Protestantism and Catholicity

Having pointed out this, it only remains for me to state here, in conclusion, divers facts which could not be given in the text, and which I have preferred to collect in a note. As these facts belonged to the same subject, it appeared to me proper to collect them apart, while leaving the reader to pay full attention to the observations which form the body of my work.

There were known among the pagans, under the name of ascetics, persons who devoted themselves to abstinence and the practice of the austere virtues; so that, even before Christianity, there already existed the idea of those virtues which have been since exercised in Christianity. The lives of the philosophers are full of examples which prove the truth of my assertion. Yet it will be understood that, deprived of the light of faith and the aid of grace, the pagan philosophers afforded but a very faint shadow of what was afterwards realized in the lives of the Christian ascetics. We have stated that the monastic life is founded on the Gospel, inasmuch as the Gospel contains asceticism. From the foundation of the Church we see the monastic life established under one form or another. Origen tells us of certain men, who, in order to reduce their bodies into subjection, abstained from eating meat and from all that had life. (Origen, Contr. Celsum, lib. v.) Tertullian makes mention of some Christians who abstained from marriage, not because they condemned it, but in order to gain the kingdom of heaven. (Tertul. De Cult. Femin. lib. ii.)

It is remarkable, that the weaker sex participated in a singular manner in that strength of mind which Christianity communicated for the exercise of the heroic virtues. In the early ages of the Church there were already reckoned, in great numbers, virgins and widows consecrated to the Lord, bound by a vow of perpetual chastity; and we see that special care was taken in the ancient Councils of the Church of that chosen portion of her flock. It is one of the objects of the solicitude of the Fathers to regulate discipline on this point in a proper manner. The virgins made their public profession in the church; they received the veil from the hands of the bishop, and, for greater solemnity, they were distinguished by a kind of consecration. This ceremony required a certain age in the person who was consecrated to God; we also observe that discipline has been very different on this point. In the East they received persons seventeen years old, and even sixteen, as we learn from St. Basil (Epist. can. 18); in Africa at twenty-five, as we see from the fourth canon of the third Council of Carthage; in France at forty, as appears from the nineteenth canon of the Council of Agde. Even when the virgins and widows dwelt in the houses of their fathers, they did not cease to be reckoned among ecclesiastical persons; they received the support of the Church by this title, in cases of necessity. If they violated their vow of chastity, they were excommunicated, and could not return to the communion of the faithful, except by submitting to public penance. (For these details, see the thirty-third canon of the third Council of Carthage, the nineteenth canon of the Council of Ancyra, and the sixteenth canon of that of Chalcedon.)

In the first three centuries, the state of the Church, subject to an almost continual persecution, must naturally have hindered persons who loved the ascetic life, men or women, from assembling in the towns to observe it in common. Some think that the propagation of the ascetic life in the desert is in great part due to the persecution of Decius, which was very cruel in Egypt, and made a great number of Christians retire into the deserts of the Thebais, or other solitudes in the neighbourhood. Thus commenced the establishment of that method of life which, in the end, was to gain so prodigious an extension. St. Paul, if we are to believe St. Jerome, was the founder of the solitary life.

It appears that some abuses were introduced into the monastic life from the earliest ages, as we see certain monks detested at Rome in the time of Jerome. Quousque genus detestabile monacorum urbe non pellitur, says the saint by the mouth of the Romans in a letter to Paula; but the reputation of the monks, which had perhaps been compromised by the Sarabaïtes and the Gyrovagues, a kind of vagabonds whose last care was the practice of the virtues of their state, and who indulged in gluttony and other pleasures with shameful licentiousness, was soon restored. St. Athanasius, St. Jerome himself, St. Martin, and other celebrated men, among whom St. Bennet distinguished himself in a particular manner, renewed the splendor of the monastic life by the most eloquent apology, that which consisted in giving, as they did, the most sublime example of the most austere virtues.

It is remarkable that, in spite of the multiplication of monks in the east and west, they were not divided into different orders, so that, during the first six centuries, all, as Mabillon observes, were considered as forming one institute. There was something noble in this unity, which, as it were, formed all the monasteries into one family; but it must be acknowledged that the diversity of orders afterwards introduced was essentially calculated to attain the various and numerous objects which successively attracted the attention of religious institutions.

The discipline, by virtue whereof no new order could be instituted without the previous approbation of the sovereign Pontiff, it may be said, was very necessary, considering the ardor which afterwards urged many persons to establish new institutions; so that, without this prudent check, disorder would have been introduced in consequence of the exaggerated transports which urged some imaginations to exceed all bounds.

Some people take delight in relating the excesses into which some individuals of the mendicant orders fell; and they borrow the narratives of Matthew Paris, without forgetting the lamentations of St. Bonaventura himself. I wish not to excuse evil, wherever it is found; but I will observe, that the circumstances of the times when the mendicant orders were established, and the kind of life they were obliged to embrace, in order to fulfill the purpose for which they were intended, as I have pointed out in the text, rendered almost inevitable those evils which pious men sincerely deplored, and which the enemies of the Church lament with no less affectation than exaggeration.

Note 28, p. 305

I have already shown, by numerous testimonies of scholastic theologians, how the divine origin of the civil power is to be understood; and it is evident that it contains nothing but what is perfectly conformable to sound reason, and adapted, at the same time, to the high aims of society. It would have been easy for me to accumulate testimonies; but I think I have adduced a sufficient number to throw light on the subject, and to satisfy every reader who, free from unjust prejudices, is sincerely desirous of listening to truth. In order, however, to view this subject under every aspect, I will add a few explanations on that celebrated passage of St. Paul to the Romans, chap. xiii., in which the Apostle speaks of the origin of powers, and of the submission and obedience due to them. Let it not be thought, however, that I purpose attaining this end by any reasoning more or less specious. Whenever a passage of Scripture is to be expounded in its true sense, we should not rely principally upon what our wavering reason suggests to us, but rather upon the interpretation of the Catholic Church; for this reason we should consult those writers whose high authority, founded on their wisdom and their virtue, leads us to hope that they have not deviated from the maxim, Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus traditum est.

We have already seen a remarkable passage of St. John Chrysostom, explaining this point with as much clearness as solidity; we have also learned, from the testimony of the Fathers, what motives induced the Apostles to inculcate so pressingly the obligation of obedience to the lawful authorities. It only remains for us to insert here the commentaries of some illustrious writers on the text of the Apostle. In them we shall find, as it were, a code of doctrine; and when we come to appreciate the reasons on which the precepts inculcated in the sacred text are founded, we shall more easily discover their true meaning.

Observe, in the first place, with what wisdom, prudence, and piety this important subject is expounded by a writer who was not of the golden era, but, on the contrary, who lived in what is generally termed the barbarous age – St. Anselm. In his commentaries on the 13th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, this doctor thus expresses himself:

"Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit. Non est enim potestas nisi a Deo. Quæ autem sunt, a Deo ordinatæ sunt. Itaque qui resistit potestati, Dei ordinationi resistit. Qui autem resistunt, ipsi sibi damnationem acquirunt.

"Sicut superius reprehendit illos, qui gloriabantur de meritis, ita nunc ingreditur illos redarguere, qui postquam erant ad fidem conversi nolebant subjici alicui potestati. Videbatur enim quod infideles, Dei fidelibus non deberent dominari, etsi fideles deberent esse pares. Quam superbiam removet, dicens: Omnis anima, id est, omnis homo, sit humiliter subdita potestatibus vel secularibus, vel ecclesiasticis, sublimioribus se: hoc est, omnis homo sit subjectus superpositis sibi potestatibus. A parte enim majore significat totum hominem, sicut rursum a parte inferiore totus homo significatur ubi Propheta dicit: Quia videbit omnis caro salutare Dei. Et recte admonet, ne quis ex eo quod in libertatem vocatus est, factusque Christianus, extollatur in superbiam, et non arbitretur in hujus vitæ itinere servandum esse ordinem suum, et potestatibus, quibus pro tempore rerum temporalium gubernatio tradita est, non se putet esse subdendum. Cum enim constemus ex anima et corpore, et quamdiu in hac vita temporali sumus, etiam rebus temporalibus ad subsidium ejusdem vitæ utamur, oportet nos ex ea parte, quæ ad hanc vitam pertinet, subditos esse potestatibus, id est, res humanas cum aliquo honore administrantibus: ex illa vero parte, qua Deo credimus, et in regnum ejus vocamur, non debemus subditi esse cuiquam homini, id ipsum in nobis evertere cupienti, quod Deus ad vitam æternam donare dignatus est. Si quis ergo putat quoniam Christianus est, non sibi esse vectigal reddendum, sive tributum, aut non esse honorem exhibendum debitum eis quæ hæc curant potestatibus, in magno errore versatur. Item si quis sic se putat esse subdendum, ut etiam in suam fidem habere potestatem arbitretur eum, qui temporalibus administrandis aliqua sublimitate præcellit, in majorem errorem labitur. Sed modus iste servandus est, quem Dominus ipse præcipit, ut reddamus Cæsari quæ sunt Cesaris, et Deo quæ sunt Dei. Quamvis enim ad illud regnum vocati simus, ubi nulla erit potestas hujusmodi, in hoc tamen itinere conditionem nostram pro ipso rerum humanarum ordine debemus tolerare, nihil simulate facientes, et in hoc non tam hominibus, quam Deo, qui hoc jubet, obtemperantes. Itaque omnis anima sit subdita sublimioribus potestatibus, id est, omnis homo sit subditus primum divinæ potestati, deinde mundanæ. Nam si mundana potestas jusserit quod non debes facere, contemne potestatem, timendo sublimiorem potestatem. Ipsos humanarum rerum gradus adverte. Si aliquid jusserit procurator, nonne faciendum est? Tamen si contra proconsulem jubeat, non utique contemnis potestatem, sed eligis majore servire. Non hinc debet minor irasci, si major prælata est. Rursus si aliquid proconsul jubeat, et aliud imperator, numquid dubitatur, illo contempto huic esse serviendum. Ergo si aliud imperator, et aliud Deus jubeat, quid faciemus? Numquid non Deus imperatori est præferendus? Ita ergo sublimioribus potestatibus anima subjiciatur, id est, homo. Sive idcirco ponitur anima pro homine, qui secundum hanc discernit, cui subdi debeat, et cui non. Vel homo, qui promotione virtutem sublimatus est, anima vocatur a digniore parte. Vel, non solum corpus sit subditum, sed anima, id est, voluntas: hoc est, non solum corpore, sed et voluntate serviatis. Ideo debetis subjici, quia non est potestas nisi a Deo. Numquam enim posset fieri nisi operatione solius Dei, ut tot homines uni servirent, quem considerant unius secum esse fragilitatis et naturæ. Sed quia Deus subditis inspirat timorem et obediendi voluntatem, contigit ita. Nec valet quisquam aliquid posse, nisi divinitus ei datum fuerit. Potestas omnis est a Deo. Sed ea quæ sunt, a Deo ordinatæ sunt. Ergo potestas est ordinata, id est, rationabiliter a Deo disposita. Itaque qui resistit potestati, nolens tributa dare, honorem deferre, et his similia, Dei ordinationi resistit, qui hoc ordinavit, ut talibus subjiciamur. Hoc enim contra illos dicitur, qui se putabant ita debere uti libertate Christiana, ut nulli vel honorem deferrent, vel tributa redderent. Unde magnum poterat adversus Christianam religionem scandalum nasci a principibus seculi. De bona potestate patet, quod eam perfecit Deus rationabiliter. De mala quoque videri potest, dum et boni per eam purgantur, et mali damnantur, et ipsa deterius præcipitatur. Qui potestati resistit, cum Deus eam ordinaverit, Dei ordinationi resistit. Sed hoc tam grave peccatum est, quod qui resistunt, ipsi pro contumacia et perversitate sibi damnationem æternæ mortis acquirunt. Et ideo non debet quis resistere, sed subjici."

This remarkable passage contains all – the origin of power, its object, its duties, and its limits. We must observe, that St. Anselm expressly confirms what I have hinted in the text on the subject of the wrong meaning sometimes given in the first centuries to Christian liberty; many imagining that this liberty carried with it the abolition of the civil powers, and particularly of those which were infidel. He also shows the scandal which this doctrine might cause; thus explaining how the Apostles, without attempting to attribute to the civil power any extraordinary and supernatural origin, like that of the ecclesiastical power, had nevertheless powerful reasons for inculcating that this power emanates from God, and that whoever resists it, resists the ordinance of God.

Passing on to centuries nearer our own time, we find the same doctrines in the most eminent commentators. Cornelius a Lapide interprets the passage of St. Paul in the same way as St. Anselm, and explains, by the same reasons, the solicitude with which the Apostles recommended obedience to the civil powers. These are his words:

"Omnis anima (omnis homo) potestatibus sublimioribus, id est principibus et magistratibus, qui potestate regendi et imperandi sunt præditi; ponitur enim abstractum pro concreto; potestatibus, hoc est potestate præditis, subdita sit, scilicet iis in rebus, in quibus potestas illa sublimior et superior est, habetque jus et jurisdictionem, puta in temporalibus, subdita sit regi et potestati civili, quod propie hic intendit Apostolus: per potestatem enim, civilem intelligit; in spiritualibus vero subdita sit Prælatis, Episcopis et Pontifici.

"Nota. – Pro potestatibus sublimioribus, potestatibus supereminentibus vel præcellentibus, ut, Noster vertit, 1 Pet. ii., sive regi quasi præcellenti, Syrus vertit, potestatibus dignitate præditis: id est magistratibus secularibus, qui potestate regendi præditi sunt, sive duces, sive gubernatores, sive consules, prætores, &c.

"Seculares enim magistratus hic intelligere Apostolum patet, quia his solvuntur tributa et vectigalia quæ hisce potestatibus solvi jubet ipse v. 7, ita Sanctus Basilius de Constit. Monast. c. 23.

"Nota. – Ex Clemente Alexand. lib. iv. Stromatum, et S. Aug. in Psal. cxviii. cont. 31, Initio Ecclesiæ, puta tempore Christi et Pauli, rumor erat, per Evangelium politias humanas, regna et respublicas seculares everti; uti jam fit ab hæreticis prætendentibus libertatem Evangelii: unde contrarium docent, et studiose inculcant Christus, cum solvit didrachma, et cum jussit Cæsari reddi ea quæ Cæsaris sunt; et Apostoli: idque ne in odium traheretur Christiana religio, et ne Christiani abuterentur libertate fidei ad omnem malitiam.

"Ortus est his rumor ex secta Judæ et Galilæorum de qua Actor. 5, in fine, qui pro libertate sua tuenda omne dominium Cæsaris et vectigal, etiam morte proposita abnuebant, de quo Josephus, libr. xviii. Antiqu. 1. Quæ secta diu inter Judæos viguit; adeoque Christus et Apostoli in ejus suspicionem vocati sunt, quia origine erant Galilæi, et rerum novarum præcones. Hos Galilæos secuti sunt Judæi omnes, et de facto Romanis rebellarunt: quod dicerent populum Dei liberum non debere subjici et servire infidelibus Romanis; ideoque a Tito excisi sunt. Hinc etiam eadem calumnia in Christianos, qui origine erant et habebantur Judæi, derivata est: unde Apostoli, ut eam amoliantur, sæpe docent principibus dandum esse honorem et tributum.

"Quare octo argumentis probat his Apostolus principibus et magistratibus deberi obedientiam…

"His rationibus probat Apostolus Evangelium, et Christianismum, regna et magistratus non evertere, sed firmare et stabilire: quia nil regna et principes ita confirmat, ac subditorum bona, Christiana et sancta vita. Adeo, ut etiam nunc principes Japones et Indi Gentiles ament Christianos, et suis copiam faciant baptismi et Christianismi suscipiendi, quia subditos Christianos, magis quam Ethnicos, faciles et obsequentes, regnaque sua per eos magis firmari, pacari et florere experiuntur."

With regard to the mode in which civil power proceeds from God, the celebrated commentator agrees with the other theologians. Like them, he distinguishes between direct and indirect communication, and takes care to define the particular meaning of the term, divine origin of power, when applied to ecclesiastical authority.

In his explanation of these words, all power is from God, he thus expresses himself:

"Non est enim potestas, nisi a Deo; quasi diceret principatus et magistratus non a diabolo, nec a solo homine, sed a Deo ejusque divina ordinatione et dispositione conditi et instituti sunt: eis ergo obediendum est.

"Nota primo. —Potestas sæcularis est a Deo mediate; quia natura et recta ratio, quæ a Deo est, dicat, et hominibus persuasit præficere reipublicæ magistratus, a quibus regantur. Potestas vero ecclesiastica immediate est a Deo instituta; quia Christus ipse Petrum et Apostolos Ecclesiæ præfecit."

The celebrated Dom Calmet explains the same passage with no less learning; he quotes numerous passages from the holy Fathers, showing what ideas the first Christians held on the subject of civil power, and how calumniously they have been accused of being the disturbers of public order.

"Omnis anima potestatibus, &c. Pergit hic Apostolus docere Fideles vitæ ac morum officia. Quæ superiori capite vidimus, eo desinunt, ut bonus ordo et pax in Ecclesia interque Fideles servetur. Hæc potissimum spectant ad obedientiam, quam unusquisque superioribus potestatibus debet. Christianorum libertatem atque a Mosaicis legibus immunitatem commendaverat Apostolus; at ne quis monitis abutatur, docet hic, quæ debeat esse subditorum subjectio erga Reges et Magistratus.

"Hoc ipsum gravissime monuerant primos Ecclesiæ discipulos Petrus et Jacobus; repetitque Paulus ad Titum scribens, sive ut Christianos, insectantium injuriis undique obnoxios, in patientia contineret, sive ut vulgi opinionem deleret, qua discipuli Jesu Christi, omnes ferme Galilæi, sententiam Judæ Gaulonitæ sequi, et principum authoritati repugnare censebantur.

"Omnis anima, quilibet, quavis conditione aut dignitate, potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit; Regibus, Principibus, Magistratibus, iis denique quibus legitima est authoritas, sive absoluta, sive alteri obnoxia. Neminem excipit Apostolus, non Presbyteros, non Præsules, non Monachos, ait Theodoretus; illæsa tamen Ecclesiasticorum immunitate. Tunc solum modo parere non debes, cum aliquid Divinæ Legi contrarium imperatur: tunc enim præferenda est debita Deo obedientia; quin tamen vel arma capere adversus Principes, vel in seditionem abire liceat. Repugnandum est in iis tantum, quæ justitiam, ac Dei legem violant; in cæteris parendum. Si imperaverint aut idolorum cultum aut justitiæ violationem cum necis vel bonorum jacturæ interminatione, vitam et fortunas discrimini objicito, ac repugnato; in reliquis autem obtempera.

"Non est enim potestas nisi a Deo. Absolutissima in libertate conditus est homo, nulli creatæ rei, at uni Deo subditus. Nisi mundum invasisset una cum Adami transgressione peccatum, mutuam æqualitatem libertatemque homines servassent. At libertate abusos damnavit Deus, ut parerent iis, quos ipse principes illis daret, ob pœnam arrogantiæ, qua pares Conditori effici voluerunt. At, inquies, quis nesciat, quorumdam veterum Imperiorum initia et incrementa ex injuria atque ambitione profecta. Nemrod, exempli causa, Ninus, Nabuchodonosor, aliique quamplures, an Principes erant a Deo constituti? Nonne similius vero est, violenta Imperia primum exorta esse ab imperandi libidine? liberorum vero Imperiorum originem fuisse hominum metum, qui sese impares propulsandæ externorum injuriæ sentientes, aliquem sibi Principem creavere, datamque sibi a Deo naturalem ulciscendi injurias potestatem, volentes libentesque alteri tradiderunt? Quam vere igitur docet Apostolus, quamlibet potestatem a Deo esse, eumque esse positæ inter homines authoritatis institutorem?"

He points out four ways in which power may be said to emanate from God, and it is remarkable that none of them are extraordinary or supernatural; all of them serve to confirm more and more what reason and the very nature of things teach us.

"Omnino Deus potestatis autor et causa est. I. Quod, hominibus tacite inspiraverit consilium subjiciendi se uni, a quo defenderentur. II. Quod imperia inter homines utilissima sint servandæ concordiæ, disciplinæ, ac religioni. Porro quicquid boni est, a Deo ceu fonte proficisciter. III. Cum potestas tuendi ab aggressore vitam vel opes, hominibus a Deo tradita, atque ab ipsis in Principem conversa, a Deo primum proveniat, Principes ea potestate ab hominibus donati, hanc ab ipso Deo accepisse jure dicuntur; quamobrem Petrus humanam creaturam nuncupat, quam Paulus potestatem a Deo institutam: humana igitur et divina est, varia ratione spectata, uti diximus. IV. Denique suprema authoritas a Deo est, utpote quam Deus, a sapientibus institutam, probavit.

"Nulla unquam gens sæcularibus potestatibus magis paruit, quam primæ ætatis Christiani, qui a Christo Jesu et ab Apostolis edocti, nunquam ausi sunt Principibus a Providentia sibi datis repugnare. Discipulos fugere tantum jubet Christus. Ait Petrus, Christum nobis exemplum reliquisse, cum sese Judicum iniquitate pessime agi passus est. Monet hic Paulus, resistere te Dei voluntati, atque æternæ damnationis reum effici, si potestati repugnas. 'Quamvis nimius et copiosus noster populus, non tamen adversus violentiam se ulciscitur: patitur,' ait sanctus Cyprianus. 'Satis virium est ad pugnam; at omnia perpeti ex Christo didicimus. Cui bello non idonei, non prompti fuissemus, etiam copiis impares, qui tam libenter trucidamur? si non apud istam disciplinam magis occidi liceret, quam occidere,' inquit Tertullianus. 'Cum nefanda patimur, ne verbo quidem reluctamur, sed Deo remittimus ultionem,' scribebat Lactantius. Sanctus Ambrosius: 'coactus, repugnare non novi. Dolere potero, potero flere, potero gemere: abversus arma, milites, Gothos quoque; lacrymæ meæ arma sunt. Talia enim sunt munimenta Sacerdotis. Aliter ne debeo nec possum resistere.'"

I have said in the text, that there was to be remarked a singular coincidence of opinions on the origin of society between the philosophers of antiquity, deprived of the light of faith, and those of our days who have abandoned this light; both wanting the only guide, which is the Mosaic history, have found in their researches after the origin of things, nothing more than chaos, in the physical as well as in the moral order. In support of my assertion, I will insert passages from two celebrated men, in which the reader will find, with very little difference, the same language as in Hobbes, Rousseau, and other writers of the same school.