pleading for very life, an appeal to the thinkers among believing Christians,' &c.[1]
We have here an unconscious confession. 'Janus' is strictly an appeal from the light of faith to the light of history, that is, from the supernatural to the natural order; a process, as I have said again and again, consistent in Protestants and Rationalists: in Catholics, simply heretical.
The direct reference to original authorities is, of course, a prerogative of Janus. Who else but he ever could, or would, or did, refer to the original authorities?
Again, it is a work addressed to scientific circles. Lord Bacon describes a school of philosophers who, when they come abroad, lift their hand in the attitude of benediction, 'with the look of those who pity men.' Is science in the Catholic Church confined to 'circles?' Is it an esoteric perfection which belongs to the favoured and to the few who assemble in chambers and secret places? Our Lord has warned us that the science of God has a wider expanse of light. In truth, this science is a modern Gnosticism, superior to the Church, contemptuous of faith, and profoundly egotistical. It appeals to the thinkers among believing Christians: that is, to the intellectual few among the herd of mere believers.
But finally the truth escapes: the aim of the book is not merely calm and aimless. It deals with ecclesiastical politics; that is, it was an organised, combined, and deliberate attempt to hinder the Vatican Council
- ↑ The Pope and the Council, by Janus. Preface, p. xiii. London, 1869.
