NOTICE TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION HE Author of this little work is a Spanish THE Catholic of noble family, now resident at Munich, where he is well known for his devout and ascetic life, his deep religious convictions, and his zealous attachment to his Church, which he believes-as will be seen from the following pages to be just now passing through a peculiarly trying and perilous crisis. The present translation was undertaken with the sanction and kind encouragement of the Author. It is published in the belief that there are many English readers, both Protestant and Catholic, who will be glad of the opportunity of studying Señor von Liaño's weighty words in their own language. Should this anticipation be realised, a translation of a later essay of his, on the distinction between dogma and opinion, (Dogma und Schulmeinung)—written with particular reference to the proposed erection of Papal Infallibility and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into articles of faith-may perhaps be offered to the public hereafter. PREFACE HE Author of this little work, in this hour of THE peril, and in presence of a party which has been permitted in our days, in a manner hitherto unheard of, to disseminate its own ideas as the expression of Church truth, is convinced that he represents the most sacred interests of his Church, to which he is in all things and most unreservedly devoted. He has written because he knows what immeasurable dangers threaten us, should the plans of that school be realised, even in part. He knows that he can only very imperfectly fulfil the task which he has undertaken from a sense of duty, and he laments that, in consequence of the exceedingly deplorable circumstances of the times, no better champions of these views have as yet stepped forward. A He entreats the chief pastors of the Church, and the pastors of the second order, to weigh what he lays before them by the light of the genuine tradition of the Church, and in the balance of the sanctuary. He addresses the same request to the great upholders and representatives of true learning, be they priests or members of the Catholic laity. May they ever bear in mind that one of the most impressive, most real, and most important effects of the spirit of Christianity is to be recognised in the immense elevation of the sciences, as well as of art, during the Christian era, notwithstanding the natural greatness of the intellectual heroes of anteChristian antiquity-and may they ever bear in mind the obligations thus laid upon them. This work is, however, primarily addressed to believing Church-loving Catholics, who do not belong to the ranks of the clergy, or of the learned among the laity, but who are men of business, and who are, or expect to be, fathers of families, and |