66 opinion is not represented by an inquisitorial tribunal, it will often exercise its own wild lynch-law on the offender, without the safeguard of legal forms. It is not to be supposed that Galileo would have so rashly forced on his cause unless he had found the mob-opposition to which he was subject much more intolerable than any adverse sentence of a tribunal could ever be. But it must not be forgotten that this office of the Church, as the vindicator of the outraged religious feelings of the public, is never to be confounded with her perfectly distinct office of teacher and infallible expounder of doctrines of faith and morals. While in this latter office she is above public opinion, in the former she is its nurse, or, we may almost say, its slave. The Pope, in this respect, is truly the servus servorum Dei." He, with his Congregations, has to watch the throes of diseased humanity, and, like a mother with a sick child, to humour its weaknesses and caprices; to forbid it to eat that which might be allowed to healthy stomachs; to tell the invalid that the most nutritious food is poison; and to prevent the stronger children of the Church from carelessly putting such things into the way of their weak brother. So the Inquisition calls true theories of physical philosophy false, heretical, and absurd, if they do not agree with the digestive powers of the Catholic community. Not that the Church pretends to any power of deciding whether these theories are true or false in themselves, but because, in her vocabulary, that is false which is found by experience to be inconsistent with the faith of her children; that is heretical which is popularly considered favourable to the arguments of heretics; and that is absurd which, while it rests on an uncertain basis, is used as a lever to overturn the certainty of her truth. But these decrees of the Inquisition, as the organ of ecclesiastical opinion, must never be confounded with the infallible decisions of the Church in council, or of the Pope speaking ex cathedra; for while the latter are immutable, the former are merely variable functions of variable public opinion. This is evident from the fact that, both before and since the condemnation of Galileo, decisions of the Inquisition have been reformed and rejected by the higher tribunals of the Church-as Carranza's condemnation, which was reversed by the Council of Trent. We have already quoted the words of Fromond of Louvain, in which he says that he thinks the Copernicans very nearly heretics, "unless the Holy See shall determine otherwise," evidently contemplating the possible reversal of the sentence. And the sentence has been reversed. Pope Benedict XIV. suspended the decrees; and in 1818 Pope Pius VII. repealed them in full consistory. Such being the nature of these decisions, it is very easy to comprehend the principles on which they were made. Our religion commands us to pluck out even our right eye, our dearest sense, our clearest knowledge, our most engrossing study, and cast it from us, if it be an occasion of sin to us. And it commands us to be even more tender of the conscience of our brethren; it says that it were better to be thrown into the sea, with a millstone tied round our neck, than to scandalise a little one of Christ even by our lawful recreations. And no doubt, even the most certain and clear branches of knowledge abound with occasions of scandal. No one can read the history of the fall of man without seeing that the Christian religion does not encourage the pursuit of knowledge under all circumstances. And common sense assures us, that if it is right to require us to sacrifice wife and children, houses and lands, in order to save our souls, it would be a great folly to make an exception in favour of such scientific pursuits as are found by experience to be obstacles to faith. It is important to observe what carefulness is recommended to us in imparting knowledge. In educating children, nature itself teaches us to use judgment and reserve; there are some truths too difficult for them, and others which it would be improper for them to know. It is the same in religion. Our Lord, after being three years with his apostles, had yet many things to say to them which they could not even then bear; and St. Paul tells his converts that he cannot speak to them on certain deep subjects, because they were not strong enough for meat, but could only bear milk. It has even been reduced to a law in ecclesiastical history, that heresies often arise from a desire to force the Church prematurely into a path which she is afterwards destined to tread. This is illustrated by the instance of Montanism:* "Not in one principle or doctrine only, but in its whole system this heresy was a remarkable anticipation or presage of developments which soon began to shew themselves in the Church, but were not perfected for centuries after. . . . The doctrinal determinations and the ecclesiastical usages of the middle ages are the true fulfilment of its self-willed and abortive attempts at precipitating the growth of the Church." If in pure matters of religion mere prematureness and unseasonableness in the things propounded is enough to mark the proposers of them with the note of heresy, the same thing may take place in a lower degree with regard to scientific theories, which have only a remote connexion with faith and morals. In Galileo's time it was obviously premature and unnecessary to alter the received inter ... *Newman, Development, p. 349. pretation of Scripture in favour of the yet uncertain Copernican theory: yet the philosopher insisted on this being done; he determined to force the march of thought, to push the Church into a path that she was not prepared to enter upon; and he was therefore marked with the suspicion of heresy. Now, however, we may hope that the time is come when, as the Copernican theory has been demonstrated to our senses, the received interpretation of Scripture may be altered, according to the sentence of Bellarmine, in order to meet the acknowledged facts, and when the intelligent explanations of Galileo and Foscarini may be received and thankfully used by the good Catholic. From this point of view the censures on Galileo appear no longer as isolated acts of jealousy or anger, but they are seen to be quite in accordance with the system and principles of the Church, and to be founded on profound wisdom and an anxious care for the faith of her simpler children. It is not each individual act of the Church that is to be examined and criticised; for she never claims to be guaranteed from error on all matters of fact; it is sufficient to find that she is acting on general principles of prudence, which are rendered necessary by the weakness of human nature, though perhaps they would not be required in a church composed entirely of learned men and philosophers. But as the mixed mass of the Church is composed chiefly of rude and uneducated persons, liable to be scandalised by any sudden changes in subjects in any way connected with doctrine, the learned have to give up something of their rights at the demand of charity. At the same time, it must be granted that the application of this theory bears very hard on the philosophers. To anticipate by the force of their intellect the march of demonstration, to generalise from a few instances, and those rather assumed than observed, and to form a theory upon obscure indications and guesses, is their ambition and their glory; and to be obliged to treat a favourite theory as a mere uncertain hypothesis is a great annoyance to them. And though usually they are not thus restricted, yet if the religious prejudices of Christians are once excited, they are obliged to yield something to them. Nor is it only a religious society which makes these demands. A republic which boasts of having attained the perfection of freedom will often visit with more severity the promulgation of obnoxious theories than ever the Inquisition employed. And, after all, the Church can no more humour the world in the utter freedom which it claims for the intellect, than she can allow it all the liberty which it requires for the indulgence of its natural inclinations. The Church and the world are in opposition not only in theories of political and social progress, but also in the march of intellectual development. Not that her way of forbidding her children to put forward new theories simply as theories and hypotheses is at all unfavourable to the true advancement of learning; it is only opposed to that reckless philosophical scepticism and shallowness which is the great characteristic of the present day; and therefore perhaps more proper for the steady development of knowledge than the modern way of propounding new systems. THE OLD PRIEST'S PARLOUR. No. II. SCENE: The Rev. AUSTIN LYLE rising from his seat makes a low and somewhat stately bow to a short, stout, bustling personage, just introduced to him by his friend EDWARD YORK as Mr. HORATIO WITHERSPOON. He then hands him a chair, and the three sit down. WITHERSPOON hems twice, and then begins to speak: WITHERSPOON. I have requested my friend Mr. York, as I trust he will allow me to call him, to do me the honour to introduce me to you, Mr. Lyle, as I wish to have some conversation with you on a subject in which I am profoundly interested. (The old priest bows.) I am a Protestant, Mr. Lyle, a liberal Protestant-(the old priest smiles)—a truly liberal Protestant, I trust-(the old priest bows again)—as I am sure you will do me the justice to admit, when you have heard my plan. (The priest bows a third time.) I have been greatly distressed, Mr. Lyle,- deeply distressed, I may say,--at witnessing the lamentable displays of bigotry and uncharitableness recently manifested against your persuasion. (The old priest's lips twitch, with a manifest tendency to smile again.) Believe me, I share none of these feelings; I have the highest respect for the Pope; I have no doubt that he is a most amiable and respectable gentleman (the old priest with difficulty keeps his countenance) injudicious, you know, Mr. Lyle, — perhaps a thought injudicious,-as no doubt you yourself consider; but yet amiable, and in the highest degree well-intentioned: and, as I said to Mrs. Witherspoon the other day, "My dear, depend upon it, if the Pope had had the slightest idea of the displeasure he would have roused in the great English nation by establishing a hierarchy, he would not have thought for a moment of setting it up." (The old priest pokes the fire, and fidgets about in a torture of suppressed laughter.) By the way, Mr. Lyle, is not this contempt of the law shewn by Dr. Cullen and the Defence Association rather an injudicious move on the part of your friends? And is it really true that Dr. Cullen believes the sun is only six yards across? LYLE. It's all humbug, sir. Why, if the newspapers were to say that Dr. Cullen believed the moon was made of green cheese, and taught the benighted Irish that Queen Victoria had cloven hoofs and horns on her head, your Protestant public would take it for gospel truth. WITHERSPOON. I'm delighted to hear it, Mr. Lyle, indeed I am; and I have no doubt you will agree with me in thinking that it is high time for the friends of enlightened Christianity to take some steps for the inculcation of mutual forbearance and universal charity among all denominations of Christians. I have heard a great deal of you, Mr. Lyle, a great deal, I assure you; and you would have been delighted if you had heard how flatteringly your name was mentioned the other day at a meeting of the Town-council by the Unitarian minister. (The old priest looks blue.) The Quakers also are your warm admirers; and, in short, all enlightened Christians are of opinion that the fullest toleration should be conceded to your persuasion, and they have the sincerest respect for yourself as a minister of the gospel of peace. LYLE. Sir, I am infinitely obliged to them. YORK. Well, Mr. Lyle, my plan is this: Let us form a sort of universal league or brotherhood for the promotion of Christian charity among all denominations of Christians, pledging all the members of the association to abstain from controversy on the mere peculiarities of religious opinion, and to agree in circulating a series of books and tracts inculcating the principles of the league. (The old priest is seized with a violent fit of coughing, into which he relapses again and again. When he is at length calm, Mr. Witherspoon continues:) WITHERSPOON. A happy idea, I am sure you think it, Mr. Lyle. LYLE. Do you not foresee any difficulties in executing your scheme, sir? However, I will not anticipate. Pray go on and tell me how you will proceed with your regulations and laws. WITHERSPOON. Why, Mr. Lyle, I would begin at the beginning. I would go to the root of the matter. I would tolerate no half-measures. I would have all the members begin by |