Chapter V. The Motive of the Definition.

My last proposition is that the motive of the Council of the Vatican for defining the Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff was not any temporal motive, nor was it for temporal ends; but that the Definition was made in the face of all temporal dangers, in order to guard the Divine deposit of Christianity, and to vindicate the Divine certainty of Faith.

I have read many things in Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet which are unlike himself, but none seems more so to me than this question, 'Why did that Court, with policy for ever in its eye, lodge such, formidable demands for power of the vulgar kind in that sphere which is visible, and where hard knocks can undoubtedly be given as well as received?'¹

Would it not have been more seemly and more dignified if the question had been couched in some such words as these: 'Why has the Catholic Church, in a moment of great peril, when a revolution is at the gates of Rome, and the Civil Powers of the world are uniting, not only to forsake it, but even to

¹ Expostulation, p. 47.

page 157 threaten it with opposition—why has it at such a time, in spite of every inducement of policy, and every motive of interest, and in defiance of every pleading of worldly wisdom, persisted in defining the Infallibility of the Pope—a doctrine which is sure to bring down upon the Church the animosities of all its enemies without, and the conspiracies of all its faithless members within?' Even Mr. Gladstone can see that this was most impolitic. Why, then, will he accuse the Church of always having policy in its eye? By his own confession it is not always so: for he is witness that it is not so in this case. Why, then, would he not say so? I will gladly answer the question he has put.

The reasons, then, why the Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff ought to be defined were publicly stated as follows, in 1869, before the Vatican Council met; and some or all of them, I believe, prevailed in determining the Council to make that definition:—

'Those who maintain that the time is ripe, and that such a definition would be opportune, justify their opinion on the following reasons:—

'1.	Because the doctrine of the Infallibility of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, speaking ex cathedra, in matter of faith and morals, is true.
'2.	Because this truth has been denied.
'3.	Because this denial has generated extensive doubt as to the truth of this doctrine, which lies at the root of the immemorial and universal practice of page 158 the Church, and therefore at the foundation of Christianity in the world.
'4.	Because this denial, if it arose informally about the time of the Council of Constance, has been revived, and has grown into a formal and public error since the closing of the last General Council.
'5.	Because, if the next General Council shall pass it over, the error will henceforward appear to be tolerated, or at least left in impunity; and the Pontifical censures of Innocent XI., Alexander VIII., Innocent XII., and Pius VI. will appear to be of doubtful effect.
'6.	Because this denial of the traditional belief of the Church is not a private, literary, and scholastic opinion; but a patent, active, and organised opposition to the prerogatives of the Holy See.
'7.	Because this erroneous opinion has gravely enfeebled the doctrinal authority of the Church in the minds of a certain number of the faithful; and if passed over in impunity, this ill effect will be still further encouraged.
'8.	Because this erroneous opinion has at times caused and kept open a theological and practical division among pastors and people; and has given occasion to domestic criticisms, mistrusts, animosities, and alienations.
'9.	Because these divisions tend to paralyse the action of truth upon the minds of the faithful ad intra; and, consequently, by giving a false appearance page 159 of division and doubt among Catholics, upon the minds of Protestants and others ad extra.
'10.	Because, as the absence of a definition gives occasion for these separations and oppositions of opinion among pastors and people, so, if defined, the doctrine would become a basis and a bond of unity among the faithful.
'11.	Because, if defined in an (Ecumenical Council, the doctrine would be at once received throughout the world, both by those who believe the Infallibility of the Pontiff and by those who believe the Infallibility of the Church, and with the same universal joy and unanimity as the definition of the Immaculate Conception.
'12.	Because the definition of the ordinary means whereby the faith is proposed to the world is required to complete the treatise "De Fide Divina."
'13.	Because the same definition is required to complete the treatise "De Ecclesia, deque Dotibus ejus."
'14.	Because it is needed to place the Pontifical Acts during the last three hundred years, both in declaring the truth, as in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and in condemning errors, as in the long series of propositions condemned in Baius, Jansenius, and others, beyond cavil or question; and still more, to make manifest that the active Infallibility of the Church, between council and council, is not dormant, suspended, or intermittent; page 160 and to exclude the heretical supposition that infallible decrees are left to the exposition and interpretation of a fallible judge.
'15.	Because the full and final declaration of the divine authority of the Head of the Church is needed to exclude from the minds of pastors and faithful the political influences which have generated Gallicanism, Imperialism, Regalism, and Nationalism, the perennial sources of error, contention, and schism.

I will now, as briefly as I can, state what the Definition is. The greater part of the excitement and alarm on this subject arises from a want of just and clear perception of what the doctrine of Infallibility signifies.

'The fourth and last chapter of the "Constitution on the Church" defines the infallible doctrinal authority of the Roman Pontiff as the supreme teacher of all Christians.

'The chapter opens by affirming that to this supreme jurisdiction is attached a proportionate grace, whereby its exercise is directed and sustained.

'This truth has been traditionally held and taught by the Holy See, by the praxis of the Church, and by the Œcumenical Councils, especially those in which the East and the West met in union together; as, for instance, the fourth of Constantinople, the second of Lyons, and the Council of Florence.

'It is then declared that, in virtue of the promise of our Lord, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not,"¹ a perpetual grace of stability in faith was Divinely attached to Peter and to his successors in his See.

'The definition then affirms "that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra—that is, when in discharge of the office of Pastor and Doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the Universal Church—by the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, is possessed of that Infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed for defin-

¹ St. Luke xxii. 31, 32.

page 162 ing doctrine regarding faith and morals; and that, therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church.

'In this definition there are six points to be noted:

'First, it defines the meaning of the well-known phrase, loquens ex cathedra', that is, speaking from the seat, or place, or with the authority of, the supreme teacher of all Christians, and binding the assent of the Universal Church.

'Secondly, the subject-matter of his infallible teaching; namely, the doctrine of faith and morals.

'Thirdly, the efficient cause of Infallibility; that is, the Divine assistance promised to Peter, and in Peter to his successors.

'Fourthly, the act to which this Divine assistance is attached; namely, the defining of doctrines of faith and morals.

'Fifthly, the extension of this infallible authority to the limits of the doctrinal office of the Church.

'Lastly, the dogmatic value of the definitions ex cathedra; namely, that they are in themselves irreformable, because in themselves infallible, and not because the Church, or any part or member of the Church, should assent to them.

'These six points contain the whole definition of Infallibility.

'I. First, the definition limits the Infallibility of the Pontiff to the acts which emanate from him ex page 163 cathedra. This phrase, which has been long and commonly used by theologians, has now, for the first time, been adopted into the terminology of the Church, and in adopting it the Vatican Council fixes its meaning. The Pontiff speaks ex cathedra when, and only when, he speaks as the Pastor and Doctor of all Christians. By this all acts of the Pontiff as a private person, or a private doctor, or as a local bishop, or as sovereign of a State, are excluded.¹ In all these acts the Pontiff may be subject to error. In one and one only capacity he is exempt from error: that is, when, as teacher of the whole Church, he teaches the whole Church in things of faith and morals.

'Our Lord declared "Super Cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribæ et Pharisæi—the Scribes and Pharisees have sat in the chair of Moses." The seat or cathedra of Moses signifies the authority and the doctrine of Moses; the cathedra Petri is in like manner the authority and doctrine of Peter. The former was

¹ Cardinal Sfondrati, writing in 1684, explained this truth as follows:—'The Pontiff does some things as man, some as prince, some as doctor, some as pope; that is, as head and foundation of the Church; and it is only to these (last-named) actions that we attribute the gift of Infallibility. The others we leave to his human condition. As, then, not every action of the Pope is papal, so not every action of the Pope enjoys the papal privilege. This, therefore, is to act ns Pontiff, and to speak ex catheda, which is not within the competency of any (other) doctor or bishop.'—Regale Sacerdotium, lib. iii. sec. 1.

page 164 binding by Divine command, and under pain of sin, upon the people of God under the Old Law; the latter is binding by Divine command, and under pain of sin, upon the people of God under the New.

'I need not here draw out the traditional use of the term cathedra Petri, which in St. Cyprian, St. Optatus, and St. Augustine, is employed as synonymous with the successor of Peter, and is used to express the centre and test of Catholic unity. Ex cathedra is therefore equivalent to ex cathedra Petri, and distinguishes those acts of the successors of Peter which are done as supreme teacher of the whole Church.

'The value of this phrase is great, inasmuch as it excludes all cavil and equivocation as to the acts of the Pontiff in any other capacity than that of supreme Doctor of all Christians, and in any other subject- matter than the matters of faith and morals.

'II. Secondly, the definition limits the range, or, to speak exactly, the object of Infallibility, to the doctrine of faith and morals. It excludes, therefore, all other matter whatsoever.

'The great commission or charter of the Church is, in the words of our Lord, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations . . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."¹

'In these words are contained five points:

'First, the perpetuity and universality of the mission of the Church as the teacher of mankind.

'Secondly, the deposit of the Truth and of the Commandments, that is, of the Divine Faith and Law entrusted to the Church.

'Thirdly, the office of the Church, as the sole interpreter of the Faith and of the Law.

'Fourthly, that it has the sole Divine jurisdiction existing upon earth, in matters of salvation, over the reason and the will of man.

'Fifthly, that, in the discharge of this office, our Lord is with His Church always, and to the consummation of the world.

'The doctrine of faith and the doctrine of morals are here explicitly described. The Church is infallible in this deposit of revelation.

'And in this deposit are truths and morals both of the natural and of the supernatural order; for the religious truths and morals of the natural order are taken up into the revelation of the order of grace, and form a part of the object of Infallibility.

'The phrase, then, "faith and morals" signifies the whole revelation of faith; the whole way of salvation through faith; or the whole supernatural order, with all that is essential to the sanctification and salvation of man through Jesus Christ.

'This formula is variously expressed by the Church and by theologians; but it always means one and the same thing.

'The Fourteenth Œcumenical Council of Lyons in 1274 says, "If any questions arise concerning faith, they are to be decided by the Roman Pontiff."¹

'The Council of Trent uses the formula "In things of faith and morals pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine."² . . . . .

'The object of Infallibility, therefore, is the whole revealed Word of God; and all that is so in contact with revealed truth, that without treating of it the Word of God could not be guarded, expounded, and defended. As, for instance, in declaring the Canon, and authenticity, and true interpretation of Holy Scripture, and the like.

'Further, it is clear that the Church has an infallible guidance, not only in all matters that are revealed, but also in all matters which are opposed to revelation. For the Church could not discharge its office as the Teacher of all nations, unless it were able with infallible certainty to proscribe doctrines at variance with the Word of God.

'From this, again, it follows that the direct object of Infallibility is the Revelation, or Word, of God; the indirect object is whatsoever is necessary for its exposition or defence, and whatsoever is contrariant

¹ 'Si quæ subortæ fuerint quæstiones de fide, suo (i.e. Rom. Pont.) debent judicio definiri.'—Labbe, Concil. tom. xiv. p. 512, Venice, 1731.

² 'In rebus fidei et morum ad ædificationem doctrinæ: Christianæ) pertinentium.'—Sess. iv. Decret. de Edit, et Usu Sac. Lib.

page 167 to the Word of God, that is, to faith and morals. The Church, having a Divine office to condemn errors in faith and morals, has therefore an infallible assistance in discerning and in proscribing false philosophies and false science.¹ . . . . .

'I will not here attempt to enumerate the subject-matters which fall within the limits of the Infallibility of the Church. It belongs to the Church alone to determine the limits of its own Infallibility. Hitherto it has not done so except by its acts, and from the practice of the Church we may infer to what matter its infallible discernment extends. It is enough for the present to show two things:—

'Firstly, that the Infallibility of the Church extends, as we have seen, directly to the whole matter of revealed truth, and indirectly to all truths which, though not revealed, are in such contact with revelation that the deposit of faith and morals cannot be guarded, expounded, and defended without an infallible discernment of such unrevealed truths.

'Secondly, that this extension of the Infallibility of the Church is, by the unanimous teaching of all theologians, at least theologically certain; and, in the

¹ 'Further, the Church, which, together with the Apostolic office of teaching, has received a charge to guard the deposit of faith, derives from God the right and the duty of proscribing false science, lest any should be deceived by philosophy and vain deceit (Coloss. ii. 8).'—Constitution on the Catholic Faith, chap. iv. 'Of Faith and Reason.'

page 168 judgment of the majority of theologians, certain by the certainty of faith.

'Such is the traditional doctrine respecting the Infallibility of the Church in faith and morals. By the definition of the Vatican Council, what is traditionally believed by all the faithful in respect to the Church is expressly declared of the Roman Pontiff. But the definition of the extent of that Infallibility, and of the certainty on which it rests, in matters not revealed, has not been treated as yet, but is left for the second part of the Schema de Ecclesia.

'Again, the definition declares the efficient cause of Infallibility to be a Divine assistance promised to Peter, and in Peter to his successors.

'The explicit promise is that of our Divine Lord to Peter, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren."¹

'The implicit promise is in the words, "On this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."² . . . . .

'The Divine assistance is therefore a charisma, a grace of the supernatural order, attached to the Primacy of Peter, which is perpetual in his successors.

'I need hardly point out that between the charisma, or gratia gratis data, of Infallibility and the idea of

¹ St. Luke xxii. 32.

² St. Matt. xvi. 18.

page 169 impeccability there is no connection. I should not so much as notice it, if some had not strangely obscured the subject by introducing this confusion. I should have thought that the gift of prophecy in Balaam and Caiaphas, to say nothing of the powers of the priesthood, which are the same in good and bad alike, would have been enough to make such confusion impossible.

'The preface to the Definition carefully lays down that Infallibility is not inspiration.

'The Divine assistance by which the Pontiffs are guarded from error, when as Pontiffs they teach in matters of faith and morals, contains no new revelation. Inspiration contained, not only assistance in writing, but sometimes the suggestion of truths not otherwise known. The Pontiffs are witnesses, teachers, and judges of the revelation already given to the Church; and in guarding, expounding, and defending that revelation, their witness, teaching, and judgment are by Divine assistance preserved from error.'¹

I will now answer Mr. Gladstone's question—why the Definition was made. The Vatican Council, then, defined the Infallibility of the Head of the Church, because, if it had failed to do so, the doctrinal authority of the Church would have been weakened throughout

¹ Petri Privilegium, part iii. pp. 56-60, 66, 78, 84. (Longmans, 1870.)

page 170 the world Every motive of worldly policy would have tempted the Council to compromise, and to shrink from defining it; but the peremptory obligations of Divine Truth compelled it in defiance of all policy to define it. Necessity was laid upon the Council, and it could not recede. Universal doubt and scepticism are pervading men and nations: therefore the Church defined the Infallibility of its Head, which is the confirmation of its own As a Divine witness, it declared his commission, and the powers given for its exercise. The Vicar of Jesus Christ testified to the world, wearied with doubt and sick with religious contentions, that the promise of his Master, 'He that heareth you heareth Me,' has not failed. The definition of the Infallible teaching of the Church by its Head affirms that there is still a divine certainty of faith upon earth; and that, as God is the sole Fountain of all Truth, so the Church is the only channel of its conveyance and custody among men. No other policy prompted the Definition. And even though the combined hostility of Civil Powers, as we now see it, had been heated sevenfold hot before its eyes, the Council would not have swerved from declaring, whether politic or not, the truth delivered to its charge. If I speak without hesitation, it is because I am able to speak of that which I saw with my own eyes, and heard with my own ears.

I hope I shall not violate any confidence which page 171 ought to be sacred, or any reserve the delicacy of which I fully recognise, in going on to state a fact of which I am able to give personal testimony.

One day, during the deliberations of the Council, when the pressure of Diplomatists, and Governments, and journals was at its highest, the Holy Father said, 'I have just been warned that if the Council shall persist in making this definition, the protection of the French army will be withdrawn.' After a pause he added, with great calmness, 'As if the unworthy Vicar of Jesus Christ could be swayed by such motives as these.' I can with perfect certainty affirm that 'policy' had as little influence on the Council of the Vatican as it had on the Council of Nicæa; and that to ascribe the Definition to policy is as strange an aberration of judgment as to ascribe to the Definition the occupation of Rome, or the Franco-German war to the Jesuits and to the Pope. When men say these things, can they believe them?

It needs but little of the historic spirit to perceive that if the Vatican Council, for such motives as these, ought to have abstained from defining the Infallibility of the Head of the Christian Church, the Council of Nicæa ought also to have abstained from defining the Homöousion. There was violence all round about it. There was the certainty of a schism. After the Council eighty Bishops apostatised. They appealed, as all heretics ever do, to the Civil Powers. The Arian Schism was formed; it was protected by page 172 Emperor after Emperor. Arianism became a State tool against the Catholic Church. It infected Constantinople; it spread into Italy and Spain; it lasted for centuries. But where is it now? And where now is the Creed of Nicæa? The Homöousion is at this day in the heart of the whole Church throughout the world. So will it be with the Council of the Vatican. What the Council of Florence implicitly declared, and the Council of Trent assumed as of faith, that the Council of the Vatican explicitly defined. It is very true that since, the Council of Constance, that is, since the great schism of the West, when the Civil Powers of Europe, for a time, shook the visible unity of the Church by endeavouring to lessen the authority of its Head, the power of the Roman Pontiff has steadily consolidated itself in the intellect and the will of the Church. What was believed from the beginning has been now forced into explicit declaration. But while the Church has thus been more and more defining its faith with a Divine precision, the world has wandered off farther and farther into the wilderness of unbelief. The Council of Trent defined the particular doctrines denied by Luther's Reformation. But it did not deal with the master principle on which it rested. The chief character of the sixteenth century was the denial of the Divine authority of the Church, secured to it in virtue of a perpetual assistance of the Spirit of Truth. Three hundred years have unfolded the page 173 consequences of this denial. It is nearly complete in the rationalism and infidelity of Germany. The 'Centuria prærogativa' has a mournful privilege of precedence in the Comitia of unbelievers. It has run its course, too, in Switzerland; and I must add, with sadness, it is running its course in the widespread doubt which is undermining the Christianity of England. Day after day I hear the words, 'I wish I knew what to believe, and why to believe anything:' and this from some of the noblest and most masculine natures, who recoil from the incoherence and contradiction of teachers who gainsay one another. Rut here is a subject on which I have no desire to enter. If I were asked to say what is the chief intellectual malady of England and of the world at this day, I should say, ubiquitous, universal doubt, an uncertainty which came in like a flood after the rejection of the Divine certainty of Faith. This uncertainty has already led multitudes to an entire rejection of Christianity; and they have not rested even in Deism. They have gone on to the rejection even of natural religion. They have no certainty that they have a conscience, or a will, or a soul, or a law of morality, or that there is a God. Three hundred years hence, when men look back upon the Council of the Vatican, as they now look back upon the Council of Trent—I will say even thirty years hence, when the noise and dust of the present conflict is laid,—they who have faith left in page 174 them will recognise the Divine guidance under which the Council of the Vatican declared the existence of God, with all the truths radiating from it, as resting upon the witness of the visible world; and also the Divine certainty of the Faith, as resting upon the witness of the Visible Church, and finding its perpetual and infallible expression in the voice of its Visible Head.

But it is now more than time to sum up what I hope has been sufficiently proved.

My first answer to the charge that the Vatican Council has made it impossible for Catholics to render a loyal civil allegiance, is that the Vatican Council has not touched our civil allegiance at all; that the laws which govern our civil allegiance are as old as the revelation of Christianity, and are regulated by the Divine constitution of the Church and the immutable duties of natural morality. We were bound by all these obligations before the Vatican Council existed. They are of Divine institution, and are beyond all change, being in themselves unchangeable. I have shown, I hope, that in the conflicts of the Civil Powers with the Church, the causes have arisen, not from acts of the Church, but from such acts as the Constitutions of Clarendon, the claim of Investitures, the creation of Royal Courts of final appeal, and the like; that these invasions of the Spiritual domain ever have been from the attempts of Governments to subject the Church to their own jurisdiction; and now page 175 more than ever, from an universal and simultaneous conspiracy against it. A leader of this conspiracy said the other day, 'The net is now drawn so close about the Church of Rome that if it escape this time I will believe it to be Divine.' If Cod grant him life, I have hope of his conversion. For, that the Church of Rome will escape out of the net is certain, and that for two reasons: first, for the same reason why its Divine Head rose again from the grave—'it was not possible that He should be holden by it;'¹ and next, because the Civil Governments, that are now conspiring against it, are preparing for their own dissolution. Finally, I have given the true and evident reason why, when some six hundred Bishops from the ends of the Church were gathered together, they defined the Infallibility of their Head—'Visum est Spiritui Sancto et nobis.'