PROGRESS OF MAN. 179 



Apostles, but the clever and highly educated 

 Paul who preached Christianity successfully in 

 the most advanced seats of ancient philosophy 

 and civilisation : too successfully, indeed, for 

 his philosophical subtleties, quickly mis- 

 understood and corrupted by ignorance and 

 fanaticism, have been the chief cause of the 

 numerous perversions of Christianity both in 

 ancient and modern times. 



Nor must it be forgotten that not only do 

 the religions which we are in the habit of 

 calling " heathen," contain at least some germs 

 of truth, but as no religion can be supposed to 

 be perfect, so those of other nations may at 

 times contain truths new to us, or appeal 

 to God-given faculties unrecognised in our 

 own religion. Many great minds in Modern 

 Europe have pined for the ideal beauty 

 of the ancient Greek religion, which their 

 reason forbade them to accept, but for which 

 the cold religions of the North supplied no 

 substitute whatever.* Surely we may one 

 day hope for a religion which shall combine 



* The Catholic Religion has also been called the Religion of Poets 

 and Artists ; and truly I know of nothing to compare with the exquisite 

 beauty and tenderness of some of the old Catholic legends. 



N 2 



