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CT
W
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
11 THE TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD, UPPER NORWOOD,
LONDON,
S.E.
Price Threepence.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
AUGUST, 1876.
F the eldest should take precedence, then surely
the Pope of
justly
Ition this month,Romebishop ofclaimsofourthefirst atten
as
one
oldest Sees,
and also the most veteran of popes. Friday, Satur
day, and Sunday, June 16—18, were kept in Rome as
a festival, to commemorate the “ thirtieth anniversary
of the election, creation, and coronation of Pope Pius
TX.” Many pilgrims came from various parts to
congratulate their spiritual father on the “ auspicious
occasion,” and they were duly comforted by being
allowed to kiss the pontifical toe, and to receive the
�2
pontifical blessing. Among other forms of congratu
lation a curious one was adopted by the Ultramontane
papers. On the evening of Friday they appeared with
gorgeous frontispieces, the first page of each contain
ing a congratulatory address to the Pope, surrounded
with elaborate illuminated border. The style of these
may be judged by the specimen given in the Times
from the Osservatore Romano, which runs as follows :
“The Osservatore Romano to Pius IX., P. 0. M., this
xvi. June, mdccclxxvi., the thirtieth anniversary of
his glorious exaltation of his pontificate.” Then
follows, veiled in Latin, the following extraordinary
effusion :—
“ ‘Rome from her Seven Hills invokes thee, Oh Michael,
Prince of the Angels, guardian of the Vatican Ark. To thee,
Rome, with grief deep buried in her heart, appeals, that the
Lernean Hydra which has caused her so many disasters, and
threatens disasters still greater, may be driven by thee to the
nethermost depth of Hell, or the day will never dawn upon
her fraught with the joy she desires.’ ”
Whether “ the Lernean Hydra ” typifies Victor
Emmanuel it is very hard to say ; if it does, is poor
Victor to be driven “ to the nethermost depth of hell ?”
for if so, that seems poor payment for the generosity
he has shown to the Pope. And what may be the
“ joy she desires ? ” If she desires to see the Pope
made Prince once more, Rome can scarcely couple
that event with the idea of a day “ fraught with joy,”
for with the restoration of the temporal power of the
Pope would return all those miseries from which Rome
is slowly emerging under the secular government.
And if Rome were insane enough to desire such a
restoration, the joy would certainly belong to herself
alone, for Europe would grieve to see the redemption
of the people put back into the far distance by the
re-establishment of priestly rule, that rule which
withers all it touches, and as the blast of the pesti
lence withers all human life on which it breathes.
�3
The fact is that Rome desires nothing of the kind, for
the mass of the Romans regard i Neri with unmiti
gated hatred and disgust. The only Rome that would
rejoice is the Rome of monks, priests, and cardinals,
Rome ecclesiastical, the mother of all evil, the de
throned tyrant, the now-chained tigress. Not less
extraordinary than the address of the Osservatore is
the address of the Pope himself to the members of
the Sacred College, an assembly, one would have
thought, of too grave and stately a character to listen
patiently to such ravings as these:—
‘ ‘ They were all, he said, in a kind of slavery, but at the
same time this position, which itself could not do other than
inspire sad thoughts, did not prevent them from consecrating
themselves with increased alacrity to the service of the Church.
It was, therefore, opportune that he should remind them of
the example of Tobias. Carried into slavery, the good Israel
ite did not abandon himself to idle grief, but, acting with
energy, aided his brethren in every way. ”
The Pope may well say “ a kind of slavery,” seeing
that the slavery is purely imaginary. So far as the
Pope is concerned the slavery is a voluntary one, for
no one keeps him a prisoner in his vast and magnifi
cent halls. He remains there of his own free will,
and it is therefore a very peculiar “ kind of slavery.”
What sort of slavery “ they all ” are in it is impos
sible even to guess, as few slaves could command the
wealth poured out at the feet of the Pontiff, or the
pomp with which was celebrated the thirtieth year of
his primacy:—
“ There were many, the Pope said, who were of good heart,
but who fainted beneath the weight of this continuous and
calculated persecution. There were others who would recon
cile Christ with Belial. These had need of enlightenment in
order that they might remember that the night and the day
cannot advance together in two parallel lines.”
We rub our eyes and ask if we are dreaming.
“ Continuous and calculated persecution.” Where is
the persecution, and who are the persecuted ? In
�4
Rome ? But the priestly element is supreme within
its own domain, and is only prevented from persecut
ing outsiders. In Spain ? But there priestly tyranny
is growing stronger and stronger, and is undermining
the new-built throne. In France ? But there Rome
is strong, and there also priests are only curbed when
they interfere with civil matters. In Germany ? But
there the persecution is not a persecution of religious
creed; it is only the punishment of traitors who
happen to be priests, the punishment of sedition that
cloaks itself as religion; the priests suffer as rebels
against the authorities of the State, and the fact that
a man is an ecclesiastic can never be allowed to shield
him when he commits breaches of the civil law. A
strange and veiled threat concluded this remarkable
speech :—
“ But the day of liberty and consolation came for Tobias.
Sennacherib was killed by his own sons, and Tobias was
able to return to his tribe, and, let them remark, not only
free to his tribe, but to all those rich possessions which
were his before he was carried off from his country. They
might be assured that the Church must triumph and the revo
lution perish. The fathers would kill the sons, the sons would
kill their fathers, and all those born of the revolution would
devour each other.”
Sennacherib must, we presume, be read as the
Emperor William; but does the Pope intend to hint
that the fate of the type should befall the anti-type ?
What is this but suggesting assassination ? The words
of the Pope are to thousands as the voice of God
himself, and among the ignorant and fanatical these
words will be read as a hint to emulate the deed of
Ehud or other sainted murderers. Already the life
of the hated Imperial Chancellor has been struck at
by a bigot enthusiast, striking for the Church against
her dreaded foe, and words such as these, spoken by
the Pope, are as direct an incitement to murder as
any words could be. As to the revolution perishing
while the Church triumphs, the Pope sees the drama
�5
aright but has reversed the names of the players.
The Church is doomed, and her intestine divisions
are slaying her, but the revolution of mind against
slavery, of reason against authority, of intellect
against bigotry, is triumphing in every direction, and
over the ruins of the crumbled papacy shall float the
banner of the Revolution, long after the ninth Pius
shall have passed away from Peter’s chair, and the
rusted keys of heaven and hell shall have become the
curiosity of the antiquary.
On the Sunday the Pope made another speech,
worthy to take rank with that of the Friday. It was
addressed to such of the Roman nobility who have
not become imbued with Liberal ideas, and who
attended to present their congratulations. The Pope
began by remarking that very likely their adversaries
were rejoicing as well as themselves, “inasmuch as
the first lustrum of their unjust usurpation of Rome,
the capital of Catholicity, has passed.” After this
preamble, the Pope went on to point out how all those
who opposed the Church suffered for their sin in so
doing :—
“Here I may be permitted for our common instruction to
remind you of certain events from which it is clearly seen what
are the judgments of God upon those who are unfavourable to
the Holy See, and still more upon those who are against it.
No one certainly has forgotten that this land, which belongs
to the Church, was for several years guarded, protected, and
guaranteed by two of the Catholic Powers. I do not know if
political or other reasons induced those Powers one after the
other to abandon us to the mercy of the fiercest enemies, the
fact is they did abandon us. But when they had left the Holy
See those two Powers, one after the other, had to sustain the
weight of the hand of God upon them. First, they made war
upon each other, and then each became subjected to those
terrible evils and humiliations which all know, and which we
have all lamented.”
The Pope sees all through ecclesiastical, spectacles,
France suffered—not because she ceased to support
the Pope—but because Napoleon, who had served
�6
Rome, Napoleon, whose soldiers shot down Italy’s
hero, had so weakened France by keeping her in
leading-strings that, when the trial-hour struck, she
failed helplessly. Austria suffered because she had
tyrannized over Venetia, and the shock of Italy’s
freedom shook her throne, and the ally of Italy
crushed her in the dust. And by whom are these
victories reaped ? By Germany, under Bismarck,
the papacy’s bitterest foe! From Austria Bismarck
wrenches the Imperial crown and sceptre, and gives
them to Lutheran William of Prussia, enemy of
Rome. From France Bismarck tears two fair pro
vinces, and adds them to his new Empire, and chases
away Emperor and Empress Eugenie, devoted servant
of the Pope. If it is true that the “ weight of the
hand of God ” falls on the Church’s enemies, it
is a hand weighted with gold, and land, and
power, and that raises those on whom it falls to
the high places of the world. The Pope further
instances the fall of the Sultan Abdul-Aziz as
the punishment inflicted on one who had perse
cuted the true Church, and who had encouraged “a
handful of schismatics,” and says that he “ will not
speak of the fearful punishment with which God has
especially stricken, now one, now another, of the
impious sectarians, dying in terror and fright, aban
doned to the powers of infernal darkness.” Thus
does the Pope deal out the judgments of God on his
enemies; but why does he not mete out the same
measure to his friends ? If fall and exile and humi
liation, sent to the enemies of Rome, be a sign of the
wrath of God and a punishment to them for their
enmity to God’s vice-gerent, are not fall, exile, and
humiliation, sent to the friends of Rome, a sign of the
wrath of God, and a punishment to them for their
devotion to God’s vice-gerent ? If not, why not ?
Leaving Prussia on one side, the enemies of Rome
have been much exalted. Victor Emmanuel has
�7
triumphed, and has chased away the lovers of the
Papacy from the petty States, and has made a united
Italy. The King of Naples is an exile as much as
was Napoleon; the dukes and princes of Italy have
fallen, spite of their devotion to the successor of St.
Peter; while his much-loved Isabella of Spain has
also paid her throne as the price of her zeal for the
Papacy. On the other hand, the Republic of France,
which is by no means enthusiastic on the Pope’s side,
is flourishing mightily, and is rapidly raising France
to its ancient level. On the whole, one is inclined to
think that, as the judgments are so impartially dis
tributed on both sides alike, the Pope will act most
wisely in saying nothing about them, and that he had
better not meddle with the meaning of the thunder
bolts, lest he carry destruction among his friends as
well as among his foes.
Our old friend, Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop
of Lincoln, is to the fore again, once more burning
his fingers over the Wesleyan difficulty. His lordship
has issued a pamphlet, entitled ‘ Irenicum Wesleyanum,’ which contains “ some proposals for union
which he had made to some leading Wesleyan Method
ists at an amicable interview arranged by a former
president of the Wesleyan Conference.” It may be
remembered that Bishop Wordsworth issued “ a pas
toral letter,” some time since, to the Wesleyans in
his diocese, and that this letter gave great offence,
and was resented by most Wesleyans as an imperti
nence and an insult. The present attempt will pro
bably meet with the same reception ; but it is amus
ing to see the haughty Church of England on her
knees, suing with Dissenters to help her by joining
her body. It will not be forgotten, as an additional
proof of the suitability of Dr. Wordsworth as a medi
ator, that it was this same Bishop of Lincoln who
supported his subordinate in refusing to allow the
�8
title of “ Reverend” to be engraved on the tombstone
of the daughter of a Wesleyan minister, and who put
the whole Wesleyan body to the annoyance and ex
pense of a long law-suit, in order that the Wesleyans
might vindicate their right to the simple courtesy of
a generally accepted title. After this exhibition of
his Christian courtesy, the Wesleyans must be anxious
to rush into his arms. Dr. Wordsworth thinks that
it might be possible to heal the breach and unite
Methodism with the Church.” (Standard.) He thinks
further, that in the deed of 1784 W esley showed his
desire to use his association as a supplement to, not
as a replacement of, the Church of England. The
Bishop regards Church ministration as of two kinds—
the sacramental duties that can only be rightly dis
charged by a priest, and the simple ministerial duties
that may be discharged by any duly-qualified layman :
“ As unordained parsons are allowed, under certain con
ditions, to read the Holy Scriptures, and in some churches (as
in Lincoln Cathedral) to say the Litany, to lead the chanting
of the Psalms, and the singing of hymns, the Bishop thinks
that a similar permission under the Bishop’s licence might be
extended farther, so that laymen might catechise, read homilies,
and deliver lectures and sermons in the Church. The canons
of 1603, the Act of Uniformity Amendment Act (1872), and
the practice of the ancient Church, as stated by Bingham, seem
to point in this direction.”
Dr. Wordsworth then points out that Robert
Leighton and Simon Patrick, Presbyterians, were
both episcopally ordained, “ a declaration being added
to their letters of orders that such ordination was not
intended to imply the expression of any judgment on
such orders that might be supposed by some to have
been previously conferred.” What a curious con
fession 1 “ Might be supposed to have been conferred.”
Verily the gift of the Holy Ghost conferred in ordi
nation must be sadly inappreciable if, when he has
come down on the ordained, his presence remains so
doubtful that only “by some” he “might be sup
�9
posed to have been conferred.” This ordination is
suggested as suitable for the Wesleyans, and Dr.
Wordsworth asks:—
“ (1), Whether any Wesleyan ministers so ordained need
be prevented remaining members of the Conference? (2J,
Would the Wesleyan Conference, if the bishops, recognising
the vested rights of the chapels, licensed their ministers, allow
the ministers and congregations of such chapels to remain in
connection with the Wesleyan body ? (3), Would the Wes
leyan Conference recognise such chapeis as places of public
assembly for preaching according to the deed of declaration of
1784, and allow the congregations to resort to their respective
parish churches for Holy Communion. ”
But what would the Wesleyans gain by accepting
this “ Irenicum ” ? In the first place their ministers
would make a confession that they, and all their pre
decessors, had acted wrongly and irregularly, because
by accepting ordination now they implicitly acknow
ledge that ordination is valuable, and that they there
fore have, during their whole history, wrongfully and
wilfully deprived their members of this useful assist
ance. Why should Wesleyans, who have built
chapels and maintained ministers at their own cost,
now come humbly, cap in hand, and ask for a licence
from an Anglican Bishop ? What is the licence to
effect ? Permission to officiate ? but they officiate
already. Permission to use the chapels ? but they
build their own chapels and support their own minis
ters. Allow the Church of England to interfere in
their internal arrangements ? Why should Wesleyans
who, after opposition, persecution, and struggle, have
won their way to a position of wealth, respectability,
and influence, spite of the efforts of the Church of
England, turn round now and give her the weight and
strength of their numbers solely for her profit, and
not for their own ? Doubtless the Church would be
glad enough to catch them, for though she scoffed at
them when poor and despised, she would welcome
them now that they are rich and respected. But the
�10
memory of cast-out Wesley stands between them,
and the Wesleyans would be traitors to the memory
of their fathers if they joined hands with the Church
which persecuted them. The Bishop of Lincoln must
be content to add the ‘ Irenicum Wesleyanum ’ to the
number of his many previous failures; but he is so
thoroughly accustomed to them that he would be
surprised at a success.
Among the many unpleasant ways in which pious
zeal manifests itself to the annoyance of the carnalminded, surely one of the most unpleasant is the
donation of leaflets and cards, shoved into the un
willing hand with an oily smile. Torquay is pre
eminently a dwelling-place of these unpleasant
Christians, and at the “ Directory Office, Torquay,”
cards are sold at Is. 6d. per hundred, bearing on one
side the superscription, “ Express Train.” These are
handed to travellers by the express, and printed on
the reverse'side we read :—
“Dear Friend,
You are travelling by the fastest of all Express Trains,
By one that never stops but once.
It carries you to Heaven or Hell.
No escape from your Train.”
The information seems superfluous, for if the train
“ never stops but once,” to use the elegant English
of the original, and there is no escape from it, what is
the use of saying anything about it ? The “ once,”
is, we presume, either in heaven or hell; then the
train will go to the place in the direction of which
the Almighty hand pushed it when first he set it going,
and as there is no escape for the passenger, he can do
nothing but get out at the terminus, wherever it may
be. It would seem kinder to leave these unlucky pas
sengers alone, and not worry them. Some of these
efforts are poetical, such as “ The Man at God’s Right
Hand.” It seems that this man
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
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Title
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Signs of the times. August, 1876
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 12 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Presented in Memory of Dr. Moncure D. Conway by his children, July Nineteen hundred & eight. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
Publisher
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Thomas Scott
Date
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[n.d.]
Identifier
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CT176
Subject
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Christianity
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[Unknown]
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (Signs of the times. August, 1876), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
Language
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English
Christianity-Controversial Literature
Conway Tracts