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Show i'y -1 5o?ie Errors in j Recent History j j Latest Edition of Appleton's Universal Cyclopedia and j Atlas a Libel on the Catholic Church. 1 1 1 Tlie Messenger for June has a Ions I review of Appleton's late edition of )n's Universal Cyclopedia and Atlas. To j J this review the Catholic press of the country devotes considerable space and j , dose attention. In treating of all con- trovcrsial points, not only have the J f writers' all non-Catholics been often- j 5 sive, but they have so distorted facts 5 that the cyclopedia is unreliable and a j perversion of Catholic history. Its pre- tensions to be fair are refuted by the I religious bias displayed in all subjects j t pertaining to Catholic history. The f I authors could not, even if they wished 1 j 10 be fair, treat such subjects from a I j Catholic standpoint, for their training 1 .-ind knowledge of history are all one- I sided. J The "New World." directing attention to the article in the "Messenger," says: f The Rev. writer of this article begins t 1 with a reference to the announcement f I by Dr. Charles Kendall Adams, editor ! - in chief of the encyclopedia in ques- j J tion, to the effect that "it has always I been the policy of the editors of this j 1 encyclopedia to hold the balance fairly j i in controverted matters, and to be im- , I partial in every way. In no depart- ? ment has this policy been more rigor- I ously observed than in that which re s' Irttes to religous belef and church ol- ty." ' - 1 This is a large rromise, and one upon which a Catholic buyer of the . encyclopedia would be likely to rely as I a safeguard against those blemishes j which are unfortunately too common J in uubliratfons of a similar character, j The writer of the article in the "Mes- j senger"is. therefore,' all the more en- j titled to the thanks of his readers for I warning them against the entirely mis- f leading character of the announce ment above quoted. The Rev. writer examines and quotes from a number of articles in the en-f en-f cyclopedia. Among the titles of these articles are "The Reformation," "Amer- lea," "Education," "Albigenres," "Lu- f ther," etc. We have not the space here I to quote at length from the extracts 'j by which the writer of this article I proves his case against the editors of I the encyclopedia in question. Let one 1 Jillritnli.in suffice The miniatinn vvhii-h i we select is taken from an article by j j John W. Burgess, professor of history, I I political science and constitutional law j in Columbia university. The subject j j of the article is "The Middle Ages," j i and the professor expresses himself in ' one place as follows: T "The sum and substance of all au- 3 thority and grace were conceived as 5 proceeding from Christ to the chief of his apostles, to whom the pope was successor; by the latter dealt out again upon the bishops in their consecration, and then by these in turn upon the ; priests and laity. The power to bind i jind to loose, to damm and to save, j became thus, according to this eon- ; ception, the property of a close corpor- ; ation, which by the power of excom- t munication from the company of the I saved upon earth, with all its attend- ! ant consequences vtpon the social and political status of the individual, and I f the threats of eternal punishment I j hereafter, held the souls of men in a i S state of spiritual subjection of a most ''- 4 degrading nature. The practical result ,f of such a" system was spiritual despot ism in the church." J j It certainly ought to suffice for Cath- 5 iljc readers to know that this passage 1 is a fair example of the spirit shown in quite a number of the articles in this encyclopedia. In form of expression it j is the most offensive of the passages 1 quoted by the writer in the "Messenger," "Messen-ger," but the spirit which animates it is apparent, with more or less viru- :i lence, in a number of the passages quoted. The editor of the "Messenger" has done a service to Catholics in calling their attention to the character of this encyclopedia, so far as regards its I treatment "f their ohur;h. It is to be hoped that the editors of the Catholic j 'weekly papers through the country will give all possible publicity to this article, ar-ticle, so that Catholics generally may be warned, and mav insist that this j : -publication may be revised and the I I passages offensive to their religious be- I f lief omitted or modified, before it can j "' hope to have any sale among the mem-j mem-j bers of the church which it defames. j V This advice should be followed, as f it is the only possible means of rectify- ing the grave mistakes of the editor in I cliief. To reason about inaccuracies, 5 ::fter the harm is done, is a mistake. X The flight of error when published Is so rapid and widespread that it is rare- ly overtaken by truth. The only pun-; pun-; ishment for those who start the ball I I of untruth rolling is to touch their H pockets. A boycott is sometimes just j j and serves as an amende honorable. f i The Western Watchman, in a well I timed article, entitled, "Poisoning the i j "Wells." directs attention to the hypoc- 1 1 riv and glaring falsehoods of the edi- f I tor in chief and sub-editors of the cy- ! f dopedia, as pointed out by the Mcs- i f wMiger. J This great work, running into twelve J royal octavo volumes, is placed upon I I the market with every show of fairness tl and purports to give the latest and I most accurate general knowledge upon j j all questions of human interest. The ! editor-in-chief declares that it has al- I I ways been the policy of the editors of SI this cyclopedia to hold the balance j j fairly in controverted matters, and to be impartial in every way. In no de- I partment has this been move rigorous- I lv observed than in that which relates J to religious belief to church polity. i In ihe teeth of this fair claim, the i editor of the Messenger makes bold to i My that "a careful examination of i ! many of the articles on doctrinal and l historic subjects in this cyclopedia will satisfy anyone that it is eminently un- trustworthy, and that if worth consulting con-sulting at all. it is chiefly because it I reveals to us the course of the mis- i understandings, misrepresentations, the I Ignorance, suspicion and prejudice 1 which determine the attitude of so 1 many of our fellow citiaens towards the Catholic church." i These are hard words, but as one peruses the criticism and notes the : blunders upon blunders in matters I Cat.iolic that are pointed out. the good I things forgotten and the bad things paraded, the. false blazoned forth and the truth obscured, the utter ignorance I of the writings of the foremost living j Catholic authorities, the passing over j of Catholic men and measures of merit, j he becomes gradually convinced that the critic hazarded nothing in making, his astounding statement, and he indignantly in-dignantly agrees that any Catholic Who has been misled into purchasing the work on the strength of the recommendation recom-mendation given by the editor, may in all justice return the volumes thus far delivered and require revised copies or his money. A work which sets out to extol Protestantism Prot-estantism and to decry Catholicism has no claim upon our patronage. We are the veriest fools if we contribute towards such an anti-Catholic propaganda. propa-ganda. In the course of its elaborate criticism, the Messenger makes it plain that throughout the whole work the religion re-ligion and achievements of Catholics are ignored, depreciated, misrepresented, misrepresent-ed, and that Protestantism is invariably invari-ably recognized, magnified, and represented repre-sented to the best possible advantage at the expense of truth." GAL TWO ERRORS IX HISTORY .... We agree with the Messenger that there is but one remedy for baseness of this kind. There is but one appeal where fairness to the Catholic church is concerned, and that appeal must be made Mammon. When it shall have become unprofitable to deal in worn-out worn-out calumnies against our faith, the traditional methods of our revilers will pass out of use. It remains for us to bring about a better condition. But how are we to know what to pur-I pur-I chase and what to cast aside? ' It is the business of competent and trustworthy critics to give us directions, on this important im-portant point. We may not be at a loss as to what to do, when a writer of transparent honesty can say: "We have always written enough to prove that Appleton's Universal Cyclopedia and Atlas is eminently untrustworthy, and, if worth consulting at all, valuable valu-able only as a storehouse of an antiquated anti-quated Protestant traditions and misrepresentations mis-representations of our religious belief and history, and as a clue to the reason rea-son why so many of our fellow citizens remain in ignorance o our character and regard us with suspicion and prejudice. prej-udice. We nay confidently submit to our readers that those who thus ignore us as ignorant, obscurantist, unpro-gressive unpro-gressive and slaves to ecclesiastical authority, au-thority, are doing all in their power to keep unsuspecting readers in error and darkness, out of the progressive march of knowledge, and foresworn to the traditional Protestant view." We trust that no Catholic in Con-ticut Con-ticut has money to waste upon this instrument in-strument of narrowness, bigotry and villification. Our thanks are due to the editor of the Messenger Monthly Magazine Mag-azine for the vigilance and ability which have enabled him to point out a real pitfall prepared for the unsuspecting unsus-pecting Catholic public. May he continue con-tinue his work till our people know where to detect the real enemy though parading in the guise of virtue and truth. |