that he revered the office of royalty, but only attacked the individual who bore it. If the Anglican Church admits that they are in such a position as to be exempt from the obligation of following S. Paul's command, when he says: Obey your prelates and be subject to them; for they watch, as being to render an account of your souls,' then do let them accept this as sufficient evidence that Anglicanism is not Catholicity. It cannot be said that we are acting unfairly in quoting a newspaper as an authority for a Church party, for we cannot help feeling that 'silence gives consent,' inasmuch as not a word of protest, as far as we have been able to see, has appeared in the correspondence of the paper against such disloyal language. If an analogous case occurred in one of our Catholic organs, we know how the sensitiveness of the faithful on such a point would universally manifest itself, and denounce the paper as traitorous to the cause of Religion" (pp. 122, 123).

Apologie des Christenthums. Von FRANZ HETTINGER, der Philosophie und Theologie Doctor. Herder, 1863.

W

E have read through the two volumes of Dr. Hettinger's "Apologia," or, as he elsewhere calls it, "Demonstratio Christiana," with singular pleasure. German works, especially when connected with philosophic speculation, can hardly be characterized as refreshing. One sits down to their perusal with a certain amount of effort, and generally rises up from the task when accomplished with a very unmistakable feeling of relief. The rarefied atmosphere in which the Teutonic mind seems to revel and display itself with greatest vigour to us is simply an oppression; and when we do manage for a time to slowly sail along in the wake of our more ethereal neighbours, we are glad enough of any excuse which can bring us down safely to terra firma.

Moreover, there is often so much barrenness in the intricate and involved creations of the German mind, that we feel as little interest in following them as we should in grinding the air.

We confess to having opened Dr. Hettinger's volumes with some such impressions, but we have been agreeably surprised. It is a long time since we have read the production of a foreign pen, and certainly of a German one, which has afforded us such a thorough pleasure. Dr. Hettinger certainly possesses that Teutonic gift which seems to be special to the Germans, of grasping with a species of transcendental power, and seeing with a more theoretic vision than men of more practical minds, the future bearings of principles as yet inhabiting merely the regions of the Abstract, and of pointing out the relations of truth as it displays itself in the various and often antagonistic developments of rival minds or opposing schools. He appears to possess that marvellous power of following out abstract reasoning to its ultimate conclusions, and pointing, as it were with his finger, to the different centres of human thought from which spring and radiate the multiplicity of laws and of rules which are the norma of action for as many diverse systems of philosophical belief or dogmatic divergence. Such qualities of mind as these are of course naturally more or less expected in a learned German professor; they form part of the matériel of his intellectual warfare, and belong to his special method of combat or defence. But what was not so much to be expected,

and what lends a special charm to the work before us, is a certain, we may say English appreciation of the practical effect of abstract truth, and a genuine hearty and warm love, thoroughly human, of the elements which are waging such a fierce combat in the moral and intellectual world. Dr. Hettinger is not simply treating a number of important propositions; he does treat propositions, and that with judicious impartiality; but what seems really to possess his soul, and give warmth and fire to what he writes, carrying the reader along with him occasionally in the impetuosity of the torrent, is his genuine love and yearning for the elevation and purification of the soul and heart of man. His heart is not frozen by inhabiting the high and freezing mountain of mere philosophic theory; it is warm with the pulse of genuine humanity, and throbs with a sense of the degradation and depravity to which the moral world can be reduced by poisonous elements of thought, while at the same time it makes a strenuous effort to throw the clear light of Truth upon the dark side of Error, and to harmonize the conflicting pretensions of modern thought with the sound and immovable principles of Catholic theology. It is seldom that one apt at abstract speculation has the gift of entering into the heating and boisterous disputes of the living and struggling world, and to appreciate to its fulness the losses and the gains, the light and the darkness, which in various proportions are ever acting as a mist over the eyes of the thinking and reading public. Dr. Hettinger, it appears to us, combines these two qualities in an unusual degree. But not only the gifts of the author reflect with advantage on his book; there are external reasons which make his work of especial interest. He is engaged in fighting no men of straw. His work treats of some of the most important and vital topics which at present occupy the minds of professors and students and thinking men, not in Germany alone, but in every part of the world where Christian civilization has made its mark. Germany, indeed, may be looked upon as the centre, but there is no Christian community which is not pierced by one of the intellectual radii, which spring from a kindred source. His book is of universal interest. It deals with fundamentals, and embraces within its scope the thoughts and the arguments of all schools and all centuries. What has pleased us more perhaps than anything is the steady and self-conscious orthodoxy which stands unmoved in the stream and the whirl of the opinions and reasonings of the acutest and the subtlest of unbelievers, and the savour of genuine Catholicity which enters into the composition of every argument and the expression of every sentiment of the learned Doctor. It would be but natural to expect, we do not say unorthodox opinions, but perhaps a certain taint of the prevailing elements of unbelief—a certain hardly distinguishable bias towards unhealthy views, which in some Catholic theologians of eminence has been pointed out in recent times. But our author seems to bide steady and strong. The fact is, he knows where the ground is safe, and has selected the best arms for his offensive and defensive warfare. He is not above acknowledging the Angelic Doctor to be his guardian. He takes his stand upon the sound and immovable principles of the "Summa," and finds his greatest succour and security in the doctrine of the schools. We have been particularly struck all through this work at the masterly manner in which Dr. Hettinger has pointed out the disease in the mind of the modern philo

sopher which has been dignified by some sonorous and high-sounding name, and has shown it to be some exploded and vulgar error which had centuries ago received its quietus, one would have thought, from some side-blow given incidentally in one of his marvellous questions by the Angel of the Schools. And not less admirable is the use the author makes of enemies. He appears to us as living in the very midst of the flow of modern thought, and on the alert continually to turn to the account of truth any of the accidental utterances of wisdom which may have escaped the lips of error.

The light of Truth seems hardly to be quite extinguished in the most false-minded intellect; the highest genius standing farthest from the truth, must witness against error from time to time. Rousseau, Fichte, Strauss, and even Feurbach, Vogt, and Moleschott, often unknowingly, and always unwillingly, hold the sacred lamp, point out their own deformity, and utter the most profound and touching sentiments while pouring forth a crude mass of error. The theoretical and practical power of the author, the reality of the warfare in which he is engaged, and the sound theology of his views, together with the wide range of his reading and his vivid appreciation of the days in which we live, are elements which, when found in combination, tend to enhance the value of a work which treats of the most interesting questions of the age in an earnest and practical manner. If we had to point out one shortcoming in the author, we should be inclined to say that perhaps the work might be a little more digested, and that it would rather gain in perspicuity than lose, if he had contented himself with fewer quotations, and had sought to load the subjects he is treating of, rather with well-argued principles than with so many references to authors dead and living. However, though more original matter might be an advantage, it cannot for a moment be denied that the extracts which the learned Doctor does bring forward are not only to the point, but generally contain thoughts of very great beauty and elevation.

The volume before us is divided into two parts; or, in reality, they are two books of about 400 pages each, and each divided into nine chapters. Each chapter treats of some fundamental topic regarding religion or philosophy. As for instance on religious doubt, the kingdom of Truth, the essence and being of God, Naturalism, Pantheism; then there are two chapters on man, one on man and God; the ground and essence of religion, faith, and mystery; the necessity of Revelation, the way of rational belief, wonders and prophecy, the credibility of the Gospel narrative, the divinity of the same, prophecy and its fulfilment, and the word, the work, and the person of Christ.

We have been once or twice tempted to give a few extracts from the more interesting of these chapters, that the reader may judge for himself of the excellence of the volume; but we have each time been unwillingly compelled to desist, as we felt that in such questions as those which the learned author was handling, justice could not possibly be done either to his manner or his matter by a few scanty excerpts. For ourselves, we take leave of this writer with a twofold feeling--one of satisfaction that religion in Germany has such stanch supports, and the other of earnest hope that the day may come when we in England may see an establishment set on foot where men of power

and turn for ecclesiastical learning may be enabled to retire to dedicate their talents undisturbed to the defence of the Church in questions of faith and discipline, and to the creating of a school of English Catholic thought.

THI

A Few Hints to Exeter Hall. London: Bosworth.

HIS pamphlet is written in so admirable a spirit and so effective a style, that we are the rather compelled to a somewhat invidious task. Theological mistakes are much more likely to do harm, when found in company with much which is so excellent; and we think this writer has fallen into one or two such mistakes, which need to be pointed out.

In page 15 he makes the singular remark that the Pope cannot "enforce a new rule of discipline without the consent of his Ecclesiastical Court." Whence can he have derived so strange an impression? He had just said also that "the Pope can create no new dogma ;" a statement most true in itself, but which may very easily be understood as signifying that the Pope can pronounce no new infallible decision. Now Pius IX. alone has pronounced more new infallible decisions than can very easily be enumerated; having been obliged to put them forth, by the unusual activity which religious error has exerted during his Pontificate, in the region of philosophy and ecclesiastical politics.

In page 28 our author lays down as a truth which you "learn from any Catholic priest," "that the priest can absolve only from sins . . . already forgiven." And in page 41 he has some severe remarks on "probabilism," for which he gives no reason, and which lead us greatly to doubt whether he understands the question.

In page 28 by a singular misconception he describes Rosmini as a Jesuit ; and his comment on that writer is in many respects objectionable. It runs thus

"And when Rosmini, a Jesuit, following the traditions of his Order, liberal and courageous, wrote the 'Five Wounds of the Church,' a treatise of reforms, Pio Nono saw it, approved it, and said, 'This is just what we want.' Two years after, he allowed it to be placed on the Index, yielding, it is believed, to the representations of his ministers reluctantly, as a parent may be persuaded by the urgency of his elder children; they thought reforms should not come from the people or the press, but arise from the spontaneous action of the Church. Rosmini's suggestions were not the less accepted and in many ways acted on.

In some other parts of the pamphlet there is more respect for liberalism than we quite understand. In page 39, e. g., the author takes for granted that the Revolution of 1848 was a great blessing to Naples.

Yet the general tone is admirable; and if due explanations are made, it will be found an invaluable book to place in the hand of Protestants. There are three particulars to which we would especially direct our readers' attention: the author's enthusiastic praise of the Jesuits; his high appreciation of the Papal Government; and, above all, his deep sense of that love for our

Blessed Lord, which is so peculiarly characteristic of Catholics, and so powerfully promoted by the vast fabric of Marian devotion. We will conclude our imperfect notice with extracts on the two latter heads,

"You cannot pass through the streets of Rome without seeing that something of nobleness and elegance distinguishes the people from our rough northerners (perhaps we ought to be proud of our roughness; at any rate there it is). And in transactions with all ranks, the suavity and general trustingness of the natives remind one that they expect a similar courtesy from strangers-an expectation not rarely disappointed.

"As companions, they are delightful to live with-kind and generous; many of them highly intelligent and well informed.

66

Taking Rome only in its general aspect, and in the cursory way of strangers, I should consider to be as happy, peaceful, and good-humoured a population (always excepting the secret societies) as any in the world.

"It has a loving and paternal sovereign, equitable laws, a court of justice (the Rota) which is the admiration and the model of other nations, very little interference from the authorities, not much police, and a remarkable absence of all need of it. Among a people so impulsive and passionate, it is really surprising that acts of violence are so rare.

"During three months in Rome, one duel, which ended in a slight scratch, a mortal stab from a tipsy coachman, and two or three pockets picked, were the whole list of personal offences heard of, in the busiest season of the year, when strangers are crowded even up into the suburbs. And at this bustling time, and during the long winter nights, the safety of the streets was out of all comparison greater than that of London, probably than any city in Europe. The head of our English police, Sir Richard Mayne, told Dr. X. that there was a life lost in his district by violence, 'one might say, for every day in the year.' In the Roman territory there are barely so many as ten in the whole year two or three stabs given in sudden passion, two or three vendettas (these are by far the worst crimes of the sort, and they are characteristic), some duels, and some lives taken by robbers" (pp. 18, 19).

"These writers seem hardly to suspect that among the Romanists the love of Christ is incomparably stronger, the familiar consideration of His divine sacrifice more frequent, the sense of His satisfaction for our sins more vivid, the appropriation of His transcendant merits more intimate and habitual, the reliance on Him Only as the height and depth of our security more exclusive and more entire than among any separated sect.

"And this, in fact, is a character that runs through the whole round of controversy with Protestants-their utter incapacity to appreciate the full devotion of Catholic hearts to their Divine Lord. They cannot imagine nor believe that there is an exquisite and all-sufficing happiness in the communion with our Saviour which compensates all sacrifices, lightens all burdens, and transcends all the enjoyment that the world can offer to worldly minds.

"Therefore you find, perpetually, proofs that they cannot approach even to an appreciation of convent life; they are inaccessible to all belief in its fascination. Stories so absurd and impossible, that it seems a debasing of the intellect even to refute them, are accepted as satisfactory by Newdegate, and scandalise Dean Close" (pp. 6, 7).