But it may still be asked: "Do not you Catholics make too much of these outward rites and forms, just as the Jews did of old; do you not consider them of more importance than the ten commandments, or at least act as if you so considered them?" To this I would answer, that a Catholic must be indeed poorly acquainted with his religion who could entertain such an idea for a moment. Such an one there may be; such, however, I do not remember ever to have met. And as to the mind of the Church, and the teaching of her doctors and theologians, there can be no doubt whatever. It is allowed on all hands that the rubrics, as we call the rules of the Church concerning rites and ceremonies, are in many cases not binding under sin at all; or, in other words, that many of them really do not have the force of law; that they are, as we say, "directive," not " preceptive." In others, however, they are undoubtedly of obligation, especially where they concern the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. But even here they are acknowledged to be of less weight than the obligations of the natural or of the Divine Law. Even the strict fulfilment of the conditions laid down by Christ for the Sacraments themselves may sometimes be jeopardized for the sake of man, for whom the Sacraments were established. In case, for example, of danger in delay, we not only dispense

with the solemnities which the Church has appointed to accompany baptism, but we even baptize with water which is certainly unfit and perhaps even inadequate to the purpose, repeating the ceremony afterward if there be time. Catholics realize fully the words of Christ (Mark ii. 27): "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."

The idea that we are such sticklers for ceremonies is absurd to one who really knows us; the danger of our neglecting them is greater than of our increasing them. Equally or more so is the idea that we rely on them mainly for the conversion of the heathen. Missionaries, when they go to pagan countries, cannot usually take with them what is required for the solemn observance of ecclesiastical functions ; and if they could they could seldom use them, on account of the danger of exciting persecution by public displays of that or any sort. The teaching of the faith by them in heathen lands is more like what you might find here in the poorest kind of Sunday-school.

But it may still be objected: "What, after all, is the use of these rites and ceremonies anyway, especially in this enlightened age?" To this the plain answer is the same as that given before, when we were talking about images and pictures. Ceremonies are, like these, a means of fixing the attention on things them

selves invisible, which are represented by them. Our thoughts are apt to stray if they have nothing to fix them but bare walls. Man, though a spirit, is not merely a spirit; he has a body and bodily senses, to which religion must appeal, and bring them to the lines on which he wishes his soul to proceed. The world, the flesh, and the devil appeal to the soul by means of the senses; why should we not turn their own weapons against them, by ceremonial, as well as by music, which Protestants themselves generally use as a lawful means to this end?

But it is not only for man's sake that we should employ these means; no, it is for God's sake as well. It is right that we should honor Him by offering Him all that is in itself good and beautiful which we have to give. The ceremonial of the Church mainly centres round His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament which reposes on our altars; it is to Him there concealed that it is rendered, like the precious ointment poured on His feet by Mary Magdalen.

He was rebuked for allowing this, you know, but it was the faithless Judas who rebuked Him, and claimed that the ointment should have been sold and the price given to the poor. Is it not, then, following in his steps, to rebuke us for wasting money on our Lord? At any rate, do not do so until you are ready to take from the furnishing and beautifying of your

or

houses what we spend on the house of God, until you can show that you, to say nothing of your superior means, devote even absolutely as much as we do to the help of the poor whom He loves.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE GOOD AND THE BAD IN THE CHURCH.

I

COME now, finally, to an objection, the

most forcible one, perhaps, that can be made against us; for it is one which really has a strong foundation in fact. It is urged against us, that if our organization be really, as it claims to be, the true Church of God, it ought to bear more plainly in the conduct of its members the marks of its Divine origin. Those who are separated from us say: "If Catholics, as a rule, led lives of notable piety and holiness; if they were plainly distinguished from others by their superior virtue; if they were evidently more just, truthful, pure, sober, and temperate than those around them; if it could be seen from their conduct that their hearts were set on things above, not on those of this world; then indeed we would be more inclined to acknowledge that they were the true followers of Him who gave to us the great example of what man ought to be. By their fruits,' He said, 'ye

shall know them'; but we do not see the fruits in the lives of most of the Catholics with whom we meet."

As I have said, I do not deny the force of this objection. That Catholics are not what they ought to be is indeed a cause of reproach; it is truly a scandal, a rock of offence, a stum bling-block to unbelievers for which they are to blame.

But it should in justice be noted that it is one which our Lord Himself, in founding His Church, foresaw and foretold. "It is impossible," He said (Luke xvii. 1), "that scandals should not come but woe to him through whom they come." The same prediction is recorded by St. Matthew (xviii. 7). And He distinctly announced that His Church should not be composed entirely of the good, but largely of the bad. He compared the kingdom of heaven (Matt. xiii. 24-30) to a man who sowed good seed in his field, with which good seed was mixed cockle or tares, sown by his enemy; at the time of the harvest the wheat from the good seed was gathered into the barn, while the cockle was burned. And again, even more plainly (same chapter, 47-48), He said that the kingdom of heaven was like a net cast into the sea, gathering together all kind of fishes, of which the good were kept, the bad thrown away. And yet again (Matt. xxv. 1-12), it is