Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/595

 TESTAMENTS

537

TESTEM

absolutely speaking, man can be saved, in the absence of all exterior means, by submitting himself fully to God by the faith and love of the Redeemer.

(e) Before Christ's coming, men had been treated by God as slaves or children under age are treated, but with the Gospel begins a law of love and liberty writ- ten first of all in the heart; this law does not consist merely in the letter which forbids, commands, or con- demns; it is also, and chiefly, an interior grace which disposes the heart to do the will of God. (f) The Kingdom of God preached and established by Jesus Christ, though it exists already visibly in the Church, will not be perfected until the end of the world (of which no one knows the day or the hour), when He will come Himself in power and majesty to render to each one according to his works. In the meantime, the Church assisted by the Holy Spirit, governed by the Apostles and their .successors under the authority of Peter, teaches and propagates the Gospel even to the ends of the earth, (g) Love of our neighbour is raised to the height of the love of God, because the Gospel makes us see God and Christ in all men since they are, or ought to be, Hia mystical members. When necessary, this love must be carried as far as the sacrifice of self. Such is Christ's commandment, (h) Natural morality in the Gospel is raised to a higher sphere by the counsels of perfection (poverty and chastity), which may be summed up as the posi- tive renouncement of the material goods of this hfe, in so far as they hinder our being completely given up to the service of God. (i) Eternal life, which shall not be fully realized until after the resurrection of the body, consists in the possession of God, seen face to face, and of Jesus Christ.

Such are the fundamental points of Christian dogma, as expressly taught in the New Testament. They are not found collected together in any of the Canonical books, but were written throughout a pe- riod extending from the middle of the first centurj' to the beginning of the second; and, consequently, the history of the way in which they were expressed at different times can be reconstructed. These texts never could, and were never meant to, dispense with the oral tradition which preceded them. Without this periJetual commentary they would not always have been understood and frequently would have been misunderstood.

Catholic Works. — Jacquier, //»«(. des litres du Nouveau Tes- tament (4 vols.. Paris, 1903-8) : Idem. Le Nouv. Test, dans I'Eglise chrel. (Paris. 1911): Baccez-Brassac, Man. biblique: Nouv. Test. (2 vols., Paris. 1910-11): Batiffol. V enseignement de Jisits (Paris. 1906); Idem. Orpheus el Vemngile (Paris, 1910); Hdby, Christus (Paris, 1912), xv; DtJRAND. Le texle du Noun. Test, in Eludes (Paris, Feb.-May, 1911); Chapman. Notes on the Early Hist, of the Vulgate Gospels (Oxford. 1908); GiaoT, Outlines of N. T. Hisl. (New York, 1898); Idem, Ce7i. Introd. to the Holy Scrip- tures (Ncvr York. 1903),

Protestant Works. — Westcott-Hort, The New Testament in the original Greek (2 vols. Cambridge, 1881); Burkitt, The Gos- pel His! . and its Transmission (Edinburgh, 1904); Sasda.y. Studies in the Synoptic Problem (Oxford, 1911); Moffat, Introd. to the N. T. (Edinburgh. 1911); Gardner, ,4 Hist. View of the N. T. (London, 1901); Harnack, What is Christianilyf (tr. London, 1901); Idem. Luke the Physician (tr. London, 1906); Idem, .Sair- ings of Jesus (tr. London, 1907); Idem, Acts of the .Apostles (tr. London, 1908); Schweitzer, Quest of the Hist. Jesus (tr. London, 1906); Sandat, Life nf Christ m the Light of Recent Re.'tearch (Oxford, 1907); .Stanton. The Gospels as Hist. Documents (Cam- bridge. 1909); Peake, Cril. Introd. to the N. T. (New York, 1910); GregorT, Canon and Teit of the N. T. (New York. 1907).

Jewish. — yiosTEFiORE, Synoptic Gosp. (Lonrlon, iniKt).

Alfred Durand.

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. See

Apocrypha, subtitle II.

Testem Benevolentise, an .ApostoUc Letter of Leo XIII .iddrc ps(<l to Cardinal Gibbons, 22 January, 1899. It opens by exj)laining its title, remarking that just ;is His Holines,s h.ad given frequent proof of his affection for the people ,ns well a.s for the Church in the United States, by praising their spirit and their progress, so now the same affection prompts him to point out certain things which should be avoided or

corrected, in order to set at rest controversies that were injurious to peace. Referring to the preface of the French translation of the "Life of Isaac Hecker", as the occasion of these controversies, he proposes to examine certain opinions therein advanced on the manner of leading a Christian life. The basis of these opinions is that, to make converts, the Church should adapt herself to our advanced civili- zation and relax her ancient rigour as regards not only the rule of hfe but also the deposit of faith, and should pass over or minimize certain points of doctrine, or even give them a meaning which the Church has never held. On this the Vatican Council is clear; faith is not a doctrine for speculation like a philosophical theory, to be relinquished or in any manner suppressed under any specious pretext what- soever; such a process would alienate Catholics from the church, instead of bringing converts. In the words of the council the Church must constantly adhere to the same doctrine in the same sense and in the same w;iy; but the rule of Christian life admits of modifications according to diversity of time, place, or nation.al custom, only such changes are not to depend on the will of private individuals but on the judgment of the Church. What makes the new opinions more dangerous is the pretext of those who follow them that in matters of faith and of Christian life each one should be free to follow his own bent in the spirit of the large measure of civil liberty recog- nized in these days. The difference between the two spheres had already been indicated in the Encyclical on the Constitution of States. The argument now adduced in favour of this new liberty is a preposterous one. When declaring the infallibility of the pope, the Vatican Council did not have in mind a situation in which, this papal prerogative acknowledged, the faithful might have a wider field of thought and action in religious matters; rather the infallibility was declared in order to provide against the special evils of our times, of license which is confounded with liberty, and the habit of thinking, saying, and print- ing everything regardless of truth. It was not in- tended to hamper real serious study or research, or to conflict with any well-ascertained truth, but only to use the authority and wisdom of the Church more effectually in protecting men against error.

Next follows a consideration of the consequences that flow from the principles and opinions just rejected. First, it is declared wrong to say that spiritual direction is less needed in our days, on the score that the Holy Ghost is now more bounteous with His gifts than in times past. The history of the Church does not warrant this view. The Holy Ghost is active in His influences and good impulses; but His promptings are not easily discerned or prop- erly followed without external guidance. Divine Providence has so arranged that men should be saved by men, and that men should be led to loftier holiness by the direction of their fellows as in the case of Saul by the help of Ananias. The more perfect the way of hfe one m.ay enter the more direction is necessary. This has been the invariable view of the Church and of those who have been remarkable for holiness. Secondly, natural virtues must not be extolled above the supernatural. The former, .according to the new opinions, are more in accordance with i)resent ways and requirements, and make men more ready and strenuous; as if nature with grace added to it were weaker than when unaided, or as if the h;ibit of acting always with good natural motives could be su.s- tained without grace. Even were the acts of natural virtue all they seem to be in ;ippearance, how can they without grace become solid and enduring, or avail for the .supernatural beatitude to which we are des- tined? Thirdly, it will not do to establish a division between the virtues and regard some as pa.ssivc, others as active, and advocate the practice of the