Christians in place of endless divisions—if the promise made to men was to be fulfilled, or really had been fulfilled. When I began to ask questions, I found Catholics quite ready to answer everything with entire straightforwardness, gentle good-will, yet firmness. Neither they nor the Church evaded anything. They presented and defended the teaching of Christ in its entirety, unexaggerated and undiminished; the complete faith, without haggling or qualification or that queer, loose assent to every sort of individual exception and denial that is allowed in other organizations. I may say here, too, that the Church, instead of being narrow or pitiless toward those not of her communion, as she is often mistakenly said to be, is the most comprehensive of all in her interpretation of God’s mercy as well as of his justice. And, instead of slighting the Bible, she uses it more incessantly than any of the Protestant bodies; at the same time shedding upon it a clear, deep light that is the only one that ever enabled me to see its full meaning and coherence. The fact is, those outside of the Church nowadays are engaged in talking so noisily and at such a rate, on their own hook, that they seldom pause to hear what the Church really says, or to understand what she is. Once convinced of the true faith, intellectually and spiritually, I could not let anything stand in the way of affirming my loyalty to it.” REV. BROTHER AZARIAS. It is delicious in this age of hurried bookmaking, to run across a thinker. It gives one the same kind of sensation that comes to the sportsman, when a monarch of the glen crosses his path. Bookmakers are as many as leaves of the Adirondacks after the hasty gallop of a mountain storm; thinkers are scarce. When, then, amid the leafy mass, one discovers the rare bird hiding from vulgar gaze, an irresistible desire to find his lurking place seizes the observer. This lurking place may be old to many; it was only the other day that I discovered it,—when a friend placed in my hands “Phases of Thought and Criticism,” by Brother Azarias. This book, the sale of which has been greater in England than on this side of the water, is one of suggestive criticism—a criticism founded on faith. The author holds with another thinker, that “Religion is man’s first and deepest concern. To be indifferent is to be dull or depraved, and doubt is disease.” Each chapter of his book expresses a distinct social and intellectual force. Each embodies a verifying ideal; for, continues the author, “the criticism that busies itself with the literary form is superficial, for food it gives husks.”