CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



general discipline. A difference of opinion used 

 to exist as to where in the Church the infallibility 

 resides, a difference illustrated in the history of 

 the Gallican controversy. The French or Gal- 

 lican clergy, supported by the civil power, main- 

 tained that the consent of the bishops, tacit or 

 expressed, is necessary to constitute a judgment 

 infallible ; while the Ultramontanes, or high papal 

 party, alleged that the deliverances of the pope 

 given ex cathedrA have in themselves that char- 

 acter ; but by the decision of a late Council, held 

 in Rome in 1870, the Ultramontane view on this 

 point has become the authorised doctrine of the 

 Roman Catholic Church. 



The Church of Rome holds the doctrines of 

 the Creed commonly called Apostolic ; the Seven 

 Sacraments Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucha- 

 rist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Order, and 

 Matrimony ; the necessity and efficacy of the pro- 

 pitiatory sacrifice of the Mass for the living and 

 the dead ; Transubstantiation, or the conversion of 

 the bread and wine in the Eucharist into the veri- 

 table body and blood of Christ ; the doctrine of Pur- 

 gatory ; the efficacy of the doings of the living 

 in behalf of the dead; the invocation of saints; 

 their intercession for us ; that their relics should 

 be honoured ; the use and veneration of the images 

 of Christ, of ' the mother of God, ever Virgin/ and 

 of the saints ; the power of indulgences ; the 

 Immaculate Conception of the Virgin ; all the 

 decrees and canons of the Council of Trent relat- 

 ing to the Fall, original sin, justification, &c. ; 

 the supremacy of the pope ; and the universal 

 necessity of this Catholic faith in order to salva- 

 tion. 



The Church of Rome seeks to hold a medium 

 between the extreme asceticism of the Eastern 

 Church and its almost total absence in the Prot- 

 estant churches. Her members observe every 

 Friday as a fast from flesh ; and six weeks at 

 Lent, in memory of the Saviour's fast in the 

 wilderness, are devoted to abstinence. The celi- 

 bacy of the clergy is strictly maintained. 



The Roman Church is famous for her hierarch- 

 ical system of rule and her magnificent organi- 

 sations, which extend like a network over the 

 world. Roman Catholic countries are divided 

 by the church into provinces, which are governed 

 by archbishops, and are subdivided into bishop- 

 rics, each subject to its own bishop. In Protes- 

 tant or unbelieving communities, the spiritual 

 affairs of the Catholic Church are directed by 

 bishops in partibus Infidelium, or titular bishops, 

 who are styled vicars of the pope, or vicars-apos- I 

 tolic. In addition to Roman Catholics, strictly 

 so called, the Church of Rome includes not a i 

 few individuals and churches that are not of the 

 Roman or Latin rite, to which number belong | 

 Greeks, Slavonians, &c. who, while retaining their 

 own national liturgy and language, acknowledge 

 the supremacy of the Roman pontiff. Prominent 

 among them is the United Greek Church, number- 

 ing more than 4 millions in Austria, which follows 

 the Greek rite, but recognises the Roman govern- 

 ment 



Since 1870, a movement has taken place within 

 the Church under the name of Old Catholic, 

 according to which, the decisions of the Council of 

 1870 relating to the infallibility of the pope are 

 repudiated. This movement is principally con- 

 fined to Germany and Switzerland. 

 102 



The papal office is elective, and the present 

 electoral body is the College of Cardinals, %vho 

 are ecclesiastical princes appointed by the pope, 

 having the title of ' Eminence.' Preparatory to 

 election, the cardinals meet in ' conclave,' com- 

 munication with the outer world being interrupted 

 until the election is made. The candidate must 

 be of mature age. Two-thirds of the cardinals 

 must agree on a candidate, who shall be pope. 

 France, Spain, and Austria used to have a veto 

 on one candidate, a privilege which they exercised 

 through one of their cardinals. 



The worship of the Roman Catholic Church is 

 highly gorgeous and imposing. A chief part of 

 the service is musical, and the execution in all 

 churches of importance is of superior quality. 

 The service throughout the world is conducted in 

 the Latin tongue. 



The seat of the Roman Catholic religion during 

 the principal part of its history may be said, on 

 the whole, to be identical with that of the Western 

 Roman Empire, extending over nearly the whole 

 of Europe Russia, Turkey, Greece, and part of 

 Austria excepted. It has been transplanted to 

 those regions which have been colonised by 

 European nations, particularly North and South 

 America. 



The total number of Roman Catholics of all 

 nations is estimated at about 185 millions. The 

 hierarchy throughout the world comprises over 

 a thousand archbishops and bishops ; 12 of the 

 archbishops have the title of Patriarch. There 

 are 10 million Roman Catholics in English- 

 speaking communities throughout the world. 



PROTESTANTISM THE CHURCHES OF THE 

 REFORMATION. 



As the fundamental principles of the Church of 

 Rome are the authority of the Church and the 

 supremacy of the pope ; so Protestantism is radi- 

 cally based on the liberty of the individual con- 

 science, the right of private judgment, and the 

 supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures. The 

 term Protestant was first applied to the adherents 

 of Luther, from their protesting against the decree 

 passed by the Catholic states at the second Diet 

 of Speyer in 1529. This decree enjoined those 

 states which had adopted the Reformation, among 

 other things, to use and explain the Scriptures 

 only as they had hitherto been used and explained 

 in the Church. The principles of the Protest were : 

 That the Catholic Church cannot be the judge 

 of the Reformed Churches, which are no longer 

 in communion with her ; that the authority of the 

 Bible is supreme, and above that of councils and 

 bishops ; and that the Bible is not to be inter- 

 preted and used according to tradition, or use and 

 wont, but to be explained by means of itself, its 

 own language and connection. This is reckoned 

 substantially a protest for the individual and the 

 nation against the encroachments of a great 

 central corporation claiming universal authority. 

 Protestantism arose as the assertion of individual 

 liberty and of national independence. Although, 

 therefore, denoting a set of definite fundamental 

 principles essentially antagonistic to Roman Ca- 

 tholicism, the term is comprehensive of various 

 churches, holding on many points widely diver- 

 gent views. These churches are classified under 

 the generic heads of Lutheran and Reformed. 





