the universe, 721; Remarks on the eternal law, 722: The strength and properties that may be derived from superhuman principles, 723; St. Thomas on human en- actments, 724: Conformity of human law with the moral order, 725; Law must be just and equitable, 726; When human laws have binding power, 727; The estab- lishment of rights, 728; The civil authority with regard to them, 729; Right must be within the boundaries of morality, 730; A conclusion opposed to modern theo- ries, 731; These considerations and the majesty of the State'sauthority, 782; Quali- fications of those to be invested with authority, 733: The two ways in which God may communicate authority, 734; Influence of men in governments, 735; The teaching of Catholic authorities, 736; Are the people able to retain and to exer- cise power? 737; Government the primordial holder of supreme power, 738; The multitude acts as a secondary cause, 739; Advantages which authority has for rulers and subjects, 741; Temptations of the stability of power, 742: Dignity and rights of the people, 743; Means to prevent oppression, 744; The Catholic Church The theory of change as applied to life, 746; Importance of the elements of life under consideration, 747; Conscience the most prominent element of religious feeling, 748; Insufficiency of the creeds in force before Christianity, 749; Character of the medieval era, 750; In what the strongest evidence of Christianity lies, 751; Protestantism at best but Christianity on sufferance, 752; No wonder that it has produced infidelity, 753; Character of confession in the Catholic Church, 754; When confession would be ridiculous, 755; Prospect of Christianity's future, 756. ( THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC QUARTERLY REVIEW. VERY REV. JAMES A. CORCORAN, D. D., EDITOR-IN-CHIEF. $5.00 per Annum, in Advance. Issued in January, April, July, and October. Each number contains 192 large octavo pages, printed from legible type, on fine white paper. REGULAR AND OCCASIONAL CONTRIBUTORS. MOST REV. JAMES GIBBONS, D.D. REV. P. BAYMA, S. J. REV. WALTER H. HILL, S. J. REV. EDWARD F. X. MCSWEENY, D.D. REV. J. MING, S. J. REV. BERNARD J. O'REILLY, D.D. GEORGE D. WOLFF, ESQ. JOHN MACCARTHY, ESQ. KATHLEEN O'MEARA. PROF. ST. GEORGE MIVART, F.R.S. JOHN BOYLE O'Reilly. THOMAS POWER O'CONNOR, M. P. ARTHUR FEATHERSTONE MARSHALL, B. A. Oxon, JOHN CHARLES EARLE, B. A. Oxon. S. B. A. HARPER, ESQ. PROF. F. A. PALEY, M. A., CAM. PROF. R. M. JOHNSTON, WILLIAM J. ONAHAN, ESQ. JOSEPH A. NOLAN, M.D., PH.D. B. J. WEBB, Esq. A. J. FAUST, A.M., PH.D. GEN. JOHN GIBBON, U.S.A. MARGARET F. SULLIVAN, JAMES M. WILLCOX, PH.D. REV. WALTER D. STRAPPINI, S. J. REV. M. J. McLaughlin, REV. D. MURPHY, S. J. REV. THOMAS QUIGLEY. BRYAN J. CLINCHE. Subscriptions Respectfully Solicited. No. 505 Chestnut Street. Box 2465. Address, HARDY & MAHONY, Publishers and Proprietors, PHILADELPHIA, IV. WHO WROTE THE "IMITATION OF CHRIST"? Rev. Aug. J. Thebaud, S.J., 627 650 V. BANCROFT'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 672 689 710 716 746 757 The Story of the Scottish Reformation-Mediæval Civilization-Leaves from the THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC QUARTERLY REVIEW. VOL. VIII.—JANUARY, 1883.-No. 29. SOCIAL AND MORAL ASPECT OF ITALY AND OTHER CATHOLIC COUNTRIES. Laing's Notes of a Traveller.-Alison's History of Europe. THE conditd to as one of the scandals of our age. HE inter-social conditions of the nations of Southern Europe Of late years Spain seems to have partly recovered from her former anarchy, and, in spite of the extravagance of political parties, to be seeking to find a basis for a conservative policy. France, owing to the excesses of a radical faction, is still deeply agitated, while Italy, under the leadership of base, anti-Christian statesmen, appears to be mad with a revolutionary frenzy. Explain this state of things to the world as best you may, there will still remain in the minds of many the latent thought that the Catholic Church is somehow to be held responsible for the political confusion and criminal record of those countries. This reflection, formed merely at first view, is rounded off by the study of the condition of England and Germany, two Protestant nations, at present among the most powerful of the nations of the world. The fact itself, it must be admitted, is very striking, and, when not studied in relation to the great question which it covers, is apt to confuse minds, and beget prejudice. National wealth, indeed, and national grandeur, and high national intellectual culture, recommend themselves, as the world goes, to general esteem; but no one, surely, would take either of these, or all of them, to be a test of Christian truth or morality. Riches or national glory is not the measure of Christianity, nor is high mental training, as even experience shows, a fully reliable proof of moral goodness. VOL. VIII. I |