232 Contemporary Evolution. 



went forth from the "upper chamber" of Jerusalem 

 conquering and to conquer, and though always " mili- 

 tant " and never yet " triumphant," her course, in spite 

 of apparent superficial reverses, has been in fact a pro- 

 gress from victory to victory. Far from failing in the 

 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, her Catholicity be- 

 came even more manifest, more explicitly developed, and 

 more consciously maintained on the part of her spiritual 

 children. 



Any position, then, which leads us to view with want 

 of sympathy the /^-mediaeval path of the Church is 

 essentially uncatholic in its tendency, and such a view 

 seems latent in that exclusive and passionate advocacy 

 of the pointed style which has occasionally found ex- 

 pression. It seems to indicate the presence of a pre- 

 ference for the Church as she was at an earlier period, 

 instead of a loyal and undeviating fidelity to the Spouse 

 of Christ, as she exhibits herself to us at this day ; and 

 it is where the gothic spirit is strongest out of England, 

 namely, in Germany and Holland, that the heresy of Rein- 

 kens has found both its birthplace and anointing. 



It is not, of course, contended that gothic is es- 

 sentially anti-Roman ; but it is contended that it is 

 accidentally so, as will again appear in connection with 

 the next requirement, namely, fitness for the existing 

 ritual. Nothing could have been more admirably adapted 

 for the worship to be carried on within them than were 



