The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-08-04

and most popular. The bulk Of it's super
stitions come from its having really
plunged 80 far down into the multi
tudc and spread so wide among them. IL
this is cause OF error, Mr.. ARNOLD In
sists that it Is also cause ofattachment. We
are reminded that Catholicism has In such
sort cnvolopcd human life, that Catholics feel
themselves TO have drawn not their religion
only, but with II their art and poetry and
culture, from the Church. He shows how q
second hold was acquired upon the popular
Imagination from tho fact that the Roman
hierarchy originally stamped with the char
acter Of an orderly and bencficent authority
springing up amid anarchy, next appeared
as disclosing career where birth was dis
regarded and physical force unheeded, and
intellectual and moral worth esteemed In the
midst OF the iron fcudal age. 1t IL further
suggested by the essayist that II there Is
anything essentially alien to religion, 1t is
divisions; while If there Is anything con-
genial. it is peace and union. Hence, in his
opinion, the original attraction toward
unity in Rome, and the sovereign fascina-
ton for mems minds of that unity when
attained. Such are the specific spells for
the imagination which, according to MAT
THEW ARNOLD, Catholicism has for Cath
oics, in addition to the charm and power
which he considers common to all forms of
Christianity.
or course, no disintcrested and judlcious
observer writing from an Anglican and
Liberal point Of view, would seek to deny or
to disguise, In the case Of the Catholic
Church, the accretions and superstitions
gathered round the curative religious germ.
After referring to the temptations and dam
gers which the system OF the Roman hie-
rarchy has carried with It in the past,
Mr.. ARNOLD dwcls at length on salient
difficulty OF our time, namely the in
evitabe drift, as the individuality OF
European nations has ripened, to-
ward collision between national unity
and the unity in Rome These are him
ORANGES which he would have English
Liberals combat, not forgetting, however,
that to the mass OF Catholics they pre-
sent themselves by good SIDE and not n
bad one. Moreover, in n modern commune
~ they meet with natural counterac-
tions OF great power, such as the diffu-
sion OF education, the control of con-
| stitutional government, the vigilance
and the authority Of public opinion.
The essayist believes that the national
| sense can be relied on to assert itself
against that dependence on government
OF foreigners which the Ultramontanc
| system is accused of bringing with 1t. In
his judgment, too, religion itself, like hui
man society. follows n law Of growth, which
in a sound and progressive community may
be- trusted TO clear away accumulated SUI
perfluities.
But when what Mr.. ARNOLD describes as
| Cltramontanism, Sacordotalism. and SUI
perstition are gone, what, he asks, is left
to Catholicism beyond the germ of stimulus
and solace which 1t possesses in common
with the Protestant forms Of Christianity
| This Of course is the root Of the matter. but
MATTHEW ARNOLD holds that the Catholic
Church is left with a mighty power be-
sides. in the beauty, the richness, the
Infinite charm for the imagination OF
its age-long growth. 1t Is not in
its dogma and the confident assertion o!
dogma. that the English philosopher would
place the source OF strength and permanenco
10 the Catholic Church, but in its poetry
| Yet he does not hesitate to avow his con-
viction that from this source Of superiority
| Catholicism has before IL n great future
that II will endure while all the Protestant
sects, in which for some unassigned reason
he does not include the Church Of England
dissolve and perish