lii. PROLEGOMENA. 



spirit of God, according to the promises of Christ. 

 For to what else can be ascribed that wonderful 

 harmony which pervades the Catholic church in 

 every age and in every country : while protes- 

 tantism, and indeed every variety of heresy is 

 made up of small societies of persons, local, 

 ephemeral, and disunited in opinion, even among 

 one another, and so opposed in character to the 

 unity and perfections of Catholicism, that they 

 in fact serve to render it an additional support, 

 by forcibly bringing to our minds the contrast of 

 their several imperfections, just as exceptions are 

 said to confirm a rule. 



Another thing ought to be remarked, that 

 though the particular excellences of our holy 

 religion, such as profound humility, the spirit of 

 mortification, an entire obedience, poverty, and 

 chastity, an exalted charity, penance, and the 

 pious invocation of Saints, which have led our 

 ancestors to such perfection, are wanting in all 

 heretical sects ; yet in all of the latter we see 

 some particular virtues, which have led a few 

 individuals to excel the common herd : the 

 quakers, for example, have imitated Catholic 

 humility, but for want of the confessional, it be- 

 comes an occasion of pride ; they also affect to 

 seek the interior consolations of the Holy Ghost, 

 and great would be its utility, if, as in our spiritual 

 j)rayers, they were directed in doctrine by 



