quity, who enlarges so copiously or so pointedly on this title of the true church, as the great St. Augustin, who died in the early part of the 5th century. Many things," he says, "detain me in the bosom of the Catholic Church- -the very name of CATHOLIC detains me in it, which she has so happily preserved amidst the different heretics; that whereas they are all desirous of being called Catholics, yet, if any stranger were to ask them, Which is the assembly of the Catholics? none of them would dare to point out his own place of worship." "To the same purpose, he says elsewhere: "We must hold fast the communion of that church which is called Catholic, not only by her own children, but also by all her enemies. For heretics and schismatics, whether they will or not, when they are speaking of the Catholic Church with strangers, or with their own people, call her by the name of Catholic, inasmuch as they would not be understood, if they did not call her by the name by which all the world calls her." In proportion to their affection for the glorious name of Catholic, is the aversion of these primitive doctors, to every ecclesiastical name or title derived from particular persons, countries, or opinions. "What new heresy," says St. Vincent of Lerins, in the 6th century, "ever sprouted up, without bearing the name of its founder, the date of its origin,' &c. St. Justin, the philosopher and martyr, had previously made the same remark in the second century, with respect to the Marcionite, Valentinian, and other heretics of his time.§ Finally, the nervous St. Jerom lays down the following rule on this subject: "We must live and die in that church, which, having been founded by the apostles, continues down to the present day. If, then, you should hear of any Christians not deriving their name from Christ, but from some other founder, as the Marcionites, the Valentinians, &c., be persuaded that they are not of Christ's society, but of Antichrist's."|| I now appeal to you, dear sir, and to the respectable friends who are accustomed to deliberate with you on religious subjects, whether these observations and arguments of the ancient fathers are not as strikingly true in this 19th century, as they were during the six first centuries, in which they wrote ? Is there not among the rival churches, one exclusively known and distinguished by the name and title of THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, as well in England, Holland, and other countries, which protest against this church, as in those which adhere to it? Does not this effulgent mark of the true religion so incontestably belong * Contra. Epist. Fundam. c. 1. Common. Advers. Hær. c. 34. Advers. Luciferan. + De Ver. Relig. c. 7. § Advers. Tryphon. to us, in spite of every effort to obscure it by the nick-names of Papists, Romanists, &c.,* that the rule of St. Cyril and St. Augustin is as good and certain now, as it was in their times? What I mean is this: if any stranger in London, Edinburgh, or Amsterdam, were to ask his way to the Catholic chapel, I would risk my life for it, that no sober Protestant inhabitant would direct him to any other place of worship than to ours. On the other hand, it is notorious, that the different sects of Protestants, like the heretics and schismatics of old, are denominated either from their founders, as the Lutherans, the Calvinists, the Socinians, &c., or from the countries in which they prevail, as the Church of England, the Kirk of Scotland, the Moravians, &c.; or from some novelty in their belief or practice, as the Anabaptists, the Independents, the Quakers, &c. The first father of Protestants was so sensible that he and they were destitute of every claim to the title of Catholic, that in translating the Apostles' Creed into Dutch, he substituted the word Christian for that of Catholic. The first Lutherans did the same thing in their catechism, for which they are reproached by the famous Fulke, who, to his own confusion, proves that the true church of Christ must be Catholic in name, as well as in substance.† I am, dear sir, &c. JOHN MILNER. LETTER XXVI.-TO JAMES BROWN, ESQ., &c. ON THE QUALITIES OF CATHOLICITY. DEAR SIR To proceed now, from the name Catholic, to the signification of that name: this is to be gathered from the etymology of the word itself, and from the sense in which the apostolical fathers and other doctors of the church have constantly used it. It is derived from the Greek word Kabaλikos, which means Universal; and, accordingly, it has ever been employed by those writers, to discriminate the great body of Christians, under their legitimate pastors, and subsisting in all nations and all ages, from those comparatively small bodies of Christians, who, in certain places, and at certain times, have been separated from it. "The Catholic Church," says St. Augustin, "is so called, because it is spread throughout the world." "If your church," adds he, addressing certain heretics, "is Catholic, show me that *St. Gregory of Tours, speaking of the Arians, and other contemporary heretics of the 6th century, says: "Romanorum nomine vocitant nostræ religionis homines." Hist. I. xvii. c. 25. Epist. 170. ad S. Sever. + On the New Testament, p. 378. it spreads its branches throughout the world; for such is the meaning of the word Catholic."** "The Catholic or universal doctrine," writes St. Vincent of Lerins, "is that which remains the same throughout all ages, and will continue so till the end of the world. He is a true Catholic, who firmly adheres to the faith which he knows the Catholic Church has universally taught from the days of old." It follows, from these and other testimonies of the fathers, and from the meaning of the term itself, that the true church is Catholic or universal in three several respects, as to persons, as to places, and as to time. It consists of the most numerous body of Christians; it is more or less diffused wherever Christianity prevails; and it has visibly existed ever since the time of the apostles. Hence, dear sir, when you hear me glorying in the name of Catholic, you are to understand me as equivalently proclaiming :—I am not a Lutheran, nor a Calvinist, nor a Whitfieldite, nor a Wesleyan; I am not of the Church of England, nor of the Kirk of Scotland, nor of the Consistory of Geneva: I can tell the place where, and the time when, each of these sects began; and I can describe the limits within which they are respectively confined: but I am a member of that great Catholic Church, which was planted by Christ and his apostles, and has been spread throughout the world, and which still constitutes the main stock of Christianity; that to which all the fathers of antiquity and the saints of all ages have belonged on earth, and still belong in the bright regions above; that which has endured and overcome the persecutions and heresies of eighteen centuries: in short, that against which the gates of hell have not prevailed, and we are assured never shall prevail. All this is implied by my title of Catholic. But to form a more accurate opinion of the number and diffusiveness of Catholics, compared with any sect of Protestants, it is proper to take a slight survey of their state in the four quarters of the world. In Europe, then, notwithstanding the revolutionary persecutions which the Catholic religion has endured, and is enduring, it is still the religion of the several states of Italy, of most of the Swiss Cantons, of Piedmont, of France, of Spain, of Portugal, and of the islands in the Mediterranean, of three parts in four of the Irish, of far the greater part of the Netherlands, Poland, Bohemia, Germany, Hungary, and the neighboring provinces; and in those kingdoms and states in which it is not the established religion, its followers are very *Contra Gaudent. 1. iii. c. 1. + Commonit. The same father briefly and accurately defines the Catholic doctrine to be, that which has been believed Semper et ubique et ab om nibus. numerous, as in Holland, Russia, Turkey, the Lutheran and Calvinistic states of Germany and England. Even in Sweden and Denmark several Catholic congregations, with their respective pastors, are to be found.-The whole vast continent of South America, inhabited by many millions of converted Indians, as well as by Spaniards and Portuguese, may be said to be Catholic; the same may be said of the empire of Mexico, and the surrounding kingdoms in North America, including California, Cuba, Hispaniola, &c.; Canada and Louisiana are chiefly Catholic; and throughout the United Provinces, the Catholic religion, with its several establishments, is completely protected, and unboundedly propagated. To say nothing of the islands of Africa, inhabited by Catholics, such as Malta, Madeira, Cape Verd, the Canaries, the Azores, Mauritius, Goree, &c., there are numerous churches of Catholics, established and organized under their pastors, in Egypt, Ethiopia, Algiers, Tunis, and the other Barbary states on the northern coast; and thence, in all the Portuguese settlements along the western. coast, particularly at Angola and Congo. Even on the eastern coast, especially in the kingdom of Zanguebar and Monopotapa, are numerous Catholic churches. There are also numerous Catholic priests, and many bishops, with numerous flocks, throughout the greater part of Asia. All the Maronites about Mount Libanus, with their bishops, priests, and monks, are Catholics; so are many of the Armenians, Persians, and other Christians, of the surrounding kingdoms and provinces.* In whatever islands or states the Portuguese or Spanish power does prevail, or has prevailed, most of the inhabitants, and in some, all of them have been converted to the Catholic faith. The whole population of the Philippine Islands, consisting of two millions of souls, is all Catholic. The diocese of Goa contains 400,000 Catholics. In short, the number of Catholics is so great throughout all the peninsula of India within the Ganges, notwithstanding the power and influence of Britain, as to excite the jealousy and complaints of the celebrated Protestant missionary, Dr. Buchanan. In a late parliamentary record, it is stated, that in Travancor and Cochin is a Catholic archbishopric and two bishoprics, one of which contains 35,000 communicants. There are numerous Catholic flocks, with their priests and even bishops, in all the kingdoms and states beyond the Ganges, particularly in Siam, Cochin-China, Tonquin, and * See Sir R. Steele's Account of the Catholic Religion throughout the world. + See Christian Researches in Asia, p. 131. Mem. Eccl. Dr. Kerr's Letter, quoted in the late parliamentary report on the Catho lic question, p. 487. the different provinces of the Chinese empire. I must add, on his subject, that, whereas none of the great Protestant sects was ever much more numerous or widely spread than at present, the Catholic Church, heretofore, prevailed in all the countries which they now separately inhabit. The same may be said of the Greek schismatics, and in a great measure of the Mahometans. It is in this point of view that the Right Rev. Dr. Marsh ought to institute his comparison between the Church of England and the Church of Rome or rather, the Catholic Church, in communion with the See of Rome. In the mean time, we are assured by his fellow-prelate, the Bishop of Lincoln, that "The articles and liturgy of the Church of England do not correspond with the sentiments of the eminent reformers on the Continent, or with the creeds of any Protestant churches there established." And with respect to this very church, nothing can be more inconsistent, than to ascribe the greater part of the population of our two islands to it. For if the Irish Catholics, the Scotch Presbyterians, the English Methodists and other dissenters, together with the vast population who neither are, nor profess to be, of any religion at all, are subtracted, to what a comparatively small number will the Church of England be reduced! And, how utterly absurd would it be in her to pretend to be the Catholic Church! Nor are these the only subtractions to be made from her numbers, and indeed from those of all other Christian societies, divided from the true church; since there being but one baptism, all the young children who have been baptized in them, and all invincibly ignorant Christians, who exteriorly adhere to them, really belong to the Catholic Church, as I have elsewhere shown. In finishing this subject, I shall quote a passage from St. Augustin, which is as applicable to the sectaries of this age as it was to those of the age in which he wrote: "There are heretics everywhere, but not the same heretics everywhere. For there is one sort in Africa, another sort in the East, a third sort in Egypt, and a fourth sort in Mesopotamia, being different in different countries, though all produced by the same mother, namely, pride. Thus also the faithful are all born of one common mother, the Catholic Church; and though they are everywhere dispersed, they are everywhere the same.' e."‡ But it is still more necessary that the true church should be Catholic or universal, as to time, than as to numbers or to place. If there ever was a period since her foundation, in which she has failed, by teaching or promoting error or vice, then the pro * See his Comparative View of the Churches of England and Rome. |