by those opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, their influence,
however important they may seem, is not sufficiently vital to prevent
me from being united to it. It satisfies and meets my deepest wants;
and on this ground, setting aside any other for the moment, I feel
like affirming, in the spirit of the man whom Christ made to see.* I
know not whether this Church be or be not what certain men call it,
but this I know: it has the life my heart is thirsting for, and of
which my spirit is in great need.

[* John 9:24: We know this man is a sinner. He said therefore to
them: If he be a sinner, I know not; one thing I know, that whereas I
was blind, now I see.]

"A case in point: The sermon of Dr. Seabury on the lamented death of
Arthur Carey is as far from satisfying my heartfelt longings as
Platonism would be to the Christian. Read the doctrine of the
Catholic Church on the Communion of Saints in the Catechism of the
Council of Trent attentively and devoutly, and you will see and feel
the wide difference in doctrine and life between it and that held
even by the high-church Anglican. It may be said in excuse for Dr.
Seabury, that he has to be prudent and cautious on account of the
state of mind of those whom he has to speak to. Well enough; but why
should one go to a weak and almost dried-up spring when there is one
equally near, fresh, always flowing and full of life? . . . There may
be those, and I do not question there are many such good persons, who
do not feel the deep demands of the spiritual nature as profoundly as
others do, and that the Anglican Church fully satisfes all their
needs. But even in her bosom there are many who think that if the
Oxford tendencies are Anglican, she is very idolatrous and
exceedingly superstitious, because they feel no need for so much
discipline and ceremony, and such faith in the invisible . . . all
reasons that can tempt one in my position are in favor of the
Anglican Church, and it is a source of much joy that there is no
conceivable inducement of a worldly or mixed nature for me to
join the Roman Catholic Church. If there were I should distrust
myself . . . It seems to me that the difference between my embracing
the Roman Catholic Church and any other is the same as the difference
between remaining as I am, and selling all that I have and following
Christ."

His deference for his friends' opinions, though he made their views
no condition of his action, is beautifully shown by