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all the vicissitudes to which the temporal principality may be exposed." The synodal letter then dwells with particular emphasis on the proposition, that" by means of the uninterrupted tradition of the Roman Church, handed down from the Apostles through the succession of bishops, they (the Roman Catholics) confound all those who, through pride and reliance upon their own conceits, or through any other perverse influence, dare to teach any thing else but what is certified by divine revelation, and attempt to alter the doctrine which, like an unsoiled stream from a pure fountain, flows forth upon the whole world." The synod farther adverts, in connexion with this subject, to the position of the Pope, expressing in affectionate terms its sympathy with him, and ordering a special day for a general collection towards his relief.

From this the synod passes on to the chief topic of its deliberations, the question of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, on which it holds, in remarkable inconsistency with its own assertions as to the purity and antiquity of the doctrine of the Roman Church, the following language:

"The repeated solicitations of the bishops, addressed to the Holy See from various parts of the Church, have induced his holiness to seek the advice of all his colleagues respecting the point of doctrine, that the mother of our Saviour has been preserved by divine grace from all stain of original sin. This has been considered hitherto as a pious belief which derived its strength and its sanction from the festival of the Immaculate Conception, which for some centuries past has been celebrated in the whole Church. In the east this festival has been observed since the fifth century, under the title of the Conception of St. Anna,' the mother of the holy Virgin; whether it was introduced in the west before the ninth century is not known. Every where in the whole extent of the Church, and from the most ancient times, Mary has been called holy and immaculate, as is clear from the liturgical books and the writings of the Fathers. St. Ephrem of Syria, in the fourth century, proclaimed that her purity and sanctity far exceeded that of the most sublime spirits which surround the throne of God, since it is her special privilege to be the Mother of the Incarnate Word. She is,' he says, 'an immaculate Virgin, without stain or corruption, all chaste and free from all contamination and corruption of sin, the Spouse of God, the Mother of God, inviolate, holy, holier than the seraphim, and incomparably more glorious than all the heavenly hosts'.' Although the attention of the Church in the primitive ages was specially fixed on the mystery of the Incarnation, although her authority was chiefly employed against the destructive heresies which attacked it directly, nevertheless the honour of the Virgin Mother was vindicated by the early Church as often as it was called in question. When Nestorius attempted to divide Christ, by attributing a distinct personality to his human nature, the great Council of Ephesus, in proscribing this novelty proclaimed Mary the Mother of God, conformably to the

1 Oratio in sanctissimam Dei Genitricem.

constant doctrine of all antiquity. Her perpetual virginity was subsequently declared, when innovators dared to deny it. Her exemption from all actual sin was established by the holy Council of Trent, in a definition of faith; and the same venerable authority gave her the designation Immaculate, in a declaration annexed to the canons touching original sin. The Fathers declared that it was not their intention to include the blessed and immaculate Virgin in their decrees, but that in this respect the constitutions of Sixtus IV. were to be observed. This pontiff, in consequence of the disputes which had arisen touching the immaculate conception of Mary, had found it necessary to issue a prohibition, under heavy penalties, against stigmatising as heresy either the pious sentiment of the Immaculate Conception, or the contrary opinion. It happened with regard to this doctrine as with regard to several others, that in the course of time doubts sprang up as to the tradition and faith of the Church. The disputes which arose on this subject were tolerated by her with the same consideration and patience with which the conflict of opinion on the necessity of legal observances had been endured in the first Council of Jerusalem, until the voice of Peter put an end to the discussion. The Church abstained from a decisive judgment so long as the excitement subsisted, contenting herself with the protestation of the contending parties, that they submitted without reserve to her authority, and leaving every proof and every objection to be maturely examined and weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. But in permitting to the theologians the right of private investigation, the pontiffs took care to maintain the custom of celebrating the festival, and prohibited, under heavy penalties, any public expression of an opinion derogating from the belief for which the faithful felt a pious attachment.

"Since the Divine Scriptures teach that in Adam all men have sinned, and that we are by nature the children of wrath, the Virgin Mary, as the natural descendant of Adam, would have incurred the punishment common to all, if she had not been preserved from it by Divine grace. The angel Gabriel assured her that she had found grace before God, and saluted her as one full of grace. She was declared blessed above all women, both by the heavenly messenger, and by her cousin Elisabeth speaking by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. St. Jerome represents her as repairing by her obedience the evils brought upon the human race by the disobedience of the Mother of the human family. Her exemption from the general curse may be inferred from the fact, that she was chosen to be the Mother of our Redeemer, whose body was formed of her substance. St. Augustine, speaking of original sin, which he attributes in the strongest terms to every child of Adam, observes that he must not be understood to include the Virgin Mary, in reference to whom he could not, for the honour of our Lord, suffer any thought to be conceived which should have a tendency to sin; for we know,' he says, 'that grace was given her for triumphing over every kind of sin, since she has been chosen to conceive and bring forth Him who is essentially and supremely free from sin (De Natură et Gratiá).' Taking this most just principle for our guide, we are enabled to interpret the

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general assertions of the Fathers, without prejudice to the only and blessed creature whose womb, like a sanctified repository, has borne our Redeemer, and whose paps have given him suck.

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"The living faith and oral tradition of the Church, must be regarded as the echo of an ancient apostolic tradition, and as the authentic expression of a revealed verity. The Holy Ghost is ever with the successors of the Apostles, to guide them into all truth, and to call to their remembrance the doctrines originally taught by Christ, which will endure for ever, even though heaven and earth should pass away. He watches over them in order that the revealed doctrines may be kept free from all admixture of error. We will not anticipate the solemn judgment of the supreme bishop; but, at the same time, we exhort you, brethren, to continue to entertain a tender devotion for the Mother of our Lord, since the honour which you pay her is founded on the relation which unites her to Him, and is an act of homage to the mystery of His incarnation. The more you venerate the Mother as the purest and holiest of creatures, the deeper sense will you manifest of the divinity of the Son,-in fact, the pious servants of Mary, in ancient and modern times, have ever been distinguished by their zeal in maintaining the mysteries of the faith. From St. Ephrem of Syria to Bernard of Clairvaux, and from St. Thomas Aquinas to St. Alphonsus of Liguori, all have had a burning love to Jesus Christ, and have been noted for the purity of their lives, and their zeal for Christian perfection. On the contrary, those who attacked the veneration of the holy Virgin have readily fallen so low as to deny the divinity of her Son. Devotion towards her is an outwork of the Church, which protects the faith in the divine mysteries.

"We doubt not, beloved brethren, that the powerful intercession of Mary will obtain, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer, from the Father of lights and the Giver of every good gift, the necessary light and aid for the Supreme Pastor of the Church, and the graces and blessings to be desired for Christ's people.'

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The synodal letter concludes by the expression of a fervent reliance on the protection and assistance of the Virgin, amidst all the disturbances by which the world is at present agitated.

THE

ENGLISH REVIEW.

DECEMBER, 1849.

ART. I.-Confessions of an Enquiring Spirit, and some Miscellaneous Pieces, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Edited from the Author's MS., by HENRY NELSON COLERIDGE, Esq., M.A. London: Pickering.

THE subject of the Inspiration of Holy Scripture is one of far too great importance to the Christian faith to permit any one, who is anxious for the maintenance of that faith to sit by unmoved, while the authority of God's Holy Word is directly or indirectly impugned. We know it is very easy to talk of "Bibliolatry;" and doubtless there have been instances before now, in which unreasonable and novel theories have strained the office of Scripture, beyond that which the Divine wisdom designed it to fulfil. It was a false theory which required for every lawful rite and ceremony in the Christian Church, or almost for every lawful action of a Christian, the express words and injunctions of Holy Writ, as if general rules could never be given by God's Word, or as if He were bound to direct every action immediately Himself, and could not possibly leave any thing to the discretion of those whom He had invested with authority in His Church. And it was a mistaken theory, which sought in the Holy Scripture for the most authentic details on subjects of a scientific nature. Such exaggerations as these did not spring from an over-veneration for Scripture as the Word of God-for it is impossible to reverence Scripture too highly, or to bow too implicitly to its guidance-but from false conceptions of its nature and objects, altogether unauthorized by the universal belief of Christians from the beginning, or by any statements of the Scripture itself.

The doctrine of Christendom in all ages, from the time of the Apostles to the present day, has uniformly been this-that the books of the Holy Scripture were "given by inspiration of God, and are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness." This inspiration has been always believed to extend to the Scriptures as a whole, in such a sense that every article of faith, and of morality, which they teach, is to be received as of divine authority; and every fact which they narrate is to be considered as true. Within these limits there have been, and may be, shades of difference in regard to the precise limits of the VOL. XII.—NO. XXIV.—DEC. 1849.

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inspiration of Scripture; but, where the general belief above mentioned exists, all that is essential is retained; and differences on minor details do not affect the deposit of faith, or endanger Christianity and happily, until within a comparatively recent period, Christians have remained in the possession of their simple hereditary faith on this great subject, and have avoided speculations, questionings, and refinements of human philosophy, which in this, as in all other theological subjects, is apt to lead men away from the simplicity of the faith as it is in Jesus, into error, heresy, and infidelity. Whatever may be the distinctions of Rabbins, and of some modern divines, as to "inspiration of suggestion," "inspiration of direction," &c., the belief of the Christian Church at large does not depend on distinctions of this kind, or, for the most part, even recognize them. We are satisfied, as our forefathers have ever been, with the declaration of the Apostle Paul in reference to the Old Testament,that it is "given by inspiration of God;" and with St. Peter's assurance, that "the prophecy came not in the old time by the will of man; but holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." We need no proof of the divine origin of writings of which the Eternal God manifest in the flesh has said, "All things that are written in the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished." So it is in vain to draw a distinction between the New and the Old Testament, and to reject the latter while we receive the former; because the New Testament distinctly and throughout recognizes the inspiration of the Old Testament as its own fundamental principle, and loses all its authority if the Old Testament be rejected. But this cannot possibly be we know, from sufficient evidence, that the books of the New Testament were written by those to whom the Spirit of Truth was promised, to lead them into all truth; and received universally in the Church, as inspired, at a period when the Spirit of God was shed abroad in all Churches, and must have enabled them to discern infallibly, such inspired writings as were made known to them, from uninspired writings.

The inspiration of Scripture, as the Word of God, is, happily, still firmly believed by the whole Christian world. We do not include in this appellation those unbelievers who, in Germany and elsewhere, have departed from the faith in this essential point, and have thrown aside and rejected the formularies and confessions of their own communions, which speak explicitly on the subject. We have, in maintaining the Catholic Christian view of inspiration, the whole of the Reformation, both Foreign and English, along with us. We have the whole Oriental or Greek Church--the Monophysites and Nestorians—the Roman

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