Chapter XI.-Ireland-"Plan of Campaign"-Adrian IV. Stronger Link than Infallibility-Reminiscences-Wasted THE REAL PRESENCE-(Continued). Chapter XIII-A Secret Calumny-Opportunities of Inves tigation "The Lord of the Manor"-The Upper Hut-Was I Never to Know Sweet Peace Again?-Genial Father- THE REAL PRESENCE-(Continued). - Chapter XIV.-Apostles' Creed-St. Leo Maxentius-Am- brose-Augustine-Thomas Aquinas-Charles Borromeo-The Charter of Christianity, viz., Athanasian Creed-If It Be So, THE REAL PRESENCE-(Continued). Chapter XV.Creed of Pius IV.-Which Would Decide THE REAL PRESENCE-(Continued). Chapter XVI.-Recollections-My Brethren of the Order THE REAL PRESENCE-(Continued). Chapter XVII.-The Apostle-Not Understood-"Do this in remembrance of Me"-"Till He come"-Memory versus THE REAL PRESENCE-(Continued). Chapter XVIII.-Daniel O'Connell, M.P.-Rev. Daniel COMMUNION UNDER TWO KINDS. Chapter XIX.-Christ's Action and Rome's Practice- Chapter XX.-Roman Theology-No Such Thought in Chapter XXI.-Memories and Facts-Not the Roman Form Chapter XXII.-The Count-The Oyster Saloon-Read- CHAPTER I. THE POSITION. Buckle, a deep religious thinker, states Ist. "If the reader meets with opinions adverse to his own, he should remember that his views are, perchance, the same as those which I once held, and which I have abandoned, because, after a wide range of study, I found them unsupported by solid proof, subversive of the interests of man, and fatal to the progress of his knowledge." 2nd. "To examine the notions in which we have been educated and to turn aside from those which will not bear the test, is a task so painful that they who shrink from the suffering should pause before they reproach those by whom the suffering has been undergone." 3rd. "What I have put forward may, no doubt, be erroneous, but it is the result, at all events, of an honest searching after truth, of unsparing labour, of patient and anxious reflection." 4th.-"Conclusions arrived at in this way are not to be overturned by stating that they endanger some other conclusions, nor can they be ever affected by allegations against their supposed tendency." 5th.-"The principles which I advocate are based upon distinct arguments, supported by well-ascertained facts." 6th.-"The only points to be ascertained are whether the arguments are fair, and whether the facts are certain." 7th. "If these two conditions have been obeyed, the principles follow by an invisible inference." I would respectfully draw the reader's close attention to each of the foregoing paragraphs, but especially to Numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, and hope that he will bear them in mind during the study of these pages. For I, too, have a statement to make, just as statements have been made concerning me for the past twelve years, statements at once ignoble, untrue and unworthy the Christian. My "arguments will be fair" and my "facts certain." In the opinion of a certain section of my late coreligionists my offence is that I dared to think for myself in the supreme matter of conscience. My sin is that I left "in toto" the Church of my fathers, and retired from its Monasticism and its priesthood. My crime is that I took unto myself a wife, and that which "cries aloud to Heaven for vengeance upon my guilty head" is the astounding fact of my entering the ranks of the Protestant Ministry. Had I become a Mahommedan, and taken upon myself the duties and obligations of an Ulima, the outcry of astonishment and wrath could scarcely have been more prolonged and violent. It is not my intention to retaliate, though I must confess that at times I was powerfully impelled to do so, particularly when those two nearest and dearest to me, my wife and baby, were signally sought out by "some" and marked as the victims of their vile calumnies and insidious slanders. It was almost beyond what flesh and blood could bear. It taxed all my energies to put into effectual practice that solid maxim taught me in the Monasteries, "Suffer and be silent." When I recollected that our calumniators were either of little or no consequence in the Commonwealth, and certainly not the accredited representatives of their Church, I forbore. I forbore because of the many happy days I spent under the wings of that Church; because of the three brilliant companions who sat beside me in the Study Hall, of the many who stood with me in the cold depths of the Goulburn winters from 1.45 a.m. to 3.30 a.m. chanting the Psalms of David in the Oratory; who whiled away pleasantly many an innocent, weary hour in the recreation room and gardens, and who aided me on the platform in our missionary campaigns against error and iniquity beneath the standard of the Cross. I forbore, too, to strike back because of the many loyal hearts who conscientiously believe that I have made a fearful blunder, and mourn me as one spiritually dead; and because of the many amongst them who inwardly admire my step, but fear to say so, and fear much more to "go and do likewise." Finally, I forbore to strike back, realising that if I struck at all I would strike hard--very hard; and I always remembered that to the Church of my first belief Protestant Christians of today are in debt for much, for very much, of their present civilisation and spiritualisation. It is true that whilst many of her most influential and intellectual children, acting under her name, have considerably dimmed her ancient beauty and "dulled her finest gold," yet she has once been a mighty influence for good and a prevailing witness for the Truth, and that even now many millions see no reason to dethrone her, believing her still to be loyal to her mission and her Lord. But many there are also among them who are doubtful of her whole position, of the authenticity of her exacting claims and their consequent obedience to her, and who are "looking towards the Light," waiting for the "dawn."” |