Apologia pro vita sua being a history of his religious opinions
Catholic books of moral theology so often cause to the Protestant. They
are intended for the Confessor, and Protestants view them as intended
for the Preacher.
2. And I observe upon Taylor, Milton, and Paley thus: What would a
Protestant clergyman say to me, if I accused him of teaching that a lie
was allowable; and if, when he asked for my proof, I said in reply that
such was the doctrine of Taylor and Milton? Why, he would sharply
retort, "_I_ am not bound by Taylor or Milton;" and if I went on urging
that "Taylor was one of his authorities," he would answer that Taylor
was a great writer, but great writers were not therefore infallible.
This is pretty much the answer which I make, when I am considered in
this matter a disciple of St. Alfonso.
I plainly and positively state, and without any reserve, that I do not
at all follow this holy and charitable man in this portion of his
teaching. There are various schools of opinion allowed in the Church:
and on this point I follow others. I follow Cardinal Gerdil, and Natalis
Alexander, nay, St. Augustine. I will quote one passage from Natalis
Alexander:--"They certainly lie, who utter the words of an oath, without
the will to swear or bind themselves: or who make use of mental
reservations and _equivocations_ in swearing, since they signify by
words what they have not in mind, contrary to the end for which language
was instituted, viz. as signs of ideas. Or they mean something else than
the words signify in themselves and the common custom of speech." And,
to take an instance: I do not believe any priest in England would dream
of saying, "My friend is not here;" meaning, "He is not in my pocket or
under my shoe." Nor should any consideration make me say so myself. I do
not think St. Alfonso would in his own case have said so; and he would
have been as much shocked at Taylor and Paley, as Protestants are at
him[21].
[21] Vide Note G, _Lying and Equivocation_.
* * * * *
And now, if Protestants wish to know what our real teaching is, as on
other subjects, so on that of lying, let them look, not at our books of
casuistry, but at our catechisms. Works on pathology do not give the
best insight into the form and the harmony of the human frame; and, as
it is with the body, so is it with the mind. The Catechism of the
Council of Trent was drawn up for the express purpose of providing
preachers with subjects for their Sermons; and, as my whole work has
been a defence of myself, I may here say that I rarely preach a Sermon,
but I go to this beautiful and complete Catechism to get both my matter
and my doctrine. There we find the following notices about the duty of
Veracity:--
"'Thou shalt not bear false witness,' &c.: let attention be drawn to two
laws contained in this commandment:--the one, forbidding false witness;
the other bidding, that removing all pretence and deceits, we should
measure our words and deeds by simple truth, as the Apostle admonished
the Ephesians of that duty in these words: 'Doing truth in charity, let
us grow in Him through all things.'
"To deceive by a lie in joke or for the sake of compliment, though to no
one there accrues loss or gain in consequence, nevertheless is
altogether unworthy: for thus the Apostle admonishes, 'Putting aside
lying, speak ye truth.' For therein is great danger of lapsing into
frequent and more serious lying, and from lies in joke men gain the
habit of lying, whence they gain the character of not being truthful.
And thence again, in order to gain credence to their words, they find it
necessary to make a practice of swearing.
"Nothing is more necessary [for us] than truth of testimony, in those
things, which we neither know ourselves, nor can allowably be ignorant
of, on which point there is extant that maxim of St. Augustine's: Whoso
conceals the truth, and whoso puts forth a lie, each is guilty; the one
because he is not willing to do a service, the other because he has a
wish to do a mischief.
"It is lawful at times to be silent about the truth, but out of a court
of law; for in court, when a witness is interrogated by the judge
according to law, the truth is wholly to be brought out.
"Witnesses, however, must beware, lest, from over-confidence in their
memory, they affirm for certain, what they have not verified.
"In order that the faithful may with more good will avoid the sin of
lying, the Parish Priest shall set before them the extreme misery and
turpitude of this wickedness. For, in holy writ, the devil is called the
father of a lie; for, in that he did not remain in Truth, he is a liar,
and the father of a lie. He will add, with the view of ridding men of so
great a crime, the evils which follow upon lying; and, whereas they are
innumerable, he will point out [at least] the sources and the general
heads of these mischiefs and calamities, viz. 1. How great is God's
displeasure and how great His hatred of a man who is insincere and a
liar. 2. What little security there is that a man who is specially hated
by God may not be visited by the heaviest punishments. 3. What more
unclean and foul, as St. James says, than ... that a fountain by the
same jet should send out sweet water and bitter? 4. For that tongue,
which just now praised God, next, as far as in it lies, dishonours Him
by lying. 5. In consequence, liars are shut out from the possession of
heavenly beatitude. 6. That too is the worst evil of lying, that that
disease of the mind is generally incurable.
"Moreover, there is this harm too, and one of vast extent, and touching
men generally, that by insincerity and lying faith and truth are lost,
which are the firmest bonds of human society, and, when they are lost,
supreme confusion follows in life, so that men seem in nothing to differ
from devils.
"Lastly, the Parish Priest will set those right who excuse their
insincerity and allege the example of wise men, who, they say, are used
to lie for an occasion. He will tell them, what is most true, that the
wisdom of the flesh is death. He will exhort his hearers to trust in
God, when they are in difficulties and straits, nor to have recourse to
the expedient of a lie.
"They who throw the blame of their own lie on those who have already by
a lie deceived them, are to be taught that men must not revenge
themselves, nor make up for one evil by another."
There is much more in the Catechism to the same effect, and it is of
universal obligation; whereas the decision of a particular author in
morals need not be accepted by any one.
* * * * *
To one other authority I appeal on this subject, which commands from me
attention of a special kind, for it is the teaching of a Father. It will
serve to bring my work to a conclusion.
"St. Philip," says the Roman Oratorian who wrote his Life, "had a
particular dislike of affectation both in himself and others, in
speaking, in dressing, or in any thing else.
"He avoided all ceremony which savoured of worldly compliment, and
always showed himself a great stickler for Christian simplicity in every
thing; so that, when he had to deal with men of worldly prudence, he did
not very readily accommodate himself to them.
"And he avoided, as much as possible, having any thing to do with
_two-faced persons_, who did not go simply and straightforwardly to work
in their transactions.
"_As for liars, he could not endure them_, and he was _continually
reminding_ his spiritual children, _to avoid them as they would a
pestilence_."
These are the principles on which I have acted before I was a Catholic;
these are the principles which, I trust, will be my stay and guidance to
the end.
I have closed this history of myself with St. Philip's name upon St.
Philip's feast-day; and, having done so, to whom can I more suitably
offer it, as a memorial of affection and gratitude, than to St. Philip's
sons, my dearest brothers of this House, the Priests of the Birmingham
Oratory, Ambrose St. John, Henry Austin Mills, Henry Bittleston, Edward
Caswall, William Paine Neville, and Henry Ignatius Dudley Ryder? who
have been so faithful to me; who have been so sensitive of my needs; who
have been so indulgent to my failings; who have carried me through so
many trials; who have grudged no sacrifice, if I asked for it; who have
been so cheerful under discouragements of my causing; who have done so
many good works, and let me have the credit of them;--with whom I have
lived so long, with whom I hope to die.
And to you especially, dear Ambrose St. John; whom God gave me, when He
took every one else away; who are the link between my old life and my
new; who have now for twenty-one years been so devoted to me, so
patient, so zealous, so tender; who have let me lean so hard upon you;
who have watched me so narrowly; who have never thought of yourself, if
I was in question.
And in you I gather up and bear in memory those familiar affectionate
companions and counsellors, who in Oxford were given to me, one after
another, to be my daily solace and relief; and all those others, of
great name and high example, who were my thorough friends, and showed me
true attachment in times long past; and also those many younger men,
whether I knew them or not, who have never been disloyal to me by word
or deed; and of all these, thus various in their relations to me, those
more especially who have since joined the Catholic Church.
And I earnestly pray for this whole company, with a hope against hope,
that all of us, who once were so united, and so happy in our union, may
even now be brought at length, by the Power of the Divine Will, into One
Fold and under One Shepherd.
_May 26, 1864._
In Festo Corp. Christ.
NOTES.
NOTE A. ON PAGE 14.
LIBERALISM.
I have been asked to explain more fully what it is I mean by
"Liberalism," because merely to call it the Anti-dogmatic Principle is
to tell very little about it. An explanation is the more necessary,
because such good Catholics and distinguished writers as Count
Montalembert and Father Lacordaire use the word in a favorable sense,
and claim to be Liberals themselves. "The only singularity," says the
former of the two in describing his friend, "was his Liberalism. By a
phenomenon, at that time unheard of, this convert, this seminarist, this
confessor of nuns, was just as stubborn a liberal, as in the days when
he was a student and a barrister."--Life (transl.), p. 19.
I do not believe that it is possible for me to differ in any important
matter from two men whom I so highly admire. In their general line of
thought and conduct I enthusiastically concur, and consider them to be
before their age. And it would be strange indeed if I did not read with
a special interest, in M. de Montalembert's beautiful volume, of the
unselfish aims, the thwarted projects, the unrequited toils, the grand
and tender resignation of Lacordaire. If I hesitate to adopt their
language about Liberalism, I impute the necessity of such hesitation to
some differences between us in the use of words or in the circumstances
of country; and thus I reconcile myself to remaining faithful to my own
conception of it, though I cannot have their voices to give force to
mine. Speaking then in my own way, I proceed to explain what I meant as
a Protestant by Liberalism, and to do so in connexion with the
circumstances under which that system of opinion came before me at
Oxford.
If I might presume to contrast Lacordaire and myself, I should say, that
we had been both of us inconsistent;--he, a Catholic, in calling himself
a Liberal; I, a Protestant, in being an Anti-liberal; and moreover, that
the cause of this inconsistency had been in both cases one and the same.
That is, we were both of us such good conservatives, as to take up with