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Perhaps this contrast might be carried farther, but it is an unpleasant task to show how Anglicanism (meaning by that expression not the real system of the prayer-book, but that which has practically forced its way to a great extent into the pale of the English Church,) is gold largely mingled with earthly alloy. A divine work is at present interfered with by commixture of an heretical element, leaving us only a fervent hope and prayer, that by the long suffering mercy of God a seed may still remain, which in due time by most unambiguous works of love shall prove its identity with the ancient Church of the Island of Saints, and become one fold under one Shepherd.

 
"Christ only, of God's messengers to man,
Finished the work of grace which He began.
List, Christian warrior, thou whose soul is fain
To rid thy mother of her present chain; —
Christ will unloose His Church; yea, even now
Begins the work, and thou
Shalt spend in it thy strength, but, ere He save,
Thy lot shall be the grave."
 

The work of educating the French clergy is largely in the hands of the Congregation of S. Sulpice, a celibate body of course, and whose members are not paid, but merely clothed and boarded. They necessarily teach one uniform dogma, that is, within that sufficiently wide range of doctrine on which the Church has set her immutable seal. More than this, they impress one uniform sacerdotal mould and type, and exercise one discipline on all committed to them. It results, of course, that all who go forth from them, passing through their various public and private scrutinies, are trained and practised combatants to the extent to which their teaching goes. More yet than this; a severe ascetic and self-denying character is from the beginning attached to the sacerdotal life; they take the Apostle literally, "no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life;" parents who consent to their children entering into the priesthood think and speak of it as "a sacrifice;" those who look forward to it have it so set before them, and can count the cost before they take the first step. Few situations to which they can afterwards be called require the exercise of greater self-denial than has been expected from them from the first. Does not this point out to us the quarter from which a reform among ourselves must proceed? Surely before the laity can become sound churchmen, the priesthood must be uniformly taught; "the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth." But High Church and Low Church, not to mention the interminable shapes of distinction in individual minds between and beyond them, are utterly incompatible with each other. After the dogma of the Trinity they part company. Until then the Anglican Church teaches her priests an uniform dogma, and moulds them in a severe and uniform discipline, she cannot hope for any other fate, than that her bosom should be rent with interminable heresies and divisions. The existence of the Séminaires, and the order of S. Sulpice, is a reform in the Roman Church. Are we never to reform? Not by introducing novelties, but by recurring to ancient practices. The continual encroachment of the world upon the Church rendered it necessary to promote Seminaries as places of spiritual retreat for candidates for Holy Orders; and when, as a consequence of the Revolution, the course of study in the university became quite secularised, it became also necessary to detach the candidates altogether from that course, and to provide all that was requisite for instruction as well as for inward discipline within the walls of the Séminaire. This, as to instruction, is not completely done yet. But it is in course of doing. Now does not that necessity which sprung up in the French Church exist just as much among ourselves? Are our Universities at present a fit school for preparing men for a life of the utmost patience, self-denial, and humiliation? Is the sacerdotal type impressed there at all? Is anything like an uniform dogma known? Is it not precisely there that moral control is relaxed, and habits of indulgence are commonly introduced? Is there any attempt made to form the inward life, and discern a man's vocation? Oh, is it not the severest censure of our Universities even to mention such things? And without any special training, without any knowledge of his inward state, the young man who has been accustomed to unrestricted company, to studies almost exclusively classical or mathematical, to every kind of worldly amusement and sport, or to travel at the time of life most perilous to innocence, is taken and made a priest of, and sent to the "Cure of Souls," in a parish. Can any state of deeper practical corruption than this be well imagined? Or any system more thoroughly opposed to that pursued in the Church, which is proverbially mentioned among us as "corrupt?"

Surely the establishment of a system of "Séminaires" among ourselves, a course of close and effective moral discipline for the candidates for orders, and the inculcation of one uniform dogma, must precede any real change for the better among us. God grant that such a change may come!

Another evil has arisen from this absence of a fixed type in the clergy, and of a dogmatic standard in our Church. Both in France and England the State has seized upon that most precious prerogative of the Church – the nomination of her chief pastors: both in France and England the State has ceased to be either Catholic or Christian. Perilous then at the best it is, that a power not necessarily religious should take to itself the choice of those who are to fill the Apostolic Chairs. But this peril is so far lessened in France that the State must at least appoint one who has had a priest's education, has been moulded by the great Christian mother into the character first of her child and then of her minister, and, whatever his other qualifications be, will acknowledge her in her true unearthly character of the spouse of Christ, and defend her privileges before all things. This is the Church's guarantee in France, – not a sufficient one – but something. And, moreover, lest this character should by possibility be wanting in any nominee, power is reserved to the Apostolic See to refuse institution to such a one. But in England, – in this miserable diversity of belief in the bosom of the Church herself, this utter absence of dogmatic teaching, – the State may select at its pleasure the Erastian, the Latitudinarian, the Sabellian, the Low Churchman – the man, in short, that it wants for its own evil designs against the Church, and place him in a position where he commands the obedience of the Church's children. A fatal power, of which we are suffering the results.

On one more point there is a striking contrast. In the French Church there are special communities, as we have seen, (les Pères Lazaristes, les Missions Etrangères, &c.) for instructing those who are willing to give themselves to missionary work. In their institutions the bent of the mind, the special aptitude for so pre-eminently difficult a work, the vocation, in short, of these candidates is carefully attended to: those who have been themselves engaged in missionary work, and have the advantage of experience, direct their studies and discipline: none but those who are most single-minded and unreserved in their devotion are allowed to undertake the work of an apostle. On our part, what sort of labourers, – how grounded, disciplined, and tried, – have we been sending forth to be the Church's forlorn hope in her assaults on the strongholds of heathenism? Men who found difficulty in being employed in England from defective education or other causes: men who looked to get their 300l. a-year, and marry upon their missionaryship: or again, Lutherans from Basle, smuggled into the garb of English churchmen through the Church Missionary Society: nay, till very lately, a number of our missionaries have had no orders!!

At "Les Missions Etrangères," to inspirit the zeal of the students, they have brought back to them the bones and relics of those who have suffered for Christ in foreign lands. There have been such in China, within the last few years, men who, if now living, would only be entering on the middle period of life. And not long ago there were two missionaries in that country who were condemned to death. One was executed; the other was saved by the accidental coming of a French frigate off the coast the very morning of his execution. He returned to France, and when he came to "Les Missions Etrangères" he was shown, among other relics, the bones of his companion, with whom he had so nearly suffered. His fortitude forsook him at the sight; he could hardly support himself, and cried, "Ah! why did that unhappy frigate appear? But for that my bones would now be here, and my soul had been in heaven."

And now, as we leave the French Church, let us glance a moment at that whole community of which it is but one, though an important member. My whole design in the foregoing pages has been to bring before sincere and candid minds facts which otherwise might not be presented to their notice. Facts have an objective existence; if we shut our eyes to them they do not cease to be. The sun shines, though we are blind to its rays. Wisdom utters her voice in the streets, though none listen to her. Now incomparably the most important facts in the Roman Church are those which concern not merely a member of it, but the whole Communion: e. g. its extent, its doctrine, its internal discipline, its vital principle, and its generative and expansive power. If under these heads we consider the Roman Church, taking it merely as a fact, like the British monarchy, is it too much to say, that no work of art, no discovery of genius, no scheme of philosophy, physical or metaphysical, earthly or heavenly, no history of human deeds in doing or in suffering, no political constitution, no scientific confederacy, no association of monarchs or of peoples, no past or present civilisation, nothing about which men have wearied themselves in research and discussion, is so worthy of patient thought and humble consideration as is that Communion. The following are a few reasons for the above observation: – 1. The Roman Catholic hierarchy depends on the Pope as its centre of unity, and as the divinely-appointed Head of the Church on earth. From him all its bishops receive canonical institution, that is, the grant of spiritual jurisdiction. Accordingly, they sign themselves Bishops "by the mercy of God, and the grace of the Holy Apostolic See." What, then, is their number, and into how many countries do they extend? The following is as near an approximation to the truth as I can make.

Here, then, is one spiritual empire, stretching over all the continents of the earth, entering into so many various nations utterly different in manners, language, origin and temper. This empire, though outnumbered in some few of these nations by other Christian Communions, yet has no one other set over against it, equally wide-spread, united, and claiming like it universality. And its functions, though necessarily exercised in this world, sometimes in friendship with, sometimes in opposition to, the civil power, have to do exclusively with man's relations to the unseen world. So that it is strictly in this aspect a "kingdom of heaven" on earth, whose several members hold together by their common union with one chief.

2. But further, this hierarchy, thus numerous, thus widely spread, and thus united, are in possession of a vast body of doctrine, which they maintain to have descended to them from our Lord through His Apostles. This body of doctrine is uniform, coherent, systematic, forming a whole which comprehends all the relations of man to God from the formation of the first man to the general judgment of the world. These bishops, and the priests under them, are not in the habit of disputing what this body of doctrine is: for, as to all that concerns the Christian life, it has long ago been clearly defined and established. In the long course of eighteen hundred years disputes about it have indeed arisen: they have then been terminated by common consent: individuals who took a different view about them from the whole body have been obliged to leave it, and the truth has only come out the more sharply defined from these contests. Moreover, as this doctrine claims to be revealed, and as all revelation must be partial, as a light shining amid darkness, penetrating it indeed on all sides, but leaving indefinite spaces beyond unillumined, there are a multitude of questions more or less touching on this doctrine, yet not comprehended in it, or decided by it. Only enough is, by the consent of all members of this hierarchy, decided, so as to leave the Christian in no doubt as to any point concerning his salvation, or as to any practical means of obtaining it. There is no split in this doctrine, dividing its professors into separate camps: no internal opposition of principles reproduced in external divisions. It is one logical whole. If fresh doubts as to any point not yet decided be raised by the ever-active intellect of man, then the hierarchy, either collectively or by tacit adherence to the voice of its chief, declares and decides the point mooted. This body of doctrine, thus possessed and taught by this hierarchy, is termed the Faith, and it is necessary for every simple member of the Communion to hold and believe it. It is clear that no such body of doctrine could exist without a power coexisting at all times to declare what does or does not belong to it: for were it simply written in a book, interminable disputes would arise as to the meaning of the book. Just as the English law, the work of ages, exists in a great number of volumes, but requires no less for its practical daily working the decision of a supreme judicial authority. The sovereign declares in his courts of justice what is the law: the Church declares in her court what is the Faith. This in civil matters, is government; in spiritual, it is infallibility: without it, in the state there would be no one authority, in the Church no one Belief: this would be dissolved in anarchy, and that distracted by heresy.

3. But thirdly, this great spiritual empire, with an hierarchy thus widely extended yet thus closely united, and a code of belief at once so large and so definite, erects its tribunal for the heart and conscience of every one belonging to it. In virtue of certain words spoken by its divine Founder to His Apostles, it intervenes as a living power between man and his God, exercises the most special authority of its Head, and retains or remits sins in His name. It does not recoil before the pride, the self-will, the independence of human nature, but grasps it in its inmost recesses, and compels it to hear on earth the voice of the Judge of quick and dead. The authority it claims is so vast, so fearful, so incalculably important to those who live under it, so beyond the natural powers of man to exercise, that it is manifestly either divine or diabolical. For hundreds of years it has formed the subject of numberless reproaches directed against this empire by those who belong not to it: yet it subsists still: there is no sign of its being surrendered or modified. It subsists under all forms of civil government, absolute or constitutional monarchies, or wild democracies, whose very symbol is the entire independence of the human will. And what is remarkable, the most devoted and saintly men who have lived under this spiritual empire, and whose lives were a continued sacrifice of their own leisure, toil, sufferings, and will to God, have been most zealous to uphold, and most skilful to exercise, this tribunal over the consciences of men. It has been now for many generations the chosen taunt of the unbeliever, and the constant practice of the saint.

4. But further, this empire dares to offer up the dearest affections of the natural man to the more uninterrupted service of God. It requires of all those whom it employs in the office of teaching a surrender of the liberty to engage in those ties which the Gospel itself seeks, not to proscribe, but to sanctify. Thus the Communion, which honours marriage as a sacrament, requires of all members of its hierarchy, down to the subdeacon inclusively, to abstain from it. It regards them as the militia of the Church; and "no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life." Multitudes there are besides, both of men and women, who accept not only this condition, but voluntarily embrace the vows of poverty and obedience in addition. To all these this spiritual empire promises one only compensation, great indeed, but received by faith alone; that, in proportion as they surrender all delight arising from the creature, and bring their will into subjection to another, the larger shall be their inheritance in the Creator; the more absolute the union of their will with His. And on this super-human life, founded in self-renunciation, and supported by Divine love, all great works in the Roman Communion depend. Not only is it the condition of the whole hierarchy, of all who have the Church's commission publicly to teach her belief, but the task of education, from the highest to the lowest classes, and the manifold labours of charity for the sick and poor, are all committed to those who give this proof of the sincerity of their vocation.

5. Lastly, in this spiritual empire there are a great number of institutions or congregations of men specially intended for its wider extension among yet heathen nations. To the conditions above enumerated they must add a yet more special aptitude for the most difficult and laborious work; a yet more complete surrender of human praise, reward, comfort, or support. Sisters of charity are seen to cross over the ocean to the extremity of the world, that they may work in combination with missionaries, whose task it is to live among savages, and to make them first men, in order that they may hereafter be Christians; both alike without endowment, in simple dependence on Providence, trusting to the labour of their hands for maintenance, putting their lives in the power of the faithless and fickle savage, and showing him, by their own homelessness, that they but live and labour for him. Nor has the blood of martyrs wholly ceased to flow. Seventy persons in China, Tonking, and Cochin China, have in the last fifty years borne witness with their lives to the faith of Christ – some of them Frenchmen and Spaniards, but some likewise priests and catechists taken out of one of the naturally feeblest races of the East, whom the grace of God nerved to endure torments unsurpassed for their severity in the earliest persecutions of the Church.

Whatever be the imperfections of human agents, is there not enough in all this to make us behold the working of a Divine and supernatural power? Should we not each, in our several spheres, labour and pray for reconciliation and unity – the adjustment of differences – the mutual understanding of Christendom? One alone can do this – let it be our first and last request to Him.

 
"O Thou, who doest all things
whereby to bring again our race to Thee,
that it may be partaker
of Thy divine nature and eternal glory;
who hast borne witness
to the truth of Thy Gospel
by many and various wonders,
in the ever-memorable converse of Thy Saints,
in their supernatural endurance of torments,
in the overwhelming conversion of all lands
to the obedience of faith,
without might, or persuasion, or compulsion; —
end the schisms of the Churches,
quench the haughty cries of the nations,
restore the wanderers,
knit them to Thy Holy Catholic Apostolic Church,
and receive us all into Thy kingdom,
acknowledging us as Sons of Light;
and Thy peace and love
vouchsafe to us, O Lord our God."
 

APPENDIX

I subjoin the following, as giving a further view of the Seminary of S. Sulpice, which could not so well be incorporated into the Journal itself.

Picture of the duties of a seminarist who desires to sanctify and prepare himself worthily to fulfil the functions of the holy ministry: —

"Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all." 1 Tim. iv. 15.

"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, till Christ be formed in you." Gal. iv. 19.

"It is behoving that the clergy, who are called into the Lord's inheritance, should direct their lives and manners so as to offer a picture of seriousness, composure, and religion, in their dress, gesture, demeanour, conversation, and all other respects." – Council of Trent, Sess. 12. on Reformation.

"Bishops are to charge their clergy, of whatever degree, that they give an example to God's people in manner of life, conversation, and knowledge; remembering what is written, 'Be ye holy, for I am holy.'" – Council of Trent, Sess. 14. on Reformation.

I. Object of the Seminary

"Ye see your calling." 1 Cor. i. 26.

The seminarist who desires faithfully to fulfil his duties, and to advance in the graces of the seminary, never forgets that the object for which he has gone there is to become a holy priest, and to acquire the virtues and the knowledge necessary to the Lord's ministers.

"Let seminaries be instituted for the education of the clergy in piety, religion, and ecclesiastical discipline." -Council of Trent.

This general object of the seminary includes the following particular objects: —

1. That he should reform within himself the false maxims of the world by the principles of the faith.

"Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth; proving what is acceptable unto the Lord." Eph. v. 8.

2. That he should cleanse himself from his sins and their miserable remains by penitence, especially that of the heart.

"Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance." Luke, iii. 8.

"A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." Ps. li.

3. That he should become a perfect Christian by exercising himself in piety and the practice of virtues.

"Exercise thyself unto godliness." 1 Tim. iv. 7.

4. That he should acquire the ecclesiastical spirit.

"We have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God." 1 Cor. ii. 12.

5. That he should apply to the study of the ecclesiastical sciences.

"Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine." 1 Tim. iv. 16.

II. Vocation

"And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." Heb. v. 4.

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." John, xv. 16.

In order to know whether he is called by God to the ecclesiastical estate, the seminarist studies the marks of vocation, and gives an account to his director of his actual disposition, and of his conduct before his entry into the seminary.

The principal marks of vocation are —

1. To have no other intention but the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

"I seek not mine own glory." John, viii. 50.

"I have ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." John xv. 16.

2. To repent of one's sins, preserving in the heart contrition and the feeling of one's unworthiness for a state so holy and so sublime as that of the priesthood.

"My sin is ever before me." Ps. li.

"My heaviness is ever in my sight." Ps. xxxviii.

3. To love the rule of the seminary, observe it exactly, and be very faithful to direction.

"O my God, I am content to do it; yea, Thy law is within my heart." Ps. xl.

4. Not to seek to please the world.

"If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Gal. i. 10.

5. To practise the Christian virtues, and to aim at the perfection of the ecclesiastical state.

"Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the world." Matt. v. 13.

6. The most necessary and the most certain mark is the decision of his director, when he has given him complete knowledge of himself, after having prayed with fervour and purity of heart.

"He that heareth you, heareth me." Luke, x. 16.

III. Spirit of the Seminary

"If any one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Rom. viii. 9.

The seminarist who wishes to profit by his stay in the seminary, and by its exercises, strives to direct his conduct and actions according to the spirit of our Lord, which is entirely opposed to that of the world. The features of that spirit are —

1. To give oneself to God without reserve, and to do for Him all one's actions.

"My son, give me thy heart." Prov. xxiii. 26.

"Do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. x. 31.

2. Detachment from the world.

"Ye are not of the world." John, xv. 9.

"The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Gal. vi. 4.

3. Inward collectedness, and the presence of God.

"Walk before Me, and be thou perfect." Gen. xvii. 1.

"Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart." Luke, ii. 19.

4. Ready, entire, and perfect obedience.

"And he was subject unto them." Luke, ii. 51.

"Obey them that have the rule over you." Heb. xiii. 17.

5. Fraternal charity.

"This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." John, xv. 12.

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John, xiii. 35

6. Love of study, and the ecclesiastical sciences.

"Ye are the light of the world." Matt. v. 14.

"The priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth." Mal. ii. 7.

IV. Maxims of the Seminary

"He who heareth my words and doeth them shall be likened unto a wise man who built his house upon the rock." Matt. vii. 24.

The seminarist proposes during his stay to confirm himself, by frequent meditation, in the maxims of the faith as to the fundamental truths of salvation, and of ecclesiastical perfection, and to conform his whole life to them.

1. Salvation.

"One thing is needful." Luke, x. 42.

"What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Matt. xvi. 26.

2. The excellence of the Christian's calling.

"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God." 1 John, iii. 1.

"We are the children of God; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Rom. viii. 16.

3. The eminence of the priesthood.

"Every high priest is ordained in things pertaining unto God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." Heb. v. 1.

"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." 1 Cor. iv. 1.

4. Denial of self.

"If any one will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Matt. xvi. 24.

"Not my will, but Thine, be done." Luke, xxii. 42.

5. Union with Jesus Christ, by imitation and dependence.

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Phil. ii. 1.

"I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Gal. ii. 20.

V. General Rule

"As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy." Gal. vi. 16.

1. Faithfulness to the general rule is for the seminarist the most assured means of sanctification, and the most excellent preparation for the holy ministry. By fulfilling it perfectly he is constantly pleasing to God: inasmuch as he conforms himself in all things to His holy will.

"Obey them that have the rule over you." Heb. xiii. 17.

"I do always those things that please Him." John, viii. 29.

2. He regards the intention, which gives their value to actions.

"The Lord looketh on the heart." 1 Sam. xvi. 7.

"The king's daughter is all glorious within." Ps. xlv.

3. Among the different motives proposed by faith he prefers that of charity.

"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren." 1 Pet. i. 22.

"Love is the keeping of her laws; and the giving heed unto her laws is the assurance of incorruption." Wisd. vi. 18.

4. He is especially exact in rising in the morning; in the preparation for, and resolutions made in, prayer; in the holy employ of his time; and in silence: and he fails not to examine himself every day on these capital points.

"A heave offering of the Lord." Numb. xxxi. 29.

"Rise up betimes, and be not the last." Eccles. xxxii. 11.

"Before thou prayest, prepare thyself, and be not as one that tempteth the Lord." Eccles. xviii. 23.

"Be not faint-hearted when thou makest thy prayer." Eccles. vii. 10.

"A time to keep silence, and a time to speak." Eccl. iii. 7.

"If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." 1 Cor. xi. 31.

VI. Particular Rule

"He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much." Luke, xvi. 10.

The seminarist takes all pains to draw up well his particular rule, and to leave out nothing of whatever can contribute to his sanctification.

1. He marks out the employment of every moment of the day which is not destined to common exercises, as well as how he will occupy himself on festivals or days of leave.

"Let all things be done in order." 1 Cor. xiv. 40.

2. He sets before him an intention for every action.

"Whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Col. iii. 17.

"Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all for the glory of God." 1 Cor. x. 31.

3. He distinguishes the virtues to which he will give especial heed, as well as his particular devotions and mortifications.

"Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness." Matt. v. 6.

"If ye live according to the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, by the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live." Rom. viii. 13.

4. He determines the subject of his particular examination, the time and manner in which he is to do it, as likewise his occupations during the holy mass, the chaplet, and his visits to the Most Holy Sacrament.

5. He marks the anniversaries of the graces he has received; his resolutions in his monthly retreats; in his ordinations; the circumstances in which he has been most vividly touched by the love of God. He does not omit the rule he is to follow during vacations.