ABSTRACT
The Catholic Church has always very properly insisted upon playing a political role; the Methodists have frequently done the same; and by that role people can justly judge, and maybe condemn, both bodies. The principles of any religion must be judged by their fruits in conduct and policy and, if the principles are too vague and "washy" for practical application, so much the worse for the religion to be judged. Catholicism comes with an especial claim to give the world a religion, with a claim which it asserts to be based on divine authority and to be exclusive. The psychological key to happiness offered by Catholicism is asceticism. Objections to the theology of the Catholic Church are not matters of primary weight. The objection to Catholicism is of another order. It is precisely its ascetic morals and the practical consequences of those morals which is the real rock of offence. Catholicism, for good or evil, has stood firmly by tradition.
