And again, after relating the dispersion of the builders of the Tower of Babel, he draws this beautiful comparison:
“The nations of the world suffered a great punishment upon their pride in the confusion of their speech, and in their separation one from another. Jesus Christ has in part removed this punishment; for he has again made all the nations of the earth one religious family in his church, under the supreme government of the successor of St. Peter, and as partakers of one and the same sacrifice at the altar.”
In allusion to the well-known story of the sale of Joseph to the Egyptians by his brethren, he says:
“Joseph, hated by his brethren on account of his love of virtue and innocence, and sold by them for a slave into the land of Egypt, is a striking figure of Jesus Christ hated by his own people on account of his love of justice and sanctity, and delivered up by them bound into the hands of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.”
Father Formby’s diction and treatment of his subject are varied and suited to the epoch which he describes. In the early pages of his book, he adopts the figurative orientalisms of the Hebrew writers, but further on he sobers down to the less florid and more matter-of-fact style of modern times. His descriptions of the crusades and the origin and growth of the religious orders are exceedingly
graphic and correct, though of course merely outlines of what would fill books enough to make up an ordinary library if written in detail, and his summing up of the so-called reformation is deserving of particular notice.
“There is something worthy of being carefully observed as regards the Protestantism which began in the sixteenth century to cause whole nations and peoples to renounce the faith and discipline of the Catholic Church. But as other great heresies, such as that of Arius, have had a similar ruinous effect in causing a great falling off from faith without the end of the world following in their wake, Protestantism cannot simply for this reason by itself be understood to be the sign to which St. Paul refers. What is remarkable, however, in Protestantism is, that though Dr. Martin Luther and the others who were leaders at the time formed sects, their the disciples of which called themselves by the names of masters—as Lutherans from Luther, Calvinists from Calvin—Protestantism has long ago ceased to be the name of any particular doctrine. Lutherans, Calvinists, Anabaptists, Socinians, and all the different sects which arose at this time, as regards what is meant by Protestantism, are just as good Protestants the one as the other. They may, and do, dispute with each other about what is to be held to be true as Christian doctrine, but as regards Protestantism they are all quite agreed. How come, then, those who are completely at war with each other about Christian doctrine to agree completely about ‘Protestantism’? The reason is, that Protestantism proper has but one solitary doctrine and one solitary precept, viz., ‘Depart from the Roman Church.’ All who satisfy this one precept entitle themselves to the name of ‘Protestant.’ It is true that, up to the present time, those who have protested against the Roman Church have generally had the credit of deserving to be, in some way or other, known as Christians; but this is rapidly ceasing to be the case. ‘Protestantism’ has now come to be the name of the confederacy of almost all without exception whose cry is, ‘Depart from the Roman Church,’ so that there would seem to be no rashness in recognizing it as the departure (discessio) which St. Paul points
to as the sign indicating the world to be drawing to a close.”
In addition to the merits and attractions of this valuable contribution to contemporaneous Catholic literature, we observe that most of the leading incidents recorded in sacred history are illustrated by wood-cuts very handsomely designed and executed, so that the eye as well as the understanding is made familiar with the historical places, incidents, and characters sought to be portrayed, and the frontispiece is a large and excellently clear engraving of Jerusalem. The growth of Catholic literature in England, where even in the recollection of many of us Catholicity, confined to the humble minority, was banned and ostracized by author and reader alike, is one of the most healthful signs of the times, and it will be a great dereliction of duty on our part here in America if we do not profit by the labors of our co-religionists abroad, hoping some day to reciprocate the favor.
[99] The Pictorial Bible and Church History Stories, Abridged. By the Rev. Henry Formby. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1871. 8vo, pp. 320.