Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

there may be in the confession, that the undertaking, such as it is, had its origin solely in my intense admiration of the inimitable work and the sanctity of its author, without a single glance at any little celebrity which I might acquire in translating it; in one word, that it was struck out at a time, when I had just poured forth my gratitude to the illustrious saint in the following lines, which are the beginning of a hymn I published several years ago.

"GRATI ANIMI EFFUSIO IN SANCTUM THOMAM AQUINATEM PRO DIVINO EJUS HYMNO LAUDA SION.

Enim vero magne Thoma
Opus dignum sancta Roma

In lucem extulisti
Quod non tua mens effinxit,
Sed cœlestis pro te finxit,
Hoc ore profudisti.

Imò cœlitus defluxit

Totum ardens; nil eduxit

Pectoribus ex tuis;
Sanctus spiritus perculsum
Non tuopte motu pulsum
Sonis te beat suis.

In conclusion, reverend sir, begging pardon for the liberty I have taken in dedicating a work to you without permission, or the least intimation of my being about to do so, give me leave to ejaculate in all the fervour and sincerity of my heart,

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

My soul, the chosen One whom Thou hast loved,
Excels thy highest thought, and most desire,
Yea, though the lips were touched with angel fire,
Still should thy speech deserve to be reproved;
Above all living life, his seat is higher,

Than earth from Heaven, unbounded, fathomless,
And what is told of HIM, in most excess,

Falls short, though sung by seraphs in their choir.

The heavens exclaimed: "HE past us through in might,
Prevailing over us!" and earth replied,

"If Heaven prevail not, how shall I appear?"

The stars rang forth: "Thick darkness and not light

Are we before HIM!" and the ocean wide

Confessed, "He is not in me," and shrank in quivering fear.

In Fest. SS. Nom. Jesu, 1842.

PROTESTANT SAYINGS.

POPULARITY OF THE PAPACY IN ENGLAND SUPERIOR ADVANTAGES OF

MONASTERIES.

"It has never been even pretended, that at the time immediately preceding the Lutheran Reformation, the Papacy was unpopular in England. On the other hand, the parochial system, with all its advantages, was fairly carried into execution, the people had church room, and went to church; and even while Lollardism spread to an immense extent among them, they never withdrew themselves from the ministrations of the regular clergy. The monasteries, spread over the face of the land in great numbers, were sources of

relief to the poor, far more efficient than any poor-laws have been since-of instruction to the ignorant-of patronage to the deserving-and were, in spite of all that has been said about monastic laziness and monastic vice, repositories of more learning and more virtue, than the Lutheran Reformation had to offer."-Church of England Quarterly Review, Jan. 1842.

Yes, if the new gospel light had not beamed from Anna Bullen's eyes, the Papacy would still have been popular in England, the parochial system would have been continued in full vigour, and no call would have been made by the clergy of the old faith for church accommodation, for they would have built out of their means, churches commensurate with the increase of population. The people would still have gone to church, poor-laws would have been quite unnecessary, and instead of bastiles, under the name of workhouses, numerous monastic institutions would have fed the poor, and preserved them from starvation.

CHARACTERISTIC OF THE MIDDLE AGE.

"One great all-pervading feature, indeed, the characteristic of the Middle Age, is its religiousness. Its warriors, kings, statesmen, merchants, lawyers, serfs, beggars, were above and before all things else-Christians. Catholicity is stamped upon everything they did or said, everything they have left behind them. This is especially the case with the writers of that time, whether historians or poets. The one subject of the former is the fortunes of the Church, from which they could not, even in thought, separate those of the state. They try every one who appears on the stage of public life, by the Church's standard, did he stand by the Church or go with the world. Just as in the Old Testament, each king's character is determined by the one test—whether he served the Lord or Baal. It is the same with their poetry. Indeed, they had no notion of the distinction we make now between books sacred and books profane. Could they have found any profane literature, i. e. literature which, though produced in Christian times, was yet without Christianity, instead of cherishing it, they would have burnt it. The art of writing was a heaven-given skill, which could only be used to the glory of the giver-nay, the whole soul and intellect was so impregnated with Christian thoughts, that whatever it saw or comprehended, it transmuted into heavenly coin. The old Pagan heroes became Christian knights, the heathen poets seem Christian troubadours, the Paynim shadows were chased from the old poetic fields of Greece.

"What seemed an idol hymn, now breathes of thee,

Tun'd by Faith's ear to some celestial melody!'

"To Dante's eyes Virgil was a Lombard clerk; Alexander had gone forth for love of Christendom, to combat the Saracens; Theseus was the founder

of the Knight's Templars; and even the Apostles were sent forth by Christ as knights to conquer the earth."-British Critic, Jan. 1842, p. 5.

Now the characteristic features of the present age are exactly the reverse of all this. Taking England as a sample (and it is the most favourable sample we can adduce) of those countries which have abandoned the faith of the Middle Age, what do we find? Instead of that high tone of Christian feeling which pervaded all classes during a period which has been absurdly called dark, we find a chaotic jumble of discordant and conflicting creeds, whose tendency has been, and is to uproot the foundations of faith and morality, and drive men into the gulf of infidelity. We find the worship of mammon obliterating the few remains of Christianity which the "Reformation" had not been able to efface; and the poor, the favourites of the Church in the olden time, looked upon and treated as outcasts. Our warriors, statesmen, merchants, and lawyers, if they are to be good for anything, must be Protestants. Protestantism is stamped upon everything they do or say, and upon everything they may leave behind them. This is especially the case with the writers of the day, whether historians, novelists, poets, or travellers. The chief subject of the first is "Popery," as they term the faith of our Alfreds and Edwards, from which they cannot, even in thought, separate the most ordinary events. Protestantism, in their eyes, can cover a multitude of sins; but Catholicism, the faith of the Middle Age, is a tainted thing, which neither virtue, nor learning, nor talent, can save from obloquy. Our novelists, who cater for a diseased intellectual appetite, cannot satisfy it without administering a sufficient dose of scandal and malignity; and, as for our poets, while there are few indeed who exhibit any Christianity in their writings, there are others who have corrupted the foundations of religion and morality. But perhaps there are no compositions of the age which abound with so much ribaldry and abuse of religion, as books of travels. Everybody must travel, and every traveller, ignorant or learned, must write a book—for,

"A book's a book, altho' there's nothing in't."

It is a curious fact, that whilst most English travellers think that religion is in its perfection in England, foreigners should think that we have none; at least so says the British Critic (Jan. 1842, p. 110), no mean authority certainly.

"It is quite a notorious fact, that in all other countries which the English

« PredošláPokračovať »