degrees, and shall all finally be made partakers of the same glory, according to their different capacities and deserts, in the eternal kingdom of God.'

Restraining again the term Holy Catholic Church to the Christian Church, Dr. Clarke says: Consequently 'tis the duty of all Christians, living together at the same time, to endeavour to keep this unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, by uniting in a visible and eternal fellowship of love and charity, joining publicly in the same worship of God; mutually assisting, comforting, instructing each other; with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering forbearing one another in love. In a word, doing all the good offices that it becomes members of one and the same body to do for each other.'1

Such was the belief entertained by a learned and pious member of the Church of England. But the world had to go through many ages of superstition, many ages of bloodshed, and has still to go through a period of discord, of malice, and ill-will, before it reaches the period of unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life, for which the Church of England supplicates the Almighty in her prayer for all sorts and conditions of men.'

1 Catechism, pp. 124, 125.

61

ESSAY V.

COUNCIL OF NICE.

It is of the nature of man to corrupt and to pervert every good gift of God. Thus, the pure religion of Christ became very soon corrupted with superstitions, was then perverted into a source of bitter hatred and ill-will; was degraded by the usurpation of the Bishop of Rome; and, lastly, transformed into a school of vice and immorality resembling the picture which St. Paul has left to us of Roman society under the empire.

I proceed to speak of each of these signs of degeneracy. From the earliest days of Christianity began the habit of canonising the martyrs and pious men and women, who were objects of reverence to their contemporaries. It has been strangely argued, that because these practices and habits began in the first ages after the death of Christ, they are, therefore, to be deemed parts of the true Church. Unhappily from the very beginning of the Christian community we must date the abuses which cling round everything that is human. The sanctification of the so-called saints and martyrs did not shock the moral sense of the early Christians. It was at first a natural effect of the reverence and affection felt for those devout men and pious women who had devoted their lives to the observance of a pure

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religion, and, in many instances, had testified by their deaths the sincerity and constancy of their faith. What more consolatory to the feelings of the survivors: what more conducive to the success of this new way' than prayers for the happiness of the dead, and lasting monuments to the memory of the indefatigable apostles and of the fearless martyrs of the religion of Christ? But that which is natural and apparently harmless in the flower, may be poisonous and fatal in the fruit. As the Christian sect grew from a retired and humble society to a large and rich community, the temptation to pass easily from the old worn-out polytheism to the new religion became more prevalent. The Letter from Rome of a celebrated author shows us how general, how fascinating, how exact was the adoption of pagan worship and pagan ceremonies by the Christian proselytes. The saints and martyrs of the Christians were enthroned in the place of the gods, demi-gods, and heroes of the Roman world. St. Peter of Rome, St. John the Baptist of Genoa, St. James of Compostella in Spain, St. Januarius of Naples, attracted the worship of the new Christians, who felt little regret for their old idols. An archbishop of Canterbury who had contended with his king for supremacy, had fallen by the hands of assassins. His martyrdom was readily consecrated by the Church. Bishop Burnet has contrasted the value of the gifts offered in one year to God, to Jesus Christ, and to St. Thomas in the cathedral of Canterbury. In the same manner, the offerings to St. James, in the cathedral of Santiago in Spain, far surpassed any gifts placed on the altar of Christ.

But above and beyond all other objects of worship, the converts to Christianity embraced with ardour and zeal the worship of the Virgin Mary. The Greek and Roman Pagans had worshipped their goddesses-Juno at Mycena and Argos, Minerva at Athens, Venus at Cyprus and at Paphos, Diana at Ephesus. But the proud majesty of Juno, the stately wisdom of Minerva and the lascivious loves of Venus were not to be compared with the divine purity of Mary holding her child in her arms, and combining the chastity of the parturient virgin with the sorrows of the desolate mother. In all parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa the images of the Holy Mary, blessed among women, were adored with passionate devotion, made famous by miracles attributed to the image or the portrait, and invoked as the Queen of Heaven, to whose influence over her Son all blessings were to be attributed, and to whose displeasure every calamity might be traced.

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It was to no purpose that it was recorded in the Scriptures, that when a devout woman had said, 'Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck,' Jesus Christ had replied, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and do it.' The Father who created heaven and earth, the Son who redeemed mankind, were named for the sake of honour; but their divinity was neglected and passed by, while the Virgin Mary was appealed to in every emergency, and was believed to rule all things that happened in the world.

The teaching of Christ, the Sermon on the Mount, the conversation with the woman of Samaria, the

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bles taught to his disciples and followers, had enforced the love of one God the Father Almighty, and had explained, by many examples and many precepts, the duty of man to his neighbour. But there had been throughout a remarkable reserve on the mysterious subjects of the nature of God and of Christ's relation to the Father; of the qualities and functions of the Holy Spirit; of the objects and the nature of future reward and punishment.

Hence the opportunity for man to indulge his pride of intellect, his superiority over his contemporary Christians, his skill in argument, and his triumph over weaker opponents. There is no great fame to be acquired by pardoning those who trespass against us, or by standing up to say humbly, 'Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.' But if a man can persuade his generation that he has found doctrines in Scripture regarding the Eternal and the Invisible which no one else has been able to discover; if he can by logical subtlety prove to their minds that the substance of the Spirit of Christ is the same as the substance of the Spirit of God the Father, all men will admire his ingenuity; he will be applauded as a great apostle and a mighty leader; he will gain honour, distinction, and power.

On these subjects, therefore, the weakness of human nature fastened, and a field full of noxious weeds grew from the cultivation which the learned bestowed on the unpromising soil. If instead of making the love of God and our neighbour the test of faith, metaphysical doctrines could be inculcated by sophistry, and defended by unintelligible argument, it was clear that men might