The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1869-09-29
The EcumenicaI Council.
DR. CuMM1Ne ANp zee CouNo1L

recent ages The Pope has called "Gen
eral Council" for the Sth Of December next
to assemble at Rome. There have been time
in which such a summons would have filled
all Christendom with commotion. but in thii
country, and at the present day, it is proba
BILE enough that the invitation, if not com
monty unknown, is, at any rate, entirely
unapprecated. Such an event, however
has not occurred for more than 800 years
and it was only rarely and at long intervals
that it occurred in former times. The Coun
Gil of Trent, opened in the year 1545, and
continued till the year 1868, was the last
General Council, and in all the centuries pre-
ceding, there were but eighteen others.
| Councils of less authority succeeded each
other perpetually, but General or Ecu
menical" Council was a rare and awful
phenomenon. Its essence was this: that
iDasmueh as it represented the Christians OF
the whole inhabited earth, it could not pos
sibly go wrong in its DEGREES. This idea was
expressed very tersey by St. Augustine,
when be said, ",Secln7GS jtdicdt tOtus Orbis, -
meaning that when the entire world was on
one side in pronOuncing an opinion, no OPP
position need be apprehended which is
| doubtless true. But what was to be regarded
as the entire world, and how was the entire
world to be got together? Could a General
Council assemble, except by authority of the
| Pope? When assembled, had it an authority
equal or superior to that of the POntiff alone i!
Would its Ecumenicity" or universally,
be destroyed by the absence of delegates {?
And, if so, according to what estimate I!
| How, in short, was it to be ascertaned
whether the voice of the real Church Uni
| yersal bad or had not been so heard on any
particular occasion as to command the un-
hesitating obedience of the Faithful? These
questions, which it would be by no means
easy to answer, will show readily the author
ity of Council might be disputed, and how
| srafa arAf fe hfah
after so long q suspension, has invoked once
more.
However, the summons has gone forth,
addressed in due course to the Christians of
the whole inhabited world, schismatics and
hereties included. The Pope sent bidding
to the Patriarch of ConstantinOple, repre-
senting Church which Tepudiates the au-
thority of Rome, and he invited also "Pro-
testants in general" who, according to Ro-
man Catholic doctrine, have strayed still
further from the true fold. The Patriarch
returned a distinct refusal, so that the 4" Ecu
menicity" of the twentieth General Council
may already appear questionable, but from
Protestants, His Holiness has received diff
ferent response. Dr. Cumming was "pleased
rather than otherwise" with the Pope's invi-
tation, and resolved on accepting it. Being
however rs he unpretendingly puts it, sin
some degree acquainted with the subject"
he judiciously determined to communicate
first with Archbishop Manning in order TO
discover, if possible, what kind of reception
he, as a Protestant, was to expect. The Arch
bishop, with his customary courtesy replied
that the modes of procedure to be observed
at the Council would be determined by the
supreme authority; but he was obliging
enough to send his correspondent copies of
certain works in which useful and pertinent
information might be found. In one of these
works there was certainly passage very
much to the point, for it contained nothing
less than the infallibe judgment of Pope
"on the reception to be accorded to a
schismatic or hereto appearing and claiming
to be heard at General Council" From
this ordinance, DIR. Cumming learnt that as
preliminary proceeding he would be required
to "give in his adhesion to the tribunal
and the judge" or, in other words, to recog
nize the authority of the Council according
to its own pretensions, and to promise
submission TO its bebests, under penalties
exceedingly serious. Not liking this pros
peet, he addressed himself directly TO Rome
for more distinct or satisfactory assurance,
but to this communication he has not yet
received reply, and the correspondence
therefore stops short at its most interesting
point.
The truth is the Pope and his advisers are
in little dilemma. 1t is hardly to be sup
posed they desire the attendance of DR.. Cum
ming, but then why did they sent him the
u
lar bidding to the Eastern Patriarch, for the
sake of the Ecumenicity" of the intended
Council, but ii was never meant to be accep
ted, nor would anybody, indeed, after read
ing DIR. Cummings letter to ourselves, be
prepared to anticipate much advantage from
the meeting. DR.. Cumming proposes, If Op
portunity be given him, to explain to the
prelates in Council assembled, why he and
his brother PrOtestants, reject the authority
and doctrines of Rome, but though this de-
monstration would, we doubt not, with all
the candour, courtesy, and charity" which
our correspondent promises, it could hardly
be very agreeable, nor, we fear, very i'm
proving lecture 1t might possibly, indeed,
degenerate into something worse. Such un-
dertakings as these, for instance, do not pro-
mise much for harmony" Whatever the |
approaching Council may decree, | shall be |
prepared to adduce a contrary decree from |
the cannons of previous Councils, or from |
the Bulls or Encyclicals of Popes, or from
both" Nothing more likely, but would |
that be to the satisfaction or ediiication of
the Pope or Council? What Dr. Cumming |
engages to show can be shown peyond ques
tion by advocates of far less experience than |
himself, but whether Cardinal PatriZZi would |
welcome the exposition is another matter. |
"In the history of his Church have found |
that Council DEGREES against Pope and Pope |
retaliates against Cocncil, and Pope contra |
Gil, and that in the Romish Church there is a
historic concordid discors which renders 1t in |
all respects the most disunited Church in |
Christendom." Is that the text on which |
DR.. Cumming proposes to preach before the |
Council OF Rome?
Nevertheless, our correspondent stands on |
strong ground. He was invited to attend |
the Council, and, unless the ivitation was a
mockery, he must have been invited on terms |
extending at least to freedom of conference. |
DR.. Cumming is fair, indeed an eligible |
representative of a numerous body of Chris
tians, and he states with great fairness the |
case between his friends and the Roman |
Council. 'We separated from Rome in the |
sixteenth century. Rome may fairly invite us
once more to return, or give our reasons for |
standing aloof" Nothing could be more |
plausible, but still We fancy the Cardinal Sc
cretary will not admire the proposition, any
more, we fear than he will recognize the |
accustomed ecclastiacal Latin" in the Ian |
guage in which it is conveyed. The univer-
salty of the invitation was only form, and |
though the company of the polemical Protes |
tants might have been actually requested, it |
is hardly to be supposed that il is desired. |
Our correspondent may go to Rome without |
fear of being burnt by sentence of the Coun- |
Gil, or even attacked in the streets like Pro- |
testants in Spain, but the freedom of speech |
which he respectfully solicits for an expo |
sure of Romish idolatory is not, we should |
think, likely TO be accorded TO him. Per-
haps most persons would be of opinion that
the collision would be Of little good, but
as the Pope undoubtedly sent the invita-
tion, and the capacity iD which Dr. Cam
ming proposes to accept 1t is inevitable, our
readers may possibly look with some interest
for the conclusion of so remarkable cores
pondence.-LondoH Mad, Aug. 20.