The San Francisco call., 1896-01-16

civil and church governments, on the nature
/ OF law. on the duties of the subject, yet we
never nnd one of these books quoted by our
adversaries.
| DR.. Wendte has never looked into the folios
OF Suarez, or Lugo, or Muriana, or Bellarmlne.
lie has never burned the midnight oil over
SupIte dlstlnetlons OF Aquiuas or Peter Lom-
bard. He has not even skinned the
| modern handbooks of Cavagnis, or Lapparell,
~ or sanve, or Icard, and yet he - DIS! dls,
! courses on the doctrines OF the Catholic
churen: he might have written and written
learneqly on the Bones, of Japan and the
Grand Lama OF Thibet and DO one woIld have
crltclZed him; but what in the name OF
common sense tempted him to put pen to
paper on the doctrines of the church OF Rome?
Dr Wendte's letter is a fair sample OF the
controversial methods of our opponents. The
PROOF OF MS assertion is formed by croWo OF
quotations levied from everywhere and no
Wnere. Like Falstaffs ragged regiment they
indrcn down the column. The van Is leo by
the code OF Gratian to give legal solemnity to
tne occasion. In the procession Pope and
cardinal Jostle with preacher and 1nfidel
Inc ghost or Janus marches cheek by lowl
with Judge Mcguire, Bellarmine straggles
along arm in arm with Boniface VIII, Doel-
inger ana Manning have forgotten their dlf-
ferences IN their zeal to hurry forward and The
rear is brought up by the TWO distinguished
tneologlans, DR.. Nendtes cook and John 5.
II ittel.
When saw this array of distinguished per-
Sonages must admit that my heart failed me.
L have been trained in school whose first
motto and whose last was Verify your refer
CtiSCH' LII AldlleFS OF 1t nus DSCil
drummed into me "Never take anything ON
falth. Accordingly | was sad at heart when |
saw TINS cloud OF witnesses lowering over my
head. Each had to be identified and examined
ana ldenthcatlon and examination are no
easy task. reloiced, however, when read
that "the documents may be found in fuu in
Mayor Sutro's splendid library"
But my JOY was of short duration. l found
1t as hard 10 get into Mayor Sutro's library as
into the kingdom of heaven. Life is too short
10 spend 1t in unraveling red tape and lodging
"a
ll"es that clergymen confirmed book
thieves. suppose he thought it would not be
sale TO let one loose among the books unless
under the eagle and expert eyes OF Mr. George
/. Gaden and Mr.. j. Taylor Rodgers. ANYHOW.
at the only time could spare l was informed
that could not be admitted without seeing
Mr. Sutro, so turned my sorrowful steps to-
"aro more hospltable if less learned doors.
THE VALUE OF CERTAIN SCHOLARS.
was especially anxious to prove the refer
ences when l saw that Mr. Wendte's chief re-
lance was Mr.. John S. Hittell. l have had
some experience with this gentleman's third
hand information, and when found the doc
tor calling him a Learned scholar" my sus-
piclons were aroused The fact OF the matter
Is that OF all the pretenders TO scholarship
and their name is legion-Mr. John H. Hittell S
claims rest on the slenderest foundation. OF
him the Boston Herald wrote:
The author has been grossly miSled in re-
gard TO Catholic doetrine his knowledge OF
casuistry is not even rudimentary, and in rare
cases, when his accounts of isolated events are
/
of the spirit OF the time''
The Critic OF last September thus appreciates
him:
I'VE are at once confronted by the abundant
internal evidence that the author understands
no one OF the ancient languages and that his
knowledge OF the modern languages is de-
fec1ye."
without putting myself on level with these
distinguished critics / might remark that after
a careful examination of his book l wrote in
! the Monitor as follows:
"At the end OF the book Mr.. John S. Hittell
publishes list OF the works which he has con-
suited. The list shows his u;ter unacquaiut-
ance with the Catholic side OF the question
which he discusses A school history OF the
chureh, controversial pamphlet and few
miscellaneous essays are the sole witnesses
which lie allows TO testify in behalf of that in
! sutution which has made it possible that Mr..
}. ). Hfttell can speak at all. If he had in
cluded standard English dictionary among
his references he might nave written less but
! learned more. The ignorance Of a man who
can defne the ordinary as u deputy OF the
Bishop is phenomenal, even in an anti
Catholic pamphleteer." p"
Hence when | saw DR.. Wendte leaning on
the learned scholar Mr.. john s. Hittell, [
bethought me OF d broken reed Without
going into that detailed examination to which
| shall submit the quotations in another COM
munication | would give q few instances of
MI. HittelPS scholarship. Thus DR.. Wendte
writes: Thomas Aquinas, the greatest among
the doctors of the church. teaches that 'the
power OF teIa pora princes derives its StreuPth h
and efficacy solely from the spiritual power OF
the popes.' So says the Catholic church his
toriaD, DoellingeT," in his Fables o. 153."
Here the reader ould naturally imagine that
he has before him the words OF q Catholic doc
tor, vouched for by Catholic historian. As q
matter OF TACT the reference is q fraud. Doel-
linger does not refer TO Thomas Aquinas at
ALL and he makes no quotation whatsoever.
Immediately afterward DR. Wendte writes $50
| Bellarmine, another eminent Papal authority,
declares that the Roman Pontiff has supreme
| power TO dispose in the temporal affairs OF ell
Christians" Now DR.. Wendte never saw Bellar-
mine, neither has he seen Ranke, from whom
the garbled quotation has been taken. AT
least hope he has not, for Ranke states I'M
equ1yocally: "Bellarmine does not go so far as
to aScribe TO the Pope as OF divine right di-
rect secular power
A LITERARY CRIME.
1t would be useless Just now to continue
these demonstration OF bad faith. The matter
Will come up in future letters and to better
advantage. Indeed, | would conclude this
Introductory letter with these damaging dis
closures were it not that l find DR.. Wendte
erecting lofty scafolding of argument on
what cannot but designate literary crime.
| state IN the beginning OF my letter that Dr..
Wendte knew nothing about the Cathol ie
teaching concerning the relations of church
and state. He takes the stand that Catholics
| believe tnat the state is subordinate TO the
church. However, he is q man OF observation
and OF wide experience, therefore he cannot
Iall to recognize the fact that in performing
! the duties OF citizenship Catholics are not be-
! hind any class in the community
! In order to explain this discrepancy between
the imputed theory and actual practice he has
/ had recourse to the supposition that we are
logically Inconsistent. TO back up this sup
position he speaks of what he calls "Catholic
| accommodations" He believes that the
| church ''modities her demands" She waits
until she has the power, and then-loi the
! thumbscrews and the rackl To show that this
! is the nina OF the Pope he quotes Leo XIII
and his encychcal of June 20, 1888:
| Although in the extraordinarycond of
! these times the church usually acquiesces in
certain modern liberties not because she pre-
! fers them in themselves, but because she
4 Judges II expedlent to permit them, in better
4 times she would use her own liberty"
! This has an ominous sound. 1t does not re-
! qulre a very vivid fancy to conjure up the
! measures the Pope would adopt ''in better
times" Men whose youth has been fed on
| 'fox's Book of Martyrs and on lurid de-
| scriptions of ''Autos de Fe' know well what
the implied threat signifies. So Dr. Wendte
| continues:
| eve can readily imagine what this means
that If the Catholic hierarchy ever obtained
control OF our national life they would in
| accordance with their well known and freely
! Arf pTN1n a ~,