own intelligence and the assistance of God's grace, the scholar, once so famous, who is now at the head of this movement, will abandon, before the end, the course on which he has entered that he will come to see all that he has lost, and how little he has found in place of it, how strangely incompatible with his early career are the associates with whom he is now allied, what damage he is inflicting on his own dearest interests, and on the interests of those who rely so implicitly on his guidance, what, in fine, he has to expect on the one side and on the other. The most glorious of all victories is the victory of him who conquers himself, esteeming, above all human praise, and all worldly honour, the glory of humble submission to the teaching of the Church, his mother, and submitting his own judgment unreservedly to that authority, but for which an Augustine himself would have been unable to accept the Gospels, and without which, according to the teaching of the Fathers, it is vain to look for anything firm or enduring in the sphere of religion. And how glorious would not such a victory be for him the priest, the teacher of so many theologians, the scholar on whom so many dignities and marks of honour have been conferred-who now possibly regards himself as guiding a movement which in reality is hurrying him along, and forcing him to serve in the ranks of a party hostile to him. as to the Church which they are oppressing. How much preferable to the bitter reflection that, in his present position, it would have been better for him to have found less honour in the Catholic Church than to have forfeited it thus ; that in the Church to which he had rendered such sterling service during the greater part of his life, he must henceforth be regarded only as another Tertullian, and that it must be said of him that he was unmindful of what he commended in the case of certain eminent German theologians as an example worthy of imitation:" They all accepted it as a fundamental principle, that if in the course of their scientific investigations, they arrived at a result incompatible with the teaching of the universal Church, they should look for the error, not on the Church's side, but on their own." 1.Minus est enim dedecoris, numquam ad praeconium laudis accessisse, quam de fastigio laudis ruisse: minus est criminis, honoratum bono testimonio non fuisse, quam bonorum testimoniorum perdidisse; minus est sine praedicatione virtutum ignobilem sine laude jacuisse, quam exhaeredem fidei factum laudes proprias perdidisse. Ea enim quae in alicujus gloriam proferuntur, nisi anxio et sollicito labore serventur, in invidiam maximi criminis intumescunt."-CLERUS ROM. Ep. ad Cypr. cap. 2 (Ep. 31, Ed. Baluz). 2" Post haec omnia Tertullianus, Catholici dogmatis ac vetustae fidei parum tenax, ac disertior quam fidelior, mutata deinceps sententia, fecit ad extremum quod de eo beatus confessor Hilarius quodam loco scribit sequenti' inquit 'errore, detraxit scriptis probabilibus auctoritatem,' et fuit quoque ipse in Ecclesia magna tentatio."-VINCENT. LERIN. Commonit. cap. 18. 3" Proceedings of the Meeting of Professors in 1863.”—p. 56. He has but to act up to these words, and with the assistance of God's grace, a calm re-examination of the question at issue cannot fail to restore to him his faith in those truths of which he was once so earnest a defender, but of which he has now so completely lost sight. For in the present stage of this controversy, it is not merely the dogma defined by the Vatican Council that is challenged, but also the principles which form the basis of all Catholic belief. Only one short step separates the ideas developed in Dr. Döllinger's Protest, from the Frohschammer theory of intuitions in religious questions, which possesses, at all events, the merit of greater consistency. Feeling deeply the importance of the present crisis, I have interrupted, though not without reluctance, the performance of more onerous duties, and have endeavoured in these lines to obey the impulse of my heart, and to fulfil my sense of duty towards the authority of the Church, now so violently assailed. May they contribute in some degree to strengthen the wavering, and to instruct those faithful souls who have been led astray, and may they be the occasion, too, of leading others to consider carefully and conscientiously the step they have taken. If they tend in some slight degree towards these blessed results, their object will have been fully attained. W. J. W. HARMONY OF THE PASSION.-II. § 2. THE SUPPER IN BETHANIA. TEXT. Vulgate Version. MATT. xxvi. 6-13.-Quum autem Jesus esset in Bethania in domo Simonis leprosi, (7). accessit ad eum mulier habens alabas- MARK, xiv. 3-9.-Et quum esset Bethaniæ in domo Simonis leprosi, et recumberet, venit mulier habens alabastrum unguenti nardi spicati pretiosi, et fracto alabastro, effudit super caput ejus. (4). Erant autem quidam indignè ferentes intra semetipsos, et dicentes: Ut quid perditio ista unguenti facta est? (5). Poterat enim unguentum istud venumdari plus quam trecentis denariis, et dari pauperibus. Et fremebant in eam. (6). Jesus autem dixit: Sinite eam: quid illi molesti estis ? Bonum opus operata est in me. (7). Semper enim pauperes habetis vobiscum; et, quum volueritis, potestis illis benefacere : me autem non semper habetis. (8). Quod habuit hæc, fecit: prævenit ungere corpus meum in sepulturam. (9). Amen dico vobis: Ubicumque prædicatum fuerit Evangelium istud in universo mundo, et quod fecit hæc narrabitur in memoriam ejus. JOHN, xii, 1-8.-Jesus ergo, ante sex dies Paschæ, venit Bethaniam, ubi Lazarus fuerat mortuus, quem suscitavit Jesus. (2). Fecerunt autem ei cœnam ibi; et Martha ministrabat; Lazarus vero unus erat ex discumbentibus cum eo. (3) Maria ergo accepit libram unguenti nardi pistici, pretiosi, et unxit pedes Jesu. et extersit pedes ejus capillis suis; et domus impleta est ex odore unguenti (4). Dixit ergo unus ex discipulis ejus, Judas Iscariotes, qui erat eum traditurus: (5). Quare hoc unguentum non veniit trecentis denariis, et datum est egenis? (6). Dixit autem hoc, non quia de egenis pertinebat ad eum, sed quia fur erat, et, loculos habens, ea quæ mittebantur portabat. (7). Dixit ergo Jesus: Sinite illam, ut in diem sepulturæ meæ servet illud. (8). Pauperes enim semper habetis vobiscum; me autem non semper habetis. Rheims Version. MATT. xxvi. 6-13.-And when Jesus was in Bethania, in the house of Simon the leper, (7). there came to him a woman having an alabaster box of precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he was at table. (8). And the disciples seeing it, had indignation, saying: To what purpose is this waste? (9). For this might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. (10). And Jesus knowing it, said to them: Why do you trouble this woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. (11). For the poor you have always with you: but me you have not always. (12). For she in pouring this ointment upon my body, hath done it for my burial. (13). Amen I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memory of her. MARK, xiv. 3-9.-And when he was in Bethania, in the house of Simon the leper, and was at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of precious spikenard; and breaking the alabaster box, she poured it out upon his head. (4). Now there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said: Why was this waste of the ointment made? (5). For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and given to the poor. VOL. IX. 24 JOHN, xii. And they murmured against her. (6). But Jesus : 1-8.-Jesus therefore, six days before the pasch, came to HARMONY. Now six days before the Pasch, Jesus came to Bethania, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, and whom He had raised to life. And they made Him a supper there, in the house of Simon the leper: and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that were at table with Him. Then Mary took an alabaster box containing a pound of precious ointment, made of costly spikenard: and breaking the box, she poured the ointment on the head of Jesus as He sat at table. She anointed also his feet, and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, he that was about to betray Him, said: Why was this waste of the ointment made? For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and given to the poor. Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the purse, used to take away what was put therein. But some of the other disciples, too, seeing the conduct of the woman, were displeased, and said likewise: To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor. And they murmured against her. Jesus, therefore, knowing it, said to them: Let her alone; why do you molest her? She hath wrought a good work upon me. For the poor you have always with you, and whensoever you will, you may do them good: but me you have not always. What she could do she hath done. She has come beforehand to anoint me: for in pouring this ointment on my body, she hath done it for my burial. Amen, I say to you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done shall be told, for a memorial of her. NOTES. Six days before the Pasch. The Pasch, as will appear in the sequel, was kept on Thursday evening, the day before our Lord was put to death. If we count back six days from Thursday, we come to Friday of the week before; on which day, therefore, it would seem that Jesus came to Bethania. Some eminent commentators, as for instance Patrizzi,' maintain that He did not reach this village until Saturday evening: for Saint John says that, "on the next day", He went up to Jerusalem; and it is generally agreed that the entry into Jerusalem took place on Sunday. But when we look closely into the sequence of events, in Saint John's narrative, it seems plain that these words, "on the next day", may just as well be taken in connection with the supper, as with the arrival in Bethania. And therefore we may suppose, as far as the text is concerned, that our Lord came to Bethania on Friday, that He remained there all day on Saturday, was present at the supper on Saturday evening, and went up to Jerusalem on Sunday. In favour of this explanation, it may be observed that it gets rid of any difficulty as to our Lord making a journey on the Sabbath, which would have been against the law: it also allows time for an event of some moment, here introduced by Saint John, namely, that a great crowd of Jews hearing that He was in Bethania came thither to see Him, and also to see Lazarus whom He had raised to life.3 Bethania, is one of the most interesting spots connected with Scripture history: for, besides being the scene of the resurrection of Lazarus, and of the supper mentioned in the text, it was the nightly resting place of our Lord, for the six days that preceded his Passion and death. At the present day, it is a decayed village of about twenty families, and is known by the Arabic name of Lazarieh, a word seemingly derived from Lazarus. It lies about two English miles to the 1 Patrizzi. De Evang. Diss. xlix. nn. 2, 5. 2 John, xii. 12. John, xii. 9, 11; see Jans. Gand. Concord Evang. cap. cix. p. 754; A Lap. John, xii. 1. |