a way, but still for some time and in some way, which might also have been longer had it not been for men's perversity, the temporal reign of Christ and of His Church upon the earth, as distinguished from their spiritual reign: an anticipation, a foreshadowing of their final victory over all things, when Christ himself shall come again to judge the earth at the latter day. Whether in the unknown future such a time may ever come again to the Church before the end, even as more than once there have been foreshadowings of the last Antichrist, is known to God alone. But surely it is a solemn thought that, while the first twelve hundred years of her history were but a preparation for her earthly crowning, the last six hundred have but witnessed her gradual temporal deposition and ultimate temporal dethronement; although, to her children of course, she is ever queen, and dearer far in her crown of thorns and robe of scorn than on her throne of glory, It may perhaps be said that this view of the Church's influence over the world might lead men to suppose that, after all, the Church is a human institution, able to influence the world for awhile as long as she had some special work to do in it and for it, and then gradually losing all influence over it, and becoming a thing of the past. There would be truth in this objection, if it could be shown that there is any decay in the Church herself, to which the decrease of her influence could be attributed, rather than to the perversity of men. But we have seen that the Church is ever young, and that for her there is no decay; any more than there was decay in our Lord's work of redemption, or want of vigour in His teaching, when men's hearts turned against Him, and they cried that they had no king but Cæsar. The Church is as Divine, as royal in the hour of her dethronement by the world, as her Lord in the hour of His rejection by the Jews. In the end, too, the victory will rest with the Church; none of God's works fail, although there is much of seeming failure in all His works. Seeming failure is one of the mysteries of the kingdom of nature, as well as of the kingdom of grace. The greater number of seeds cast into the earth never spring up into life. The greater number of men born into the world never reach their prime. God created the angels, yet vast hosts of the angels fell away from Him; He created the world and man, and straightway by man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. God sent His Son into the world to save the world, and men crucified Him. But, even as the failure of what is sown in naturo cannot rob her of her glory and her beauty, or the premature falling away of so many men interfere with the destinies of the human race, so shall nothing in the kingdom of grace fall short of its purpose and its glory in the day when death shall be swallowed up in victory. The Church, as the kingdom which the God of Heaven hath set up, can never be destroyed, nor shall it be delivered up to another people, but it shall consume and break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth, and itself shall stand for ever. We have finished our task, however imperfect the result. Hereafter we hope to examine with our readers one particular phase of the Medieval period, its mystical and ascetical teaching. This we shall be able the better to understand, now that we have seen the position held by the Middle Ages in Church history; have noticed their leading characteristics; have weighed, above all, their relation to the development of the Church's dogma, theological science and devotion, which have all necessarily affected her spiritual life. No one at least, we are convinced, will ever be able to grasp the full meaning of the mystical and ascetical works of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, who forgets Christ's kingship over the earth, or the establishment of the Feast of Corpus Christi : In hâc mensâ novi Regis, On this table of the King, Here, instead of darkness, light! * ART. III.-CATHOLICITY IN GERMANY, Ein Wort über den Start-Gott. Von Dr. G. FELIX. Regensburg und New York Verlag von F. Pustet. (A few Words on the Idolatry of the State. By Dr. G. FELIX. Pustet: Ratisbon and New York.) Germany, Italy, and the Jesuits. D A speech delivered before the Catholic Union. By T. W. ALLIES, M.A. London: Burns & Oates.† R. FELIX is one of many writers, who set themselves to encounter views and principles which are as yet little known in England. In this country the Church has to contend with intolerance; but it is intolerance which is afraid for the F. Caswall's translation. The first part of this article was in type, before the Cologne Congress had met, and before Mr. Allies's speech had appeared in print. most part to avow its real character, or else it is the intolerance of religious bigots rather than of infidels. In Germany it is otherwise. There the old-fashioned liberalism, which proclaimed freedom for every sect and opinion, has passed away; and the State asserts its right of exercising an absolute control in religious matters. The comments in England and in Germany on the law for the expulsion of the Jesuits, may serve as an illustration. One at least of our influential journals condemned the law altogether, as an infringement of religious freedom. The "Saturday Review" defended it, but only in the most timid and apologetic way, and with an evident consciousness that it was sacrificing principle to party spirit. One daily paper laboured to show that Prince Bismarck's motives in driving out the Jesuits were entirely political. But organs like the "Allgemeine Zeitung," or the "old-Catholic" "Deutsche Merkur," speak in a very different tone. They look upon the religious education of the people as the special business of the State; and in their judgment a body which propagates opinions, regarded by the dominant party as opposed to "enlightenment or "progress," is at once convicted of treason against legitimate authority. They make no apology for the apparent intolerance of such a measure; for in their eyes a liberal State, which permits anti-liberal influences to exert themselves within its territory, is resigning its proper office and betraying its own weakThe persecution of the Jesuits is only one part of an avowed and organized system for the persecution of the Church in general. Since the secularization of 1802, freedom in teaching has been unknown in Germany. No college or school can be opened without leave from the government, and liberals have consistently curtailed the freedom of Catholics in this respect whenever they thought it safe to do so. They are now interfering with the freedom of the pulpit and the immunity of the confessional. The other day a liberal paper said the government ought to insist that all candidates for the priesthood should go through a complete course in the Gymnasium and the University, under professors appointed by the State. After that, the bishops might place them in seminaries, and teach them, if they pleased, the irrational dogma of Papal infallibility. But even this modicum of liberty aroused the indignation of the "old-Catholics." Their official paper, the "Deutsche Merkur," protested against halfmeasures like this, and declared that any statesman who wished his country's good must see to it, that the doctrine of Papal infalli bility was taught neither in the universities nor in the seminaries. These proposals are made in plain terms, and without any attempt at apology or concealment. In fact German liberals seem to have forgotten the very possibility of any one seriously ness. believing in toleration and liberty of opinion. In a recent article on "Catholicity in England," the "Allgemeine Zeitung" expressed its amazement, that the English Government could sit with folded hands, while convents arise in every part of the country and ultramontanism is rampant. It could find no explanation for this extraordinary phenomenon, except in the sage supposition that Jesuit influences were brought to bear upon Mr. Gladstone. And though it is against the Catholic Church that the liberal fanaticism is chiefly directed, it by no means ends there. "The State," Hegel said, "is the living God"; and many of his countrymen seem resolved to carry out the principle in all its consequences. If the State is absolutely supreme, religion is no more than a means for promoting order, which the State can alter and modify at will to secure its own ends. The Catholic Church is the first great obstacle in its path. It makes a marked division among Germans, whose one and only thought should be the political greatness of Germany; while its hierarchical constitution, and connection with foreign countries, are a constant check to political absolutism. The Church is to be got out of the way to begin with. When that is effected, the main part of the work is over. Still something remains to be done, before Germany can be called really one. "The efforts of ecclesiastical parties among German Christians," says Professor Holtzendorf, "are essentially anti-national. Catholicity, which has now degenerated into ultramontanism, is the enemy of the people. The Protestant national Church is the enemy of German unity." Besides, there are dogmatic differences among Protestants; and to get genuine unity among Germans, there must be a German Christianity from which dogma is eliminated altogether. The "Allgemeine Zeitung" has devoted a series of articles to this subject. Dr. Felix shows in his pamphlet, which is written with a good deal of ability, the effects to which this idolatry of the State necessarily leads. If people are brought up to believe that the State is absolutely supreme, and that God has no claim on their consciences, they will not be content to stop there. Selfish and individual interests will become the rule of action. The lower classes will refuse to submit to the supremacy of the State, so long as the State is identified with the educated few. Liberalism will pave the way for communism; and prove fatal to the interests of government, which it was meant to serve. It begins by declaring war on religion, because it considers "Das deutsche Reich und die Constituirung der christlichen Religionsparteien auf den Herbstversammlungen im J. 1871." Berlin: 1872. [New Series.] VOL. XIX.-NO. XXXVIII. religion unpatriotic: it will end by destroying patriotism as well. Dr. Felix supports his assertion with a number of theological arguments. The events of the late war have practically demonstrated the ruin which irreligion brings upon a nation. Infidelity has long been widely spread in Germany. Still, the influences of religion have not been so systematically banished from the schools, as in France. During the war, the Germans showed themselves a more religious and a more moral people than their enemies; and to this, as Bishop Ketteler said last year in the Mayence Congress, they owed their victory. But though the French were conquered, French principles have taken the Germans captive; and German statesmen are doing their best to carry out the anti-Christian principles, which have already brought about the destruction of France. We cannot expect, that either reasoning like that of Dr. Felix, or the evidence of recent history, strong as it is, will produce much effect upon the dominant party. Even the more orthodox of the German Protestants are ready, as a rule, to unite with infidels in attacks directed primarily against the Church, but ultimately against all belief in the supernatural. There are indeed Protestants, and they deserve all honour, who are free from such sectarian blindness, and are large-minded and courageous enough to support the "Central Faction," which represents Catholic interests in the Imperial Chambers. But cases like this are quite exceptional; and in the struggle between the State and the Church, Catholics must rely upon themselves. We propose, then, to try and form some estimate of the state of Catholics during this crisis in Germany; of the dangers which threaten them; of the forces which they have at their command; and of their prospects in the future. To begin with the dark side of the picture. The religious orders have not exercised during this century any appreciable influence on the higher education in Germany; but teaching orders have been employed to a considerable extent in the education of the lower orders, and the secular clergy have been closely connected with the gymnasia and universities. In Bavaria very many, and in other parts of Catholic Germany a considerable number, even of the secular professors are priests; and out of school the pupils have enjoyed full religious freedom. Since the Council, very important changes have been introduced. In Prussian territory the religious orders have been forbidden to teach, while the law regarding school inspection has loosened the bond between the clergy and the parish schools. In the universities, some of the theological chairs are occupied by priests who have abandoned the Faith; and in the gymnasia the children of Catholic parents are forced to receive religious |