do evil that good might
come. How often have Catholics involved themselves in hopeless
contradiction, sacrificed principle to opportunity, adapted their
theories to their interests, and staggered the world's reliance on their
sincerity by subterfuges which entangle the Church in the shifting sands
of party warfare, instead of establishing her cause on the solid rock of
principles! How often have they clung to some plausible chimera which
seemed to serve their cause, and nursed an artificial ignorance where
they feared the discoveries of an impertinent curiosity! As ingenious in
detraction as in silence and dissimulation, have they not too often
answered imputations which they could not disprove with 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 temporary value and local
currency. Whatever force was 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 with freedom in one country and with
absolutism in another; with conservatism where 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 more sacred than
the privileges for which they fought; they have lied before God and man;
they have been divided into fractions by the supposed 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
accusations of falsehood, insincerity, indifference to civil rights and
contempt for civil authorities which 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 who
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 unbroken unity of her doctrine, her missionary energy, or
her triumphs in the region of spiritual life, if we fail to remove the
accumulated prejudice which generations of her advocates have thrown up
around her. The