Page:A Pastoral Letter to the Parishioners of Frome.djvu/28

20 The second point in which I am judged is this:

"'In England a man looks round him for the Church, and finds it represented by the Bishops and priests de facto such, and recognized with jurisdiction as such. He has no need of arguing any matter. As long as the Church stands there before him, it is Her business to see that all is right, not his.… To go out of Her would be schismatical, to remain in Her Catholic. In the same way, being born in Italy, he looks round him for the Church, and finds it represented by the Bishops and Priests, with all things appertaining. He has, as an individual, no right to dictate to the Church, but to hear it. Does it deny anything necessary to salvation? Does it insist on any practice which will bring damnation? Certainly not. Then, whether he likes what is taught in detail is nothing to the point; he looks to the Church, which he sees visibly before him; he submits to that Church. To do so is Catholic, to do otherwise would be schismatical. He is to live as though he did not know of the existence of any other Church than that where he is born: he is to act, à priori, as though of course, and according to our rule, the Church was. If there be differences, that is nothing to him. The Churches, with their Bishops and rulers, must look to that. It is their sin that unity is broken: it is their duty to restore it.' (The italics are Mr. Bennett's own.) 'It is his alone to In Rome he obeys; in England he obeys; in France he obeys. His obedience makes him a Catholic; the rest he leaves to '"

Well, I am quite prepared to abide by these words. And I would ask you this. Is not the Church One? and is it not true that to go out of her is schismatical? And is not the Church of Rome in Italy a true Church, and are not those who are members of her to be saved? The Bishop of London has said, "Nor do I think it consistent with truth to deny that the Church of Rome is a branch, however corrupt, of the Church Catholic." (Charge, 1842, p. 58,) and in this the great body of the English Divines fully concur. You yourselves, nay, I verily believe even these memorialists would not on reflection deny it. They could not surely deny salvation to the many holy men who have lived and died, and are now living and dying in the Roman Communion. They would not deny salvation to the far larger portion of Christendom which at this moment fills the world, and limit it to their own comparatively insignificant portion of it situated in the British dominions. They could not deny it lest haply they be guilty of a very awful breach of that charity, which S.