Nicholas Wiseman

“ Can that Church fail ever in conscious certainty of perpetuity which holds as basis, centre, pinnacle of all her belief and practice, that she continues in unbroken, and unalienable possession of the oblation which never ceases from the rising to the going-down of the sun, of the one sacrifice which is infinite in value and in duration, of His presence, who promised the gift, as real as receives worship from prostrate Elders, and veiled seraphs on heaven’s altar? ”

“ The aqueducts are beautiful objects while stalking across the country in their naked simplicity; and so does the viaduct of a railway connecting two hills often become a graceful addition to the landscape. But in passing, or cutting, through the midst of a city, it is very different. Can any one imagine that the aqueducts of Imperial Rome strode along as they did outside the wall, without a marble clothing, where they emerged into the public sight, or that they traversed the Forum, or climbed the Capitol, or Palatine, in their inornate suit of grey peperino? ”

“ We form part of the great, universal Church, spread over the whole earth, we partake of its being, we are alive with its life. Remember that the smallest joint of a child’s finger united to its body, has more life, more vital power and action in it, than the right arm of a hero, which lies on the field, severed from his frame, after performing prodigies of prowess and of might. ”

“ There can be no doubt, therefore, that there is a manifest change in the desires for a better architecture, and those desires are gradually yet quickly giving themselves expression in action. We cannot walk the streets of London, especially those parts which are naturally the scenes of greatest activity, without being struck by the greater elevation, mass, and even elegance, which characterise not merely new buildings, but those which replace older and ruder edifices, known by a name which at once is antithetic to all ideas of beauty—warehouses. ”

“ And so this little congregation partakes of the whole life of the Church catholic, the mighty body of which is spread over the entire globe: a life not shared by any, however humanly strong or earthly powerful, that is cut off from its communion.
Designate us by what name you please; we find in the title the expression of this prerogative. Call us “Catholics”, as we call ourselves; and we see in this the assurance that we cannot fail. The word tells us that we belong to the “universal” Church, to which alone promise of perpetuity was made. ”

“ There is certainly a character of brute force in the disposition to knock down every thing that stands in your way; while there is a graceful ingenuity, and a power of genius, manifested in attaining your aim without violating respected feelings, A man of taste, while he traces a path through his ancestral woods, avoids felling some trees, whether distinguished for their beauty or hallowed by some family reminiscence.
Now the lowest scale on which this want of reverence is shown, is in the total disregard for our Art itself. I fear our people are not as yet well educated respecting it. ”

“ In fact, considering architecture as a fine art, as the solid record of the power, genius, and thought of a people, we may say that when a nation or a race has reached the height of its civilization, according to its own self-created type, its indigenous, home-bred, time-matured culture, and then by its buildings gives expression to its principles and its feelings, with all the impressiveness which it commands, what it produces cannot fail to be beautiful in connection with these manifestations. ”

“ It is then no idle boast in us to claim this prerogative of perpetuity of Christ’s abiding with us. Most affectionately do we call upon all to come and listen, and know us if as yet they do not.
And may God, in His infinite mercy give all such a docile heart, and spirit free from prejudice and preconceit, that they may learn, with simplicity, what our holy and dear Mother the Church really teaches; and still more let us pray Him to grant them the uprightness and courage, to obey the voice of truth and conscience, whenever they shall hear it speak in our favour. ”

“ Yet this mass of buildings, to have erected which might seem beyond the resources, pecuniary and mechanical, of Paris or London, stands upon a desert plain; for the modern city, as if awe-struck by those giants below, has shrunk under the shelter of the ancient citadel. ”

“ Even if Science must emerge from its Cyclopean forges and its potent laboratories in the shape of a gigantic chimney, why should not Art fly up to it, and bestow on it elegance of proportions and some richness of details?
And so I close my Address to you, by expressing a sincere conviction that the prospects of Architecture are most promising, but that they will greatly increase in proportion as we can promote among all classes reverence for the sacred, and taste for the beautiful. ”

“ Thus may all blend in one holy community – the rich and the poor, the learned convert and the simple old catholic, the native flock and the foreign priest, showing that the Church is one in all times and all ages-and therefore perpetual: lasting till the end of time on earth, through all eternity in heaven. ”

“ Yet Livy tells us that the Roman king gave splendid games to his subjects, with the rich spoils which he carried home from one of these cities. Does time grind down solid stone, and scatter it, as dust, over the face of the earth; or does this parent of the original materials of construction gradually reabsorb them into its maternal bosom, when deprived of shape and place? Certain it is, that here and elsewhere the work of destruction may be so complete, that Nature reasserts her laws and rights, and gradually, but surely, resumes her sway over the usurpations of man. ”

“ The dedication is perpetual; itself is a symbol of the perpetuity of that religion which it represents.
But it was this altar which formed the object of our special care and devotion; on it the ceremonial of our consecrating rites was principally concentrated. For it, in fact, was this church built, for it consecrated. If there had not been an altar fixed and immoveable, a symbol of the perpetuity of our doctrine, I could not have consecrated the church at all. It is no communion table, no shifting expedient for an occasional rite ”

“ Have we any pretensions to an architectural system which all of us recognise as belonging to our age and country, the child of its peculiar civilization, the offspring of our climate and soil, and of the special tastes inspired by our love of nature? Or have we forms and models that have sprung from our institutions, our own domestic and insular predilections? ”

“ In fact, it is this communion with the great Catholic Church, and its centre, which reserves to you, in this little church, perpetuity of faith. It is by it that I feel confident that no pastor appointed by me, to minister and preach here, will differ in the smallest title of faith or practice from his predecessor. Though a foreigner, like your present one, I can have no fear that he will teach any doctrine, practise any ritual, set up any ceremonies even, which a native priest would not equally inculcate or observe ”

“ In fact, looking at our great public buildings of the day, will not a future age keep its judgment equally balanced on the question, whether we had decided between the classical style of the Treasury, or the mediaeval of the national palace, as best recording our tastes and feeling?
If this be so, must we not say, that looking at the past which has given us rules, and at the present which gives us data, our conclusion for the future of Architecture is not favourable, so far as public building is concerned? ”

“ And though the magnificent scene described by the Apostle is more truly and more beautifully represented in some great cathedral, yet even here around the altar are seated the priests, that is the Elders of the Church, singing to God, and praying with sacerdotal power, between the porch and the altar. And here is incense offered on the altar, by the minister who brings into the sanctuary, and lays upon that altar, the oblation of prayer offered by the faithful.
No other religion dares to cope thus with the celestial, to believe what is there seen, to repeat what is there acted. ”

“ Not a wall, however solidly built, has been left standing. And along that line of colossal monuments which is threaded by the Nile, temples, pyramids, and Memnoniums, with their carvings, and even their paintings, fresh without and within them, is there one single private building, from a cottage to a princely mansion, remaining; though, no doubt, hundreds and thousands of dwellings must have been built and rebuilt, to furnish workmen for these sumptuous edifices and princes to command their erection? ”

“ If a new architecture thus arises, and takes its place among the arts of ages, it will soon have its Leone Albertis, its Palladios, its Vignolas; who will give its rules, and true proportions, and show it perhaps to be rhythmical and harmonic, as are the depressed tympanums of the old Doric, and the high-peaked fronts of our ancient cathedrals. ”

“ To them, and not to the bulk of His followers was committed the duty of converting the world, and establishing the Church: and consequently to them alone is given the assurance of success in its discharge. Nor could He have been more explicit in the expressions which He selects, to intimate the perpetuity of that assurance.
When a charter is given to a body, a corporation to a borough, a constitution to a kingdom, by an authority capable of bestowing them, when especially it is once for all stated to be granted in perpetuity, it is not necessary to repeat from age to age the original grant. ”

“ There is not a more melancholy exemplification of decayed grandeur than a London street which has once been "respectable," and keeps up, in its desolation, the same unvarying forms as some neighbouring thoroughfare, at whose doors the carriage still lingers. ”

“ In, and from, that moment the promise and assurance of Christ took effect, and attached itself to that body which then undertook and executed His commission. The characters of universality, or catholicity, and perpetuity thus became united, perennially and indissolubly combined. Where is the one gift, there is the other. When therefore you call us Catholics, you virtually admit our claim to be the perpetual and unfailing Church of Christ. ”