CHAPTER XIV. "Tis said with ease, but never can be prov'd, Judge her ye winds and rains. Ye prov'd her, yet she stands. DRYDEN. THE day after the departure of Dr. Sinclair, Geraldine once more read the notes taken from his instructions, and then referred to those she had made from the Church histories of Mosheim and Milner. "I know nothing of logic and mathematics," thought she, "in the way of school learning; but my natural sense must tell me, that, if the primitive Church was pure in doctrine, and the Church of England pure in doctrine, they must agree in belief. If therefore they do not agree in belief, either the primitive Church was in error, or the Church of England is in error, for truth can be but one!" and Geraldine, still retaining by her the Protestant records of the early Church, now opened the "Faith of Catholics," and was soon completely absorbed in the question of agreement between the modern Catholics and the primitive Church. She considered that it would be useless to examine those points in which there was perfect agreement between the Catholic Church and the Reformed Establishment of England, namely, the Apostolicity,' Unity,' and Visibility,' of the Church of Christ, of which the Warden had proved the necessity; and she therefore resolved to confine her attention to those subjects of disunion between the Churches, in which 6 they mutually appealed to the early ages of Christianity. In the volume now open before her, the plan of reference, first, to Scripture, secondly, to the authorized divines of the pure ages' of Christianity, and thirdly, to the decisions of the last Council of the Universal Church, was exactly suited to the degree of deference which Geraldine felt disposed to yield to each; and, turning to that Sacrament which had first roused her attention to the shortcomings of her own Church, and which, from the united testimony of Milner and Mosheim, she found to have been undoubtingly received by the early Christians, she first read the Proposition,' or the real belief of the Catholic Church on this point. "The Sacrament which is administered to dying persons, to strengthen them in their passage out of this life into a better, from the oil that is used on this occasion, Catholics call Extreme Unction,' and they believe it to be divinely instituted." Then follow the reasons for this belief, Mark vi. 12, 13 :— "And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them." Epistle of James, 14, 15. "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." Next follow comments on, and enforcement of, this apostolical injunction from St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and other fathers of the Church; and then is given the extract from the Council of Trent: "The Synod declares and The limits of this little publication do not allow of the insertions of these and following quotations; we can only refer the reader to the work above-mentioned, entitled "The Faith of Catholics." teaches, that our merciful Saviour, who was willing that His servants should at all times be provided with salutary remedies against all the attacks of their enemies, as in other sacraments He prepared means whereby during life they might be preserved from every grievous evil, so would he guard the close of life by the sacrament of Extreme Unction,' as by a strong barrier." It then observes, that this sacrament, instituted by Christ, was first intimated by St. Mark, and afterward promulgated by St. James. Geraldine, with her notes from Mosheim at hand, then again ascertained that a state of purification to the soul after death was an article of faith amongst the Christians of the early centuries, and opened "The Faith of Catholics" at that part. "Catholics hold there is a 'Purgatory,' that is to say, a place or state where souls, departing this life, with remission of their sins as to the guilt or eternal pain, but yet liable to some temporal punishment still remaining due, or else not perfectly freed from the blemish of some defects, which we call venial sins,-are purged before their entrance into heaven, where nothing that is defiled can enter." Then follows the next proposition, inseparably connected with the preceding, of "Prayers for the Dead." We also believe that such souls so detained in Purgatory, being the living members of Christ Jesus, are relieved by the prayers and suffrages of their fellow-members here on earth. But where this place be, of what nature or quality the pains be, how long souls may be there detained, in what manner the suffrages made in their behalf be applied, whether by way of satisfaction or intercession, are questions superfluous and impertinent as to faith." Geraldine was pleased with the temperate and guarded manner in which this belief in a separate state was expressed, and then proceeded to the scriptural warrant for it, the first and most explicit authority being, however, from Machabees, which, in the Church of England is received doubtfully, and placed amongst the apocryphal books of Scripture. Before, therefore, she dwelt much on the offering for the dead made by Judas Machabeus, she determined to know why the Catholic Church retained, and the Protestant Churches rejected, these books, the principle importance of which, seemed evidently contained in these very verses; and, rising from her present occupation, she sought her friend Mr. Everard, accosting him with, "Pray, my dear sir, why did the Protestants at the Reformation reject those books as apocryphal which the Catholics still retain? I principally refer to the books of the Machabees."" Because," replied he, "they urge that the Christian Church could only receive the books of the Old Testament from the guardianship and sanction of the Jewish Church; and the books of the Machabees were not received as canonical by the Jews, neither were those others, which therefore the Protestants receive as doubtful or apocryphal." 66 That, indeed, was a strong argument in favour of the Protestants," returned Geraldine, pondering on this weighty reason. "I cannot think how the Catholics can justify their belief in the divine inspiration of these books." "the "In the first place," replied Mr. Everard, Books of the Old Testament were compiled by Esdras, and sanctioned by the Sanhedrim, during his life: how then could those books be in his list which were written after his time? Of course, a fresh revisal must be made, a fresh sanction given; but this was now the authorized task of the Christian, not the Jewish, Church." 66 When did the Christian Church admit these books into the canonical Scripture ?" said Geraldine. 66 They were admitted at the fourth Council of Carthage, together with that book of the New Testament, hitherto held as doubtful, namely, the Apocalypse, or Revelations. Now, if you receive this Book of Revelations from the authority of a Church council, upon what principle do you refuse to receive the Machabees, admitted at the same time, except on the plea, that, directly the Christian Church differed from the Sanhedrim, the Holy Ghost ceased to direct her councils? Are you prepared to abide by this?" "No indeed," replied Geraldine; "but I was not aware that any doubt had arisen, respecting the Apocalypse, amongst the early Christians. Then the assertion of the Church of England, that she receives only those books as canonical which had never been held doubtful in the Church, is quite false." "Not only the Apocalypse was long held as doubtful, but also the Epistle to the Hebrews, and other parts of the New Testament; namely, the last Chapter of Mark, the twenty-second of Luke, the eighth of John, the second of Jude, the second of Peter; and the second and third of John; while various spurious gospels and epistles were circulated amongst the faithful. In a previous council, held at Laodicea, these spurious gospels and epistles were pronounced to be such, and accordingly rejected; but still the Book of Revelations, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Books of the Machabees, were not formally received till the Council of Carthage, in 397, (for the progress of these researches was slow and deliberate) when the canon of Scripture was finally settled, never to be afterwards disputed, till the period of the so called Reformation." VOL. I.-16 |