MATTHEW AENOLD'S CEITICISM 115 



faiths. True, the great cathedrals are a part of 

 the ceremonial of the church, and here the height 

 of true poetry is reached, and the imagination is 

 aroused, as it is also by her great names, her poets, 

 artists, scholars, preachers, of the Middle Ages. 

 But the secret of aU these things has now passed 

 from the Catholic Church. She is as impotent in 

 art and architecture, in literature and in the pul- 

 pit, as are the Protestant churches. Raphaels, and 

 Dantes, and F&elons, and Pascals, and Bossuets no 

 longer appear within, her pale. Should we not 

 rather look for the real superiority of the Catholic 

 Church, as an active force in the world, to its au- 

 thority, its vast overshadowing power as an institu- 

 tion ? In this respect it is nearly perfect, and does 

 indeed touch the imagination. It is as thorough as 

 nature, as searching as fate. It lays its hands upon 

 every force of human life. It is wonderfully adapted 

 to the weakness, the ignorance, and the helplessness 

 of mankind. It establishes the ways, it prescribes 

 your belief, it settles doubts and misgivings. Dr. 

 Johnson said he could easily see how many good but 

 timid and credulous persons " might be glad to be of 

 a church where there are so many helps to get to 

 heaven;" and he adds of himself, "I would be a 

 Papist if I could; I have fear enough, but an obsti- 

 nate rationality prevents me." It is, indeed, easy 

 to get to heaven by way of the Catholic Church. 



It is as complete as Noah's Ark, in which such a 

 motley crew found lodgment. The inmates are 

 housed from the winds, the waves, the storms. 



