Untitled - Rore Sanctifica

The Re-union of Christendom. 39
nof between Catholicism and Protestantism,
but between Catholic doctrine and discipline
and some strange negative theology ;
a mixture,
perhaps, of a?stheticism and transcendentalism,
within the limits of which disciples of other
teachers besides JESUS may find matter for a
common creed. There is a spirit of discontent and
disbelief abroad which threatens to shake the
foundations of Christianity. It sweeps away with
inexorable hand those feeble oppositions which
a would-be dogmatic Protestantism attempts to
offer. It does not openly deride the Faith or
Person of JESUS. It professes to respect CHRIST
as a great performer. It does not as yet coerce
or persecute the disciples of the Cross ; it has
learned to use far more deadly weapons.
For
such it has the smile of compassion, the delicate
pleasantry, the half-concealed irony,
the kind
concession to a less-informed or more impression
able mind ; the apparent willingness to abide
by the evidence adduced ;
a fair appearance of
honesty of purpose ; and the ready phrase, that
" Truth
is great and will prevail." Already elo
quent voices have gone forth denouncing Chris
tianity as cruel and narrow-minded and unjust
towards GOD and nature. Already profound
thinkers and earnest hearts disavow their belief
in the miracles of the Gospel, and rank the Man
of Nazareth with Socrates and Plato, and honour
Him only as the moralist and philanthropist.