80 Life and Matter [chap. v. 



Professor Haeckel continues his criticism 

 of Official Christianity in the following 

 vein : 



"The so-called c Peace between Church and 

 State is never more than a suspension of hostilities. 

 The modern Papacy, true to the despotic prin- 

 ciples it has followed for the last 1600 years, is 

 determined to wield sole dominion over the 

 credulous souls of men ; it must demand the 

 absolute submission of the cultured State, which, 

 as such, defends the rights of reason and science. 

 True and enduring peace there cannot be until 

 one of the combatants lies powerless on the ground. 

 Either the Church wins, and then farewell to all 



grain of truth in this kind of talk. But it is, on the whole, 

 a pestilent and dangerous heresy. If the formulas of 

 modern science contradict the science of Catholic dogma, 

 it is the former that must be altered, not the latter. If 

 modern metaphysics are incompatible with the metaphysical 

 terms and expressions adopted by councils and explained 

 by the Catholic schools, then modern metaphysics must be 

 rejected as erroneous. The Church does not change her 

 Christian philosophy to suit the world's speculations; she 

 teaches the world, by her theological definitions, what true 

 and sound philosophy is. Whilst every effort should be 

 made by Catholic apologists to smooth the way for a 

 genuine understanding of the Church's dogmatic termin- 

 ology, two things must never be lost sight of, first, that this 

 terminology expresses real objective truth (however in- 

 adequate the expression may be to the full meaning, as God 

 sees it, of any given mystery) ; and, secondly, that such truth 

 is expressed in terms of sound philosophy which will not be 

 given up, and which may be called the Christian philosophy." 



