THE INVITATION HEEDED.[176]

THE INVITATION HEEDED.[176]

The above is the title of one of the best and most effective controversial works which we have had the pleasure to read for some time. For those who believe in any historical Christianity, the argument contained in it is direct and unanswerable. We pray God it may have a wide circulation and reach the numerous friends of its gifted author, who thus seeks, as many converts have done before him, to show to those he loves the blessed lights which guided him to the home of truth and peace.

Mr. James Kent Stone is the son of the Rev. Dr. John S. Stone, a highly respected minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church, favorably known for many years in Brooklyn as the rector of Christ's church, and now, we believe, at the head of an Episcopalian seminary in Cambridge, Mass. He received his academical education at Harvard College, and afterward spent two years at one of the universities of Germany. Returning to this country in 1862, he was appointed professor of Latin in Kenyon College, Ohio, in which office he remained until 1867, when he was made president of the institution. He was ordained a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1866, and shortly after received the degree of D.D. from Racine College, Wisconsin.

In the year 1868, he was elected to the presidency of Hobart College, Geneva, New York, where he remained only one year. In September, 1869, he resigned his position and his ministry, to seek retirement and prepare for his reception into the Holy Catholic Church. The 8th of December, 1869, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, was the happy day of his entrance into the communion of Christ, in obedience to the call of its chief pastor.

In the prefatory chapter the author gives us some insight into the trials of his own mind. Accepting what he had taken for granted as the high Anglican position, he felt himself master of the Roman question. Anglicans were, in his mind, true Catholics, the only true Catholics, and the Reformation was a return to primitive truth on the part of a favored few, who were to him the only witnesses of God upon earth. His intellect was too logical not to see that ritualism, with which he never allied himself, was inconsistent with any possible degree of Anglicanism.

"If the ritualists were right, the reformers were wrong. The great sin of schism could never have been justified by any such paltry differences as separate our 'advanced' friends from the great Roman communion. The only consistent course for men to take who believed in the sacrifice of the altar and in the invocation of saints was to go back, promptly and penitently, to the ancient church, which had proved its infallibility by being in the right after all."

In this position, to any unprejudiced eye, he stood upon an assumption of theology and history which it would seem that the slightest investigation should destroy. A church which begins by denying the faithfulness of Christ to his promises, and asserts for itself claims which render all antiquity a fable, ought not long to hold the love of an honest heart. It would be hard for any one to know what the English church really teaches; and if it teaches any thing, it certainly does so upon human authority, since infallibility is denied in itself, and in every other communion. When our eyes are once opened, we wonder we were so long deluded. The real reason why High-Churchmen do not become Catholics is, that they do not sincerely wish to know the truth, which calls to sacrifices and sad trials of the heart.

"If any man love father or mother more than me, he is not worthy of me." We believe that one earnest prayer for light, with a full determination to follow it at every cost without hesitation, would lead to the one home of truth every Anglican, and even every ritualist. But the misfortune is, that they will not offer any such prayer. The world of honor or affection in which they move is too dear to be renounced. Let us hear what Dr. Stone so feelingly tells of his own experience:

"Time went on; and I was not conscious of the smallest change in my theological opinions and sympathies; when all at once the ground upon which I had stood with such careless confidence, gave way. Like a treacherous island, it sank without warning from beneath my feet, and left me struggling in the wide waters. Thanks be to God that I was not left to perish in that cold and bitter flood, and that my feet so soon rested for ever on the eternal rock! How it came about—by what intellectual process my position had been undermined—by what unconscious steps my feet had been led to an unseen brink, I did not know. I was only aware of the sudden terror with which I found myself slipping and going, and the darkness which succeeded the swift plunge."

"I remembered how St. Augustine, 'one of the profoundest thinkers of antiquity,' even for four years after he had become a catechumen under St. Ambrose, was entangled in the meshes of his Manichæan heresy. I admitted instantly that I, too, might be under a spell; that my case might be—I do not dare to say like that of the great saint and father, but that of the Donatists or the Gnostics; since I was certainly not more positive in my convictions than they, neither could I furnish myself with any satisfactory reason for believing that I was blessed with greater light. And then the hand of God drew back the veil of my heart; and I saw for the first time, and all at once, how utterly steeped I had been in prejudice, how from the beginning I had, without a question or suspicion, assumed the very point about which I ought reverently to have inquired with an impartial and a docile mind. I had studied the Roman controversy; so I thought—if in my short life I could fairly be said to have studied any thing; but how had I studied it? Had there ever been a time when it was an open question in my mind whether the claims of the Roman Church were valid? Had I begun by admitting that the pope might be right? Had it ever crossed my thoughts that the church in communion with the see of Peter might be indeed the one only Catholic Church of our Lord Jesus Christ? And had I ever resolved, with all my soul, as one standing on the threshold and in the awful light of eternity, to begin by tearing down every assumption and divesting myself of every prejudice, and then, wherever truth should lead the way, to follow—'leave all and follow'? Alas! never. I had studied simply to combat and refute. The suggestion that 'Romanism' might after all be identical with Christianity was preposterous. The papacy was the great apostasy, the mystery of iniquity; it was the master-piece of Satan, who had made his most successful attack upon the church of God by entering and corrupting it. The rise of the papal pretensions was matter of the plainest history; and every well-instructed child could point out how one fiction after another had been grafted into the creed of that apostate church, until now the simple faith of early days was scarce recognizable under the accumulated error of centuries. 'History'—who wrote that history? 'Well-instructed child'—why, that was the very point at issue!

"I saw that I had been guilty of what Bossuet calls 'a calumny,' and what I now acknowledged to be an act of injustice, namely, of charging upon Catholics inferences which I had myself drawn from their doctrines, but against which Catholics indignantly protest. I could not say with St. Augustine that 'I blushed with joy;' but with shame I blushed, 'at having so many years barked, not against the Catholic faith, but against the fictions of carnal imaginations. For so rash and impious had I been, that what I ought by inquiring to have learned, I had pronounced on, condemning.... I should have knocked and proposed the doubt, how it was to be believed, not insultingly opposed it as if believed.'

"This is the 'plunge' I spoke of. I used the word because it expressed, as well perhaps as any other, the terrifying rapidity which marked the steps of my intellectual crisis. Upon some men the discovery of a life-long error may break gradually; truth may be said to have its dawning; but to me it came with a shock. The rain descended and the floods came; my house fell; and great was the fall of it.

"Then followed a sense of blank desolateness. I was groping among ruins; and wherewith should I go to work to build again? I do not mean that I faltered. Thank God that he kept me true, and suffered me not to shrink from the sharp agony which I perceived was possibly in store for me! To borrow words of the great father from whose experience I have already drawn, 'God gave me that mind, that I should prefer nothing to the discovery of truth, wish, think of, love naught besides.' But the task of reconstruction seemed almost helpless.

"And so I set my face forward with desperate earnestness; and in due time—it may seem, a very short time—I had not a trace of doubt left that I had all along been a vain enemy of the one, catholic, and apostolic church. Why not in a short time? Why not in a month, or a week, or a day? Is it any reflection upon truth that she surrenders herself quickly to a soul whose every nerve is strained in her pursuit? Is it any argument against the church of God that it is easily identified? Surely, if there be a kingdom of heaven upon earth, it must be known by marks which cannot be mistaken. Yes! I knew it when I had found it. And I found it as in the parable, like a treasure hidden in a field—in the self-same field up and down which I had wandered for years, and where I had often trampled it under my feet. And when I had found it, I hid it, scarce daring to gaze at its splendor, and crying, as St. Augustine cried, 'Too late, alas! have I known thee, O ancient and eternal truth!' And then, for joy thereof, I went and sold all that I had, and bought that field."

The pages which follow this preface are a brief but cogent exposition of the convictions which forced themselves upon the mind of the author. He develops the argument which proved so availing in his own case, and which, it seems to us, should be satisfactory to any earnest inquirer. He commences by viewing the Catholic Church in its historical aspects, as the human eye beholds it, and without any necessary reference to its supernatural character. The attitude of the world toward it in the present and in every age is a proof of its greatness, for men neither fear nor attack an enemy which they despise. Its wonderful life, in spite of opposition which would long ago have destroyed any merely human organization, is so striking a fact that no honest mind can fail to feel its force.

But it is not only as a living body, with a vitality unknown to any other society, that it impresses our intellects; in its wonderful life it has been the guardian of morals, and the author of every high virtue. Civilization owes its very existence to its creed and its fostering care. And while Protestantism, of only recent origin, has failed to accomplish any thing but destruction, there is no sign of decay or feebleness in the ancient and unchanging church.

In the second part of the work the author gives the reasons in full for this wonderful vitality, and shows how the "Word made flesh" is the source of life to that body which he fills, and which the Paraclete sent by him ever animates. The facts of Christianity are clearly drawn out, and the necessary notes of the church are tried by the appeal to holy Scripture and tradition. From the conclusion of this argument there is no escape, and it is well demonstrated that the religion of Christ stands or falls with the Catholic faith.

In the concluding portion of the book, Dr. Stone looks carefully at the essential features of that body which the incarnate God, as a master-builder, framed with one head, and all the needful constituents of a perfect organism. The office of St. Peter was not simply an ornamental appendage to the company of apostles, but an integral and essential part in the complex of visible Christianity. The church is Christianity in the concrete, and can no more exist without St. Peter than the human body can live without a head. And to that head all the functions of the body are subordinated. There is no fear of any unjust preponderance, or that any member of the body will lose its activity or honor; for the Holy Ghost lives in the body, and speaks through the mouth of its head. The functions of the primacy are displayed with beautiful clearness in this work, which without any unnecessary words refutes the arguments of objectors, and cuts to pieces their vain appeals to history or antiquity. We are much pleased to see how an honest mind, which had no reason to seek for Catholic truth except for its own sake, has been able to see how all the functions of the papacy are involved in the very constitution of the church.

The infallibility of the sovereign pontiff as "the father and the teacher of all Christians" is directly deduced from the position he holds in the ecclesiastical body, and the needs of his office. We earnestly commend this work to those who are searching for truth, and are willing to embrace it when it presents itself. While there is no new argument, there is great freshness in the manner in which it is conducted. There are very many who would not become Catholics even if Almighty God were to work miracles before their eyes. We say this advisedly and from sad experience. They are too attached to the circles in which they move; and even when divine light urges them keenly, they are willing to take the risk. So they compound with their consciences by assuming a great spiritual activity in their own spheres, and the noon of their day of grace passes away. They will never see again the freshness and life of the morning.

There are others who deal with truth as they would be ashamed to deal with any affair of human life. They ask that every difficulty, historical or theological, shall be removed from the vast field of controversy ere they will yield assent to a proposition they are forced to admit, which is the key of the whole position. To those who will not be guided by the light of faith, this is an unending task. They are worse than the Jews, who would not believe "unless they saw signs and wonders." The Catholic Church does not offer any more trials, to the understanding than did the meek and lowly Man of Sorrows in his sojourn upon earth. All difficulties cannot be removed at once, nor before the shadows of error have given way to the bright sun of truth. We cannot see perfectly in the night; yet there is really but one question to be asked and answered, Did Jesus Christ, my divine Redeemer, found the Catholic Church, and promise it perpetuity? If so, then I am bound to accept it as I find it; for I cannot make a church for myself, nor could he allow the communion which he formed and vivified to fall into error. If I will not accept this church, I may wander on the waste without a guide, for there is no such thing as Christianity for me.

Another thing which this book impresses upon us is very important, and it is a truth which we have had occasion to know from long acquaintance with Protestantism. There is only one way of dealing with those whom we believe to be in error, and that is by always maintaining with, consistency the principles of our creed. Any attempt to compromise with Protestants, as if there were not a diametrical opposition between truth and falsehood, will be disastrous to their conversion. Men will not give up the associations of years, renounce position and hopes, and even break family ties, unless they believe it necessary to their salvation. Nothing less than this motive can be held up to the wanderer who seeks in vain from his own intellect the lights that will guide him to a happy eternity. And any converts that come into the church from any lower motive are unfit for the graces of faith, and will never imbibe the spirit of a true Catholic. There is one God and one church, and this church is a necessity to all to whom its message of mercy comes. It can stand upon this ground alone as a divine organization, and here only can demand the obedience of mankind.

There are many souls sadly in need and without a religion, which is the first want of our nature. There are many who are trying to gain time against the Spirit of God by postponing the hour of sacrifice. There are those who, in hollow mockery of their highest aspirations, are playing with shadows, and deceiving themselves with counterfeits of the truth. We pray God that this book may fall into their hands, and be a messenger from on high, bidding them look well to foundations which are built on the sand, and can never abide the tempest of human passion, much less the storm of God's judgment.