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The Catholic Democracy of America, 72
the Roman colonists on the Gulf of Corinth, " Omnia mihi
licent, sed non omnia expediunt."
The other volume is one of the most striking books ever
written by a high dignitary of the Church of Rome. " Our
Christian Heritage," which is dedicated to the memory of
John Carroll, on the hundredth anniversary of the foundation
of the hierarchy, is not a polemical work:
" It does not aim at vindicating the claims of the Catholic Church as
superior to those of the separated branches of Christianity. ... It has
nothing to say against any Christian denomination that still retains faith
in at least the divine mission of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, I am glad
to acknowledge that most of the topics discussed have often found, and still
find, able and zealous advocates in Protestant writers, and, far from despising
or rejecting their support, I would gladly hold out to them the right
hand of fellowship so long as they unite with us in striking the common
foe."
The little volume which opens with these words of charity
is an apology for what in England is sometimes called " evangelical
Christianity." From cover to cover it does not contain
six pages which would not be endorsed by any Protestant
divine, from the right reverend bench in the House of Lords
to the pastors of the Reformed Church in France; indeed, the
passage in the book to which a French Protestant would take
most exception is one where the Cardinal, who was in Paris
when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, on his way home we
believe from the Vatican Council, favorably compares the
behavior of the German Lutheran troops with that of the
nominally Catholic French army :
" The German Emperor on the contrary, was accustomed to invoke the
aid of Heaven on the eve of an engagement, and to thank God for victories
won. On the evening before the battle of Sedan the chant that filled the
air from every German camp was not the song of ribaldry, but the glorious
hymn, ' Nun danket alle Gott.'"
We have quoted these passages not because they are the
most admirable in the volume, or the most valuable, but as
showing that the sentiment cherished for his fellow Christians