louvain, resolved to insert in the end of the book of his friend, who
had died two years before, a parallel between the doctrine of the
Jesuits on grace, and the errors of the Marseillois or demi-Pelagians.
This was quite enough to raise the rancor of the Jesuits against
Jansenius whom they erroneously supposed was the author of that
parallel. And as these fathers have long since erased from their code
of morals the duty of the forgiveness of injuries, they commenced
their campaign against the book of Jansenius in the Low Countries, by
a large volume of Theological Theses (in folio, 1641), which are very
singular productions.” (Note by Nicole.)
Footnote 346:
On the Book of Job, lib. viii., cap. 1.
Footnote 347:
_Surprise_ is the word used to denote the case of the pope when taken
at unawares or deceived by false accounts.
Footnote 348:
Lib. i., in Dial.
Footnote 349:
De Consid. lib. ii., c. ult.
Footnote 350:
Alas! alas!
Footnote 351:
I. p. q. 68, a. l.
LETTER XIX.
FRAGMENT OF A NINETEENTH PROVINCIAL LETTER, ADDRESSED TO PERE ANNAT.
REVEREND SIR,—If I have caused you some dissatisfaction, in former
Letters, by my endeavors to establish the innocence of those whom you
were laboring to asperse, I shall afford you pleasure in the present, by
making you acquainted with the sufferings which you have inflicted upon
them. Be comforted, my good father, the objects of your enmity are in
distress! And if the Reverend the Bishops should be induced to carry
out, in their respective dioceses, the advice you have given them, to
cause to be subscribed and sworn a certain matter of fact, which is, in
itself, not credible, and which it cannot be obligatory upon any one to
believe—you will indeed succeed in plunging your opponents to the depth
of sorrow, at witnessing the Church brought into so abject a condition.
Yes, sir, I have seen them; and it was with a satisfaction
inexpressible! I have seen these holy men; and this was the attitude in
which they were found. They were not wrapt up in a philosophic
magnanimity; they did not affect to exhibit that indiscriminate firmness
which urges implicit obedience to every momentary impulsive duty; nor
yet were they in a frame of weakness and timidity, which would prevent
them from either discerning the truth, or following it when discerned.
But I found them with minds pious, composed, and unshaken; impressed
with a meek deference for ecclesiastical authority; with tenderness of
spirit, zeal for truth, and a desire to ascertain and obey her dictates:
filled with a salutary suspicion of themselves, distrusting their own
infirmity, and regretting that it should be thus exposed to trial yet
withal, sustained by a modest hope that their Lord will deign to
instruct them by his illuminations, and sustain them by his power; and
believing, that that peace of their Saviour, whose sacred influences it
is their endeavor to maintain, and for whose cause they are brought into
suffering, will be, at once, their guide and their support! I have, in
fine, seen them maintaining a character of Christian piety, whose
power....
* * * * *
I found them surrounded by their friends, who had hastened to impart
those counsels which they deemed the most fitting in their present
exigency. I have heard those counsels; I have observed the manner in
which they were received, and the answers given: and truly, my father,
had you yourself been present, I think you would have acknowledged that,
in their whole procedure, there was the entire absence of a spirit of
insubordination and schism; and that their only desire and aim was, to
preserve inviolate two things—to them infinitely precious—peace and
truth.
For, after due representations had been made to them of the penalties
they would draw upon themselves by their refusal to sign the
Constitution, and the scandal it might cause in the Church, their reply
was....
* * * * *
THE END
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CARTERS’ CATALOGUE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
REMOVAL.
_Robert Carter & Brothers have removed from No. 285, to No. 530
Broadway, corner of Spring-street._
------------------------------------------------------------------------
530 Broadway, New York,
August, 1856.
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS’
New Publications.
------------------------------------
The Gospel in Ezekiel,
By Thomas Guthrie, D.D. 12mo. $1 00.
Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation.
By James McCosh, LL.D., and Dr. Dickie. 8vo. $2 00.
“Those who have read McCosh’s great work on the Divine Government, will
not wait for any favorable testimony to any thing that comes from his
pen, but will regard his name on the title-page as a sufficient voucher
for all that is to follow. The present work fulfills any expectations,
even the highest, that could have been awakened by the preceding one.
It is alike comprehensive in its range, accurate and minute in its
details, original in its structure, and devout and spirited in its tone
and tendency. It illustrates and carries out the great principle of
analogy in the Divine plans and works, far more minutely and
satisfactorily than it has been done before; and while it presents the
results of the most profound scientific research, it presents them in
their higher and spiritual relations.”—_Argus._
Dr. Williams’s Sermon on Missions.
18mo, cloth, gilt edge. 25 cents.
Dr. Rice’s Sermon on Preaching.
18mo, cloth, gilt edge. 25 cents.
Caird’s Sermon before the Queen.
18mo, cloth, gilt edge. 25 cents.
The Theology of Inventions; or, Manifestations of Deity in the works of
Art.
By the Rev. John Blakely. 12mo. 75 cents.
Emblems from Eden.
By James Hamilton, D.D. 18mo. 30 cents.
The Christian’s Great Interest.
By the Rev. William Guthrie, with Introd. by Dr. Chalmers. 50 cts.
Evening Incense.
By the author of the “Morning and Night Watches.” 40 cents.
Lectures to Young Men Delivered, in London for 1856. $1 00.
Evenings with the Romanists.
By Rev. Hobart Seymour. 12mo. $1 00.
Dr. Sprague’s great work.
The Annals of the American Pulpit.
By W. B. Sprague, D.D. Vols. 1 and 2, CONGREGATIONALISTS. 8vo.
The first volume commences with John Robinson, the first New England
Pastor, and extends to 1770; and the second volume from this period to
the close of 1855.
These volumes contain sketches of about three hundred Congregational
ministers, including every one who has been considerably distinguished,
with contributions by a large proportion of the most prominent
clergymen of different denominations, as well as from many of the most
distinguished statesmen now on the stage. In all cases in which there
is any person living to testify concerning the character, there are
original letters of personal recollection; and in all other cases the
author has appropriated what has been written and published by the
cotemporaries of the subjects who could speak from actual knowledge.
These volumes contain the most complete, as well as most interesting
history of this branch of the Christian Church that has yet been
published.
The Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the
Constitution of the Human Soul,
A Course of Lectures by R. S. Storrs, D.D. 8vo.
Africa’s Mountain Valley.
By the author of “Ministering Children.” 16mo. 60 cents.
The Christian Philosopher.
By Thomas Dick, D.D. Re-written and enlarged, with 170 illustrations.
Trade and Letters.
Three Lectures by W. A. Scott, D.D. 16mo.
Lee on the Inspiration of Holy Scripture. 8vo. $
Essays; Theological and Miscellaneous.
By Charles Hodge, D.D. 8vo.
Sacred Classics.
A series of the choicest productions of the great Divines of the
seventeenth century, such as Jeremy Taylor, Bates, Beveridge, Bishop
Hall, Butler, Howe, Baxter, Leighton, and others. The volumes will be
in neat 12mo form, large type, and uniformly bound in cloth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW JUVENILE BOOKS.
Edward Clifford; or, Memories of Childhood,
With six illustrations. 16mo. 75 cents.
“From the first page to the last, we read this beautiful and impressive
story with increasing interest, and do not hesitate to commend it to
every family and Sunday-school library in our land. It bears internal
evidence of being the work of a finished writer, who, endowed with a
sensitive temperament, and bereft in early infancy of a dear mother’s
tender sympathies and care, felt deeply the cold indifference of those
who could not appreciate the chords of a mind so delicately
strung.”—_Christian Observer._
Tales of Sweden and the Norsemen.
Illustrated. 16mo. 75 cents.
These sketches interest the mind with historic truth made winning and
lively by a style of beautiful simplicity.
Tales from English History.
By the same. 16mo. 75 cents.
“Prepared for young readers, and admirably done. In simple, yet
appropriate style, some of the more prominent and romantic episodes are
detailed, in a way at once to convey valuable information, and to
excite a desire for further acquaintance with history. When truth is so
attractive, and there is so much of it, there is but little need to
resort to fiction for the instruction of the young.”—_Evangelist._
Tales from Travelers.
By Maria Hack. Illustrated. 16mo. 75 cents.
“The contents of this volume will prove more attractive to ingenuous
youth than stories of giants and castles, and more wonderful than
fiction.”—_Observer._
The Adopted Son, and other Tales.
By the author of the “Claremont Tales.” 18mo. 50 cents.
Aunt Edith; or, Love to God the Best Motive.
By the author of “Florence Egerton.” 18mo. 50 cents.
New Editions, in cheaper form, of
FLORENCE EGERTON. 18mo. 50 cts.
EMILY VERNON. ” 50 ”
JEANIE MORRISON. ” 50 ”
KATE KILBORN. By the same author. 18mo. 50 ”
SOUTHERN CROSS AND SOUTHERN CROWN. ” 50 ”
CONTRIBUTIONS OF Q. Q. BY JANE TAYLOR. 18mo. 50 ”
ABEOKUTTA. BY MISS TUCKER. ” 50 ”
MAY DUNDAS. BY MRS. GELDART. ” 50 ”
FRITZ HAROLD; OR, THE TEMPTATION. ” 40 ”
ASHTON COTTAGE, A TALE. ” 40 ”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXPOSITORY WORKS.
Dr. Hodge’s Commentary on Ephesians.
8vo. $2 00.