Practical People [pp. 111-115]

PRACTICAL PEOPLE.
Hence the depth of his certitude; it is only among Catholics that
you hear doctrines spoken of as universal, infallible, unerring, ii —
reformable, eternal. Hence the marvels of Catholic sanctity; it
is only among them that true martyrs, missionaries, and heroes of
every kind of charity are to be met with.
It is on account of failure to understand this that such men
as Professor Allen fancy that Catholics are trammelled in their
spiritual life. The Catholic is not trammelled, because he is subject to the same Holy Spirit within and without. There can be
no conflict between God and God. The principle of the external
authority of the church over a Catholic is the Son of God visible,
audible, incarnate, and perpetuated and made universal in "the
church which is the body of Christ." The principle of the inner
life is the grace of the same Christ, which is "the Holy Ghost
diffused in our hearts." These two principles are one in essence
and make the divine oneness of the entire life of the Christian.
The freedom of a man is never so well secured as when he is
guided with certitude by his Creator, by God's word and work
in the divine organism of the church of Christ. No man feels
trammelled by the church's authority except one who has become
rebellious to the guidance of the Holy Spirit within him, or who
has become deluded with the fancy that some vagary of his private judgment is the instinct of the Holy Spirit.
PRACTICAL PEOPLE.
PALISSY seized upon furniture, bedding, and all things combustible in his own household wherewith to feed his furious furnace. Wife, neighbors, all called him impractical, fool, insane!
For sixteen long years the fool labored patiently at baking his
clay, bravely bearing the contumely of friend and foe alike.
Surely a foolish thing to do, this baking of clay. Better bake
dough and make bread. So thought the potter's own flesh and
blood, friends and neighbors. History and Art and Fame have
since rewarded the fool's patience and industry. Shakspere
was in this sense an "impractical" man. The artistic temperament is ever "impractical" in the vocabulary, and under the intellectual microscope of "practical people." Practice is one
thing, theory is another, has passed into a proverb with a latent
sneer at the latter. In this age of presumed fact and data theory
I886.]
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