tion, and argued that a lie was always a lie, and always wicked ; that it was not lawful to tell a falsehood for any purpose what- ever. " Interest quidem plurimum," he says, " qua causa, quo fine, qua intentione quid fiat : sed ea quae constat esse peccata, nullo bonae causae obtentu, nullo quasi bono fine, nulla velut
bona intentione facienda sunt Cum yero jam opera ipsa
peccata sunt ; sicut furta, stupra, blasphemise, vel caetera talia ; quis est qui dicat causis bonis esse facienda, ut vel peccata non sint, vel quod est absurdius, justa peccata sint? Quis est qui dicat: ut habeamus quod demus pauperibus, faciamus furta divitibus; aut, testimonia falsa vendamus, maxime si non inde innocentes laeduntur, sed nocentes potius damnaturis judicibus eruuntur?"1 He specially condemns all "pious frauds," t. e., frauds committed in pretended service of religion.
Notwithstanding the authority of Augustine, the doctrine that it was right to use fraud in efforts to promote the interests of the Church, was openly avowed by some of his contemporaries and many of his immediate successors, and during the Middle Ages was the practical rule of the Romish Church, as it is at the present day. Among the early advocates of this lax principle of morals is found the name even of Jerome. In his epistle to Pammachius, he says, that in teaching, a man is bound to be honest, but in dealing with an adversary, he may do what he pleases ; it is right " nunc haec nunc ilia proponere. Argumen- tari ut libet, aliud loqui, aliud agere, panem, ut dicitur, osten- dere, lapidem tenere." 2 The principle that the intention sancti- fies the deed, is clearly asserted by John Cassian, a disciple of Chrysostom. Falsehood, he says, is like poison : taken moderately and in illness, it may be salutary ; but if taken inopportunely, it is fatal. " Non enim Deus verborum tantum actuumque nos- trorum discussor et judex, sed etiam propositi ac destinationis
inspector est Hie tamen intimam cordis inspiciens pieta-
tem, non verborum sonum, sed votum dijudicat voluntatis, quia finis, operis et affectus considerandus est perpetrantis." 8
i Contra Mendacium ad Consentium, 18; Works, edit. Benedictines, Paris, 1837, vol. vi. pp. 767, d, 768, a, b.
2 Epistola, xlviii. [30 seu 50] 13, seu Liber Apologeticus ad Pammachium ; Works, edit. Migne, Paris, 1845, vol. i. p. 502.
* Collationes, xvii. 17; Magna Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, t. v. par. ii. Cologne, 1618, p. 189, f, g.
vol. ni. 29
450 PART IE. Ch. XIX. — THE LAW.
Forgeries.
The principle having been once admitted that it is right to deceive in order to accomplish a good object, there was no limit set in practice to its application. Hence, —
1. Even from the earliest times genuine works of the apostolic fathers were corrupted by interpolations ; and works were issued bearing the names of authors who were dead long before the works were written. Besides the apocryphal books which are now admitted to be spurious, the Letters of Ignatius, a portion of which are generally received as authentic, were so corrupted as to be the source of an extended and permanent evil influence. Of these letters there are, as is well known, three recensions, the larger containing fifteen epistles, the shorter, and the Syrian, founded on a Syriac translation. The larger collection is given up by scholars as spurious; as to the others, many who admit their authenticity, insist that they are more or less corrupted by interpolation.1
The so-called " Apostolical Constitutions " are a collection of rules or canons derived partly from the New Testament, partly from the decisions of early provincial councils, and partly from tradition ; all, however, imposed on the Church as of apostolical authority. As the number of councils increased there was a necessity for renewed collections of their decisions. These col- lections included "decretals" issued by the Bishop of Rome; both classes being included under the name of " canons," these collections were gradually consolidated into the Canon Law. It was a natural and easy method of imposing on the Church to insert spurious decretals in the collections from time to time, and to found on these forgeries exorbitant pretensions to priestly dig- nity and power. The most notorious of these impositions is what is known as the Decretals of Isidore, Bishop of Seville, the most distinguished writer of the seventh century. He died A. D. 636. The collection which went under his name did not make its appearance until the ninth century. It contains many genuine decretals and canons, but also many that are manifest forgeries. The author of the collection and of the spurious documents it
1 A brief account of this much debated question is given by Uhlhorn in Herzog's ReaU Encyklopadie, art. "Ignatius."
Neander says of these assumed letters of Ignatius, "Even the briefer revision, which is the one most entitled to confidence, has been very much interpolated A hierarch- ical purpose is not to be mistaken." General History of the Christian Religion and Church, by Dr. Augustus Neander. Translated by Joseph Torrey, Professor in the University of Vermont, 2d edit. Boston, 1849, vol. i. p. 661.