“Liberal Catholics,” says “Romanus,” “are fully aware that the enormous power of the Church for good would be fatally impaired by an injury to its organisation, and they would regard as intrinsically absurd and unscientific any attempt to reverse the process of development. Their desire is, therefore, not to destroy, but to strengthen the authority of the Church by diverting it from proceedings detrimental to its own welfare.... They are profoundly convinced that the Catholic Church is the one great influence for promoting the spiritual welfare of humanity. They believe that there exists no power comparable to it for the promotion of virtue and of all that is highest, noblest, purest, and most self-denying and generous among mankind. They are convinced that it is the most complete--the only complete--organisation for bringing about among all classes, all nations, and all races, obedience to, and fulfilment of, Christ’s two great commandments wherein lay all the law and the prophets--love of God and of our neighbour. “Such Catholics also believe that the Church supplies, to our minds, as no other yet existing organisation can supply, means of access and address to their Creator through a worship such as the world has never before known--traditional, majestic, soul-satisfying, and, above all, profoundly spiritual, wherein the divine and human meet and _cor ad cor loquitur_. “By its sacraments, every stage of human life is elevated and sanctified, the wounded conscience renovated and strengthened, the broken and contrite heart comforted and consoled, the various afflictions of life mitigated and its joys, as well as its sorrows, refined and consecrated.... These liberal Catholics not only look upon Catholicity as the special home and the most effective aid to what is good, but also as an influence making for beauty and the culture of art. Its influence with respect to philosophy they regard as of priceless value, nor do they think lightly of its service to literature. Profoundly influenced by such convictions, the adherents to ‘Liberal Catholicism’ must evidently desire to maintain unimpaired that wonderful organisation of which Rome is the head.... Liberal Catholics declare themselves to be devoted to the discovery, the promulgation, and the establishment of truth in every field of knowledge, historical, critical, and scientific, especially in what bears upon religion. Sincere Theists, they are profoundly convinced not only that the God of truth can never be served by a lie, but that the cause of religion can never be promoted by clever dodges, by studiously ambiguous utterances, by hushing up unpleasant truths, or (when such can no longer be hidden) by misrepresenting or minimising their significance--trying by a series of clever devices to disguise the consequences which logically follow from them. As