IN LATER YEABS 1856-1905 559 



lives had been led, well worthy to be pondered over in 

 these later centuries. 



The general effect of this reading was to arouse in me 

 admiration for the men who have taken leading parts in 

 developing the great religions of the world, and espe 

 cially Christianity, whether Catholic or Protestant; but 

 it also caused me to distrust, more and more, every sort 

 of theological dogmatism. More and more clear it be 

 came that ecclesiastical dogmas are but steps in the evo 

 lution of various religions, and that, in yiew of the fact 

 that the main underlying ideas are common to all, a 

 beneficent evolution is to continue. 



This latter idea was strengthened by my careful read 

 ing of Sale s translation of the Koran, which showed 

 me that even Mohammedanism is not wholly the tissue 

 of folly and imposture which in those days it was gen 

 erally represented to be. 



Influence was also exerted upon me by various other 

 books, and especially by Fra Paolo Sarpi s &quot;History of 

 the Council of Trent,&quot; probably the most racy and pun 

 gent piece of ecclesiastical history ever written; and 

 though I also read as antidotes the history of the Council 

 by Pallavicini, and copious extracts from Bossuet, Arch 

 bishop Spalding, and Balmez, Father Paul taught me, as 

 an Italian historian phrases it, &quot;how the Holy Spirit con 

 ducts church councils.&quot; At a later period Dean Stanley 

 made a similar revelation in his account of the Council of 

 Nicaea. 



The works of Buckle, Lecky, and Draper, which were 

 then appearing, laid open much to me. All these authors 

 showed me how temporary, in the sum of things, is any 

 popular theology ; and, finally, the dawn of the Darwin 

 ian hypothesis came to reveal a whole new orb of thought 

 absolutely fatal to the claims of various churches, sects, 

 and sacred books to contain the only or the final word 

 of God to man. The old dogma of &quot;the fall of man&quot; 

 had soon fully disappeared, and in its place there rose 

 more and more into view the idea of the rise of man. 



