THE MOTHER OF GOD.'

419

Nestorians, St. Mary became the symbol of the co-existence of the Divine and the human natures in the person of Christ. The undefinable mystery of Divine incarnation was represented by a human symbol. Already before this time, though it cannot be asserted to have been the case before the end of the fourth century, St. Mary was called the Mother of God.' This is proved by a Scripture entitled the assumption, or the transit of the blessed Virgin.' Even the new dogma or symbol about the immaculate conception may be interpreted from this historical point of view. In Jesus the Divine nature coexisted with his sinless, therefore immaculate, human nature. The new symbol requires interpretation, or it must become an idol; even as the mystery of the cross has been degraded by ignorance. The new dogma, interpreted as a symbol, receives its lustre from the annunciation, the grandest poem ever conceived.

Dogmas are symbols. The true, the comprehensive meaning of all dogmatic formulas lies hidden under their literal sense. Like all other symbols, the creeds, if taken to be more than mere forms of concord between contending parties; if they are to be regarded as authoritative expressions of a for-ever-binding tradition, as the exclusively true interpretation of Holy Writ; if they are to stand above Scripture; if they are to mark the limit between true and false doctrine; if they are to be promulgated as canons of interpretation, they must be interpreted by the progressive consciousness of the Church, that is, of the household of God, of the social community in the faith and for the faith. Scripture and living tradition applied must be regarded as the two co-ordinate sources of doctrine, so long as the proof is withheld, that Scripture is no more than an epitome, a skeleton of tradition, a lock requiring a key. The development in Scripture and in the creeds must be traced to the same source, that is, to the gradual proclamation of secret tradition, to the gradual application of the keys of St. Peter. The

1 Translated in Wright's Syriac Apocrypha, 1865.

recognition of the primacy of the Pope of Rome is no more than the acknowledgment of an historical fact. Nowhere else than in the Roman Papacy can we recognise the historical continuity of an organisation, the high destiny of which can be historically proved to have been to harmonise what is written with authoritative canons of interpretation, and also, through general councils, with the progressive exigencies of human consciousness.

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The supernatural character of man's spiritual nature, involves the supernatural character of Christianity, and of the Christian Church. Man is a miracle, Christianity is a miracle, the Church is a miracle. The Church is not only a society of the faith and of the Holy Spirit in the hearts,' but also a society of the outward signs of the Church.' Symbols must continue, but their true interpretation must be universally promulgated. The right and duty of national education, and of free enquiry may be acknowledged by the highest Church-authority, without fear that the obedience of faith will suffer by it. The Church contains now, as it always did, two parties diametrically opposed to each other, the party of stagnation and the party of progress, the party of darkness and that of light. The Church must avoid even the semblance of assuming, that there is a greater responsibility in using the keys of St. Peter in order to open, than in order to shut, in going forward than in standing still. The rightly interpreted, the enduring interests of a privileged sacerdotal corporation, cannot be incompatible with the acknowledged interests of mankind. Catholicity is not an ideal, to be realised by the blind submission of the many, who ask for progress, to the few who insist on standing still. Catholicity would then be a fiction enforced, instead of a reality which commends itself to the conscience of every man.

There is a gulf, and it must be bridged over. Canons of interpretation are the requirements of the age. They can only be supplied by the revelation of what is hidden, by the Apocalypse of the Apocrypha. How were the Gospels

THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

421

gradually composed in the form we received them from the Church in the fourth century? What became of St. Matthew's Hebrew Gospel-text, which St. Jerome translated? What became of the 'expositions of the. sayings of the Lord, based upon the teachings of the elders,' by bishop Papias, to which work St. Irenæus and Eusebius refer as existing in their time? What share did St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John take in the transmission of Apostolic tradition? How are symbols to be interpreted? These are some of the many urgent questions of the day. What we know not, the successors of St. Peter, the possessors of the keys of St. Peter, of the key of David, do know; unless we assume that the tradition of the Church has become a mere fiction, and is in no sense the memory of the Church.' Let the mystery of Babylon fall. Let Rome speak.

History does not reveal a beneficial law of progressive unity, but a beneficial law of progressive truth, and of the gradual proclamation of the same all over the world. Darkness expelled by light; the rise and progress of light, this is what all history records. History is progressive application of tradition to the exigencies of mankind. Tradition is the father of history, and is not a mere invention of historians. Tradition has been sown, has grown, has borne and will bear fruit. Tradition is not destined merely to constitute a link between the nations of the earth, but it is inseparably connected with mankind, with human consciousness. Tradition will in future be connected with the promised one flock and one shepherd.' Infallibility must no longer be sought in the letter, or in its interpretation, that is, either exclusively in Scripture, or exclusively in tradition, nor in human consciousness, not even in its most exalted representatives. These three fallible sources combined, will form the tribunal of peace. The voice of the Church, human consciousness, more or less enlightened by Scripture, as interpreted by tradition, must continue to be expressed, through regularly appointed

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clerical and lay representatives of all national or local Churches of every creed under the sun. General councils thus organised, under the guiding presidency of the living pilot of the Church, will prove to the world, that now, as of old, creeds can be agreed to and promulgated, as human and temporarily binding expressions of the truth; that the represented minorities can live in peace and harmony with the equally represented majorities, both being united by their common representative, by the visible symbol of their unity, by the successor of St. Peter, by the living depositary of the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Thus the nearest possible approach to infallibility will have been made, and the voice of God, the 'still small voice' of the Divine Spirit in man, will be more and more heard in the voice of the Church. The future so ardently longed for, will be found in a just appreciation of the past.

The catholicity of conWhere the Spirit of God

The spirit of God is in man. science is an undoubted fact. is, there is the Church, and there is liberty. The enemies of liberty cannot, therefore, be the friends of the Church. Yet human conscience alone can never be acknowledged as the arbiter in matters of God. It requires to be enlightened by the written and by the unwritten tradition of ages gone by. When these views shall have pervaded mankind, and if they are true they will do so, then catholicity will no longer be an ideal, nor merely a human organism, an institution for determining the relations between God and Man; but the Catholic Church will be the manifestation of the individually established union and communion with the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. The Catholic Church will then be in full blossom, it will ever be a fruit-bearing tree of knowledge and of life, for the healing of the nations. It will be no longer a Church, but the Church of united, though not uniformed humanity; it will be the 'Holy Catholic Church' of the Apostolic Creed; not one fold, but one flock.

APPENDIX.

NEW DATES IN NEW TESTAMENT

CHRONOLOGY.

Accession of Herod Agrippa I.

Martyrdom of St. Stephen and St. James

Imprisonment of St. Peter, and his first journey to Rome.

Conversion of St. Paul

Appointment of St. James, 'the brother of the Lord'

St. Paul's first journey to Jerusalem

Apostolic Council

Arrival of St. Paul at Ephesus

His departure from Ephesus

St. Paul at Corinth, between

His last journey to Jerusalem

St. Paul's departure from Cesarea, (autumn)

Arrival in Rome, (spring).

St. Paul's Martyrdom, (between)