But though he broods over the sorrows and sufferings of mankind, and
views with an unutterable grief the dismemberment of Christendom, he
refuses to style himself a pessimist. There is much good in the world;
he is continually being astonished by the goodness of individuals; he
cannot bring himself to despair of mankind. Ah, if he had only kept
himself in that atmosphere! But "it is very hard to be a good
Christian."
As for theology, as for modernism, people are not bothered, he says, by
a supposed conflict between Religion and Science. What they want is a
message. The Catholic Church must formulate a policy, must become
intelligent, coherent.
He has small faith in meetings, pronouncing the word with an amused
disdain, nor does he attach great importance to preaching, convinced
that no Englishman can preach: "Even Roman Catholics can't preach in
England." As for those chapels to which people go to hear a popular
preacher, he calls them "preaching shops," and speaks with pity of those
who occupy their pulpits: "That must be a dreadful life--dreadful, oh,
quite dreadful!" Yet he has a lasting admiration for the sermons of
Charles Spurgeon. As to Jeremy Taylor, "I confess that all that turgid
rhetoric wearies me."
He does not think the Oxford Movement has spent itself. On the contrary,
the majority of the young men who present themselves for ordination are
very largely inspired by the spirit of that Movement.
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