approbation given to the acts of the Munich Congress, the Brief contains
passages of deeper and more general import, not directly touching the
action of the German divines, but having an important bearing on the
position of this _Review_. The substance of these passages is as
follows: In the present condition of society the supreme authority in
the Church is more than ever necessary, and must not surrender in the
smallest degree the exclusive direction of ecclesiastical knowledge. An
entire obedience to the decrees of the Holy See and the Roman
congregations cannot be inconsistent with the freedom and progress of
science. The disposition to find fault with the scholastic theology, and
to dispute the conclusions and the method of its teachers, threatens the
authority of the Church, because the Church has not only allowed
theology to remain for centuries faithful to their system, but has
urgently recommended it as the safest bulwark of the faith, and an
efficient weapon against her enemies. Catholic writers are not bound
only by those decisions of the infallible Church which regard articles
of faith. They must also submit to the theological decisions of the
Roman congregations, and to the opinions which are commonly received in
the schools. And it is wrong, though not heretical, to reject those
decisions or opinions.
In a word, therefore, the Brief affirms that the common opinions and
explanations of Catholic divines ought not to yield to the progress of
secular science, and that the course of theological knowledge ought to
be controlled by the decrees of the Index.
There is no doubt that the letter of this document might be interpreted
in a sense consistent with the habitual language of the _Home and
Foreign Review_. On the one hand, the censure is evidently aimed at that
exaggerated claim of independence which would deny to the Pope and the
Episcopate any right of interfering in literature, and would transfer
the whole weight heretofore belonging to the traditions of the schools
of theology to the incomplete, and therefore uncertain, conclusions of
modern science. On the other hand, the _Review_ has always maintained,
in common with all Catholics, that if the one Church has an organ it is
through that organ that she must speak; that her authority is not
limited to the precise sphere of her infallibility; and that opinions
which she has long tolerated or approved, and has for centuries found
compatible with the secular as well as religious knowledge of the age,
cannot be lightly supplanted by new hypotheses of scientific men, which
have not yet had time to prove their consistency with dogmatic truth.
But such a plausible accommodation, even if it were honest or dignified,
would only disguise and obscure those ideas which it has been the chief
object of the _Review_ to proclaim. It is, therefore, not only more
respectful to the Holy See, but more serviceable to the principles of
the _Review_ itself, and more in accordance with the spirit in which it
has been conducted, to interpret the words of the Pope as they were
really meant, than to elude their consequences by subtle distinctions,
and to profess a formal adoption of maxims which no man who holds the
principles of the _Review_ can accept in their intended signification.
One of these maxims is that theological and other opinions long held and
allowed in the Church gather truth from time, and an authority in some
sort binding from the implied sanction of the Holy See, so that they
cannot be rejected without rashness; and that the decrees of the
congregation of the Index possess an authority quite independent of the
acquirements of the men composing it. This is no new opinion; it is only
expressed on the present occasion with unusual solemnity and
distinctness. But one of the essential principles of this _Review_
consists in a clear recognition, first, of the infinite gulf which in
theology separates what is of faith from what is not of faith,--revealed
dogmas from opinions unconnected with them by logical necessity, and
therefore incapable of anything higher than a natural certainty--and
next, of the practical difference which exists in ecclesiastical
discipline between the acts of infallible authority and those which
possess no higher sanction than that of canonical legality. That which
is not decided with dogmatic infallibility is for the time susceptible
only of a scientific determination, which advances with the progress of
science, and becomes absolute only where science has attained its final
results. On the one hand, this scientific progress is beneficial, and
even necessary, to the Church; on the other, it must inevitably be
opposed by the guardians of traditional opinion, to whom, as such, no
share in it belongs, and who, by their own acts and those of their
predecessors, are committed to views which it menaces or destroys. The
same principle which, in certain conjunctures, imposes the duty of
surrendering received opinions imposes in equal extent, and under like
conditions, the duty of disregarding the fallible authorities that
uphold them.
It is the design of the Holy See not, of course, to deny the distinction
between dogma and opinion, upon which this duty is founded, but to
reduce the practical recognition of it among Catholics to the smallest
possible limits. A grave question therefore arises as to the position of
a _Review_ founded in great part for the purpose of exemplifying this
distinction.[369] In considering the solution of this question two
circumstances must be borne in mind: first, that the antagonism now so
forcibly expressed has always been known and acknowledged; and secondly,
that no part of the Brief applies directly to the _Review_. The _Review_
was as distinctly opposed to the Roman sentiment before the Brief as
since, and it is still as free from censure as before. It was at no time
in virtual sympathy with authority on the points in question, and it is
not now in formal conflict with authority.
But the definiteness with which the Holy See has pronounced its will,
and the fact that it has taken the initiative, seem positively to invite
adhesion, and to convey a special warning to all who have expressed
opinions contrary to the maxims of the Brief. A periodical which not
only has done so, but exists in a measure for the purpose of doing so,
cannot with propriety refuse to survey the new position in which it is
placed by this important act. For the conduct of a _Review_ involves
more delicate relations with the government of the Church than the
authorship of an isolated book. When opinions which an author defends
are rejected at Rome, he either makes his submission, or, if his mind
remains unaltered, silently leaves his book to take its chance, and to
influence men according to its merits. But such passivity, however right
and seemly in the author of a book, is inapplicable to the case of a
_Review_. The periodical iteration of rejected propositions would amount
to insult and defiance, and would probably provoke more definite
measures; and thus the result would be to commit authority yet more
irrevocably to an opinion which otherwise might take no deep root, and
might yield ultimately to the influence of time. For it is hard to
surrender a cause on behalf of which a struggle has been sustained, and
spiritual evils have been inflicted. In an isolated book, the author
need discuss no more topics than he likes, and any want of agreement
with ecclesiastical authority may receive so little prominence as to
excite no attention. But a continuous _Review_, which adopted this kind
of reserve, would give a negative prominence to the topics it
persistently avoided, and by thus keeping before the world the position
it occupied would hold out a perpetual invitation to its readers to
judge between the Church and itself. Whatever it gained of approbation
and assent would be so much lost to the authority and dignity of the
Holy See. It could only hope to succeed by trading on the scandal it
caused.
But in reality its success could no longer advance the cause of truth.
For what is the Holy See in its relation to the masses of Catholics, and
where does its strength lie? It is the organ, the mouth, the head of the
Church. Its strength consists in its agreement with the general
conviction of the faithful. When it expresses the common knowledge and
sense of the age, or of a large majority of Catholics, its position is
impregnable. The force it derives from this general support makes direct
opposition hopeless, and therefore disedifying, tending only to division
and promoting reaction rather than reform. The influence by which it is
to be moved must be directed first on that which gives its strength, and
must pervade the members in order that it may reach the head. While the
general sentiment of Catholics is unaltered, the course of the Holy See
remains unaltered too. As soon as that sentiment is modified, Rome
sympathises with the change. The ecclesiastical government, based upon
the public opinion of the Church, and acting through it, cannot separate
itself from the mass of the faithful, and keep pace with the progress of
the instructed minority. It follows slowly and warily, and sometimes
begins by resisting and denouncing what in the end it thoroughly adopts.
Hence a direct controversy with Rome holds out the prospect of great
evils, and at best a barren and unprofitable victory. The victory that
is fruitful springs from that gradual change in the knowledge, the
ideas, and the convictions of the Catholic body, which, in due time,
overcomes the natural reluctance to forsake a beaten path, and by
insensible degrees constrains the mouthpiece of tradition to conform
itself to the new atmosphere with which it is surrounded. The slow,
silent, indirect action of public opinion bears the Holy See along,
without any demoralising conflict or dishonourable capitulation. This
action belongs essentially to the graver scientific literature to
direct: and the inquiry what form that literature should assume at any
given moment involves no question which affects its substance, though it
may often involve questions of moral fitness sufficiently decisive for a
particular occasion.
It was never pretended that the _Home and Foreign Review_ represented
the opinions of the majority of Catholics. The Holy See has had their
support in maintaining a view of the obligations of Catholic literature
very different from the one which has been upheld in these pages; nor
could it explicitly abandon that view without taking up a new position
in the Church. All that could be hoped for on the other side was silence
and forbearance, and for a time they have been conceded. But this is the
case no longer. The toleration has now been pointedly withdrawn; and the
adversaries of the Roman theory have been challenged with the summons to
submit.
If the opinions for which submission is claimed were new, or if the
opposition now signalised were one of which there had hitherto been any
doubt, a question might have arisen as to the limits of the authority of
the Holy See over the conscience, and the necessity or possibility of
accepting the view which it propounds. But no problem of this kind has
in fact presented itself for consideration. The differences which are
now proclaimed have all along been acknowledged to exist; and the
conductors of this _Review_ are unable to yield their assent to the
opinions put forward in the Brief.
In these circumstances there are two courses which it is impossible to
take. It would be wrong to abandon principles which have been well
considered and are sincerely held, and it would also be wrong to assail
the authority which contradicts them. The principles have not ceased to
be true, nor the authority to be legitimate, because the two are in
contradiction. To submit the intellect and conscience without examining
the reasonableness and justice of this decree, or to reject the
authority on the ground of its having been abused, would equally be a
sin, on one side against morals, on the other against faith. The
conscience cannot be relieved by casting on the administrators of
ecclesiastical discipline the whole responsibility of preserving
religious truth; nor can it be emancipated by a virtual apostasy. For
the Church is neither a despotism in which the convictions of the
faithful possess no power of expressing themselves and no means of
exercising legitimate control, nor is it an organised anarchy where the
judicial and administrative powers are destitute of that authority which
is conceded to them in civil society--the authority which commands
submission even where it cannot impose a conviction of the righteousness
of its acts.
No Catholic can contemplate without alarm the evil that would be caused
by a Catholic journal persistently labouring to thwart the published
will of the Holy See, and continuously defying its authority. The
conductors of this _Review_ refuse to take upon themselves the
responsibility of such a position. And if it were accepted, the _Review_
would represent no section of Catholics. But the representative
character is as essential to it as the opinions it professes, or the
literary resources it commands. There is no lack of periodical
publications representing science apart from religion, or religion apart
from science. The distinctive feature of the _Home and Foreign Review_
has been that it has attempted to exhibit the two in union; and the
interest which has been attached to its views proceeded from the fact
that they were put forward as essentially Catholic in proportion to
their scientific truth, and as expressing more faithfully than even the
voice of authority the genuine spirit of the Church in relation to
intellect. Its object has been to elucidate the harmony which exists
between religion and the established conclusions of secular knowledge,
and to exhibit the real amity and sympathy between the methods of
science and the methods employed by the Church. That amity and sympathy
the enemies of the Church refuse to admit, and her friends have not
learned to understand. Long disowned by a large part of our Episcopate,
they are now rejected by the Holy See; and the issue is vital to a
_Review_ which, in ceasing to uphold them, would surrender the whole
reason of its existence.
Warned, therefore, by the language of the Brief, I will not provoke
ecclesiastical authority to a more explicit repudiation of doctrines
which are necessary to secure its influence upon the advance of modern
science. I will not challenge a conflict which would only deceive the
world into a belief that religion cannot be harmonised with all that is
right and true in the progress of the present age. But I will sacrifice
the existence of the _Review_ to the defence of its principles, in order
that I may combine the obedience which is due to legitimate
ecclesiastical authority, with an equally conscientious maintenance of
the rightful and necessary liberty of thought. A conjuncture like the
present does not perplex the conscience of a Catholic; for his
obligation to refrain from wounding the peace of the Church is neither
more nor less real than that of professing nothing beside or against his
convictions. If these duties have not been always understood, at least
the _Home and Foreign Review_ will not betray them; and the cause it has
imperfectly expounded can be more efficiently served in future by means
which will neither weaken the position of authority nor depend for their
influence on its approval.
If, as I have heard, but now am scarcely anxious to believe, there are
those, both in the communion of the Church and out of it, who have found
comfort in the existence of this _Review_, and have watched its straight
short course with hopeful interest, trusting it as a sign that the
knowledge deposited in their minds by study, and transformed by
conscience into inviolable convictions, was not only tolerated among
Catholics, but might be reasonably held to be of the very essence of
their system; who were willing to accept its principles as a possible
solution of the difficulties they saw in Catholicism, and were even
prepared to make its fate the touchstone of the real spirit of our
hierarchy; or who deemed that while it lasted it promised them some
immunity from the overwhelming pressure of uniformity, some safeguard
against resistance to the growth of knowledge and of freedom, and some
protection for themselves, since, however weak its influence as an
auxiliary, it would, by its position, encounter the first shock, and so
divert from others the censures which they apprehended; who have found a
welcome encouragement in its confidence, a satisfaction in its sincerity
when they shrank from revealing their own thoughts, or a salutary
restraint when its moderation failed to satisfy their ardour; whom, not
being Catholics, it has induced to think less hardly of the Church, or,
being Catholics, has bound more strongly to her;--to all these I would
say that the principles it has upheld will not die with it, but will
find their destined advocates, and triumph in their appointed time. From
the beginning of the Church it has been a law of her nature, that the
truths which eventually proved themselves the legitimate products of her
doctrine, have had to make their slow way upwards through a phalanx of
hostile habits and traditions, and to be rescued, not only from open
enemies, but also from friendly hands that were not worthy to defend
them. It is right that in every arduous enterprise some one who stakes
no influence on the issue should make the first essay, whilst the true
champions, like the Triarii of the Roman legions, are behind, and wait,
without wavering, until the crisis calls them forward.
And already it seems to have arrived. All that is being done for
ecclesiastical learning by the priesthood of the Continent bears
testimony to the truths which are now called in question; and every work
of real science written by a Catholic adds to their force. The example
of great writers aids their cause more powerfully than many theoretical
discussions. Indeed, when the principles of the antagonism which
divides Catholics have been brought clearly out, the part of theory is
accomplished, and most of the work of a _Review_ is done. It remains
that the principles which have been made intelligible should be
translated into practice, and should pass from the arena of discussion
into the ethical code of literature. In that shape their efficacy will
be acknowledged, and they will cease to be the object of alarm. Those
who have been indignant at hearing that their methods are obsolete and
their labours vain, will be taught by experience to recognise in the
works of another school services to religion more momentous than those
which they themselves have aspired to perform; practice will compel the
assent which is denied to theory; and men will learn to value in the
fruit what the germ did not reveal to them. Therefore it is to the
prospect of that development of Catholic learning which is too powerful
to be arrested or repressed that I would direct the thoughts of those
who are tempted to yield either to a malignant joy or an unjust
despondency at the language of the Holy See. If the spirit of the _Home
and Foreign Review_ really animates those whose sympathy it enjoyed,
neither their principles, nor their confidence, nor their hopes will be
shaken by its extinction. It was but a partial and temporary embodiment
of an imperishable idea--the faint reflection of a light which still
lives and burns in the hearts of the silent thinkers of the Church.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 340: _Home and Foreign Review_, April 1864.]
[Footnote 341: Lamennais, _Correspondence_, Nouvelle edition (Paris:
Didier).]
[Footnote 342: April 12 and June 25, 1830.]
[Footnote 343: Feb. 27, 1831.]
[Footnote 344: March 30, 1831.]
[Footnote 345: May 8 and June 15, 1829.]
[Footnote 346: Feb. 8, 1830.]
[Footnote 347: Aug. 15, 1831.]
[Footnote 348: Feb. 10, 1833.]
[Footnote 349: July 6, 1829.]
[Footnote 350: Sept. 15, 1832.]
[Footnote 351: Oct. 9, 1832.]
[Footnote 352: Jan. 25, 1833.]
[Footnote 353: Feb. 5, 1833.]
[Footnote 354: March 25, 1833.]
[Footnote 355: _Naturphilosophie_, p. 115; _Einleitung in die
Philosophie_, pp. 40, 54; _Freiheit der Wissenschaft_, pp. 4, 89;
_Athenaeum_, i. 17.]
[Footnote 356: _Athenaeum_, i. 92.]
[Footnote 357: _Freiheit der Wissenschaft_, p. 32.]
[Footnote 358: _Athenaeum_, i. 167.]
[Footnote 359: _Einleitung_, pp. 305, 317, 397.]
[Footnote 360: _Athenaeum_, i. 208.]
[Footnote 361: _Ibid._ ii. 655.]
[Footnote 362: _Ibid._ ii. 676.]
[Footnote 363: _Ibid._ ii. 661.]
[Footnote 364: _Wiedervereinigung der Katholiken und Protestanten_, pp.
26, 35.]
[Footnote 365: _Wiedervereinigung_, pp. 8, 10.]
[Footnote 366: _Ibid._ p. 15.]
[Footnote 367: _Ibid._ p. 21.]
[Footnote 368: _Ibid._ pp. 25, 26.]
[Footnote 369: The prospectus of the _Review_ contained these words: "It
will abstain from direct theological discussion, as far as external
circumstances will allow; and in dealing with those mixed questions into
which theology indirectly enters, its aim will be to combine devotion to
the Church with discrimination and candour in the treatment of her
opponents: to reconcile freedom of inquiry with implicit faith, and to
discountenance what is untenable and unreal, without forgetting the
tenderness due to the weak, or the reverence rightly claimed for what is
sacred. Submitting without reserve to infallible authority, it will
encourage a habit of manly investigation on subjects of scientific
interest."]
XIV
THE VATICAN COUNCIL[370]
The intention of Pius IX. to convene a General Council became known in
the autumn of 1864, shortly before the appearance of the Syllabus. They
were the two principal measures which were designed to restore the
spiritual and temporal power of the Holy See. When the idea of the
Council was first put forward it met with no favour. The French bishops
discouraged it; and the French bishops holding the talisman of the
occupying army, spoke with authority. Later on, when the position had
been altered by the impulse which the Syllabus gave to the ultramontane
opinions, they revived the scheme they had first opposed. Those who felt
their influence injured by the change persuaded themselves that the
Court of Rome was more prudent than some of its partisans, and that the
Episcopate was less given to extremes than the priesthood and laity.
They conceived the hope that an assembly of bishops would curb the
intemperance of a zeal which was largely directed against their own
order, and would authentically sanction such an exposition of Catholic
ideas as would reconcile the animosity that feeds on things spoken in
the heat of controversy, and on the errors of incompetent apologists.
They had accepted the Syllabus; but they wished to obtain canonicity for
their own interpretation of it. If those who had succeeded in assigning
an acceptable meaning to its censures could appear in a body to plead
their cause before the Pope, the pretensions which compromised the
Church might be permanently repressed.
Once, during the struggle for the temporal power, the question was
pertinently asked, how it was that men so perspicacious and so
enlightened as those who were its most conspicuous champions, could
bring themselves to justify a system of government which their own
principles condemned. The explanation then given was, that they were
making a sacrifice which would be compensated hereafter, that those who
succoured the Pope in his utmost need were establishing a claim which
would make them irresistible in better times, when they should demand
great acts of conciliation and reform. It appeared to these men that the
time had come to reap the harvest they had arduously sown.