important manifestation of this kind is these prelates clearly indicate their perthe pastoral letter issued by the assem-sonal aversion to the doctrine of the inbly of nineteen German Bishops at Fulda. fallibility of the Pope. They wish to remind the faithful of their dioceses that Cable dispatches inform us that the council was duly opened by the Pope on Never and never shall or can a Gen- the eighth of December. The solemnieral Council establish a dogma not con- ties are, of course, said to be of extraortained in Scripture or in the Apostolical dinary brilliancy. The Pope delivered Traditions. Never and never shall an allocution, of the contents of which or can a General Council proclaim doc- the cable gives us a very vague idea. It trines in contradiction to the principles is reported that about seven hundred of justice, to the right of the State and bishops attended the opening of the its authorities to culture (Gesittung) and the true interests of science, (Wis- Council. This, if correct, would be a senschaft,) or to the legitimate freedom large number, for, according to the offiand well-being of nations.. Neither cial Papal Almanac, the total number of need any one fear that the General Coun- cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, and cil will thoughtlessly and hastily frame bishops entitled to a seat in the Council resolutions which needlessly would put amounted in 1869 to about one thousand. it in antagonism to existing circum- The numerous American element in the stances, and to the wants of the present Council is especially notable. times; or that it would, in the manner While at of enthusiasts, endeavor to transplant the last Ecumenical Council, that of into the present times views, customs, Trent, the new world, only recently disand institutions of times gone by." covered, was not yet represented by a single prelate, now the American bishops, numbering in all one hundred and sixty-seven, would constitute almost one fifth of the entire hierarchy. Among them there are seven archbishops from the United States, three from British America, three from Mexico, one each from Cuba, San Domingo, Hayti, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Chili, Peru, Argentine Republic, Bolivia, Brazil. In reply to the insinuation that there would not be the fullest liberty of debate, they say: The Bishops of the Catholic Church will never and never forget at the General Council, on this most important occasion of their office and calling, the holiest of their duties, the duty of bearing testimony to truth; they will, remembering the Apostolic Vow, that he who desires to please men is not the servant of Christ-remembering the account which they will soon have to give before the throne of the Divine Judge-know no other line of conduct but that dictated by their faith and their conscience. All these words, like the whole of the letter, are, with admirable skill, so framed as to avoid any direct assertion that would give offense in Rome; but both parties the ultra-montane as well as their opponents-feel that the language of the German Bishops is very different from that of the spokesmen of the Papal infallibility. The declaration of the German Bishops is the more important as-with the exception of the Jesuits and a few of their friends-it has been received by the scholars, the press, and the intelligent laity with great joy as a momentous testimony against an opinion which, among the Catholics of Germany, is extremely unpopular. The example of the German Bishops has been followed by similar letters of several prominent French Bishops, among whom are Archbishop Darboy, of Paris, and Bishop Dupanloup, of Orleans. Both None of the secular powers was represented at the opening of the Council by an official representative. All of the Catholic State governments are known to be entirely at variance with the tendencies prevailing in Rome, and which it is expected may lead to the promulgation of Papal infallibility as a doctrine of the Church. Most of them have clearly intimated that if the Council should promulgate such doctrine, or pass resolutions contrary to the rights claimed by the State government, it will lead to a radical change in the present relations between Church and State. Soon after its meeting the sessions of the Council were adjourned until after Epiphany. Of the disposition of the Bishops little is yet known, except that the German and French Bishops mean to offer a determined opposition to the doctrine of the Papal infallibility. THE EASTERN CHURCHES. the Patriarch of Constantinople to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in reply to one written by his Grace (of Canterbury) to his Holiness, (of Constantinople,) forwarding, as appears from this reply, a copy of the English prayer book. The Patriarch's letter is dated September 26, 1869, and concludes as follows: On descending to the particulars of the contents of the prayer book, and of the distinguished confession of the thirtynine articles contained in it-since in the perusal of them, both the statements concerning the eternal existence of the Holy Spirit and those concerning the divine eucharist, and further, those concerning the number of the sacraments, concerning apostolic and ecclesiastical tradition, the authority of the truly genuine Ecumenical Councils, the position and mutual relations of the Church on earth and that in heaven; and, moreover, the honor and reverence due from us to those who are in theory and practice the heroes of the faith-the adamantine martyrs and athletes-since, we say, these statements appeared to us to savor too much of novelty; and that which is said, (p. 592, Art. 19,)" As the Churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch have erred, so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith," deprives the Eastern Churches of the orthodoxy and perfection of the faith -let us be permitted to say that accusations of our neighbors are out of place in a distinguished confession of faith these statements throw us into suspense, so that we doubt what we are to judge of the rule of Anglican orthodoxy. We would, therefore, pray with our whole soul to the Author and Finisher of our salvation to enlighten the understanding of all with the light of his knowledge, and to make of all nations one speech of the one faith, and of the one love, and of the one hope of the Gospel; that with one mouth and one heart, as merciful children of one and the same mother, the Church-the Catholic Church of the first begotten-we may glorify the triune God. 66 icism on the Nineteenth Article ["As the Churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch have erred, so also the Church of Rome hath erred"] is declared to be natural and deserved, since indeed, as the Patriarch says, accusations of our neighbor are out of place in a distinguished confession of faith." The Church News, an organ of the Ritualists, assures the Patriarch that “the great majority of really devout and loyal Anglican Churchmen, clergy and laity, would not regret a modification of that Article, so as to remove the obstacle altogether with regard to the East." celebrated Dr. Rothe was one containing Among the manuscripts left by the a "System of Christian Doctrines," ready for the press. The work will be published by Dr. Schenkel. The first part, which is entitled, The Consciousness of Sin, has just appeared. The second and third parts, which are to complete the work, will appear in the course of the year 1870. A "History of the Religious Sects of the Middle Ages," from the pen of Professor Döllinger in Munich, is announced as forthcoming, (Geschichte der Religiösen Sekten des Mittelalters.) It will contain two volumes. Professor Döllinger, who, as a Church historian, has no superior in the Roman Catholic Church, has also prepared a strong pamphlet against the infallibility of the Pope, and sent a copy of it to every Bishop of Catholic Germany. Dr. Hefele, hitherto Professor of Catholic Theology at Tübingen, and now Bishop elect of Rottenburg, has published the first part of the seventh volume of his great work on the History of the Councils, containing the History of the Council of Constance, (Conciliengeschichte. Freiburg, 1869.) One of the great Protestant Bible works of Germany, the Commentary of Meyer to the New Testament, has just been completed in a new edition by the The High Church party in the Angli-appearance of the fifth edition of the can Church are elated with the letter, Commentary of the Gospel according to which they regard as the most impor- John. This work was begun thirtytant missive received by an Archbishop seven years ago by H. A. W. Meyer, of Canterbury from an Oriental Patriarch. and has been continued by Dr. LüneAs a step toward a reunion of the East- mann, Dr. Huther, and Dr. Diesterdiek, ern to the Anglican Churches, it is con- all of whom enjoy a great reputation as sidered a most valuable and important exegetical writers of great ability. event, not the less so because the Patri- Though of late this work has been arch points out, in definite language, the eclipsed by the Bible work of Lange, obstacles that hinder, or seem to hinder, which embraces within its scope a comintercommunion. The Patriarch's crit-mentary to the Old as well as the New Testament, and which, in the greatly im- in Germany, the commentary of Dr. proved shape which the English transla- Meyer has, by general consent, secured tion has received from the hands of Pro- forever a conspicuous place among fessor Schaff, has had in England and the many great works of German theAmerica an even larger circulation than | ology. ART. IX.-FOREIGN LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. GERMANY. The Roman Council has called forth an immense literature. The fourth number of a German periodical, specially devoted to the Council, carries the number of books on the Council, which it has reviewed, up to 57, and its list does not yet contain one half the total number. The great scholars of the Roman Catholic Church are almost unanimous in opposing very earnestly the Papal tendencies now prevailing in the Church, and particularly the proposed promulgation of the doctrine of Papal infallibility. The ablest work in this respect is on "The Pope and the Council," (The Papst 'und das Concil) the author of which styles himself Janus. The work has made a profound sensation. It is so manifestly a work of immense scholarship that at first some ascribed it to the celebrated Dollinger. This, however, proved to be an error, and another professor of the University of Munich, Professor Huber, is now generally regarded as the author. The work is a history of the authority possessed in the Church by the Pope on the one hand and the Council on the other, and the relation of the two to each other. Even the champions of ultramontane views must admit that they are unable to answer the book, because it would take years to study the thousands of individual cases which the author cites to show that no one can for a moment believe in this doctrine without falsifying the whole history of the Church. "For thirteen centuries," says our author, "an incomprehensible silence on this fundamental article reigned throughout the whole Church and her literature. None of the ancient confessions of faith, no catechism, none of the patristic writings composed for the instruction of the people, contain a syllable about the Pope, still less any hint that all certainty of faith and doctrine depends on him." Not a single question of doctrine for the first thousand years was finally decided by the Popes; in none of the early controversies did they take any part at all; and their interposition, when they began to interpose, was often far from felicitous. Pope Zosimus commended the Pelagian teaching of Celestius, Pope Julian affirmed the orthodoxy of the Sabellian Marcellus of Ancyra, Pope Liberius subscribed an Arian creed, Pope Vigilius contradicted himself three times running on a question of faith, Pope Honorius lent the whole weight of his authority to the support of the newly-introduced Monothelite heresy, and was solemnly anathematized by three Ecumenical Councils for doing so. Nor do these "errors and contradictions of the Popes" grow by any means fewer or less important as time goes on; but for further examples we must refer our readers to the book itself. The blundering of successive Popes about the conditions of valid ordination-on which, according to Catholic theology, the whole sacramental system, and therefore the means of salvation, depend-are alone sufficient to dispose forever of their claim to infallibility. Neither, again, did the Roman Pontiffs possess, in the ancient constitution of the Church, any of those powers which are now held to be inherent in their sovereign office, and which must undoubtedly be reckoned among the essential attributes of absolute sovereignty. They convoked none of the General Councils, and only presided, by their legates, at three of them, nor were the canons enacted there held to require their confirmation. They had neither legislative, administrative, nor judicial power in the Church, nor was any further efficacy attributed to their excommunication than to that of any other Bishop. No special prerogatives were held to have been bequeathed to them by Saint Peter, and the only duty con sidered to devolve on them in virtue of their primacy was that of watching over the observance of the canons. The limited right of hearing appeals, granted to them by the Council of Sardica in 347, was avowedly an innovation, of purely ecclesiastical origin, and moreover was never admitted or exercised in Africa or the East. Many national Churches, like the Armenian, the Syro-Persian, the Irish, and the ancient British, were independent of any influence of Rome. When first something like the Papal system was put into words by an Eastern Patriarch, St. Gregory, the greatest and best of all the early Popes, repudiated the idea as a wicked blasphemy. Not one of the Fathers explains the passages of the New Testament about St. Peter in the ultramontane sense; and the Tridentine profession of faith binds all the clergy to interpret Scripture in accordance with their unanimous consent. "To prove the doctrine of Papal infalli- ART. X.-SYNOPSIS OF THE QUARTERLIES, AND OTHERS OF THE HIGHER PERIODICALS. American Quarterly Reviews. BAPTIST QUARTERLY, October, 1869. (Philadelphia.)-1. University Corporations 2. F. W. Robertson on Baptismal Regeneration. 3. Growth and History of Language. 4. Mr. Lowell's Poetry. 5. Balaam, the Prophet of Syria. 6. Exegetical Studies. BIBLIOTHECA SACRA, October, 1869. (Andover.)-1. The Resurrection of the Body. 2. The Natural Theology of Social Science. 3. The Königsberg Religious Suit. 4. Mount Lebanon. 5. The Doctrine of the Apostles. 6. The Brethren of our Lord. 7. Rival Editions of the Text of the New Testament as contained in the Codex Vaticanus. CHRISTIAN QUARTERLY, October, 1869. (Cincinnati.)-1. The Church of the Future. 2. Life and Times of Alexander Campbell. 3. Ancient Hymnody. 4. Ecumenical Councils. 5. Women's Work in the Church. 6. Jerusalem. EVANGELICAL QUARTERLY REVIEW, October, 1869. (Gettysburgh.)-1. Justification by Faith. Article Fourth of the Augsburg Confession. 2. The Sabbath Question in its Historical Relations, and Bearings upon the Faith and Life of the Church. 3. Communion with God. 4. Ecclesiastical Purity. 5. Daniel and his Prophecies. 6. The Relation of the Text to the Sermon. By Dr. Kahle, Pastor at Caymen. Translated from the German. 7. Patrick Henry. FREEWILL BAPTIST QUARTERLY, July, 1869. (Dover, N. H.)-1. The Divine Prerogative to Save and to Destroy. 2. The First Resurrection. 3. Christ's Exaltation and Universal Drawing. 4. Rationalism. 5. The Doctrine of God's Special Providence. 6. Christianity a Mission Work. 7. The Doctrine of Paul and James on Faith and Works, compared with the Teachings of Christ. 8. God's Way of Salvation. 9. Impediments to Self-Knowledge. MERCERSBURG REVIEW, October, 1869. (Philadelphia.)-1. The True Idea of Liberal Education. 2. Image and Likeness. 3. Priestly Mediation. 4. The Relation of the Present to the Past and to the Future. 5. The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth. 6. The Liturgical Movement in the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches. NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, October, 1869, (Boston.)-1. Hon. Calvin Fletcher. 2. Births, Marriages, and Deaths in Portsmouth, N. H., 1706-1742. 3. Miss Frances Manwaring Caulkins. 4. The Spooner Family. 5. The Usher Family. 6. Emery-Amory. 7. Philip Welch, of Ipswich, Mass. 8. Epitaphs from "Burying Hill," Weymouth, Mass. 9. Births, Marriages, and Deaths in Lyme, Conn. 10. Papers relating to the Haines Family. 11. Church Records of Newington, N. H. 12. First Record-Book of First Church, Charlestown, Mass. 13. Milton (MS.) Church Records, 1678-1754. 14. Letters from Joshua Henshaw, Jr., to William Henshaw. 15. Documents relating to the Colonial History of Connecticut, with Notes. 16. Bibliography of the Local History of Massachusetts. PRINCETON REVIEW, October, 1869. (New York.)-1. Morrell on Revelation and Inspiration. 2. Christian Work in Upper Egypt. 3. Recent Scholarship. 4. The Church Question. 5. Smaller Bodies of American Presbyterians. 6. Recent Discussions on the Representation of Minorities. 7. Oberlin Ethics and Theology; their Latest Exposition. 8. Materialism.-Physiological Psychology. UNIVERSALIST QUARTERLY, October, 1869. (Boston.)-1. Hindu Philosophy and the Bhagavad-Gita. 2. The Pacific Railroad. 3. John Murray. 4. Religion and Science. History. 5. The Huguenots. 6. The Province and Uses of Ecclesiastical NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, October, 1869. (Boston.)-1. The Genesis of Language. 2. The Writings of Mr. Rowland G. Hazard. 3. Indian Migrations. 4. Civil-Service Reform. 5. The Coast of Egypt and the Suez Canal. 6. Paraguay and the Present War. In the first article Mr. Fiske says: "Wo-man is identical with Lat. fe-min-a, Skr. we-man, a 'weaver;' with which may be compared our use of spinster. It was hardly more strange that the primitive Aryans should call the woman a 'weaver,' than that they should call the daughter of the household a 'milkmaid;' yet this derivation of the latter word has been minutely and incontrovertibly proven." Is not fe-min-a plainly the feminine form of homo, (Gen. homin-is,) being the word man preceded by the article, and succeeded by the sex termination? English Reviews. BRITISH AND FOREIGN EVANGELICAL REVIEW, October, 1869. (London.)1. Lightfoot on the Epistle to the Philippians. 2. Hugh Broughton. 3. Pilate and his Times viewed by Indian Light. 4. The English New Testament-Revision and Retranslation. 5. Curiosities of Later Biography-Crabb Robinson and W. Savage Landor. 6. "The Song of Songs "-A New Reading of its Plot. 7. Kennedy on Man's Relations to God. 8. The Philosophy of Nescience; or, Hamilton and Mansel on Religious Thought. NORTH BRITISH REVIEW, October, 1869. (Scott's Republication, New York, 140 Fulton-street.)--1. Juventus Mundi. 2. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 3. The Different Schools of Elementary Logic. 4. Mr. Browning's Latest Poetry. 5. The Pope and the Council. 6. The Constitutional Development of Austria. 7. Literature of the Land Question in Ireland. |