allegiance to the fashionable creeds of the schools of science; in consequence whereof some denominations have been compelled to join hands so closely with infidelity that their pretensions to Christianity appear as ridiculous as they are fictitious. And others, again, have, on reflection, decided to return to the true Church of God. The ranks of all non-Catholic "churches" have been thinning out in a twofold direction, and this at a ratio so rapidly increasing that absolute dismemberment appears inevitable at no far-distant day. Any one who is doubtful on this point should peruse Rome's Recruits, and he will hardly fail to coincide with the gloomy predictions which have been uttered quite recently in the pages of the Nineteenth Century by Mr. Gladstone in regard to the future of what he calls "the Anglican Paddock." To the self-same "Anglican Paddock," it must not be forgotten, credit must be given for being, indeed, the most conservative and the most powerfully supported of all Protestant denominations.

Society has, therefore, been benefited by the intellectual movement of our day in this respect, that its attention has been directed anew towards the Catholic religion. The religion that so long has been despised begins now to be examined; the religion which offers love, even where hatred and indifference are the only response to love, begins to be recognized, and to be respected and reverenced. The prejudice against Rome dies gradually out, not because it is now less carefully nurtured, but because hate towards Rome is found after all to be the only point of agreement in a camp where all else is disagreement. It would not be just, however, to overlook the fact that other reasons also have been actively at work in bringing about a more favorable disposition towards the Catholic Church. It has not passed unobserved that, with affectionate solicitude, she follows man step by step from the cradle to the grave, and that her efforts for securing the spiritual welfare of her children stand not alone, but are, on the contrary, coupled with efforts not less unceasing nor less energetic for ameliorating their earthly condition and procuring for them such share of terrestrial happiness as may properly be attainable. And with this fervent devotion of the Church to all her children, whether obedient or unruly, it is seen that there goes hand-in-hand a cheerful and, joyous submission, and an absolute freedom from doubt on the part of those who acknowledge her authority. Submission to her is recognized as the submission of love, and the faith which she imparts is recognized as the faith of certainty. "Whence this submission of love?" and "Whence that faith of certainty?" are questions which naturally suggest themselves, and these questions are being urged now in many quarters with wonderful insistence. And here we have struck the chord that has been set vibrating and is re-echoed by so many honest

minds; it is the willingness on their part to learn from the Church herself what answer she can give; what answer, in fact, she does give to these questions.

Manifestly, however, a readiness for receiving information about the Catholic faith does not mean a close study of the dogmatic teachings of the Church as propounded in heavy theological works. It means a desire to learn in a general way what her chief tenets are and whereon they rest. To oral teaching many still close their ears, but they refuse no longer to read about that strange institution whose strength increases in proportion to the number and power of her enemies; about that strange religion which alone has withstood the dissolving test of time, and which they admit, tacitly, it may be, and only in the innermost depths of their heart, but which, nevertheless, they do admit, to be the one and the sole lever by means of which man's soul can be lifted up, even to the embrace of divinity itself, and by which alone we can become "true children of God."

This is and has been the want of the intellectual world, and to meet this want the Faith of Our Fathers was written. If its author had not taken a clear comprehensive view of the religious issue of to-day, the book could hardly have failed to fall short in some respects at least. But this is not the case. The least that can be said of the Archbishop's work is, that he not only wrote what was needed, but exactly in the way in which it was needed.

There is no trace in it of the acrimonious spirit, so frequently encountered in works of this character. In a popular, yet dignified way the main doctrines of the Catholic religion are laid down so plainly and so clearly as to make misapprehension impossible. The proper distinction between a non-theological book and a professedly controversial treatise is carefully observed. The precision and minutiæ of the latter are not required, and would be altogether out of place in a book intended for all classes of readers; yet, whenever either the nature of a doctrine or its history is concerned, forcible logic is invariably combined with fulness of argument and great clearness. The author indulges in no futile efforts to divest the mysteries of faith of their character as mysteries. Of mysteries we know and can know nothing as regards the intimate relation between subject and predicate; we can and do merely affirm their coexistence by an act of faith. Still, though all mysteries are destined to remain mysteries as long as our reason is incased in a material prison, that is, during the term of our terrestrial existence, there is a certain justness and a certain reasonableness attached to these mysteries which make them comprehensible to the human mind, and from which, when properly presented, we cannot withhold our assent. Now, to this side of the Catholic religion the

author of the Faith of Our Fathers calls particular attention. The entire conformity of the doctrines of the Church with the wants of human nature has been treated in a singularly felicitous manner, and it certainly is an aspect of true religion which can never be too clearly brought to view. The most rigid dogmatism blends harmoniously in the Catholic faith with a proper appreciation of the fact that the individual has, besides reason and will, a heart also, to the throbbings of which nature demands imperatively a response. Just here pseudo-Christianity shows its greatest weakness, the Church of Rome a divine parentage; and the gospel of hatred always shrinks away when brought into contrast with the gospel of love.

Nor is this all. The cordial welcome which Catholics and nonCatholics alike extended to the Faith of Our Fathers stands on other grounds also. The book in itself, taken simply as a literary production, has merits which no just critic can pass over in silence. It is distinguished by a happy elegance of diction. The language flows easily throughout, delights, yet never fatigues the reader; it enlists his interest, and does not weary; and, where occasions arise, passages of exquisite eloquence enliven the calmer tone of the narrative form. In a condensed form it brings before the reader the main doctrines of the Catholic religion, yet truth is not sacrificed to condensation. Of works of this kind the instances are rare where the critic can say as of this: "Correct in matter, concise in expression, pleasing in style, and elegant in language."

From the wide circulation which Archbishop Gibbons's book has obtained, results the uneasiness it has created in the ranks of Protestantism. The Protestant camp, very naturally, could regard it only as a dangerous enemy. And when edition followed edition, the uneasiness increased, and not unreasonably; for the apprehension that it would gain an influence proportionate to its circulation was well founded. An attempt, therefore, to check this influence by a counter-publication is a perfectly comprehensible act of selfdefence and self-preservation, on the part of the Episcopal Church. Nor could anything have better served that purpose than a wellwritten refutation. Hence, it is easy to understand why the Reverend Dr. Edward J. Stearns was commissioned to write the Faith of Our Forefathers; why he was relieved during the time spent on its compilation from the onerous duties of the Episcopalian ministry; and why every aid and assistance that would further the object in view was freely given him. The difficulty of the task must not be underrated. To have to refute what, ipso facto, cannot be refuted may well overtax even a professional controversialist's goodhumor. Moreover, it was not enough to publish simply a reply to the Faith of Our Fathers; it was necessary that the reply should

be so crushing as to annihilate utterly both book and author. If we consider, moreover, that Dr. Stearns devoted upwards of a year to finish a book of which fully one-half is a reprint of passages from the Archbishop's volume; if we consider the vast, though quite unnecessary, amount of reading which he undertook; if we consider, further, that Dr. Stearns is by his own admission familiar with controversy, a professional author, well versed in the Fathers and at home in ecclesiastical history; if, I say, we consider all this expenditure of time, and learning, and ability, and turn from this consideration to what the Faith of Our Forefathers really is as an answer to the Faith of Our Fathers, then with striking force Horace's famous line recurs to mind:

"Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus."

It is, after all, not incomprehensible why the pretended refutation proves to be only an unsuccessful attempt to impugn the fair character of the author of the Faith of Our Fathers. But unfortunately what may often serve as a satisfactory explanation of conduct, does not always serve as an exoneration or excuse.

As a professional author the learned doctor ought to have known that the age is past when a personal onslaught in vehement language meets with the approval of society. Culture and civilization have advanced beyond the stage where such productions please the reading public. The Faith of Our Forefathers savors strongly of the times when blind fury made the proclaimers of the gospel of hate regardless even of the decency of their own age. In our days, happily, such violent outbursts appear only sporadically as the remnants of an obsolete fanaticism. An earnest craving after truth forms a clearly discernible feature of all contemporary writing on the religious question, and distinguishes even the school of "advanced thought." It is missing entirely in Dr. Stearns's book, for he aims not so much at enlightening the world in regard to truth as at impressing it with the idea that his adversary is deficient in even those virtues which are most essential in the daily intercourse of life between man and man. Instead of being bent upon throwing what light he can on doctrines where the Episcopal denomination differs from the Catholic Church, he prefers to indulge with the utmost recklessness in malevolent misrepresentation. As has been already remarked, a most praiseworthy characteristic of modern literature consists in the unimpassioned temper which has obtained, and which is now as willingly conceded to discussions on the question of religion as to scientific controversy. Of this temper no trace can be discovered in the Faith of Our Forefathers. In its literary aspect alone, as regards style and language, the production is far below the standard of excellence of our times. An ill-selected

vocabulary does not surprise us in a demagogue haranguing, perhaps, a laborers' mass-meeting; but it justly surprises us in an author before whose name we find the prefix "Reverend." That prefix, it seems to us, ought to be a sufficient assurance of the presence of culture and refinement, and of freedom from grossly abusive language and vulgar expressions. It is a well-known truism, that whatever we may have to say, much, very much, depends upon the manner in which we say it. The observance of this wise precept has been entirely forgotten by Dr. Stearns. On the contrary, he heaps the most gratuitous slanders on all that is Catholic, and particularly on the exponent of the Catholic Church with whom he is dealing. Some specimens of the utter recklessness with which he applies himself to this undertaking will be furnished before we close our remarks. The extent of his ignorance will prove no less. astonishing than the fact that in every instance he dug a pit for himself from the depth of which no power can rescue him. Before proceeding, however, to take up any of Dr. Stearns's charges and assertions, it is proper to state what the author of the Faith of Our Fathers himself claims for his book.

In the preface he says that he wishes to "present in a plain and practical form the principal tenets of the Catholic Church."

"The book was compiled during the uncertain hours which he could spare from the more active duties of the ministry;" and, finally, he avows that, "though he has sought to be exact in all his statements an occasional inaccuracy may have inadvertently crept in." From these statements several conclusions are quite obvious. In the first place, the work does not pretend to contain all, but only the principal tenets of the Catholic faith; it does not, therefore, claim to comprise within its limited compass every doctrine; and, hence, either an entire absence or but a brief allusion to some dogmas ceases on that ground to be chargeable against the author. Then, from the mode of its compilation it is evident that the author neither harbored the intention, nor had sufficient time at his disposal to furnish to the reader, in every instance, the exact page and volume where references or quotations were to be found. Nor is this at all a requisite in a book destined to reach the many, and not destined for the very few who, perhaps, might take the trouble and the labor of verifying every quotation. If, therefore, no other reference is given for a quotation than simply "Thomas a Kempis," no charge of inaccuracy can in fairness be preferred on that account. Lastly, if in a manuscript not carefully revised, a comma instead of a colon appears, it is not admissible to fasten on that, which very likely might be a printer's mistake, as proof of wilful and inexcusable inaccuracy or vagueness or falsification. As a matter of fact every writer knows that few manuscripts leave