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REV. CHANCELLOK LIAS, M.A., ON 



from the Modernists, we are bound to remember the circum- 

 stances of their case. The iron repression to which they liave 

 «o long been subject must of necessity lead to the strong recoil 

 in the other direction which is displayed in their writings, and 

 if we find reason to deplore some of their utterances, we ought 

 not to exconnnunicate them altogether, but endeavour in a 

 spirit of brotherhood and loving-kindness to bring them to view 

 things from a wiser and more truly liberal standpoint. 



Most of us are fully acquainted with the position of Dr. 

 Tyrrell, once a member of the " Society of Jesus," ljut now 

 -expelled from the Order, and disavowed by the Church to which 

 he belongs. He has told us that Modernism is not a sect, but a 

 school. That is to say, it lays down no principles and imposes 

 no dogmas. It simply claims a right to express opinion freely 

 while still belonging to a body which for a thousand years and 

 more has not only systematically denied that right, but has l)een 

 accustomed to put down those who claimed it with not a little 

 ferocity. I am sorry to say that Dr. Tyrrell's description of 

 Modernism is, I am afraid, not altogether correct. In Italy, at 

 least, the Modernists have laid down dogmas of their own in the 

 place of those against which they contend. In an article in the 

 last number of the International Tlicological Review, an Old 

 Catholic organ of independent Catholic thought, published at 

 Berne, Dr. Herzog, Old Catholic Bishop for Switzerland, quotes 

 the organ of the Societa Internazionale Scientifico-Religioso at 

 Rome as laying down as a commune terreno cVintesa. m the 

 Programina, del Modemisti which it has issued, such propositions 

 as the following, in regard to the gospels : " Mark is the oldest 

 of the Synoptic gospels " ; it was used by Matthew and Luke ; 

 ^' Matthew and Luke are independent of each other " : tliese 

 last " have both used a writing called ' Logia' " : while " of 

 the compiler of the fourth Gospel we are not able to catch 

 a passing indication, but he is probably not identical with 

 John." Then " the Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul and the 

 Epistle to the Hebrew^s are clearly not authentic, and the 

 Catholic Epistles are pseudepigraphic."* Now, let it be under- 

 stood that I have no objection to the freest possible investigation 

 of the critical problem, unless in the case of persons who have 

 undertaken obligations to some particular religious body, and to 

 the public at large not to carry such investigations so far as to 



* It is only fair to say that in a paper by the Abbe Minoechi wliich 

 has reached nie horn Italy I find no tendency to dogmatism of this k ind 

 but only a plea for free inquiry. 



