This
surely, under a thousand disguises, has been the meaning of all the
forms of worship which we have seen in the world. Pain and death are
nothing new, and men have been driven into perplexed scepticism, and
even insurrection by them, ever since men came into being. Always,
however, have the majority, the vast majority of the race, felt
instinctively that in this scepticism and insurrection they could not
abide, and they have struggled more or less blindly after
explanation; determined not to desist till they had found it, and
reaching a result embodied in a multitude of shapes irrational and
absurd to the superficial scoffer, but of profound interest to the
thoughtful. I may observe, in passing, that this is a reason why all
great religions should be treated with respect, and in a certain
sense preserved. It is nothing less than a wicked waste of
accumulated human strivings to sneer them out of existence. They
will be found, every one of them, to have incarnated certain vital
doctrines which it has cost centuries of toil and devotion properly
to appreciate. Especially is this true of the Catholic faith, and if
it were worth while, it might be shown how it is nothing less than a
divine casket of precious remedies, and if it is to be brutally
broken, it will take ages to rediscover and restore them.
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