The Christian Remembrancer A Quarterly Review Volume 11 PDF Download

Excerpt from The Christian Remembrancer, Vol. 11: A Quarterly Review; January June Whether Monasteries exist, or have been abolished, whether Bishops are nominated by the Crown, or by the See of Rome, whether the Priesthood is supported by tithes or by a government allowance, whether Education is in the hands of the Church or the State these are questions which are seldom asked, and still more seldom answered. Be it the Gallican Church or the Austrian, the Spanish or the Belgian, the Italian or the Brazilian; be its tenets cis or ultra-montane, be it reviving into vigour, or yet lying in torpor, an Englishman can, or will, see no difference. It is Popish; he knows no more, and seeks to know no more. We well remember, that, returning by sea to a foreign city, we were pointing out to an English parish priest, then visiting it for the first time, its various buildings, and describing them to him. 'That is the Franciscan Convent; that, the Cathedral; that, the Church of "our Lady of the Mount."' 'A Convent?' he inquired. 'No, ' we replied; 'a parish church'. 'Do you mean, ' he said in amazement, 'that Papists have parish-churches, just as we have in England?' Now what interest can be felt for those of whom our ideas are so vague, and our information so false? Through our ignorance, we lose the privilege of sympathy; for who can sympathize with an unknown object? We lose the power of intercessory prayer; for where there is no sympathy, how can there be intercession? And thus we debar ourselves from partaking in the intercessions of others; for qui orat pro se solo, orat pro se solus. And we are puffed up with the most extravagant ideas of our own exertions and our own successes, simply because we measure ourselves by ourselves, and compare ourselves among ourselves; and therefore- it is an Apostle that says it- are not wise. It is this which, to the most hopeful among us, cannot but cause sad apprehensions as to our future destiny. We refuse that experience which we might acquire from foreign ecclesiastical history, and prefer rather to trust to our own impromptu resources, than to the wisdom, often the painful wisdom, of the trials of others. True, we are beginning to look back to 'primitive times;' it is a step in the right direction, and we bless God for it. We are beginning to take an interest in the history of the Universal Church, even in medieval ages; and we cannot but derive benefit from such a course. But the more remote the period, and the more general the account, of necessity the less lively the interest, and the less pertinent the example. He would be but a poor politician, who should draw his inferences from the study of universal history only. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.