REV. MR. GIBB AND ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 23, 8 June 1899, Page 3

REV. MR. GIBB AND ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

THE GENTLE ART OF MISQUOTATION*

SOME AMAZING EX VMPLE-

There was a good deal of shrewdness and good sense iv Don Quixote's corpulent squire, Sancho Panza ' Let every man," said Sancho, ' take car ,3 what he talks or how he writes of other men. and not set down at random, hab-nab, higgledy-piggledy, whatever comes into his noddle. We commend this, together with the commandment against bearing false witness, to the crowd of noisy controversialists who supply the myriads of cheap tracts and pamphlets which profess to expo?e the ' errors and abominations of the Church of Rome.' Few have learned better than these versatile and s'ippery individuals the gentle art of making a very little truth go a very long way. They adopt to the letter the principle of economy laid down by Hudibras's squire :—: — ' For truth is precious and divine. Too rich a pearl for carnal swine.'

Forged papal and episcopal documents were, a few years ago, a favourite weapon of the A.P.A. Mad tales— fit for Bedlam— of Jesuits (male and female) in disguise find ready credence with the more gullible and superstitious, even among stray members of the clergy. But the cowardly art of misquotation has been reduced to something like a system by men like Collette and the many who hold with him, in practice, that the cause of the God of Truth may be advanced by the persistent dissemination of falsehood. These are strong words. But they are written by us after, and a consequence of, a varied and somewhat extensive acquaintance krge class of Protestant controversial tracts snd pamphlets. )ple using these wretched outrages on snered truth undoubtedly act in practically every case in perfect good faith. Isut those who are in the first instance responsible for many of the stock quotations that are flung at us trom press and pulpit, cannot, even by the largest exercise of charity, be acquitted of a deliberate intention to mislead. A prominent Presbyterian clergyman in Dunedin favoured the public last week, through the columns of the Otago Daily Times, with a few of these carefully garbled quotations from St. Alphonsus. As usual in such cases, he gave no detailed references, and undoubtedly relied with a faith that was simple and childlike on the honesty of some

SMPPKKY PAMIMILETFHR

The withdriwal of the ac> usation flung at th« C ilV.lic * 'hurch by the i'ev. Mr. Gibb, and the eonsequ, nt , In-e ot the controversy between v-, prevented the readers of the Otm/n D.n'y i'l-mi irom witnessing ihe exposure of a p.irtu al.uly di-cnditible method of controvert . A more disgracelul misi-epie^eutation of an author's true meaning has never yet come under our notiu\

A iMISCONCLITtON,

The Rev. Mr. Gibb has no idea of the scope of the decree passed by the Congregation of Rites in IKO3, and confirmed by the Pope, which declared that this great Saint's works contained • nothing deserving or censure. Heihg, one of m Alphon-us' childua in religion, explains that this by no means implies that each .separate statement and opinion of the Saint is true , nuy. mury. th. ; L it docs not exclude the possibility of some or other of his opinions being condemned ; but that it intan, just this „nd not bin" -norc that his works are i'rej from any ' error alre u-y reioirnised as ; „ h by the Church. AD this is so well understood i:i the Ron.an Curia and by Cathohf theologians that it needs no statement. In fact, when the Sacred Penitentiary, in 18151, dec'arf-d tha: a oonfe-s^r might with a safe conscience follow all St. Alphonsu.-,' opinions, it did not by any means declare them on all points the best possible and tho only safe ones. On the contrary, it stated that confessors were free to follow the opinions given by other approved authors, even where they differ from those of the sainted Founder of the Congregation of Redemptorists.

A DUTCH GARDEN

So much by way of explanation. And now for some charming specimens of the art of garbling as practiced by^the llev. Mr. Gibb. The reverend gentleman favoured the readers of the Otago Daily 'Jim,:'— after a fine preliminary trumppt-blast— with three 'quotations' from St. Alphonsus Liguori. His purpose was to show that it is quite 'in accordance with' the 'authentic doctrine' of the Catholic Church that men having her Holy Orders should, with her sanction, exercise the ministry in the Anglican communion. The Rev. Mr. Gibb overlooked thee two trifling circumstances- (1) That the ' quotations,' even as given by him. contain not one statement, suggestion, or hint that could be even decently twisted into sivh a meaning ; and (2) that the 'quotations' were lopped, trimmed, pruned, and pulled about ]ust as an honest holly is shorn, trained, and twisted by a clog-shod Dutchman till it assumes the shape of heraldic lion rampant. The Rev. Mr. Gibb's St. Alphonsus resembles the original about as much as the Hollander's tortured, hunch-backed, garden-holly resembles the fair holly of the free, open forest.

SPECIMEN' NUMBER OXE,

1. The Rev. Mr. Gibb pays . ■ The absobute denial of the faith he (St. Alphonsus) pronounces unlawful : the dissimulation of the faith he declare^ to be lawful. Here are his own words rendered into English • •■ It is lawful to dissemble what i*. or to cover the truth with words or other ambiguous and doubtful signs for a just cause, and when there i^ not a necessity or confessing '' ' Here our Presbyterian divine calmly dwipit it es his victim, and with an tm lwm<>\ exhibits the Load e--, trunk as the iull and genuine St. Alphonsim Maria iV f.iVic'U. Yw will set the head on the should r- .^am. with the i,i;/u- "ii,e ol tiui 1). a; d mv how looks, lo c.io;i metrphor tne allp^ol quoiui n i, lien v 01.1., lib. 11., tract 1. oar. iii.. -l". 1-' ol <rv S ,hi'- / n, />/,>,,. m Moxilx. The chapter beats of the q;u-iii,n. \\ beUier it is ever lawful to externally dmy the true iaith or profe- a faKe one. Section 12, from which '<sv. Mr. Gibb's decapitated quotation is taken, runs in English as follows. The words carefully omitted by him are here given in italics. : — ' 12.— /w/ ,>,,•/„,/>//„ /; „,v/,, ,',,,/, vy///, l, nth '—J!,^,/ f H >io r«\, it it I, 'i fid t,i ,(n x. u'.tinr I, I a,, r, nr ,//,,/■ s ,//>,f,ir \ Christ vu/s •' //, Unit il null, ?/, tut, i, ,;, , ,) , fnf nit lioiiijh if_ /v unhi i tn! to In or to I, up, v ', t if is „t.it is i,, vrrthih sometimes lawhil to keep what i -. ur to cover tlie truth with words, or other iiint)i<£uoiis Mid indifferent Mgn^. when there i- a 'just cau-e, aid no ntci-ityoi oont. .—in'; the i >ith. This is the common opinion.' Even pious and sensible Pre-bj U-iian* protect thejn-elvcs thus every day m railway e.irnages and on board bhip^ iiom the impertinent questions of prying bu^ybodie<. The reader will observe— with shame^ or indignation as the ca-e may be— that the Key. Mr. Gibb contrived to suppress just the very words of St. Alphonsus which blow his (Key. Mr. Gibb's) contention to atoms. This controversial process is known as garbling. And garbling is a peculiarly contemptible method of fa U hood.

SPECIMEN M'MRER TWO

Here is another brilliant syecirnon of shady controveivy. ' Liguori (says Rev. Mr Gibb) g.,e«, on ti diM •! s tln^e two qaestiona : Must a Romanist on being inter o^and *-pe,ik ihe tiuth ? and : Is it neees^jry for a Romanise iv: Lit rio-at' a to tick now kdge his religion !' This first question is simply ridiculous Wo hereby olialh nge the Rev. Mr. Gibb to show v- m ml the \ r it >n _■•> nt St. L!,;uori one solitary place in which lit" oven a 4--. mr.tii l"s-, ' rocs o 1 to discuss,' the qutstion : ' Mu-t a l-tomanis-t. on bi-inj; mt< v o.mu"l, spe.ik the truth.'' Tho question-, he ' yo» so> t > di* •ii'-s ' ( m mvuou l.iofthe same chapter) are -imply the-e 'Js ll lawful to u-u ambiguous words ?Orto be silent .'' The Key. Mr. Gibb m,g hi on aojurare just once, if only for the bike of variety.

ONE MOKE bPECIMPN

'To the first of these question*,' says the Roy. Mr. Gibb. 'he (Liguori) answers thus ; " He who being a^-ked either by private or public authority is silent or answers obscurely, . . . dees not appear to deny the faith, but is unwilling to betray it." '

'To the first of these questions ' St. Alphonsus makes the following reply, which, as it did not suit Rev. Mr. G-ibb, is completely suppressed,. As we have no interest in misrepresenting the teaching of the great Catholic divine, we give herewith a translation of the answer which Rev. Mr. Gibb, in schoolboy phrase, skipped :—: — 1 13. — (T) A person questioned regarding his faith, whether by the public or private authority, out of hatred to [the Catholic] religion, may by no means (nvXlo modo) so employ mental reservation or ambiguous words in his reply as to seem, (videatur) to those present to deny the faith ; much less (multo minus) may he say that lie ■is a heretic, or a Calvinist, or a non- Catholic? And yet Rev. Mr G-ibb calmly asks us to believe that St. Alphonsus' ' doctrine ' not merely permits a Catholic to say in words that he is a non-Catholic, but actually permits and encourages his acting and teaching as an Anglican clergyman ! I

tbt another! '

Rev. Mr. Gibb's 'quotation' as given by him (and repeated above) is just a homoeopathic portion of St. Alphonsus' reply to the second query : Is it lawful to be silent? This time Rev Mr. Gibb lops the legs off St. Alphonsus. In other words, he slices off the end of the quotation. Here are the omitted words. The reader will at once understand the reason of the omission :—: — ' Hence, if by this means he can be freed from a troublesome inquiry, it is lawful, as lioncaqlia says [to remain silent or answer obscurely, or to say you do not wish to answer ]. For generally speaMng, it is not true that a person interrogated by the public authority is bound to make a positive profession of faith, unless such prof ession becomes necessary lest he should seem to others to deny the faith? v

SPECIMEN NUMBER FIVE

is a controversial gem of purest ray serene. It is introduced by Rev. Mr. Gibb as Liguori's answer to the ' second question.' Now this is precisely what it is not. It seems as if Rev. Mr. Gibb cannot be accurate even by chance or good luck. It is in reality an answer to query six, under section 14 (four paragraphs further down). Rev. Mr. Gibb, or rather his Ananias of a pamphleteer, has completely suppressed all reference to the fact thut this query, together with the three that precede it and several that follow it, all relate to the duties of Catholics in times of persecution. There is not throughout so much as the shadow of a hint that a Catholic may, even under stress of rack or halter or thumbscrew, make profession of any Protestant creed, much less exercise the ministry in the Anglican or any other non-Catholic fold. We give below in italics the all important words of St. Alphonsus which Rev. Mr. Gibb suppressed so as to conceal from the public the vital fact that the Saint's wise counsel was meant for the exceptional times of cruel persecution, not for the piping time of peace :—: — ' 6. When you are interrogated regarding the faith, not only is it lawful, but often more conducive to the glory of God and the utility of your neighbour, to cover the faith than to confess it ; for example, if concealed among heretics you may accomplish a greater amount of good ; or if greater evil would result from an open profession of faith, as, for instance, disturbance. loss of life, exasperation of a tyrannous ruler, and danger of bachsliding under stress of torture. For this reason it is very often rash to voluntarily expose one's self to danger? We should think so. A big percentage of people are not built of the stuff that martyrs are made of. Sc. Alphonsus would permit such people to quietly hold their tongues, but never to deny their faith, as stated above, ' whether by word or any other sign.' But where, in the name of reason, does St. Alphonsus in these words hint that, even under the terror of torture, a Catholic may make profession of Protestantism, much less act as the minister of a Protestant fold ?

WE QUOTE A LITTLE.

Thus far we have been occupied in patching and piecing the lopped chopped, cropped, and garbled ' quotations ' of the Rev. Mr. Gibb. We will now add four extracts on our own account from the very same chapter from which the Hey. Mr. Gibb professed to quote. They will show all the more clearly the altogether disgraceful fashion in which the Saint's teaching has been misrepresented. 1. In the very next sub-section following Rev. Mr. Gibb's last 1 quotation,' St. Alphonsus — still dealing with times of persecution — says that ' it is often very discreet to preserve one's life for the glory of God, and to conceal the faith by lawful means? But (he continues) ' it is not lawful to adopt those articles of dress or other marks of infidels the sole use of which is to serve as outward signs of the profession of a false religioner worship; such as the vestments used in sacrifice ; incensing, or tending the knee before an idol ; as also receiving the communion of heretics, etc' And yet Rev. Mr. G-ibb represents St. Alphonsus as teacning that a Catholic may not alone receive, but even minister, the ' communion of heretics.' 2. Three paragraphs further down, and on the next page of our edition of St. Alphonsus' works (Chalandre's, 1834), the Rev. Mr. Gibb would have found the following, had he consulted the Saint at first-hand :—: — 'It is not lawful to be present at the worship of infidels and heretics in such manner that you may be regarded as taking part in it.' In the face of this, the Rev. Mr. G-ibb calmly assures the readers of the Otago Daily Times that, according to St. Alphonsus' teaching, a Catholic may not alone take part in, but, in the garb of a clergyman, lead, the worship of Anglicans. 3. In the next following sub-section, St. Alphonsus (baling his opinion on two rescripts of Pius V. to the English Catholics) lays it down as unlawful for Catholics to assist at the sermons of nonCatholic preachers, even if penal laws require them to do so ' under the direst penalties.' And yet the Rev. Mr. G-ibb will have it that a Catholic may not alone assist at such sermons, but preach them — and that, too, in the easy days of peace and toleration.

4. On the same page of the same chapter the great Samt says : • Catholics living among heretics are guilty of a sin against faith, if. in obedience to the order of the civil authorities, they contract marriage before the minister of a heretical creei, even though before or afterwards they go throujrh the cer-mooy in the pre*enoe of a Catholic priest,' And yet the Pnv. Air. G-ibb vdil have it thm a jCatholic may even, in the capacity of an Anglican minister, act as the celebrant of such a marriage.

EENVOI.

If we went further through St. Alphonsus' works, the Rev. Mr. Gibb would fare even worse than this. But we have purposely limited ourselves to the chapter from which he professed to quote. Comment on such shameless misrepresentation is quite superfluous. The Rev. Mr. Gibb has reason to feel errateful for the timely application of the editorial cloture which prevented the further exposure of his controversial methods in the columns of the Otago Daily Times. And yet with enthusiastic positiveness he claimed to have ' incontestably proved ' his foolish statement regarding the teachings of St. Alphonsus Liguori ! 'lis ever thus with controversialists of his class. A dip into some miserable old clo' shop of second-hand and tattered ' extracts,' and thf y are fit to teach Catholic theology to the Pope and the whoJe College of Cardinals ! Like the man in Uudibras, they 1 Know more of any trade b" a hint Than those that have been brought; up in 't.' Such ' theology ' is to the genuine article what a scarecrow is to a man. If the Rev. Mr. Gibb wants to know something about Catholic theology, let him make a bonfire of his no-Popery pamphlets and — for a beginning — invest in a penny catechism.