Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/251



whether I think that we (the Church of Rome) do truly follow that Gospel, I must own that I have doubts upon the matter."

We are informed here, also, through Cardinal Bonpré, of what Marie Corelli means by Paulism. Ministers of religion, he declares, should literally obey all Christ's commands:

"The Church is a system,—but whether it is as much founded on the teaching of our Lord, who was Divine, as on the teaching of St. Paul, who was not divine, is a question to me of much perplexity I do not decry St. Paul. He was a gifted and clever man, but he was a Man—he was not God-in-Man. Christ's doctrine leaves no place for differing sects; St. Paul's method of applying that doctrine serves as authority for the establishment of any and every quarrelsome sect ever known I do not think we fit the Church system to the needs of modern civilization we only offer vague hopes and dubious promises to those who thirst for the living waters of salvation and immortality."

Cardinal Bonpré that night has a vision of the end of the world, and in his agony at the spectacle he cries: "Have patience yet, Thou outraged and blasphemed Creator! Break once again Thy silence as of old, and speak to us! Pity us once again, ere Thou slay us utterly! Come to us even as Thou camest in Judea, and surely we will receive