Homiletic Review; An International Magazine of Religion, Theology and Philosophy Volume 46 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ...and the Smalcald articles of the Lutheran, is new and unique, and as such demands an explanation. What does it indicate as to the status of the religious world? Are the two great religious communions, that for four hundred years have not only been rivals but enemies, come to a better understanding, and have they reached a modus vivendi without a sacrifice of principle? Or does it signify that the one or the other of the contending parties has come to the conclusion that the principles it has maintained all along as its raison d'etre no longer deserve to be regarded as such, and can be sacrificed for the purpose of "living and letting live" in the religious world? That a good deal of this promiscuous praise in Protestant circles, too, is nothing but cant and ignorance, as thoughtless as, and meaningly expressive of, the old dictum "De mortuis nil nisi bonum," admits of neither doubt nor debate. But enough remains after deducting this factor to make the matter a serious problem, certainly important enough to vex and perplex the thoughtful student of modern religious thought and life. If there has been a concession of principle and a sacrifice of principle, it certainly has not been on the part of the Catholic Church. It has often been maintained that the development of Protestantism has been of great service to the Catholic Church in compelling that Church to stop the growth of certain evil tendencies; and it is true that where the two great churches stand and labor side by side, as is the case in America, England, and Germany, we find the Catholic Church at her best, and certainly vastly better spiritually than in such purely Catholic countries as Spain and Italy, where the enjoyment of the monopoly permits her to...