A New Magnesium Lamp.—An ingenious form of magnesium lamp, the invention of Mr. H. Larkin, and which was first exhibited at the Royal Institution a couple of months since, was shown at thesoiréesof the British Association at Nottingham. Instead of the ordinary ribbon or wire of the commoner forms of magnesium lamps, magnesium powder is employed. Hence all machinery is dispensed with, the magnesium being contained in a reservoir, from a hole in the bottom of which it falls like sand from an hour-glass. The powder is allowed to fall upon the flame of a small gas-jet, and by this it is inflamed, giving all its usual illumination. In order that a sufficient quantity of powder may be employed, and that the hole in the reservoir may be large enough to allow of a regular flow, without waste of magnesium, the latter is mixed with fine sand. The size of the aperture is regulated by a stopcock. When it is desired to light the lamp, the gas is first turned on, just sufficiently to produce a small jet at the mouth of the tube, which small jet, being once kindled, may be allowed to burn any convenient time, until the moment the magnesium light is required. All that is then needed is to turn on the metallic powder, which instantly descends and becomes ignited as it passes through the burning gas. This action of turning on and off the metallic powder may be repeated without putting out the gas, as often and as quickly as desired; so that, in addition to the ordinary purpose to which lamps are applied, an instant or an intermittent light of great brilliancy, suitable for signals or for light-houses, may be very simply produced with certainty of effect and without the smallest waste of metal. The first evening an objection was made that the blue tone of the light created a cold and somewhat ghastly effect. On the second occasion Mr. Larkin remedied this by mixing with the magnesium a certain quantity of nitrate of strontia.—Journal of the Society of Arts.
An Artificial Eye for restoring Sight.—An apparatus of this kind, whose efficiency we much doubt, has been described by M. Blanchet, in a paper in which he details the operation for its insertion under the title of Helio-prothesis. The operation consists in puncturing the eye in the direction of the antero-posterior axis with a narrow bistoury, and introducing a piece of apparatus to which M. Blanchet gives the name of "phosphore." The operation in most instances produces little pain, and when the globe of the eye has undergone degeneration there is no pain at all, and the "phosphore" apparatus is{572}introduced without difficulty. The description of this contrivance is this: "It consists of a shell of enamel, and of a tube closed at both its ends by glasses, whose form varies according to circumstances." M. Blanchet thus describes the operation: "The patient's head being supported by an assistant, the upper eyelid is raised by an elevator, and the lower one is depressed. The operator then punctures the eye with a narrow bistoury, adapting the width of his incision to the diameter of the 'phosphore' tube which he intends to insert. The translucent humor having escaped, the 'phosphore' apparatus is applied, and almost immediately, or after a short time, the patient is partially restored to sight!" Before introducing the apparatus it is necessary to calculate the antero-posterior diameter of the eye, and if the lens has cataract it must be removed. Inasmuch as the range of vision depends on the quantity of the humor left behind, M. Blanchet recommends the employment of spectacles of various kinds.—Popular Science Review.
Action of Different Colored Lights on the Retina.—It is known to physiologists that when a ray of light falls upon the retina, the impression it produces remains for a definite period, according to calculation about thethird of a second. It is this fact which is used to explain why a burning brand, when twirled rapidly round, gives the appearance of a ring of light. But till quite recently it had not been shown whether the different colors of light had the same degree of persistence upon the retina. The subject has quite lately been taken up by the Abbé Laborde, who shows that, just as the prism separates the colors at different angles, so the retina absorbs the callers, or the impressions produced thereby, in different times. In conducting his experiment to prove this, the abbé receives the sunlight through an aperture in a shutter into a darkened chamber. The aperture is about three millimetres wide by six high. In the course of the beam and in the middle the chamber there is placed a disk of metal, the circumference of which is pierced by apertures corresponding to the aperture in the shutter. This disk is caused to revolve by clockwork. Behind the disc is placed a plate of ground glass to receive this spot of light. The disk being then caused to revolve rapidly, the spot appears at first white, but as the revolution become more rapid the borders of the spot and the colors which successively appear are in their order of succession as follows: blue, green, red, white, green, blue.—Comptes Rendus.
The Origin of Diamonds.—a curious, and it seems to us very improbable, theory of the origin of diamonds was put foreword by M. Chancourtios in an essay published in theComptes Rendusfor June 25th. The author tries to show in this that diamonds have been produced by and incomplete oxidation of the carbides of hydrogen, in pretty much the same fashion as the sulphur in theSolfatara,described by Professor Ansted in one of our late numbers, results from an incomplete oxidation of sulphuretted hydrogen, all of whose hydrogen is converted into water, while only a part of the sulphur is changed into sulfurous acid. It is by a similar process that petroleum has given rise to bitumen, and this again two graphite. "If, then" says the author, "a mixture of hydrocarbon gases and vapor of water be submitted to slow oxidation, diamonds may possibly be obtained." It is even possible, he observes, that the tubes which convey common coal-gas along the streets of Paris may contain such artificial diamonds in abundance.—Popular Science Review.
Ballads, Lyrics, and Hymns. By Alice Carey, 8vo., pp. 333. New York: Hurd Houghton. 1866.
Literature knows no sex, but critics do, and in courtesy we must say to Miss Carey, we think better of her than of her book; and while judging what is before us purely on its aesthetic merits, we incline to believe that the selections here compiled do not show her at her best. This book might just possibly{573}have been good, only it is not. It appears to consist of gatherings from the grist of a respectable and old-established mill, whose brand is familiarly known wherever mild magazines and sensation periodicals have penetrated. The most prominent quality it demonstrates is the tireless industry—or the well-oiled machinery—of the fair miller. The style throughout is just of the kind to be the first in a "Poet's Corner;" best characterized, perhaps, by the word "unexceptionable," as used by the domestic critic, if one there be, of Frank Leslie or the Ledger. Generally, there is nothing whenever to quarrel with—grammatically, socially, theologically, or practically. We should not be in the least surprised if Miss Carey's manuscripts even came in accurately punctuated. The whole book is like the perfection of a gentleman's toilet; every constituent part is so correctly "got up," that once out of sight, we cannot recall a single thing beyond the impression of thetout ensemble.
There is considerable thinking, without any notable novelties in thought. The fact is, no one who has not tried can appreciate the difficulty of finding something salient to fasten an opinion on. The main impression of the serious and heavy parts of the volume on our mind was that the authoress loved God, meant to be religious and tender-hearted, and thought the world cold and the sectarians narrow-minded: laudable conclusions all, which we rather agree with on the whole, but which do not show cause why they should exist in such splendid binding.
If this were all; if the book consisted utterly, as it does mainly, of versified unremarkableness, all were well enough. It would sell all the same, and descend in its due course to the limbo of respectable mediocrity, which cannot be damned because it never had a chance to be saved. But there are gleams amid the commonplace that make it, to our mind, one of the saddest books we ever opened—said with the unfulfilled promise of a busy yet wasted life. While there is not, we believe, a single true poem in her book, we do think Miss Carey might once have written poetry. There are traces of talent, like the abrasions on the high Alpine ridges where avalanches or glaciers went by them that are long since melted into the valley below, and gone to join the sea. We do not think Miss Carey ever had a very great supply of poetic power—never so much as Phoebe Carey, who has enough poetry in her to equip any ten of the other lady contributors whose versicles pay as well as hers; but what there was has been sapped and drained off as fast as it accumulated, in a thousand paltry rillets of verse that at most can only be silver threads in the passing sunshine. Had she ever been suffered to let her thoughts and fancies gather and mingle, perhaps she could have written well. She has not only considerable command of language, but some character: there has always been something respectable about Miss Carey that set her apart, somehow, from the other newspaper writers of miscellaneous verses, and to it she probably owes the present distinction of being the only one whose productions are thought worth making a book from. But the woman has never had a chance. As fast as an idea budded, it was contracted for in advance and plucked long before ripeness, for the greedy children that will have their green fruit. If a fancy strayed into her brain, it was not hers to do with as she liked. It must be carved and served up in as many different styles as possible; made into a long poem for one paper and a short poem for another, and dashed into a third as a flavoring ingredient for a string of hired rhymes. Now, is there not a strange pathos in the idea of making a life-long business of doing that ill which one might do well, and which is only worth existence when well done; of dribbling and frittering away every finer impulse; of chipping the heart's crystals up into glaziers' diamonds; of subsisting on oneself, Prometheus and vulture in one? And how infinitely sadder with the consciousness all the while that if one could but get a respite, this same work, wrought in freedom, might win all that hope asks?
Consciously or unconsciously, this, we believe, is the discipline through which Miss Carey has passed. We think so from the manner, and from the places, in which we come upon the fragments of promise that shine here and there. They are often repeated in other lines—sometimes verbatim; they are not the substance but always the sauce of the poem; they are never sustained or developed. Everything goes to show that she has reached that fatal state of enervation when the mind, from long desuetude,{574}and from never having a fair chance to think out anything, he comes next to incapable of any continued political thought at all. The exertion of developing a happy idea into its best form is too much for the unused and enfeebled imagination.
So much for the conjectural inside view of these verses, the actual outside view remains. Whether it be a sad fact or simply a fact, there is nothing to read twice in the book. It is not poetry, but it is a piece of very good judgment on the part of the publisher—just what they want. And if we understand their motives, we shall earn their good will by saying that this is a safe, trustworthy, and entirely harmless work, innocuous to families and schools, superbly bound, finished, and printed, and fit, beyond almost any work we know of, for a present from very affectionate young men to very amiable young ladies.
BEETHOVEN'S LETTERS. (1790-1836.) From the collection of Dr. Ludwig Nohl; also his Letters to the Archduke Rudolph, Cardinal-Archbishop of Olmutz, from the collection of Dr. Ludwig Ritter von Kochel. Translated by Lady Wallace; with a portrait and facsimile. 2 vols., 12mo. Hurd & Houghton.
These letters of the illustriousmaestroare arranged under three heads: Life's Joy a and Sorrows, Life's Mission, Life's Troubles and Close. They are of quite a miscellaneous character, and refer to every conceivable event of life, displaying much good humor and not a little ill humor in their short, quick, impatient sentences. As a letter-writer he is far inferior to Mozart, with whom the reader comes at once into sympathy, and of whose letters very few indeed are wanting in sentiments of universal interest. On the contrary, a very large number of these letters of Beethoven will be read simply because Beethoven wrote them, and will not bear a reperusal Yet they will, no doubt, find a welcome place beside those of his great brother artist on the table of every admirer of the grand music or these two grand geniuses. His enthusiastic, and we may add, somewhat imaginative editor and compiler, Dr. Nohl, is perhaps better qualified to form a judgment upon the general tenor and worth of these letters than we are, and we therefore quote the following from his preface to the present work: "If not fettered by petty feelings, the reader will quickly surmount the casual obstacles and stumbling-blocks which the first perusal of these letters may seem to present, and quickly feel himself transported at a single stride into a stream where a strange roaring and rushing is heard, but above which loftier tones resound with magic and exciting power. For a acute year life breathes in these lines; and under-current runs through their apparently unconnected import, uniting them as with and electric chain, and with firmer links than any mere coherence of subjects could have effected. I experienced this myself to the most remarkable degree when I first made the attempt to arrange, in accordance with their period and substance, the hundreds of individual pages bearing neither date nor address, and I was soon convinced that a connected text (such as Mozart's letters have, and ought to have) would be here entirely superfluous, as even the best biographical commentary would be very dry work, interrupting the electric current of the whole, and thus destroying its peculiar effect."
The volumes are published in scholarly style, and present a very readable and attractive page.
LONDON POEMS. By Robert Buchanan 12 mo, pp. 272. Alexander Strahan, London and New-York.
The elegant dress of this volume, so characteristic of Mr. Strahan's publications, is calculated to make one shy of saying anything derogatory to its character; but we are held to say that we decidedly object to Mr. Buchanan's poetry in any dress. The greater part of these poems are to us positively repulsive. They are but little more than rudely hand sketches of certain phases of low life in London, immoral and irreligious in tone, and utterly wanting in that spiritual expression which invests the true poet with the mantle of inspiration. The poet may describe vice if he will, but let him not dare to excuse it or throw a charm about it if he would not raised a storm of indignation in the bosoms of the virtuous and the truthful. Poetry is a divine art; the poet must discharge at once the high office of teacher as well as psalmist, and every{575}line should bear the impress of divine truth nobility, and purity. That which is false, base, boorish, and obscene is none the less detestable for being put in rhythm.
FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS COURT. An historical novel. By L. Mühlbach. Translated from the German by Mrs. Chapman Coleman and daughters. 12mo. New-York: D. Appleton & Co. 1866.
The rapidity with which the novels of Miss Mühlbach have risen into popularity in this country is a pretty good indication of their merit. They are free from the false sensationalism which furnishes the spice of the lower school of modern fiction; and they treat of historical subjects and characters with an honest intention to exhibit historical truth, and not as a mere framework for the display of a trashy story. Many of the scenes are drawn with a fidelity and an effectiveness which show at the same time a close familiarity with the times and persons with which the novel is concerned and a very considerable literary skill; but the dialogues are not always well managed, the diction being sometimes too trivial and sometimes too stilted. Despite this minor defect, the book is full enough of interest: and our wonder is, considering the great and long-established popularity of Miss Mühlbach in Germany, that her writings were not translated into our language long ago. It is a singular fact that the present work, and some other historical novels from the same pen which D. Appleton & Co. have now in press, were translated and first printed in the Confederate States during the late rebellion.
THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN.By Emily Davies. 16mo, pp. 191. London and New-York: Alexander Strahan. 1866.
This is a well-written plea for reform in the present system of female education; not for a reform which would ignore the difference in the character and duties of the two sexes, but one which would open to women various callings for which nature has specially fitted them, but which they are now shut out either by defective training or by the prejudices of society. Miss Davies's little treatise is an appropriate companion work for a volume of similar essays by Miss Parkes which we noticed two or three months ago; and though both of them are more applicable to the state of things in England than to the better condition of women in our own country there is much in both which deserves our serious consideration.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH,from the commencement of the Christian Era until the present time. By M. l'abbé J. E. Darras. Vol. IV. New-York: P. O'Shea. 1866.
The fourth volume of this highly esteemed work completes the publication of the original history of M. Darras. It comprises the last, and to us for many reasons the most interesting period of the history of the church; that which begins with the rise of Protestantism down to the pontificate of Gregory XVI. To this volume is added as an appendix a very concise and valuable historical sketch of the origin and progress of the Church in the United States by the Rev. Dr. C. I. White, of Washington City. We have already warmly commended this work to our readers. It will take its place, of course, in all our colleges and literary societies, and become as familiar to our American as it is already to all French students; but we wish for it also a wide distribution in the family circle. There is no reason why such useful and entertaining works as this should not be kept at hand and under the eye of our youth at home. A good knowledge of the church's life, labors, trials, and victories is necessary to every Catholic in our day, both for an intelligent appreciation of his faith as well as to be able to combat the attacks that faith receives through misrepresentation of the facts of history, and the unblushing falsehoods concerning the Papacy, which are so foul a blot upon the pages of history and controversy written by Protestant and infidel enemies of the church. The present work is the best history of the church we possess in the English language. It is such a one as we have needed a long time, and we again thank the enterprising publisher for the boon he has thus conferred upon the Catholic public.
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THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS.by Father Thomas of Jesus. Reprinted from the last London Edition. New York: P O'Shea, 27 Barclay st. 1866.
This is a work composed by a great saint, and justly deserving of the great reputation it has always enjoyed as one of the best of spiritual books. It contains an inexhaustible mine of meditation, sufficient to last a person during his whole life, and just as new and fresh after the hundreds perusal as during the first. It is as a book for meditation that it should be used, and for this purpose it cannot be too highly recommended to religious communities or to devout persons in the world who desire and need a guide and model for the practice of meditation.
THE LIFE AND LIGHT OF MEN. An essay. by John Young LL.D. Edin. Strahan.
Dr. Young was formerly a Presbyterian minister, but resigned his position on account of his inability to believe the Presbyterian doctrines, especially that of the vicarious atonement and imputed righteousness of Christ. The present work is leveled against this doctrine. The author has tolerably clear views of the Incarnation, and some other Catholic doctrines. His learning appears to be considerable, the tone of his mind very just and moderate, and his intellectual and literary ability of no mean order. He is one instance among a thousand others, of a noble, religious mind striving to rise above the common Protestant orthodoxy without floating away into rationalism. We recommend his book to our Calvinistic friends. What the excellent author is yearning after is Catholic theology. This, and this alone, would satisfy him, for it alone can satisfy any mind that wishes to believe in the Christian revelation and at the same time the rational.
THE LIFE OF ST. VINCENT DEPAUL, AND ITS LESSONS.A lecture. By Rev. T. S. Preston, R. Coddington.
The publication of this lecture will gratify many who were not able to be present at its delivery. The orator gives a short account of the life and great labors of the apostle of charity, and then shows the difference between charity as a Christian virtue and simple, natural philanthropy, both in principle and their means and plans of action. In works of benevolence, that which the Christian saint is careless about and avoids to the utmost of his power, is considered by the world as of vital necessity to secure success, the approval and applause of men. This truth is well brought out in the lecture, and is one which it is necessary to keep before our minds in this puffing age. The proceeds of the sale of the lecture is accredited to the benefit of the conference of St. Vincent de Paul, attached to St. Ann's Church in the city.
ALTE UND NEUR WELT. Benziger Bros. New York.
This is a Catholic monthly magazine in the German language, enriched with copious illustrations. The type and paper are of very superior quality, and the contents very various and, we should think, well-chosen. The illustrations are by far the best which can be found in any periodical published in America, and many of them equal to those of the best European magazines. The work as a whole reflects the greatest credit on its conductors, and deserves the most extensive patronage from our numerous and intelligent German Catholic population. We recommend it also to those who are studying the German language, or interested in German literature. The illustrations alone are worth the price of subscription, which is $4.00 a year.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
From D. & J. Sadlier & Co. New York. The denouncement; or, the Last Baron of Crana, and The Boyne Water. By the Brothers Banim. 2 vols. 12mo, pp. 448 and 559; Parts 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36 of D'Artaud's Lives of the Popes.
From Ticknor & Fields, Boston. How New York is Governed. By James Parton, reprinted from the North American Review. Pamphlet.
From P. O'Shea, New York. The Purgatorian Manual; or, a Selection of Prayers and Devotions with appropriate reflections for the use of the members of the Purgatorian Society in the Diocese of New York, and adapted for general use. By Rev. Thomas S. Preston, pastor of St. Ann's and Chancellor of the Diocese. Approved by the most Rev. John McCloskey, D.D., archbishop of New York, pp. 452; The Imitation of Christ in Two Books, translated by Richard Challoner, D.D. 48mo, pp. 308; Instructions on the Commandments of God, and Holy Sacraments. By St. Alphonsus Liguori. 48mo, pp. 288. The Spiritual Combat; or, the Christian Defended against the Enemy of his Salvation. 48mo, pp. 256; Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, in Latin and English. 12mo, pp. 178.
We have received an Oration delivered before the members of St. Mary's Orphan Association of Nashville, Tenn., July 4th, 1866, by Rev. A. J. Ryan, author of The Concord Banner, etc.
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[This sermon is given to the world in consequence of its having been made the subject in the public prints of various reports and comments, which, though both friendly and fair to the author, as far as he has seen them, nevertheless, from the necessity of the case, have proceeded from information inexact in points of detail.It is now published from the copy written beforehand, and does not differ from the copy, as delivered, except in such corrections of a critical nature as are imperative when a composition, writtencurrente calamo, has to be prepared for the press. There is one passage, however, which it has been found necessary to enlarge, with a view of expressing more exactly the sentiment which it contained, namely, the comparison made between Italian and English Catholics.The author submits the whole, as he does all his publications, to the judgment of Holy Church.] October 13, 1866.
The church shone brightly in her youthful days,Ere the world on her smiledSo now, an outcast, she would pour her raysKeen, free, and undefiled;Yet would I not that arm of force were mine,To thrust her from her awful ancient shrine.'Twas duty bound each convert-king to rearHis mother from the dust;And pious was it to enrich, nor fearChrist for the rest to trust:And who shall dare make common or uncleanWhat once has on the holy altar been?Dear Brothers! hence, while ye for ill prepare,Triumph Is still your own;Blest is a pilgrim church! yet shrink to shareThe curse of throwing down.So will we toll in our old place to stand,Watching, not dreading, the despoiler's hand.Vid. Lyra Apostolica.
SERMON.
This day, the feast of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, has been specially devoted by our ecclesiastical superiors to be a day of prayer for the sovereign pontiff, our holy father, Pope Pius the Ninth.
His lordship, our bishop, has addressed a pastoral letter to his clergy upon the subject, and at the end of it he says: "Than that festival none can be more appropriate, as it is especially devoted to celebrating the triumphs of the Holy See obtained by prayer. We therefore propose and direct that on the festival of the Rosary, the chief mass in each church and chapel of our diocese be celebrated with as much solemnity as circumstances will allow of. And that after the mass the psalm{578}Miserereand the Litany of the Saints be sung or recited. That the faithful be invited to offer one communion for the Pope's intention. And that, where it can be done, one part at least of the rosary be publicly said at some convenient time in the church, for the same intention."
Then he adds: "In the sermon at the mass of the festival, it is our wish that the preacher should instruct the faithful on their obligations to the Holy See, and on the duty especially incumbent on us at this time of praying for the Pope."
I. "Our obligations to the Holy See." What Catholic can doubt of our obligations to the Holy See? especially what Catholic under the shadow and teaching of St. Philip Neri can doubt those obligations, in both senses of the word "obligation," the tie of duty and the tie of gratitude?
1. For first as to duty. Our duty to the Holy See, to the chair of St. Peter, is to be measured by what the church teaches us concerning that Holy See and of him who sits in it. Now St. Peter, who first occupied it, was the Vicar of Christ. You know well, my brethren, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who suffered on the cross for us, thereby bought for us the kingdom of heaven. "When thou hadst overcome the sting of death," says the hymn, "thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to those who believe." He opens, and he shuts; he gives grace, he withdraws it; he judges, he pardons, he condemns. Accordingly, he speaks of himself in the Apocalypse as "him who is the holy and the true, him that hath the key of David (the key, that is, of the chosen king of the chosen people), him that openeth and no man shutteth, that shutteth and no man openeth." And what our Lord, the supreme judge, is in heaven, that was St. Peter on earth; he had the keys of the kingdom, according to the text, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, be loosed also in heaven."
Next, let it be considered, the kingdom which our Lord set up with St. Peter at its head was decreed in the counsels of God to last to the and of all things, according to the words I have just quoted, "The gates of hell show not prevail against it." And again, "Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." And in the words of the prophet Isaias, speaking of that divinely established church, then in the future, "This is my covenant with them, My spirit that is in thee, and my words which I have put in thy month, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." And the prophet Daniel says, "The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed . . . and it shall break in pieces and shall consume all those kingdoms (of the earth, which went before it), and itself shall stand for ever."
That kingdom our Lord set up when he came on earth, and especially after his resurrection; for we are told by St. Luke that this was his gracious employment, when he visited the apostles from time to time, during the forty days which intervened between Easter day and the day of his ascension. "He showed himself alive to the apostles," says the evangelist, "after his passion by many proofs, for forty days appearing to them and speaking of the kingdom of God." And accordingly, when at length he had ascended on high, and had sent down "the promise of his Father," the Holy Ghost, upon his apostles, they forthwith entered upon their high duties, and brought that kingdom or church into shape, and supplied it with members, and enlarged it, and carried it into all lands. As to St. Peter, he acted as the head of the church, according to the previous{579}words of Christ; and, still according to his Lord's supreme will, he at length placed himself in the see of Rome, where he was martyred. And what was then done, in its substance cannot be undone. "God is not as a man that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should change. Hath he said then, and shall he not do? Hath he said then, and will he not fulfil?" And, as St. Paul says, "The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance." His church, then, in all necessary matters, is as unchangeable as he. Its framework, its polity, its ranks, its offices, its creed, its privileges, the promises made to it, its fortunes in the world, are ever what they have been.
Therefore, as it was in the world, but notofthe world, in the apostles' times, so it is now; as it was "in honor and dishonor, in evil report and good report, as chastised but not killed, as having nothing and possessing all things," in the apostles' times, so it is now; as then it taught the truth, so it does now; and as then it had the sacraments of grace, so has it now; as then it had a hierarchy or holy government of bishops, priests, and deacons, so has it now; and as it had a head then, so must it have a head now. Who is that visible head? who is the vicar of Christ? who has now the keys of the kingdom of heaven, as St. Peter had then? Who is it who binds and looses on earth, that our Lord may bind and loose in heaven? Who, I say, is the successor to St. Peter, since a successor there must be, in his sovereign authority over the church? It is he who sits in St. Peter's chair; it is the Bishop of Rome. We all knowthis; it is part of ourfaith; I am not proving it to you, my brethren. The visible headship of the church, which was with St. Peter while he lived, has been lodged ever since in his chair; the successors in his headship are the successors in his chair, the continuous line of Bishops of Rome, or Popes, as they are called, one after another, as years have rolled on, one dying and another coming, down to this day, when we see Pius the Ninth sustaining the weight of the glorious apostolate, and that for twenty years past—a tremendous weight, a ministry involving momentous duties, innumerable anxieties, and immense responsibilities, as it ever has done.
And now, though I might say much more about the prerogatives of the Holy Father, the visible head of the church, I have said more than enough for the purpose which has led to my speaking about him at all. I have said that, like St. Peter, he is the vicar of his Lord. He can judge, and he can acquit; he can pardon, and he can condemn; he can command, and he can permit; he can forbid, and he can punish. He has a supreme jurisdiction over the people of God. He can stop the ordinary course of sacramental mercies; he can excommunicate from the ordinary grace of redemption; and he can remove again the ban which he has inflicted. It is the rule of Christ's providence, that what his vicar does in severity or in mercy upon earth, he himself confirms in heaven. And in saying all this I have said enough for my purpose, because that purpose is to define our obligations to him. That is the point on which our bishop has fixed our attention; "our obligations to the Holy See;" and what need I say more to measure our own duty to it and to him who sits in it, than to say that, in his administration of Christ's kingdom, in his religious acts, we must never oppose his will, or dispute his word, or criticise his policy, or shrink from his side? There are kings of the earth who have despotic authority, which their subjects obey indeed and disown in their hearts; but we must never murmur at that absolute rule which the sovereign pontiff has over us, because it is given to him by Christ, and, in obeying him, we are obeying his Lord. We must never suffer ourselves to doubt, that, in his government of the church, he is guided by an intelligence more than human. His yoke is the yoke of Christ,hehas the responsibility{580}of his own acts, not we; and to his Lord must he render account, not to us. Even in secular matters it is ever safe to be on his side, dangerous to be on the side of his enemies. Our duty is, not indeed to mix up Christ's vicar with this or that party of men, because he in his high station is above all parties, but to look at his acts, and to follow him whither he goeth, and never to desert him, however we may be tried, but to defend him at all hazards, and against all comers, as a son would a father, and us a wife a husband, knowing that his cause is the cause of God. And so, as regards his successors, if we live to see them; it is our duty to givethemin like manner our dutiful allegiance and our unfeigned service, and to follow them also whithersoever they go, having that same confidence that each in his turn and in his own day will do God's work and will, which we felt in their predecessors, now taken away to their eternal reward.
2. And now let us consider our obligations to the sovereign pontiff in the second sense, which is contained under the word "obligation." "In the sermon in the mass," says the bishop, "it is our wish that the preacher should instruct the faithful on their obligations to the Holy See;" and certainly those obligations, that is, the claims of the Holy See upon our gratitude, are very great. We in this country owe our highest blessings to the see of St. Peter—to the succession of bishops who have filled his apostolic chair. For first it was a Pope who sent missionaries to this island in the beginning of the church, when the island was yet in pagan darkness. Then again, when our barbarous ancestors, the Saxons, crossed over from the continent and overran the country, who but a Pope, St. Gregory the First, sent over St. Augustine and his companions to convert them to Christianity? and by God's grace they and their successors did the great work in the course of a hundred years. From that time, twelve hundred years ago our nation has ever been Christian. And then in the lawless times each followed, and the break-up of the old world all over Europe, and the formation of the new, it was the Popes, humanly speaking, who saved the religion of Christ from being utterly lost and coming to an and, and not in England only, but on the continent; that is, our Lord made use of that succession of his vicars to fulfil his gracious promise, that his religion should never fail. The Pope and the bishops of the church, acting together in that miserable time, rescued from destruction all that makes up our present happiness, spiritual and temporal. Without them the world would have relapsed into barbarism—but God willed otherwise; and especially the Roman pontiffs, the successors of St. Peter, the centre of Catholic unity, the vicars of Christ, which primarily related to the Almighty Redeemer himself: "I have a lead help upon one that is mighty, and I have exalted one chosen quote of the people. I have found David my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him. For my hand shall help him, and my arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall have no advantage over him, nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him. I will put to flight his enemies before his face, and them that hate him I will put to flight. And my truth and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. He shall cry out to me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the support of my salvation. And I will make him my first-born, high above the kings of the earth. I will keep my mercy for him for ever, and my coveted shall be faithful to him."
And the Almighty did this in pity toward his people, and for the sake of his religion, and by virtue of his promise, and for the merits of the most precious blood of his own dearly beloved Son, Whom the Popes represented. As Moses and Aaron, as Josue, as{581}Samuel, as David, were the leaders of the Lord's host in the old time, and carried on the chosen people of Israel from age to age, in spite of their enemies round about, so have the Popes from the beginning of the gospel, and especially in those middle ages when anarchy prevailed, been faithful servants of their Lord, watching and fighting against sin and injustice and unbelief and ignorance, and spreading abroad far and wide the knowledge of Christian truth.
Such they have been in every age, and such are the obligations which mankind owes to them; and, if I am to pass on to speak of the present pontiff, and of our own obligations to him, then I would have you recollect, my brethren, that it is he who has taken the Catholics of England out of their unformed state and made them a church. He it is who has redressed a misfortune of nearly three hundred years' standing. Twenty years ago we were a mere collection of individuals; but Pope Pius has brought us together, has given us bishops, and created out of us a body politic, which, please God, as time goes on, will play an important part in Christendom, with a character, an intellect, and a power of its own, with schools of its own, with a definite influence in the counsels of the Holy Church Catholic, as England had of old time.
This has been his great act toward our country; and then specially, as to his great act toward us here, toward me. One of his first acts after he was Pope was, in his great condescension, to call me to Rome; then, when I got there, he bade me send for my friends to be with me; and he formed us into and oratory. And thus it came to pass that, on my return to England, I was able to associate myself with others who had not gone to Rome, till we were so many in number that not only did we establish our own oratory here, whither the Pope had specially sent us, but we found we could throw off from's a colony of zealous and able priests into the metropolis, and establish there, with the powers with which the Pope had furnished me, and the sanction of the late cardinal, that oratory which has done and still does so much good among the Catholics of London.
Such is the Pope now happily reigning in the chair of St. Peter; such are our personal obligations to him; such has he been toward England, such toward us, toward you, my brethren. Such he is in his benefits, and, great as are the claims of those benefits upon us, great equally are the claims on us of his personal character and of his many virtues. He is one whom to see is to love; one who overcomes even strangers, even enemies, by his very look and voice; whose presence subdues, whose memory haunts, even the sturdy resolute mind of the English Protestant. Such is the Holy Father of Christendom, the worthy successor of a long and glorious line. Such is he; and great as he is in office, and in his beneficent acts and virtuous life, as great is he in the severity of his trials, in the complication of his duties, and in the gravity of his perils—perils which are at this moment closing him in on every side; and therefore it is, on account of the crisis of the long-protracted troubles of his pontificate which seems near at hand, that our bishop has set apart this day for special solemnities, the feast of the Holy Rosary, and has directed us to "instruct the faithful on theirobligationsto the Holy See," and not only so, but also "on the duty especially incumbent on us at this time ofprayingfor the Pope."
II. This, then, is the second point to which I have to direct your attention, my brethren—the duty of praying for the Holy Father; but, before doing so, I must tell you what the Pope's long-protracted troubles are about, and what the crisis is which seems approaching, I will do it in as few words as I can.
More than a thousand years ago, nay, near upon fifteen hundred, began that great struggle, which I spoke of{582}just now, between the old and the new inhabitants of this part of the world. Whole populations of barbarians overrun the whole face of the country, that is, of England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the re«t of Europe. They were heathens, and they got the better of the Christians; and religion seemed likely to fail together with that old Christian stock. But, as I have said, the Pope and the bishops of the church took heart, and set about converting the new-comers, as in a former age they had converted those who now had come to misfortune; and, through God's mercy, they succeeded. The Saxon English—Anglo-Saxons, as they are called—are among those whom the Pope converted, as I said just now. The new convert people, as you may suppose, were very grateful to the Pope and bishops, and they showed their gratitude by giving them large possessions, which were of great use, in the bad times that followed, in maintaining the influence of Christianity in the world. Thus the Catholic Church became rich and powerful. The bishops became princes, and the Pope became a sovereign ruler, with a large extent of country all his own. This state of things lasted for many hundred years; and the Pope and bishops became richer and richer, more and more powerful, until at length the Protestant revolt took place, three hundred years ago, and ever since that time, in a temporal point of view, they have become of less and less importance, and less and less prosperous. Generation after generation the enemies of the church, on the other hand, have become bolder and bolder, more powerful, and more successful in their measures against the Catholic faith. By this time the church has well-nigh lost all its wealth and all its power; its bishops have been degraded from their high places in the world, and in many countries have scarcely more, or not more, of weight or of privilege than the ministers of the sects which have split off from it. However, though the bishops lost, as time went on, their temporal rank, the Pope did lose his; he has been an exception to the rule; according to the providence of God, he has retained Rome, and the territories around about Rome, far and wide, as his own possession without let or hindrance. But now at length, by the operation of the same causes which have destroyed the power of the bishops, the Holy Father is in danger of losing his temporal possessions. For the last hundred years he has had from time to time serious reverses, but he recovered his ground. Six years ago he lost the greater part of his dominions—, all but Rome and the country immediately about it,—and now the worst of difficulties has occurred as regards the territories which remain to him. His enemies have succeeded, as it would seem, in persuading at least a large portion of his subjects to side with them. This is a real and very trying difficulty. While his subjects are for him, no one can have a word to say against his temporal rule; but who can force a sovereign on people which deliberately rejects him? You may attempt it for awhile, but at length the people, if they persist, will get their way.
They give out then, that the Pope's government is behind the age—that once indeed it was as good as other governments, but that now other governments have got better, and his has not—that he can either keep order within his territory, nor defend it from attacks from without—that his police and his finances are in a bad state—that his people are discontented within—that he does not show them how to become rich—that he keeps them from improving their minds—that he treats them as children—that he opens no career for young and energetic minds, but condemns them to inactivity and sloth—that he is an old man—that he is an ecclesiastic—that, considering his great spiritual duties, he has no time left him for temporal concerns—and that a bad rebellious government is a scandal to religion.