Book Description

Excerpt from The Rambler, Vol. 1: A Catholic Journal and Review A Clever Irish writer has said, that when a man has something amusing to tell, he should never preface it by saying, "I've a capital story to tell you," lest he raise expectations which he will not fulfil. On a somewhat similar ground, a second thought induces us to omit the apology with which it occurred to us to introduce the suggestions we are about to offer on the intensely interesting problem of the conversion of our fellow-countrymen. Considering how many of our readers may be able to supply a far wiser solution of the question than we can hope to offer, it seemed fitting that what might be deemed an impertinence should be heralded with a profession of modesty. After-thought, however, suggested, that on a topic so manifold in its bearings, almost every man's observations and experiences are worth having; and that we had better omit an apology which might lead the reader to anticipate the committal of some very heinous offence against propriety, of which we are very far from intending to be guilty. The fact then is, that, from some cause or other, the Catholic faith has as yet made no wide or deep impression on the mass of English unbelievers, as a body. We have had a great many converts, taken as individuals. Father Newman and Dr. Pusey (little thanks to the latter) have given us hundreds, perhaps thousands. Every mission, too, can reckon up its list of conversions, sometimes from people of all classes. Still, these are scattered and exceptional cases. As a mass, the English nation remains untouched. Immense and undoubtedly genuine as appears to be the work of spiritual advancement which has been for some time going on among ourselves, as a general work it has been confined to ourselves. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.