The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-08

which Il Q contradiction In terms. Upon thai
truth all theological reasoning Is based and OIL
other reasoning also.
l greatly desire TO state plainly Apd to make
your Eminence clearly understand what my
religious POI ltion Is and what 1t has Tor some
years been, As you well know. ] was once az
ardent advocate for. Catholicism. The bss,
years OF my life have been sIent In its defence
while oil ! said in it's favor ] most thoroughly
casionally. passed through per DDS Of doubt, ye!
ior ysars ! was, on the whole; harry and IIM 3
Catholic Church and Biblical Criticism.'
published In the Nineteenth CENTURY for July,
1881 Therein | rested much on the teach No
Of Cardinal Newman, which gave me to under.
stand that Catholics were free only to hold az
inspired In some underlined sense, oil, that
SGT before them as canon:caI'H | found area,
latitude OF scriptural Interpretation TO be not
uncommon among Catholics; both cleric and
probation. notably from Plus TX and after.
ward, IN a les; degree, from Leo Aiil,
Scripture known as "providentissimu us Deus
ii is absolutely wrong and orbiiden. either
70 narrow inspiration 10 certain parts only OF
Holy scripture. or to admit that the sacred
writer has erred. For the system, OF those
who, In order to rid themselves OF these DIM
culties. do not hesitate to concede that Divine
Inspiration regards the things OF faith and
morals. and nothing beyond. because las they
wrongly think in u question oi the truth or
f0lsrhOOd OF q passage, We should consider not
so much what uOl has said as the reason aud
purpose which lie had IN, mind in saying Y
this, system cannot be tolerated. For all the
books which the tharch receives as sacred and
cnnonical are written wholly and entirely. with
a.! their parts. at the d~ictation OF n, Holy
Ghost and so far IL II from being possible that
any error can coeXist with inspiration. that In
s~piration not only Is. essentially patible
with error, but excludes and rejects II rs ALSO.
lutely and necessarily as II 10 impossible that
Got himself. the supreme truth. can utter that
which Is not true. .
This is the ancient and unchanging faith Of
the Church. solemnly defined IN the Councils
OF Florence and OF Trent, and fnally conilrmed
and more expressly formulated by tn" COUNCIL
Holy Ghost, employed men as His Instruments,
we cannot therefore say that 1t wa. these in
spircd instruments who, p~erchanee. had fallen
into error, and not the primary Author: FOR.
by supernatural power. He so moved and i'm
th"m-thnt the things which He ordered. and
those only. they. first, riR htly understood, then
willed faithfully to write down, and finally eT-
pressed in apt words and with mall BILE truth.
Otherwise il couli not BE- said that He was the
author OF the entire Scripture, such, has
always been the persuasion OF the Fathers,
. II follows that those who maintain that
an error is possible In any genu inc passage OF
the sacred writings. either pervert, the, Catho-
lie notion OF, inspiration, Or make God tho
author Of such error
IL then seemed plain to me that my position
was no longer tenatle. bur | had recourse to
the most learned theolngian l knew and
my intimate friend. HIS representations.
distinctions. AMI eyhortations had great infu-
enc- with me and more or less satisfied me for
a time but ultimately ! came TO the conclu-
sion that Catholic doctrine and science were
fatally at variance. THIS Ia now more clear TO
me than ever since my"Orlinary" does not say
whether my judgment about what the attribu-
wolves is, or 8 not right. To me IL plain that
Gods ~veracity ant His incapahility Of deceit
are primary truths without which regulation ia
i'm possible. The ~telching then Of Lee, NH.
comes to this: Every statement made by a
canonical writer must be true, in the sense in
which he put il forward whether as an hlstor-
ical act or n moral n Instruction.
Thus II Is now evident that a vast and impas-
sable abyss yawrs between Catholic dogma
and science. and no man with ordinary knowl-
Roman Catholic Church II he correctly under
stands what its principles ana its teacnlng
For who could profess to believe the narra-
tive about the tower OF Babel or that all species
Of animals came up to Adam to be named by
HIM Moreover, among the writings IS,
are the book Of TObit and the second book u
Maccabees, and also the story which relates
how when Daniel wa. thrown a second time
IN Judea, by the hair Of his head and carried
him, with his bowl OF pottage. 10 give 1t to
10 ask a u" r2cas"nable man to believe such
puerle tales would he to insult him, Plainly
the Councils Of Florence. Trent and the Vati:
greater errors. and thus all rational trust In
either Popcs or Councils. Is at an end. Some
persons may ask me, Why lid YOU not at once
s%rceiet,' But your Eminence will agree with
me that a man should nor hastily abandon
convictions. hut rattle wait, seek the best Gd-
vice. and. above all, Divine aid, IL IL also a
dgtty OF ordinary prudenGe Tor q man to care
any fault II. Q, pride as you suggest may
not be al the root Of h 3 trouble and rcrplexity.
Now | have myself maintained, and maintain.
may lead to the Acceptance. or, rejec:
ton. OF beliefs OF various kinds. and
certainly Of religious beliefs. But when the
question is a purely Intellectual one OF the nv
most : implicitly. or like a imposition In Euclid.
then do not believe in the possibility Of emo
tional deception. The falsehood OF the histori-
tically as great As that Of the equality OF the
angles at the base OF an iaosceIes triangle.
Still when. in two or three years. ! had be-
come fully conv,,ncedt that orthodC < Catholicism
was untenablc. was extremely disinclined TO
secele. | was most reluctant to give rain to
many dear catholic friends, some q whom had
and ia, strongly Catholic. and my secession
might 1 ilict. not only great pain. but possibly
social disadvantage on those nearest and dear
Why, then, l asked myself, should | not con.
tinue to conform. as advocated IN my Fortnight
~ Eerier s%rticle2 Why should ] stultify my
past tUIffE W Htn d|llTpd'llIlk ~ tHl, hlu klNe
myself labor and sorrow, 1t was a great tenn.
tation. Probably | should have remained silent
had | not. by my writings. Influenced many
persons In favor 81 what | now felt To- be erro-
neouS and therefore inevitably more or less
hurtful. To such persons | was a debtor, I
also. hated to disguise, even by reticence. what
l held to be truth.
These considerations were brought to a eli
max last year 10y a grave and prolonged illness.
I was told | should probably die. Could | go
out Of the world while still remaining silent? 1t
was plain 10 me thai ! ought not. and as soon
as ! could in August wrote my recently pub
lishei articles. Therein I felt IL would be u,c-
less to conilne myself TO that question which
was for mo at the root of the whole natter
namely. Scripture. Therefore. while taking
Bible, | made my articles as startling ~
cou d In other respects. SO rs to compel atten-
ton to them and elicit, II possible. an unequiv-
Deal pronuuncempnt, In this have. thank
God. succee led. and the clause about Scripture
| am required to sign Is for me decisive.
| catcgorically refuse to sign the profession
OF faith. Nevertheless. as ! said. | am attached
to Ca'hoIicity as / understand II, and to that I
adhere. II. then, my recent articles had been
tolerated. especially my sensations as 10
doctrinnl, evolution. | would have, remained
quiet in the hone that. little. by little. | mlRht
successfully oppose points | had before mis-
%takcnly advocated, The Quarterly article
Of January. reviewed BY me, and written,
suspect. by q Catholic, PROCEEDS upon
sured. | am not altogether SURPRISED that
your Eminence has shirked replying to my
question, and referred me to DR.. Clarke.
whose Dishonesty not, OF course. consciousl
and shutting about Scripture SO profoundly
Disguised me, 1t IL TO me truly shocking that
religious teachers. Cardinals and priests. pro.
fess 10 think certain beliefs TO be necessary,
and yet. will not say what they truly are. They