r The Catholic Democracy of America,64 - Digital Repository Services

The Catholic Democracy of America,
Church will have to deal, not with potentates, but with peoples,
is the keynote of his own public policy.
We have before us two works from the pen of the Cardinal-
Archbishop of Baltimore. The brief quotations we have
already made from " Faith of Our Fathers " are typical of the
spirit of liberality which characterizes all the acts and utterances
of this eminent Churchman. The book is an exposition
of Catholic doctrine, but the generous and even affectionate
tone assumed towards Christians outside the Church is very
remarkable in a dogmatic treatise. The only serious flaw we
have found in the book is one which is probably the result of
its extraordinary popularity, and has been overlooked in the
rapidity with which new editions have been issued. The copy
before us, published in 1887, is of the 155th thousand, and the
200th thousand has, we believe, been called for. The section
to which we take exception is " On the Relative Morality of
Catholic and Protestant Countries," and was evidently written
in reply to some intemperate Protestant controversialist whose
arguments do not deserve the perpetuation which the Cardinal
gives to them. We will only say that, even if criminal
statistics of 1864 had any pertinence to-day, Cardinal Gibbons
is the last prelate in Christendom to hold up to his people the
condition of France under the Second Empire' as a favorable
example in morals.
In this persuasive manual, which is described as " a plain
exposition and vindication of the Church founded by our
Lord Jesus Christ," there is no mention of the cognate subjects
of relics and modern miracles, though the book is
exhaustive in other respects. The silence is significant. We
know not what is the personal belief of the Archbishop of Baltimore
in this respect, but we do know that he is alive to the
fact that what might be an aid to faith of the women of one
country, or of the peasantry of another, might prove to be a
stumbling-block to the practical people of America with their
rational -tendency of mind. Cardinal Gibbons is a not
unworthy follower of the opportunist apostle who wrote to
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