The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-10-20

the Church vould present the appear
ance of seething caldron of heresies
and schisms, in which the father of lies
and the God of all truth and holiness
would be allied in the most revolving and
accursed mockery of union and charity
This was the teaching OF Catholics in
every age. He pointed to the earliest
!; !, ,;aa,ctors ot the English Church to prove
& ioclndin. -, 10 ran.es~able Bede, and he
besought Anglican friends, 'Wao = ooasteo
of the continuity Of the doctrine OF ta-sss
old Church of England, to seriously con-
slider the teachings of their Anglo Saxon
forefathers on the vital necessity of union
with Rome. AS to the prospects OF re-
union, there could be only two bases SO
far as doctrine and authority we're con-
oerned-frst, compromise that was fed
Grafton and mutual recognition; secondly,
submission that was individual or cor
porate absorption. The first was incon-
sistent with the divine constitution Of
the Church, and there remained only the
second.
The hope of the gradual submission of
an ever increasing number of Anglicans
rested on the following evident facte:
First, the growing realization of the Cath
olic, and, therefore, Of the non material
character Of the Chu,ch of Christ, and
the increasing distrust Of national limita-
tion in the idea of religion. Secondly,
the growing appreciation OF the Catholic
doctrine, and OF devont practices, and Of
sensible diminution of the difficulties
and preiudices that had heretofore OBJ.
scured them. Let them contrast the
churches of the establis hment of sixty or
seventy years ago. closed from weeks
end. to weeks end-no daily service, no
festivals or sa1pts'' days, except the COM
munion service, used three or four times
a year, everything dry, cold and formal
with the present churches, which are
often distinguishable only wish extreme
difficulty from those belonging to the
Church Of Rome. The study Of the patris-
tic, of the theological, of the ascetical,
devotional, liturgical, and rubrlcal writ
ers Of the Catholic Church had brought
about change in the minds, feelings
and tastes of an ever-increasing section
of the Anglican Church, which had been
simply revolution.
The doctrines OF the Catholic Church,
which hsd been rejected and condemned
as blasphemons, superstitious, and fond
inventions, had beer re-examined and
taken back one by one until the Thirty
nine Articles had been banished and
buried as rule of faith. The real pres
ence of mass offered for the living and
the dead, sometimes even in Latin, not
infrequent reservation of the sacrament,
regular auricular confession, extreme
JUNCTION, purgatory, prayers for the dead,
devotions to Our Lady, to her immacu-
late conception, the use of her rosary and
the invocations of saints were doctrines
taught and accepted with growing de-
sire and relish for them in the Church Of
England. A celibate clergy, the institu.
tion of monks and nuns under vows, re
treats for the clergy, missions for the
people, fasting and other penitential ex-
ercises, candles. lamps, crucifxes, images
of the Blessed Virgin and the saints held
in honor. stations OF the cross, cassocks,
cottas, Roman collars, birettas, copes,
dalmatics vestments, mitres, croziers,
the adoption of an ornate Catholic ritual,
and now recently an elaborate display of
the whole ceremonial of the Catholic
pontlfcate-a this spoke of change
and movement toward the Church that
would have appeared absolutely incred
ible at the beginning OF the century, and
what was still more remarkable was that
the movement had been stronger than
the rankest Professionalism, stronger than
the Bishops, stronger than the lawyers
and the legislature. A spssmodic pro
test, useless persecution, Delphic
iudgment-andt the movement continued
and spread. lodging itself in Anglican
homes and converts, in schools and
churches and even cathedrals, until it
was now rapidly covering the whole
country Had there ever besn seen q
more marvellous change, and this within
q century? He knew it had been called
popery or the mass in masquerade,
and not without reason. ST. jerome
spoke Of the devil as the simia Del, the
ape of God, SO clever was be in counter
feiting the works and ordinances of God
under the appearance of an angel of light.
He deceived many, especially those who
we're willing to be deceived. It might
be SO still, but for his part he preferred
to hope that we were witnessing, at least
in very large measure, an instance of
the marvellous ways Of divine grace, and
that if Satan were aping God he was
outwittinR himself. st. Augustine's words
to the Donatists, who possessed un.
doubted sacerdotal orders and 400 truly
consecrated bishops, were worth remem-
5bering by those who imagined that they
now possessed all that they could desire
or that the Church OF Rome could offer
them. All the Catholics asked was that
those who sought reunion should turn
the eyes Of their minds TO the city seated
on the mountain, that they should break
down the walls Of prejudice around them,