Both, con

stretch a friendly hand one to the other. scious of guilt, must exclaim, "We all have erred-it is the Church only which cannot err; we all have sinned -the Church only is spotless on earth." This open confession of mutual guilt will be followed by the festival of reconciliation. Meanwhile, we still smart under the inexpressible pain of the wound which was then inflicted,--a pain which can be alleviated only by the consciousness that the wound has become an issue, through which all the impurities have flowed off, that men had introduced into the wide compass of the dominions of the Church; for she herself is ever pure and eternally undefiled.

In thus stating the view which Catholics take of their Church, without pretending to any completeness of detail, we think we have duly prepared our readers for understanding the following section.

§ XXXVIII.-The Church as teacher and instructress. Tradition. The Church as judge in matters of faith.

The main question, which we have now to answer, is this: how doth man attain to possession of the true doctrine of Christ; or, to express ourselves in a more general, and at once more accurate manner, how doth man obtain a clear knowledge of the institute of salvation, proffered in Christ Jesus? The Protestant says, by searching Holy Writ, which is infallible: the Catholic, on the other hand, replies, by the Church, in which alone man arrives at the true understanding of Holy Writ. In a more minute exposition of his views, the Catholic continues: doubtless the sacred Scriptures contain divine communications, and, consequently, the pure truth: whether they contain all the truths, which,

in a religious and ecclesiastical point of view are necessary, or at least very useful to be known, is a question which does not yet come under consideration. Thus, the Scripture is God's unerring word; but however the predicate of inerrability may belong to it, we ourselves are not exempt from error; nay, we only become so when we have unerringly received the word, which is in itself inerrable. In this reception of the word, human activity, which is fallible, has necessarily a part. But, in order that, in this transit of the divine contents of the Sacred Scriptures into possession of the human intellect, no gross illusion or general misrepresentation may occur, it is taught, that the Divine Spirit, to which are intrusted the guidance and vivification of the Church, becomes, in its union with the human spirit in the Church, a peculiarly Christian tact, a deep sureguiding feeling, which, as it abideth in truth, leads also into all truth. By a confiding attachment to the perpetuated Apostleship, by education in the Church, by hearing, learning, and living within her pale, by the reception of the higher principle, which renders her eternally fruitful, a deep interior sense is formed that alone is fitted for the perception and acceptance of the written Word, because it entirely coincides with the sense, in which the Sacred Scriptures themselves were composed. If, with such a sense acquired in the Church, the Sacred volume be perused, then its general essential import is conveyed unaltered to the reader's mind. Nay, when instruction through the apostleship, and the ecclesiastical education in the way described, takes place in the individual, the Sacred Scriptures are not even necessary for our acquisition of their general contents.*

*We can see from Irenæus, adv. Hær. lib. iii. c. 3, how ancient the above laid down doctrine is. With the clearest conviction it was 3

VOL. II.

But errors

This is the ordinary and regular course. and misunderstandings, more or less culpable, will never fail to occur; and, as in the times of the apostles, the word of God was combated out of the word of God, so this combat hath been renewed at all times. What, under such circumstances, is the course to be pursued? How is the Divine Word to be secured against the erroneous conceptions that have arisen? The general

pointed out, in the earliest controversies in the Church; and, in fact, if Christ hath founded a Church, nothing can be more strikingly manifest than this view of the matter. Irenæus says: "Traditionem apostolorum in toto mundo manifestatam, in omni ecclesiâ adest perspicere omnibus, qui vera velint audire; et habemus annumerare eos, qui ab apostolis instituti sunt episcopi in ecclesiis, et successores eorum usque ad nos, qui nihil tale docuerunt, neque cognoverunt, quale deliratur ab his......... Tantæ igitur ostensionis quum sint hæc, non oportet adhuc quærere apud alios veritatem, quam facile est ab ecclesiâ sumere; quum apostoli quasi in depositorium dives plenissime in eam detulerint omnia quæ sint veritatis; ut omnis, quicunque velit, sumat ex ea potum vitæ. Hæc est enim vitæ introitus: omnes autem reliqui fures sunt et latrones, propter quod oportet devitare quidem illos: quæ autem sunt ecclesiæ cum summâ diligentiâ diligere, et apprehendere veritatis traditionem.........Quid autem, si neque apostoli quidem scripturas reliquissent nobis, nonne oportebat sequi ordinem traditionis, quam tradiderunt iis, quibus committebant ecclesias? Cui ordinationi assentiunt multæ gentes barbarorum, quorum qui in Christum credunt, sine chartâ et atramento scriptam habentes per Spiritum Sanctum in cordibus suis salutem, et veterem traditionem diligenter custodientes, in unum Deum credentes.......................Hanc fidem qui sine literis crediderunt, quantum ad sermonem nostrum, barbari sunt, quantum ad sententiam, et consuetudinem, et conversationem, propter fidem, perquam sapientissimi sunt, et placent Deo, conversantes in omni justitiâ, et castitate, et sapientiâ. Quibus si aliquis annuntiaverit ea, quæ ab hereticis adinventa sunt, proprio sermone eorum colloquens, statim, concludentes aures, longius fugient, ne audire quidem sustinentes blasphemum alloquium. Sic per illam veterem apostolorum traditionem ne in conceptionem quidem mentis admittunt, quodcunque eorum ostentiloquium est."

sense decides against particular opinion-the judgment of the Church against that of the individual: the Church interprets the Sacred Scriptures. The Church is the body of the Lord: it is, in its universality, His visible form-His permanent, ever-renovated, humanity— His eternal revelation. He dwells in the community; all His promises, all His gifts are bequeathed to the community- but to no individual, as such, since the time of the apostles. This general sense, this ecclesiastical consciousness is tradition, in the subjective sense of the word.* What then is tradition? The

* Euseb. Hist. eccles. lib. v. c. 27; èkkλŋolaotikòv póvημa; Commonitor. Vincent. Lerins. c. 2, ed. Klupf. 1809, p. 90. "Hoc forsitan requirat aliquis: cum sit perfectus scripturarum canon, sibique ad omnia satis superque sufficiat: quid opus est, ut ei ecclesiasticæ intelligentiæ jungatur auctoritas? Quia videlicet scripturam sacram, pro ipsâ suâ altitudine, non uno eodemque sensû universi accipiunt; sed ejusdem eloquia aliter atque aliter alius atque alius interpretatur, ut pane quot homines sunt, tot illinc sententiæ erui posse videantur...... Atque idcirco multum necesse est, propter tantos tam varii erroris anfractus, ut propheticæ et apostolica interpretationis linea secundum ecclesiastici et catholici sensûs normam dirigatur." These words occur immediately after the conclusion of the first chapter, wherein he says, there are two ways whereby the Catholic doctrine can be distinguished from the heretical: "Primum scilicet divinæ legis auctoritate: tum deinde ecclesiæ Catholicæ traditione." By the Council of Trent (Sess. III. c. 2) tradition is called, "Universus ecclesiæ sensus.' Sess. IV. Decret. de editione et usû sacrorum librorum: "Ut nemo suæ prudentiæ innixus, in rebus fidei et morum ad ædificationem doctrinæ Christianæ pertinentium, sacras scripturas ad suos sensus contorquens, contra eum sensum, quem tenuit et tenet sancta mater ecclesia, cujus est judicare de vero sensû et interpretatione scripturarum sanctarum.".........Decret. de canon. Script.: "Perspiciens hanc veritatem et disciplinam contineri in libris scriptis et sine scripto traditionibus, quæ ipsius Christi ore ab apostolis acceptæ . . . . traditiones ipsas, tum ad fidem, tum ad mores pertinentes, tanquam vel ore tenus a Christo, vel a Sancto Spiritû dictatas, et continuâ successione in

peculiar Christian sense existing in the Church, and transmitted by ecclesiastical education; yet this sense is not to be conceived as detached from its subjectmatter—nay, it is formed in, and by this matter, so it may be called a full sense. Tradition is the living word, perpetuated in the hearts of believers. To this sense, as the general sense, the interpretation of Holy Writ is entrusted. The declaration, which it pronounces on any controverted subject, is the judgment of the Church; and, therefore, the Church is judge in matters of faith (judex controversiarum). Tradition, in the objective sense, is the general faith of the Church through all ages, manifested by outward historical testimonies; in this sense, tradition is usually termed the norma; the standard of Scriptural interpretation-the rule of faith.

Moreover, the Divine Founder of our Church, when He constituted the community of believers, as His permanent organ, had recourse to no other law than that which prevails in every department of human life. Each nation is endowed with a peculiar character, stamped on the deepest, most hidden parts of its being, which distinguishes it from all other nations, and manifests its peculiarity in public and domestic life, in art and science, in short, in every relation. It is, as it were, the tutelary genius; the guiding spirit transmitted from its progenitors; the vivifying breath of the whole community; and, indeed, the nations anterior to Christianity, personified this their peculiar character,

ecclesiâ Catholicâ conservatas, pari pietatis affectû ac reverentiâ suscipit et veneratur." Compare Melchior. Canì loc. theol. (lib. iii. c. 3, p. 179, seq. ed. Venet.) on Tradition; et lib. iv. c. 4, p. 234, on the authority of the Church.