Page:History of Freedom.djvu/499

 CARDINAL WISEMAN

455

ignorance where they feared the discoveries of an imperti- nent curiosity! As ingenious in detraction as in silence and dissimulation, have they not too often answered imputa- tions \vhich they could not disprove \vith accusations which they could not prove, till the slanders they had invented rivalled in number and intensity the slanders which had been invented against them? For such men principles have had only tcn1porary value and local cur- rency. \Vhatever force \vas the strongest in any place and at any time, with that they have sought to ally the cause of religion. They have, with equal zeal, identified her \vith freedom in one country and \\'ith absolutism in another; with conservatism \\,here she had privileges to keep, and with reform where she had oppression to withstand. And for all this, what have they gained? They have betrayed duties nlore sacred than the privileges for which they fought; they have lied before God and man; they have been divided into fractions by the sup- posed interests of the Church, when they ought to have been united by her principles and her doctrines; and against themselves they have justified those grave accusa- tions of falsehood, insincerity, indifference to civil rights and contempt for civil authorities \vhich are uttered with such profound injustice against the Church. The present difficulties of the Church-her internal dissensions and apparent weakness, the alienation of so much intellect, the strong prejudice which keeps many away from her altogether, and makes many \vho had approached her shrink back, -all draw nourishment from this rank soil. The antagonism of hostile doctrines and the enmity of governments count for little in comparison. It is in vain to point to her apostolic tradition, the un- broken unity of her doctrine, her missionary energy, or her triumphs in the region of spiritual life, if \ve fail to remove the accumulated prejudice \vhich generations of her advocates have thrown up around her. The \vorld can ne\'er know and recognise her divine perfection \vhile the pleas of her defenders are scarcely nearer to the truth than the crimes \vhich her enemies impute to her. How