LIVE

THE ROMAN COLLAR COMEDY TOUR

AT NOTRE DAME

Hey Fetuses,

Yes We Can!

Titles Include:

Poppa Benny Don’t Preach (I’m gonna kill my baby)

Baby, I Know The First Cut Is The Deepest (but I’m gonna cut ya anyway)

Nero’s Song (let’s fiddle with the truth as Western Culture burns)

Stairway To Hades

Gomorrah Nights

Away With The Manger

Prophylatic Hats (‘cuz tin foil don’t work no mo’)

Judas Is Just Alright With Me.

The Democrat Party Anthem (I know its only crock and show, but I like it)

Plus Bonus Tracks!

THE PIMPING PRIESTTES: A power trio of cross-dressing former Jesuit Theologians show solidarity with their downtrodden sisters with a rousing rendition of I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR.

THE TWISTED SISTERS: An ensemble of pantsuited nuns with attitude. Before the PanzerKardinal’s reform of ICEL they were-one and all-Diocean Liturgical Co-ordinators. You’ll love their protest anthem IGNORE THE RED, TO HELL WITH THE BLACK; and their heart-rending tribute to Bishops Trautman and Mahoney HOW THE “F” CAN THEY “EF” THE INEFFABLE will move you to tears.

First, then, on what basis is our devotion to Mary
founded ? " No one," says the Apostle, " can lay any
foundation but the one that has been laid that is,
Jesus Christ." Now, in a pre-eminent manner, Our
Divine Saviour is the foundation of the honour we pay
to the Blessed Virgin ; because we have received Him,
in fact, through her. God predestined Mary, before all
time, to be the means of giving Jesus Christ to the
world. Having called her to so glorious a ministry,
He did not choose that she should be a merely passive
channel of His grace. He made her, farther, a volun-
tary instrument who should contribute to the great
work by the use of her own will. Is not this clear
from the manner in which the Incarnation was
announced to Mary ? When the moment for accomplishing
that Mystery which has kept all nature
expectant throughout the ages has arrived, the
Eternal Father sends an angel to make it known to
her ; and the angel awaits the maiden's decision, so
that the great act shall not be performed without her
consent. The moment she has given this the heavens
are opened, the Son of God is made man, and the
world has a Saviour. 

Hence, the love and longing of Mary were in a
measure necessary for our salvation. St. Thomas
declares that "the fulness of grace she then received
was so great that it brought her to a most intimate
union with the Author of Grace; that this fitted her to
receive into her holy womb the One who contains all
graces ; and that thus, in conceiving Him, she became
in some sort the source of that grace which He was to
pour forth over all mankind and so concurred in giving
the human race its Deliverer ". 

There is a necessary consequence of this fact which
is not sufficiently borne in mind : namely, that God
having once elected to give us Jesus Christ through
the Blessed Virgin, this order of things can never
change ; for the gifts of God are "without repentance".
It is, and always will be, true, that having once
received the Author of our salvation through her, we
shall necessarily continue to receive help towards that
salvation in the same manner. The Incarnate Word
is the universal principle of grace ; but the Christian
life in its various phases consists in the particular
applications of the grace proceeding from this principle
to the individual needs of each soul. Mary, having
been once chosen as the means by which grace should
come into the world, has, as a natural consequence, her
share in its application to the souls of men for their
salvation. Continue Reading (start at last Paragraph on pg. 3)

PSALM V.

TlTLE. English Version : To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth,
A Psalm of David. LXX. : To the end : for the heiress, a Psalm of
David. Vulgate : In finem, pro eA qusB hiereditatem consequitor {
PsalmoB David. Or, as modem critios : To the Supreme ; on the
wind instruments $ a Psalm of David.

Argument:.

Thomas. That Christ is the inhabiter of Saints, the
hearer of the Church. The voice of the Church. Christ speaketh
to the Fathxb concerning the Jews, and to the Church which hath
received the heritage of Paradise, not of the old Testament, as the
title of the Psalm proves.

Venerable. Bsde. To the end : for her that obtaineth the inheritance.
That is for the Church, who, by the Resurrection of Christ, has
received the gift of spiritual good ; and who herself is sometimes
called the heritage of the Lobd, since by His precious Blood she
hath been redeemed. Whence it is written in the 2nd Psalm:
** Desire of Me, and I shall give thee the Gentiles for thine herit-
age.” All this Psalm is spoken in the person of the Church. In
the first section she desireth that her prayer may be heard, and
showeth how heretics and schismatics are shat out firom the gifts of
the Lobd. In the second, she maketh request that, through the
understanding of HoW Scripture, she may be led in a right path to
that happy country, oom whence she knoweth that they who are
treacherous will be for ever shut out. In the last she setteth forth
the rewards of the blessed, that in one and the same discourse she
may convert the wicked by the prediction of their punishment, and
excite the good by the promise of their reward.

Syriac Psalter. a prayer of David in the person of the Church
when in the morning he went up to the temple of the Lobd.

Various Uses:

Gregorian. Monday: Lauds. [Feasts of Invention and Exaltation
of the Cross : IL Nocturn. Feasts of Crown of Thorns| and
of Nails and Spear : II. Nootum. Feasts of SS. Agnes and Aga-
tha : II. Noctum. Common of One Martyr : IL Noctum. Com-
mon of Confsssors : II. Noctum. Office of the Dead : Lauds.]

Monastic, Ferial; Monday: Lauds. [Common of One Martyr
and of Confessors : I. Noctum.]

Parisian. Wednesday: Lauds.

Lyons, Monday: Lauds.

Ambrosian, Monday of the First Week : Matins.

Quignon, Tuesday : Prime.

Eastern Church, Prime.

Antiphon:

Gregorian, Ponder * my words, O Lord. Office for the Dead.
Make Thy way plain, * O Lord, my God, before Thy face. [Common
of One Martyr: Thou hast crowned him with the shield of
Thy eood will, O Lord. Common of Confessors : Let ail them that
put uieir trust in Thee, O Lobd, rejoice, for Thou hast blessed the
righteous, and crowned him with the shield of Thy good will.]

Parisian, All they that hope in Thee * shall eyer be giving of
thanks, and Thou shalt dwell in them.

Lyons. Consider * my crying, O Lobd.

Mozarabic, “Mj Toice shaJt Thou hear betimes, O Lobd. Early
in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up.

1. Ponder my words, O Lord : consider my meditation.

Here we distinguish two kinds of prayer: words and
meditations. Words may refer both to that form of prayer
which our blessed Lord has left us, and to those prayers
which, by His teaching. His Church has provided for her
children. Meditations, to the thoughts and desires of our
heart, whether put into, or ascending without, words. We
call upon God to ponder the first, to weigh their full mean-
ing, oftentimes more than we are aware of, and to give us
according to that : to consider the second, bestowing on us
what He sees to be good among the things which we ask, and
regarding our meanmg rather man our expressions.

2 O hearken thou unto the voice of my calling,
my king and my God : for unto thee will I make my
prayer.

Note; there are three things which make prayer accept-
able to God ; faithfulness, humility, and assiduity; and we
have them all here. Faifulness : My King, showing that
we are subjects to none other. Humility : I will look up.
Assiduity : Early in the morning. My King and my God.
By King, we understand the Son, by God, the Father.
AM the reason of this order of the words may be, that by 
Jesus Christ we draw near to the Father, as He saith, ” No man
cometh unto tbe Fatheb but by Me.”

[All Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are marked in the
 opening of this Psalm, in the three titles, Lord, King, and
God,  but the verb is singular, denoting the indivisible Unity.]

3 My voice shalt thou hear betimes O Lord :
early in the morning will I direct my prayer unto
thee and will look up.

 In the morning. This may be expounded in several
different ways, first, of diligence in seeking God, not only in the
morning, but early in ike morning. Again, of purity ; the
morning being the clearest and purest time of the day.
Again, the night may be taken of the darkness of original sin :
then the illumination of Baptism is signified by the morning.
And literally, David appointed the Levites to stand every
morning, to thank and praise the Lord (1 Chron 23:30). Look up, because
ooking down to the earth we can obtain no real help.

[Early in the morning, that is, as soon as Chbist, Who is
the brignt and morning Star, arises on my darkened heart, I
will begin to pray. Early in the Resurrection morning, which
has no night, I will stand by Thee (Vulg.) at Thy right hand,
and will behold (Vulg.) Thy righteous judgnnents. Early,
because Divine grace is like the manna, which had to be
gathered before the sun arose to melt it. Early in the morning
says Rabbi Rashi, because we are guilty sinners, and that
is the time of judgment and execution, according to that saying
of the Prophet (Jer 21:12), " Execute judgment in the morning."
Observe further, that the seven stages of true prayer are all
set before us in these verses, and in the seventh. First, right
intention. My voice shalt Thou hear: secondly, eagerness,
betimes; thirdly, constancy, Early in the morning will I
direct my prayer unto Thee; fourthly, a pure conscience, and
will look up. The three other stages are, — union with God, I
will come into Thy house; confidence, in the multitude of Thy
mercies; and reverence, I will worship. Look up, in this
life, for help, and yet more to ponder on the Divine mysteries
p, of the New Law. Look up, in the life to come, on the ineffable
glory and the Beatific Vision. Some Greek texts, and
. the Arabic version, read here, Thou shalt see me: and the
Syriac and Ethiopic are nearly the same, I shall appear
unto Thee. It is David, observes a Saint, calling on God in
trouble, and saying. Thou hast seen me a shepherd. Thou wilt
see me a king, Thou hast seen me harping. Thou wilt see
me prophesymg.]

4 For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in
wickedness : neither shall any evil dwell with thee.

The God, Not like the gods many and lords many of the
heathen, which were so often served by, and took pleasure in,
wickedness. He saith not, Come unto Thee, but dwell with Thee;
Thee; for it was in order that, being made clean, they might
dwell with Him for ever that the publicans and sinners came
into the presence of the Losd.

5 Such as be foolish shall not stand in thy sight :
for thou hatest all them that work vanity.

In this and the next verse are set forth three kinds of sinners
who are not to stand in the presence of God; the foolish,
that is, sinners in thought (for ” The fool hath said in his
heart. There is no God :”) them that work wickedness, that
is, sinners in deed : and them that speak leasing, that is, sinners
in words. Shall not stand in Thy sight. They shall
not in this world, even in His holy temple, because they will
not ; and they will not stand in His sight before His Judgment
seat, because they shall not. That work vanity. Not
that have worked it, or where could any hope to appear?

6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing : the
Lord will abhor both the blood-thirsty and deceitful
man.

Will ahhor. That is, though He now abhors them. He
will in the last day manifest His abhorrence by condemning
them to everlasting destmction. Note : the sins of the heart Ay.
are visited as if they were sins of action. Blood-thirsty, not
bloody : deceitful, not an open liar.

7 But as for me, I will come into thine house,
even upon the multitude of thy mercy : and in thy
fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

And yet, nevertheless, we who have so often and so griev-
ously offended both in thought, word, and deed, will come
into the House of God ; and can only do so upon the multitude
of His mercy. Or if prevented from actually going
up thither, like Daniel, who when he made his prayer looked
towards Jerusalem, we will worship toward His holy temple.
Again, the words may be taken of that heavenly touse into
which we one day hope to enter, and of the Liunb Who is
the Temple thereof.

[Into Thine house. As a stone let into the very substance
of the building, never more to go out, towards, not in. Thy
holy temple, doing reverence to the human Body of Christ
Jesus, the true sanctuary of God, in which dwelt all His
fulness, the temple destroyed by the Jews, and raised up
again in three days.]

8 Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness,because
of mine enemies : make thy way plain before my
face.

And because in attaining to this celestial dwelling, we
are snrrounded by many enemies, we therefore call upon
God to lead us in His righteousness, even Christ Who is
the Way. Because of mine enemies. In a twofold sense;
that they may be preserved from hurting us, or that we may
be enabled to do them good. Before my face. That there
may be no turning back from it; no ”ye did run well.”
Or again, that the true Way, our blessed Lobd, may be more
and more plainly manifested to us ; and that we may more
and more Trustfully look to Him.

[Make Thy way plain. There is an especial pathos in
selecting this verse as the Antiphon for that Office of the
Dead which takes its name Dirge from the Vulgate Dirge,
here found. It is the cry of the parting soul, about to be
its mvstic journey to another world, by a road beset with
ghostly enemies, and calling on God for hdp against them
and for light and guidance by the way.

It is Thy way before my face in the Hebrew and in the English
 versions. The LXX. and Vulgate, and Ethiopic read
it conversely, my way before Thy face, God's Way is before
our face when we are K)llowing Ghbist, Who is tnat Way ;
our way is before God's Face, when, having gone in that
Way from strength to strength, we appear at the last unto
the God of gods m Sion.]

9 For there is no faithfulness in his mouth : their
inward parts are very wickedness.

For there is no faithfulness. And therefore, since there
are so many that would lead us into error, we the more require
that God’s way may be made plain to us. In his mouth,
and *’out of tne abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh.”

10 Their throat is an open sepulchre : they flatter
with their tongue.

An open sepulchre. Dangerous and noisome, and as silent
in the praises of God, as the tomb. The two clauses set
forth the open and secret endeavours of her enemies to destroy
or injure the Church, and they thus also doubly attacked
our Lord. Openly, as when they said, ‘*He hath a 
devil;” as when ” they took up stones to stone Him ;” as
when they ” led Him to the brow of the hill.” Secretly, as
when tempting Him, they said, ‘We know that Thou art true ;
and as when Judas betrayed Him with a kiss.

[An open sepulchre. And so more dangerous even than
hypocrites, who are like sepulchres closed and whited out- s.'Sm!
ws^y. Open, because they are gaping to swallow up the
labors of others, as the grave gapes for bodies. Open, because
their soul is not only dead m sins, but emits its noisome 
savour in evil words of heresy, which bring others dowm into
the same tomb of unrighteousness. They would do less harm
were they silent.]

11 Destroy thou them O God; let them perish
through their own imaginations : cast them out in
the multitude of their ungodliness; for they have
rebelled against thee.

Let them perish. This is the first instance of that praying
for evil on others which has so much perplexed some with
the Psalms, and which, as clearly as anything else, shows
that they are to be taken in a sense above that of the letter. a
(This subject is referred to in the Third Dissertation.) But
if we always apply such expressions to our spiritual enemies,
the difficulty will disappear. Through their own imaginations.
 Like Gehazi, who thought to obtain the gold, and was
visited with the leprosy, of Naaman.

[Destroy them. The LXX. and Yulgate read. Judge them:
modem critics, far better, Make them repent, let them
perish through their own imaginations. The LXX. and Vulgate
are somewhat nearer to the Hebrew, reading, as they
do. Let them fall away from their thoughts, that is, let them
abandon, or be baffled in, their evil plans, or, let their own Q..
consciences accuse and condemn them. Cast them out. So
long as the sinner hides his guilt, he is within the grave. But
when the voice of the Lord calls on any Lazarus to come
forth, then, moving him to confession. He casts him out
of darkness mto light in this life, that he may not be cast out
of light into outer darkness in the world to come. Rebelled.
The LXX. and Yulgate read, embittered Thee, By their
own sin, making that Bread of Life which is sweet to the taste
of the righteous, a bitter poison to them.

12 And let all them that put their trust in thee
rejoice : they shall ever be giving of thanks because
thou defendest them ; they that love thy name shall
be joyful in thee.

[Thou defendest them, LXX., Syriac, and Vulgate, Thou
shalt dwell in them. The Ethiopic, yet better, Thou shalt
dwell over them. As a sbelteriiig tent, notes Cardinal Bellarmine,
but we may better take the Lord's own simile, as a bird
gathering her young under her wings.]

18 For thou, Lord wilt give thy blessing unto
the righteous : and with thy favourable kindness wilt
thou defend him as with a shield.

In these verses we have the help of God promised to His
Church. Where note three things. 1. It is eternal: they
shall EVER be giving Thee thanks. 2. Divine : Thou defendest
them. 3. Free: Thou wilt give Thy blessing, And what
then matters it who scorns or injures us? God be for
us, who can be against us? The Vulgate translation some-
what differs from ours. For Thou shalt give Thy blessings
to the righteous : O Lord, Thou hast crowned us as with
the shield cf Thy good-will. ” In the life of this world,”
says S. Jerome, ” a shield is one thing, and a crown another :
God Himself is both Crown and Shield. As a shield. He
defends ; as a crown. He rewards.” Well, then, may the
Church pray in one of her sweetest hymns :

[Wherefore :

Glory be to the Father, unto Whom is said, Ponder my
words, O Lord ; glory be to the Son, unto Whom is said.
Consider my meditation ; Glory be to the Holy Ghost, unto
Whom is said, Hearken Thou unto the voice of my calling.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:
world without end. Amen.]

COLLECTS.

O merciful Ord, Who understandest the groaning of the
contrite heart before it is expressed, make us, we pray Thee,
the Temple of the Paraclete, to the end that we may merit to
be crowned with the shield of celestial mercy.

Our King and our God, repel from our hearts the night of
error and ignorance, so that renewing us into a new man.
Thou mayest in the morning hear our Toice. Grant that we
may very early by good works present oursdves to Thee,
ana vouchsafe that we may contemplate Thee in the Sacrament
of Thy Resurrection.

O God, Who hatest all that work iniquity, fiU us with the
strength of Thy love ; that they may at some time turn to
Thee and bitterly lament their sin, who now speak falsely against Thee.

O Lord, the expectation of our salvation, receive the
prayers of them that call upon Thee: Though that art the discoverer
of hidden things, give ear to the hidden dry of the
heart; that those things which we tremble to have committed
and blush to confess, Thou, are King, mayest forgive of Thy
clemency, and blot out of Thy goodness; so that our supplication
may arise to Thee in the morning, and the good
gifts of Thy mercy may descend on us right early.

O our King and God, lead us into Thy righteousness because
of our enemies, and direct my way in Thy sight, that
Thou mayest ever rejoice and dwell in us, who are crowned
with the shield of Thy goodwill.

Full text of “Ten Reasons Proposed to His Adversaries for Disputation in the Name: of the Faith and Presented to the Illustrious Members of Our Universities”

Another thing to incite me to the encounter, and to disparage in my eyes the poor forces of the enemy, is the habit of mind which they continually display in their exposition of the Scriptures, full of deceit, void of wisdom. As philosophers, you would seize these points at once. Therefore I have desired to have you for my audience. Suppose, for example, we ask our adversaries on what ground they have concocted that novel and sectarian opinion which banishes Christ from the Mystic Supper. If they name the Gospel, we meet them promptly. On our side are the words, “this is my body, this is my blood.”  This language seemed to Luther himself so forcible, that for all his strong desire to turn Zwinglian, thinking by that means to make it most awkward for the Pope, nevertheless he was caught and fast bound by this most open context, and gave in to it (Luther, epistol. ad Argent.), and confessed Christ truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament no less unwillingly than the demons of old, overcome by His miracles, cried aloud that He was Christ, the Son of God. Well then, the written text gives us the advantage: the dispute now turns on the sense of what is written. Let us examine this from the words in the context,  “my body which is given for you,” “my blood which hall be shed for many”. Still the explanation on Calvin’s side is most hard, on ours easy and quite plain.

What further? Compare the Scriptures, they say, one with another. By all means. The Gospels agree, Paul concurs. The words, the clauses, the whole sentence reverently repeat living bread, signal miracle, heavenly food, flesh, body, blood. There is nothing enigmatical, nothing befogged with a mist of words. Still our adversaries hold on and make no end of altercation. What are we to do? I presume, Antiquity should be heard; and what we, two parties suspect of one another, cannot settle, let it be settled by the decision of venerable ancient men of all past ages, as being nearer Christ and further removed from this contention. They cannot stand that, they protest that they are being betrayed, they appeal to the word of God pure and simple, they turn away from the comments of men. Treacherous and fatuous excuse. We urge the word of God, they darken the meaning of it. We appeal to the witness of the Saints as interpreters, they withstand them. In short their position is that there shall be no trial, unless you stand by the judgment of the accused party. And so they behave in every controversy which we start. On infused grace, on inherent justice, on the visible Church, on the necessity of Baptism, on Sacraments and Sacrifice, on the merits of the good, on hope and fear, on the difference of guilt in sins, on the authority of Peter, on the keys, on vows, on the evangelical counsels, on other such points, we Catholics have cited and discussed Scripture texts not a few, and of much weight, everywhere in books, in meetings, in churches, in the Divinity School: they have eluded them. We have brought to bear upon them the scholia of the ancients, Greek and Latin: they have refused them. What then is their refuge? Doctor Martin Luther, or else Philip (Melancthon), or anyhow Zwingle, or beyond doubt Calvin and Besa have faithfully laid down the facts. Can I suppose any of you to be so dull of sense as not to perceive this artifice when he is told of it? Wherefore I must confess how earnestly I long for the University Schools as a place where, with you looking on, I could call those carpet-knights out of their delicious retreats into the heat and dust of action, and break their power, not by any strength of my own,–for I am not comparable, not one per cent., with the rest of our people;–but by force of strong case and most certain truth.

St Thomas Aquinas was by all accounts an outstanding preacher; not surprising since he belonged to the Order of Preachers (i.e., the Dominicans). Thomistic Philosopher Ralph McInerny, in the foreward he wrote for the book ST THOMAS AQUINAS: THE THREE GREATEST PRAYERS, Commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Apostles Creed writes: “We are told by a contemporary Neopolitan (john Coppa) that ‘almost the whole population of Naples went to hear his sermons every day.’ And Willian of Tocco writes that ‘he was heard by the people with such revrence that it was as if his preaching came forth from God.’” Sadly, Aquinasleft behind very few of his actual sermons, however, fortunately for us, he did leave behind about one hundred of his sermons notes. In the near future I would like to begin posting a series of my own notes on those notes of his. They were published in English in 1867 by their translator, John M. Ashley, B.C.L., who also wrote a preface to that translation; it is this that I reproduce here.

FOR the large circulation which has fallen to the lot of the several portions of these Homilies, now collected into one volume, for the favourable criticism accorded to them by the press, and for the number of private expressions of approval which the Editor has received from fellow Priests, he feels deeply grateful ; yet his gratitude is not so much on his own account, or on that of his little book, a^ that this portion, at least, of the writings of S. Thomas Aquinas is allowed to be capable of supplying one of the wants of the present day a really sound help to sermon- making. It is a most cheering and encouraging fact, that the men of the present day are willing in any degree to acknow- ledge, that they can learn something of value from the great Schoolman. Despite all the undeserved contempt and obloquy heaped upon the Schoolmen, both at the time of the so-called revival of letters and ever since ; despite the vast advances which have been made during the last half century in every department of theological learning and criticism ; and, lastly, despite the growth of that spirit of infi- delity, a combined product of the nominalism which accompanied the religious convulsions three hundred years ago, and of the Protestant dogma of right of private judgment the sermons of the “Angelical Doctor” are
being not only read, but preached, in substance, if not in form, in many churches, both at home and in the Colo- nies. The Translator’s work has been indeed a labour of love, sweetened by the thought and strengthened by the belief that this little book must contribute, in some small degree, to a revival amongst us of the Scholastic Theology. There are many reasons which render such a revival desirable, and at the present time especially so ; but there is one reason above all others which claims to be stated here. In so far as things divine have an intellectual basis, and can be shadowed forth by any operation of the mind, they must be represented to us by conceptions which far surpass any possible earthly manifestation of them. The ” hypos- tasis of things hoped for’ r can only spring from the abiding conviction, that we are now to rest upon certain ideas which hereafter shall be exchanged for their realities. Now, we can form but an idea of what the absolutely good, and true, and beautiful may be like; by-and-by we expect to see these ideas realized, in God, and in our glorified selves. Yet perfect goodness, and truthfulness, and beauty, and holiness are not mere ideas; they are realities, finding their true archetype in the mind and being of God realities of which, by our union with Him through our Blessed Lord, we may hope to be partakers. The teaching of the four great Schoolmen, of Abert the Great, as well as of the Seraphic, Angelical, and Subtle Doctors, was, in common with that of Plato and the New Testament, essentially and entirely realistic. However the Scotists differed from the Thomists on some questions of Theology, they were quite agreed upon this point. However Luther may have differed from Zwingle, and Zwingle from Calvin, in their “views” of
Sacramental grace, they were ” consented together ” in support of that nominalism which would reduce the deep mysteries of the Kingdom of Grace to mere names, and would limit our conceptions of them, and endeavours after them, to what it seems now possible to attain. It is not too much to say, that the Sadduceeism which is now sapping all the vitality of our faith and morals, is but the legitimate product of that nominalism which has lain at the root of all religious belief ever since the religious movement of the sixteenth century. Because the Scholastic Theology is realistic in its teaching, it is the only antidote which will be powerful enough to counteract the effects of that pernicious influence which the Teutonic Upas-tree has cast over so large a por- tion of Christendom. In these skeleton sermons, the realistic teaching is, with one single exception (Epiph. Horn. I., iii.), indirect, giving to them an anti-monastic tone and temper, at the same time not leading to the sacrifice of any portion of their practical bearing. Short and unpretending as they are, they admit of a threefold use. Firstly, they can be taken as profitable guides in directing private or devotional reading ; for they are full of vigorous and condensed thoughts they bring things new and old together in a striking relationship. We notice a few such thoughts. In the Advent Homilies (I.) the sevenfold benefit of our Blessed Lord’s second coming; and the moral aphorism, that “a man is in the judgment by thinking upon the judgment ;” that goodness has its precepts, counsels, and promises (Horn. IV.); the threefold cry of Christ (Horn. IX.) In the Lenten Homilies, the fast in Paradise, and our Lord’s fasting as joined with His Baptism (Horn. I.) ; the seven things that our Lord did upon the Mountain (Horn. VIII.) ; and the threefold nature of the Word of
God (Horn. X.) The Easter Homilies explain the three kinds of flowers in our Lord, and the three typical Maries (Horn. II.) ; what it is for a man to be at peace with him- self (Horn. V.) ; the three gifts of Christ His Body, His Blood, His Soul (Horn. VI.) ; three reasons why the Ador- able Son came forth from the Father (Horn. XIII.) In the Trinity Homilies, we read of the Heavenly Feast, its makers, ministers, and guests (Horn. IV.); how the Holy Angels stand before God in contemplation, love, and praise (Horn. VI.) ; why the Holy Angels desire the creature’s future glory (Horn. VII.) ; the seven loaves with which she feeds the faithful (Horn. XIV.) ; three witnesses against the sinner in the Judgment God, conscience, creation ; it is a momentary thing which delights, an eternal thing which crucifies (Horn. XX.) ; unity of the intellect, of the affec- tions, of the life (Horn. XXXIII.) ; the security, the pleasantness, and abundance of the City of God (Horn. XXXVII.); the translation of the Saints (Horn. XL VII.) Such as these are the lines of reflection which S. Thomas offers to the contemplation of the thoughtful and devout reader, ^presenting the subject in germ, leaving its develop- ment to the effort of individual minds. As neither moral nor spiritual truth affects any two persons in precisely the same way, such a method of presenting truth as this is, leaves for the initiated mind nothing to be desired; whilst the uninitiated soul would scarcely be capable of receiving the generalizations of S. Thomas in any form. * Secondly, these Homilies are valuable as giving the scholastic interpretation of many texts of Holy Scripture; valuable as shewing how the Schoolmen saw our Blessed Lord as shadowed forth in type and prophecy in God’s
servants of old. Amongst a vast number of explained texts, we select the following, as worthy of special notice : In the Advent Homilies, Joel iii. 18, a prophecy of the Incarnation (Horn. I.); Hos. xiii. 14, the spoliation of Hades ; Eph. i. 18, the reparation of Heaven ; Isa. Ixi. 1 fully commented on ; 2 Sam. xxii. 36 applied to our Blessed Lord (Horn. II.) ; Ps. cxlviii. 6, universal service of God by creation (Horn. ILL.) ; Ps. xxxix. 3, the fire that burned, that of contrition. In the Lenten Homilies, Heb. ix. 10, the ” reformation,” as of the Jew ; Prov. i. 8, the ” mother ” is Holy Church (Horn. I.) ; Rev. xvi. 13, the frogs are spirits of detraction (Horn. IV.) ; Job xvi. 22, the walk of death (Horn. V.) ; Ezek. xxviii. 16, interpreted of a devil (Horn. VI.) ; Ps. xxxi. 21, the “shining city” is the City of God; Isa. xxxi. 9, fire and furnace symbols of charity (Horn. VH.) ; S. John xiv. 30, our Blessed Lord walking dryshod over the sea of this world ; Exod. xxxv. 30 gives the twelve breads with which our Lord feeds the faithful (Horn. VIH.); Zech. ix. 11, the deliverance of the Saints from Hades (Horn. IX.) ; Job iv. 12, the mental word (Horn. X.) ; Coloss. i. 30, recruiting of the Heavenly Ones (Horn. XII.) In the Easter Homilies is noted Ex. xii. 21, Numb. ix. 3-5, Jos. v. 10, the three mystical Passovers (Horn. I.); Cant. ii. 12, flowers are the splendour of the Lord’s glorified Body ; S. Matt, xxviii. 2, the earthquake a leaping of the earth for joy (Horn. II.) ; Ezek. xxxvi. 25, clean water of Holy Baptism (Horn. III.) ; Jer. xi. 19, our Blessed Lord the Lamb brought to the slaughter (Horn. V.); Ezek. iv. 14, the Lord feeding His flock (Horn. VI.) ; Judges ii. 1 proves sadness of this present world ; Nah. i. 13 applied to eternal
happiness (Horn. VIII.) ; Lam. iii. 26, the elevation of the mind to God. The Trinity Homilies are very rich in deep and thoughtful readings of Holy Scripture. Isa. xxv. 5, the feast of the new Creation (Horn. IV.) ; Isa. vi. 5, seraphims of purifica- tion (Horn. VI.) ; Ps. cv. 6, the reparation of the Heavenly City (Horn. VII.) ; Isa. xxvi., the lost gift of glory (Horn. IX.); Isa. iii. 14 explains the “council” of S. Matt. v. 22 (Horn. XII.) ; Ps. cxxxii. 15, the Eternal Bread (Horn. XIV.); Job xx. 27 referred to final Judgment (Horn. XVIII.) ; Isa. xxx. 1-8, shews the nature of the trust of the wicked (Horn. XXIII.); S. Mark vii. 33, mystical fingers put into ears (Horn. XXIV.) ; Ps. Ivii. 3, healing power of Holy Baptism (Horn. XXVI.); Ps. Ixxvi. 2, Salem, the Tabernacle of Peace (Horn. XXVII.); Isa. xxxiii. 20, a description of the City of God (Horn. XXXVIII.) ; Isa. iii. 14, army of Saints final ministers of punishment (Horn. XL.); Prov. xviii. 4, “deep waters” represent the Old Testament, the “flowing brooks” the New Testament (Horn. L.) These Homilies are, to a limited extent, a commentary upon many difficult passages of the Inspired Canon. Thirdly, the great use of these Homilies is for sermon- making. They bring a text of Holy Scripture to bear upon each statement ; they adopt a natural division of the subject ; they take up minute details which signify much, but which at first sight seem to be wholly unworthy of notice; they con- trast in the strongest possible way nature with grace. These four statements can be proved with the utmost ease by a careful reading of only a few of the Homilies. There are two methods by which these outlines can be expanded into a sermon of the required length for the present
day : by enlarging upon the divisions of each and every head, lengthening the whole sermon equally. But by far the most telling result is obtained, in the majority of cases at least, by confining the expansion to only one head. Take, for example, Homily X., for Lent: “The Word of God and its Hearers.” Omitting the first head, the three ways in which the Saints are of God ; the third and fourth heads, the foolishness and misery of those who hear not ; we treat alone of the second head, the Threefold Word of God which the Saints hear. ” 1. Eternal: S. John i. 1, ‘In the beginning was the Word.’” This naturally leads to the mention of all the utterances of God the Son, whether as the Word creative or prophetical, before the Incarnation ; of what our Lord did in that infinite abyss of past time, in that eternal to-> day of God when the Son went out to create the worlds. The pre-Incarnate naturally links itself on to the Incarnate Word, to our Lord’s eternal words which He spake in time ; eternal in import, containing an eternal consequence either for life or for death. These eternal words He is speaking in His Body the Church now ; as He spake, so speaks the Church, proclaiming those words of truth and life, which became as wells of water in the souls of the faithful, springing up into everlasting life. So for ever to His Elect will the Saviour speak words of encouragement, and hope, and love ; at the end of all things of love only, when charity alone remains. The Eternal Word, “I am Alpha and Omega.” Abel heard His voice ; all the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Elder Church all the Saints, Virgins, Martyrs, Con- fessors of the New Covenant; the Voice of the Beloved, eternal as His own nature is, eternal in power and action upon ourselves. The Saints “hear by faith.” He it is Who
is speaking in His Holy Sacraments, by the mouths of His Priests. Meet it is that the Eternal High Priest should speak in the Eternal Mysteries of His Church and Kingdom. “We need faith in these Mysteries, in order that we may hear His ” Eternal Word.” 2. Mental: Job iv. 12, “A thing [word, Vulg.] was secretly brought to me.” Not that secret word which, as S. Gregory says, the heretics pretend to hear, who represent the Woman of Solomon saying (Prov. ix. 17; Vulg. 7), ” Stolen waters are sweeter, and bread eaten in secret is more pleasant.” Not that secret word which would lift some above others, and which can only be obtained by secret means, but that communication of inward inspiration when the secret word is delivered to the minds of the Elect, of whom S. John says (1 S. John ii. 27), “His anointing teacheth you all things.” This is that mental word which is received in the heart by the utterance of the Holy Ghost ; secret, to be felt, not expressed in the noise of speech ; it sounds secretly in the ear of the soul. Seek we to have our souls silent before God, freed from pleadings of all emotion, to catch the accents of the mental word. This mental word is the fruit of contemplation ; and, by the chinks of such con- templation, God speaks to us, not in voice, but through mind ; not fully developing Himself, yet revealing something of Himself to the mind of man. As we bore through the strata of earth to find that water which is silently circulating through its crust, so we, by contemplation, boring through the strata of the letter, find the ever-flowing grace which reveals itself as a mental word : the Saints hear this ” by inspiration (Ps. Ixxxv. 8), ‘ I will hear what God the Lord will speak ‘ ” (p. 18). 3. Vocal : S. Matt. iv. 4, ” Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth,” &c. Vocal words: God’s commands, His promises, the dogmatic teaching of the Catholic faith this the Saints learn and hear ” by preaching (S. Luke viii. 8), ‘ He that hath ears to hear, let him hear’ ” (p. 19). Take heed how ye hear. Office of preaching in the Church. Duty of hearers and of preachers. Sum up these words : Incarnate Word, to be believed on ; Inspired Word, to be felt ; Preached Word, to be lived upon. After all, it must be left to the preacher’s own peculiar habit of thought to determine which of the heads shall be expanded ; and the manner in which this is to be done. The Homily upon which the attempt has been made is not as favourable as some others for the experiment; it seemed fairer to take a more unlikely one to illustrate in the process, as far as the translator had the power to do so. Almost a course of Sermons could be founded upon Homily XLV., for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity. In regard to the Author of these Homilies, he was born A.D. 1224, in the castle of Aquin, in the territory of Lahore, in Italy, being descended from the Kings of Sicily and Aragon. Educated firstly in the Monastery of Mount Cassino, afterwards at Naples. In 1244, studied at Cologne under Albertus Magnus. Doctor of Paris, 1255. Returned into Italy, 1263. Professor of Scholastic Theology at Naples. Died 1274, in the Monastery of Fossanova, near Terracina. An old distich prefixed to his portrait runs thus : Nobilibus Thomas generatus utroque parente Terrarum scriptis claret ubique suis. And he will shine as long as profound Scriptural
Theology shall continue to hold its own in the world. May this little book be but a first fruit of the revival amongst us of the study of the writings of S. Thomas Aquinas. S. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, Feast of S. Matthew, 1867.

This post contains both the Latin text of Aquinas’ commentary along with a translation by Steven DePangher.  The existing Psalm commentaries by St Thomas can be found at the Aquinas Translation Project.  They are reproducible under the following restrictions: The copyright for these translations are held by the individuals who have translated them. They are offered for public use with the provision that, if copied, they not be altered from their present form, and that the copyright notice remain at the bottom of each translation to ensure that appropriate credit be given to both individual and the Project. Links should be established to this index page.

Psalm 7

This photo was taken from the official Moving Wall website which I have linked to below.  Most, but not all of the photos on the site are in the public domain.  Posting of the photos are subject to the following restrictions: Permission is granted to use these photos for programs, posters, newsletter, web pages, or newspaper articles concerning The Moving Wall. Do not use these photos for commercial purposes, and do not sell them. Several more photos are found below.

“IN HONOR OF THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES WHO SERVED IN THE VIETNAM WAR. THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES AND OF THOSE WHO REMAIN MISSING ARE INSCRIBED IN THE ORDER THEY WERE TAKEN FROM US.”

So read the preamble of the Vietnam Veteran’s War Memorial in Washington D.C.

Many cities, villages, and even towns and hamlets in this country have war memorials to veterans of this countries various conflicts, but few have monuments to the Vietnam conflict.  There is, of course, the national monument to these honored men and women in our nation’s capital, but many people, for a variety of reasons, will never be able to lay eyes on it.  Enter the Traveling Wall.

“‘The Moving Wall’ is the half-size replica of the Washington, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial and has been touring the country for more than twenty years. When John Devitt attended the 1982 dedication in Washington, he felt the positive power of “The Wall.” He vowed to share that experience with those who did not have the opportunity to go to Washington.

John, Norris Shears, Gerry Haver, and other Vietnam veteran volunteers built The Moving Wall. It went on display for the first time in Tyler, Texas in October of 1984. Two structures of The Moving Wall now travel the USA from April through November, spending about a week at each site.

A “Sponsor” is any organization or group of individuals that wants The Moving Wall to visit their area and is willing to do the work to make the local arrangements as described in “Scheduling a Visit of The Moving Wall.” Sponsors are frequently civic groups, schools, or veterans’ organizations. Sponsoring normally requires months of planning by dozens of local volunteers.”

The logistics of having the wall in our County for four days is complex, and a huge number of volunteers are needed.

I’ll post more on the Wall latter today.   Here is the website for the Traveling Wall.

UPDATE: I could find very little information concerning the Moving Wall beyond the website link given above and this brief history on Wikipedia, which is a sub-section of its entry concerning the national monument in D.C.  I did find this story on the website, which grants permission for its republication provided the author (Gerry Stegmaier Maggsm) is given attribution.

The Wall is solid, its granite face designed to resist the elements for all time. Yet, as visitors touch its surface, the Wall becomes almost fluid. Small ripples of hope and healing spread ever out-wards. Like the concentric circles created when a stone is tossed into a pond, the impact of the Wall grows and grows.

In 1982 John Devitt, a former helicopter door gunner and Army veteran, visited Washington, DC for the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and to participate in the National Salute to Vietnam Veterans. This visit and experience changed Devitt’s life and led to the creation of the “Moving Wall,” which has since moved millions of people.

His story is one of thousands spawned by the Memorial. As Devitt explains, “When you approach the Memorial, you don’t recognize what’s going on. It’s a visual experience that words cannot describe. . . Then suddenly, as the words inscribed on the Wall come into focus, it’s so subtle, you’re drawn in and it’s too late. . . You’re riveted and the emotions just pour forth.”

This emotional outpouring and the pride of having participated in a parade honoring Vietnam veterans inspired Devitt to dedicate the next eleven years of his life to giving people all across the nation a chance to experience a similar catharsis. Originally, Devitt and his friends had hoped to create a photo mural of the Wall, but when the negatives proved unusable, they came up with another solution. The concept was simple: build a replica of the Wall in Washington which could travel across the country, so that everyone who couldn’t visit the Wall could share the experience and emotion which it evokes.

Devitt’s idea was deeply personal. He had been out of work when the Wall was dedicated, and had made the trip with financial help from family and friends. “There were millions of people who would never be able to come to Washington,” he realized, “I wanted them to be able see and feel what I had.”

His emotions ran deep. “Before 1982 I never felt like I needed a parade or a memorial,” he says. He had come to the Wall expecting to dislike it, anticipating it would be as some media stories had said, “a black gash of shame.” Instead, the Wall changed his life; it gave him a new mission and sense of pride in his military service. With the help of a few friends, Devitt set out to build a movable wall. They estimated it would take $40,000, however, pooling their savings they could only come up with $2,500.

They decided to seek assistance in raising the necessary funds. “We had a tough time in the beginning, convincing people about what we were trying to do,” explains Devitt. “The Wall is a visual thing. When you tell people you want to build a half-scale replica, they think miniature and model; they don’t realize the power of Maya Lin’s design.” Searching for a way for the work to be completed, they sought contributions of goods and services. If they couldn’t get the material donated, they could at least arrange credit terms and discounted pricing.

“We were totally surprised by the reaction of the businesses we approached. I didn’t even have a credit card at the time, but when we talked to various companies and explained what we were trying to do, they were very sympathetic. Many took the job on our word.” Devitt says, “I knew that once we got started, it would pay for itself…and if it didn’t, we were prepared to pay for it ourselves.” He was convinced of the need for the Moving Wall.

The first Moving Wall was built of plexiglass, with each name silk-screened onto the panels. The photographic negatives of the names were made available by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the organization responsible for building the Memorial. When new names are added to the Wall, they are also added to the Moving Wall at the end of its season. In its present form, the third generation, the Moving Wall consists of aluminum panels and is a half scale replica of the original.

In the eleven years since the Moving Wall has been in existence, it has been visited by millions of people, in over 410 locations. While the material of the Moving Wall has changed, its impact remains the same.

The Moving Wall was first displayed in 1984 in Texas as part of the Tyler Rose Festival. “We hadn’t even put up the fifth panel when a Gold Star Mother placed a beautifully decorated candle at the base of the panel where her son’s name was inscribed,” Devitt recalls. Just like the Wall in Washington, people began to leave mementoes, so many, in fact, that Devitt decided to have them shipped to the Moving Wall’s off season home in San Jose, CA. He hopes to build a museum to display the items, but for now concentrates on making sure the Moving Wall travels to as many cities as possible.

“When you think about it,” he says, “two or three million people visit the Wall every year. There are ten or twenty times that many people, who, for whatever reason, will never be able to make the trip to Washington.” Scheduling the route of the Wall is a tough job and Devitt tries to be as objective as possible. Dates fill up quickly, almost a year in advance, and there are often schedule conflicts which prevent visits to certain events and locations. “When we started, it was much simpler,” he says. “Someone would call and if I wasn’t going to be somewhere else at that time, we would load things up and go.”

While the costs involved were greater than expected, Devitt was opposed to any kind of charge to visit the Moving Wall. “Originally, we thought we could put out a donation box and that would cover our expenses,” he explains. Convinced that there should be no charge to have the Wall come to a community, someone came up with the idea that local host committees be formed to sponsor the Moving Wall’s visit. This solution has worked well, and the schedule of the Moving Wall remains crowded as it journeys across the country.

Many people have not heard about Devitt or the Moving Wall; his humble and hard working attitude are partially responsible. “When the Wall comes to a town, it brings people out from all over. We try to play it low key because the Wall speaks for itself.” He continues, “This isn’t about me. It’s not about John Devitt. Its about remembering 58,000 people who died in service to their country.”

A tribute to missing MIA and POW servicemen and women (above).

Below is a tribute to the 56 civilian women killed during the war.

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A Meditation From St Anselm « Carmel Cut Throat

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Our creation to the Image and likeness
of God. Awake, my soul, awake ; bestir thy
energies, arouse thy apprehension; banish the
sluggishness of thy deadly sloth, and take to thee
solicitude for thy salvation. Be the rambling of
improfitable fancies put to flight; let indolence
retire, and diligence be retained. Apply thyself
to sacred studies, and fix thy thoughts on the blessings
that are of God. Leave temporal things be-
hind, and make for the eternal.

What, then, in so divine an occupation of the
mind, canst thou conceive more usefiil or more
salutary than to recall in delighted musing thy
Creator’s boundless benefits to thee? Consider
what grandeur and what dignity He bestowed on
thee in the very beginning of thy creation, and
ponder well what loving and what adoring worship
thou shouldest therefore pay Him.

It was assuredly a noble purpose which He
formed for the dignity of thy state, when, creating
and ordering the universal frame of the visible
and the invisible creation, He determined to make
man; for He determined to lavish richer honours
on man’s nature than on all other creations in the
universe. Behold thy lofty origin, and bethink
thee of the due of love thou owest thy Creator.
* Let Us make man,’ said God, ^to Our Image and
Likeness’ (Gen. i. 26). If thou awakest not at this
word, O my soul ; if thou art not all aflame with
love of Him for His so inefiable graciousness of
condescension towards thee ; if thine inmost mar-
row bums not with longings after Him, what
shall 1 say? Asleep shall I call thee ? Or must 1
rather think thee dead? Consider diligently, there-
fore, what it is to have been created to God’s Image
and God’s Likeness ; thou hast in this thought the
sweet earnest of a pious meditation in which thy
musings may have full play.

Observe, then, that likeness is one thing; image
another. For example, the horse, the ox, or other
dumb animal may have a certain likeness to man ;
but the image of man is borne by none but a
human being. Man eats, so does the horse ; here
is a certain likeness, a certain something common
to creatures of diverse moulds. But the image of
man is only borne by some human being, some
being of selfsame nature with that man whose
image he is. Image, therefore, is of a higher order
than likeness.

God’s Likeness, then, may be attained by us in
this way; if, musing on Him as the Good, we study
to be good ; if, owning Him the Just, we strive to
be just; if, contemplating Him the Merciful, we
make endeavours after mercy.

But how to His Image? Listen. God ever
remembers Himself, understands Himself, loves
Himself. If thou, therefore, after thy poor fashion,
art unweariedly mindful of God, if thou understandest
God, if thou lov’est God, thou wilt
then be man *to His Image;’ for thou wilt be
striving to do that which God does eternally. ‘Tis
the duty of man to bend his whole being to this
task ; the task of remembering, of understandings
and of loving the Highest Good. To this idea
should every thought and every turn and folding
of thy heart be moulded, chased, and formed ; to be
mindful of God, to understand Him, and to love
Him; and thus savingly exhibit and display the
dignity of thine origin in that thou wast created to
the Image of God.

I posted this on my other blog some time back.

FIRST REASON

HOLY WRIT

Of the many signs that tell of the adversaries’ mistrust of their
own cause, none declares it so loudly as the shameful outrage
they put upon the majesty of the Holy Bible. After they have
dismissed with scorn the utterances and suffrages of the rest of
the witnesses, they are nevertheless brought to such straits that
they cannot hold their own otherwise than by laying violent hands
on the divine volumes themselves, thereby showing beyond all
question that they are brought to their last stand, and are
having recourse to the hardest and most extreme of expedients to
retrieve their desperate and ruined fortunes. What induced the
Manichees to tear out the Gospel of Matthew and the Acts of the
Apostles? Despair. For these volumes were a torment to men who
denied Christ’s birth of a Virgin, and who pretended that the
Spirit then first descended upon Christians when their peculiar
Paraclete, a good-for-nothing Persian, made his appearance. What
induced the Ebionites to reject all St. Paul’s Epistles? Despair.
For while those Letters kept their credit, the custom of
circumcision, which these men had reintroduced, was set aside as
an anachronism. What induced that crime-laden apostate Luther to
call the Epistle of James contentious, turgid, arid, a thing of
straw, and unworthy of the Apostolic spirit? Despair. For by this
writing the wretched man’s argument of righteousness consisting
in faith alone was stabbed through and rent assunder. What
induced Luther’s whelps to expunge off-hand from the genuine
canon of Scripture, Tobias, Ecclesiasticus, Maccabees, and, for
hatred of these, several other books involved in the same false
charge? Despair. For by these Oracles they are most manifestly
confuted whenever they argue about the patronage of Angels, about
free will, about the faithful departed, about the intercession of
Saints. Is it possible? So much perversity, so much audacity?
After trampling underfoot Church, Councils, Episcopal Sees,
Fathers, Martyrs, Potentates, Peoples, Laws, Universities,
Histories, all vestiges of Antiquity and Sanctity, and declaring
that they would settle their disputes by the written word of God
alone, to think that they should have emasculated that same Word,
which alone was left, by cutting out of the whole body so many
excellent and goodly parts! Seven whole books, to ignore lesser
diminutions, have the Calvinists cut out of the Old Testament.
The Lutherans take away the Epistle of James besides, and, in
their dislike of that, five other Epistles, about which there had
been controversy of old in certain places and times. To the
number of these the latest authorities at Geneva add the book of
Esther and about three chapters of Daniel, which their
fellow-disciples, the Anabaptists, had some time before condemned
and derided. How much greater was the modesty of Augustine (_De
doct. Christ. lib._ 2, _c._ 8.), who, in making his catalogue of
the Sacred Books, did not take for his rule the Hebrew Alphabet,
like the Jews, nor private judgment, like the Sectaries, but that
Spirit wherewith Christ animates the whole Church. The Church,
the guardian of this treasure, not its mistress (as heretics
falsely make out), vindicated publicly in former times by very
ancient Councils this entire treasure, which the Council of Trent
has taken up and embraced. Augustine also in a special discussion
on one small portion of Scripture cannot bring himself to think
that any man’s rash murmuring should be permitted to thrust out
of the Canon the book of Wisdom, which even in his time had
obtained a sure place as a well-authenticated and Canonical book
in the reckoning of the Church, the judgment of ages, the
testimony of ancients, and the sense of the faithful. What would
he say now if he were alive on earth, and saw men like Luther and
Calvin manufacturing Bibles, filing down Old and New Testament
with a neat pretty little file of their own, setting aside, not
the book of wisdom alone, but with it very many others from the
list of Canonical Books? Thus whatever does not come out from
their shop, by a mad decree, is liable to be, spat upon by all as
a rude and barbarous composition. They who have stooped to this
dire and execrable way of saving themselves surely are beaten,
overthrown, and flung rolling in the dust, for all their fine
praises that are in the mouths of their admirers, for all their
traffic in priesthoods, for all their bawling in pulpits, for all
their sentencing of Catholics to chains, rack and gallows. Seated
in their armchairs as censors, as though any one had elected them
to that office, they seize their pens and mark passages as
spurious even in God’s own Holy Writ, putting their pens through
whatever they cannot stomach. Can any fairly educated man be
afraid of battalions of such enemies? If in the midst of your
learned body they had recourse to such trickster’s arts, calling
like wizards upon their familiar spirit, you would shout at
them,–you would stamp your feet at them. For instance I would
ask them what right they have to rend and mutilate the body of
the Bible. They would answer that they do not cut out true
Scriptures, but prune away supposititious accretions. By
authority of what judge? By the Holy Ghost. This is the answer
prescribed by Calvin (_Instit. lib._ I, _c._ 7), for escaping
this judgment of the Church whereby spirits of prophesy are
examined. Why then do some of you tear out one piece of
Scripture, and others another, whereas you all boast of being led
by the same Spirit? The Spirit of the Calvinists receives six
Epistles which do not please the Lutheran Spirit, both all the
while in full confidence reposing on the Holy Ghost. The
Anabaptists call the book of Job a fable, intermixed with tragedy
and comedy. How do they know? The Spirit has taught them. Whereas
the Song of Solomon is admired by Catholics as a paradise of the
soul, a hidden manna, and rich delight in Christ, Castalio, a
lewd rogue, has reckoned it nothing better than a love-song about
a mistress, and an amorous conversation with Court flunkeys.
Whence drew he that intimation? From the Spirit. In the
Apocalypse of John, every jot and tittle of which Jerane declares
to bear some lofty and magnificent meaning, Luther and Brent and
Kemnitz, critics hard to please, find something wanting, and are
inclined to throw over the whole book. Whom have they consulted?
The Spirit. Luther with preposterous heat pits the Four Gospels
one against another (_Praef. in Nov. Test._), and far prefers
Paul’s Epistles to the first three, while he declares the Gospel
of St. John above the rest to be beautiful, true, and worthy of
mention in the first place,–thereby enrolling even the Apostles,
so far as in him lay, as having a hand in his quarrels. Who
taught him to do that? The Spirit. Nay this imp of a friar has
not hesitated in petulant style to assail Luke’s Gospel because
therein good and virtuous works are frequently commended to us.
Whom did he consult? The Spirit. Theodore Beza has dared to carp
at, as a corruption and perversion of the original, that mystical
word from the twenty-second chapter of Luke, _this is the
chalice, the new testament in my blood, which_ (chalice) _shall
be shed for you_ [Greek: potaerion ekchunomenon], because this
language admits of no explanation other than that of the wine in
the chalice being converted into the true blood of Christ. Who
pointed that out? The Spirit. In short, in believing all things
every man in the faith of his own spirit, they horribly belie and
blaspheme the name of the Holy Ghost. So acting, do they not give
themselves away? are they not easily refuted? In an assembly of
learned men, such as yours, Gentlemen of the University, are they
not caught and throttled without trouble? Should I be afraid on
behalf of the Catholic faith to dispute with these men, who have
handled with the utmost ill faith not human but heavenly
utterances? I say nothing here of their perverse versions of
Scripture, though I could accuse them in this respect of
intolerable doings. I will not take the bread out of the mouth of
that great linguist, my fellow-Collegian, Gregory Martin, who
will do this work with more learning and abundance of detail than
I could; nor from others whom I understand already to have that
task in hand. More wicked and more abominable is the crime that I
am now prosecuting, that there have been found upstart Doctors
who have made a drunken onslaught on the handwriting that is of
heaven; who have given judgment against it as being in many
places defiled, defective, false, surreptitious; who have
corrected some passages, tampered with others; torn out others;
who have converted every bulwark wherewith it was guarded into
Lutheran “spirits,” what I may call phantom ramparts and parted
walls. All this they have done that they might not be utterly
dumbfounded by falling upon Scripture texts contrary to their
errors, texts which they would have found it as hard to get over
as to swallow hot ashes or chew stones. This then has been my
First Reason, a strong and a just one. By revealing the shadowy
and broken powers of the adverse faction, it has certainly given
new courage to a Christian man, not unversed in these studies, to
fight for the Letters Patent of the Eternal King against the
remnant of a routed foe.